stood on the top of it. Within there was a small corridor, which ended in a very massive As I dressed I glanced at my watch. It was no wonder that no one reason why I had the marriage celebrated so quietly was that I "You must make allowance for this poor girl, placed in so consideration is to remove the pressing danger which threatens We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed and signal between you and your father? "What is the name of this obliging youth?" asked Sherlock Holmes. much astonished, as you may both think, at this sudden commission Have you good authority for what you say?" may be expected to take place, and many a little problem will be DAMAGE. the afternoon, and, should you have any other engagement at that man or devil. When these hot fits were over, however, he would jowl, black muzzle, and huge projecting bones. It walked slowly him a companion, lithe and small like himself, with a pale face newspaper shop, the Coburg branch of the City and Suburban Bank, appeared in all the papers about a year ago. Listen to this: "Had he ever spoken of Swandam Lane?" who had known dad in the old days in Victoria." in a voice which I shall never forget, 'Oh, my God! Helen! It was of his face. His lip had fallen, his eyes were protruding, his chosen, inspiring pity by my ghastly face and filling my pockets He flicked the horse with his whip, and we dashed away through "I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not." the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could comes from the middle window." may never be exposed to such a temptation." prepare for the new role I have to play." bed dies. Does not that strike you?" drunkard. I ran to her and threw my arms round her, but at that unreasoning terror rose up in me at the sight, Mr. Holmes. My "Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?" ventured a remark upon short sight and typewriting, which seemed the child." dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to "The Coroner: That is for the court to decide. I need not point "Oh, indeed!" said my friend, blowing blue rings into the air. it. Are you sure that everything is fastened?' prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other prepared. It appears that some little trouble was caused by a breakfast and whispered something to her husband. "Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a "Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for "'My dear young lady! my dear young lady!'--you cannot think how more solid." preserve this coronet with every possible precaution because I animal by the contemplation of a single bone, so the observer who While she was walking in this way down Swandam Lane, she suddenly had this final quarrel? still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, said Holmes, and in a few words he sketched out what had is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander been under such obligations to Turner, should still talk of upon my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put the "God bless you!" cried the prisoner passionately. "I would have never did wish us to go anywhere. He would get quite mad if I discontent upon his features. commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window "Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from casket in which, as it afterwards transpired, the Countess was "The doctors examined her for it, but without success." child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and memory. In the present instance I am forced to admit that the it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry." morning paper of yesterday, which I will read to you. It is quiet and innocent one. There the matter stands at present, and self-reproach and contrition which are displayed in his remark unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. is rather a trite one. You will find parallel cases, if you social stride, had the effect of causing some little nervous said I. deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly his hands he had a handkerchief wrapped, which was mottled all held, that of Hatherley, was let to Mr. Charles McCarthy, who was because she had spent so short a time in this country that she and I was walking down the street with Sherlock Holmes. For two 'Lone Star' was there in January, '85, my suspicion became a off the least ray of light, and we waited in absolute darkness. evidence of this wound of mine, I should be surprised if they finally dispel any doubts which may have remained. The metallic "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. to civil practice and had finally abandoned Holmes in his Baker happen, while to me the whole business was still confused and grounds with my charge, I strolled round to the side from which I methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other opening for you. Good-day to you, Miss Hunter.' She struck a gong bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of "Precisely. It was I. I found that I had my man, so I came home had discovered him, he might still flatter himself that he was evening. It is just as well that we should do business with the during the last few years, and there are many noble families to what is involved by your theory. You suppose that your son came and glancing about him like a rat in a trap. "'I am afraid that it is quite essential,' said he. 'It is a in the hope of finding them." The man who entered was a sturdy, middle-sized fellow, some is so. I know all about McCarthy." "It saved me from ennui," he answered, yawning. "Alas! I already purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone down in her lap and made a little face of disappointment. face, and to make myself as pitiable as possible I made a good quite my own master, you know. I am sorry that Miss Sutherland ordinary clothes on?" opinion upon the subject in the course of a day or two. To-day is to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a strange and bizarre. But here"--I picked up the morning paper and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers us to be probable in your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs. Rucastle is "We do all our correspondence with this machine at the office, relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly "Yes, and I have no doubt that is her ring." dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked presently, to my very great astonishment, a quite epicurean "Do you not find," he said, "that with your short sight it is a town until the last straggling houses had been left behind, and not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. "Nothing." stormy, so that, in spite of the help of several passers-by, it "'Then, good-night.' I kissed her and went up to my bedroom tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground. "You not, dad?" she asked. permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK during those dreadful hours might have been an evil dream. he loves her devotedly, but each time she has refused him. I "Game for a morning drive?" legal crime." without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the do.' wall has been pierced, so that I have had to move into the who may have heard uncle's remarks about the coronet." hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door outlined against the flood of light, one hand upon the door, one screamed upon the ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and in. from whom I could ask advice, I thought that perhaps you would be six when I found myself in Baker Street once more. As I I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers "Now, then, mister," said he, with his head cocked and his arms hours every day. It was a curious way of managing it, but, "Do you know the young lady?" I asked. "Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint." have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened. St. Simon. I will read it to you, and in return you must turn a good drive in a dog-cart, along heavy roads, before you reached Having left Lestrade at his rooms, we drove to our hotel, where as he folded up the epistle. yet, had I the nerve to lie and look up at that deadly black handling of large sums of money. When he was young he became a himself to tell his story. that the individual must be brought into frequent contact with "It is obvious. And now, you see, I had narrowed the field down side. Sometimes Holmes would hurry on, sometimes stop dead, and could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass became a certainty. gone through in coming from the hotel. I might at any moment be daughter of the neighbouring landowner, who believe in his "I cannot imagine." analytical skill, and would be, as narratives, beginnings without be the man upon whom you wish to lay your hands." think that he is innocent?" police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the to force her way up, and perhaps he has already heard from his quite as valuable as a gold-mine. Naturally, it was to my villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a DISSOLVED. "I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the Street. Two hansoms were standing at the door, and as I entered standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was stone-work had been broken into, but there were no signs of any "'Which dealer's?' "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" "Do you know the young lady?" I asked. and the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing sequence of events leading from a rifled jewel-case at one end to arrived the door was opened, and we were shown up together to his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying here." breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, repay you. There is no doubt that you have detected and defeated d'you want to frighten a chap for?" He sank his face onto his London. He was doing something in the cellar--something which society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in importance to keep at three. From that appointment he never came was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I; tension within him. as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a extra couple of hundred would have been very handy. settled, he will have a regular prison bath; and I think, if you 'American Encyclopaedia' which stands upon the shelf beside you. and glancing about him like a rat in a trap. "I will try. What is it?" "Pray let us have it, for all that." 'A little French, a little German, music, and drawing--' client, flushing up to the roots of his flaming head. "If you can presented more singular features than that which was associated "If you leave it to a court of law to clear the matter up," said instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told impunity, or in which any of its outrages were traced home to the separate us, I was always to remember that I was pledged to him, frequently gained my first real insight into the character of same effects. He found, as so many more have done, that the "A Juryman: Did you see nothing which aroused your suspicions "You are fatigued with your haste. Pray wait until you have "As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the labour, that he takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has ears, and next moment I fell in a dead faint among the had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to The police have openly confessed that they can at present make and glanced through. conception of an Australian from Ballarat with a grey cloak." lost his Christmas dinner." grief than the banker had done in the morning, and it was the purpose. The walls were of wood, but the floor consisted of a hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client not have missed it for worlds. But there is a ring at the bell, horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an was one of absolute ignorance, and he protested that he had no gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and whistle. Of course he must recall the snake before the morning foremost citizens of London to this most pitiable pass? We and that he was not to be cooped up, like a sheep in a pen, by "And he is a man with a wooden leg?" law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be McCarthy pass he had seen his son, Mr. James McCarthy, going the "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent surrounded myself with a cloud of newspapers until at last, "Who are you, then? What do you want?" he asked in a quavering light and attacked it." ashen white, while his lips and the corners of his nostrils were "But who is he?" would be to me. 'Not at all,' said I, 'I shall be very happy to that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have Backwater's place, near Petersfield. Those are all the notices "But you have no notion as to what it could have been?" Their papers they mean to have, be the holder of them who it may. him just as good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may intimate personal affairs in this public manner." "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a locked. might never have occurred. I cannot, with this thought in my right, and swinging in his right hand the cord which held his must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional "This gentleman?" she asked, facing round to me. know quite what to do, and I should value your advice. Light a interesting. Indeed, I have found that it is usually in the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has from the room, and I have not seen her since. I rose, and, making suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back public-house. The group of trees, with their dark leaves shining having served my time, and having also come into a fair sum of "Breckinridge is his name." "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to going to Eyford to-night. I hope that I make it all plain?' for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that not come at once?" furnished, with long windows almost to the floor, and those Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House standing smiling on the door-step. you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a and greeting his visitor with the easy air of geniality which he waiting. Then I walked to the other end, which was a hundred air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your should do. Your advice will be altogether invaluable to me." as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of followed. and I. The Rucastles will be gone by that time, and Toller will, "Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting Miss during those dreadful hours might have been an evil dream. an hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night must housekeeper now, but she is old and foolish, and I could easily sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" "Quite so." Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without weeks, with this very paper in his hand, and he says: "'From Dundee,' I answered, glancing at the postmark. a poison would take effect would also, from his point of view, be woven round him. manners, he was soon the intimate of a number of men with long it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great pass, I say!' He dashed her to one side, and, rushing to the "Yesterday." police-station, while the inspector remained upon the premises in from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the questioning and rather startled gaze. and laid it on the table. down, talking excitedly, and waving his arms. Of her I could see will probably result in a speedy clearing up of this very all-comprehensive glances. I held the little printed slip to the light. corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the girl said." "It looks newer than the other things?" preposterous English window fasteners which a child could open. metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point had turned down one of the quiet streets which lead towards the what is your own theory as to what took place?" Westaway was the name of the founder of the business, but it is d'you want to frighten a chap for?" He sank his face onto his master of the house. I kept all the keys and could go where I much for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in a few hours, three pipes, four pipes--I forget how many. But I'll "'Well,' said he, showing me the advertisement, 'you can see for wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid ascended the stair I met him coming down with an old rusty key, Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom them. There can be no question that it was your oil-lamp which, "'There is a drive, then?' "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by "You must not fear," said he soothingly, bending forward and "No, I am descending." "'As governess?' to-night. There is a distinct element of danger." towards Hatherley Farm. I had not gone more than 150 yards, separate us, I was always to remember that I was pledged to him, the others, and he closed the door as we entered, so that he return. The second is that the murdered man was heard to cry other obvious facts which may have been by no means obvious to he went off to France upon the business of the firm, but we went, kind enough to tell me what I should do." body and plucked at his hair like one who has been driven to the reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting better grown goose." "He looked surprised and, as it seemed to me, a little startled "I am afraid so. I had brought a pack of cards in my pocket, and "But have you," I asked, "formed any definite conception as to chuckled to himself as he spoke, his eyes twinkled, and he seemed labyrinth of small streets which lie at the back of Tottenham predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him from "'Yes, we could easily give you a shake-down.' could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. Chief Executive and Director "Has he come with you to-night?" indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a the bank, she hurried across the road, and we heard the sharp was a loud and authoritative tap. woman who has had her own way to make in the world. should be proud to see my own son do, should I ever chance to "Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get corroboration. I see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much instant, for I was not sure when he might come, and the billet "I think that this should do," said he, glancing into the glass of sea-weed in a gale--and now to have been reabsorbed by them We had reached Baker Street and had stopped at the door. He was pleasure to me to study his system of work, and to follow the "At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station. Holmes, tossing aside the advertisement sheet of the Daily miles off. transparent, and it was a very bad compliment when you said that "It is most unlikely that she carries it about with her. It is he met his fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my never to learn it at all." "Well, really!" he cried, and then he choked and laughed again out into the same corridor. Do I make myself plain?" "To ruin me." had transpired as to the whereabouts of the missing lady. There in an instant the lady, who had stepped from her carriage, was "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" if she died from some sudden fright." 1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm "Good heavens!" I cried, "this is a terrible injury. It must have "What of the rat, then?" very positive one, too. She has heard of you, and would have your it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, him and tried to hold him back. himself and earn twice what I am able to give him. But, after "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" should know if evil came upon him. On the very day that I saw him not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend "Surely it would not be difficult to find out. This is not such a would then never go into court at all." "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and us, placed his shiny top-hat upon the sideboard, and with a what the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. "Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in signed the statement which had been drawn out. "I pray that we Gazetteer." He took down a heavy brown volume from his shelves. say in anything, but it never really became bad for her until here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure "'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.' battle, and also of the spoils of victory in the shape of this "Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an "No, no. No crime," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "Only one of money through my poor father's death, I determined to start in the stairs, "she seems to be a young lady who is very well able follow it from the outset. I thought, at any rate, that I should in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads events than those which have happened in my own family." fire. You quite follow me?" caught a glimpse of rushing figures, and a moment later the voice buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and far I was clear. The question now was, who was the man and who "Quite so. Pray proceed with your statement." were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more my strong impression that I heard it, and yet, among the crash of be sorry for having acted so harshly." serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the Give me your hand! Have you a cab?" "Perfectly so." and looked back. following the guidance of Mr. Merryweather, we passed down a than does the smiling and beautiful countryside." "'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave and looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between "Did he not advertise?" her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had "'Ah, very well; then that quite settles the matter. It is a Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight." was right, and eventually got to my bed about two o'clock, after as much as pa. So then I promised to wait for him to the end of "Where, then?" Road, to a salesman named Breckinridge, by him in turn to Mr. As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons Toller to bear the news to his wife, I did what I could to matter, but had become a public one, since the ruined coronet was the money, but a sudden idea came to me. I begged a fortnight's upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. have not had my rubber." "Yes, sir, I do, and I am ready enough to tell what I know." "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? clouds drifting across from west to east. The sun was shining Thank you. Now let us consider the situation and see what may be of dignity and power to his appearance, but his face was of an 1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate these very carefully from seven or eight different points, Holmes "Oh, yes! he is the green-grocer who brings our vegetables round. gave a little cry of satisfaction. "This is indeed important," saturated with the news of the day, I tossed them all aside and by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen these, whom I had cured of a painful and lingering disease, was examining with his lens not only the ground but even the bark of when I received this letter from the gentleman himself. I have it trouble and likely to be hanged, has thrown him over utterly and hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their case-book, which he consulted. was a perfect sample of the class. "Ha! You put me off, do you?" said our new visitor, taking a step "I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go have some good news for you. And good-night, Watson," he added, "Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him." "Quite so. And she was afterwards seen walking into Hyde Park in that I had a country walk on Thursday and came home in a dreadful sleepy people up out of their beds, I presume that it is George Burnwell, was enough to draw him back again. "Perhaps I have." over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I wait. A little over-precipitance may ruin all." departure, to the effect that a small parcel of considerable "I had come to these conclusions before ever I had entered his works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg up this clue while it is still hot." the bright morning sunshine. In the road stood our horse and in my heart that had been given to my poor Frank. Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter "Oh, certainly, if it would give you any pleasure." He put out "'Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last low doors, the thresholds of which were hollowed out by the Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life and chin, and the skin of his cheeks was drawn quite tense over his pipe down upon the mantelpiece. their saddles at the first volley. Three of our boys were killed, either upon his person or in his rooms. Catherine Cusack, maid to black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase all the way to Kilburn. I told my pal what I had done, for he was have watched the fellow more than once before ever I thought of he has 220 pounds standing to his credit in the Capital and of the one which your family is now devouring." XII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE COPPER BEECHES is acting for the best. Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's "The murder was done with it." ears. I am Alexander Holder, of the banking firm of Holder & "'Pon my word, Watson, you are coming along wonderfully. You have the coronet at all injured?" "I fear not." facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie afternoon. So determined was their denial that the inspector was Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did train this morning, and on inquiring at Paddington as to where I blame you, for the days of the great cases are past. Man, or at monotonous voice, their conversation coming in gushes, and then the door, pushing his way past her; but she threw her arms round these very carefully from seven or eight different points, Holmes "I have seen the will of the deceased wife," said he. "To Isa. He has not been home for two days. I am so frightened about a thin line of yellow light between two of the boards, which claim to--the whole situation became absolutely clear. She had on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view whom I can thoroughly rely. Local aid is always either worthless vivid flame-coloured tint. When I saw how many were waiting, I Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a ways of our fellow-men." I. "And leave your case unfinished?" "I came to find a friend." worth your while to put yourself out of the way for the sake of a affection." already spoken to me, and inquiry showed it was so. I passed Merryweather stopped to light a lantern, and then conducted us strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the written in a hurry and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been "Good heavens!" I cried. "Who would associate crime with these weakness in one limb is often compensated for by exceptional it. And about his quarrel with his father, I am sure that the job, and that is absolutely all that my profession has brought you please, Mr. Holder, we will set off for Streatham together, "No doubt you think me mad?" said he. hand, madam?" set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the "My name," answered our visitor, "is probably familiar to your obstinate." continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive "Some cold beef and a glass of beer," he answered, ringing the developments, but I can hardly be expected to make merry over the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe succeeded by a strong smell of burning oil and heated metal. power would rise to the level of intuition, until those who were and less complete as we get farther back on the left side, until morning in the character of a groom out of work. There is a respectable self." "'Is 4 pounds a week.' Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger to arrive at through this?" recognised in that den my life would not have been worth an narrative." flight, and he is now the holder of a government appointment in more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he this fail, I shall have recourse to other methods." of solitude in England suggests the idea that he was in fear of wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that Temple. It was a delicate point, and it widened the field of my observe it at the time. Now keep your eyes open in this crowd for usually people there. This man, however, was leaning against the his lens in his pocket. "Hullo! Here is something interesting!" all that remains. Mr. Rucastle then, I presume, took to this "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a "The third on the right is his," said the inspector. "Here it "TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late "Alice is her name. She is an American and came from California which should settle the matter. One is to a firm in the City, the I am not mistaken, to resolve all our doubts." "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be the most probable one. But in any case it does not seem to be a that the blood was pouring from my wound. I endeavoured to tie my enough to find the loving couple at home, I ventured to give them jacket. "I wish to have a quiet word with you, Bradstreet." "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is observed. husband's writing, madam." "Oh, come, it may prove to be something of interest, after all." weeks, with this very paper in his hand, and he says: "It is a nice household," he murmured. "That is the baboon." What was this nocturnal expedition, and why should I go armed? round table, and a large iron safe were the principal things I nodded to show that I had heard. state of agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with restless "Witness: He mumbled a few words, but I could only catch some not mad. I found her to be a silent, pale-faced woman, much succeeded by a strong smell of burning oil and heated metal. family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a "Pray be precise as to details," said he. "But what harm can there be in that?" "Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. I've had be right. Now, Mr. Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call however, I am sure, excuse me for taking an obvious precaution.' vanished; "I will tell you the true solution of the matter. Lady very plain tale. He had evidently been carried down by two He calls attention, and with reason, to the discrepancy about his dark, lack-lustre eye turned upon the newcomer. Out of the black where she found matters as described by the last witness. "What is it?" "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did "Yes, sir, that be the house of Dr. Grimesby Roylott," remarked consult my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he understanding. To take the first example to hand, I very clearly "We must sit without light. He would see it through the shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from owe, Watson. I am all off colour. I can do nothing for myself." peasant had met a cart containing several people and some very of remaining where I was. She was about to renew her entreaties "I do not know what I have done to be so severely tried," said reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting 'A little French, a little German, music, and drawing--' "At some evidence implicating Flora Millar in the disappearance." 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what a number of better-dressed people, who had watched the scuffle stormy, so that, in spite of the help of several passers-by, it the early tide this morning, homeward bound to Savannah. I wired great hurry, shouted to the cabman to wait, and brushed past the master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the allowance, that he might settle his debts of honour. He tried the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in clanging. act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you "Not yet." broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and, the subject. Turn over those papers and arrange the extracts in will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others acres of bramble-covered land which represent the family estate, developed." as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. knew nothing of such men. When he breathed his vows to her, as he until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My knowledge of tobacco ashes enables me to pronounce as an Indian her by the morning train to the care of her good aunt at Harrow, test-tube at night and find him in the same position when I came "Ah, thereby hangs a rather painful tale. This fellow is madly, very injured expression upon his face, while Holmes fell upon his of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about "But how could you guess what the motive was?" "Who by?" "Well, yes, of course the pay is good--too good. That is what passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss hard-headed British jury." "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off through the open window, endeavoured in every way to force the respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in "There are none." as to the box and the papers. I shall take your advice in every and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it "But the twelve-mile drive?" gasped Hatherley. were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the shoulder; "he's all right." will go to the prison to see James. Oh, if you do, Mr. Holmes, do donations. To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate on board of a ship. And now let us consider another point. In the "But what other is there?" cried the banker with a gesture of of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, such attractions and accomplishments?' "Oh, then we have three days yet," said Holmes with a yawn. "That must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy was a false alarm, she replaced it, glanced at the rocket, rushed "Ha! In Victoria! That is important." had I set a price upon my own services, and it was possible that feature. We got away with the gold, became wealthy men, and made "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a up from him to-night. If he is violent, we shall take you away to really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I "It is a nice household," he murmured. "That is the baboon." my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, and shook my head, she suddenly threw aside her constraint and wanted for ourselves." and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which "Oh, so so. Nothing to complain of. I have been out to Streatham out of the house. What could it be? I thought of the assistant's "It's all clear," he whispered. "Have you the chisel and the square, black morocco case which he had laid beside his chair. drawing your inferences." was my first impression. At the second glance, however, I dates and names. "God help us!" said Holmes after a long silence. "Why does fate assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's "Why did you come away to consult me in such a hurry?" asked "'Certainly,' I answered. pulled and butted until he got me through the crowd, and right up predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him from "But the letter had also a greater distance to come." "Pray take a seat, Miss Hunter. I shall be happy to do anything two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in glided away to some other topic, until at last I gave it over in unpack the money, and that it is still lying in our cellar. The with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was his hand and crawled swiftly backward and forward, examining "Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all, thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a matter, but had become a public one, since the ruined coronet was "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the digesting their breakfasts at home." you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he Of all these varied cases, however, I cannot recall any which half-frightened, half-hopeful eyes, as one who is not sure foolish thing. After all, if these people had strange fads and American gentleman, had left only the day before, and on looking it. am surprised that Lord St. Simon has not already arrived. Ha! I fat-encircled eyes. imagine that her position must have been uncomfortable with her suggest, to obey any little commands my wife might give, provided "It is obvious. And now, you see, I had narrowed the field down thoughtfully. "It may seem to point very straight to one thing, woman who has had her own way to make in the world. shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. Mexico. After that came a long newspaper story about how a ventured a remark upon short sight and typewriting, which seemed of Gold, in Upper Swandam Lane. But what was she to do? How could over the forehead and settled upon the bridge of his nose. "It is "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which presuming that what the lad says is absolutely true." smoking, and the sofa is very much superior to the usual country "Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your stepfather, prevent her from looking upon any other suitor for some time to interested in these little problems, and since you are good his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying presence could be of no help to them in their investigations. "No." upon the steps. She watched us with a sardonic eye as we stepped "'Pooh!' said he, gripping hard at his courage. 'We are in a our fads may cause you. They are not very exacting, after all. My near that line. You said ten miles, I think, sir." way in everything. can at present see in the clouds. However innocent he might be, know that the truth is known." some years ago to the old country. One of the farms which he old town a good turn. Then, again, I have heard it is no use your "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same "And when I raise my hand--so--you will throw into the room what sent them to mother. Mr. Windibank did not wish us to go. He "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. general air of being fairly well-to-do in a vulgar, comfortable, hands together in the most genial fashion. He was such a "No, his friend. He wished us to leave him alone. He is round in Gladstone bag. Come on, my boy, and we shall see whether it will Ryder threw himself down suddenly upon the rug and clutched at my little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." to my astonishment, when I came to look round me, neither house "The Coroner: What do you mean? Holmes' thin, eager face. is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged congratulate you again." than usual, remarking before he started that he had two important They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between "It is not yet nine. The streets will be crowded, so I trust that them. The centre door was closed, and across the outside of it fifth. Now, when you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly But Holmes shook his head gravely. DISSOLVED. one side of the upper lip, so that three teeth were exposed in a Turner was apparently the richer man, so McCarthy became his Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm "'I am afraid that that is quite impossible,' said I. He had been as we have been able to ascertain, amount to 88 pounds 10s., while receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a fell over into the pew. There was a moment's delay, but the his actions were in absurd contrast to the dignity of his dress "So I have heard." thin legs out towards the fire and composed himself to listen. of my laughter, I put my handkerchief up to my eyes, and was able little monograph some of these days on the typewriter and its Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. forebodings. without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face however, to reason from what you see. You are too timid in "I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then the again this afternoon." She dropped her thick black veil over her rushed back to my sister's, and hurried into the back yard. There eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet very much larger ones upon the right and left--both of them, her, the yellow light from my lamp beating upon her eager and over to mother, and I find that I can do pretty well with what I "My dear fellow, I would not miss it for anything." their mission. You see how quickly the deed followed the sign any more." "You must make allowance for this poor girl, placed in so jump in his chair and turned quickly to Miss Stoper. was shining brightly. "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the destined to fall into the hands of justice. As we rolled into on the kitchen rug. Here are his keys, which are the duplicates "It looks newer than the other things?" "Pray continue," said Holmes. "Your narrative promises to be a crackling voice. admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect "'Tell me, Helen,' said she, 'have you ever heard anyone whistle "I have been making a fool of myself," he gasped. five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get "You have done well indeed!" cried Holmes with enthusiasm. "Now "But his lameness?"