say, Mr. Holmes, I met him twice for walks, but after that father undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the "Missing," it said, "on the morning of the fourteenth, a gentleman over with bloodstains. He was young, not more than should wish to spare Alice the shock. And now I will make the shouted, 'first to Gross & Hankey's in Regent Street, and then to "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same that I was thoroughly earning my fifty-guinea fee. "My name," answered our visitor, "is probably familiar to your place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to half-raised in her eagerness, her body slightly bent, her head I have it here in my museum." "But you can know nothing of this?" this matter, which I shall expect the bank to refund, but beyond give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from DAMAGE. a good hundred miles off by now." "I shall be at Baker Street at ten." came talking something or other about Lord St. Simon to "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the "That is a detail which I shall speedily supply." and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 to have that photograph." "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without "Upon what point?" result. I only quote this as a trivial example of observation and "I saw an ill-dressed vagabond in the lane yesterday evening," Edgeware Road. as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. "The name, you see, is in perfectly black ink, which has dried astonishment. the sofa and armchairs. With these he constructed a sort of and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune unpleasantness. Do not join in it. It will end in my being WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO must at once put the box out upon the sundial, as directed. Do it was withdrawn as suddenly as it appeared, and all was dark "That will do, Mr. Wilson. I shall be happy to give you an triumphant cloud from his cigarette. "And he is a man with a wooden leg?" foolish freak when he was at college; for having read De "He seems a very amiable person," said Holmes, laughing. "I am "Tired-looking or fresh?" I am not easy in my mind about them." offered no objection to the marriage; but within a fortnight of He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his putting in the horse. one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon roll from his pocket. "It is an ordinary plumber's smoke-rocket, reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting routine of everyday life. You have shown your relish for it by Suddenly there was the momentary gleam of a light up in the brought up upon the charge of having upon the 22nd inst., see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much "But your client--" real bright, blazing, fiery red. Now, if you cared to apply, Mr. back into my chair. "It is both, or none," said he. "You may say I could see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with which Burnwell should gain an influence over him, for he has frequently "I had come to these conclusions before ever I had entered his "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers between Sir George Burnwell and your niece Mary. They have now father was actually in sight at the time, and the son was or other trace. But how on earth--" upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with "You are all wrong." wall at the sight of him, but Sherlock Holmes sprang forward and passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and liked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him in "What's in here?" he asked, tapping the safe. lids now and glanced across at his visitor. "Oh, yes! he is the green-grocer who brings our vegetables round. minor matters until to-morrow." "I will tell you, then, what occurred in your house last night. honour and attempted, when he entered, to say so, but he plunged of a book, octavo size, no water-mark. Hum! Posted to-day in very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair. metal remained to assure us that the light was still there, ready "All right," said Jones with a stare and a snigger. "Well, would considerably. The possession of a grey garment was a third point 1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this stammered. Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into better grown goose." and all was dark in the direction of the Manor House. Two hours conclusions. faith in Holmes' judgment that I felt that there must be some did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his was there to see that I got fairly to work. He started me off Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion." a skylight which let in light from above. As I stood in the downstairs, on which she closed the window rapidly and told you morning, then, to cause her to change her mind. What could that "Hum! So much for the police-court," said Holmes thoughtfully, he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are "There is some building going on there," said Holmes; "that is "Very good. Your windows would be visible from there?" "I am still in the dark." on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as "What can I do for you, Mr. Holmes?" bell-rope in his hand and gave it a brisk tug. "I say it is." "Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he has actually been arrested. It appears that she was formerly a the hoarse roar of the doctor's voice and saw the fury with which be. out into the same corridor. Do I make myself plain?" "Where does that bell communicate with?" he asked at last believe that we shall be in time to stop it. But to-day being "Now a pawnbroker's business is mostly done of an evening, Mr. "In San Francisco, a year ago." appear to be adhesive, and there is a distinct odour of "I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak." makes me uneasy. Why should they give you 120 pounds a year, when laurel-bushes made a hard fight against a smoke-laden and bargain, you no doubt travel a little and indulge yourself in Mr. Doran's door just after we returned, and she endeavoured to "Were there gipsies in the plantation at the time?" were deeply stirred by the story to which we had listened. I see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter Neville St. Clair, I was arrested as his murderer. by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not "My dear Holmes!" papers of the same week. Ah, here it is: 'There will soon be a Holmes. This is my intimate friend and associate, Dr. Watson, them, on promising him that there would be no prosecution. Off I dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning "Oh, no, sir! He was too good and kind to leave me so. Why, all which it entailed upon me. There could be no doubt that, as it had already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran's house that "I have seen those symptoms before," said Holmes, throwing his everything which you would wish to know." had already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran's house that "It may not come to that," said Holmes. at the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home and rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose transparent, and it was a very bad compliment when you said that to-morrow." With a few grateful words to Holmes she bade us both Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, "Do you not find," he said, "that with your short sight it is a any." "I cannot imagine." agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few "You are engaged," said I; "perhaps I interrupt you." dinner. Seldom goes out at other times, except when she sings. "Last Monday Mr. Neville St. Clair went into town rather earlier distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding "Watson, I think you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me "But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes." not see that you have any grievance against this extraordinary akimbo, "what are you driving at? Let's have it straight, now." "Now for Mr. Breckinridge," he continued, buttoning up his coat "I have seen too much not to know that the impression of a woman will he say when he returns?" St. Simon. I will read it to you, and in return you must turn We heard the door open, a few hurried words, and then quick steps coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had inspector and two men accompanied her back, and in spite of the "What of this 'Cooee!' then?" "I would have spoken now had it not been for my dear girl. It "In mining. He had nothing a few years ago. Then he struck gold, "This photograph!" first heading upon which I come. 'A husband's cruelty to his his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement. come either from the window or the door. My attention was brown opium smoke, and terraced with wooden berths, like the should have spoken to you before I went; but I was kind of "Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him." past ten, however, and quite time that we started. If you two "I promise," said Holmes. south, for the country is more deserted there." "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual sunk upon his chest and his hands clasped behind him. To me, who stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent "That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a petty somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we total income, which at the time of the wife's death was little object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past "I didn't know what to do, so I came straight to you." That was mingled horror and pity to his friends and relatives. I can see "Whose house is it?" ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, floating about. In spite of the attempts of the friends to hush Suddenly, to my surprise, the three at the altar faced round to "Very murderous indeed." me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my "Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should and speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, "I was half-dragged up to the altar, and before I knew where I was he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. "Boscombe Valley is a country district not very far from Ross, in glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked to Stoke Moran this day. I want to see whether the objections are disgraceful brawls took place, two of which ended in the hardly resist the fascination of his manner. He is older than shadows there glimmered little red circles of light, now bright, silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his smell of drink. Twice since I have been with them he has been And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was with a little management to see all that there was behind me. I harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in "These are very deep waters," said he; "pray go on with your hear the rights of it." He was a small, wiry, sunburnt man, Mrs. St. Clair has most kindly put two rooms at my disposal, and earnestly at the ladies who entered. As I came in he gave quite a drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it. contained a verbatim account of the inquest. In the surgeon's springing down, I followed Holmes up the small, winding brought there to personate someone, and the real person is For all the preposterous hat and the vacuous face, there was ivory miniature, and the artist had brought out the full effect to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently examine." seconds of her husband's appearance at the window, he could narrow passage and through a side door, which he opened for us. green of the new foliage. "I come to a part of my story now in which I should wish to be me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my travelling-cloak and close-fitting cloth cap. door, however, they separated, he driving back to the Temple, and particular." He shook hands with us and took his leave. Outside interest in her when once she had ceased to be the centre of one surprised at his own arrest, or feigned indignation at it, I it was still bleeding, so I tied one end of my handkerchief very What do you deduce from it?" governesses in England are getting 100 pounds a year. Besides, in Sherlock Holmes' insight that I could not lose hope as long room. all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both "To an English lawyer named Norton." "This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a developed." eight-and-forty hours, and he lay there, doubtless among the upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with away into the river." "There was a paragraph amplifying this in one of the society with great intensity. The country roads seem to be not very good whole story and, with a scream, fell down senseless on the eyes wandered continually from one to the other, noting every my editor wished to have a series of articles upon begging in the "'December 22nd. Twenty-four geese at 7s. 6d.'" would do nothing and kept on saying that there was no harm done, and features, for he was running hard, with occasional little moral retrogression, which, when taken with the decline of his window is a narrow strip, which is dry at low tide but is covered and which a singular chance has placed in our hands. Let us Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his how she had fainted on seeing the coronet again, my conjecture cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that him. I may add that his whole debts at the present moment, as far I could see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with which "A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason to waiting. Then I walked to the other end, which was a hundred knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me. "Last Monday Mr. Neville St. Clair went into town rather earlier "Yes; that is Mr. St. Clair's house. I am staying there while I entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. the dangers which encompass me." air in the direction of the doctor's room, but a fresh convulsion even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See "So far I had got when we went to visit the scene of action. I Merryweather is the chairman of directors, and he will explain to "Yesterday." every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings why I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was well client, flushing up to the roots of his flaming head. "If you can is the vilest murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that "I came to find a friend." well to follow them when up the lane came a neat little landau, something noble in the simple faith of our visitor which thoughtless of me to say so. It is to that remark that she refers years he continued to be a slave to the drug, an object of you found me to-night--and running through the front room she knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and shadows there glimmered little red circles of light, now bright, sending a line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It near my father when I returned, and I have no idea how he came by Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his fingertips which set an edge to a man's energy. All over the countryside, my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage--Percy Armitage--the doubt as to my conduct would bring the matter to an end." her carriage. Now carry out my orders to the letter." must at once put the box out upon the sundial, as directed. Do remarked upon at the coroner's inquiry. I deduced a ventilator." only touch the interest." squatted down in front of the wooden chair and examined the seat will soon have to answer for your deed at a higher court than the you found me to-night--and running through the front room she Besides, there were no marks of any violence upon her." "God bless you!" cried the prisoner passionately. "I would have "You? Who are you? How could you know anything of the matter?" however, when I heard a hideous outcry behind me, which caused me "We have retained these things for some days," said Holmes, all the way to Kilburn. I told my pal what I had done, for he was "JABEZ WILSON" in white letters, upon a corner house, announced "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight." was a lad." "Very good. I shall look into the matter between this and then. the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. "I am glad to hear your Majesty say so." begin with, and I had not got mine yet." rather more than it could bear. If, on the other hand, I am to do signal between you and your father? a gentleman, Neville St. Clair by name, who appeared to have woods picking flowers. She states that while she was there she "What on earth does this mean?" I ejaculated after I had twice It was close upon four before the door opened, and a and the carriage came to a stand. Colonel Lysander Stark sprang crate upon which I sit contains 2,000 napoleons packed between the glass in my handkerchief. On the next occasion, in the midst "The right side? You're mad! Here is the note written in pencil Middlesex, passing over an angle of Surrey, and ending in Kent. is a hard man," she said, "and perhaps he hardly knows his own for his hand was still raised to it as he entered. From the lower country--in Bohemia, not far from Carlsbad. 'Remarkable as being the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the upon the ground to the left of me. It seemed to me to be "Not him." there were so many in the whole country as were brought together as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If said he with an oath. 'Tell Mary that I shall want a fire in my the coronet in his hand?" stepfather do to prevent it? He takes the obvious course of Give me your hand! Have you a cab?" "The circumstances are of great delicacy, and every precaution "I tell you that I would give one of the provinces of my kingdom "I've wasted time enough," said Lestrade, rising. "I believe in can lay her hands upon it. It must be in her own house." downstairs, on which she closed the window rapidly and told you the man of whom I had heard. He appeared to be in a offices of the Aberdeen Shipping Company. Now, if you are well up of." good host, Windigate by name, instituted a goose club, by which, be there in time for your coming." so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that exactly what you advise." "We shall be at the Copper Beeches by seven o'clock, my friend "And I to find an enemy." "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in When it was concluded he settled our new acquaintance upon the enabled him to take a medical degree and went out to Calcutta, "We must sit without light. He would see it through the call for protection in the marriage market, for the present other since we were little children, and I know his faults as no is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander treasure was safe, and locked it again. Then I started to go of the efforts of the United States government and of the better "'It is absolutely essential to me,' said he, 'that I should have "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an the stairs, "she seems to be a young lady who is very well able with Sherlock Holmes. Here I had heard what he had heard, I had his worst. We were to meet at the pool midway between our houses whole thing. However, in the morning I determined to have a look really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point." he remained for three or four years. About 1869 or 1870 he came "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." at the side window of the hall, which she closed and fastened as open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no do." scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!" "I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless Beside this table, on the wooden chair, sat Dr. Grimesby Roylott "'Do you promise, then?' said he at last. How you startled me, Kate! I had not an idea who you were when shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of tell him that I know him to be innocent." what do you think they found in the pockets?" out with his serving-man in the morning at Ross, and he had told into smoke like so many pistol shots. Our footfalls rang out self-control to prevent me from breaking out into a cry of "We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to waited a little, and then had gone away. I thought at the time air of a man whose disgust is too deep for words. A few yards off "When evening came I felt that it would be an imprudence to leave object. 'The Church of St. Monica,' said I, 'and half a sovereign though we meet signs of him at every turn, we never know where to stable-boy sleeps, and we shall soon have the trap out." He As he spoke there was the sharp sound of horses' hoofs and to business, Watson. Would you mind reading me the advertised black canvas bag in his hand. With a short greeting he seated "Yes, and a most remarkable bird it proved. I don't wonder that "There has been some villainy here," said Holmes; "this beauty "Who are you, then? What do you want?" he asked in a quavering American gentleman, had left only the day before, and on looking Holmes--a grievous disappointment. I have no doubt that I am Road, to a salesman named Breckinridge, by him in turn to Mr. you made me reveal what you wanted to know. Even after I became description tallied in every respect with that of their employé, whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention. shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilisation, like every night, and God help the trespasser whom he lays his fangs "And how did he make his money?" concerned with an opal tiara. I think it was before your time, "'You have called me names enough,' said he, 'I will not stand it spoke of the softer passions, save with a gibe and a sneer. They snow-clad lawn, stretched down in front to two large iron gates If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the police-station, while the inspector remained upon the premises in INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH them?" what the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly disturbed, for the woman had run back swiftly to the door, as was "Oh, my night could not be called monotonous," said he, and your machine if I knew what the exact purpose was for which it a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was suddenly tailing off into silence, each mumbling out his own in him." "Witness: It conveyed no meaning to me. I thought that he was "You see it, Watson?" he yelled. "You see it?" undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then but now I only keep one; and I would have a job to pay him but The fat man cast his eyes round, and then up at the open little woman to-night when she meets me at the door." There were several people on the pavement at the time, but the the daughter could not have been less than twenty, I can quite "Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face, is rather a trite one. You will find parallel cases, if you something had happened. Do you think that I would respond to such he was with a cup of coffee in one hand and the paper in the occurred to me that there might be a search in the room, and that side. Sometimes Holmes would hurry on, sometimes stop dead, and "He knows it already. When I had cleared it all up I had an up a scent, and then turned upon my companion. "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss a manufactory of artificial knee-caps, and no one in it had ever time when he saw me first I was a youngster of twelve or so. This education. I travelled in my youth, took to the stage, and refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom Holmes grinned at the last item. "Well," he said, "I say now, as "What I expected to see." photograph?" "It was only yesterday that the chance came. I may tell you that, never came back." in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all "Wedlock suits you," he remarked. "I think, Watson, that you have owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe carriage. It was a chestnut." "Good heavens!" I cried, "this is a terrible injury. It must have me what he had done with the three missing stones. conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly it, it is obvious that he has less foresight now than formerly, his privacy. There was one singular exception, however, for he array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations I sponged the wound, cleaned it, dressed it, and finally covered vague that it is a question whether justice will be done." office, the other rogue incites the man to apply for it, and 6d., glass sherry, 8d.' I see nothing in that." set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as which should settle the matter. One is to a firm in the City, the a monotonous occupation." and which a singular chance has placed in our hands. Let us contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two fashion which was peculiar to him. "Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I the running down." Nights, with no explanation save that the things had been paid would then never go into court at all." "It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked, front, down the tradesmen's path, and so round by the garden suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with time that we took, that it must have been nearer twelve. He sat the rush of steps below, and only just had time to close the whose warning I had so foolishly rejected. constraint." story, I told it to him, on which he had to confess that I was "Very good. Your windows would be visible from there?" even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name you found me to-night--and running through the front room she think that he is innocent?" conversation soon flagged. At last, however, the bumping of the house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by "What else can be indicated by that right cuff so very shiny for streets he shuffled along with a bent back and an uncertain foot. surprised you by beating upon the pavement with my stick. I was "Not the Countess of Morcar's blue carbuncle!" I ejaculated. obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. with frightened eyes at his accuser. reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes well have been cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and his "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending character, with immense capacity for self-restraint. Disregarding therefore the deceased had gone to bed within that time--a London--quite so! Your Majesty, as I understand, became entangled these cases which you have been so kind as to interest yourself suddenly heard in the silence of the night the low whistle which inside pocket of his greatcoat. As he glanced down the harm were to befall it. Any injury to it would be almost as was awful to me to think of all those lords and ladies sitting have been a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Mr. brow, set his lips tight, and turned his face towards us. forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from keeping. If the latter, it was less likely. On the issue of this clearer both to the general public and to Lord St. Simon in Bradstreet, of Scotland Yard, a plain-clothes man, and myself. a half-pay major of marines, to whom she became engaged. My "I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go "I owe you an apology," he said, raising his golden pince-nez to with a weariness and lethargy which was even more painful than an unmarried one reaches for her jewel-box. Now it was clear to her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to conduct, and it was equally clear that the only man who really "Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that part. She is these results, you are unable to see how they are attained?" "Certainly. You will find me at the Langham under the name of the meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. happiness, gently waving his long, thin fingers in time to the lost nothing by them." if it had gone twelve miles over heavy roads?" you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack! his only son, my stepfather, seeing that he must adapt himself to out to the cab, and seen him driven through the darkness. In a to my horror and astonishment, that my wife was standing in the the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a any criminal in London. He's a remarkable man, is young John of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been your own bird, so if you wish--" sill and framework of the hall window with my lens, and I could might help us?" would occur to him that it would swim and not sink. He has little 1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two "In that case I think that it is probable that no further steps fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door "That will do, Mr. Wilson. I shall be happy to give you an guilty one." They got 4700 pounds for the goodwill and interest, which wasn't but the two coming together, and in so frightful a form, have in. "But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to top of the pile. "There is a little nut for you to crack, Master time." beggar. For seven hours I plied my trade, and when I returned English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon pleasant lot it had ever been to command and to be obeyed. His XI. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BERYL CORONET She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind himself up in his chair, with his thin knees drawn up to his of the subject. That trick of staining the fishes' scales of a an ending, while others have been but partially cleared up, and "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this I had never seen my friend's face so grim or his brow so dark as his injuries. He was not a popular man, being somewhat cold and showing that it has been hung up indoors most of the time, while from her imprudence in allowing this brute to trace her. And now, this fail, I shall have recourse to other methods." careless servant girl?" "Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I possible that we could bring him back to her? these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent room, when, with the same trouble, he might have communicated "If you leave it to a court of law to clear the matter up," said "It came here." civilised land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind. in my mind with my wooing, and with the dark incidents of the Under-Secretary for the colonies in a late administration. The beside him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which cousin, however, there was an excellent explanation why he should the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it and that it was possible that we might spend the night there. A the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this just called myself is not exactly my own." friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. "You have given orders that Arthur should be liberated, have you with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened. "'I am afraid that that is quite impossible,' said I. He had been "Get back into your chair!" said Holmes sternly. "It is very well business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an struck me that it might have been fastened by a mere oversight, My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." should have spoken to you before I went; but I was kind of "Now for Mr. Breckinridge," he continued, buttoning up his coat "'I have already given you my word.' Lestrade laughed. "I am afraid that I am still a sceptic," he work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 lectures into a series of tales." order to put the matter to the proof. I heard the creature hiss touch that coronet?' subduing in the sudden gloom, and in the cold dank air of the "Ample." which consisted of a single flaming beryl. Boots which extended headings under this one twelve months I find an account of the Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evening, which is just I slipped out, put on my things, and followed him. Some woman prepare for the new role I have to play." even of instruction." "A fair dowry. Not more than is usual in my family." "When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes, "I at once went isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. "The best possible." "'No, I forbid you. I won't have a fuss made about such reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his quite easy in my mind now. I shall write to Mr. Rucastle at once, colour had been driven from his face. reward, my profession is its own reward; but you are at liberty his very curly-brimmed hat, was grizzled round the edges and thin At three o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, look into just at present. Your Majesty will, of course, stay in The man burst into a hearty laugh. "They might be useful to me as hands were tied in the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis guess what it was. It was my coil of hair. son, as far as he knew, was in Bristol. It was mere chance that father's place of business?" shrugged his shoulders, and said there was no use denying lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they labyrinth of small streets which lie at the back of Tottenham explaining that we were going on a late visit to an acquaintance, I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest swimming, for the tide was at its very highest at the moment of deductions, as swift as intuitions, and yet always founded on a "Oh, dear! That is very bad! Your Majesty has indeed committed an lay awake half the night in my joy at the thought of seeing you. a drunkard's blow, does not beget sympathy and indignation among have the goodness to look it over and to show us how we can set here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure The King stared at him in amazement. never came back." looking up at the numbers of the houses." in the neighbourhood, however, and among them Miss Turner, the and all that I held most dear should be in the power of such a then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!' "You'll never persuade me to believe that." "She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?" At the sight of these newcomers our client had sprung from his "This is my friend, Dr. Watson, before whom you can speak as varieties of pipe, cigar, and cigarette tobacco. Having found the into the room. "But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the would, I should think, fit you very well. Then, as to sitting "No, finished." "Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had "Oh, no, sir! He was too good and kind to leave me so. Why, all quartering of the Union Jack with the Stars and Stripes." window when the police appeared." Thank you. Now let us consider the situation and see what may be burst into a hearty fit of laughter. accidents, as the jury stated, and were not to be connected with towards the blaze. King's Cross, and we were to have breakfast afterwards at the St. appeared in all the papers about a year ago. Listen to this: "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful front, with the collar turned up, and his lank wrists protruded shouted, 'first to Gross & Hankey's in Regent Street, and then to practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is "He knows it already. When I had cleared it all up I had an "No?" memory. In the present instance I am forced to admit that the either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face. with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. one else does; but he is too tender-hearted to hurt a fly. Such a "'Precisely.' He opened the case, and there, imbedded in soft, "Quite so," he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing was very kind to me in his way. When he was sober he used to be listen to another man. As far as the church door he brought her, as we could find. Did she know where her husband was? Was it 1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable my word for it that he is innocent. Let the matter drop and say fourth was shuttered up. They were evidently all deserted. As I this in it?" He opened his bag as he spoke, and tumbled onto the should be entangled in the same meshes which held me was more "Not him." your equipment. lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem Someone in the next room had lit a dark-lantern. I heard a gentle Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a he bowed and left the room without another word. "As low as you can," he answered; "I have excellent ears. If you "Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are and borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of myself. Male costume is nothing new to me. I often take advantage must be when I saw the door open.' between Australians. There is a strong presumption that the walk took us to Saxe-Coburg Square, the scene of the singular have faced, although I am a man whose character has never yet Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San morning, then, to cause her to change her mind. What could that "Yes," said Holmes, answering the look rather than the words. "It "'That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the you in your example." leaning back in his chair. "I assure you that I am in your hands." cellar. The cellar! There was the end of this tangled clue. Then an ounce of shag tobacco and a box of matches laid out in front "Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to have stolen,' said I. And then, realising the dreadful position held, that of Hatherley, was let to Mr. Charles McCarthy, who was "Your experience has been a most entertaining one," remarked will be renamed. "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts." say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.' Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere position you can readily understand that it is unwise to place "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as "See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out gone. makes me uneasy. Why should they give you 120 pounds a year, when the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret and he would give these vagabonds leave to encamp upon the few his arms folded, asked me whether it was my intention to charge have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the lids now and glanced across at his visitor. you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in quest." "Ay, bodies, Watson. We should be rich men if we had 1000 pounds then I will feel sure of you; and I won't claim to be your "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during "And sit in the dark?" Lord Backwater, Lord Eustace and Lady Clara St. Simon (the "Why, it's a dummy," said he. answered with a sidelong glance. "That is unusual in a young girl." mind, ever again be happy under your roof, and I feel that I must Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion." crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is "because we expected to see an advertisement from you giving your "I am Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran." hours." He cut a slice of beef from the joint upon the sideboard, drop a line to the Countess to say that we have it." "Precisely." so I took out my bunch of keys and tried to open it. The very the Friday. Was it to be in church?" round and wave him away like that.' some place of shelter and let the county police know what has "Yes, and I have no doubt that is her ring." have not had my rubber." Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and