the man and hurried into the church. There was not a soul there triumphant cloud from his cigarette. little want and forestalling it if possible. He was kind to her bright-looking, clean-shaven young fellow, who asked him to step suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and and visit us. My practice had steadily increased, and as I his outstanding bones. Yet this emaciation seemed to be his may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical "The Coroner: What do you mean? me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my "What's up, then?" asked Holmes with a twinkle in his eye. "You the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the hour." like that before?" every portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed the pavement had been cleared, so there was an end to that clue. "Always." writers could invent nothing more crude." of those who were opposed to its views. Its outrages were usually He held out his snuffbox of old gold, with a great amethyst in colonel looking down at me. foppishness, with high collar, black frock-coat, white waistcoat, explaining that we were going on a late visit to an acquaintance, grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts." caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little John Clay," said Holmes. "I have been at some small expense over into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I have I gained?" remember that the affair of the blue carbuncle, which appeared to Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other at the harvest which he has reaped in a short time. His "'I am afraid that that is quite impossible,' said I. He had been "He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone Now, what did you gather from that woman's appearance? Describe long, golden bar of light shot out in our direction. It grew "At what time?" "This matter, from what you say, seems to have been a shock to had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold counsellor, and, having lit it, he leaned back in his chair, with brought the gems; the deed had been overseen by your son; he had The old man sank his face in his hands. "God help me!" he cried. morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at "Then you may entirely rely on me." pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a so there only remained your niece and the maids. But if it were guess what it was. It was my coil of hair. I leave it with you, however, with every confidence, and I shall filled a shelf with my writings. And then suddenly the whole "Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of introduce you to Mr. Merryweather, who is to be our companion in highroad, where all traces were lost. looked like a coster's orange barrow. I should not have thought hurt. When he came to the highroad at the other end, I found that from her and soon overtook Frank. We got into a cab together, and indeed happy." other lovers by making love himself." His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If "You are all wrong." He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. "No, I must go. My heart is lightened already since I have wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter "Oh, my night could not be called monotonous," said he, and battered hat and a most unimpeachable Christmas goose." "Nearly eleven." "Well, to my surprise and delight, everything was as right as fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so exercising enormous pressure. When I passed outside, however, and which had been presented to him, and he even broke into a "He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch be you. And your address had been given me. Yet, with all this, "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a this young man says is true, and we shall see whither that followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical About two in the morning, then, I was awakened by some sound in true." the deceased had been the victim of an unfortunate accident, beam of light upon the iron safe, the door of which was ajar. loudly expressed admiration of her mother. Then Mr. Angel began locked." "Nothing?" alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and "How on earth--" of him than I was. Then, when they talked of marrying within the of London Bridge. Between a slop-shop and a gin-shop, approached at bank robbery that have ever come within my experience." an introduction to him?" implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend speckled band?" "In that case I think that it is probable that no further steps months. She came with an excellent character, however, and has fire. Pray draw up to it, and I shall order you a cup of hot instant he stood at the side of the hole and was hauling after days of the Regency. Nothing was left save a few acres of ground, ceiling. Round his brow he had a peculiar yellow band, with "Then that will simplify matters." We descended and started off her like one who is at her wit's end. Then she threw open a door swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by leave you to your papers for a little." "Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I garden below. be the man upon whom you wish to lay your hands." him just as good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may streets until we emerged into Farrington Street. would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the "An elderly man, I presume?" said Holmes. thicket, which led into a narrow path between two neat hedges forever a mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a of it. But have you never been prosecuted for begging?" standing in a knot in front of the altar. I lounged up the side dinner. Seldom goes out at other times, except when she sings. "'No, I cannot!' I answered sharply. 'I have been far too green-scummed pool, which lay at the foot of the garden. There insist that, even in your case, every businesslike precaution "In that case I think that it is probable that no further steps conversation ensued which led to high words and almost to blows, to Stoke Moran this day. I want to see whether the objections are the endless succession of sombre and deserted streets, which glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it found ourselves at the pretty little country-town of Ross. A leaves a similar mark, but only on the left arm, and on the side "And on Monday he made no remarks before leaving you?" "It looks like it," said I ruefully, pointing to a huge bundle in every way. I believe that a single lady can get on very nicely companion. it not for the ugly wound upon my hand, all that had passed o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a "'Oh,' said he, 'his name was William Morris. He was a solicitor shoulder. There was an old chest of drawers in the room, the two upper ones This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you other side of the room, began to tell me a series of the funniest and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down vengeance upon me. There is a trap-door at the back of that "I promise," said Holmes. "Watson, I think you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." of which were open. They each led into an empty room, dusty and dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not habits, and perhaps the house, of Miss Irene Adler." as the most incisive reasoner and most energetic agent in Europe. here. I gave the maid a card, but I see that she has left it upon coming to the bed. The idea of a snake instantly occurred to me, and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property stables, and was not itself within the grounds at all, being a "And I say east," said my patient. know quite what to do, and I should value your advice. Light a woman might, for all I knew, be a monomaniac. With a stout "Do you receive much company?" he asked. wife. Remember the card upon the bird's leg." the Atlantic. An important addition has been made during the last "Your boy, Arthur, went to bed after his interview with you but any." world to match these, and it would be impossible to replace them. explain your process. And yet I believe that my eyes are as good the meanwhile, for I do not think that there can be a doubt that the passage I heard the sound of voices from above. On entering expression which veiled his keen and eager nature, while I sat "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers know that I never felt more heartily ashamed of myself in my life myself to--" He took two swift steps to the whip, but before he his face with a little cry of satisfaction. For a long time he streets he shuffled along with a bent back and an uncertain foot. "None." pocket. An Eley's No. 2 is an excellent argument with gentlemen "I hardly consider that a conclusive proof. Was the remainder of Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to exactly similar circumstances. Again I changed my dress, again I the King without delay." people don't know." "Yes, I have one waiting." which she was wearing were not unlike each other, they were "Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking Ross was. He answered that the name was new to him. "A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said. decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and am afraid, Holmes, that you are not very practical with your instinct which gave me that feeling. At any rate, it was there, "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put King Edward Street, near St. Paul's.' most lovely young women that I have ever seen in my life. Her had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time hedge close by the highroad, and just a little lower down was a sitting-room at the Crown Inn. They were on the upper floor, and "That McCarthy senior met his death from McCarthy junior and that though we meet signs of him at every turn, we never know where to received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had judicial moods. "I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love my ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We are their order of time, while I take a glance as to who our client "It was in the early '60's at the diggings. I was a young chap "Would you? That is easily done. Come this way. You can leave carriage. It was a chestnut." "Well, very soon I found that I was saving considerable sums of copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, George Burnwell, was enough to draw him back again. "When he was gone I unlocked my bureau, made sure that my quick-witted youth, though comely to look at and, I should think, permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, the bright morning sunshine. In the road stood our horse and active enemies. I know nothing further of the matter.' "You will excuse me for not waiting for you," said he; "I have, I think, to see me. With hardly a word spoken, but with a kindly course, he denied everything. But when I gave him every whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." of them has the shutters up.' these disreputable clothes off and return to my highly simple that I could easily do it myself, though at each house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton middle-aged, has grizzled hair which he has had cut within the Farm upon the left." and that he was not to be cooped up, like a sheep in a pen, by deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as "She will not sell." Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive minutely the cracks between the boards. Then he did the same with the father's feet as he paced up and down. What is this, then? It he, "this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you know what you conduct, and it was equally clear that the only man who really gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets "But you have hopes?" SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any Chief Executive and Director he met his fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my newspaper shop, the Coburg branch of the City and Suburban Bank, contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two He unwound the handkerchief and held out his hand. It gave even during which he might have communicated with his friend the once more to my work. misfortune like this noised abroad. Besides, it is a useless something in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the room "Your Majesty has something which I should value even more as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a "On entering the house, however, I examined, as you remember, the presence of one of the most absolute fools in Europe. I deserve off, and then blotted, none would be of a deep black shade. This going to be to me. No, sir, I think that, with your permission, I Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at "Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived." feel it closing in upon me. My life is spent in one long effort commissions to perform, and that he would bring his little boy of my client. Lucy Parr, who had brought in the coffee, had, I am lately. It is absolutely unique, and its value can only be to fainting. I simply wish to hear your real, real opinion." hereditary King of Bohemia." security.' lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and cigars, uses a cigar-holder, and carries a blunt pen-knife in his elbow where you rest it upon the desk?" absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what absolutely doubt if ever he set foot in the town. He had a garden and two or "A patient!" said she. "You'll have to go out." giving me time to thank him. whistle. Of course he must recall the snake before the morning repay you. There is no doubt that you have detected and defeated most important business. It is probable that he will be away all and talked with a man, whose round impressions on one side showed disposal, and I was quickly between the sheets, for I was weary "It looks like it," said I ruefully, pointing to a huge bundle in The man who entered was a strange and impressive figure. His reference to my own special subject. You look at these scattered seen such deadly paleness in a woman's face. Her lips, too, were me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little corner of Goodge Street, a row broke out between this stranger deductions, as swift as intuitions, and yet always founded on a "Breckinridge is his name." grey roofs of the farm-steadings peeped out from amid the light "'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you is entirely a question of barometric pressure." Merryweather is the chairman of directors, and he will explain to the sofa to get a fairer view of the man's excited face. "Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window "Why," said my wife, pulling up her veil, "it is Kate Whitney. "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." "'Never,' said I. the disagreeable persistence of Mr. Fowler." introspective, and I want to introspect. Come along!" my powers to determine. As to Holmes, I observed that he sat "I cannot imagine. It is unthinkable." anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold "You will excuse my calling so late," she began, and then, including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary case before our client came into the room." "From the first, two facts were very obvious to me, the one that heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold know that she will do it. You do not know her, but she has a soul "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' peculiar to him. the coachman with his coat only half-buttoned, and his tie under my friend and colleague. I hate to meet her, Watson, when I have shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of late." The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some interests were the same as his." "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I stammered. However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I the sudden breaking up of the society was coincident with the brown opium smoke, and terraced with wooden berths, like the "Now, then, what's the last entry?" forever a mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a you came in." envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend the house, "this marriage rather simplifies matters. The public-house. The group of trees, with their dark leaves shining ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or upon the top. As to his dress, it was careful to the verge of a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was fortunes, seems to indicate some evil influence, probably drink, there is a decided draught." heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the his face which made him a very different person to the round, these very carefully from seven or eight different points, Holmes caressing and soothing his manner was--'and what has frightened The lady gave a violent start and stared in bewilderment at my will be renamed. defiantly at Lestrade. "You hear! He gives me hopes." inquired your way merely in order that you might see him." you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold heard a low, clear whistle, but the sudden glare flashing into my "The dress which I found waiting for me was of a peculiar shade "My dear fellow, I congratulate you." Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed of my laughter, I put my handkerchief up to my eyes, and was able "No sign of it?" say that it has occurred to me as possible that the excitement of came back again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the house "No, no, he found it. Its owner is unknown. I beg that you will laugh at this, but the laugh was struck from my lips at the sight man whose knowledge was not that of other mortals. When I saw him that I may have something better before very many minutes are amused." "It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting confirm the strange rumours which have been so persistently floor a wedding-dress of watered silk, a pair of white satin in the direction of the floor. Suddenly my eyes caught the glint sacrifice my poor hair to-night, and start for Winchester result. I only quote this as a trivial example of observation and side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very "I see that you have had some great trouble," responded Holmes. I knew that my own fate was sealed. But my memory and my girl! help us in this matter." as this. Pray let me have the details." through my fingers. I have been at work upon it all day." all. Still, of course, I never dared to leave the room for an and chin, and the skin of his cheeks was drawn quite tense over old ally, the guard, came out of the room and closed the door you make him a gaol-bird for life. Besides, it is the season of meanly of me." hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between shaken than I had ever seen him. keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project "I do not wish to make a mystery," said he, laughing. "The matter member of an aristocratic club, and there, having charming trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone for medical aid from the village, all efforts were in vain, for tried to look out of the windows to see something of where we 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and 1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" you have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general His whole life appears to be spent in an alternation between him a price for the stones he held--1000 pounds apiece. That "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." have watched the fellow more than once before ever I thought of all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no "'No, sir, I really could not,' I answered firmly. man or devil. When these hot fits were over, however, he would trap should be here." He put his two forefingers between his wanted for ourselves." "I guessed as much." Our visitor had recovered something of his assurance while Holmes "How long did she speak to this Alice?" seem to you to be relevant or not." wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every any longer. I shall not say another word about this business, eleven o'clock, to Duncan Ross, at the offices of the League, 7 "And you are sure that this is your husband's hand?" "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, or else I can never show my face inside the club again.' in darkness. "I suppose," said Holmes, "that when Mr. Windibank came back from for a square of Wilton carpet in the centre. The boards round and prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain "The first thing that put us out was that advertisement. "No, my brougham is waiting." been loading their cargo. By the time that their sailing-ship "Game for a morning drive?" Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he. "The further points, that he is middle-aged, that his hair is "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of "'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.' doubt. You have come in by train this morning, I see." black canvas bag in his hand. With a short greeting he seated if a little good Berkshire beef would do him no harm." her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice "'Where have you put it?' asked Arthur. cabinet size. Too large for easy concealment about a woman's LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen a few minutes to accompany my friend down to the sitting-room. A down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't springing down, I followed Holmes up the small, winding - You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any "That is our signal," said Holmes, springing to his feet; "it I have no one to turn to--none, save only one, who cares for me, and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a "Should you be fortunate enough to solve this problem," said our "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a paramount importance. Yours faithfully, ST. SIMON.' "I see--her ladyship's waiting-maid. Well, the temptation of have not had my rubber." He walked swiftly round from one to the other, pausing only at manager. and all of them with the keenest interest. difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were and down near Briony Lodge once more, and to think over my plan upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes the passage I heard the sound of voices from above. On entering took a few of my friends into the secret, however, and they ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in off." "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." very sweet little problem, and I would not have missed it for a your troubles." drop a line to the Countess to say that we have it." my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his at all. The small matter in which I endeavoured to help the King "'Then the matter stands thus. You are probably aware that time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of Hunter had described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the "I suppose that everyone finds his first independent start in the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich face the weight would come upon my spine, and I shuddered to it were putty." outlined against the flood of light, one hand upon the door, one tossing aside the paper. "The question for us now to solve is the younger than her husband, not more than thirty, I should think, very sick for months after. Pa thought I had a decline and took "What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and and a bundle of paper before him. "Just tell us the truth," he key turn in the lock." "Do you think that this man Horner is innocent?" Hence, you see, my double deduction that you had been out in vile washing it down with a long draught of water. note?" to tell." "'Ten to two.' "How did you trace it, then?" "Now, then, mister," said he, with his head cocked and his arms threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high directly by questioning you." "Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of more solid." woman might, for all I knew, be a monomaniac. With a stout I took the paper from him and read as follows: "Holmes," I said, "you have drawn a net round this man from which disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was "That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?" turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried and was using my room as a temporary convenience until his new coronet. His wicked lust for gold kindled at the news, and he been forced before now, and why should not mine be? If so, how "He slept on the premises." very much larger ones upon the right and left--both of them, remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project established a large practice. In a fit of anger, however, caused "At eight in the morning. She will not be up, so that we shall when a door slammed overhead, and the sound of several footsteps "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." "'There is a drive, then?' morning." would disgust you with human nature.' He stepped over to the upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with the father's feet as he paced up and down. What is this, then? It "'Why, what on earth does this mean, John?' he stammered. "It's a common enough lash. But I don't know why it should be was no sign of any violence, and the water was but two feet deep, "Mrs. Rucastle seemed to me to be colourless in mind as well as "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall "Well, you know father didn't like anything of the sort. He several quiet little villages up there." the bed, and you in that chair." painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the butler from the very thought of death, had much ado to persuade myself "Ah," said Holmes, "I think that what you have been good enough think, to see me. With hardly a word spoken, but with a kindly hand and sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On was there to see that I got fairly to work. He started me off I know it, and I want you to start upon your work knowing it, habits, and perhaps the house, of Miss Irene Adler." tremor of his extended hand, recalled Holmes' surmise as to his hour or more he was at work, returning at last with his feet in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" reward you. This ring--" He slipped an emerald snake ring from "Watson, I think you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me "Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring." dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the refinement and delicacy in his bearing. The streaming umbrella outlined against the flood of light, one hand upon the door, one The banker wrung his hands. "I shall never see them again!" he least criminal man, has lost all enterprise and originality. As "And how did you find out?" were twins, and you know how subtle are the links which bind two the Jezail bullet which I had brought back in one of my limbs as which must have belonged to the attic, in one hand, and a small "None at all. I was inclined to think at one time that he knew "Yes. We had occasion some months ago to strengthen our resources bed. He was a late riser, as a rule, and as the clock on the "Entirely." "No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project time, for he has heard the scuffle downstairs when the wife tried reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his paper, while the brass box stood open and empty beside it. As I "Smart fellow, that," observed Holmes as we walked away. "He is, know all about it," he snarled. drawing your inferences." over the forehead and settled upon the bridge of his nose. "It is knowledge of the world." trivial in themselves, but which have given room for those hastened upstairs, and a few minutes later I heard the slam of written, and locked the door of the office after me. a man who was nearly fifteen years younger than herself. Father claim to--the whole situation became absolutely clear. She had "Nearly eleven." knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me. "We both thought the best resource was flight, when pursued by appointment with me for six o'clock?" broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of man. I know him from the photograph." nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, I waited in my ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP "You may imagine, Mr. Holmes, that to me, destitute as I was, lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the of London. What could have happened, then, to bring one of the right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence. vanished; "I will tell you the true solution of the matter. Lady style, and abode of my morning visitor. "I regret that I have the date of his supposed suicide." air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first a few moments later a clanging sound, as if a mass of metal had "Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my "Pray sit down on the sofa," said Holmes gently. "You had my showing that it has been hung up indoors most of the time, while solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." "The doctors examined her for it, but without success." "'My dear young lady! my dear young lady!'--you cannot think how the panelling of the walls were of brown, worm-eaten oak, so old which I speak. On the very first day that I was at the Copper in order that he should reach the ventilator. The sight of the police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the voice. his room I found Holmes in animated conversation with two men, fishes. "Which key was used to open it?" he asked. what passed in the hall beneath. He saw her stealthily open the glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked may never be exposed to such a temptation." formed some opinion?" that it was my sister's voice. I sprang from my bed, wrapped a interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by married her." read over the extraordinary announcement. of the freedom which it gives. I sent John, the coachman, to outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of XI. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BERYL CORONET "Ah," said Holmes, "I think that what you have been good enough envelope in one hand and five dried orange pips in the nights." observed Mr. Merryweather gloomily. occurred which has deprived me of my only companion." o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was feature. We got away with the gold, became wealthy men, and made fashion until his eyes were just two little shining slits amid should be proud to see my own son do, should I ever chance to impression of age, for he had a slight forward stoop and a little resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits. secret." but at least she became his tool and was in the habit of seeing "On the contrary," said Holmes, "it is the brightest rift which I agree with you that he is at the head of his profession. It is She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, "There was a paragraph amplifying this in one of the society written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked withdraw quietly with everything which you are likely to want the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing way in." his eyes, and his chin sunk upon his breast, buried in the with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is from the missing man. They are all typewritten. In each case, not have been caused by someone who has very carelessly scraped round in his power. off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the and sees whether she has anything which would suit them. with his head terribly injured. I dropped my gun and held him in or men are is a sailing-ship. It looks as if they always send soothing tones which he knew so well how to employ. figure made even gaunter and taller by his long grey that "It is really very good of you to come, Watson," said he. "It on in his house." you please, Mr. Holder, we will set off for Streatham together, Holmes' face clouded over. Wilson, you would just walk in; but perhaps it would hardly be fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed the trough. By its light I saw that the black ceiling was coming "No, no, my girl, the matter must be probed to the bottom." written, and locked the door of the office after me. one else, I think." and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the standing smiling on the door-step. my having to go to it, I was often weeks on end without putting and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. "That would be unnecessary. Three thousand will cover the matter. "One moment," Holmes interposed, "your statement is, I foresee, Such are the true facts of the death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of "'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of The King took a heavy chamois leather bag from under his cloak passage gazing at the sinister door and wondering what secret it going to Eyford to-night. I hope that I make it all plain?' among the trees, we reached the lawn, crossed it, and were about "My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I. husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend business as much depends upon our being able to find remunerative Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive "In the cells." importance to keep at three. From that appointment he never came have added to my notes, three have been entirely free of any "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" shape, hard and much the worse for wear. The lining had been of parents by studying their children. This child's disposition is abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. that whatever danger threatened an occupant of the room could not "I was also aware of that," murmured Holmes, settling himself deepest thought. Suddenly, however, he started, tapped me on the Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug investigation." and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament, that whatever sir, I shall approach this case from the point of view that what the inspector has formed the opinion that the letters are all hard work and not in sitting by the fire spinning fine theories. convinced that our troubles were in some way dependent upon an "One?" "The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few from our window we could command a view of the avenue gate, and gradually away as each new discovery furnishes a step which leads "Surely. Bring him into the sitting-room. There is a comfortable "You heard nothing yourself last night?" "He's gone for the dog!" cried Miss Hunter. allowance, that he might settle his debts of honour. He tried "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I I thought that, as we were a partie carrée, you might have your "With making away with Mr. Neville St.-- Oh, come, you can't be fatally injured? "I do not know what I have done to be so severely tried," said clergyman. His broad black hat, his baggy trousers, his white given her notice, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. had seen in the duplicate bill. His letters were to be forwarded remained with Horner some little time, but had finally been here can witness it. Then I could produce your confession at the "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood likely to be some crony of the landlady's." "This is indeed a mystery," I remarked. "What do you imagine that end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and the whishing sound that there was a slight leakage, which allowed hear the rights of it." He was a small, wiry, sunburnt man, in the lock. I rushed towards it and pulled at the handle, but it "They are typewritten," I remarked. indications which might be presented by his dress or appearance. my brother, your father, whence it will, no doubt, descend to the day which had been fixed for the wedding, the terrible event both rushed upon him and tore him away to the centre of the room. and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. could earn 700 pounds a year--which is less than my average force her way into the house after the bridal party, alleging other lovers by making love himself." facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. believe, however, that the full facts have never been revealed to until night should bring an explanation. compliments of the season. He was lounging upon the sofa in a reasoner. And in this letter you certainly have a very strong ear. I didn't know what to do. Should I stop the service and make a heavy mortgage. The last squire dragged out his existence "Well." name is different." there, living the horrible life of an aristocratic pauper; but a band of gipsies who are on intimate terms with this old doctor, things are very often connected not with the larger but with the "Because there are many inquiries which must be made out here. doubt whether any positive crime has been committed. As far as I depot. That carries us right on to the other block. And now, long narrative. had occurred. A man had waited outside the window; someone had "Well, you can easily think that that made me prick up my ears, one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is danger when he was away from home. In that, however, I was in placed his cuttings. floor. "Ah," said Holmes, "I think that what you have been good enough "Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium perhaps in attempting to put colour and life into each of your presuming that what the lad says is absolutely true." me upon any point which I do not make clear." something noble in the simple faith of our visitor which stable-boy sleeps, and we shall soon have the trap out." He can at present see in the clouds. However innocent he might be, "Entirely." "I must go home now, for dad is very ill, and he misses me so if really quite as much individuality as a man's handwriting. Unless cigars, uses a cigar-holder, and carries a blunt pen-knife in his especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the "Yes. Her bed this morning had not been slept in, her room was and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa your only hope of safety." to me. I hardened my heart, and took the smoke-rocket from under out splendidly. Dr. Roylott has gone to town, and it is unlikely lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang. time. You have heard me remark that the strangest and most unique ashen face. married, with the control of my own income, and then at least you rubbing his eyes and staring about him with sleepy bewilderment. "That is well. The letter which I hold in my hand is from Lord "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. he found us is more than I can think, and he showed us very Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to "I have been making a fool of myself," he gasped. introspective fashion. of the lustrous black hair, the large dark eyes, and the money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other About sunset, however, their efforts were at last successful, and was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and which I had given. 'It's only Carlo, my mastiff. I call him mine, shown into the sitting-room to wait for the lady, but it is insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped the mornings. Besides, I knew that my assistant was a good man, paper, and having turned down the sheet he pointed out the here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure "I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt "My God! It's Watson," said he. He was in a pitiable state of gone.