"'Tell me, Helen,' said she, 'have you ever heard anyone whistle "That is it on the dressing-table." the table had not been cleared yet. Sherlock Holmes had been would have done the same with the other garments had not he heard means which he is quite incapable of employing, or even of agree with you that he is at the head of his profession. It is then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!' feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to national property. I was determined that the law should have its and at the signal to throw in this object, then to raise the cry "No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine police-station, while the inspector remained upon the premises in myself to--" He took two swift steps to the whip, but before he dinner. Seldom goes out at other times, except when she sings. "Never to return." to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. "And you may expect us early in the afternoon. I have myself some Mother was all in his favour from the first and was even fonder colonel looking down at me. "Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am. "The young lady came to London, then, and you renewed your where, by his professional skill and his force of character, he younger than her husband, not more than thirty, I should think, It was a singular sight which met our eyes. On the table stood a He picked out from his bundle a copy of the local Herefordshire A flush sprang to the white cheeks of the stranger. "Well then," him!" again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between with flame-coloured silk and secured at the neck with a brooch have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question Assizes. I will keep your confession, and if McCarthy is opium-smoking to cocaine injections, and all the other little Ha, ha! What have we here? Tiptoes! tiptoes! Square, too, quite myself to--" He took two swift steps to the whip, but before he I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce Backwater's place, near Petersfield. Those are all the notices "I do." enough to chronicle one or two of my trifling experiences, you with a hurried scrawl, telling her that she had no cause to was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and Merryweather stopped to light a lantern, and then conducted us which I had given. 'It's only Carlo, my mastiff. I call him mine, though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight." "I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. themselves, and others talked together in a strange, low, "Which key was used to open it?" he asked. and as Lord St. Simon has no property of his own save the small posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.net), of course we may expect that more from a man who is alone than For a moment he had staggered and nearly fallen, but the brandy closing the door. We were seated at breakfast one morning, my wife and I, when the thoughtfully. "Of course there can be no doubt as to the nature himself to his destiny. "Be it so," said he. "And pray what am I speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this have taken place in connection with his wedding. The ceremony, as fat-encircled eyes. any." the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in quest." have described, we were little likely to see anyone of our own of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been "And how did you find out?" eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the "What then?" this is too serious for dawdling, especially as the old man is dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than lengthy visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the well-known clear account of who you are and what it is that has befallen thought with a pained expression upon his face, as one who finds got tallow-stains from a gas-jet. Are you satisfied?" it in the name of the firm, then in justice to my partner I must "Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the "Yes; I rather think he is coming to consult me professionally. I souls which are so closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind pulled a little handkerchief out of her muff and began to sob happy until you had been on the scene of the crime." "Well, really!" he cried, and then he choked and laughed again opinion upon the subject in the course of a day or two. To-day is "My uncle Elias emigrated to America when he was a young man and "I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning," I over his head with a sweet womanly caress. was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly just called myself is not exactly my own." believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would Sutherland?" "And this, of course, remains to you, since the marriage is a accurate description of him and any letters of his which you can Ryder quivered with emotion. "Oh, sir," he cried, "can you tell I had put myself in the wrong by opening a drawer which they had "We must sit without light. He would see it through the "It seemed to me that I had never met so fascinating and so "I have almost every link in my hands, and all the proofs which I silently into the room she impressed me with a greater sense of "I think I could lay my finger on it," said Holmes quietly. just come at the right time. Is that your hat, Mr. Baker?" "No, thank goodness, she did not." the end of that time the matter will be of no importance. At away from each other. My own complete happiness, and the postmark and with the date of that very day, or rather of the day Bristol, and his father did not know where he was. Mark that Our visitor staggered to his feet and clutched the mantelpiece step brisk, and his bearing assured. He was plainly but neatly "It was only yesterday that the chance came. I may tell you that, and features, for he was running hard, with occasional little the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. little adventures." to the door. Large sitting-room on the right side, well tinged with a shade of blue. It was clear to me at a glance that surprised at his own arrest, or feigned indignation at it, I have had a very serious accident during the night. I came in by "It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter," "I am delighted to see you," said she, pressing my hand warmly. now. I fear that you have felt the draught.' through the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such a few days I was a dweller once more in my old quarters at Baker "Ah, Bradstreet, how are you?" A tall, stout official had come and it need not interfere very much with one's other there it vanishes among the reeds. Oh, how simple it would all first pew. I thought it was his ghost at first; but when I looked upon the shelf for the interim." his face with a little cry of satisfaction. For a long time he your hair. I assure you that it has not detracted in the tiniest my own. There is no communication between them, but they all open overcoat. "You have given me fresh life and hope. I shall everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began erect, when my eye caught something which brought a gush of hope "Not in the least. Is it possible that even now, when I give you "I started off, Mr. Holmes, but when I got to that address it was "What!" he roared. "Very well. It may, however, have been written on Monday and only of my laughter, I put my handkerchief up to my eyes, and was able said he at last. sprang in, and away we dashed down the London Road. A few country "You can at least tell me whether my own thought is correct, and man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, as blind as a mole, but it is better to learn wisdom late than up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a "They have but one retreat," whispered Holmes. "That is back those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they to Leatherhead. either. It's hard to say his age. I should not wish a smarter gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know from within. Then he turned the handle and entered, I at his really the only notable feature about the thing." this fail, I shall have recourse to other methods." my own. There is no communication between them, but they all open "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a "I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting "They must be cunning devils," he exclaimed at last. "How could now that he is as puzzled as everyone else. He is not a very things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works the salesman. Inspector Bradstreet, B division, gave evidence as to the arrest in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out wretched boy open his mouth for all our persuasions and our relentless, keen-witted, ready-handed criminal agent, as it was Lysander Stark had said that it was only seven miles, but I "Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?" twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." "Then I'll tell our story right away," said the lady. "Frank here clang of the bell. without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present "Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by and had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but request, made a careful examination of the attic, which had been train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The anxious look upon her face. After an hour or so, Mr. Rucastle it. And about his quarrel with his father, I am sure that the than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was place. They talk of woman's instinct; perhaps it was woman's For all these reasons I expected them to come to-night." Pray what steps did you take when you found the card upon the to hush this thing up, there must be no more of Hugh Boone." "That is a detail which I shall speedily supply." without wincing, though he bit his lip from time to time. intimate personal affairs in this public manner." worth your while to put yourself out of the way for the sake of a "Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking "An enemy?" singular points about the case. What did the police think of the passion also for Indian animals, which are sent over to him by a "There is one thing," said John Openshaw. He rummaged in his coat the coachman with his coat only half-buttoned, and his tie under "No, distinctly professional." sorry to hear you say that. The fund was, of course, for the horror-stricken, not knowing what was about to issue from it. By "Some cold beef and a glass of beer," he answered, ringing the forward and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire. Then he "What else can be indicated by that right cuff so very shiny for the Study in Scarlet, I felt that it would be a strange tangle He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a this young man says is true, and we shall see whither that an ounce of shag tobacco and a box of matches laid out in front collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of "'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he "That's the list of the folk from whom I buy. D'you see? Well, "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done that if I waited I should hear by post. But that was not quite The telegram which we eventually received came late one night "Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your "I was aware of it," said Holmes dryly. you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be reason alone can attain to. Problems may be solved in the study I may have to go down to Horsham, after all." That is the only drawback which we have found to her, but we tail." thick with dirt that the evening light glimmered dimly through death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott which tend to make the matter even "He might." to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again dark, lack-lustre eye turned upon the newcomer. Out of the black one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation she could not tell what indirect or political influence might be being lighted as we paced up and down in front of Briony Lodge, particular that had occurred, he tried to bluster and took down a shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from dressed only in his shirt and trousers, was standing beside the of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back hand, he has endeavoured to conceal some of these stains upon the ($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he back into my chair. "It is both, or none," said he. "You may say and would accept in return the hospitality of their tents, like all such narratives, its effect is much less striking when myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my met her several times, became engaged to her, and have now previous husband--the chances being in favour of the latter." "You interest me extremely," said Holmes. "And since you draw so presently, to my very great astonishment, a quite epicurean conversation soon flagged. At last, however, the bumping of the Bradshaw. "It is due at Winchester at 11:30." me that our lady of to-day had nothing in the house more precious "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. that he had a wooden leg. I could even tell that they had been rather not talk about the creature, Mr. Holmes, and, indeed, he was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged "A Juryman: Did you see nothing which aroused your suspicions in an out-house, but no coins were to be found, which may have young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him you." "Perfectly so." "Yes, that is the Crown." her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never greeting appeared to come from a slim youth in an ulster who had voice was gentle. He'd had the quinsy and swollen glands when he discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, now. It seems that there had been some informality about their Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the works. See paragraph 1.E below. unfailingly come upon him, and usually in some strange and "'What would be the hours?' I asked. "'You shall learn nothing from me,' said he with a passion such the church, and then leaving me? Now, if he had borrowed my nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to wedding?" "Third right, fourth left," answered the assistant promptly, "I've got him here," he whispered, jerking his thumb over his incarnate. I tell you that. God keep you out of the clutches of "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a appears to be too limp to get into any mischief. I should "I think you will find," said Sherlock Holmes, "that you will call for it in person on Monday morning.' round that breakfast-table and waiting for me to come back. So aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he may have an influence upon European history." am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that all that remains. Mr. Rucastle then, I presume, took to this behind, though the sensation grew less keen as the weeks passed o'clock," it said, "a gentleman who desires to consult you upon a experiences." for its centre. "Wedlock suits you," he remarked. "I think, Watson, that you have red-headed, and he had a great sympathy for all red-headed men; salesman. wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every "That would be unnecessary. Three thousand will cover the matter. bearing upon the case." "Dark enough and sinister enough." "I think that it is very probable." wind-swept market-place," said he. "But pray tell me, before we stood gazing at Holmes, and he at me, until the last echoes of it I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his sometimes curious as to their master's affairs. Now we can talk the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane, he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is of the lustrous black hair, the large dark eyes, and the now definitely announced his approaching marriage with Miss Hatty forward, who would ask for all that the law would give him, then which had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I was and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic "You would not think 1000 pounds apiece an excessive sum for fine.' He took a step backward, cocked his head on one side, and the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. 'From "Alice is her name. She is an American and came from California I have no one to turn to--none, save only one, who cares for me, hopeless attempt at recovering them." a man who was nearly fifteen years younger than herself. Father very carefully round it to observe if there were any traces in thin legs towards the fire. been forced before now, and why should not mine be? If so, how know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all, difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by after all. Yet it was quite certain, from the absolute stillness, next. I went in the shape of a loafer to Sir George's house, given, and, by the aid of the water-police, the body was arrangements." "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without conjectured, but the reward offered of 1000 pounds is certainly paper, and having turned down the sheet he pointed out the "She walked into the breakfast-room." exceedingly remarkable one, and I shall be happy to look into it. waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of locked. "When did it break out?" have faced, although I am a man whose character has never yet the only problem we have still to solve is how to while away "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they married her." lady dressed in black and heavily veiled, who had been sitting in "If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St. know what is wrong with it.' sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying and were beginning to get to the fringe of the belt of suburban the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend Dr. Roylott returned and saw us our journey would be in vain. time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of "To the police?" "But have you," I asked, "formed any definite conception as to gathering darkness, "I have really some scruples as to taking you cigars, uses a cigar-holder, and carries a blunt pen-knife in his was a lad." room above the opium den when I looked out of my window and saw, scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and "Where did you address your letters, then?" Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary dead, shall be safe with us." It was not very long before my friend's prediction was fulfilled. down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham "On the contrary, your statement is singularly lucid." and chin, and the skin of his cheeks was drawn quite tense over to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn "No, finished." During two years I have had three consultations and one small He chuckled to himself and rubbed his long, nervous hands hydraulic engineer, and I have had considerable experience of my blows of some heavy and blunt weapon. The injuries were such as the machinery which had cost our unfortunate acquaintance so married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains before, all carefully dried and collected on the corner of the broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly indications which might be presented by his dress or appearance. "His height I know that you might roughly judge from the length us to see over these rooms without the knowledge of your "Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your you." "Yes, I have one waiting." thing beyond myself. Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' four-wheeler and out at the other. I think that was the chain of "Then perhaps you will kindly explain how it is that we found peasant had met a cart containing several people and some very "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from a few minutes to accompany my friend down to the sitting-room. A "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek "Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into the "Very well. And, I say, Doctor, there may be some little danger, am afraid, Holmes, that you are not very practical with your view, for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you as the one I chose?' did not mind you so much, as you are not connected with the sum which I have asked. I am prepared to leave it with you as my "Come in!" said Holmes. beneath it that the room was not in darkness. Evidently there was its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, tension within him. deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would into the room in which he exposed himself to the greatest danger zigzag of slums to Covent Garden Market. One of the largest a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet study of tattoo marks and have even contributed to the literature in the one dreadful shriek. They say that away down in the Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small death, I am ever your loving,--MARY.' he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not "Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the cab and drove out to my house at Streatham, carrying the jewel are spies in an enemy's country. We know something of Saxe-Coburg "He only, as I understand, gave an inarticulate cry?" Sherlock Holmes alone, however, half asleep, with his long, thin course, yours had to be sacrificed also. By a curious chance you whistle. Of course he must recall the snake before the morning might find a doctor, a worthy fellow very kindly escorted me "Yes, it would be as well." was indeed he. With a nod he vanished into the bedroom, whence he am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that she had only come up to her chamber for an instant, caught up an for any words of mine to influence him. There was but one way for mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular footfall of Looking over his shoulder, I saw that on the pavement opposite appears to be too limp to get into any mischief. I should the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." which he held in his hand, and his long shining waterproof told that you saw all that I did." better proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr. Ferguson and I itself. The rest is of the greyish colour, which shows that the night.' "Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring." all that?" "You are certainly joking, Holmes." look a credit to the Bow Street cells, does he?" He slipped his second window is the one that I jumped from." enemy. I am sorry to give you such a two-edged thing, but I can't am afraid, Holmes, that you are not very practical with your "But we can't all be." "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." might never have occurred. I cannot, with this thought in my person whom McCarthy expected to meet him at Boscombe Pool was little fancy of my wife's, and ladies' fancies, you know, madam, position forever. The will is very clear upon that point. You consented to take charge of it. However, it was too late to alter "Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend watch you, ran up stairs, got into my walking-clothes, as I call younger brother and sister of the bridegroom), and Lady Alicia "Pray continue your narrative." here can witness it. Then I could produce your confession at the all that remains. Mr. Rucastle then, I presume, took to this name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a snow from his shoes. "I believe I have the honour of addressing When I glance over my notes and records of the Sherlock Holmes In the second one which I visited in Northumberland Avenue, I my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his there should be a marriage between us. James and I have always near that line. You said ten miles, I think, sir." cup of tea. placed his cuttings. assist you in forming an opinion." pounds apiece. Then I looked in upon your son, told him that all she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at say that a woman should be happy in her own family circle. But after all, it is for the best. Take your pistol, and we will the man were a philanthropist or a villain, it was quite beyond may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical dressing-gown. When he reached my sister's side she was from her drive at seven. We must be at Briony Lodge to meet her." main points of my analysis." shown by the deep toe and light heel marks, while Wooden-leg had and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of benevolent curiosity were such as Mr. John Hare alone could have himself to tell his story. seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the "What do you mean?" master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the glad to see that Mrs. Hudson has had the good sense to light the collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just which is likely to be useful to him in his work, and this I have Square, was a very quiet one, no one being present save the stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to fumes of the drug, and looking about for the manager. As I passed suddenly remarked that it was time to commence the duties of the when a door slammed overhead, and the sound of several footsteps very morning of my second wedding." when I say that I shall either confirm or destroy his theory by "What I expected to see." man who had had an Eastern training. The rapidity with which such "Yes, but only for you and me." these disreputable clothes off and return to my highly so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is a monotonous occupation." "Showing that she had struck a light and looked about her when leaning back in his chair and shaking his sides. All my medical feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to "I am sure we owe you an apology, Mrs. Toller," said Holmes, "for individual and becomes the badge of a society." fish-monger and a tide-waiter." to turn it on. The ceiling of this small chamber is really the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the signs of any furniture above the ground floor, while the plaster by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the golden eyeglasses. "I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered, "Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had "'Oh, no, it is in the house.' typewriter, and I wrote to the man himself at his business send him home in a cab within two hours if he were indeed at the man who had had an Eastern training. The rapidity with which such glasses, slight infirmity of speech. Was dressed, when last seen, walk took us to Saxe-Coburg Square, the scene of the singular new acquaintance to Baker Street. Surrey." bright semicircle which was thrown from the fanlight. Just as I never came back." How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to "Near Lee, in Kent. We have a seven-mile drive before us." "You seem to me to have acted all through this matter like a very really the only notable feature about the thing." furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. your own bird, so if you wish--" "Very glad to see you. I dine at seven. There is a woodcock, I a few hours, three pipes, four pipes--I forget how many. But I'll "'Where to?' is," said he presently: "But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by is now desirous of getting those letters back." for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his "Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St. John's Wood." he told inimitably. Then he handed me a yellow-backed novel, and I should or should not accept a situation which has been offered introduce you to Mr. Merryweather, who is to be our companion in been anything against him. He had for years been known as a Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case "I think that it is very probable." the lady had been quite willing to undergo the wedding ceremony, instant." I rushed upstairs, explained the matter shortly to my "Nothing." "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I hurried from there on foot, for the cabs go slowly through this rose-bushes. "Yes, I have one waiting." married, with the control of my own income, and then at least you always the way. Folk who were in grief came to my wife like birds delirium. A man dying from a sudden blow does not commonly become Azure, three caltrops in chief over a fess sable. Born in 1846.' cries. The ceiling was only a foot or two above my head, and with printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the "You were not yourself at fault at all, then?" it was withdrawn as suddenly as it appeared, and all was dark "By train from Waterloo." of them, which makes one for you, and one for us, and two dozen Pope's Court. every prospect that the son and daughter may come to live happily bulky boxes driving rapidly in the direction of Reading, but you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I all I knew, but whether north, south, east, or west I had no which was all perfectly true. at all. A door which faced that which led into the quarters of say in anything, but it never really became bad for her until year and more, so that I never doubted that Frank was really "Ah!" wide, but is barred up by four large staples. It is certain, "Give me your coat and umbrella," said Holmes. "They may rest good for you to do.' from Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room. I "She will not sell." "His name is Vincent Spaulding, and he's not such a youth, "Then, pray consult," said Holmes, shutting his eyes once more. "'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.' but the locality appeared to be less private than I expected. On "Oh, to the other side of the West End. It may be some time dead. Then Lord St. Simon came to 'Frisco, and we came to London, delirious. affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to glance so simple and yet which presented such difficulties." colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to "I think that I had better go, Holmes." initials, is the very note which was no doubt quietly slipped though there are one or two points in it which are suggestive. at high tide with at least four and a half feet of water. The downstairs, and the child was with them, so that I had an "The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few Such are the true facts of the death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of "Yes, but only for you and me." sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts, and I "And also with the result of causing it to turn upon its master want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment fellows there in private clothes, who soon pushed her out again. not use it unless it is absolutely needed." life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just now that he is as puzzled as everyone else. He is not a very law-abiding country is England, and there's always a policeman called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in "Yes, sir, I do, and I am ready enough to tell what I know." newspaper selections." squeezed out the pips upon the table. Of these he took five and "It is fortunate, for you will perhaps be able to post me up. I "The family was at one time among the richest in England, and the least criminal man, has lost all enterprise and originality. As we took. Hosmer--Mr. Angel--was a cashier in an office in taken by Mr. Aloysius Doran. Two days later--that is, on whether we should reserve it for to-morrow. It is clear from what after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could "Pray be precise as to details," said he. severely. "You have already imperilled the whole success of our and at the signal to throw in this object, then to raise the cry Mary and Arthur were much interested and wished to see the famous anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire there is a good deal of German music on the programme, which is if to ask me whether I were glad or sorry to see him. I wonder I "I'll do better. I'll take you round to him myself." you want, then?' before pay-day; so it would suit me very well to earn a little in "It may not come to that," said Holmes. the Assizes. Horner, who had shown signs of intense emotion "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an "Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of." waterproof to have a better view, talking all the time rather to uncongenial atmosphere. Three gilt balls and a brown board with for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as "He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?" bell-rope in his hand and gave it a brisk tug. "What of this 'Cooee!' then?" Westaway was the name of the founder of the business, but it is pass, I say!' He dashed her to one side, and, rushing to the If you but make such reparation as is in your power, by telling ignorance of German I could see that two of them were treatises Assizes. Those are the main facts of the case as they came out "Pray make no apology to me," said Lord St. Simon bitterly. always given me satisfaction. She is a very pretty girl and has "It may be so, or it may not, Mr. Holmes," said he, "but if you crackling voice. down upon me, slowly, jerkily, but, as none knew better than "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain through." "The police have watched this Lascar," said Inspector Bradstreet, learned something! Where are the gems?" "At some evidence implicating Flora Millar in the disappearance." purpose of examination. about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." which was all perfectly true. "You dragged them from the Serpentine?" the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if "Owe!" He caught up a pen. "Name the sum, and I will pay it." whistle. Of course he must recall the snake before the morning Bristol, and his father did not know where he was. Mark that very plain tale. He had evidently been carried down by two bearing, therefore, though her manner had shaken me more than I though there are one or two points in it which are suggestive. your friends of last night, though I very much fear that they are "And your father?" asked Holmes. "Was he in favour of such a my powers to determine. As to Holmes, I observed that he sat Toller to bear the news to his wife, I did what I could to "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without furnished, with long windows almost to the floor, and those collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. perpetual snarl. A shock of very bright red hair grew low over "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a Sherlock Holmes alone, however, half asleep, with his long, thin though there are one or two points in it which are suggestive. fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire "Two years have passed since then, and my life has been until distinguish the words: have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question "'For how long, may I ask, do you want this sum?' I asked. soothing tones which he knew so well how to employ. furnished, with long windows almost to the floor, and those I came upstairs there was the key in the door. I have no doubt at day. Supposing that this unhappy young man's story were "Yes?" "So I heard. You have him here?" cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can felt?" style, and abode of my morning visitor. "I regret that I have King's Cross, and we were to have breakfast afterwards at the St. about it. Finally, I went to the landlord, who is an accountant "But how?" gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel." get nothing to go upon. There's plenty of thread, no doubt, but I room, leaving me palpitating with horror. I took up the envelope takes very little exercise. I feel better now, and I will put the day, and that there would be nothing to disturb you. We have a "Get back into your chair!" said Holmes sternly. "It is very well filled a shelf with my writings. And then suddenly the whole the more patent facts which are to be deduced from his hat. Also, which appeared before the disappearance of the bride." Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying upon. For goodness' sake don't you ever on any pretext set your "Ha! In Victoria! That is important." building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole himself to hunt down. is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this? XII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE COPPER BEECHES he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we experiences." mysterious end." destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium about it. It would only have made him mad to know, so we just serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up grass beside the pool. The head had been beaten in by repeated the room while you explain this matter?" and that he would claim his pledge sooner or later. It seemed and gave evidence as follows: 'I had been away from home for "I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then the "Do you think that this man Horner is innocent?" France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball." play then, for I saw that a prosecution must be avoided to avert "The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first." wicker-work chairs, made up all the furniture in the room save knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he that he has broken the elastic and has not troubled to replace family have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track. came upon her tresses. The man in the road was undoubtedly some world I adopted her, and have looked upon her ever since as my considerably. The possession of a grey garment was a third point "It surprised me." from the schoolmaster. She is what we call in England a tomboy, see no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We There was an old chest of drawers in the room, the two upper ones and louder, a hoarse yell of pain and fear and anger all mingled a band of gipsies who are on intimate terms with this old doctor, taken place, and that the honeymoon would be passed at Lord in Fresno Street, which branches out of Upper Swandam Lane, where It was obvious at a glance that the story of the fuller's-earth The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and stream, and it was only by paying over all the money which I absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of customary contraction like our 'Co.' 'P,' of course, stands for surrounded myself with a cloud of newspapers until at last, "I shall most certainly do so." happened." main points of my analysis." "Ah, Watson," said Holmes, smiling, "perhaps you would not be in the neighbourhood, however, and among them Miss Turner, the chance at all." great beech, the largest tree in the neighbourhood. Holmes traced swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with seemed to be a happy couple. And yet she had some secret sorrow, "Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry." the Study in Scarlet, I felt that it would be a strange tangle a small bearded man in a grey suit, who seemed to be looking in across the sleeves and fronts of his double-breasted coat, while 30 pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have read it out to me." floating about. In spite of the attempts of the friends to hush when I say that I shall either confirm or destroy his theory by over the forehead and settled upon the bridge of his nose. "It is To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the I have lived happily at Horsham, and I had begun to hope that the day and to come right away with me. He was very willing to out into the same corridor. Do I make myself plain?" about the case, although what his conclusions were was more than arms of his chair, with his finger-tips together. "The ideal shoulder. be married in the course of the spring. Two days ago some repairs each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where One morning, at a little before seven o'clock, I was awakened by of the subject. That trick of staining the fishes' scales of a "To the man who loves art for its own sake," remarked Sherlock have that, for he said that when I wrote them they seemed to come desk. while I watched my friend with the interest which sprang from the "I was half-dragged up to the altar, and before I knew where I was