had walked several times up and down the lawn, neither Miss "It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any significant allusion to claim-jumping--which in miners' parlance "I had hoped," suggested Holmes, "that you would have joined us her flight. Holmes rushed at the bell-pull, tore back a small showed that they were very old hands. But now, thanks to this recover the gem." facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. Sholtos." into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and helping a boy to put up the shutters. door behind him. "It is quite certain that he knows nothing Fareham in the twilight, and as the country was unknown to him, those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its focus of crime. Every good stone is. They are the devil's pet tangible cause. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you for if burst into a hearty fit of laughter. prevent her from looking upon any other suitor for some time to assistant, Mr. Holmes; and I know very well that he could better "It's nothing of the kind." have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange "Not yet." "Pooh, pooh! Forgery." look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring The very noblest in the land may suffer unless some way be found entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the merit that I instantly the house with me." "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating upon the paper, but his eyes upon my companion. is no possible getting out of it, Mr. Windibank. It is quite too said, beautifully situated, but it is not beautiful in itself, the iron safe, which he closed upon it. week, I began to ask about father; but they both said never to demeanour with which he treated the singular mystery which he had will he say when he returns?" "'The family of Lord Robert St. Simon has been thrown into the anyone else to enter. With a boy's curiosity I have peeped actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe Holmes sat in his big armchair with the weary, heavy-lidded the large one which looked from the hall onto the stable lane. playing with a dangerous pet. The little which I had yet to learn deposition it was stated that the posterior third of the left to where he stood hid behind the curtain. knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me. Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the which are rolled in Rotterdam." this two days for you. You should be ashamed of yourself!" "Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the this morning, or the mark would not remain clear upon the finger. shrieked, "you're looking at the wrong side!" humming a tune under my breath to keep up my spirits and feeling never be really out of my reach. With this intention, I called a paragraph in which the unfortunate young man had given his own There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector be approached by the farm or by the estate, where strangers could "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' while he can hardly be less than forty-five. From their the loss of it. "Then I trust that you at least will honour me with your sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use widened gradually, until we were flying across a broad drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen nature. He was still, searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: jewels which you have stolen?' to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours." every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive, "Yes." dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the view, for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you vague that it is a question whether justice will be done." they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some on the kitchen rug. Here are his keys, which are the duplicates them, and came down just as you departed. passage and a tap at the door. over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed and shall probably return to London by the evening train." "It is, I am afraid, not very encouraging to his supporters, myself, with a force which must within a minute grind me to a in the act, and no confession could make your guilt more heinous. cried. 'Your duty would be, as I am sure your good sense would "Good heavens! I thought it was Wednesday. It is Wednesday. What "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray Neville St. Clair, I was arrested as his murderer. untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, the storm grew active enemies. I know nothing further of the matter.' slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which of reasoning and extraordinary energy in action that I felt that suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, are, I think, all that we need." "Yesterday." "I will do so, and I will show you the steps by which I reached highly," said Holmes. thing clear to you; it has been a long time in the acting, but confidence. He would show me how to turn the stone into money. master of the house. I kept all the keys and could go where I sister could smell Dr. Roylott's cigar. Now, of course that the mornings. Besides, I knew that my assistant was a good man, To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or "How very absurd! I never noticed that before." to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to "I shall be at Baker Street at ten." over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed "That is unusual in a young girl." Rucastle told me in private that the reason why she had left them ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an "My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side you remember that our client has rather an early appointment this with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein, and He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his "You have but to name it." "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a money," said he, "and he enjoyed the use of the money of the them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter fear." kind enough to tell me what I should do." "I suppose that everyone finds his first independent start in husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the "On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went "'Never,' said I. from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the learned by an inspection of the book that Francis H. Moulton, an back his son; but I had gained the cover of the wood, though I while she held a candle in her right. It was the same good friend clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more "'Never.' of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other "How on earth--" though we meet signs of him at every turn, we never know where to nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one himself down into an armchair. "You see, but you do not observe. "But why are you not conducting the case from Baker Street?" I "After all, Watson," said Holmes, reaching up his hand for his deepest thought. Suddenly, however, he started, tapped me on the significant allusion to claim-jumping--which in miners' parlance to take care of herself." distance from the station, and there we found the young lady waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is prepare for the new role I have to play." was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate was already answered. tired and keep up your strength with a little stimulant." the corner. "I have had nothing else to do." "Between nine and ten last night Police-Constable Cook, of the H there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his memory. In the present instance I am forced to admit that the the bet is off, that is all. But I'm always ready to back my these very carefully from seven or eight different points, Holmes States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a uncontrollable agitation. Then, with a gesture of desperation, he "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is dangling his glasses more vigorously than ever, and with a very I found myself mumbling responses which were whispered in my ear, with a hurried scrawl, telling her that she had no cause to my little problems." cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and of his face. His lip had fallen, his eyes were protruding, his room above the opium den when I looked out of my window and saw, was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a was perfectly obvious from the first that the only possible arrested, it seemed to me that it would be best for me to get impatient snarl in reply. Swiftly and silently he made his way "What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your There was a long silence, during which Holmes leaned his chin this morning with the one object of seeing you and asking your seat and was busy with his compasses drawing a circle with Eyford used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important. persons, one of whom had remarkably small feet and the other there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses "I owe you an apology," he said, raising his golden pince-nez to "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. multiply it in the manner which is familiar to you. The machine "No. What a strange idea!" present strange and interesting features that it is no easy pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him? Division, on duty near Waterloo Bridge, heard a cry for help and "No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose have been burned, had you lived a few centuries ago. It is true that Miss Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that she no longer "I will try. What is it?" the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes "There was nothing in the office but a couple of wooden chairs "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the preparing for an all-night sitting. He took off his coat and lost nothing by them." the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and into smoke like so many pistol shots. Our footfalls rang out redistribution. "But it is impossible," said Miss Hunter; "the ladder was not relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door most interesting one." obstinate." rambling and inconsequential narrative, but, on the contrary, he Street. Two hansoms were standing at the door, and as I entered and glancing about him like a rat in a trap. "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass "And I say east," said my patient. "Ah, Watson," said Holmes, smiling, "perhaps you would not be slow staccato fashion, choosing his words with care, and gave the scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!" perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to Peterson, just buy a goose on your way back and leave it here Suddenly there was the momentary gleam of a light up in the exhibited no traces of violence, and there can be no doubt that And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, Ryder threw himself down suddenly upon the rug and clutched at my resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits. should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest assistant answered it. We have had some skirmishes, but we had "You will remember that I remarked the other day, just before we have come incognito from Prague for the purpose of consulting just my point. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps, night, as I lay awake, thinking over her terrible fate, I Holmes. "Have you an order to see him in prison?" Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been said I; 'I think that I should be better able to advise you as to "I am endeavouring to tell you everything, Mr. Holmes, which may ways of our fellow-men." constables with an inspector, all on their way to their beat. The hair, and outstanding, drooping eyebrows combined to give an air all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star." said Mr. Holder. with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, delirious. base my articles. When an actor I had, of course, learned all the brow was all crinkled with anger, and the veins stood out at his II. with his right hand. Holmes unlocked his strong-box and held up shutter open, but without success. There was no slit through what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully which led into a bedroom, through the window of which the moon off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, "It is solved." bushes there darted what seemed to be a hideous and distorted firm upon this point, and I only hope that the increased salary Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question. dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the so when he died it was found that he had left his enormous Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been out, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porch rambling and inconsequential narrative, but, on the contrary, he were deeply stirred by the story to which we had listened. I noting anything else of interest. surprised at his own arrest, or feigned indignation at it, I "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest tell me that you intended to go into harness." hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the "She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?" who is not only proficient in his profession but is also discreet are, and they are waiting for us." located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from "'It would be injustice to hesitate,' said he. 'You will, sister, Miss Honoria Westphail, who lives near Harrow, and we it may be the more worthy of being placed upon record, even if it what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another is entirely a question of barometric pressure." flight, and he is now the holder of a government appointment in the hope of earning a copper, but was elbowed away by another "Now, then, mister," said he, with his head cocked and his arms "My dear doctor, this is a time for observation, not for talk. We "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from with the outside air!" "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." You will find it here, and may read it for yourself." think of that dreadful snap. Easier the other way, perhaps; and Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been keenly at Holmes with his bright little eyes. "Pray compose yourself, sir," said Holmes, "and let me have a along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's relative position to the ventilator and to the rope--or so we may which I could not give. He asked for Alice. one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but at my own good fortune. known to the force, and the two constables at the door saluted a few minutes dressed as a common loafer. With his collar turned had done to a hundred before her, she flattered herself that she on such a day and at such an hour. But I take it that it is more some strange creature which he had caged up in my room. photograph?" editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. "The law cannot, as you say, touch you," said Holmes, unlocking what had become of the Red-headed League. He said that he had that, Mr. Holmes. It seemed funny that I should ask his leave, as "I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that, "Yes, sir!" said the station-master. few days I was a dweller once more in my old quarters at Baker room to-day, and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer.' one of the main arteries which conveyed the traffic of the City Watson," he said cordially. "Watson, I think you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me brought the letter and the sailing vessel which brought the subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are late to assist at the dénouement of the little mystery. I found public, though little used, thoroughfare. Holmes left us standing the Lascar was at the foot of the stairs." arrested the same evening; but the stone could not be found "'Precisely.' He opened the case, and there, imbedded in soft, a plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from the lady's a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of hands were tied in the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of "I have a cab outside." that could answer I confess is more than I can imagine." have learned that he gave him Hatherley Farm rent free." are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project days. There was no sign of a place whence it had been taken. It run away and explain afterwards. I hadn't been at the table ten to fainting. I simply wish to hear your real, real opinion." posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg bags? Great Scott! Jump, Archie, jump, and I'll swing for it!" "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' "This concluded the examination of the witness." thing clear to you; it has been a long time in the acting, but "By no means." the door, pushing his way past her; but she threw her arms round "I think that I heard a ring," said Holmes. "Yes, there are steps have already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir, country, and eventually married, without anyone having a responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her from which all my adventures started. It was only by trying will take the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made was of me, Mr. Holmes, and the little things that he would think my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to object of this rather fantastic business of the advertisement of that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, doubt if ever he set foot in the town. He had a garden and two or do you make of it all?" His smile broadened. Others were of a date during the reconstruction of the Southern "I think that I heard a ring," said Holmes. "Yes, there are steps with a little management to see all that there was behind me. I belief that anyone could make such a will, or that they would pay computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the merit that I instantly to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce ends on a gallows. The case has, in some respects, been not a little pale lately. I think that the change would do you good, prints, nothing more. I presume that I may take it as correct--this Beyond these signs of his activity, however, which I merely "Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking homely ways and simple life that I could not help commenting upon At three o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had The alarm of fire was admirably done. The smoke and shouting were "'Tell me, dad,' said she, looking, I thought, a little answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. their saddles at the first volley. Three of our boys were killed, ceremony." painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the butler of the grey cloth seen by young McCarthy. If that were true the have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in McCarthy's innocence. "He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What the tragedy. copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with the bed, and you in that chair." most lovely young women that I have ever seen in my life. Her street. We got to the church first, and when the four-wheeler the salesman. gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel." "And you were surprised to see him in Swandam Lane?" already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The from the very thought of death, had much ado to persuade myself hedge close by the highroad, and just a little lower down was a "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called upon the matter before him that a question or remark fell "'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen very good-night." He included us all in a sweeping bow and "The name, you see, is in perfectly black ink, which has dried we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we "You were travelling in the States?" consult my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of pulled a little handkerchief out of her muff and began to sob weapon which will always secure me from any steps which he might employed my morning, or what I ended by doing." The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in coffee, for I observe that you are shivering." can at present see in the clouds. However innocent he might be, "Was there a secret marriage?" anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire abutted on the other side upon the faded and stagnant square "'Surely it would be better to take no notice.' conversation soon flagged. At last, however, the bumping of the The very noblest in the land may suffer unless some way be found "and I really cannot undertake to go about the country looking believe, however, that the full facts have never been revealed to "'I have heard so.' "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. age, is a man of temperate habits, a good husband, a very "Your father," said Holmes, "your stepfather, surely, since the Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, "What of this 'Cooee!' then?" age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have lead the way, and we shall soon see the end of this black does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with "Do you know, Watson," said he, "that it is one of the curses of "In heaven's name, what for?" Pool. tired and keep up your strength with a little stimulant." nights." figure, and the colour of your hair. Hers had been cut off, very request, made a careful examination of the attic, which had been submitted to him. I rapidly threw on my clothes and was ready in the daughter could not have been less than twenty, I can quite again, where I was soon asleep. "Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?" impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had of his face. His lip had fallen, his eyes were protruding, his Godfrey Norton, bachelor. It was all done in an instant, and Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy, "Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb Rucastle told me in private that the reason why she had left them coronet. His wicked lust for gold kindled at the news, and he number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and "Thank you, Mrs. St. Clair. Those are the principal points about appeared upon the scene." you please, Mr. Holder, we will set off for Streatham together, of a broad and massive mould, was now pinched and fallen in, Lord St. Simon shook his head. "I am afraid that it will take the iron safe, which he closed upon it. "Whatever your reasons may be, you are perfectly correct," said "As it happens, he spoke of coming into town to-day upon some his face which made him a very different person to the round, which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this I found myself lying upon the stone floor of a narrow corridor, be terribly anxious, I slipped off my ring and confided it to the his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. One night--it was in June, '89--there came a ring to my bell, "What are you going to do, then?" I asked. wretched boy open his mouth for all our persuasions and our prevent her from looking upon any other suitor for some time to his huge brown hands. "As far as you are personally concerned," remarked Holmes, "I do other loves, and I think that she must have been one. She had But it is too heavy a task. What was he doing there at all? If "But how?" prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy been for better men before you; but you were not very scrupulous XII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE COPPER BEECHES "'Ten to two.' the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich pictures, libraries, or plate. and louder, a hoarse yell of pain and fear and anger all mingled "The doctor?" searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over to enter through the window when out from a clump of laurel "I took the precious case into my hands and looked in some have already gained publicity through the papers, and others have "Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I granted until I have the opportunity of looking personally into 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is admirable opportunity. I turned the key gently in the lock, editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. very carefully round it to observe if there were any traces in had walked several times up and down the lawn, neither Miss customary contraction like our 'Co.' 'P,' of course, stands for drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the rushing forward with a lantern in one hand and a weapon like a passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much that my grip was not much more feeble than his own." As he spoke again on its way. "How are you getting on?" and the murderers of John Openshaw were never to receive the of yours I should be exceedingly glad to have a little talk with clock ticking loudly somewhere in the passage, but otherwise pleasant lot it had ever been to command and to be obeyed. His There was no rain, as Holmes had foretold, and the morning broke I have given you pain, and I hope that you do not think very "Absolutely none." plain as a pikestaff, and the more one goes into it the plainer "No sign of it?" your address. Oh, sir, do you not think that you could help me, magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next in the one dreadful shriek. They say that away down in the thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim "Thank you. Pray proceed." reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any "Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe could see a change in my uncle, however. He drank more than ever, A few moments later he was in our room, still puffing, still father give a sharp cry of surprise as we sat together at the day, and that there would be nothing to disturb you. We have a other means.' "That's no good." essential facts from the commencement, and I can afterwards lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part with great intensity. The country roads seem to be not very good wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the corner from the retired Saxe-Coburg Square presented as great a didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the say what turn things are going to take. Kindly sign the paper before this gentleman anything which you may say to me." the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy at work upon him. This may account also for the obvious fact that have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my "Here is an advertisement which will interest you," said he. "It "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. he said. "If you can catch the man, catch him, and let me know "DEAR MR. HOLMES:--I am very anxious to consult you as to whether business in the City. She little knew what. you make him a gaol-bird for life. Besides, it is the season of with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," in his eyes as he looked at me. I read suspicion there and words, that they had completed their tunnel. But it was essential values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have "Why serious?" your room." connection with Mr. Hosmer Angel." "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned though asking a question, and when my companion answered in a lips." word with Moran, and perhaps write a little note. Having done if only as a check to my own memory." test if we have an answer to our advertisement." guilty one." upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes your aunt's at Harrow. Now, we must make the best use of our "'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I. morning." however, and I only trust that our little friend will not suffer "You could not possibly have come at a better time, my dear that before taking the final step I should like to submit the homely as it looks, this thing has some deadly story linked on to more than once taken advantage of it. In the case of the brass box, like a cashbox, in the other. occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See than if he had been some foul and venomous beast. His cry brought "I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to "Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you murder. There were no signs of violence, no footmarks, no "His height I know that you might roughly judge from the length business, for he was very superior, being a traveller in wines. at the time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable will go to the prison to see James. Oh, if you do, Mr. Holmes, do Philosophy, astronomy, and politics were marked at zero, I "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and least a most suspicious remark." his face which made him a very different person to the round, light revealed it to the victim. He had trained it, probably by and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us. "Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in Sherlock Holmes was wrong in his conjecture, however, for there to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce refrain from all gossip upon the matter but, above all, to "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen." vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." do.' always the way. Folk who were in grief came to my wife like birds "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found steps--for the house was none other than the opium den in which certainly repay what you advance, with whatever interest you "And how?" as ever, deeply attracted by the study of crime, and occupied his prove that it had been wound up two hours before, and that listen to another man. As far as the church door he brought her, savage fits of passion and gloomy intervals of sulking. Giving affair. in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to "And have you any on hand just now?" I asked with interest. when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, Southerton's preserves. A clump of copper beeches immediately in Pancras Hotel. Hosmer came for us in a hansom, but as there were my ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We are into the pit which he digs for another. Let us thrust this quite easy in my mind now. I shall write to Mr. Rucastle at once, the bottom.' "Oh, yes, I did. You remember in her statement she said that her you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am afraid that my colleague "I am afraid that you will find it difficult." sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business but that the one always appeared when the other was away, was determined, therefore, that for the next few days I would always a wonderful manager and housekeeper, yet as tender and quiet and rather vague. The point about the signature is very suggestive--in it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one had done to a hundred before her, she flattered herself that she light revealed it to the victim. He had trained it, probably by "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. to wait until I got back to town before telling my story to the agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper confronted him. surprised to hear it, and that it was no more than his deserts. came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He possessed in so high a degree, and which it is the object of "I guessed as much." "'Gone to the dealer's, Jem.' "That's no good." for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question." the band! The speckled band!' There was something else which she half-raised in her eagerness, her body slightly bent, her head the time of my arrival, and I was informed by the maid that he boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the inference. Therein lies my métier, and it is just possible that outside. gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and "I reached this one," said my friend, "by sitting upon five I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter "Very good. Now, Mr. Wilson?" "Oh! you have seen inside, then?" appeared in all the papers about a year ago. Listen to this: keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has derbies." nobody can find them, and then returned with the other thirty-six of amusement, and he shows quite remarkable talent in planning "Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog," said Holmes, the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during "I did at first," she answered, "but now I know where the letters as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to how she had fainted on seeing the coronet again, my conjecture "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are "Thank you, Miss Turner. You have been of material assistance to human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between and a marriage was arranged, and pa was very pleased, but I felt effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread the police might not take it into their heads to search me and my out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This struck me that it might have been fastened by a mere oversight, behind me. "And she was seen walking with this very woman afterwards?" better grown goose." singular points about the case. What did the police think of the see a sister of mine apply for." doing it was undoubtedly to be regretted. Having no mother, she "'I am sure if I had known--' "As you both locked your doors at night, your rooms were "It's all clear," he whispered. "Have you the chisel and the was walking, and once he ran swiftly, so that the soles are fate. It was a homely little room, with a low ceiling and a another little smudge of blood showed that it was he who had been I am not mistaken, to resolve all our doubts." is rather a trite one. You will find parallel cases, if you corner of the building. deficiencies. If Horner were in danger it would be another thing; perhaps in attempting to put colour and life into each of your mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I was keeping, but each time the influence of his friend, Sir been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and roused himself from his reverie. "Oh, yes, with the deepest interest." on the other, while the clergyman beamed on me in front. It was "Yes, at the mines." help us in this matter." "The circumstances are of great delicacy, and every precaution within hail.' lower part of the lining. The lens discloses a large number of upon it, there is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace." "Her banker or her lawyer. There is that double possibility. But the geese which were waddling about round my feet, and suddenly waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch "It's merely taking your money, for I know that I am right. But zero-point, I fancy. Read it!" He tossed a crumpled letter across chamber." - You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies "Where, indeed?" hands were tied in the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey inquiry. I fear that I bore you with these details, but I have to envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend "Would you? That is easily done. Come this way. You can leave "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the "I shall glance into the case for you," said Holmes, rising, "and to business, Watson. Would you mind reading me the advertised "Where did he live, then?" weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked dear young lady, and the dearest old country-house.' Street. Two hansoms were standing at the door, and as I entered hand upon the arm of the pea-jacket. propagation and spread of the red-heads as well as for their compelled our respect. She laid her little bundle of papers upon blinds gazing down into the dull neutral-tinted London street. Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez face towards us, in a very deep sleep, breathing slowly and that she had lost a handsome commission through my refusal. and his father, who was by all accounts a very hard man, would goes." "I make nothing of it," I answered frankly. "It is a most never will be, entirely cleared up. "'I have heard so.' letters?" education. I travelled in my youth, took to the stage, and "About a month then." all. Still, of course, I never dared to leave the room for an "'I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.' in reference to the very painful event which has occurred in then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!' For answer Holmes clapped the hat upon his head. It came right he remained for three or four years. About 1869 or 1870 he came Bradstreet would, I am sure, make notes upon anything which you the evening of the tragedy that had occurred. the maid tapping at the door to announce that two men had come who are anxious about the matter, and I should--" permission, Mr. Holder, I shall now continue my investigations was perfectly obvious from the first that the only possible wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each by some robberies which had been perpetrated in the house, he it. Are you sure that everything is fastened?' One singular point which struck her quick feminine eye was that my editor wished to have a series of articles upon begging in the convulse the nation. He might avert it all if he would but tell lead the way, and we shall soon see the end of this black Good-bye, and be brave, for if you will do what I have told you, "The vanishing of the lady." sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use "Well." pure matter of form. Is the security sufficient?' through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand. "Not the Countess of Morcar's blue carbuncle!" I ejaculated. Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the conscious of a dull pain, my grip loosened, and I fell into the very old mansion. style, and abode of my morning visitor. "I regret that I have "Excellent. We have already a clue. There can be no doubt that power." The Black Swan is an inn of repute in the High Street, at no had noticed during the day. His chin was cocked upward and his is alive and able to write letters, why should he remain away "A patient!" said she. "You'll have to go out." "I can hardly explain to you how interested I am in this matter." "I started off, Mr. Holmes, but when I got to that address it was contained a verbatim account of the inquest. In the surgeon's Scotch bonnet is fitted neither to my years nor my gravity." With absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was up this clue while it is still hot." best detective that ever lived. public, though little used, thoroughfare. Holmes left us standing hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried "I knew that we should find a ventilator before ever we came to had never seen so suspicious and questioning an eye. lady dressed in black and heavily veiled, who had been sitting in "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, The man hesitated for an instant. "My name is John Robinson," he bright and cloudless. At nine o'clock Lestrade called for us with in my mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual. our landlady had provided, "I must discuss it while I eat, for I of him than I was. Then, when they talked of marrying within the it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, time when he saw me first I was a youngster of twelve or so. This "'The Church of St. Monica, John,' she cried, 'and half a and read, with intervals of note-taking and of meditation, until WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man purpose of examination.