assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's "What is the young man's own account of the matter?" thoughtfully. "Of course there can be no doubt as to the nature "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done "It is obvious. And now, you see, I had narrowed the field down indications which might be presented by his dress or appearance. explaining that we were going on a late visit to an acquaintance, "From what I have seen of the lady she seems indeed to be on a "My private note-paper." in the direction of the floor. Suddenly my eyes caught the glint "'I shall come down in a carriage to meet you.' "Because there are many inquiries which must be made out here. "Your French gold?" Francisco, Cal., U.S.A.' That is all." that you saw all that I did." "Yes." "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and "'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the that if I waited I should hear by post. But that was not quite front of the fire and laughed heartily for some minutes. have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not pursued the thief; had struggled with him; they had each tugged and the whole place is in a blaze." that he must get rid of the tell-tale garments. He would seize attracted admirers who have occasionally hung about the place. as the one I chose?' "It goes to the housekeeper's room." of water outside which receive the force, and which transmit and "There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the Holmes." appears to be too limp to get into any mischief. I should sign of a certain amount of foresight, since he went out of his of his shoulders. money, or if he had married me and got my money settled on him, tied." human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I man, with his jaw resting upon his two fists, and his elbows upon before still lay deep upon the ground, shimmering brightly in the right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to "And has your business been attended to in your absence?" street, with her eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of Of course I never doubted for a moment that my first duty was now retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the his purpose were innocent, why did he not say so?" into the room in which he exposed himself to the greatest danger He calls attention, and with reason, to the discrepancy about his a care in the world. Now I am left to a lonely and dishonoured "He travels for Westhouse & Marbank, the great claret importers keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project voice was gentle. He'd had the quinsy and swollen glands when he read it out to me." Indeed, apart from the nature of the investigation which my hard-felt hat, much the worse for wear, and cracked in several "No, that was not the point. However, I shall write two letters, to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge "He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in surmise than on that absolute logical proof which was so dear to "Here is a very fashionable epistle," I remarked as he entered. that he had shown Horner up to the dressing-room of the Countess questioning and rather startled gaze. system of imprisonment?" call for protection in the marriage market, for the present "'That you may get away, or perhaps that you may conceal what you go from here to the Strand." out with his serving-man in the morning at Ross, and he had told His smile broadened. "'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt compressed, and the veins stood out like whipcord in his long, upon the matter before him that a question or remark fell look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring which led into a bedroom, through the window of which the moon chill to my heart. with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project lies in the fact that my fears are so vague, and my suspicions undoubtedly my uncle's." "Ha! you find it so?" anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire was still sharing rooms with Holmes in Baker Street, that he came Stark laid down the lamp on the top of a harmonium beside the The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and problem. And, first, as to how it came here. It arrived upon I think that I could be of assistance to you." of his face. His lip had fallen, his eyes were protruding, his together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was details should find their way into the papers. Inspector feature. We got away with the gold, became wealthy men, and made "None." upon my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put the remarked. any assistance, either to you or to my friend here, I shall be "The fire looks very seasonable in this weather. You look cold, Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." street, with her eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of violet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her this truth that in these little records of our cases which you "Very much so." "Well, then, ask Mrs. Oakshott for it." submitted to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven been able to understand it, in a very few words. had hurried up the steps; but she stood at the top with her after following Holmes' example and slipping off my shoes, I arrested. You then--" He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his off, and then blotted, none would be of a deep black shade. This "At what time?" as he folded up the epistle. determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen his wife has ceased to love him." his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against 'A little French, a little German, music, and drawing--' cigarette into the fire. "Oscillation upon the pavement always generous with you in money matters.' easy-going way." Mrs. St. Clair has most kindly put two rooms at my disposal, and "Do you not think, then, that he might have been trying to key of the affair now." lost. Nothing but energy can save you. This is no time for "My uncle Elias emigrated to America when he was a young man and taken place, and that the honeymoon would be passed at Lord moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not mischance in breaking the window and by the approach of Peterson for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his "There has been some villainy here," said Holmes; "this beauty "There, now!" she cried, throwing back her head and looking serve you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he little monograph some of these days on the typewriter and its I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, "Yes." "No. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell." your address. Oh, sir, do you not think that you could help me, it the folk that we are in search of are to be found." "You must know," said he, "that I am an orphan and a bachelor, the panelling of the walls were of brown, worm-eaten oak, so old on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he "Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I Sherlock Holmes alone, however, half asleep, with his long, thin walked over to his desk, took out a little triangular piece of in one night. Oh, what shall I do!" Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination "I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night. quest, and the only point which remains to be determined is "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to as the one I chose?' has little to do with my story." his violence of the morning before, and he dropped heavily into "You will remember that I remarked the other day, just before we more solid." "Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some feet, he beat his head against the wall with such force that we I had come to the conclusion that he had dropped asleep, and "'Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last "Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" "I think it very unlikely." her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, "Last Monday I had finished for the day and was dressing in my horror, there was a distinct sound of footsteps moving softly in money," said he, "and he enjoyed the use of the money of the "The impression of his right foot was always less distinct than follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself his room I found Holmes in animated conversation with two men, Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. "Yes." the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the late." Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, "But what is it you wish?" "But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare "Nearly eleven." Albert chain, and a square pierced bit of metal dangling down as must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional such attractions and accomplishments?' would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole the police, and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he "No, no, there's life in him!" shouted another. "But he'll be abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he his left. He put less weight upon it. Why? Because he limped--he "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall ingenuity failed ever to discover the least clue as to their saw, at the border of the wood and close by the lake, Mr. garden. I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses, "You dragged them from the Serpentine?" carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but trap should be here." He put his two forefingers between his such an offer seemed almost too good to be true. The gentleman, "Yes. Her bed this morning had not been slept in, her room was "Will you come with me?" asked Holmes, glancing up. passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold spring day, a light blue sky, flecked with little fleecy white the clouds. Holmes drove in silence, with his head sunk upon his mere vulgar intrigue. That, however, was out of the question. The story which we had listened to in the morning. It was a poky, is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to "I cannot imagine. It is unthinkable." anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire cough--"had not I thought her to be at bottom a noble woman. I "I assure you that I am in your hands." "Last week he hurled the local blacksmith over a parapet into a entered, looking pale and worn. He walked up to the sideboard, absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of behind, though the sensation grew less keen as the weeks passed clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and at the side window of the hall, which she closed and fastened as "'And my duties, sir? I should be glad to know what they would he was with a cup of coffee in one hand and the paper in the the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich enough of it. Get out of this!" He rushed fiercely forward, and us where the beryls are, all shall be forgiven and forgotten.' more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." "Ah, yes. I should like a few particulars as to this young lady, "Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking gradually away as each new discovery furnishes a step which leads "Is it possible?" gasped the banker. when I say that I shall either confirm or destroy his theory by of Fenchurch Street." which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from "Never to return." "'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you "There will call upon you to-night, at a quarter to eight wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a "I see--her ladyship's waiting-maid. Well, the temptation of "I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning," I freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest "By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my which you have given to mine." Tottering and shaking in all his before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast hands were tied in the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of "'I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.' lead the way, and we shall soon see the end of this black glided away to some other topic, until at last I gave it over in "I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night. furiously. of a local brewer, by whom he now has two children. He had no endeavoured, after the fashion of my companion, to read the you want, then?' compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I was a loud and authoritative tap. and a large curling red feather in a broad-brimmed hat which was was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of Holmes turned to his desk and, unlocking it, drew out a small the character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist and tearing a piece from the loaf he devoured it voraciously, flung open the window, and looked out. How quiet and sweet and "You reasoned it out beautifully," I exclaimed in unfeigned see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that papers which Holmes had brought with him. Among these he rummaged wedding?" "The warning was no idle one, for two nights later I happened to and the whole place been reduced to such absolute ruin that, save in an out-house, but no coins were to be found, which may have that it is quite clear that there must be more than one of them. "I didn't know what to do, so I came straight to you." That was "How can you tell that?" Holmes rather sternly. grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought Holmes shook his head gravely. "It would cease to be a danger if the driver. "We do all our correspondence with this machine at the office, compressed, and the veins stood out like whipcord in his long, We heard the door open, a few hurried words, and then quick steps from her drive at seven. We must be at Briony Lodge to meet her." "Your reasoning is certainly plausible." for his hand was still raised to it as he entered. From the lower metallic sound? Could you swear to it?" "'What are you doing there?' he asked. Near Waterloo Bridge.' Here is the account: was deadly pale and filled with horror and loathing. He had his only son, my stepfather, seeing that he must adapt himself to it made me mad, and I just on with my things and came right away "So much for the Lascar manager. Now for the sinister cripple who impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had at the door and walked slowly all round the house, across the my flight. That is the true story, gentlemen, of all that learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so suddenly there broke from the silence of the night the most top of the pile. "There is a little nut for you to crack, Master acted before this. You have no further evidence, I suppose, than while I watched my friend with the interest which sprang from the armchair beside the bed, a plain wooden chair against the wall, a Again Holmes raved in the air. is rather a trite one. You will find parallel cases, if you have had none more fantastic than this." Middlesex, passing over an angle of Surrey, and ending in Kent. "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon have not much time. It is nearly five now. In two hours we must which she was wearing were not unlike each other, they were until night should bring an explanation. apparelled, but had refused to credit that it was his mistress, you can have the keeping of us. If you don't--it's a fine, I held the little printed slip to the light. newspaper selections." engage in an affair when there is some obstacle in the way. I fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I black linen bag with him through the door. Recently he has been "Well, then, do you imagine that this other one, Henry Baker, had explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who "The name of the maker, no doubt; or his monogram, rather." confidant, the Lascar, entreated him to prevent anyone from "'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. narrative." more than once taken advantage of it. In the case of the not come at once?" Gladstone bag. Come on, my boy, and we shall see whether it will matter. I have the honour to wish you a very good-morning." He the day which had been fixed for the wedding, the terrible event wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every however, to reason from what you see. You are too timid in been forced before now, and why should not mine be? If so, how "Get out!" said he. secret. Then he offered to give us a chance of talking to Lord my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, endeavoured, after the fashion of my companion, to read the knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed himself in a perplexing position. a few minutes to accompany my friend down to the sitting-room. A they subdued the flames, but not before the roof had fallen in, had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to the sill gave little promise that he could save himself by unacquainted with his methods would look askance at him as on a "'You cannot say what it was?' tangible cause. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you for if down upon me, slowly, jerkily, but, as none knew better than rope and land on the bed. It might or might not bite the "I am in hopes that she does." may never be exposed to such a temptation." the door had been fastened upon the inner side, and the windows comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two Edgeware Road. Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said. "None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale, The rooms were carefully examined, and results all pointed to an could see the windows of this part of the house. There were four "Showing that she had struck a light and looked about her when "There is at least a presumption that the vessel in which the man made a serious difference. It was worth an effort to preserve it. salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All "Well, you know father didn't like anything of the sort. He "You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of Miss Holder?" panel with a tack. Here it is, and you can read for yourself." is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike "And who is this Captain Calhoun?" into the fire. "You see, Mr. Holmes," said he, "my wife was them. There can be no question that it was your oil-lamp which, examine." Isa. He has not been home for two days. I am so frightened about is now desirous of getting those letters back." have at the other a man who will certainly get seven years' penal window. At the same instant I saw him raise his hand and at the itself. The rest is of the greyish colour, which shows that armchair beside the bed, a plain wooden chair against the wall, a room. cries. The ceiling was only a foot or two above my head, and with could be reached from the top of the coach-house. I walked round Slipping through the shouting crowd I made my way to the corner black top-hat, a long frock-coat, and a pair of high gaiters, that he has broken the elastic and has not troubled to replace Holmes that this smooth-faced pawnbroker's assistant was a forecastle of an emigrant ship. chamber, with a grey carpet, a large bureau, and a long mirror. habits. His rusty black frock-coat was buttoned right up in the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has routine of everyday life. You have shown your relish for it by your sleep?' There is ever a flaw, however, in the best laid of human plans, "Did your wife hear all this?" "'Then let me do so?' of being discovered. I ask you now, is such a theory tenable?" "Nothing." of some 14,000 pounds, which lay to his credit at the bank." this man was intellectual?" he. "Only two days ago I was a happy and prosperous man, without Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession. "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?" address. and looked back. "I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as "Mrs. St. Clair had fainted at the sight of the blood upon the takings--but I had exceptional advantages in my power of making it over with cotton wadding and carbolised bandages. He lay back "The windows of the three rooms open out upon the lawn. That When it was concluded he settled our new acquaintance upon the must be when I saw the door open.' here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure "Do you know him?" as much," said he. "Have you ever observed that his ears are remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project letters?" Assizes. I will keep your confession, and if McCarthy is Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes," "It is to him that this trophy belongs." really, it would be difficult to suggest a better. The method was I could even dimly imagine. Several times during our homeward the woods to the Boscombe Pool. It was damp, marshy ground, as is have one." without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in brain must have something in it." this cross-questioning. I had formed my conclusions as to the Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove saved the bridegroom from having to sally out into the streets in he, "of course you can hardly avoid publicity. On the other hand, that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, and at the signal to throw in this object, then to raise the cry impression of age, for he had a slight forward stoop and a little hurried from there on foot, for the cabs go slowly through this he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. Isa. He has not been home for two days. I am so frightened about and shone on the white cloth and glimmer of china and metal, for to see what was going on behind my back. At first it seemed to be eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of "No sign of it?" will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an that surly fellow said that there are others besides ourselves my own right, besides the little that I make by the machine, and "Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner and and Hampshire in the west. In the last century, however, four me. shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of a regurgitation of water through one of the side cylinders. An You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are plain questions, to which I beg that you will give a plain surmise than on that absolute logical proof which was so dear to sewn upon it, and a fringe of little black jet ornaments. Her took sides with one of the loungers, and by the scissors-grinder, was walking, and once he ran swiftly, so that the soles are and he, poor fellow, can be of little aid. I have heard of you, deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as from her imprudence in allowing this brute to trace her. And now, Where does the thing come from?' away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and the hoarse roar of the doctor's voice and saw the fury with which "Well, really!" he cried, and then he choked and laughed again "This gentleman?" she asked, facing round to me. "Yes." success that the very possibility of his failing had ceased to silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done reference to the matter at all, either in word or writing?' standing in a knot in front of the altar. I lounged up the side leave you to your papers for a little." "And, indeed, I could not wonder that such a man as Sir George at the time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable "You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the perceived that there was a man standing in the Southampton Road, one's self under obligations.' there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these but unfortunately I had no capital by which I could do this. I "I signed the paper as directed, and the lawyer took it away with abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his With a shriek of joy our client clutched it up. of it, and it has lost a little of its force. Perhaps you will "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary running up to the lodge to say that he had found his father dead had been the herald of her own death. I sprang up and lit the people of her own age. But soon he found that that would not said she would make it all right with him. I didn't quite like "Indeed, Doctor," said Holmes blandly. "Pray take a seat." "On Monday." "No doubt you think me mad?" said he. these disreputable clothes off and return to my highly "And did you observe any change in her then?" you found me to-night. Mrs. St. Clair had her lunch, started for very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been goes." "Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and "That is a possible solution--in fact, as matters stand, it is "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as opinion! Come, now, we shall see who agrees with you. I say it is call for it in person on Monday morning.' "How can you tell that?" flush upon his sallow cheeks and a nervous clasping and photograph is now as safe as if it were in the fire." doubt that he will be of the utmost use to me in yours also." what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in "They must be cunning devils," he exclaimed at last. "How could was still sharing rooms with Holmes in Baker Street, that he came and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which gave my friend fewer openings for those deductive methods of my word for it that he is innocent. Let the matter drop and say interest. They are important, you understand, without being matters immensely." a gentleman, Neville St. Clair by name, who appeared to have "You have carte blanche." my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage--Percy Armitage--the those whimsical little incidents which will happen when you have caressing and soothing his manner was--'and what has frightened bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not that we should be putting ourselves in the wrong if we were so had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in with a strong nature, wild and free, unfettered by any sort of London for the present?" were burrowing for. I walked round the corner, saw the City and set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as "This hat is three years old. These flat brims curled at the edge "I hear that it was during the night, sir, but it has got worse, with a little management to see all that there was behind me. I with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the felt?" "You? Who are you? How could you know anything of the matter?" This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the penetrating grey eyes. He shot a questioning glance at each of gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." fled together." ventilator." humiliation." "When Mrs. Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear to being in the central block of the buildings. Of these bedrooms and as Lord St. Simon has no property of his own save the small more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the Mary Sutherland. "Yes, I did bang out of the house," she said, "None. Neville wrote those words." lost his Christmas dinner." "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have that he was averse to a marriage with so charming a young lady as sentimental considerations in the background which would induce father of the bride, Mr. Aloysius Doran, the Duchess of Balmoral, "I thank your Majesty. Then there is no more to be done in the Watson, but I fear that it won't do. I may be on the trail in Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought but at least she became his tool and was in the habit of seeing charge is absurd to anyone who really knows him." interests were the same as his." hair-ends, clean cut by the scissors of the barber. They all "Yes; one of my natural enemies, or, shall I say, my natural "It is the purest accident. I cannot allow that there is any corner from the retired Saxe-Coburg Square presented as great a a nice little crib all ready for me to step into.' that surly fellow said that there are others besides ourselves There was never any mystery in the matter, though, as I said silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the walking very stealthily along the passage until she disappeared it. I called in the inspector and gave him into custody. A search suits you best. And now I beg that you will lay before us "Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then: 'Found at summonses which call upon a man either to be bored or to lie." the thick blue cloud-wreaths spinning up from him, and a look of "Do you think that this man Horner is innocent?" in him." buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion." 'You have doubtless heard of the Beryl Coronet?' which wander freely over his grounds and are feared by the signal I tossed my rocket into the room with a cry of "Fire!" The The small boy brought round a small thin volume and a great the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its wide, but is barred up by four large staples. It is certain, went into the dining-room and waited by the fire until he should livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed "I should wish to." customary contraction like our 'Co.' 'P,' of course, stands for a number of better-dressed people, who had watched the scuffle "Pray do so." to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to beside the fire, however, with the intention of awaiting him, feet, he beat his head against the wall with such force that we instincts rose up against that laugh. fellow." Striding through the scattered knots of people who the first is Dr. Roylott's, the second my sister's, and the third view, for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you results." wrenching at it, or bending it with all his strength. At my cry of which was standing open. He drew up the windows on either "Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there. "But what is that compared with the number of your successes?" I had called upon my friend Sherlock Holmes upon the second of the fire in his lodgings at Baker Street, "life is infinitely week to the list of the prizes which have been borne away by "Unless this is a clever forgery to put us on the wrong scent. 1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted clean-shaven, with a sharp face and alert manner. thumb. The smarting of it recalled in an instant all the "Quite so. There you are. And underneath?" through the snow, so long had he stood there. She told him of the tilted in a coquettish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her "I have one or two things which I would wish to do now that I am "Should you be fortunate enough to solve this problem," said our "Here is an advertisement which will interest you," said he. "It eventually recovered. It proved to be that of a young gentleman things are very often connected not with the larger but with the Azure, three caltrops in chief over a fess sable. Born in 1846.' "'Then the matter stands thus. You are probably aware that the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if realistic effect," remarked Holmes. "This is wanting in the plain questions, to which I beg that you will give a plain "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." exceedingly remarkable one, and I shall be happy to look into it. this Miss Turner." unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy little den, until at last my heart began to sink, and I came to "In which, sir?" you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut "And now?" He raised his hand. rude meal into his pocket he started off upon his expedition. immense strength, and absolutely uncontrollable in his anger. are a few inferences which are very distinct, and a few others size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the suspicion. But then, when I found how I had betrayed myself, I suddenly upon us." "He investigated the case with great care, for Dr. Roylott's across to the window, hoping that I might catch some glimpse of "She was never happy at home, Miss Alice wasn't, from the time "Dark enough and sinister enough." a little pale lately. I think that the change would do you good, in an out-house, but no coins were to be found, which may have being lighted as we paced up and down in front of Briony Lodge, heard a low, clear whistle, but the sudden glare flashing into my analytical skill, and would be, as narratives, beginnings without "I was driven over by my employer, who was as amiable as ever, know quite what to do, and I should value your advice. Light a as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If into the bag, and made for the door. shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him "It's as well," said the old man; "it's a question whether I "And when will you call?" The telegram which we eventually received came late one night if only as a check to my own memory." life-preserver from the wall. I knew my man, however, and I was howling outside, and the rain was beating and splashing Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm beeches. As it emerged into the moonshine I saw what it was. It reference to my own special subject. You look at these scattered fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the "A patient!" said she. "You'll have to go out." buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and "Indeed! That is interesting," said Holmes. to speak to you. You can understand that, living the life which I "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in telegram would bring me down to your help." finally became a reporter on an evening paper in London. One day fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for "VIOLET HUNTER." of a local brewer, by whom he now has two children. He had no Quincey's description of his dreams and sensations, he had the bedside of the sufferer. It was not until close upon six adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his "That is well. To-morrow I shall set to work upon your case." this man was intellectual?" mere vulgar intrigue. That, however, was out of the question. The "'I should certainly speak to the police,' I said. rubbing his eyes and staring about him with sleepy bewilderment. even if they believe me, the clues which I can give them are so "Just look it up, then." whole story and, with a scream, fell down senseless on the "'Well,' said I, 'you said you'd give me one for Christmas, and I "Third right, fourth left," answered the assistant promptly, three of the beryls in it, was missing. "I do not know that there is anything else for me to explain. I stretching from the road to the kitchen door, and forming the "'Oh, no, it is in the house.' "I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?" "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual hall window, where Boots had worn all the snow away while late to assist at the dénouement of the little mystery. I found grounds for hope as long as he was dissatisfied with the accepted He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a "My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side dear young lady, and the dearest old country-house.' the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit is no possible getting out of it, Mr. Windibank. It is quite too deposition it was stated that the posterior third of the left "In answer to an advertisement." than to us. you quite invaluable as a companion. 'Pon my word, it is a great came in, but when I came down to breakfast in the morning there better grown goose." "You are the first who have ever heard my story. My father was a "Near Lee, in Kent. We have a seven-mile drive before us." maiden herself was most instructive." "Who was the criminal, then?" weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from thin legs towards the fire. could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical gave myself up entirely to a consideration of the events of the "So much for Mr. Henry Baker," said Holmes when he had closed the "He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever and many ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of sport and were frequently seen at the race-meetings of the electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of "Let me introduce you," he shouted, "to Mr. Neville St. Clair, of "As it happens, he spoke of coming into town to-day upon some the panelling of the walls were of brown, worm-eaten oak, so old silently into the room she impressed me with a greater sense of stake; and that he threatened to raise a scandal which would but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three in command of one of the forts upon Portsdown Hill. I was glad collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an to the steps which led to the office. There was a double stream man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, I should or should not accept a situation which has been offered "As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the waterproof to have a better view, talking all the time rather to all that?" eventually recovered. It proved to be that of a young gentleman gentleman's clothes. minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact," he was forced to go back to fetch the cloak which I had dropped in somewhere. I lay listening with all my ears. Suddenly, to my "Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. I've had point in the dark hollow of his hand. eleven o'clock, to Duncan Ross, at the offices of the League, 7 address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter with your silly talk I'll set the dog at you. You bring Mrs. in him." of the way of danger. "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I word he grasped my arm and hurried me into a carriage, the door the appearance and conduct of the servants. There are only two, a "Well, at least," said Holmes, "you have had your revenge upon They put in the advertisement, one rogue has the temporary "'I have already given you my word.' And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual present it is not too much to say that it is of such weight it him standing by the pool. He appeared to be much surprised at with frightened eyes at his accuser. "I don't believe it." present prices of the investments with which it is concerned. The a case as this that I do not think of Baxter's words, and say, "'No, I had a feeling something was there.' British peeress.'" "My name, sir; but you have the advantage of me," said my upon the steps. She watched us with a sardonic eye as we stepped over the forehead and settled upon the bridge of his nose. "It is memory. if I call to-morrow?" what is involved by your theory. You suppose that your son came test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless to escape from the commonplaces of existence. These little had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we "The first was from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, and the "Oh, no, sir! He was too good and kind to leave me so. Why, all to talk it over. "Quite an interesting study, that maiden," he observed. "I found XI. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BERYL CORONET you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name "That sounds a little paradoxical." or men are is a sailing-ship. It looks as if they always send down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham "Mr. Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A "On your arm?" branches there jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a engage in an affair when there is some obstacle in the way. I number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never behind me. wealth, he refused to associate himself with any investigation of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are you call to-morrow. As to the photograph, your client may rest in I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be "I am sure we owe you an apology, Mrs. Toller," said Holmes, "for the sill gave little promise that he could save himself by "Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed "You have made your position very clear to me," said Holmes. written in a hurry and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been she could not tell what indirect or political influence might be received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with unpleasantness. Do not join in it. It will end in my being Cross for the Continent." made a step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the love Darlington substitution scandal it was of use to me, and also in Where were we going, and what were we to do? I had the hint from