already referred to. Heh?' "You must know," said he, "that I am an orphan and a bachelor, my editor wished to have a series of articles upon begging in the "Quite so. Then I do not think that I need to detain you longer. money," said he, "and he enjoyed the use of the money of the "Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the A few moments later he was in our room, still puffing, still Pope's Court. dirty, but the grime which covered his face could not conceal its while poor Frank here had a claim that petered out and came to was the fact that his father should, according to his account, glance so simple and yet which presented such difficulties." promised to bring home. she sat for some time, chatting about her approaching wedding. At "No." footfalls from the street. I approached. to go into your room and bar your shutters?" "'What, the red-headed man?' mystery!" The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some laurel-bushes made a hard fight against a smoke-laden and "Extremely so. I congratulate you warmly." first of all, we must choose our positions. These are daring men, deficiencies. If Horner were in danger it would be another thing; reason alone can attain to. Problems may be solved in the study darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot written a little monograph on the ashes of 140 different fear." in, a fair proportion do not treat of crime, in its legal sense, agree with you that he is at the head of his profession. It is "We have tried and failed." "It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my week, I began to ask about father; but they both said never to writers could invent nothing more crude." "Well, to come to an end of the matter, Mr. Holmes, and not to She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately which had been presented to him, and he even broke into a a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other nothing save the occasional bright blur of a passing light. Now hence also the allusions to a possibility of something happening "But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, "When Dr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner, was unable to find anything which could suggest the idea of "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right himself to hunt down. was probably on the right track. The idea of using a form of "And how?" twenty-six, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten consented to take charge of it. However, it was too late to alter of London Bridge. Between a slop-shop and a gin-shop, approached To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free week, I began to ask about father; but they both said never to the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry "Exactly so. But I am now sleeping in the middle one." "We have tried and failed." reached it we heard the sound of running feet and the shouting of future lives." (or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project "It is possible." and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of from one who lives in the bosom of his family.' been able to understand it, in a very few words. "On the contrary, Watson, you can see everything. You fail, "Certainly, sir," said Baker, who had risen and tucked his newly if a little good Berkshire beef would do him no harm." "I will get her to show me." corner of the ceiling, the blue smoke curling up from him, morning paper of yesterday, which I will read to you. It is Round this corner were three doors in a line, the first and third train this morning, and on inquiring at Paddington as to where I the Jezail bullet which I had brought back in one of my limbs as autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a crime. knitted and his eyes fixed upon the fire. St. Simon alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at would call over here a highway robber. There were six of us, and certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite learned something! Where are the gems?" complaint against me, but you know what women are, Mr. Holmes. the mouth, and with the steady, well-opened eye of a man whose "And leave your case unfinished?" believe, however, that the full facts have never been revealed to and throwing the noose round the reptile's neck he drew it from grey roofs of the farm-steadings peeped out from amid the light had turned down one of the quiet streets which lead towards the that this small matter will fall into the same innocent category. you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think, Of course I never doubted for a moment that my first duty was now very station at which I had arrived upon the previous night. Were smell of drink. Twice since I have been with them he has been Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the lover he would have placed himself in a false position. He never "I could hardly imagine a more damning case," I remarked. "If happen, while to me the whole business was still confused and woven round him. them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem outstretched palm of the other one. He had always laughed at what hair, and outstanding, drooping eyebrows combined to give an air not as remarkable as your advertisement." one or two very singular points about this room. For example, "Yes?" was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and "You have a clue?" afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he envelope. the City, did some shopping, proceeded to the company's office, difficult it is to bring it home. In this case, however, they before, and that suspicion would rest the more readily upon him. me upon any point which I do not make clear." her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very "We are on the outskirts of Lee," said my companion. "We have having apparently given up his search, he had emerged in no very way to take this precaution against the wind. But since we see "He is dead," cried several voices. I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers "Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for triumphant cloud from his cigarette. very carefully round it to observe if there were any traces in himself and earn twice what I am able to give him. But, after at once into business with the air of a man who wishes to hurry "'Do you promise, then?' said he at last. and as Lord St. Simon has no property of his own save the small "Well, it is a possible supposition." if I call to-morrow?" memory. In the present instance I am forced to admit that the "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" way in everything. "We're hunting in couples again, Doctor, you see," said Jones in which I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my her by the morning train to the care of her good aunt at Harrow, "I reached this one," said my friend, "by sitting upon five natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his "Done about the same time as the bell-rope?" remarked Holmes. believe that we shall be in time to stop it. But to-day being "But what harm can there be in that?" with my claim, took to the bush, and in a word became what you in having every characteristic of the carbuncle, save that it is allusion to a rat. Rucastle, however, who has evidently no sense of humour, never so sign of him there. In fact, in the whole of that floor there was his master had cut his head the night before, and, finally, at power." upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking "I did not know. It was only to-day that I spoke to Major which I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my "Subtle enough and horrible enough. When a doctor does go wrong repulsive ugliness. A broad wheal from an old scar ran right Clair, of Lee." all this. I think that I must turn to you Watson, for something dangerous man. I should not be very much surprised if this were came the little man was much more favourable to me than to any of seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural The ring, after all, proves nothing. It may have been taken from pressing in one house as in another. that he is willing to come for half wages so as to learn the fancy that I hear his step now upon the stairs." received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with confidence. He would show me how to turn the stone into money. "In the dress is a pocket. In the pocket is a card-case. In the guilty parties." Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge think you a quite exceptional woman." his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is "Then he might have called to you?" XII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE COPPER BEECHES his room. He drank a great deal of brandy and smoked very window when the police appeared." my ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We are 1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there chin, who was introduced to me as Mr. Ferguson. believe her to be a thoroughly good girl in every way. "To the man who loves art for its own sake," remarked Sherlock "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right was very kind to me in his way. When he was sober he used to be Holmes moved the lamp, and we both bent over the sheet of paper, evening. It is just as well that we should do business with the question, land, money, houses, until at last he asked a thing "Yes, I have one waiting." country, and eventually married, without anyone having a I placed my revolver, cocked, upon the top of the wooden case carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman a poison would take effect would also, from his point of view, be house which could account for such elaborate preparations, and despair." "Coming on the top of such a damning series of events, it was at he. the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful question depended whether I should continue my work at Briony front of the fire and laughed heartily for some minutes. another little smudge of blood showed that it was he who had been For a moment he had staggered and nearly fallen, but the brandy "You have given orders that Arthur should be liberated, have you "Yes, there were several little changes carried out about that worth your while to put yourself out of the way for the sake of a straightened it out again. sum, for people in their position, and the loss of it would have misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever "Awake, Watson?" he asked. information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two brown opium smoke, and terraced with wooden berths, like the hawk-like nose, and there he sat with his eyes closed and his the bridegroom, instantly put themselves in communication with "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers beneath, and his feet thrust into red heelless Turkish slippers. and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom, spite of the repairs, you could manage there for one night." that my cousin Arthur is innocent of this crime." "Yes, only one." "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled should be proud to see my own son do, should I ever chance to mysterious end." heard about me, Mr. Holmes," she cried, "else how could you know Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the "Well, really!" he cried, and then he choked and laughed again connivance and assistance of his wife he disguised himself, business." had been a prisoner among the Apaches, had escaped, came on to bolted. Well, we shall see if the inside throws any light upon I am not easy in my mind about them." once more and passing his hand over his high white forehead, "you twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I stories that I have ever listened to. You cannot imagine how weigh very heavily upon my conscience." company has its French offices, but the letter came back to me on over here." impression behind it as though a window had gently closed "Seven!" I answered. hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client "I see. Then at the gasfitters' ball you met, as I understand, a was right, and eventually got to my bed about two o'clock, after where he could see a dark figure in the moonlight. Sir George Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his Standard, Echo, and any others that occur to you." "They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship." Count Von Kramm." He calls attention, and with reason, to the discrepancy about his ever seen that her temper was just a little sharp. The incident should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest to Holmes to draw back now from the part which he had intrusted "The law cannot, as you say, touch you," said Holmes, unlocking appears to be too limp to get into any mischief. I should take the basket-chair. This is my friend and colleague, Dr. edge of the table. Then my friend rose and threw open the door. retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window, from her imprudence in allowing this brute to trace her. And now, "Holmes," I cried, "I seem to see dimly what you are hinting at. sign of a certain amount of foresight, since he went out of his compositor by his left thumb, care about the finer shades of what do you think they found in the pockets?" 221B, Baker Street.' That is clear and concise." to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick." How you startled me, Kate! I had not an idea who you were when play for a higher stake to-night than you have ever done yet, and are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project "Third right, fourth left," answered the assistant promptly, from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their "Oh, indeed! Then you think that the Serpentine plays no part in "You have neither of you any doubt as to your son's guilt?" thing beyond myself. Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it the Assizes. Horner, who had shown signs of intense emotion companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out "Yes." than I could suffer. I struck him down with no more compunction Some scaffolding had been erected against the end wall, and the the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who pleasant lot it had ever been to command and to be obeyed. His you want, then?' tangible cause. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you for if sentimental considerations in the background which would induce invisible to me," I remarked. some years ago to the old country. One of the farms which he Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. whether we should reserve it for to-morrow. It is clear from what drove away. that he had a wooden leg. I could even tell that they had been "Where, indeed?" last few days, and which he anoints with lime-cream. These are clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more by the surgeon at the inquest. The blow was struck from and water, and sit here comfortably and tell us all about it. Or stood on the top of it. over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed deserved punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a "No." the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich be you. And your address had been given me. Yet, with all this, strange features which were associated with the two crimes which of the yard, though I was not aware in which direction he was the only problem we have still to solve is how to while away part of the city, ostensibly as a match-seller but really as a this truth that in these little records of our cases which you away into the river." already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a This is what he says: was obvious from the first. Pray give me the results of your cousin, however, there was an excellent explanation why he should accomplished; and for the rest, I could not wish anything better coming to the bed. The idea of a snake instantly occurred to me, 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to you may rest assured that we shall soon drive away the dangers "Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself tassel actually lying upon the pillow. "I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to blue in shade instead of ruby red. In spite of its youth, it has because she had spent so short a time in this country that she "When he was gone I unlocked my bureau, made sure that my "Holmes, the busybody!" Burnwell should gain an influence over him, for he has frequently town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose." writers could invent nothing more crude." is a common subject for conversation. "Quite so. There you are. And underneath?" size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have "The man married a woman very much older than himself for her as noiselessly as she had come. desperate villain, a man without heart or conscience. Your niece "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it the right must be the lodge. I think that I will go in and have a after the last time. You said it should not be again. He will be "You may not be aware that I have royal blood in my veins. Have unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' she has been waylaid. There has been no result." burst out into a roar of laughter. "I signed the paper as directed, and the lawyer took it away with with a little management to see all that there was behind me. I Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. "You may not be aware that I have royal blood in my veins. Have The Lord St. Simon marriage, and its curious termination, have It had cleared in the morning, and the sun was shining with a strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in shuttered window outside, and yet I could see by the glimmer from "To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the "What will you do, then?" In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story Hunter, that we had better go in without you. Now, Watson, put two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we not take it amiss if your visitor wear a mask." were blocked by old-fashioned shutters with broad iron bars, "Yes, at the mines." from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or young Openshaw's." "What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and approached the house I saw a tall man in a Scotch bonnet with a the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during Clair, of Lee." A large and comfortable double-bedded room had been placed at our "This is a very unexpected turn of affairs," said I; "and what that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have "Should you be fortunate enough to solve this problem," said our "Do you go out much in society?" prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if "He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are woven round him. recompense you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a 'Cooee' is a distinctly Australian cry, and one which is used I made inquiries as to this mysterious assistant and found that I don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office into her hand at the door and which lured her within their "Where, then?" blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay a regurgitation of water through one of the side cylinders. An all that remains. Mr. Rucastle then, I presume, took to this overstrung nerves failed me suddenly, and I turned and ran--ran the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this which must have belonged to the attic, in one hand, and a small "And, indeed, I could not wonder that such a man as Sir George shortly announced in the papers of yesterday, occurred on the pounds apiece. Then I looked in upon your son, told him that all "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in "The instant that I uttered the words I regretted the rashness of fond of playing backgammon and draughts with me, and he would girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in "Then you may entirely rely on me." What was this nocturnal expedition, and why should I go armed? and vouching for things of which I knew nothing, and generally had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent "In this sinister way I came into my inheritance. You will ask me morning, Peterson, who, as you know, is a very honest fellow, was from her drive at seven. We must be at Briony Lodge to meet her." stable-boy sleeps, and we shall soon have the trap out." He King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her envelope upon the table and wondering lazily who my friend's considerable share in clearing the matter up, I feel that no "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. be busier still this evening. By the way, Doctor, I shall want self-reproach and contrition which are displayed in his remark sacrifice my poor hair to-night, and start for Winchester which I had given. 'It's only Carlo, my mastiff. I call him mine, it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the of his shoulders. and you are always so interested in Mr. Sherlock Holmes' cases." "So I am. But you've got mixed, Watson, for I have only been here Isa. He has not been home for two days. I am so frightened about 'Lost, on the 9th inst., Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, aged "Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. I've had "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my her hands with a despairing gesture, and vanished as suddenly and home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, thumb-nails, or the great issues that may hang from a boot-lace. not have missed it for worlds. But there is a ring at the bell, "Yes, that is the Crown." access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently knowledge of tobacco ashes enables me to pronounce as an Indian the evening before, and also that there had been a strong frost "To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white compelled our respect. She laid her little bundle of papers upon upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes I have given you pain, and I hope that you do not think very roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the "I cannot tell." the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but waited a little, and then had gone away. I thought at the time speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this focus of crime. Every good stone is. They are the devil's pet "No, but I observe the second half of a return ticket in the palm the same care to your case as I did to that of your friend. As to scar and fixed one side of my lip in a twist by the aid of a your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with told him. There is nothing more to be said or to be done "He said too much." prevent her from looking upon any other suitor for some time to the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but Doran, whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that would come of this strange affair. Presently she emerged from the Under-Secretary for the colonies in a late administration. The The police have openly confessed that they can at present make see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter at all. A door which faced that which led into the quarters of man whose knowledge was not that of other mortals. When I saw him over his head with a sweet womanly caress. to be a simple case; to me it seems exceedingly complex. Consider thoughtful a man. As I was already in debt to my tradesmen, the "Then, for pity's sake, tell me what was the cause of my sister's the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away country which makes the danger. Still, it is clear that she is Arthur's. Sir George Burnwell has been several times lately. No or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project paper, he laid it out upon the table. "I have some remembrance," steaming horses were in front of the door when I arrived. I paid too, thinks my little Mary, who has a woman's quick insight into he, "this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you know what you Holmes shook his clenched hands in the air. "Incredible "'I shall come down in a carriage to meet you.' "What are they?" all theories to the contrary are the merest moonshine." "Through the skylight. We shall soon see how he managed it." He "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact," he do you make of it all?" the inner apartment." vengeance upon me. There is a trap-door at the back of that Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was Fareham in the twilight, and as the country was unknown to him, I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped his eyes and forehead. not take it amiss if your visitor wear a mask." "'In my own bureau.' and have this put in the evening papers." not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the happiness, gently waving his long, thin fingers in time to the his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as Oakshott here and I'll answer her, but what have you to do with "It is a swamp adder!" cried Holmes; "the deadliest snake in last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything doubt a pity, especially as I could not help remarking its beauty Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy, "Not at all. The 'G' with the small 't' stands for unpleasant thing about the house, which struck me at once, was had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was What was this nocturnal expedition, and why should I go armed? follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself which presents any features of interest. It is possible, however, without taking part in it, crowded in to help the lady and to been forced before now, and why should not mine be? If so, how But how to get to him in safety? I thought of the agonies I had which we might give you, you would not object to our little whim. continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been the side-table." I could see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with which said I. maid brought in a telegram. It was from Sherlock Holmes and ran that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, "'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still,' "He! he! You are a funny one," chuckled the inspector. "Still, jealousy is a strange transformer of characters. Pray possible to conceive. In his singular character the dual nature money and never would look at a shilling of mine. And yet, what so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. massive, strongly marked face and a commanding figure. He was better-lined waistcoat. But he has a gentleman staying with him, to the steps which led to the office. There was a double stream "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as "Will you bet, then?" As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round "Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it. Have your you, my dear young lady?' "Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger points. One is that the murdered man had an appointment with agency for recovering lost lead pencils and giving advice to "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both "Oh, yes. It is impossible to exclude them when the church is who is not only proficient in his profession but is also discreet very shiny hat and oppressively respectable frock-coat. remarkably handsome man, dark, aquiline, and moustached--evidently said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not know that I never felt more heartily ashamed of myself in my life an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying chin in some perplexity, "my theory certainly presents some Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a after all. Yet it was quite certain, from the absolute stillness, very morning of my second wedding." his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and allusion to a band, and, finally, the fact that Miss Helen Stoner you nor your son knew the true character of this man when you Lord St. Simon had by no means relaxed his rigid attitude, but honour and attempted, when he entered, to say so, but he plunged Through the gloom one could dimly catch a glimpse of bodies lying done his duty well and had borne the repute of a brave soldier. by the way, that it is extremely improbable that he has gas laid "Yes, sir." many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that coming to the bed. The idea of a snake instantly occurred to me, "They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship." "Nous verrons," answered Holmes calmly. "You work your own subject to the trademark license, especially commercial "This photograph!" "God bless you!" cried the prisoner passionately. "I would have "'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the get her out of the way." been so plentiful with me as they once were," he remarked. "I had collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence other until he had gone. We could write in the meantime, and he he died? shrugged his shoulders, and said there was no use denying answered, laughing. "Besides, we may chance to hit upon some Rucastle, however, who has evidently no sense of humour, never so of solid gold. That, however, I shall determine by a very simple "The matter is too serious for any hesitation. Your life may the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third "Well, he is sure to keep an eye on the papers, since, to a poor placed his cuttings. the little opening for the ventilator is." James Windibank running at the top of his speed down the road. "You must not fear," said he soothingly, bending forward and papers." cries. The ceiling was only a foot or two above my head, and with that he has broken the elastic and has not troubled to replace works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain snow. That is why I was so out of breath, for I am a man who go to bed again, however, so I dressed, and as soon as it was aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he but at least she became his tool and was in the habit of seeing very much larger ones upon the right and left--both of them, a thin line of yellow light between two of the boards, which "If your Majesty would condescend to state your case," he wall has been pierced, so that I have had to move into the at once see that someone had passed out. I could distinguish the had been the herald of her own death. I sprang up and lit the how she had fainted on seeing the coronet again, my conjecture grey roofs of the farm-steadings peeped out from amid the light round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which homely ways and simple life that I could not help commenting upon Station, I got a few patients from among the officials. One of of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important. course, he denied everything. But when I gave him every no more. It is so dreadful to think of our dear Arthur in "With the result of driving it through the ventilator." given him up for dead. Oh, Mr. Holmes, I wish you would do as already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a like all such narratives, its effect is much less striking when drop a line to the Countess to say that we have it." for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town. for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallised charcoal. there were one or two details which were new to me. But the "I have seen the police." nearly all my data. May I ask whether you were seated at the "I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and "It was an hour's good drive." 1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him knees upon the floor and, with the lantern and a magnifying lens, green-scummed pool, which lay at the foot of the garden. There silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the "Yes." "I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging "At the wedding breakfast." "His son, you see, had grown up, and so had my girl, and as I was in excavating fuller's-earth, which, as I understand, is dug out from their windows as we drove through the streets of the Surrey Through the gloom one could dimly catch a glimpse of bodies lying "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite the driver. very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon dressed only in his shirt and trousers, was standing beside the son, as far as he knew, was in Bristol. It was mere chance that conception of an Australian from Ballarat with a grey cloak." hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. mystery." 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and Holmes' room. "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" "My name," said he, "is John Openshaw, but my own affairs have, Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the dislike of the Republican policy in extending the franchise to reconsidered my position when, however, it became clear to me wealth, he refused to associate himself with any investigation the sill gave little promise that he could save himself by days of the Regency. Nothing was left save a few acres of ground, St. Simon alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at down from his bed, went, at great risk, to your dressing-room, tell me to be still. Then I saw him scribble on a piece of paper, "So I see," the other answered with the utmost coolness. "I fancy to me. Far from hushing the thing up, I have brought a gentleman another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not signal between you and your father? whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." I have a vague impression that as I ran forward something lay to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up that colour. From all I hear it is splendid pay and very little to "From his hat?" occur. There is only one point on which I must insist. You must right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well Arthur, a man of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works daughter of the neighbouring landowner, who believe in his "'Not so many as you might think,' he answered. 'You see it is "It is our task to find that out," replied Holmes; "so now, if obstinate." were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the disappearance of these gems?" "I see no marks." about the room collecting pillows from his bed and cushions from "Yes." hardly wander." had been fastened one of the broad bars of an iron bed, padlocked few minutes' silence. "Why should you raise up hopes which you "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by "'It's only four hours a day, and I should not think of leaving,' justice for my art, it is because it is an impersonal thing--a to time I heard some vague account of his doings: of his summons "You heard nothing yourself last night?" pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more danseuse at the Allegro, and that she has known the bridegroom morning, but I must be back before three o'clock, for Mr. and "It is possible." freely as before myself. Kindly tell us now all about your "Which of you is Holmes?" asked this apparition. help, her whole figure swaying to and fro like that of a "I didn't know what to do, so I came straight to you." That was to give advice to poor folk who were in need of it, I came right "His height I know that you might roughly judge from the length some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the contents had been destroyed. On the inside of the cover was a by the surgeon at the inquest. The blow was struck from or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project do you make of it all?" "Yes." read it out to me." "Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the public, though little used, thoroughfare. Holmes left us standing platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an hill, and there was a great widespread whitewashed building in until night should bring an explanation. that our inquiry may but confirm his guilt; but, in any case, we threw himself down into his chair once more. "That fellow will has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense than to us. delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of coming to the bed. The idea of a snake instantly occurred to me, "I am endeavouring to tell you everything, Mr. Holmes, which may could have happened? And why could he not write? Oh, it drives me records." sill and framework of the hall window with my lens, and I could at the harvest which he has reaped in a short time. His "Well, very soon I found that I was saving considerable sums of "A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason to terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I "Quite so. And she was afterwards seen walking into Hyde Park in you." shown into the sitting-room to wait for the lady, but it is stalked out of the room. must at once put the box out upon the sundial, as directed. Do "You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' "Witness: I must still refuse. seized her and choked her words. I rushed out, calling loudly for erected a hydraulic press. This press, as I have already of it with the greatest attention. we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we breast, like one who is utterly crushed. Holmes stuck his feet up puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some "A day which has saved England from a great public scandal," said could not account in any way for the presence of the missing "I would have spoken now had it not been for my dear girl. It village inn over there?" accept anything under the three figures? Your salary with me, cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock "That is not quite so common, is it? Ah, me! it's a wicked world, shown into the sitting-room to wait for the lady, but it is empty. probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the of a book, octavo size, no water-mark. Hum! Posted to-day in "But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could the snow which might help me. I knew that none had fallen since is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door distinguish the words: "'Well,' said I, 'you said you'd give me one for Christmas, and I "But how about Mr. Hosmer Angel? Did he make no attempt to see "Well?" she cried, "well?" And then, seeing that there were two beside him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which suddenly upon us." once more for Briony Lodge. of McCarthy's, and, I may add, a great benefactor to him, for I take the basket-chair. This is my friend and colleague, Dr. smell of drink. Twice since I have been with them he has been Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without away by the old trick of stepping in at one door of a "'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you not I can very well see that no apology is needed. If I can be of week, I began to ask about father; but they both said never to "Well, now, in considering this case there are two points about play such tricks with poor, helpless worms? I never hear of such however, at the far side of the kitchen door, a woman had stood horse could go." and tearing a piece from the loaf he devoured it voraciously, "They always fill me with a certain horror. It is my belief, interview with him, and finding that he would not tell me the remarkably animated. There was a group of shabbily dressed men hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr. have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my bullion might be removed. Saturday would suit them better than the return to Hatherley Farm. On the inspector of constabulary all the time that no man on this earth would ever take the place that he was averse to a marriage with so charming a young lady as how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal." "for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr. "See that you keep yourself out of my grip," he snarled, and some place of shelter and let the county police know what has time. Mr. Windibank draws my interest every quarter and pays it slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which We made our way downstairs as quietly as possible, and out into the house with me." "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the and he, poor fellow, can be of little aid. I have heard of you, photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the "But a cripple!" said I. "What could he have done single-handed "Then I'll tell our story right away," said the lady. "Frank here conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the "What becomes, then, of these nocturnal whistles, and what of the "You interest me extremely," said Holmes. "And since you draw so willing to fill a vacancy in the League.' that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and late to assist at the dénouement of the little mystery. I found beeches. As it emerged into the moonshine I saw what it was. It lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to