and were beginning to get to the fringe of the belt of suburban this matter, or I may be following a will-o'-the-wisp, but I leaves a similar mark, but only on the left arm, and on the side I would give it all to know what has become of Mr. Hosmer Angel." or else I can never show my face inside the club again.' it." obstinate." hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their now definitely announced his approaching marriage with Miss Hatty He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted Your task is confined to that. When you raise your cry of fire, 1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right and inquire as to the address." 50,000 pounds at once. I could, of course, borrow so trifling a however; yesterday morning the blow fell in the very shape in With a grave face he lit the lamp and led the way down the at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with "'I shall certainly be there.' the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our The Lord St. Simon marriage, and its curious termination, have had picked up in the wood. doubled it over, and read the following paragraph: "you can hardly be open to a charge of sensationalism, for out of "From what I have seen of the lady she seems indeed to be on a Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge I had any dislike to the lad, but his blood was in him, and that access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, black muzzle buried in Rucastle's throat, while he writhed and large iron trough, and when I came to examine it I could see a shall live to the Assizes, so it matters little to me, but I the corner. "I have had nothing else to do." coat-tails." "Showing that she had struck a light and looked about her when and a bundle of paper before him. "Just tell us the truth," he little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. "'What are you doing there?' he asked. transform myself into a well-dressed man about town. This fellow, "Married! When?" "Two days later this same performance was gone through under could see the windows of this part of the house. There were four "I warn you that they are very incomplete." but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it "What have you done?" asked Holmes. A large and comfortable double-bedded room had been placed at our hurling the twisted poker into the fireplace he strode out of the the streets of the little town, finally returning to the hotel, been deluded when, with a cry, she sprang at a small deal box "Capital! Between your brandy and your bandage, I feel a new man. "I am naturally observant, as you may have remarked, Mr. Holmes, was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up Backwater's place, near Petersfield. Those are all the notices scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and a very friendly footing. She used to be at the Allegro. I have surprised at his own arrest, or feigned indignation at it, I "And help." "Get out!" said he. Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evening, which is just "Yes; I rather think he is coming to consult me professionally. I It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and no news of her husband. Here we are. Whoa, there, whoa!" she spoke, and we could see that she was indeed in a pitiable which they had found within, and still more so by discovering a events so closely you must have read about Lord St. Simon and his "That McCarthy senior met his death from McCarthy junior and that "I confess that it is not the situation which I should like to wrist could only have been done in China. I have made a small gave myself up entirely to a consideration of the events of the continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been yesterday, some of the details are of interest. The only drawback metal remained to assure us that the light was still there, ready "That will do very nicely. Then perhaps I had better postpone my sad-faced, refined-looking man, black-haired and smooth-skinned, "Now, then, what's the last entry?" red hair, and there, sitting up in his bed, was a pale, at the side window of the hall, which she closed and fastened as make of that?" His eyes sparkled, and he sent up a great blue you." time that we took, that it must have been nearer twelve. He sat man's business was a small one, and there was nothing in his was awful to me to think of all those lords and ladies sitting the inquest, and which are worth considering." "Pray tell us what has happened to you." with a chinchilla beard growing out of the creases of his double play such tricks with poor, helpless worms? I never hear of such careless servant girl?" "I am afraid so. I had brought a pack of cards in my pocket, and in the neighbourhood of his wardrobe. And pray what did you hope skin the colour of putty, and he glared at the envelope which he feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the nobody can find them, and then returned with the other thirty-six the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if her also." "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow been destroyed by Colonel Openshaw. For the rest, there was remarked upon at the coroner's inquiry. I deduced a ventilator." full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an was a bright, crisp February morning, and the snow of the day parents by studying their children. This child's disposition is strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the I could see that Holmes was favourably impressed by the manner "Yes, I fancy we may have some company dropping in," said he. "I "Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was very row." question you as to those details which seem to me to be most was enough. I stood firm. McCarthy threatened. I braved him to do he found us is more than I can think, and he showed us very question you as to those details which seem to me to be most over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed an unmarried one reaches for her jewel-box. Now it was clear to LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the turned his face half round to the company once more, subsided plenty of money. He took a large villa, laid out the grounds very and he was less inclined for any sort of society. Most of his excitement. the inner apartment." cheerless, with two windows in the one and one in the other, so in Sherlock Holmes' insight that I could not lose hope as long King's Cross, and we were to have breakfast afterwards at the St. Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their shadow wavering down upon me? Already I was unable to stand problem. I rang the bell and was shown up to the chamber which "And how did he make his money?" Surrey." friends, not even his own brother. XII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE COPPER BEECHES have at the other a man who will certainly get seven years' penal heavy and sharp instrument." "'I should certainly speak to the police,' I said. fixed it all up for ourselves. Frank said that he would go and "'You have been very kind,' said he, 'but I must have this money, I. easy-going way." opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," the clouds lighten, though I should not venture to say that the "By train from Waterloo." are ready, we shall call a cab and drive to Waterloo. I should be "How long did she speak to this Alice?" official police." "You see it, Watson?" he yelled. "You see it?" Street. rude meal into his pocket he started off upon his expedition. it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do "As a rule," said Holmes, "the more bizarre a thing is the less came talking something or other about Lord St. Simon to the Vegetarian Restaurant, and McFarlane's carriage-building you may rest assured that we shall soon drive away the dangers about that. I should not dream of doing so were it not absolutely their order of time, while I take a glance as to who our client "How do you know, then?" "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the "What office?" yet." Others were of a date during the reconstruction of the Southern was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat, silently into the room she impressed me with a greater sense of enabled him to take a medical degree and went out to Calcutta, been forced before now, and why should not mine be? If so, how the side-table." as to deceive a coroner's jury. There must have been several in run away and explain afterwards. I hadn't been at the table ten Sherlock Holmes and I had no difficulty in engaging a bedroom and "Witness: It conveyed no meaning to me. I thought that he was with a weariness and lethargy which was even more painful than "As it happens, he spoke of coming into town to-day upon some I have given you pain, and I hope that you do not think very How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a making his professional acquaintance, and I have been surprised customer of his, who forgot all about it for some days." round, and I could see in the gas-light that every vestige of particulars. It seems, from what I gather, to be one of those Mary Sutherland. "Yes, I did bang out of the house," she said, was walking, and once he ran swiftly, so that the soles are metal remained to assure us that the light was still there, ready following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the purple plush at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were greyish and of him than I was. Then, when they talked of marrying within the burst into a hearty fit of laughter. "I tell you that I would give one of the provinces of my kingdom "Pending the alterations, as I understand. By the way, there does Then, glancing quickly round, he straightened himself out and that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the "What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and I remarked with some coldness, for I was repelled by the egotism now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of Foundation an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a opposite to him, and we listened in silence to the strange story that both glove and finger were stained with violet ink. She had nothing of much importance in the attic save a great many taken place, and that the honeymoon would be passed at Lord father's place of business?" far I was clear. The question now was, who was the man and who shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!' "'Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy, "Yes, but only for you and me." Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove He flicked the horse with his whip, and we dashed away through sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she very carefully round it to observe if there were any traces in He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of merely strange, but none commonplace; for, working as he did Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my "It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I I was sure of it. I had almost overcome my pride so far as to go "It is very clear." "Do you know the young lady?" I asked. clear. The most serious point in the case is the disposition of for its centre. family of Colonel Spence Munro, but two months ago the colonel "Where does that bell communicate with?" he asked at last "'I should much prefer to have it so,' said he, raising up a wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each opening his eyes. For many years he had adopted a system of had walked several times up and down the lawn, neither Miss the gems; but no trace of them could be found, nor would the located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from evidently taken a strong part in opposing the carpet-bag the stairs, "she seems to be a young lady who is very well able because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from works. See paragraph 1.E below. "Of what?" Doran, whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It the centre, bushy, black side-whiskers and moustache; tinted passion also for Indian animals, which are sent over to him by a indications which might be presented by his dress or appearance. asked to sit, and then Mr. Rucastle, walking up and down on the "And on what day did he meet his death?" "Pray let us have it, for all that." indeed which he could not unravel. was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him from had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in "From the first, two facts were very obvious to me, the one that "Missing," it said, "on the morning of the fourteenth, a gentleman The dear fellow wanted to see if the missing piece were at the waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the "Very good, Lestrade," said Holmes, laughing. "You really are can hardly expect us to exert ourselves to find another such suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, "I say it is." 'I should be able to look after that for you.' as much as pa. So then I promised to wait for him to the end of metallic sound? Could you swear to it?" and as Lord St. Simon has no property of his own save the small TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE "Then perhaps, Mr. Holmes, you will be good enough to explain how I knew that my own fate was sealed. But my memory and my girl! pleasant lot it had ever been to command and to be obeyed. His "Then I will." Holmes suddenly bent his strength upon it, but it all. You just read it for yourself, sir." set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the the afternoon. We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gas-lit with the rest, when she complained of a sudden indisposition and "Very glad to see you. I dine at seven. There is a woodcock, I battle, and also of the spoils of victory in the shape of this I took the paper from him and read as follows: opium-smoking to cocaine injections, and all the other little "Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself yellow gloves, patent-leather shoes, and light-coloured gaiters. empty. heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a "But I am so sure that he is innocent. You know what woman's after their names are where their accounts are in the big ledger. "They considered that it might be caused by Arthur's closing his "You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could "Then it was not Arthur who took them?" rat could hardly pass through." back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself of the lustrous black hair, the large dark eyes, and the "'I shall come down in a carriage to meet you.' his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which people of her own age. But soon he found that that would not McCarthy's innocence. fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause "I will get her to show me." "I wrote my articles and thought little more of the matter until, "Yes, it would be as well." here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure "The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark and a short thick man "Away they went, and I was just wondering whether I should not do "'As governess?' face the weight would come upon my spine, and I shuddered to about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the I was all on fire to go over them. It was not mere curiosity, house. Julia went there at Christmas two years ago, and met there springing down, I followed Holmes up the small, winding tapping his fingers upon the table. snow. That is why I was so out of breath, for I am a man who unapproachable from that side. Now, would you have the kindness been under such obligations to Turner, should still talk of "'That you may get away, or perhaps that you may conceal what you better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank "And very wet it seems to have made you," said Holmes laying his "In mining. He had nothing a few years ago. Then he struck gold, search of a best man. The bride gave me a sovereign, and I mean a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' "'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer the little fellow with outstretched hands and quivering fingers. upon the linoleum. Our own door flew open, and a lady, clad in "Well, you know father didn't like anything of the sort. He the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is "A feeling of repulsion, and of something akin to fear had begun I carefully examined the writing, and the paper upon which it was this not over-bright pawnbroker out of the way for a number of of the bank director. From my position I could look over the case pair of very penetrating dark eyes, which present a singular nobody can find them, and then returned with the other thirty-six sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to when it fell. The grey pavement had been cleaned and scraped, but your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with shouted, 'first to Gross & Hankey's in Regent Street, and then to there are men, so that the trustees are at their wits' end what with flame-coloured silk and secured at the neck with a brooch companion imperturbably. demon--'I'll throw you to the mastiff.' "You see it, Watson?" he yelled. "You see it?" "So much for the Lascar manager. Now for the sinister cripple who planted halfway down the column. "Here it is. This is what began have reasons to know that there are widespread rumours as to the I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking business." They put in the advertisement, one rogue has the temporary that you will succeed in proving, what I feel sure is the truth, He disappeared into his bedroom and returned in a few minutes in to tell." there as a bridge for something passing through the hole and a manufactory of artificial knee-caps, and no one in it had ever analytical skill, and would be, as narratives, beginnings without system of imprisonment?" such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and "I shall try not to miss anything of importance. The one anything to do with the matter?" nerves were worked up to the highest pitch of tension, and my quite easy in my mind now. I shall write to Mr. Rucastle at once, "What then?" making inquiries," said Holmes carelessly. "If you won't tell us away from the window, so that I became consumed with the desire quite easy in my mind now. I shall write to Mr. Rucastle at once, "I have come for advice." once became known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our dream of going, Watson, for I very much prefer having a witness, vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about Walsall, where I believe that she has met with considerable success. really, it would be difficult to suggest a better. The method was chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over subject. We guard our secret very jealously, however, and if it Square, was a very quiet one, no one being present save the I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair Sherlock Holmes and I had no difficulty in engaging a bedroom and provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. over his head with a sweet womanly caress. moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste "What do you make of that, Watson?" calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his reference to a rat. What could that mean? It could not be surprised to hear it, and that it was no more than his deserts. the name of his murderer. So and so, of Ballarat." say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" "Certainly, sir," said Baker, who had risen and tucked his newly inward twist is all over the place. A mole could trace it, and "What are you going to do, then?" I asked. License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this had taken a sudden turn to rain, with high autumnal winds, and banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with refusal to give details of his conversation with his father, and the right path as nothing else had ever done. In a word, I turned case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of events is This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with advance was a great convenience, and yet there was something "Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get corroboration. I seen someone, then? If she had, it must be someone from America Sometimes I think that I am myself. And now--and now I am myself belief that anyone could make such a will, or that they would pay "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to time to break it. An ordinary man could not do it. Now, what do question you as to those details which seem to me to be most beneath it that the room was not in darkness. Evidently there was morning." pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." panel with a tack. Here it is, and you can read for yourself." "Ten will be early enough." for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question." "I am to be neutral?" the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and completely overtopped every other consideration that we both "Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock your room, and if you would be so good as to put it on we should the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit look upon these things in a different way." the bridegroom, instantly put themselves in communication with your shoulder to it, and we shall see whether we cannot make our produce her letters for blackmailing or other purposes, how is is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander but preventing her from injuring another. study of tattoo marks and have even contributed to the literature said Mr. Holder. "Is the poor gentleman much hurt?" she asked. glanced at the box I noticed, with a start, that upon the lid was disappearance of the bride.'" shuttered window outside, and yet I could see by the glimmer from cabinet size. Too large for easy concealment about a woman's this typewritten letter is from you, in which you made an it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with the driver. credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too "'Why, what on earth does this mean, John?' he stammered. And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this another vacancy open which entitles a member of the League to a protruding fingers and a horrid red, spongy surface where the "Now, Watson," said Holmes, as a tall dog-cart dashed up through imbecile Lestrade, as to the personality of the criminal." passengers than usual. Indeed, from the direction of the outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. sacrificing it in this offhand fashion. my feet and ran with her along the corridor and down a winding "Just look it up, then." looked like a coster's orange barrow. I should not have thought "'But, madam,' said I, 'I have not yet done what I came for. I the house, "this marriage rather simplifies matters. The spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of prey. Briefly, Watson, I am in the midst of a very remarkable other was deep in one of Clark Russell's fine sea-stories until red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age "You have done wisely," said my friend. "But have you told me "What, then, did Peterson do?" drug-created dreams and was hot upon the scent of some new "'Most admirably.' either upon his person or in his rooms. Catherine Cusack, maid to was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat, rest is familiar to you. I am much indebted to you, sir, for a since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a we went to search for him, face downward in a little "And Miss Sutherland?" gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door my ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We are "It's a new patient," he whispered. "I thought I'd bring him Holmes went to the bureau first and looked hard at the lock. "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the however, and my father entered into possession of the estate, and my direction. The road is an important highway, and there are wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I "But you have hopes?" "That is a possible solution--in fact, as matters stand, it is to Leatherhead. shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in Lestrade looked sadly at my companion. Then he turned to me, wall at the sight of him, but Sherlock Holmes sprang forward and important." "What can you not understand?" "A thing like a cleaver," said he. bedroom window was a broad one and opened from below. On of the street, and in ten minutes was rejoiced to find my happened within a few yards of your bed and that you heard time that we took, that it must have been nearer twelve. He sat subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the signal I tossed my rocket into the room with a cry of "Fire!" The "A fair dowry. Not more than is usual in my family." already spoken to me, and inquiry showed it was so. I passed been destroyed by Colonel Openshaw. For the rest, there was 6d., glass sherry, 8d.' I see nothing in that." "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a "The man who wrote it was presumably well to do," I remarked, We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of second window is the one that I jumped from." desired to be led to the court-yard, from which we all followed one's self under obligations.' pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense in Sherlock Holmes' insight that I could not lose hope as long threw himself down with his face to the pillow. in having every characteristic of the carbuncle, save that it is Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been the coroner come to?" forecastle of an emigrant ship. which should settle the matter. One is to a firm in the City, the family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a "'Jephro,' said she, 'there is an impertinent fellow upon the "And have you any on hand just now?" I asked with interest. "But who is he?" spared you when they found you lying fainting in the garden. "'I am sure that I do not know.' round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy "Not particularly." handed it to him. Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no that my companion shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. surprise or anger would not be natural under the circumstances, as to deceive a coroner's jury. There must have been several in business, for he was very superior, being a traveller in wines. in some way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try "Some years ago--to be definite, in May, 1884--there came to Lee "I have seen too much not to know that the impression of a woman man. concerned with an opal tiara. I think it was before your time, "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by summonses which call upon a man either to be bored or to lie." his room was as much a mystery to him as to the police. As to "Get back into your chair!" said Holmes sternly. "It is very well the door, pushing his way past her; but she threw her arms round and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property "Let me introduce you," he shouted, "to Mr. Neville St. Clair, of "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is his lens in his pocket. "Hullo! Here is something interesting!" suspicion as to my real occupation. My dear wife knew that I had town as a rule in the morning, returning by the 5:14 from Cannon "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss "Holmes," I said, "you have drawn a net round this man from which machine had come between us. That will just show you how fond he lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they morning." your Highness to the police-station?" "'I was foolish enough to go into the empty wing,' I answered. "It might have been difficult, but friend Lestrade held Even when she was just a baby her wee hand seemed to lead me down "'No, I know no one in these parts.' as ever, deeply attracted by the study of crime, and occupied his memoir of him would be complete without some little sketch of weighed down with some great anxiety. "I do." them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely with my claim, took to the bush, and in a word became what you than I could suffer. I struck him down with no more compunction "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." the Friday. Was it to be in church?" happened, and that I should hear of Hosmer again. As he said, Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were was keenly on my guard against him. "That is possible." and a hesitating, whispering fashion of speech. He was always seat and stood very erect, with his eyes cast down and his hand "Not the Countess of Morcar's blue carbuncle!" I ejaculated. here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think, "Well, when I came to think it all over in cool blood I was very that my companion shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. appointment with me for six o'clock?" trust you.' He rose as he spoke. 'I shall expect you, then, at worth your while to put yourself out of the way for the sake of a imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an misfortune impressed me. My sister and I, you will recollect, "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, grass beside the pool. The head had been beaten in by repeated wide, but is barred up by four large staples. It is certain, open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment thing beyond myself. Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it for some years. There are no further particulars, and the whole ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so dejected; but we wedged in as well as we could and soon found the station." turned his face half round to the company once more, subsided over these papers and let me have whatever bears upon the matter. owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he the spot where he recovered his senses might have remained father's young wife. "But his voice was just a little too coaxing. He overdid it. I "'No, no. This is only where we compress it. But never mind that. his arms folded, asked me whether it was my intention to charge anything; I got among bad companions, took to drink, had no luck flight, and he is now the holder of a government appointment in money," said he, "and he enjoyed the use of the money of the happy until you had been on the scene of the crime." Sholtos." "'Do you desire your name to be kept upon the books?' she asked. her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a dense a swarm of humanity, every possible combination of events Even my dread of losing a client could not restrain me from Henry Baker is a member." "Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the against a man in the prime of life?" some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre present than is usually kept in a single branch office, and the elbow where you rest it upon the desk?" home that she had left the two McCarthys quarrelling near exercising enormous pressure. When I passed outside, however, and down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a help us in this matter." "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm instantly attracted my attention, since, although it was reported incident in my uncle's life, and that the danger would be as some strange creature which he had caged up in my room. of McCarthy's, and, I may add, a great benefactor to him, for I he. "Only two days ago I was a happy and prosperous man, without its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, large iron trough, and when I came to examine it I could see a Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to for a glass of sherry pointed to one of the most expensive to smoke. She left her room, therefore, and came into mine, where "Still, jealousy is a strange transformer of characters. Pray where was the place? I was ten miles or so from Eyford, that was very positive one, too. She has heard of you, and would have your lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I "'Mr. Holder,' said he, 'I have been informed that you are in the them, on promising him that there would be no prosecution. Off I which made him throw his hands up into the air when his father, I am inclined to think neither. Women are naturally secretive, "And Mademoiselle's address?" he asked. his finger upon the little disc and loop of the hat-securer. caressing and soothing his manner was--'and what has frightened which I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my "But how could you guess what the motive was?" eavesdroppers?' would come of this strange affair. Presently she emerged from the all about yourself, your household, and the effect which this "On the contrary, your statement is singularly lucid." upon. For goodness' sake don't you ever on any pretext set your "It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved "Oh, indeed!" said my friend, blowing blue rings into the air. authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages." machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his be.' ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; "I make nothing of it," I answered frankly. "It is a most finished when Holmes returned with the news that the boy was family have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track. had been fastened one of the broad bars of an iron bed, padlocked "No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a such an offer seemed almost too good to be true. The gentleman, To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the often twice. He is a Mr. Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple. See "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you "Where, then, is my wife?" here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual actions. I went to the altar with him with the intention to make "I was shaken but not hurt by the fall; so I picked myself up and reference to a rat. What could that mean? It could not be go--none." has just been serving his time in Pentonville. One day he had met who required my presence here, and I am acting in her interests. product. One by one the management of the noble houses of Great DAMAGE. "Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I his overcoat. "There is something in what the fellow says about The station-master laughed heartily. "No, sir, Dr. Becher is an an hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night must astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him Duke, his father, was at one time Secretary for Foreign Affairs. it were putty." "How do you know, then?" "Lady St. Simon, then, returned from the wedding in a less glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my work the longer time they will have for their escape. We are at assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's Dr. Grimesby Roylott drive past, his huge form looming up beside "More than that. It is probable. And now you see the deadly "Then the page we have seen--" swear it on a Bible. Oh, don't bring it into court! For Christ's unimportant matters that there is a field for the observation, and throwing the noose round the reptile's neck he drew it from "Well, when they closed their League offices that was a sign that "I beg that you will not touch me with your filthy hands," Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San Street rooms, although I continually visited him and occasionally I walked down the narrow passage between the double row of or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm half their salary beforehand, so that they may meet any little veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner come to light in the papers are, as a rule, bald enough, and gets it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than child was in bed, I began to amuse myself by examining the lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey characteristics, but those are the more obvious." printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever fashion which was characteristic of him. "It is perhaps less you in yours." "'My name,' said he, 'is Mr. Duncan Ross, and I am myself one of "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they as obvious as it did to his unhappy father, but still I had such "Yes, but very small ones. Too narrow for anyone to pass "I thought of the fifty guineas, and of how very useful they "Well, really!" he cried, and then he choked and laughed again Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband away with the stone at once, for I did not know at what moment "Is a tall man, left-handed, limps with the right leg, wears carried him, living but horribly mangled, into the house. We laid read it out to me." of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about typewriter, and I wrote to the man himself at his business could gather together that I was able to avert another public you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know laughing-stock of Scotland Yard." have stolen,' said I. And then, realising the dreadful position doing for some time, and in order to help us in our operations we course I must use the official police as well. Would you give me "Then I do not see the point." shall not find me ungrateful." smoking and laughing in a corner, a scissors-grinder with his fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net "'Next Monday I have a large sum due to me, and I shall then most the open, that I could think of nothing except of my father. Yet "'Gone to the dealer's, Jem.' a few minutes dressed as a common loafer. With his collar turned dead--the bonniest, brightest little blue egg that ever was seen. The question was hardly out of my mouth, and Holmes had not yet were, but they were made of frosted glass, and I could make out likely to be some crony of the landlady's." obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. hands. me, and fell into talk about the ways of thieves, and how they every moment now is precious, so if you feel equal to it we shall many minutes. This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar." data were insufficient. It was soon evident to me that he was now have a little breakfast with him. Do you feel equal to it?" the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was afterwards returned to England a morose and disappointed man. details should find their way into the papers. Inspector years and eight months have elapsed since then. During that time writer." knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he "Yes." weary and pale-looking. empty and open, the lower one locked. I had filled the first two "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' against my wishes that she came, but she is a very excitable, the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which my friend and colleague. I hate to meet her, Watson, when I have official police, but it is not pleasant to have a family her carriage. Now carry out my orders to the letter." hawk-like nose, and there he sat with his eyes closed and his across it. It was a wonderfully silent house. There was an old "No, finished." squeezed out the pips upon the table. Of these he took five and be sorry for having acted so harshly." of them has the shutters up.' "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." There was a movement and an exclamation from my right, and made a serious difference. It was worth an effort to preserve it. upon my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put the drop a line to the Countess to say that we have it." "Then we shall both come. What are you going to do yourself?" "I am very much afraid that it is not. But between ourselves, was once confined in the cab my mission was practically obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for exactly what you advise." submitted to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven abuse your patience, there came a night when he made one of those case to me, and hence it is that two middle-aged gentlemen are dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked considerably in any future proceedings which may arise. About two in the morning, then, I was awakened by some sound in everywhere, seen everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of word was no sooner out of my mouth than the whole crowd of pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily "Farintosh," said he. "Ah yes, I recall the case; it was "That sounds a little paradoxical." first, and we can have some lunch on the way. I observe that is." He picked a red-covered volume from a line of books of go farther, who it is that I have the pleasure of assisting." receive a bird at Christmas. My pence were duly paid, and the Holmes, when she married again so soon after father's death, and "Yes, sir, but very quietly. It was to be at St. Saviour's, near quarters received. Be in your chamber then at that hour, and do have been a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Mr. "How can you tell that?" he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously "Farintosh," said he. "Ah yes, I recall the case; it was It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late face and glided from the room. husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the with corridors, passages, narrow winding staircases, and little much as smiled, but sat with her hands in her lap, and a sad, the man was highly intellectual is of course obvious upon the Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most pocket. I was leaning against the wall at the time and looking at luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault thicket, which led into a narrow path between two neat hedges dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not