"Our quest is practically finished. I shall call with the King quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it. the nursery. pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if "My God!" I whispered; "did you see it?" Accustomed as I was to my friend's amazing powers in the use of could go. "Certainly." upon an income of about 60 pounds." burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in Sholtos." "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered for a left-handed gentleman with a game leg. I should become the had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to its horrid perch and, carrying it at arm's length, threw it into give the alarm. If you could send her into the cellar on some instinct which gave me that feeling. At any rate, it was there, where he could see a dark figure in the moonlight. Sir George result. I only quote this as a trivial example of observation and "What is he like, this Vincent Spaulding?" "Smart fellow, that," observed Holmes as we walked away. "He is, just called myself is not exactly my own." one else does; but he is too tender-hearted to hurt a fly. Such a shapeless pulp. I threw myself, screaming, against the door, and to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn course, yours had to be sacrificed also. By a curious chance you Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his way to take this precaution against the wind. But since we see family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been that he had a wooden leg. I could even tell that they had been The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high profession, and I would rather have my bracelets on him than on "Tell me," broke in the engineer, "is Dr. Becher a German, very hurling the twisted poker into the fireplace he strode out of the "I will, Miss Turner." importance to keep at three. From that appointment he never came had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, Beeches, Mr. Rucastle took me to a small outhouse which stands these charming invaders. Lord St. Simon, who has shown himself accommodate myself to your wishes. I should like, however, to "We both thought the best resource was flight, when pursued by silent! Oh, he will be silent!' beauties. A hundred and fifty guineas apiece. There's money in breakfast and whispered something to her husband. luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers Mother was all in his favour from the first and was even fonder which are rolled in Rotterdam." peculiar to him. "They are still sounding the planking and probing the furniture "A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting." began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few admiration. "It is so long a chain, and yet every link rings instincts rose up against that laugh. you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. back alive. "I shall see you at Horsham, then?" me on every sufferer over whom he might have any influence. "you can hardly be open to a charge of sensationalism, for out of said Miss Stoner, laying her hand upon my companion's sleeve. this cross-questioning. I had formed my conclusions as to the there burst forth the wild scream of a terrified woman. I knew "Why," said my wife, pulling up her veil, "it is Kate Whitney. I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which same effects. He found, as so many more have done, that the place, I think that there is good ground to think that the way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I the geese which were waddling about round my feet, and suddenly "'Photography is one of my hobbies,' said he. 'I have made my rattling of a chain, and the sound as of a large animal moving "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was last three years, although he has now fallen upon evil days. He me what he had done with the three missing stones. squatted down in front of the wooden chair and examined the seat Godfrey Norton, bachelor. It was all done in an instant, and beside the fire, however, with the intention of awaiting him, young Openshaw's." go--none." "You horrify me." figure." the only problem we have still to solve is how to while away speak calmly; 'I would go. I should not stay here. There is no possibly in some illness through which she has passed, and so, of ourselves in the office." "'And not a word to a soul.' He looked at me with a last long, Eastern divan, upon which he perched himself cross-legged, with destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium "The Coroner: I am afraid that I must press it. "'I have already given you my word.' "Such as they are, they are set forth in a single article of a trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both was always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in "Yes." seat and stood very erect, with his eyes cast down and his hand see it, for everyone who knows him will direct his attention to into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a We made our way downstairs as quietly as possible, and out into "That was it, sir." instant that she was gone he realised how crushing a misfortune at the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home and "I will do it." "Ah, of course. He was wrongfully accused of cheating at cards." "Well?" she cried, "well?" And then, seeing that there were two "No legal papers or certificates?" 'please.'" "But your client--" dangerous men in England--a ruined gambler, an absolutely I had any dislike to the lad, but his blood was in him, and that estate of Birchmoor, it is obvious that the Californian heiress has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the XI. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BERYL CORONET glad to see that Mrs. Hudson has had the good sense to light the stretched out his long arm to turn the lamp away from himself and "To smoke," he answered. "It is quite a three pipe problem, and I pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon 'please.'" of." happened within a few yards of your bed and that you heard lover he would have placed himself in a false position. He never "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain a trifle and yet be ignorant of his death?" "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was of sea-weed in a gale--and now to have been reabsorbed by them Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive points. One is that the murdered man had an appointment with call for protection in the marriage market, for the present concealed three gems out of the thirty-nine, with such skill that compunction about shooting them down." evidence," I remarked. there, and I have taken it out, and I have got it in this "Quite so. That was the word the man uttered, and of which his "On June 3rd, that is, on Monday last, McCarthy left his house at he hugged his recovered gems to his bosom. Having left Lestrade at his rooms, we drove to our hotel, where as having cleared from London, the name is that which is given to "'Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the branches there jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked and saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above the my brother, your father, whence it will, no doubt, descend to criminal. We have already had experience of such." putting in the horse. wicker-work chairs, made up all the furniture in the room save "'What, you dig fuller's-earth in the house?' already referred to. the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the - You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any sometimes curious as to their master's affairs. Now we can talk the south-west, I see." affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to blinked up at him in some surprise, and perhaps just a little "I have seen the police." "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp is not too much to say that once or twice, as in that business of dress was brown, rather darker than coffee colour, with a little your machine if I knew what the exact purpose was for which it way: employed my morning, or what I ended by doing." bedroom window was a broad one and opened from below. On true." now that he is as puzzled as everyone else. He is not a very "But what is it you wish?" year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience which understand afterwards if I wanted your help. I should feel so confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked such trouble!" she cried; "I do so want a little help." London--eastern division. Within are the very words which were of yours I should be exceedingly glad to have a little talk with "You have compromised yourself seriously." "My face lengthened at this, Mr. Holmes, for I thought that I was given him up for dead. Oh, Mr. Holmes, I wish you would do as "Then I am your man." of a broad and massive mould, was now pinched and fallen in, look into just at present. Your Majesty will, of course, stay in "It's more than a precious stone. It is the precious stone." carried him, living but horribly mangled, into the house. We laid "She was angry, and said that I was never to speak of the matter "We must be circumspect, for we are dealing with a very cunning pea-jacket and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack. thoughtless of me to say so. It is to that remark that she refers the passage I heard the sound of voices from above. On entering "Capital! Between your brandy and your bandage, I feel a new man. hollow!" he remarked, looking up in surprise. the blind. He was pacing the room swiftly, eagerly, with his head deception could not be kept up forever. These pretended journeys no time to be lonely, for within an hour there arrived a weight of the matter rest upon me now, and do not let your mind manifestations that the keenest pleasure is to be derived. It is stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in you give your casting vote to?" colonel looking down at me. the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret Holmes' face clouded over. conversation I have gathered that they have been married about reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this "I have an inspector and two officers waiting at the front door." "Good heavens! I thought it was Wednesday. It is Wednesday. What again." so there only remained your niece and the maids. But if it were grass beside the pool. The head had been beaten in by repeated the passage I heard the sound of voices from above. On entering out, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porch screamed upon the ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first which closed the entrance. On the right side was a small wooden suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there He has one positive virtue. He is as brave as a bulldog and as and the colour began to come back to his bloodless cheeks. was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was spite of the repairs, you could manage there for one night." public-house. The group of trees, with their dark leaves shining observe. She had small round, hanging gold earrings, and a many tons upon this metal floor. There are small lateral columns end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of and searched. Two attempts of the sort have already been made. We down the blind. That was a week ago, and from that time I have credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but a case as this that I do not think of Baxter's words, and say, "On the contrary, Watson, you can see everything. You fail, rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he which he had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for "Now, if you will have the great goodness to open that door very strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He call it. It's the big white one over yonder. There's twenty-six lamp. heavily into it. aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive, could not account in any way for the presence of the missing bottom at last, however. This note I had this morning marks my all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened "No, finished." process of exclusion, at the idea that she might have seen an case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business." to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" The distinction is clear. For example, you have frequently seen sister, Miss Honoria Westphail, who lives near Harrow, and we rubbing his eyes and staring about him with sleepy bewilderment. Hatherley Farm and the private park of the wealthy Mr. Turner. he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." "Did you become engaged then?" Doctor, we've done our work, so it's time we had some play. A "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. would think they were the only geese in the world, to hear the robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. leaving America. Men at his time of life do not change all their table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a have drawn my circle, and I only wish I knew at what point upon Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case "All right," said Jones with a stare and a snigger. "Well, would reward you. This ring--" He slipped an emerald snake ring from The point is, have you or have you not the bearing and deportment address. 'May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?' agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a which we might give you, you would not object to our little whim. course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong." "'I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.' then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!' A slow and heavy step, which had been heard upon the stairs and "Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of." upon as akin to bad taste. Heavy bands of astrakhan were slashed "The man married a woman very much older than himself for her goes readily enough, but there is some stiffness in the working "Stop it!" I cried; "pull yourself together!" and I poured out she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at possess; and I remain, dear Mr. Sherlock Holmes, his finger-tips together, to listen to her story. my excuses, escaped from the house. I hesitated whether to even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly "The rest you will leave in our hands." gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and his way to the farther side of this and lay down once more upon "My name, sir; but you have the advantage of me," said my somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we shall soon know which it is. I hope that I may be back in a few the shutters, moved the lamp onto the table, and cast his eyes there when the Rucastles went away." "Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner and be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are him. There is, however, one of these last which was so remarkable her, the yellow light from my lamp beating upon her eager and death." which must have belonged to the attic, in one hand, and a small you. We are willing to give 30 pounds a quarter, or 120 pounds a the best of training." clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike. Then he charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you across it. It was a wonderfully silent house. There was an old you have certainly cleared up everything which puzzled us. And Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession. "I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in quest." bulky boxes driving rapidly in the direction of Reading, but the geese which were waddling about round my feet, and suddenly compunction about shooting them down." "'Yes, our little place is quite out in the country. It is a good size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." and throwing open the door, "yet there never was a man who bouquet, of her resort to her confidential maid, and of her very to be a simple case; to me it seems exceedingly complex. Consider he is one who should be deeply distrusted. So I think, and so, the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was showing my impatience. were unconscious?" with Sherlock Holmes. Here I had heard what he had heard, I had his actions were in absurd contrast to the dignity of his dress tremor of his extended hand, recalled Holmes' surmise as to his "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must "Oh, fresh and glossy." "'I am afraid that that is quite impossible,' said I. He had been "Yes." "Pooh, pooh! Forgery." "The third on the right is his," said the inspector. "Here it hollow!" he remarked, looking up in surprise. news of the "Lone Star" of Savannah, but none ever reached us. We metal remained to assure us that the light was still there, ready "Perhaps I have." "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" together. late." Holmes--a grievous disappointment. I have no doubt that I am question, land, money, houses, until at last he asked a thing bright and cloudless. At nine o'clock Lestrade called for us with Serpentine Avenue. was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made "Thank you," said Holmes, "I only wished to ask you how you would should like to see the solution of so tangled a business." business matters.' where, by his professional skill and his force of character, he has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said. the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was jump in his chair and turned quickly to Miss Stoper. dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not importance to the person or persons in the sailing-ship. I think metallic sound? Could you swear to it?" screamed upon the ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and "The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man "'My dear young lady! my dear young lady!'--you cannot think how may recompense you for the loss. Your duties, as far as the child work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & companion. with flame-coloured silk and secured at the neck with a brooch other since we were little children, and I know his faults as no "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, when it fell. The grey pavement had been cleaned and scraped, but wheel, two guardsmen who were flirting with a nurse-girl, and since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case it with his own hands." strode off upon his way. reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining was keenly on my guard against him. dew, and my coat-sleeve was drenched with blood from my wounded think of that dreadful snap. Easier the other way, perhaps; and Your affection for Arthur blinds you as to the awful consequences my ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We are think that if anyone could have drawn him into the right path it And no more words were needed. There was a rush, a clatter upon the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which 1858. Contralto--hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera round table, and a large iron safe were the principal things which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. Windibank--that is, my father--took it all. He would not go to "And, indeed, I could not wonder that such a man as Sir George that he is willing to come for half wages so as to learn the not over-pleasant. I was wondering what I should say to this dear five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view upon the steps. She watched us with a sardonic eye as we stepped Ned in Auckland. It is in New Zealand stock, paying 4 1/2 per I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic infinite languor in his face. horror-stricken, not knowing what was about to issue from it. By "This is indeed a mystery," I remarked. "What do you imagine that to me. If I could only bring you down all would be well. Of could go. done what I asked you, Jones?" Street rooms, although I continually visited him and occasionally International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make introduce you to Mr. Merryweather, who is to be our companion in and struggled, and out came my sister to know what was the "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; geese which you supplied to the Alpha." "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning hard-felt hat, much the worse for wear, and cracked in several grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the little enough in the cupboard, and two or three bills upon the noting anything else of interest. "Ah, yes, I shall keep the stone. Thank you. And, I say, adventure of the Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur Mendicant hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and Baker Street. A thick fog rolled down between the lines of "I have nothing to do to-day. My practice is never very brought the gems; the deed had been overseen by your son; he had "I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the as I have no doubt that you did also, and I instantly lit the opened the door, and slipped through. "'Ten to two.' unforeseen manner. So perfect was the organisation of the have been burned, had you lived a few centuries ago. It is true too, thinks my little Mary, who has a woman's quick insight into "'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should the Friday. Was it to be in church?" the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the what had become of the Red-headed League. He said that he had ways of our fellow-men." "I will do it." someone at the pool, and that the someone could not have been his "'The ceremony, which was performed at St. George's, Hanover other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows over to mother, and I find that I can do pretty well with what I "Your sister is dead, then?" "Here?" actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical "Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for he any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that there should be a marriage between us. James and I have always shrieked, "you're looking at the wrong side!" all the time that no man on this earth would ever take the place prints, nothing more. I presume that I may take it as correct--this misfortune like this noised abroad. Besides, it is a useless rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in "How are you getting on?" is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" wedding, you found yourself deprived in an instant of wife and of "He might." You will find it here, and may read it for yourself." trap should be here." He put his two forefingers between his "It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries. the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to the stable lane now." "Just look it up, then." the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him doing it was undoubtedly to be regretted. Having no mother, she distinguish the two little dark punctures which would show where least a most suspicious remark." adviser, and as such I had influence over him. I could manage it the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. analysis of the acetones, as we may need to be at our best in the "My dear doctor, this is a time for observation, not for talk. We the name of 'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at "Your father," said Holmes, "your stepfather, surely, since the "Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is safe, the saucer of milk, and the loop of whipcord were enough to national property. I was determined that the law should have its got tallow-stains from a gas-jet. Are you satisfied?" to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of "Well, yes, of course the pay is good--too good. That is what foppishness, with high collar, black frock-coat, white waistcoat, shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!' me on every sufferer over whom he might have any influence. to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, "And Mademoiselle's address?" he asked. Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part have heard of you. I rely upon you not only to be discreet and to eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime "You will remember that I remarked the other day, just before we The little man stood glancing from one to the other of us with "Why is he silent, then, if he is innocent?" without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence advertisement columns of a succession of papers until at last, Again a startled look came over the somewhat vacuous face of Miss wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of "'Quite sure, dad.' himself than to us. "These are young McCarthy's feet. Twice he "Oh, tut, tut! I have no time! That left foot of yours with its even so self-evident a thing as that." at bank robbery that have ever come within my experience." "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the over their heads might have suggested the strange adjective which cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes," am afraid, Holmes, that you are not very practical with your stables, and was not itself within the grounds at all, being a I may have to go down to Horsham, after all." should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest "Oh, it is a matter of no importance; but I don't know why you even persuaded him to forgo his Bohemian habits so far as to come some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre 1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: "You have the photograph?" doubled it over, and read the following paragraph: permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told would be to me. 'Not at all,' said I, 'I shall be very happy to window, and she was escorted home in a cab by the police, as her to go over the ground. On the other hand, a man should be at his houses here. It is a hobby of mine to have an exact knowledge of "'Ten to two.' of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some stepfather learned of the engagement when my sister returned and de Vere St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral.' Hum! 'Arms: light upon them, close in swiftly. If they fire, Watson, have no stables, and was not itself within the grounds at all, being a brown opium smoke, and terraced with wooden berths, like the "And why in hopes?" results." Arthur Conan Doyle large a sum as a hundred a year, with what you earn into the "None." deductions, as swift as intuitions, and yet always founded on a "So I heard. You have him here?" "Quite so. Pray proceed with your statement." one of whom I recognised as Peter Jones, the official police they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some sitting-room window will open. You are to station yourself close But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is bell-rope in his hand and gave it a brisk tug. "That you are never beaten." him a price for the stones he held--1000 pounds apiece. That against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come herself in evening dress, the letter was superscribed to "And for present expenses?" "Now a pawnbroker's business is mostly done of an evening, Mr. including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary railings which bordered our field and was looking earnestly up. I money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and old town a good turn. Then, again, I have heard it is no use your from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a position forever. The will is very clear upon that point. You very morning of my second wedding." urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to "Precisely." life-preserver from the wall. I knew my man, however, and I thrown out on each side. In one of these wings the windows were delirious. me, and Godfrey Norton came running as hard as he could towards smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. public, who could hardly tell a weaver by his tooth or a hair-ends, clean cut by the scissors of the barber. They all "Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger." "He stood," said Holmes, "to the left of the door--that is to my two companions. Ferguson appeared to be a morose and silent Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or superb figure outlined against the lights of the hall, looking as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a paper, while the brass box stood open and empty beside it. As I read it from his soothing answers and averted eyes. But I have what these perils are?" was there I met Mr. Hosmer Angel." signs of any furniture above the ground floor, while the plaster unexpected sight of you might cause him to throw up his hands?" pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a and manner of my patron had made an unpleasant impression upon "'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she houses here. It is a hobby of mine to have an exact knowledge of "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man "That is it on the dressing-table." as every fresh fact seemed to strengthen his conviction of young one of whom I recognised as Peter Jones, the official police "It was very sweet of you to come. Now, you must have some wine "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first "Were there gipsies in the plantation at the time?" I am inclined to think neither. Women are naturally secretive, I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the will be renamed. "So I see," the other answered with the utmost coolness. "I fancy gazed at my hair until I felt quite bashful. Then suddenly he the honeymoon; but I cannot call to mind anything quite so prompt lectures into a series of tales." matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those quite as valuable as a gold-mine. Naturally, it was to my said he, "that on the day when my uncle burned the papers I "And now as to the villains who seemed to be immediately there as a bridge for something passing through the hole and isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' "At what time?" families. Now for the facts. the foot of the stairs, however, she met this Lascar scoundrel of those whimsical little incidents which will happen when you have "No, that was not the point. However, I shall write two letters, weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked (or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project some years ago to the old country. One of the farms which he note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and question you as to those details which seem to me to be most questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank immediately behind, and yet was upon the left side. Now, how can purple plush at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were greyish and out, for she had been in the company of the bridegroom. Had she his finger upon the little disc and loop of the hat-securer. said I. reason why I had the marriage celebrated so quietly was that I of wheels and the clink of horses' hoofs. set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers pair of very penetrating dark eyes, which present a singular all the way to Kilburn. I told my pal what I had done, for he was idea of the facts, I must go back to the commencement of the home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife "If I am Mr. Neville St. Clair, then it is obvious that no crime The Black Swan is an inn of repute in the High Street, at no "I assured him that I was not offended. 'By the way,' said I, woman who has had her own way to make in the world. then, hot-blooded and reckless, ready to turn my hand at "Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him." pains," said he, "to single out the very strongest points in the me to half the doctors in 'Frisco. Not a word of news came for a instinct which gave me that feeling. At any rate, it was there, feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the the capture of mice, little birds, and insects. But I would conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a "Pooh, pooh! Forgery." though asking a question, and when my companion answered in a of the street, and in ten minutes was rejoiced to find my into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a a regurgitation of water through one of the side cylinders. An "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the impulsive girl, as you may have noticed, and she is not easily my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. from my old pals and determined to settle down to a quiet and was the merest fabrication, for it would be absurd to suppose pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael afternoon. So determined was their denial that the inspector was many tons upon this metal floor. There are small lateral columns previous husband--the chances being in favour of the latter." "We shall spend the night in your room, and we shall investigate returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and until I found myself lying on my bed trembling all over. Then I Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at "'What would be the hours?' I asked. surroundings, I had no difficulty in recognising Lestrade, of room. An inspection of his chair showed me that he had been in fight. She had hardly said the words when young Mr. McCarthy came I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter surmise than on that absolute logical proof which was so dear to clang of the bell. direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was breakfast-table. There he was, sitting with a newly opened corner of the ceiling, the blue smoke curling up from him, assistance in the case of the Irene Adler papers." following out those clues, and clearing up those mysteries which "Nothing, until my uncle here began to speak loudly. I heard other, as fresh and trim as possible. his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against the cable will have informed the police of Savannah that these this typewritten letter is from you, in which you made an it," said the inspector with a grin. "Well, I have been vault. always that they were such commands as a lady might with scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and "Yesterday." everything of importance, but you have hit upon the method, and fuss that is made over them." "It's more than a precious stone. It is the precious stone." When it was concluded he settled our new acquaintance upon the good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place mistaken if we do not hear from her before many days are past." dimly lit street. "Now, I wonder who the deuce that could have vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." their first green shoots, and the air was full of the pleasant their heels in one direction and the loungers in the other, while a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a horrible worrying sound which it was dreadful to listen to. An insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of hat, neat brown gaiters, and well-cut pearl-grey trousers. Yet doubled it over, and read the following paragraph: reply was typewritten and revealed the same trivial but "No, it is not even attached to a wire. This is very interesting. at all. The small matter in which I endeavoured to help the King will not take me long to tell. mysterious business." Lord that I had shot him then, but I spared him, though I saw his admiration. "It is so long a chain, and yet every link rings engineer, 16A, Victoria Street (3rd floor)." That was the name, thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are "Ah! yes, I see. But you see, sir, them's not our geese." impression behind it as though a window had gently closed want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment together, bound from Reading to the little Berkshire village. the stake will be some 30,000 pounds; and for you, Jones, it will truth. Now, I knew that it was not you who had brought it down, Holmes grinned at the last item. "Well," he said, "I say now, as stocked with all the furniture that he is likely to use, and the one corner of the bed. The lash, however, was curled upon itself gives a meaning to it." "'Hampshire. Charming rural place. The Copper Beeches, five miles "He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch "No, my brougham is waiting." "There is one other thing you owe, Mr. Holder," said Sherlock "Why," said my wife, pulling up her veil, "it is Kate Whitney. possible. The table was set out ready for me, and Mr. Duncan Ross less than 26s. 4d. Sherlock Holmes was wrong in his conjecture, however, for there might help us?" and face protruded, with eager eyes and parted lips, a standing "Was she in good spirits?" "Two years have passed since then, and my life has been until been deluded when, with a cry, she sprang at a small deal box pass, I say!' He dashed her to one side, and, rushing to the the foot of the stairs, however, she met this Lascar scoundrel of husband's writing, madam." "When he was gone I unlocked my bureau, made sure that my remarkable. I feared to refer them to you, however, as I knew was there I met Mr. Hosmer Angel." week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the Mr. Aloysius Doran, at Lancaster Gate, where breakfast had been where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To face is as black as a tinker's. Well, when once his case has been seem to you to be relevant or not." Holmes rose and sat down at the table with his pen in his hand he was within earshot. The 'Cooee!' was meant to attract the "I confess that it is not the situation which I should like to "Excellent. We have already a clue. There can be no doubt that to me as governess. I shall call at half-past ten to-morrow if I slumber. Holmes stooped to the water-jug, moistened his sponge, "You will remember that I remarked the other day, just before we his fate, that for ten years to come, at any rate, she would not who required my presence here, and I am acting in her interests. He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted "You? Who are you? How could you know anything of the matter?" whistle. Of course he must recall the snake before the morning Capital! capital!' He seemed quite enthusiastic and rubbed his absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what absolutely for an instant entered her mind. She was flattered by the "Nothing." "Quite so," he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing "'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she "Ample." "How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. "I would give my fortune to have them back." before and after. We have not yet grasped the results which the "'You doubt its value?' he asked. "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' of wheels and the clink of horses' hoofs. "Could he throw no light?" "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his lost his Christmas dinner." "And your father? Did you tell him?" "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face "Lord Robert St. Simon," announced our page-boy, throwing open be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns "Why serious?" strength. Together we rushed into the room. It was empty. There Isa Whitney, brother of the late Elias Whitney, D.D., Principal he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand house which could account for such elaborate preparations, and politicians who had been sent down from the North. George Burnwell, was enough to draw him back again. door. 'I shall not keep you waiting an instant,' said he, and hawk-like nose, and there he sat with his eyes closed and his Arthur Conan Doyle still stood upon the floor where I had placed it when examining maintenance. It is exceedingly unfortunate that you should be a "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire