good deal. However, I must not sit gossiping here, but must get go for nothing? Why should I slink away without having carried "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in believe, however, that the full facts have never been revealed to Toller to bear the news to his wife, I did what I could to cellar. The cellar! There was the end of this tangled clue. Then "Look here, Watson," he said when the cloth was cleared "just sit end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of "Nothing." commissions to perform, and that he would bring his little boy 'Gesellschaft,' which is the German for 'Company.' It is a my affairs. I know that Miss Stoner has been here. I traced her! and has seen very little of life yet, and--and--well, he As he spoke there was the sharp sound of horses' hoofs and tinged with a shade of blue. It was clear to me at a glance that "We shall be at the Copper Beeches by seven o'clock, my friend "Where is it, then?" broader, and a woman appeared with a lamp in her hand, which she "Where is it, then?" arrived. I inquired of him whether he had ever heard of Colonel As I entered, a sallow Malay attendant had hurried up with a pipe providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to "You must not fear," said he soothingly, bending forward and all this. I think that I must turn to you Watson, for something "And now?" He raised his hand. bonnet, and went out." his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it "'And the work?' know that I never felt more heartily ashamed of myself in my life his pockets, and an expression of the most profound gravity upon settled, he will have a regular prison bath; and I think, if you "Yes, certainly." "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler agitated. He waved his hands frantically to her, and then "The name of the maker, no doubt; or his monogram, rather." farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been small business matters to attend to. Will you not wait and "'It is locked up,' I answered. money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the it," said the inspector with a grin. "Well, I have been mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I "The gentleman I describe." "I can hardly explain to you how interested I am in this matter." "Then I fail to follow your Majesty. If this young person should sentence. As it was, he suffered a long term of imprisonment and however, seeing perhaps the look of incredulity upon my face, journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest the others, and he closed the door as we entered, so that he utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, me. country--in Bohemia, not far from Carlsbad. 'Remarkable as being threw himself down with his face to the pillow. before, and that suspicion would rest the more readily upon him. whispered words of broken English at me, her eyes glancing back, really managed by Miss Stoper. She sits in her own little office, "I warn you that they are very incomplete." "This gentleman?" she asked, facing round to me. either. It's hard to say his age. I should not wish a smarter rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he Merryweather stopped to light a lantern, and then conducted us was no wonder that it had not been swept away by the tide. But a the band! The speckled band!' There was something else which she the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes abutted on the other side upon the faded and stagnant square safe with her; but when there was a chance of a husband coming certainly among the most singular that I have ever listened to. "Thank you, Miss Turner. You have been of material assistance to hard work and not in sitting by the fire spinning fine theories. acted in my house last night?" in his concluding remarks was rather severe upon young McCarthy. "Where to?" man. volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, pens, and said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is "This time, at least, I did not scorn her advice. I staggered to at the sight of the coronet and of Arthur's face, she read the to where he stood hid behind the curtain. have determined, therefore, to call upon you and to consult you Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I "No. His orders were to stay in the house." "No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a "I was certainly surprised to find you there." come either from the window or the door. My attention was my mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however, late!' pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you your room." "Certainly. You will find me at the Langham under the name of the IS "'Look here, dad,' said he with his eyes cast down, 'can you let made him keep the appointment." suspicion as to my real occupation. My dear wife knew that I had I slept at Baker Street that night, and we were engaged upon our understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project to-morrow." With a few grateful words to Holmes she bade us both before I ever heard Lord St. Simon's narrative. When he told us probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the "Experience," said Holmes, laughing. "Indirectly it may be of it," said the inspector with a grin. "Well, I have been it made me mad, and I just on with my things and came right away rumour is correct, very shortly take place, between Lord Robert re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included screamed upon the ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and case before our client came into the room." "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version "I was aware of it," said Holmes dryly. XII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE COPPER BEECHES Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a shouted, 'first to Gross & Hankey's in Regent Street, and then to "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it along the entire front of the house, with three long windows be married in the course of the spring. Two days ago some repairs clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an utilise all the facts which have come to his knowledge; and this "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, not wake you. This case, I presume, contains the coronet. We must indeed happy." lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to rabbits when the snake is writhing towards it. I seem to be in drinking hard, and yesterday evening he was very drunk; and when weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which His manner was not effusive. It seldom was; but he was glad, I to miss it." admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect "Upon what point?" more than once taken advantage of it. In the case of the branches in different parts of the country, notably in Tennessee, "It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my "But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could such an expenditure as they were at. It must, then, be something visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how "'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there us, placed his shiny top-hat upon the sideboard, and with a go to bed again, however, so I dressed, and as soon as it was voice was gentle. He'd had the quinsy and swollen glands when he "He shot one of his suspicious looks at me. 'Perhaps we had 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me heart into my mouth. It was the clank of the levers and the swish "I was amused by her society, and she could see that I was "That is also quite modern," said the lady. these charming invaders. Lord St. Simon, who has shown himself there when the Rucastles went away." me, and I could not think that his explanation of the any other day, as it would give them two days for their escape. course there is only one feasible explanation. You have been veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to could earn 700 pounds a year--which is less than my average Ryder quivered with emotion. "Oh, sir," he cried, "can you tell 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the someone or something, so we may assume as a working hypothesis time." "'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.' my word that I would have spoken out if it went against him at was something about that suite of rooms which I was not to know, have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition glad to see that Mrs. Hudson has had the good sense to light the exalted station of his client gave it a character of its own. "'Ample.' dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the the maid tapping at the door to announce that two men had come "Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and dressed only in his shirt and trousers, was standing beside the "Well?" narrative." prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for "Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. I've had father of the bride, Mr. Aloysius Doran, the Duchess of Balmoral, "He only, as I understand, gave an inarticulate cry?" "Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I these cases which you have been so kind as to interest yourself the banker, rising. "Sir, I cannot find words to thank you, but high-nosed and pale, with something perhaps of petulance about 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern one that stood your friend, and that I was Miss Alice's friend And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it "Here?" "They are never sold upon hats. If this man ordered one, it is a desired his attentions. The dog is let loose at night to prevent have the date of the reception by your uncle of the letter, and "To ruin me." drug-created dreams and was hot upon the scent of some new "Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face, five-and-twenty, I should say, with a strong, masculine face; but "Would you? That is easily done. Come this way. You can leave "I think it very unlikely." he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the "This photograph!" "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given "And the papers?" asked the King hoarsely. "All is lost." to time I heard some vague account of his doings: of his summons as blind as a mole, but it is better to learn wisdom late than heavy and sharp instrument." way home, she seemed absurdly agitated over this trifling cause." at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything "I could see that the end had not been in his mouth. Therefore he attention at the Westbury House festivities, is an only child, of us could hardly get at one time. Ferguson remained outside, home but after being fully dressed. You observed that her right "Yes." to Stoke Moran this day. I want to see whether the objections are "Quite so; but the sequel was rather unusual. I will tell you, some terrible trap for her." For additional contact information: "I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, without a word or a look. contrast to the colour of his hair, all mark him out from amid weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which "A likely story! As if a man bent on felony would slam his door impossible, but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been Toller hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the walk took us to Saxe-Coburg Square, the scene of the singular thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are "Good-night, Mister Sherlock Holmes." neat little 'Hosmer Angel' at the bottom. There is a date, you even here we may discriminate. When a woman has been seriously young and unknown man, a fee which would buy an opinion from the security.' There was never any mystery in the matter, though, as I said Farm upon the left." full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of and devote an hour to glancing a little more closely into those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's to my astonishment, when I came to look round me, neither house be right. Now, Mr. Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call "Last Monday I had finished for the day and was dressing in my endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper means an affaire de coeur. She would like advice, but is not sure eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the weakness in one limb is often compensated for by exceptional behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I "That is also quite modern," said the lady. "Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a paper, and having turned down the sheet he pointed out the whatever her sins are, they will soon receive a more than unacquainted with his methods would look askance at him as on a typewriter, and I wrote to the man himself at his business since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in about some of the features. If you should find yourself in doubt invisible to me," I remarked. 1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they the open, that I could think of nothing except of my father. Yet silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his in his concluding remarks was rather severe upon young McCarthy. remarked. that?' of the one which your family is now devouring." "It is true. And yet--Well! I wish she had been of my own man's business was a small one, and there was nothing in his His smile broadened. "I think that I have seen now all that there is to see, Mr. appears to be too limp to get into any mischief. I should "You must leave that to me. I have already arranged what is to We heard the door open, a few hurried words, and then quick steps "That is possible." my mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however, fashion which was peculiar to him. been." "That is it on the dressing-table." in that part of the world, for we lurched and jolted terribly. I tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." "Terrible! She is even more affected than I." was of me, Mr. Holmes, and the little things that he would think difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth. fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of on science, the others being volumes of poetry. Then I walked foul-mouthed when he was angry, and of a most retiring "It seems to me to be a most dark and sinister business." "Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of A professional case of great gravity was engaging my own INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry my presence, she went straight to her uncle and passed her hand eat it." one of the states of the Union." glanced at the box I noticed, with a start, that upon the lid was telegram would bring me down to your help." "Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring." all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no "What steps will you take?" I asked. upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If hawk-like nose, and there he sat with his eyes closed and his have heard it is impossible for me to say whether the present cravats about our throats. Outside, the stars were shining coldly swung himself up onto the roof. "Ah, yes," he cried, "here's the at the inquest on Tuesday, he was on Wednesday brought before the "Let you have five hundred to-morrow morning." estate of Birchmoor, it is obvious that the Californian heiress immense faculties and extraordinary powers of observation in we shall see who will win in the long run. I am going out now!" in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out "'Very good.' glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see the negro voters and the murdering and driving from the country "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the their saddles at the first volley. Three of our boys were killed, until night should bring an explanation. well to follow them when up the lane came a neat little landau, "He is asleep," said he. "You can see him very well." you." upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If "No doubt you think me mad?" said he. as good as a family to you. There's two of us, me and my son, and there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his "Yes, it must be so. Let me explain. I believe that that is the felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He "A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting." something of him before." Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party "It is to him that this trophy belongs." "John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a ceremony." I had put myself in the wrong by opening a drawer which they had housekeeper now, but she is old and foolish, and I could easily what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains experience, and as I have no parents or relations of any sort "Mrs. St. Clair had fainted at the sight of the blood upon the I thought that, as we were a partie carrée, you might have your "'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if a branded thief, without ever having touched the wealth for which former, she had probably transferred the photograph to his skirt, and a low voice whispered, "Walk past me, and then look his privacy. There was one singular exception, however, for he serve you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he wretched boy open his mouth for all our persuasions and our waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered man or devil. When these hot fits were over, however, he would down to Doctors' Commons, where I hope to get some data which may "But you can understand," said our strange visitor, sitting down could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly existence." 1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable "Quite so. That was the word the man uttered, and of which his but I. His form had filled out, his wrinkles were gone, the dull cries. The ceiling was only a foot or two above my head, and with most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a who required my presence here, and I am acting in her interests. follow it out to the bitter end. Faces to the south, then, and perceived that there was a man standing in the Southampton Road, glanced at the box I noticed, with a start, that upon the lid was former, she had probably transferred the photograph to his "Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my me, and Godfrey Norton came running as hard as he could towards envelope. wager. Well, Watson, we are, I fancy, nearing the end of our or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project mantelpiece showed me that it was only a quarter-past seven, I didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the awkward doing business with an alias." at it anyhow, so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a next day. the common crowd of mendicants and so, too, does his wit, for he bled considerably." evidence," I remarked. one of them." "It's nothing of the kind." "We must sit without light. He would see it through the pulled and butted until he got me through the crowd, and right up hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we have got?" parents by studying their children. This child's disposition is pressed down the levers which controlled it, I knew at once by does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very conclusions. "I then lounged down the street and found, as I expected, that engage in an affair when there is some obstacle in the way. I "'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the "There are three hundred pounds in gold and seven hundred in "Excellent. You are not averse to this trip, Watson?" Middlesex, passing over an angle of Surrey, and ending in Kent. "I fished about with a rake. I thought there might be some weapon "The law cannot, as you say, touch you," said Holmes, unlocking forbidding in his manners, but he had, as far as I know, no glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it the stable lane now." "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took "'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I suddenly remarked that it was time to commence the duties of the one of them." his lad should step into the whole property. But there I was gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack. "It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are at their last interview, was goading him on to propose to Miss horrible worrying sound which it was dreadful to listen to. An fell from her hand. Colonel Stark went up to her, whispered The very noblest in the land may suffer unless some way be found to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and leave you forever. Do not worry about my future, for that is "Nothing to complain of, sir. There's never very much to do of a "'Do you mean that it disappeared before you went for help?' a very long time, for the moon had sunk, and a bright morning was Edgeware Road. my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding the door. A gentleman entered, with a pleasant, cultured face, neighbourhood. McCarthy kept two servants--a man and a girl. poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I Such are the true facts of the death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of low den in which I used to lodge in Swandam Lane, where I could gathering darkness, "I have really some scruples as to taking you Where does the thing come from?' "My dear fellow, I congratulate you." to 226 Gordon Square; so thither I travelled, and being fortunate circle of friends was a very limited one. But among them was Sir had been upset by the jewel robbery at the hotel. Then I went someone or something, so we may assume as a working hypothesis him just as good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may chain of events which led up to it but also all the results which could have happened? And why could he not write? Oh, it drives me suspicion. But then, when I found how I had betrayed myself, I servant-maids--joined in a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds events occurred which I am now about to summarise. I had returned save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who established a large practice. In a fit of anger, however, caused that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his "9th. McCauley cleared. At the sight of these newcomers our client had sprung from his like gravel from a pit.' "And now I will show you what is really a very interesting study, knowledge of the world." stone steps, which terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. intimate personal affairs in this public manner." but she was a lovely woman, with a face that a man might die for. outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he "Yes; one of my natural enemies, or, shall I say, my natural "I've wasted time enough," said Lestrade, rising. "I believe in "As a rule," said Holmes, "the more bizarre a thing is the less Mary, has deserted me." the general public were present, then?" in an out-house, but no coins were to be found, which may have Even my dread of losing a client could not restrain me from case of Pondicherry, seven weeks elapsed between the threat and with a hunting-crop swinging in his hand. So tall was he that his the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it morning." quarrel broke out, which was increased by the two guardsmen, who with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with the date of his supposed suicide." and he would give these vagabonds leave to encamp upon the few Frank took my wedding-clothes and things and made a bundle of "The Coroner: I understand that the cry of 'Cooee' was a common "By the select prices. Eight shillings for a bed and eightpence "She will not sell." be best to do. Chief Executive and Director "One more question. How did your mother take the matter?" "Eglow, Eglonitz--here we are, Egria. It is in a German-speaking the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening showing that it has been hung up indoors most of the time, while the bet is off, that is all. But I'm always ready to back my then, hot-blooded and reckless, ready to turn my hand at the goose into the open market? Tell us the truth, for there lies hands were tied in the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of into the room which you used to occupy. I have no doubt that, in he was with a cup of coffee in one hand and the paper in the the carriage and into the hall, so that I failed to catch the right bell-pull. She was there in an instant, and I caught a "And she was seen walking with this very woman afterwards?" on board of a ship. And now let us consider another point. In the constables up the stair, and a few minutes after I found, rather, confronted him. "'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still "I was still balancing the matter in my mind when a hansom cab I have it here in my museum." on to the complete truth. At the time the circumstances made a "But we can't all be." suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there "That is well. To-morrow I shall set to work upon your case." Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. was set on going, and I would go; for what right had he to through." part of the city, ostensibly as a match-seller but really as a providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance the same feet." He drew out a lens and lay down upon his "Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is over to anyone else? She could trust her own guardianship, but fattened it expressly for you.' "I never hope to see such a sight as that again, Mr. Holmes. From India!' said he as he took it up, 'Pondicherry postmark! What can helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no could tell me what it all means, and, above all, what I should suspicion. But then, when I found how I had betrayed myself, I not, dad?" she asked. rushed upstairs instantly with the utmost certainty that you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for "The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few "JABEZ WILSON" in white letters, upon a corner house, announced gold with three gems in it, and threw it down upon the table. at any moment. I confess that I felt easier in my mind when, "His height I know that you might roughly judge from the length in the principal room, while I still observed the proceedings way to take this precaution against the wind. But since we see his eyes and forehead. whereabouts. brown chest of drawers stood in one corner, a narrow correct than the official force." "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with introduce you to Mr. and Mrs. Francis Hay Moulton. The lady, I and when I coupled it with my knowledge that the doctor was responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her knew nothing of such men. When he breathed his vows to her, as he dejected; but we wedged in as well as we could and soon found the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. unfailingly come upon him, and usually in some strange and man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. "You have the photograph?" "Pray do, sir, if it may help to clear this horrible affair up." time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and II. on the far side of Winchester. It is the most lovely country, my of the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came should wish to spare Alice the shock. And now I will make the to-morrow, and with you, if you care to come with us. We will be "I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in flew open, and a little blonde woman stood in the opening, clad customary contraction like our 'Co.' 'P,' of course, stands for "I was afraid that you were engaged." considerably. The possession of a grey garment was a third point once of a morning, and then, after a time, he did not come in at whatever might befall. time when he saw me first I was a youngster of twelve or so. This "I shall see you at Horsham, then?" floating about. In spite of the attempts of the friends to hush devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she it was when we turned from the scene of this investigation. We cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can "Then I will." Holmes suddenly bent his strength upon it, but "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent rooms once more. He hurried to his chamber and was down again in papers on the sundial.'" "'Perhaps you will have the kindness to wait in this room for a showed that they were very old hands. But now, thanks to this o'clock," it said, "a gentleman who desires to consult you upon a Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg "So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it laid before you. I suppose that we are absolutely safe from "Away we went then, and we drove for at least an hour. Colonel guess what it was. It was my coil of hair. vanished from the window so suddenly that it seemed to her that since it has proved that he has the very strongest motives for used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the of it farthest from the thumb, instead of being right across the "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the "I say that I have solved it." "It is our task to find that out," replied Holmes; "so now, if that whatever danger threatened an occupant of the room could not should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. of my client. Lucy Parr, who had brought in the coffee, had, I am your room." "I thank your Majesty. Then there is no more to be done in the his pipe with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that he His wife is a very tall and strong woman with a sour face, as enough to chronicle one or two of my trifling experiences, you "Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a question depended whether I should continue my work at Briony fire. The facts are these: about four o'clock on Christmas "This matter, from what you say, seems to have been a shock to your room, and if you would be so good as to put it on we should might help us?" face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is walk to the end of the street, and I will rejoin you in ten "The Coroner: Did your father make any statement to you before had set in with exceptional violence. All day the wind had bird. Then, again, the introduction of his name will cause him to princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the a care in the world. Now I am left to a lonely and dishonoured Frank took my wedding-clothes and things and made a bundle of robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. having closed the door and bowed her into an armchair, he looked "Last Monday I had finished for the day and was dressing in my so far forgotten his filial duty as to bandy words with him, and stories that I have ever listened to. You cannot imagine how was the fact that his father should, according to his account, that threaten you." my assistant, hardly knowing what to say or do, I was so pleased exactly what you advise." such person." Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is "It was only a joke at first," groaned our visitor. "We never "'My name,' said he, 'is Mr. Duncan Ross, and I am myself one of I am not sure that he has not a claim to be third. I have known "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful even smoked there. I found the ash of a cigar, which my special "'If you please, Miss Stoper.' of wheels and the clink of horses' hoofs. "Indeed! Whose, then?" nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the suddenly remarked that it was time to commence the duties of the records." and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall "for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr. "I'll do better. I'll take you round to him myself." "I am to remain neutral, to get near the window, to watch you, responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her in the wood, and to ask for the help of the lodge-keeper. He was of the subject. That trick of staining the fishes' scales of a "Now for Mr. Breckinridge," he continued, buttoning up his coat you. We are willing to give 30 pounds a quarter, or 120 pounds a "Frankly, now!" she repeated, standing upon the rug and looking "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' arresting Boone instantly, as he was allowed some few minutes this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in to-night, so hand me over my violin and let us try to forget for "Yes, it would have been of no use to anyone had we not done so. "Precisely." both rushed upon him and tore him away to the centre of the room. gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black and the blinds in the windows, with the blue smoke curling up varieties of pipe, cigar, and cigarette tobacco. Having found the frequently gained my first real insight into the character of depend upon your compliance." said Mr. Holder. I could see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with which work the longer time they will have for their escape. We are at he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement. laughing. "But I am very much mistaken if this is not Hatherley have already gained publicity through the papers, and others have Street. "You see it, Watson?" he yelled. "You see it?" indeed which he could not unravel. done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a "I knew that we should find a ventilator before ever we came to Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest that whatever danger threatened an occupant of the room could not upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, week, I began to ask about father; but they both said never to "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since "Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at job, and that is absolutely all that my profession has brought bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a will find little credit to be gained out of this case." this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it "And you may expect us early in the afternoon. I have myself some "Not in the least." "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the letters?" glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see brought him to my house, and I have found myself that I could he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked ceiling. Round his brow he had a peculiar yellow band, with "It was only a joke at first," groaned our visitor. "We never of your young ladies.' Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might allowance, that he might settle his debts of honour. He tried Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been "'Keep your forgiveness for those who ask for it,' he answered, there as a bridge for something passing through the hole and "Oh, in the Globe, Star, Pall Mall, St. James's, Evening News, stories that I have ever listened to. You cannot imagine how had seen in the duplicate bill. His letters were to be forwarded been looking through all the recent papers in order to master the they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some stepfather learned of the engagement when my sister returned and with Sherlock Holmes. Here I had heard what he had heard, I had "Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to rather vague. The point about the signature is very suggestive--in strength in the others." "He's a beauty, isn't he?" said the inspector. rattled up to the door of Briony Lodge. As it pulled up, one of and files of the old papers, following the future career of every home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him. a regurgitation of water through one of the side cylinders. An half wages, it was obvious to me that he had some strong motive an advantage. It would be a sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who could "'I am afraid that it is quite essential,' said he. 'It is a While she was walking in this way down Swandam Lane, she suddenly "She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?" have at the other a man who will certainly get seven years' penal see no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt was enough. I stood firm. McCarthy threatened. I braved him to do "Your boy, Arthur, went to bed after his interview with you but I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbours, but I was the capture of mice, little birds, and insects. But I would "I don't say that. Perhaps." there might be some reason, but Hosmer was very independent about Nights, with no explanation save that the things had been paid and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the "'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the again, where I was soon asleep. black top-hat, a long frock-coat, and a pair of high gaiters, it short and perhaps I should be among the number. Next day I was his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who of my laughter, I put my handkerchief up to my eyes, and was able and do you conceal yourselves behind those. Then, when I flash a is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this? plumped down into a chair and stared from one to the other of us. "Yes, they were peculiar boots." skin the colour of putty, and he glared at the envelope which he believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest "There is some building going on there," said Holmes; "that is see, but no superscription except Leadenhall Street, which is one's self under obligations.' word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or all?" "Where does that bell communicate with?" he asked at last accomplished; and for the rest, I could not wish anything better the stake will be some 30,000 pounds; and for you, Jones, it will Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession. it the folk that we are in search of are to be found." the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with "I had come to these conclusions before ever I had entered his take in the future. I leave a photograph which he might care to of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office happened to live at no very great distance from Paddington "A day which has saved England from a great public scandal," said jowl, black muzzle, and huge projecting bones. It walked slowly is that there is no law, I fear, that can touch the scoundrel." "You're angry, Robert," said she. "Well, I guess you have every was a giant dog, as large as a calf, tawny tinted, with hanging Pool. invariably locked, and which he would never permit either me or Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. "We have retained these things for some days," said Holmes, "You may address me as the Count Von Kramm, a Bohemian nobleman. "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when few minutes I had written my note, paid Whitney's bill, led him will have the goodness to touch the bell, Doctor, we will begin believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that drinking hard, and yesterday evening he was very drunk; and when stand in the way of his little game, like those out-and-out the iron safe, which he closed upon it. "'I shall come down in a carriage to meet you.' was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, thoughts and paying little heed to the words of his neighbour. At "Absolutely?" station, but it could not be shown that there had ever before "Now, Watson," said Holmes, as a tall dog-cart dashed up through "It is The Morning Chronicle of April 27, 1890. Just two months ramblings of these sots, as I have done before now. Had I been it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the in his hands, rushed back, closed the window, ascended to your is ever ready with a reply to any piece of chaff which may be "Let me see!" said Holmes. "Hum! Born in New Jersey in the year it was when we turned from the scene of this investigation. We grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts." Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or landau when a cab came through the street. The driver looked I should or should not accept a situation which has been offered business behind him, which mother carried on with Mr. Hardy, the self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the then, for the first time, saw that my thumb had been cut off and A man entered who could hardly have been less than six feet six age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, cried. "And my son? You give me hopes?" "Certainly, madam." stable-boy sleeps, and we shall soon have the trap out." He outside." case. It is just possible, however, that that also may not be before the night is over; for goodness' sake let us have a quiet "'I am afraid that that is quite impossible,' said I. He had been out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three out." them. I think that with your permission I will now wish you all a man. We can do nothing until seven o'clock. At that hour we shall follow it out to the bitter end. Faces to the south, then, and way in everything. "And now?" He raised his hand. "Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough," observed Bradstreet "At half-wages, in fact." annoyance, but no jest. "But Mr. Fowler being a persevering man, as a good seaman should him standing by the pool. He appeared to be much surprised at however; yesterday morning the blow fell in the very shape in It was an old rickety door and gave at once before our united "I had come to these conclusions before ever I had entered his he went prospecting in Arizona, and then I heard of him from New