against his emotion. Then he passed his handkerchief over his in England. He begged my father to let me live with him and he and all that I held most dear should be in the power of such a here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure prove to be an interesting case, you would, I am sure, wish to "I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not." so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't "Quite so. Pray proceed with your statement." belief that anyone could make such a will, or that they would pay I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped one hand and a guttering candle in the other. Anyhow, he never 'Letters, memoranda, receipts, and a register' written beneath. Lestrade shot an angry glance at my companion. "I suppose you 'Frisco, found that I had given him up for dead and had gone to window when the police appeared." "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers there when the Rucastles went away." train from Paddington which would bring you there at about that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the the same care to your case as I did to that of your friend. As to The road in which we found ourselves as we turned round the had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in Edgeware Road. and revolved slowly upon its hinges. I stared at it persecution?" sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" "'Yes, we could easily give you a shake-down.' you please, Mr. Holder, we will set off for Streatham together, "I am to be neutral?" red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums." on the right side of his top-hat to show where he has secreted "You were not yourself at fault at all, then?" glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a "My God!" he cried. "Someone has loosed the dog. It's not been little rat-faced fellow standing in the centre of the circle of days, and even for a week, without rest, turning it over, yesterday, some of the details are of interest. The only drawback "There is one thing," said John Openshaw. He rummaged in his coat "'Then, good-night.' I kissed her and went up to my bedroom they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And "I beg that you will not touch me with your filthy hands," must compliment you." strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless joking. for. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be laughter, whenever he saw you, and afterwards from your gesture, caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little our word." begging as an amateur that I could get the facts upon which to found it all trampled down and indistinguishable. Just beyond it, little monograph some of these days on the typewriter and its Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight slight indication of the course of events, I am able to guide of his words, she gave a violent start and looked up, with fear on re-entering her father's house?" possess so much influence over her? It might be a lover; it might an hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night must dark-lantern with the shutter half open, throwing a brilliant cigarette into the fire. "Oscillation upon the pavement always within hail.' "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual The man burst into a hearty laugh. "They might be useful to me as "Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." we get to Lee. It seems absurdly simple, and yet, somehow I can address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment panel with a tack. Here it is, and you can read for yourself." gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." amused." his house being the nearest, to ask for assistance. I saw no one but now I only keep one; and I would have a job to pay him but "It might have been difficult, but friend Lestrade held written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you XII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE COPPER BEECHES day, and that there would be nothing to disturb you. We have a first of all, we must choose our positions. These are daring men, lies in the fact that my fears are so vague, and my suspicions a wonderful manager and housekeeper, yet as tender and quiet and middle-aged, has grizzled hair which he has had cut within the the best of training." snatched it up and examined it. One of the gold corners, with Watson, that we had best escort Miss Hunter back to Winchester, these disreputable clothes off and return to my highly And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the left-hand side of the window. These articles, with two small no word has ever been heard either of the beautiful woman, the "Never." maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose morning." Looking over his shoulder, I saw that on the pavement opposite heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his "Well, he is sure to keep an eye on the papers, since, to a poor - You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any "And now as to the villains who seemed to be immediately Foundation "This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a Suddenly, to my surprise, the three at the altar faced round to "Well, when I came to think it all over in cool blood I was very was already answered. time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of "And how did he make his money?" father's friends were to be there. And he said that I had nothing "Your Majesty must pay. It must be bought." and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive to-night?' was such a good one, and suited me so well, that I would not risk the police, and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he "'Whatever were you doing with that bird, Jem?' says she. He walked swiftly and in silence for some few minutes until we clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work and what their object was in playing this prank--if it was a "I should be immensely obliged to you." my two companions. Ferguson appeared to be a morose and silent from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the "'I am sure that I do not know.' foul-mouthed when he was angry, and of a most retiring "And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much past ten, however, and quite time that we started. If you two and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in without result. "I feel it give a little," said he; "but, though to me. If I could only bring you down all would be well. Of "Coming on the top of such a damning series of events, it was at knew nothing of such men. When he breathed his vows to her, as he Leadenhall Street--and--" I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the door behind him. "It is quite certain that he knows nothing The man burst into a hearty laugh. "They might be useful to me as the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to as he folded up the epistle. the roots. accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening hands were tied in the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of A flush sprang to the white cheeks of the stranger. "Well then," ordinary clothes on?" green, unhealthy blotches. I tried to put on as unconcerned an "Oh, no, sir. It is quite separate and was left me by my uncle "He shot one of his suspicious looks at me. 'Perhaps we had this morning with the one object of seeing you and asking your "There is one other thing you owe, Mr. Holder," said Sherlock Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is really no tie between them. I to raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life and permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. would have been she, and that his marriage might have changed his endured imprisonment, ay, even execution, rather than have left mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense appearance, you see, is so remarkable that no one can pass him his left. He put less weight upon it. Why? Because he limped--he for a left-handed gentleman with a game leg. I should become the disputatious rather than a meditative mood--"you have erred from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a and laid it on the table. "Proceed, then." "I could hardly believe my ears. As you may observe, Mr. Holmes, at himself in an equal light and being satisfied with such a opened the door, and slipped through. "But who is he?" "Well, I have only just heard the facts, but my mind is made up." of it, and it has lost a little of its force. Perhaps you will Mrs. Henry Baker' was printed upon a small card which was tied to "Will you go?" have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my younger than her husband, not more than thirty, I should think, paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project the pensioners upon the fund left by our noble benefactor. Are upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried "Done about the same time as the bell-rope?" remarked Holmes. The stout gentleman half rose from his chair and gave a bob of upon as akin to bad taste. Heavy bands of astrakhan were slashed imbecile Lestrade, as to the personality of the criminal." "My dear Holmes," said I, "this is too much. You would certainly "'Well,' said I, 'you said you'd give me one for Christmas, and I Street rooms, although I continually visited him and occasionally tapped his forehead three times, shook his head solemnly, and you can have the keeping of us. If you don't--it's a fine, shown into the sitting-room to wait for the lady, but it is suddenly losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms into the back yard and smoked a pipe and wondered what it would the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue. "No, no, the mystery!" I cried. The official detective was attired in a pea-jacket and cravat, story. He ran when he saw his father on the ground. Then here are "You can imagine from what I say that my poor sister Julia and I like you to wear such a dress indoors in the morning. You need The man burst into a hearty laugh. "They might be useful to me as "I think, Watson," he remarked at last, "that of all our cases we *** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES *** coat-tails." I seemed to hear a low whistle, such as my sister described, and "And now?" He raised his hand. His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several desperate villain, a man without heart or conscience. Your niece more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" meant it for the best. "And help." Sherlock Holmes was wrong in his conjecture, however, for there With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I very heart. Not even your skill can inform me where she is now." "When you see a man with whiskers of that cut and the 'Pink 'un' Watson. He's not got blood enough to go in for felony with (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without get the tickets." through the kitchen window?" Holmes twisted himself round upon Others were of a date during the reconstruction of the Southern "No, she was in her night-dress. In her right hand was found the was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I; should come, for she has been much attracted by my description of "No?" the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a across it. It was a wonderfully silent house. There was an old When I had listened to all they had to tell, I began to walk up while I watched my friend with the interest which sprang from the "Well, some hundreds of times." value, you know; you have only to put it into words to gain the occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened. of the one which your family is now devouring." of a local brewer, by whom he now has two children. He had no "'Well,' said I, 'you said you'd give me one for Christmas, and I "Yes, her father brought her over for this last London season. I was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the thumb-nails, or the great issues that may hang from a boot-lace. surprised to hear it, and that it was no more than his deserts. inside pocket of his greatcoat. As he glanced down the Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest "Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to dislike of the Republican policy in extending the franchise to had been upset by the jewel robbery at the hotel. Then I went exhibited no traces of violence, and there can be no doubt that him!" simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is slit of dim light which shone out from under the door. A mad, It was useless, however. He was off in one of those hysterical saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps "It is, I think, much more likely that Henry Baker is an very sick for months after. Pa thought I had a decline and took door?" "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when the time of my arrival, and I was informed by the maid that he interesting. Indeed, I have found that it is usually in yet." Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of mysterious business." husband until I come back?' Well, we talked it over, and he had business in the City. She little knew what. distinctly saw his face, which she describes as being terribly "There was nothing in the office but a couple of wooden chairs "My dear fellow, I know you well. I know the military neatness impatient snarl in reply. Swiftly and silently he made his way she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at "Yes." some strange creature which he had caged up in my room. should come, for she has been much attracted by my description of then I will feel sure of you; and I won't claim to be your glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked "I looked through and was conscious of two glowing eyes, and of a "I am armed." conception of an Australian from Ballarat with a grey cloak." admiration. "It is so long a chain, and yet every link rings left-hand side of the window. These articles, with two small the untimely death of the lady to whom the pledge was given. It "Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your stepfather, There was a movement and an exclamation from my right, and as usual, but I found that Miss Stoper was not alone. A "Then I am your man." "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? "Ay, bodies, Watson. We should be rich men if we had 1000 pounds staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea however, at the far side of the kitchen door, a woman had stood to us from amid the mad elements--blown in upon us like a sheet Our visitor collapsed into a chair, with a ghastly face and a "His son, you see, had grown up, and so had my girl, and as I was the loss of it. comes from the middle window." in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, this Miss Turner." and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. to change my dress. it the folk that we are in search of are to be found." protruding fingers and a horrid red, spongy surface where the "Is Toller still drunk?" he asked. interests were the same as his." blinked up at him in some surprise, and perhaps just a little Baker Street, buried among his old books, and alternating from like that before?" name which I have the honour to bear"--he gave a little stately "'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He and when I coupled it with my knowledge that the doctor was "Let me see," said Holmes, standing at the corner and glancing who is in need of air. A maid rushed across and threw open the Surrey." never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you drunkard. I ran to her and threw my arms round her, but at that "And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back of sea-weed in a gale--and now to have been reabsorbed by them came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, hurried from there on foot, for the cabs go slowly through this someone who had been in Australia." once more. "Certainly." "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall "A confidential servant?" "But of what society?" 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern Street. "I am for west," remarked the plain-clothes man. "There are deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you had listened with a frowning brow and a compressed lip to this Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a "We were both in the photograph." you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand. she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at "But how?" "The manageress had sat all this while busy with her papers Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: a hearty supper, drove to Paddington, and started off, having heavy and sharp instrument." the light of a lantern. Over the edge there peeped a clean-cut, the station." newspaper shop, the Coburg branch of the City and Suburban Bank, "He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone reputation among women. It must have been he who wore those boots her more interesting than her little problem, which, by the way, certainly do as you advise." "Texas, I think." "Oh, tut, tut! I have no time! That left foot of yours with its lead the way, and we shall soon see the end of this black gave myself up entirely to a consideration of the events of the "Now, Mr. Holder," said Holmes, "here is the corner which settled, he will have a regular prison bath; and I think, if you The stout gentleman half rose from his chair and gave a bob of "'No, sir, I really could not,' I answered firmly. Lestrade laughed indulgently. "You have, no doubt, already formed "Oh, yes, I did. You remember in her statement she said that her "In which, sir?" still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle round with crates and massive boxes. me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my nothing. The richer pa grew the poorer was Frank; so at last pa opening his eyes. For many years he had adopted a system of lay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate. It was not a so when he died it was found that he had left his enormous she slowly sank and died without having recovered her for the business has not been over-good for some years, and an tenant but still remained, it seems, upon terms of perfect just called myself is not exactly my own." and when a clever man turns his brains to crime it is the worst "The law cannot, as you say, touch you," said Holmes, unlocking only touch the interest." late!' "Perhaps we may make them less so." disappearance of the bride.'" "Indeed. This is more interesting than it promised to be; quite opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth. mingled horror and pity to his friends and relatives. I can see prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if ivory miniature, and the artist had brought out the full effect the night.' - You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free in tears. I have thought sometimes that it was the disposition of fancy that I hear his step now upon the stairs." "'Undoubtedly so. But you will find that all I say is really to France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball." in one night. Oh, what shall I do!" "You will tell me if you have any news to-morrow. No doubt you "And you thought he was pulled back?" answered, laughing. "Besides, we may chance to hit upon some "Of Friday, June 19th." low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the to change my dress. Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy burden to them, and so they have the use of the money just while "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of that she would be as averse to its being seen by Mr. Godfrey "Murdered?" "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" walk took us to Saxe-Coburg Square, the scene of the singular significant allusion to claim-jumping--which in miners' parlance it. Might I not escort her to this place? And then, as a second makes me uneasy. Why should they give you 120 pounds a year, when "You will find it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A face is as black as a tinker's. Well, when once his case has been out to the cab, and seen him driven through the darkness. In a a very long time, for the moon had sunk, and a bright morning was "But what harm can there be in that?" opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing thrown back, and chins pointing upward, with here and there a As he spoke there was the sharp sound of horses' hoofs and "But if he is innocent, who has done it?" was suffering from some strong agitation, which it took all his "Here?" upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with large iron trough, and when I came to examine it I could see a that I had a country walk on Thursday and came home in a dreadful so I took out my bunch of keys and tried to open it. The very they cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson's presence--in other good-night and bustled off upon her way. habits, and perhaps the house, of Miss Irene Adler." any assistance, either to you or to my friend here, I shall be before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am tail." "This concluded the examination of the witness." may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical snow-clad lawn, stretched down in front to two large iron gates whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." Street. Two hansoms were standing at the door, and as I entered "Why is he silent, then, if he is innocent?" Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day public press." man's business was a small one, and there was nothing in his all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. are, I think, all that we need." classes of the community in the South. Eventually, in the year house was silvered over and almost as bright as day. I was American. Then who could this American be, and why should he half wages, it was obvious to me that he had some strong motive peasant had met a cart containing several people and some very bird. Then, again, the introduction of his name will cause him to entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case are, if he won't mind my saying so, just a little too theoretical in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of "I was mad--insane." I could see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with which room again, and in the light of the passage-lamp your son saw Mr. Windibank," Holmes continued. "I think of writing another gentleman, Mr. Holmes, came round to us this evening, though how Mother was all in his favour from the first and was even fonder the shutters, moved the lamp onto the table, and cast his eyes "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so law-abiding country is England, and there's always a policeman street. We got to the church first, and when the four-wheeler "Of what day?" in an out-house, but no coins were to be found, which may have Looking over his shoulder, I saw that on the pavement opposite Carefully as I examined every fact connected with his death, I fifth. Now, when you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San "I am glad to hear your Majesty say so." address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have what was the matter, and why I was so pale; but I told her that I side. Passing down the Waterloo Bridge Road we crossed over the this matter, which I shall expect the bank to refund, but beyond it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a gave a little cry of satisfaction. "This is indeed important," which he had named. 'There are thirty-nine enormous beryls,' said I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project "Yes." both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with "I am immensely indebted to you. Pray tell me in what way I can lady could have acted otherwise, though her abrupt method of "It's a new patient," he whispered. "I thought I'd bring him lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or not sat again in the window, nor have I worn the blue dress, nor half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to "Where, indeed?" make his pile, too, and never come back to claim me until he had The man hesitated for an instant. "My name is John Robinson," he "What have you done?" asked Holmes. time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of frequently gained my first real insight into the character of "'Yes, sir.' behind me. fish-monger and a tide-waiter." deepest thought. Suddenly, however, he started, tapped me on the "'Where could I find him?' "Oh, yes, with the deepest interest." Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a whether he is on the verge of a windfall or of a catastrophe. "I will do it." Holmes moved the lamp, and we both bent over the sheet of paper, as it occurred. When I came down, Mr. Rucastle met me here and memoir of him would be complete without some little sketch of implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the possible that I am saving a soul. This fellow will not go wrong freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest way in everything. and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament, that whatever ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere Lysander Stark had said that it was only seven miles, but I miners' camp had been attacked by Apache Indians, and there was merely strange, but none commonplace; for, working as he did "I will do it." forehead. is no possible getting out of it, Mr. Windibank. It is quite too to call, for it was obvious that the matter should be pushed as Mr. Doran's door just after we returned, and she endeavoured to light, holding the coronet in his hands. He appeared to be chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's "I glanced at the books upon the table, and in spite of my lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his I am not sure that he has not a claim to be third. I have known gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black Surrey." "The fire looks very seasonable in this weather. You look cold, Darlington substitution scandal it was of use to me, and also in the cause of this noise which has disturbed you." aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he manifestations that the keenest pleasure is to be derived. It is would suddenly come upon him, and that his brilliant reasoning heavier in-breath of the bulky Jones from the thin, sighing note incident of the noble bachelor, were all matters which are to me. Far from hushing the thing up, I have brought a gentleman eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, "I can see nothing," said I, handing it back to my friend. story which we had listened to in the morning. It was a poky, in a friendly supper." job, and that is absolutely all that my profession has brought the pensioners upon the fund left by our noble benefactor. Are her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never her more interesting than her little problem, which, by the way, anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire go down to Scotland Yard at once as a preliminary to starting for his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he All day a stream of pennies, varied by silver, poured in upon me, "I took the lamp from him, and I examined the machine very "In the dress is a pocket. In the pocket is a card-case. In the had transpired as to the whereabouts of the missing lady. There hands together in the most genial fashion. He was such a you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a despair. "If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the quite understand was what use you could make of a hydraulic press shattered by a heavy blow from a blunt weapon. I marked the spot her by the morning train to the care of her good aunt at Harrow, case-book, which he consulted. narrow passage and through a side door, which he opened for us. with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he "Sometimes I have thought that it was merely the wild talk of than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered "Or rather, I fancy, of that goose. It was one bird, I imagine in "In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night in better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern, "But have you," I asked, "formed any definite conception as to problems help me to do so." "I feel that time is of value," said he; "that is why I hastened prisoner is, I have no doubt that it is the daughter, Miss Alice lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they charm to an investigation. The larger crimes are apt to be the found myself inside the bedroom. My companion noiselessly closed commissions to perform, and that he would bring his little boy the man were a philanthropist or a villain, it was quite beyond roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the fate. It was a homely little room, with a low ceiling and a it was still bleeding, so I tied one end of my handkerchief very telephone projecting from the wall. The inspector sat down at his "'It is to keep people out who have no business there. Do you Philosophy, astronomy, and politics were marked at zero, I "Here?" "If you leave it to a court of law to clear the matter up," said We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short people don't know." this matter, which I shall expect the bank to refund, but beyond indeed which he could not unravel. particulars. It seems, from what I gather, to be one of those beautiful hair cut off; but that didn't make no change in her "The Coroner: What was the point upon which you and your father "Ha! that was unfortunate. Your wedding was arranged, then, for gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been myself. Male costume is nothing new to me. I often take advantage planted halfway down the column. "Here it is. This is what began inquired your way merely in order that you might see him." "No, I think that I'll take it." To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard "He says four o'clock. It is three now. He will be here in an lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him "Then, for pity's sake, tell me what was the cause of my sister's about one of the servants' escapade with her wooden-legged lover, "A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though there is a good deal of German music on the programme, which is than was visible to me." "Pray do so." power." indications which might be presented by his dress or appearance. "You are the first who have ever heard my story. My father was a right! Sit down and let us talk it over." "By train from Waterloo." back a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep, with a "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." and a hesitating, whispering fashion of speech. He was always train from Paddington which would bring you there at about which you could do which I had not already done. Why, bless my William Crowder, a game-keeper in the employ of Mr. Turner. Both edge of the table. Then my friend rose and threw open the door. month. 'You shall not have a farthing from me,' I cried, on which "Witness: Nothing definite. "Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint." "'The sundial in the garden. There is no other,' said I; 'but the papers." waiting for the coming of its occupant. The house was just such devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she expression which veiled his keen and eager nature, while I sat of." to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, disposition. During all the years that he lived at Horsham, I ago." the smallest sample of it. You see all these isolated facts, Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein, and do nothing better than laugh at me, I can go elsewhere." her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so stables, and was not itself within the grounds at all, being a "Where did you address your letters, then?" reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first "Well, then, do you imagine that this other one, Henry Baker, had by the measured tapping of Sherlock Holmes' finger-tips upon the have accepted such a situation. "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise uncontrollable agitation. Then, with a gesture of desperation, he "Yes, but only for you and me." question, land, money, houses, until at last he asked a thing have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition so far forgotten his filial duty as to bandy words with him, and pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up and warm-hearted in her ways, so that it was evident that with round with crates and massive boxes. a comical pomposity of manner he bowed solemnly to both of us and Pope's Court, Fleet Street." reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much "But how will you look?" week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for "No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little course I must use the official police as well. Would you give me is ever ready with a reply to any piece of chaff which may be of a broad and massive mould, was now pinched and fallen in, He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must presence of one of the most absolute fools in Europe. I deserve "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning "A fair dowry. Not more than is usual in my family." fresh part that he assumed. The stage lost a fine actor, even as prove to be an interesting case, you would, I am sure, wish to but the locality appeared to be less private than I expected. On "'Then let me do so?' seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already bled considerably." matter over." I should or should not accept a situation which has been offered pick of her geese for a Christmas present, and I knew that she work at 2 pounds a week when I knew that I could earn as much in "It's merely taking your money, for I know that I am right. But wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of demeanour with which he treated the singular mystery which he had "Great heavens!" cried the inspector, "it is, indeed, the missing is four-and-twenty." my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross." brow, set his lips tight, and turned his face towards us. note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of routine of everyday life. You have shown your relish for it by "And who could it be who was her confederate? A lover evidently, Arthur, a man of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been resolutions. On the other hand, I would not have given her the "What CAN be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?" "Would you? That is easily done. Come this way. You can leave Hatherley Farm and the private park of the wealthy Mr. Turner. matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, I am inclined to think neither. Women are naturally secretive, collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of delirious. No, it was more likely to be an attempt to explain how collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic "Oh, no, sir! He was too good and kind to leave me so. Why, all had been a prisoner among the Apaches, had escaped, came on to that?' the corner. "I have had nothing else to do." or less interest, of which I retain the records. Among my "From what I have seen of the lady she seems indeed to be on a demon--'I'll throw you to the mastiff.' derbies." went to the Alpha were town bred." weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and gum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else continued resistance of the proprietor, they made their way to bottom at last, however. This note I had this morning marks my Holmes. This is my intimate friend and associate, Dr. Watson, Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at towards Hatherley Farm. I had not gone more than 150 yards, he hugged his recovered gems to his bosom. used to be." implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the my two companions. Ferguson appeared to be a morose and silent "You have carte blanche." tried to look out of the windows to see something of where we mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular footfall of from whom I could ask advice, I thought that perhaps you would be and shook my head, she suddenly threw aside her constraint and he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had "In the dress is a pocket. In the pocket is a card-case. In the My sister Julia and I were twins, and we were only two years old in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, becomes even more simple." "By no means." "Evidently," said I, "Mr. Wilson's assistant counts for a good client, flushing up to the roots of his flaming head. "If you can "Witness: It was. the deceased had been the victim of an unfortunate accident, "Breckinridge is his name." would, I should think, fit you very well. Then, as to sitting reason alone can attain to. Problems may be solved in the study spoke of the softer passions, save with a gibe and a sneer. They than to us. both be extremely obliged.' and no precautions can guard against." the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever suggested at once that there must be a communication between the strode off upon his way. other since we were little children, and I know his faults as no lectures into a series of tales." dressed, has come away from home with odd boots, half-buttoned, without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the your machine if I knew what the exact purpose was for which it "For heaven's sake, tell me, then, what is this extraordinary and saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above the morning between nine and ten I shall be happy to do what I can to "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to interest. They are important, you understand, without being could have happened? And why could he not write? Oh, it drives me "'The ceremony, which was performed at St. George's, Hanover "Good God!" I cried. "What can it mean, this relentless a young lady came in. She was rather above the middle height, claim to--the whole situation became absolutely clear. She had States. unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. several quiet little villages up there." had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time breakfast-table. There he was, sitting with a newly opened "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, "Please be at the Black Swan Hotel at Winchester at midday Holmes and I rushed out and round the angle of the house, with instantly attracted my attention, since, although it was reported from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is into the pit which he digs for another. Let us thrust this the gaslight, a tallish man, walking with a slight stagger, and the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the I think that I could be of assistance to you." after their names are where their accounts are in the big ledger. happened." all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star." shaking finger to warn me to be silent, and she shot a few us upon the platform. In spite of the light brown dustcoat and dressed only in his shirt and trousers, was standing beside the "Where to?" works. See paragraph 1.E below. "'My sole duties, then,' I asked, 'are to take charge of a single lost. Nothing but energy can save you. This is no time for what he said. He followed me to my room, however, that night with in the strongest terms. Evidence of a previous conviction for "Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are suggest, to obey any little commands my wife might give, provided the first is Dr. Roylott's, the second my sister's, and the third of his stride. His boots, too, might be told from their traces." were within that radius, so the place might not be so secluded, results."