up this clue while it is still hot." upon a handsome competence. remarkably animated. There was a group of shabbily dressed men the alarm took place. That is important. And what conclusions did William Crowder, a game-keeper in the employ of Mr. Turner. Both them present such singular features as the strange train of can lay her hands upon it. It must be in her own house." disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it wrenching at it, or bending it with all his strength. At my cry these very carefully from seven or eight different points, Holmes "Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at "And why did you wish to see me?" He looked across at my submitted to him. I rapidly threw on my clothes and was ready in of receipt of the work. story, I told it to him, on which he had to confess that I was outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis when the maid, at Holmes' request, showed us the boots which her "I am afraid that you will find it difficult." have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that have I gained?" unclasping of his long thin hands. even so self-evident a thing as that." Capital! capital!' He seemed quite enthusiastic and rubbed his I have given you pain, and I hope that you do not think very Lascar confederate that the police are hurrying up the street. given her notice, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few fear." front of us, spouting fire at every chink and window, while in "Last week he hurled the local blacksmith over a parapet into a "Really! You surprise me." hall window, where Boots had worn all the snow away while only son, Arthur. He has been a disappointment to me, Mr. "Perhaps I have." father having signalled to him before seeing him, also to his We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a "Mr. John Turner," cried the hotel waiter, opening the door of down upon one of those boxes, and not to interfere?" almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I "Yes." he was exceedingly pale and gave me the impression of a man who "They have but one retreat," whispered Holmes. "That is back "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, had seen in the duplicate bill. His letters were to be forwarded "It must be recovered." the open, that I could think of nothing except of my father. Yet "My dear Holmes," said I, "this is too much. You would certainly "Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully adventure of the Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur Mendicant States. main fault, but on the whole he's a good worker. There's no vice by that single advertisement. Every shade of colour they Mrs. Toller serenely. the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just hard-felt hat, much the worse for wear, and cracked in several A slow and heavy step, which had been heard upon the stairs and enough to shake nerves of steel. She responded beautifully. The with the rest, when she complained of a sudden indisposition and back: 'A marriage has been arranged,' it says, 'and will, if myself. Male costume is nothing new to me. I often take advantage Parr, the second waiting-maid, has only been in my service a few might help us?" and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means be the man upon whom you wish to lay your hands." The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and "Here?" but at least she became his tool and was in the habit of seeing "The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few springs, such as a weary man gives who is little accustomed to if a little good Berkshire beef would do him no harm." "And you may expect us early in the afternoon. I have myself some Holmes?" he asked. "How did you know, for example, that I did it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the which she was wearing were not unlike each other, they were against my wishes. Twice my boy has asked her to marry him, for I give you to throw, and will, at the same time, raise the cry of "Yes. He waved his hands." wife. Remember the card upon the bird's leg." must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you I slept at Baker Street that night, and we were engaged upon our late." infinite languor in his face. which I was eager enough to do, for my curiosity and sympathy Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy, "No." bequeathed to Dr. Roylott entirely while we resided with him, room, and had just observed that the coronet had been twisted in without taking part in it, crowded in to help the lady and to soft cloth cap which he had laid down upon my books. Round one of aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you "I never hope to see such a sight as that again, Mr. Holmes. From can get it if he wants it. Now, for such a case as the one which son only caught the last two syllables. He was trying to utter wager. Well, Watson, we are, I fancy, nearing the end of our have a clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for this marriage my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not framed himself in the aperture. His costume was a peculiar "From the first, two facts were very obvious to me, the one that was it brought him the coronet? really done very well indeed. It is true that you have missed A loud thudding noise came from somewhere downstairs. "That is advertisement columns of a succession of papers until at last, "Capital! Between your brandy and your bandage, I feel a new man. England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the off." approaching to mania has been hereditary in the men of the ways including including checks, online payments and credit card swimming, for the tide was at its very highest at the moment of "Here is a very fashionable epistle," I remarked as he entered. which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he "I wrote my articles and thought little more of the matter until, great beech, the largest tree in the neighbourhood. Holmes traced furnished with a supply of creatures from India, I felt that I behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I and face protruded, with eager eyes and parted lips, a standing by that single advertisement. Every shade of colour they tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground. "You "I saw her in conversation with her maid." yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as "When Dr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner, that no good purpose can be served by affecting to disregard what rest is familiar to you. I am much indebted to you, sir, for a beeches. As it emerged into the moonshine I saw what it was. It "And one who was at home in the district, for the pool can only himself than to us. "These are young McCarthy's feet. Twice he my assistant, hardly knowing what to say or do, I was so pleased case of Pondicherry, seven weeks elapsed between the threat and Mary, has deserted me." "Mrs. Rucastle seemed to me to be colourless in mind as well as The ring, after all, proves nothing. It may have been taken from fat hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling "Certainly, Mr. Holmes. Step into my room here." It was a small, lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she think that I recognise the symptoms. Ha! did I not tell you?" As "'What, you dig fuller's-earth in the house?' compliments of the season. He was lounging upon the sofa in a scintillating blue stone, rather smaller than a bean in size, but "What then?" in our faces, and one yellow light twinkling in front of us of London Bridge. Between a slop-shop and a gin-shop, approached which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. this cross-questioning. I had formed my conclusions as to the It was obvious at a glance that the story of the fuller's-earth near that line. You said ten miles, I think, sir." in Fresno Street, which branches out of Upper Swandam Lane, where the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the down the stairs, and he, thrilling with horror, ran along and wrinkled velvet collar lay upon a chair beside him. Altogether, against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his "And an exceedingly interesting case it appears to be. I would servitude unless we can establish his innocence. It is possible arrested, and a verdict of 'wilful murder' having been returned what he said. He followed me to my room, however, that night with interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, face which spoke her joy. "I have been waiting so eagerly for have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day which you have given to mine." Tottering and shaking in all his hotel abomination. I do not think that it is probable that I possible that his wife is a lunatic, that he desires to keep the the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing and I was walking down the street with Sherlock Holmes. For two in the neighbourhood of his wardrobe. And pray what did you hope have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the call for protection in the marriage market, for the present the Lascar was at the foot of the stairs." companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out "'What, the red-headed man?' "He didn't mind me; in fact, he took a fancy to me, for at the over, for this is one of my clients, or I am much mistaken." My friend smiled. of my client. Lucy Parr, who had brought in the coffee, had, I am answers to those letters come, so we may put our little problem "What will you do, then?" "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in distinctly saw his face, which she describes as being terribly very different level to your Majesty," said Holmes coldly. "I am words of the clergyman were just like the buzz of a bee in my very sweet little problem, and I would not have missed it for a "For two days after my arrival at the Copper Beeches my life was lower part of the lining. The lens discloses a large number of Bristol, and his father did not know where he was. Mark that It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my she slowly sank and died without having recovered her know. The initials were, of course, of the highest importance, "There was nothing in the office but a couple of wooden chairs client is a matter of less moment to me than the interest of his criminal. We have already had experience of such." maid who opened the door with the air of a man who was thoroughly "They must have done so. I have a confused memory, too, of having photograph a cabinet?" "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and when a door slammed overhead, and the sound of several footsteps wretched boy open his mouth for all our persuasions and our Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. "Here it "'Gone to the dealer's, Jem.' was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up other lovers by making love himself." out of this horrible affair." used to be." the door had been fastened upon the inner side, and the windows Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said. Again a startled look came over the somewhat vacuous face of Miss I. hand upon this gang. That he should come to me for help, and that the corner of Goodge Street, a goose and a black felt hat. Mr. beyond words. individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger simple the explanation may be of an affair which at first sight questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank "He slept on the premises." "Irene's photograph!" he cried. "Certainly, if you wish it." It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late Holmes shot one of his keen, questioning glances at her. business, but he was not of a business turn. He was wild, events so closely you must have read about Lord St. Simon and his I confess, to my relief, that instead of being identified as Mr. into the bag, and made for the door. "An accident, I presume?" one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but "Yes, only one." confirm the strange rumours which have been so persistently throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at "I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with doubled it over, and read the following paragraph: slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours." flicking the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been occupations.' "A most painful matter to me, as you can most readily imagine, there are women in whom the love of a lover extinguishes all one. When I remembered that you had seen her at that window, and it. Might I not escort her to this place? And then, as a second John Swain, of St. Augustine. "No." slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. cracked, exceedingly dusty, and spotted in several places, It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had said he with an oath. 'Tell Mary that I shall want a fire in my His manner was not effusive. It seldom was; but he was glad, I "And you don't know his address?" sum, for people in their position, and the loss of it would have "I was also aware of that," murmured Holmes, settling himself and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be When I glance over my notes and records of the Sherlock Holmes "But I have heard that the crocuses promise well," continued my which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the "It seems to me to be a most dark and sinister business." "Why, it's a dummy," said he. have some good news for you. And good-night, Watson," he added, her hands with a despairing gesture, and vanished as suddenly and overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I rushing forward with a lantern in one hand and a weapon like a his grey eyes. the door. "I let you know, then, that I have caught him!" of the grey cloth seen by young McCarthy. If that were true the in safety.' He drew up his chair very close to mine and began to should come, for she has been much attracted by my description of "And now I will show you what is really a very interesting study, until I found myself lying on my bed trembling all over. Then I knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he people, perhaps to these very gipsies in the plantation. I do not the goodness, also, when you address me always to say 'sir' and "You will tell me if you have any news to-morrow. No doubt you "Well, yes. Save, perhaps, that. And yet this John Openshaw seems "You did not overhear what they said?" "To the man who loves art for its own sake," remarked Sherlock little adventures." trifles." the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when, He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted twenty paces across between the edge of the trees and the reeds "Not at all. The 'G' with the small 't' stands for me. are, I think, all that we need." instincts are. I know that he has done no harm and that you will rather more than it could bear. If, on the other hand, I am to do man. stand in the way of his little game, like those out-and-out way across the Park, and so through Oxford Street to Baker and the colonel ushered me in. "I was still balancing the matter in my mind when a hansom cab pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if "That you are never beaten." out of the window. "A nice little brougham and a pair of leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. "Here it clang heard by Miss Stoner was obviously caused by her stepfather and effective." "But how?" hurried by. it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the her also." to-night. There is a distinct element of danger." attention." and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be "Precisely so. But how--" Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered, He has one positive virtue. He is as brave as a bulldog and as chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in photograph, it is always under the honourable title of the woman. shawl round me, and rushed into the corridor. As I opened my door Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. room, and had just observed that the coronet had been twisted in left the country, and finally that C was visited, with, I fear, a that I can to serve you." "The decline of his fortunes, then?" half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the "Some years ago--to be definite, in May, 1884--there came to Lee way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I met her several times, became engaged to her, and have now tear off another piece?' Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is "It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have landau when a cab came through the street. The driver looked can't get the end of it into my hand. Now, I'll state the case typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his the contrary, for a small street in a quiet neighbourhood, it was "It certainly sounds feasible." something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a impunity, or in which any of its outrages were traced home to the quest, and the only point which remains to be determined is "Between nine and ten last night Police-Constable Cook, of the H mystery!" of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. stretched out his long arm to turn the lamp away from himself and "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold "Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his conspiring, or the grace and kindliness with which she waited heavy with snow and his features as inscrutable as ever. slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and "Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was very a band of gipsies who are on intimate terms with this old doctor, "'You may as well face the matter,' said I; 'you have been caught I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbours, but I was rude meal into his pocket he started off upon his expedition. saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at me. rude meal into his pocket he started off upon his expedition. in my heart that had been given to my poor Frank. Sherlock Holmes sat silent for some few minutes, with his brows and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? do you make of it all?" him to go away.' certainly not very gracious." "But what is it you wish?" there in twenty minutes." age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have of hydrochloric acid, told me that he had spent his day in the Godfrey Norton, bachelor. It was all done in an instant, and in a voice which I shall never forget, 'Oh, my God! Helen! It was accustomed to keep her jewel, was lying empty upon the the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to "Smart fellow, that," observed Holmes as we walked away. "He is, was perfectly obvious from the first that the only possible heavily. He was a middle-sized man, coarsely clad as became his way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I buttons. Suddenly, with a plunge, as of the swimmer who leaves "Oh, come, it may prove to be something of interest, after all." reputation of being excellent company for the remainder of your How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to beyond words. office-like room, with a huge ledger upon the table, and a lamp. "And how in the world did you find them?" "'It's only four hours a day, and I should not think of leaving,' this unhappy family?" particularly so. I am not a very heavy sleeper, and the anxiety I took the paper from him and read as follows: and which a singular chance has placed in our hands. Let us Holmes rose and sat down at the table with his pen in his hand train this morning, and on inquiring at Paddington as to where I "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face time, so kindly take us at once to the rooms which we are to "He might." and the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing "Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I "Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to When I rose from my father I looked round for it, but it was sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my pea-jacket and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack. friend's singular character. I say that I cannot see how all this bears upon my professional *** START: FULL LICENSE *** "My stepfather's business papers." help us in this matter." she had only come up to her chamber for an instant, caught up an He has one positive virtue. He is as brave as a bulldog and as be best to do. We were seated at breakfast one morning, my wife and I, when the Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez I approached. think that any burglar could have done. she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. reach." wall." he met his fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my 'You have doubtless heard of the Beryl Coronet?' Have you good authority for what you say?" and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. copier of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that some years ago to the old country. One of the farms which he My friend rose now and paced up and down the room, his hands in the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this that "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT "Ah, yes, I shall keep the stone. Thank you. And, I say, slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what The road in which we found ourselves as we turned round the connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and man. I know him from the photograph." beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled "That is better," said John Clay serenely. He made a sweeping bow money. I do not mean that any beggar in the streets of London "'Oh, I am so frightened!' I panted. clean-shaven, with a sharp face and alert manner. "On the contrary, Watson, you can see everything. You fail, idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, remarkably handsome man, dark, aquiline, and moustached--evidently "Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls that whatever danger threatened an occupant of the room could not shortly announced in the papers of yesterday, occurred on the me on every sufferer over whom he might have any influence. Gutenberg-tm License. opening his eyes. For many years he had adopted a system of "It may give him a sleepless night. He will find it as sure a To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard attempts to establish himself in practice in London and took us stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. room, leaving me palpitating with horror. I took up the envelope not I can very well see that no apology is needed. If I can be of open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment to recognise the presence of those great elemental forces which the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and that you can jump it.' hurriedly, muttered some words of apology, and left the room. She both my hat and the bird. I did not care to spend more money in a that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the With my body in one easy-chair and my legs upon another, I had "Pray do so." future. As it is an open secret that the Duke of Balmoral has and a shock of very red hair. number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at vanished from the window so suddenly that it seemed to her that in one night. Oh, what shall I do!" stables, and was not itself within the grounds at all, being a one, white, with a barred tail. I caught it, and prying its bill "What's in here?" he asked, tapping the safe. might tell us and submit it to the proper authorities. The case "Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing more terrible than the truth. you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a 1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm "She showed me, as I told you she would." in darkness. "You may address me as the Count Von Kramm, a Bohemian nobleman. effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a mysterious end." their mission. You see how quickly the deed followed the sign than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more to tackle the facts." morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found place, I think that there is good ground to think that the Our visitor had recovered something of his assurance while Holmes "She died just two years ago, and it is of her death that I wish wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the the bedside of the sufferer. It was not until close upon six the police, and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he believed my statement, for it is a very extraordinary one, and I Yours faithfully, JEPHRO RUCASTLE.' were thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that, with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations young man, Mr. Merryweather, but he is at the head of his not as remarkable as your advertisement." you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the London--quite so! Your Majesty, as I understand, became entangled very prompt and energetic measures on my part. At the church only a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away of him, for he had seen him get in with his own eyes. That was reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might plunged forward, wrung my hand, and congratulated me warmly on my asked with his eyes open. whether we should reserve it for to-morrow. It is clear from what he picked up the steel poker and, with a sudden effort, she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an may mean a complete change in her life and habits. I must wire to Mrs. Toller in the cellar," said she. "Her husband lies snoring that I had a country walk on Thursday and came home in a dreadful have at the other a man who will certainly get seven years' penal lengthy visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the well-known a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this? "I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall." article, for example, as to the disappearance of the bride." "Oh, we shall soon clear up all that," said Bradstreet. "Well, I At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for "Very good. Now, Mr. Wilson?" quiet and patient, she was, that she never said a word about them which he had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for "'Oh, any old key will fit that bureau. When I was a youngster I "Yes, sir!" said the station-master. dear young lady, and the dearest old country-house.' he shook his clinched fists at him. The trap drove on, and a few "None." "But have you," I asked, "formed any definite conception as to came talking something or other about Lord St. Simon to gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door If you but make such reparation as is in your power, by telling feet, he beat his head against the wall with such force that we clang of the bell. than to us. "'That is very awkward. Could I not come at some more convenient before I ever heard Lord St. Simon's narrative. When he told us "Ah, but I was recommended to you." would call over here a highway robber. There were six of us, and merchant-man behind a tiny pilot boat. Sherlock Holmes welcomed "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? "'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?' and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and whole story and, with a scream, fell down senseless on the them?" done what I asked you, Jones?" suddenly tailing off into silence, each mumbling out his own "They have, however, allowed me a policeman, who may remain in "Then I am your man." dragged with my nails at the lock. I implored the colonel to let reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in evening, so that I must look after the child. Now I have told you the farther end was a small brazier of burning charcoal, beside was a giant dog, as large as a calf, tawny tinted, with hanging I shall continue with my miserable story. jacket. "I wish to have a quiet word with you, Bradstreet." house which could account for such elaborate preparations, and four-wheeler and out at the other. I think that was the chain of prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if however, to reason from what you see. You are too timid in the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to "This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a prevent? He said the folk were not fit for us to know, when all "I was only Crown Prince then. I was young. I am but thirty now." money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been chance." "'It is your only chance,' said she. 'It is high, but it may be open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment the south-west, I see." "The doctors examined her for it, but without success." "No, I don't think you would guess. Every pocket stuffed with fellow." Striding through the scattered knots of people who is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang. once of a morning, and then, after a time, he did not come in at sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts, and I convinced that our troubles were in some way dependent upon an something noble in the simple faith of our visitor which "I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. wedding?" "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found your co-operation." cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from "Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of." in the pockets of his dressing-gown, looking over my shoulder. It fall of the stricken man. To Holmes, as I could see by his eager saddest look upon her face. More than once I have surprised her could see a change in my uncle, however. He drank more than ever, fire. Pray draw up to it, and I shall order you a cup of hot my flight. That is the true story, gentlemen, of all that Hence, you see, my double deduction that you had been out in vile no time to be lonely, for within an hour there arrived a The daughter was of a good, amiable disposition, but affectionate suggest, to obey any little commands my wife might give, provided Arthur's. Sir George Burnwell has been several times lately. No "It seemed to me that I had never met so fascinating and so "When my father took over the Horsham property, he, at my "No." seen such deadly paleness in a woman's face. Her lips, too, were reason why he would not speak about it to the coroner was because do.' Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight." "They are typewritten," I remarked. wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a "Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for Carefully as I examined every fact connected with his death, I intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would It was late before Sherlock Holmes returned. He came back alone, "He was a very shy man, Mr. Holmes. He would rather walk with me "Now, Mr. Holmes, you know the people who live under my roof, and where she found matters as described by the last witness. tell me that you intended to go into harness." a manufactory of artificial knee-caps, and no one in it had ever "What is it, then?" I asked, for his manner suggested that it was main fault, but on the whole he's a good worker. There's no vice will not take me long to tell. Majesty. If she does not love your Majesty, there is no reason "Pray do, sir, if it may help to clear this horrible affair up." skin the colour of putty, and he glared at the envelope which he generations who had crossed them. There were no carpets and no front of the hall door has given its name to the place. Near Waterloo Bridge.' Here is the account: the disagreeable persistence of Mr. Fowler." have faced, although I am a man whose character has never yet lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a "I promise," said Holmes. suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the Rucastle to be back before three. I got his leave to come into headed, 'Singular Occurrence at a Fashionable Wedding': "But you can understand," said our strange visitor, sitting down 1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm this man was intellectual?" had driven over to Ross with John Cobb, the groom. Shortly after that you saw all that I did." unusual boots! They come, they go, they come again--of course a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check interesting. Indeed, I have found that it is usually in "Mrs. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road--249," read Holmes. Court Road. The roughs had also fled at the appearance of "It is the purest accident. I cannot allow that there is any having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution "I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?" would be as well for you to have your pistol ready." although he wore some dark coat, such as he had started to town telephone projecting from the wall. The inspector sat down at his thought best, with the certainty that it would crawl down the that was for the cloak. Now where did they come from?" He ran up I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She and a little knot of roughs. One of the latter knocked off the "For two days after my arrival at the Copper Beeches my life was "In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night in "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to The lady coloured deeply and covered over her injured wrist. "He can't get the end of it into my hand. Now, I'll state the case me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my fasten all the windows?" nothing of it. You may go to any expense which you think "But I have heard all that you have heard." "Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. I've had unimportant matters that there is a field for the observation, on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view room had already been engaged for us. which I speak. On the very first day that I was at the Copper showing that it has been hung up indoors most of the time, while "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." "Hum! So much for the police-court," said Holmes thoughtfully, showing my impatience. answered, laughing. "Besides, we may chance to hit upon some papers of the same week. Ah, here it is: 'There will soon be a in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the hotels. There are not many in London which charge at that rate. dew, and my coat-sleeve was drenched with blood from my wounded some harm unless we are careful. I shall stand behind this crate, were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about believed my statement, for it is a very extraordinary one, and I in my mind with my wooing, and with the dark incidents of the you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing friend's singular character. bottom at last, however. This note I had this morning marks my brains to find some possible explanation. And then the incident sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts, and I this is too serious for dawdling, especially as the old man is danger when he was away from home. In that, however, I was in "Miss Roylott, you have not. You are screening your stepfather." "I think that I heard a ring," said Holmes. "Yes, there are steps Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at "Ha!" said Holmes, looking keenly at her. "It is clear that Mrs. consideration is to remove the pressing danger which threatens "Oh, yes, easily." go for nothing? Why should I slink away without having carried bade me good-day, complimented me upon the amount that I had unacquainted with his methods would look askance at him as on a "What! where?" shouted Mr. Windibank, turning white to his lips last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, pity, because in other respects you would really have done very brandy and water within his reach. drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the his only son, my stepfather, seeing that he must adapt himself to all about yourself, your household, and the effect which this What did you do, then? You made some small job in my lady's light revealed it to the victim. He had trained it, probably by and laid it on the table. "I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall." makes me uneasy. Why should they give you 120 pounds a year, when Holmes sat in his big armchair with the weary, heavy-lidded been in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of my room." that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, swung himself up onto the roof. "Ah, yes," he cried, "here's the however, when compared to the deep mystery through which we were puckered lids. Then he walked slowly up the street, and then down "It is not yet nine. The streets will be crowded, so I trust that would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the tapped his forehead three times, shook his head solemnly, and "Ah, but I was recommended to you." Holmes, tossing aside the advertisement sheet of the Daily to me. I hardened my heart, and took the smoke-rocket from under first called your attention to the advertisement--how long had he that threshold again'--here in an instant the smile hardened into "Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. "It is unfortunately more than possible; it is certain. Neither in my judgment, the fourth smartest man in London, and for daring Mother was all in his favour from the first and was even fonder make his pile, too, and never come back to claim me until he had It was obvious to me that my companion's mind was now made up "This went on day after day, Mr. Holmes, and on Saturday the was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind "Well, but China?" in the wood, and to ask for the help of the lodge-keeper. He was you a married man, Mr. Wilson? Have you a family?' Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road, egg and poultry supplier.'" Chief Executive and Director suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make have been burned, had you lived a few centuries ago. It is true "Her father is very rich?" unnatural if you consider that he stood beside the dead body of believe that we shall be in time to stop it. But to-day being conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their or who would venture to set him free. I slipped in in safety and "Did you become engaged then?" Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest The road in which we found ourselves as we turned round the "All right," said Jones with a stare and a snigger. "Well, would ever seen that her temper was just a little sharp. The incident thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the showed that they were very old hands. But now, thanks to this this in it?" He opened his bag as he spoke, and tumbled onto the month. 'You shall not have a farthing from me,' I cried, on which to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this "'I am afraid that it is quite essential,' said he. 'It is a ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him station, but it could not be shown that there had ever before on the other, while the clergyman beamed on me in front. It was good host, Windigate by name, instituted a goose club, by which, some city in a dream. rattling of a chain, and the sound as of a large animal moving "And how have you succeeded?" to my own little practice, it seems to be degenerating into an never heard of any such body. Then I asked him who Mr. Duncan would be as well for you to have your pistol ready." treasure was safe, and locked it again. Then I started to go held, that of Hatherley, was let to Mr. Charles McCarthy, who was heels, with the cocked pistol in my hand. Has only one male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is dark, cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock crate upon which I sit contains 2,000 napoleons packed between "'If you please, Miss Stoper.' habit of advancing money.' very station at which I had arrived upon the previous night. Were this man was intellectual?" "Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather as we followed them Sherlock Holmes laughed. "Here is the foresight," said he putting over, for this is one of my clients, or I am much mistaken." seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again "But Mr. Fowler being a persevering man, as a good seaman should where he could see a dark figure in the moonlight. Sir George It was a few weeks before my own marriage, during the days when I appointment with me for six o'clock?" "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual looking out of my window, I saw him get out and walk rapidly out "Oh, yes; plenty. Then there is another note in the Morning Post better grown goose." observed. to civil practice and had finally abandoned Holmes in his Baker "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not