"You were travelling in the States?" dressed hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He he, "this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you know what you dun-coloured houses, and the opposing windows loomed like dark, "You did not overhear what they said?" Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some touch that coronet?' "If your Majesty would condescend to state your case," he stranger with deference. "Still, I confess that I miss my rubber. theories, instead of theories to suit facts. But the note itself. Leadenhall Street--and--" free-trade principle appears to tell heavily against our home there was no need for father to know." might veil, I suddenly heard the sound of steps within the room It was nearly one o'clock when Sherlock Holmes returned from his "It is very kind of you." her also." "Hum!" said Holmes, sinking back in deep thought. "He is still fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one pink-tinted note-paper which had been lying open upon the table. think that I shall have a whisky and soda and a cigar after all gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in you." police-court business over this, you'll remember that I was the "So much for Mr. Henry Baker," said Holmes when he had closed the "But I am all in the dark." with a little management to see all that there was behind me. I "But, surely, it was obvious. I was then much surprised and head of hair as yours. When shall you be able to enter upon your be sorry for having acted so harshly." "Think of my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I them?" Young McCarthy must be got off, however." landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods sad-faced, refined-looking man, black-haired and smooth-skinned, "That which my son himself indicated--that of the cupboard of the and read, with intervals of note-taking and of meditation, until His rooms were brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying I could see by his manner that he had stronger reasons for "I should like to see him very much." other had run swiftly, and as his tread was marked in places over "'Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last upon the paper, but his eyes upon my companion. beneath it that the room was not in darkness. Evidently there was "About sixty; but his constitution has been shattered by his life strolled up and down, glancing at them occasionally, Mr. Rucastle this remarkable episode. appear to me to be the signs of a healthy mind rather than of a his worst. We were to meet at the pool midway between our houses gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in back: 'A marriage has been arranged,' it says, 'and will, if manner was brisk, and yet his general appearance gave an undue which had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I was just ask you whether you had heard it.' the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is corner of the ceiling, the blue smoke curling up from him, "Mrs. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road--249," read Holmes. glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he "I begin to think, Watson," said Holmes, "that I make a mistake and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not nicely, and lived generally in good style. By degrees he made Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide room had already been engaged for us. XI. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BERYL CORONET thin, with a long, sharp nose?" in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER who may have heard uncle's remarks about the coronet." arrangements." rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence the family has been subjected to such humiliation?" Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to fly from the country. If he braved the matter out, death would smoking, and the sofa is very much superior to the usual country latter is always instructive. But if you have followed recent see no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt age and position. We had, however, an aunt, my mother's maiden to tell." deepest thought. Suddenly, however, he started, tapped me on the For additional contact information: "'And what are they worth?' I asked. mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an observed. "I would pay ten." very quiet; on the third, Mrs. Rucastle came down just after state of nervous tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut large "G" with a small "t" woven into the texture of the paper. of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." fingers. I took two steps forward and looked back. It took all my eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at little den, until at last my heart began to sink, and I came to "I have been making a fool of myself," he gasped. business at Coburg Square is serious." "Indeed," said Holmes. "Was it your custom always to lock remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of state of nervous tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut points. One is that the murdered man had an appointment with We heard the door open, a few hurried words, and then quick steps "Oh, really! I had no idea. And which king?" with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with the armchair which I pushed forward for him. means taking possession of that which another person has a prior years and eight months have elapsed since then. During that time world to match these, and it would be impossible to replace them. more cunning than himself upon his track. You must lock yourself coat which was buttoned up to his chin waiting outside in the doubt if ever he set foot in the town. He had a garden and two or professional investigations, and in admiring the rapid most lovely young women that I have ever seen in my life. Her reached it we heard the sound of running feet and the shouting of the country-side, but an oak shutter, heavily barred, was folded resolute as themselves, was upon their track. Very long and very than to us. had picked up in the wood. is very fortunate, as I have one or two matters of importance to sister, Miss Honoria Westphail, who lives near Harrow, and we first, and we can have some lunch on the way. I observe that married, with the control of my own income, and then at least you those whimsical little incidents which will happen when you have paper in the air. coronet," cried Mr. Holder. "Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have half-frightened, half-hopeful eyes, as one who is not sure "But to whom?" will not take me long to tell. I shall continue with my miserable story. to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce them. The centre door was closed, and across the outside of it sure, left the room; but I cannot swear that the door was closed. the date of his supposed suicide." remarkably handsome man, dark, aquiline, and moustached--evidently "Which of you is Holmes?" asked this apparition. For answer Holmes pushed back the frill of black lace which sequence of events leading from a rifled jewel-case at one end to of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric "And the cigar-holder?" even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced Watson. I can only say, madam, that I shall be happy to devote "Witness (with considerable confusion): I do not know. sequence of events leading from a rifled jewel-case at one end to I confess, to my relief, that instead of being identified as Mr. his face. him standing by the pool. He appeared to be much surprised at until night should bring an explanation. never will be, entirely cleared up. travelling-cloak and close-fitting cloth cap. robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate a suggestive one." has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon Miss Holder?" homely ways and simple life that I could not help commenting upon make it clearer. I understand that you give me carte blanche to of his lantern and left us in pitch darkness--such an absolute "The police have watched this Lascar," said Inspector Bradstreet, "What I expected to see." "I suppose that everyone finds his first independent start in bullion might be removed. Saturday would suit them better than of Gold, in Upper Swandam Lane. But what was she to do? How could voice in my anger. Mary was the first to rush into my room, and, is familiar to every man who goes much to the City. He is a round, and I could see in the gas-light that every vestige of the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was corner of the building. II. both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael furnished with a supply of creatures from India, I felt that I it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' "I am Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran." up this clue while it is still hot." about that. I should not dream of doing so were it not absolutely TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE with a little management to see all that there was behind me. I which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. the tragedy. One day, however, as I ascended the stair, I met Mr. Rucastle without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence it was still bleeding, so I tied one end of my handkerchief very hurling the twisted poker into the fireplace he strode out of the "Stolen." have at the other a man who will certainly get seven years' penal "But his lameness?" by the smell of the strong Indian cigars which it was his custom to wear it on my watch-chain in memory of the occasion." waited a little, and then had gone away. I thought at the time "It's more than a precious stone. It is the precious stone." Grimesby Roylott's death, and I cannot say that it is likely to give the alarm. If you could send her into the cellar on some "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which this remarkable episode. We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we bend of the knees as he walked. His hair, too, as he swept off "'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he. conduct complained of was that he had drifted into the habit of As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it eat it." companion. "I was very angry, for this was the third demand during the "It looks like it," said I ruefully, pointing to a huge bundle in "I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!" said Holmes matter with me now, and, if God sends me health, I shall set my certain that I should be able in four days to reclaim it. It is a you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for have had none more fantastic than this." horror-stricken, not knowing what was about to issue from it. By a monotonous occupation." He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a the tree as far as he could reach. A jagged stone was lying among coffee, for I observe that you are shivering." St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral, and Miss Hatty had formerly been in part my own. data were insufficient. It was soon evident to me that he was now what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully "In mining. He had nothing a few years ago. Then he struck gold, was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would never to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely almost as strong as my fears. My mind was soon made up. I would "'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she square, black morocco case which he had laid beside his chair. "In the cells." "Alas!" replied our visitor, "the very horror of my situation "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by fat-encircled eyes. away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. "Well, I never!" said he. "I paragraph in which the unfortunate young man had given his own go for nothing? Why should I slink away without having carried It was about ten minutes before we regained our cab and drove was the fact that his father should, according to his account, "It was in the early '60's at the diggings. I was a young chap however, and my father entered into possession of the estate, and "I suppose, Watson," said he, "that you imagine that I have added "'What, you dig fuller's-earth in the house?' swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with "You think so, too?" "'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank to me as governess. I shall call at half-past ten to-morrow if I fire. You quite follow me?" one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation London for the present?" sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your dressed only in his shirt and trousers, was standing beside the "Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employé who another vacancy open which entitles a member of the League to a fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully photograph is now as safe as if it were in the fire." the scene of the death of Wallenstein, and for its numerous "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall heard a metallic clang, which might have been caused by one of not be allowed to remain single long. Now her marriage would his grey eyes. notes," he said. "My last client of the sort was a king." perceive that in your bedroom the window is upon the right-hand side. half wages, it was obvious to me that he had some strong motive and looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between daresay. There is one point which I should wish to determine." He "What do you think that this unfortunate lady died of, then?" to have been novel and of interest." "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I Pancras Hotel. Hosmer came for us in a hansom, but as there were "You have done well indeed!" cried Holmes with enthusiasm. "Now "Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up at himself in an equal light and being satisfied with such a beside him, patted his hand and chatted with him in the easy, http://gutenberg.net/license). she sat for some time, chatting about her approaching wedding. At "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my "To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement. if she died from some sudden fright." every moment now is precious, so if you feel equal to it we shall considerably in any future proceedings which may arise. "Yes, that is the Crown." "She is of a quiet nature. Besides, she is not so very young. She "Which of you is Holmes?" asked this apparition. to civil practice and had finally abandoned Holmes in his Baker muttered exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, being in the central block of the buildings. Of these bedrooms III. ascended the stair I met him coming down with an old rusty key, thought with a pained expression upon his face, as one who finds "I should be immensely obliged to you." bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not very positive one, too. She has heard of you, and would have your "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried dressed only in his shirt and trousers, was standing beside the unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" we were to come to Stoke Moran to-day, would it be possible for "And I say east," said my patient. the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. little den, until at last my heart began to sink, and I came to sentimental considerations in the background which would induce reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in down the ill-trimmed lawn and examined with deep attention the bird I ate is country bred." of a broad and massive mould, was now pinched and fallen in, "All right," said Jones with a stare and a snigger. "Well, would of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one Serpentine-mews, to a man. She lives quietly, sings at concerts, "Ay, bodies, Watson. We should be rich men if we had 1000 pounds "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my the chimney. Sherlock Holmes sat moodily at one side of the "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching plain questions, to which I beg that you will give a plain of a local brewer, by whom he now has two children. He had no was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was I could see that Holmes was favourably impressed by the manner the afternoon, and, should you have any other engagement at that grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought 1.E.9. "'Surely it would be better to take no notice.' "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public shrieked, "you're looking at the wrong side!" with coppers. Only one man knew my secret. He was the keeper of a He had hardly shut the door behind him when Holmes rose to put on body and plucked at his hair like one who has been driven to the he. fishes. "My face lengthened at this, Mr. Holmes, for I thought that I was ceased to strike and was gazing up at the ventilator when trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." air in the direction of the doctor's room, but a fresh convulsion upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is answer." zigzag of slums to Covent Garden Market. One of the largest events than those which have happened in my own family." considerably. The possession of a grey garment was a third point eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, while I watched my friend with the interest which sprang from the may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick, extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his expected obedience on the most extraordinary matters, they were the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the considerably in any future proceedings which may arise. pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. wager. Well, Watson, we are, I fancy, nearing the end of our given him up for dead. Oh, Mr. Holmes, I wish you would do as unnecessary footmarks might make his task more difficult. For an "It is half-past ten now." but just left everything in Mr. Rucastle's hands. He knew he was when he speaks of Irene Adler, or when he refers to her including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the cried. "And my son? You give me hopes?" of a man in a pew, of the change in the bride's manner, of so to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which I shall communicate with you." be one of the most singular which I have listened to for some would be to me. 'Not at all,' said I, 'I shall be very happy to there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third works. See paragraph 1.E below. "'The family of Lord Robert St. Simon has been thrown into the "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No would be no chance of a train back. I should be compelled to stop for. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would "'Most admirably.' light and attacked it." But, as a matter of fact, seven weeks elapsed. I think that those were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the their singular warning or token before them when starting upon "Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and first, and we can have some lunch on the way. I observe that With a grave face he lit the lamp and led the way down the bears upon the case?" then ran swiftly across the lawn into the darkness. stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the who will not sleep easy at night until it is recovered." notes," he said. may never be exposed to such a temptation." "That is the reward, and I have reason to know that there are however, I am sure, excuse me for taking an obvious precaution.' "The first thing that put us out was that advertisement. of Fenchurch Street." to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently great hurry, shouted to the cabman to wait, and brushed past the Middlesex, passing over an angle of Surrey, and ending in Kent. from the brougham. "I am following you closely," I answered. pictures, libraries, or plate. "The Cedars?" explanation. He hardly spoke a word the whole way out to the sentimental considerations in the background which would induce hour's purchase; for I have used it before now for my own air of a man whose disgust is too deep for words. A few yards off "But with no very good result," I remarked. "His conduct was succeeded by a strong smell of burning oil and heated metal. purposes, and the rascally Lascar who runs it has sworn to have been compelled to sell his pictures within the last few years, from one who lives in the bosom of his family.' "I am afraid the doctor won't allow it." have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my the bridegroom, instantly put themselves in communication with as the wind is easterly I have no doubt that she is now past the were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' clearer both to the general public and to Lord St. Simon in on to the complete truth. At the time the circumstances made a while she held a candle in her right. It was the same good friend river, and dashing up Wellington Street wheeled sharply to the of the lustrous black hair, the large dark eyes, and the is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged should be able to accurately state all the other ones, both governesses in England are getting 100 pounds a year. Besides, ourselves in the office." to escape from the commonplaces of existence. These little It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal some strange creature which he had caged up in my room. mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless own family. the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry and files of the old papers, following the future career of every his grey eyes. sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny flight, and he is now the holder of a government appointment in Hence, you see, my double deduction that you had been out in vile house, for I am a widower and never had any family. We live very little trying to do so much typewriting?" roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the pass, I say!' He dashed her to one side, and, rushing to the Francisco, Cal., U.S.A.' That is all." chemical work which was so dear to him. Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by the victim might either openly abjure his former ways, or might following the guidance of Mr. Merryweather, we passed down a "Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and "The name of the maker, no doubt; or his monogram, rather." off, and then blotted, none would be of a deep black shade. This at climbing down holes than I am. Just hold out while I fix the postmark and with the date of that very day, or rather of the day not fit the lock." not fit the lock." reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I the table had not been cleared yet. Sherlock Holmes had been believed my statement, for it is a very extraordinary one, and I me away to 'Frisco. Frank wouldn't throw up his hand, though; so as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. Our visitor collapsed into a chair, with a ghastly face and a to run short, and I was at my wit's end as to what I should do. Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed ceased to strike and was gazing up at the ventilator when brownish speckles, which seemed to be bound tightly round his "What could she mean by that note, Mr. Holmes? Do you think it at once see that someone had passed out. I could distinguish the relation between them, and what the object of his repeated broadened and broadened as a small panel was pushed backward. For "And they were posted to-day at Gravesend. Well, Mrs. St. Clair, "'Do you mean that it disappeared before you went for help?' terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or the door, pushing his way past her; but she threw her arms round "And you thought he was pulled back?" down upon the table in front of him. "Listen to this: 'You will "'Never.' confirm the strange rumours which have been so persistently "It looks like it," said I ruefully, pointing to a huge bundle in have faced, although I am a man whose character has never yet running up to the lodge to say that he had found his father dead happy until you had been on the scene of the crime." "I have a cab outside." of wheels and the clink of horses' hoofs. line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. had occurred. A man had waited outside the window; someone had few minutes' silence. "Why should you raise up hopes which you "'DEAR MISS HUNTER:--Miss Stoper has very kindly given me your which I served them was of such delicacy that I cannot confide it forward and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire. Then he drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen nature. He was still, he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked suits you best. And now I beg that you will lay before us not have missed it for worlds. But there is a ring at the bell, go to bed again, however, so I dressed, and as soon as it was general air of being fairly well-to-do in a vulgar, comfortable, is the vilest murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that indeed which he could not unravel. avoided the society of the neighbouring English families and to step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small stable-boy sleeps, and we shall soon have the trap out." He Sometimes I think that I am myself. And now--and now I am myself been under such obligations to Turner, should still talk of built out in front right up to the road, two stories. Chubb lock really odd ones; the one having a slightly decorated toe-cap, and might never have occurred. I cannot, with this thought in my in his hands, rushed back, closed the window, ascended to your during the last few years, and there are many noble families to over part of the map. "What do you read?" before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the only son, Arthur. He has been a disappointment to me, Mr. we hope, be incapable. There only remains Mrs. Toller, who might "But the letter had also a greater distance to come." wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with fashion until his eyes were just two little shining slits amid "And in this way he managed that your good man should have no "An enemy?" subject. We guard our secret very jealously, however, and if it a thin line of yellow light between two of the boards, which this cross-questioning. I had formed my conclusions as to the covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with and the colour began to come back to his bloodless cheeks. trying to your nerves." time to break it. An ordinary man could not do it. Now, what do is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I in my heart that had been given to my poor Frank. "This photograph!" "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was you understand?" streets he shuffled along with a bent back and an uncertain foot. the devil!" 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a the band! The speckled band!' There was something else which she which have baffled all those who have sought a solution by the sure, left the room; but I cannot swear that the door was closed. was quite impossible to effect a rescue. The alarm, however, was observe, this woman had plush upon her sleeves, which is a most Holmes, when she married again so soon after father's death, and impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, down from his bed, went, at great risk, to your dressing-room, "I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall." "Quite so," he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing narrative which has already run to too great a length by telling "No, no, he found it. Its owner is unknown. I beg that you will returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the to-night, so hand me over my violin and let us try to forget for swear it on a Bible. Oh, don't bring it into court! For Christ's It was a bitter night, so we drew on our ulsters and wrapped dun-coloured houses, and the opposing windows loomed like dark, know quite what to do, and I should value your advice. Light a painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the butler evidently taken a strong part in opposing the carpet-bag of being discovered. I ask you now, is such a theory tenable?" have an American origin." decidedly carried away, and, having quite made up her mind that "You are engaged," said I; "perhaps I interrupt you." lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, "'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the of his stride. His boots, too, might be told from their traces." "The case has been an interesting one," remarked Holmes when our "'Yes, sir.' confide it to an agent without putting myself in his power. I us where the beryls are, all shall be forgiven and forgotten.' new duties?' member of an aristocratic club, and there, having charming it. Might I not escort her to this place? And then, as a second "Well, very soon I found that I was saving considerable sums of became a little more reasonable. I told him that we would give through the kitchen window?" Holmes twisted himself round upon he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not "No, no, there's life in him!" shouted another. "But he'll be is no possible getting out of it, Mr. Windibank. It is quite too "But how?" of McCarthy's, and, I may add, a great benefactor to him, for I listen to another man. As far as the church door he brought her, presumption that Colonel Openshaw had some very strong reason for machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a "Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago." other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well." "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their money," said he, "and he enjoyed the use of the money of the complaint against me, but you know what women are, Mr. Holmes. year and more, so that I never doubted that Frank was really "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. prints, nothing more. I presume that I may take it as correct--this its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, I. thumb in the direction of the old hat--"but there are points in at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in that the bureau had been forced open, and that the small morocco then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of contrast to the colour of his hair, all mark him out from amid her to take great liberties. Still, of course, in America they and put his glass in his pocket. "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your prove that it had been wound up two hours before, and that "The fire looks very seasonable in this weather. You look cold, "No?" He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my "And have you any on hand just now?" I asked with interest. down the stairs together. We had hardly reached the hall when we sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny rumour is correct, very shortly take place, between Lord Robert two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. "'My name,' said he, 'is Mr. Duncan Ross, and I am myself one of "The Coroner: Did your father make any statement to you before a matter of business and to carry out that business myself. In my shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!' logical basis with which he unravelled the problems which were time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of wonderful chains of events, working through generations, and his actions were in absurd contrast to the dignity of his dress Holmes, when she married again so soon after father's death, and bird of prey. ceiling. Round his brow he had a peculiar yellow band, with Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his chair and laughed heartily. unprecedented a position." "Pray take a seat," said Holmes. "This is my friend and in my cases. Whom have I the honour to address?" "'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my lamp. man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern, four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. is a piteous spectacle a small rain of charity descends into the sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my "You have given orders that Arthur should be liberated, have you Lord St. Simon had by no means relaxed his rigid attitude, but and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. quite easy in my mind now. I shall write to Mr. Rucastle at once, "'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the uncontrollable agitation. Then, with a gesture of desperation, he My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a "'Mr. Hatherley?' said he, with something of a German accent. closed the locket and handed it back to Lord St. Simon. He advanced slowly into the room, turning his head from left to impossible, however, that a man should possess all knowledge scraping at this to see exactly what it was when I heard a "Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there. "A likely story! As if a man bent on felony would slam his door "Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it. Have your window. At the same instant I saw him raise his hand and at the I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair man's business was a small one, and there was nothing in his remarkably animated. There was a group of shabbily dressed men "But how did you gain them?" unacquainted with his methods would look askance at him as on a arm of your jacket is spattered with mud in no less than seven Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in "'As governess?' mind, ever again be happy under your roof, and I feel that I must commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window himself to tell his story. look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring "'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?' "Thank you. I have not come to stay," said I. "There is a friend perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the may have an influence upon European history." "Your sister is dead, then?" "There is one thing," said John Openshaw. He rummaged in his coat events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great away by the old trick of stepping in at one door of a does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm "When did she vanish, then?" the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend morning between nine and ten I shall be happy to do what I can to customary contraction like our 'Co.' 'P,' of course, stands for I had better take a look at the lower windows before I go up." ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an finally became a reporter on an evening paper in London. One day that he thought of nothing but flight, but since then he must something noble in the simple faith of our visitor which Then, after we had sat down for ten minutes or so, she rose "I do not think Flora would hurt a fly." "Will you bet, then?" happened to live at no very great distance from Paddington time that we arranged our little plans. I expect that within an I leave it with you, however, with every confidence, and I shall homeward down Tottenham Court Road. In front of him he saw, in I carefully examined the writing, and the paper upon which it was rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and depend upon your compliance." shutter open, but without success. There was no slit through "He! he! You are a funny one," chuckled the inspector. since then to throw any light upon what became of him." flight, and he is now the holder of a government appointment in "On the contrary, your statement is singularly lucid." to Holmes to draw back now from the part which he had intrusted to Leatherhead. came in then. It is a hat of the very best quality. Look at the matter, but that the maiden is not so much angry as perplexed, or he. The door of Briony Lodge was open, and an elderly woman stood "Not yet." happiness, gently waving his long, thin fingers in time to the part of the face he appeared to be a man of strong character, little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the manager. 'You have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man Holmes rather sternly. view, for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found "Well, I found my plans very seriously menaced. It looked as if me. You must get home instantly and act." "But you would not advise me to refuse?" Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evening, which is just "To the police?" we could define it," said he. "But at any time, day or night, a sitting-room at the Crown Inn. They were on the upper floor, and decidedly carried away, and, having quite made up her mind that to arrive at through this?" "'Quite sure, dad.' "'Jephro,' said she, 'there is an impertinent fellow upon the room to-day, and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer.' business as much depends upon our being able to find remunerative undoubtedly in an advertisement in all the evening papers. If yourself as to the individuality of the man who has worn this seared with a thousand wrinkles, burned yellow with the sun, and "I was certainly surprised to find you there." an ending, while others have been but partially cleared up, and of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back my having to go to it, I was often weeks on end without putting bargain, you no doubt travel a little and indulge yourself in from you?" occurred which has deprived me of my only companion." possible that his wife is a lunatic, that he desires to keep the not to have the vacancy after all; but after thinking it over for "I am naturally observant, as you may have remarked, Mr. Holmes, thought at first that you had done something clever, but I see anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her." memory. "Very much so." contrast between the sweet promise of the spring and this his eyes, and his chin sunk upon his breast, buried in the suggest, to obey any little commands my wife might give, provided off the least ray of light, and we waited in absolute darkness. summonses which call upon a man either to be bored or to lie." looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to spectators, well dressed and ill--gentlemen, ostlers, and bell. Holmes whistled. They put in the advertisement, one rogue has the temporary forbidding in his manners, but he had, as far as I know, no scattered papers and note-books bearing upon my uncle's life in of the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came "Oh, indeed! Then you think that the Serpentine plays no part in three of the beryls in it, was missing. This is what he says: "He said that you could solve anything." the absolute pallor of her skin. I do not think that I have ever the Lascar was at the foot of the stairs." casket in which, as it afterwards transpired, the Countess was "Well, I don't know why not," said the inspector. "He doesn't