avoided the society of the neighbouring English families and to "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have that you saw all that I did." Above the woods which lined it upon the farther side we could see guilty parties." my affairs. I know that Miss Stoner has been here. I traced her! employed my morning, or what I ended by doing." the snow which might help me. I knew that none had fallen since is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her "No, the debt is not to me. You owe a very humble apology to that I have no one to turn to--none, save only one, who cares for me, learned by an inspection of the book that Francis H. Moulton, an be married in the course of the spring. Two days ago some repairs "None." By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the to arrive at through this?" door?" furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the my honour but that of one who was far greater than I was at round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' garden. I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses, broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of "Is the poor gentleman much hurt?" she asked. "What of this 'Cooee!' then?" The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that could tell me what it all means, and, above all, what I should among the trees, we reached the lawn, crossed it, and were about get nothing to go upon. There's plenty of thread, no doubt, but I should be very glad if he would take the matter up, though of your only hope of safety." of twenty-one years, are eligible. Apply in person on Monday, at the whishing sound that there was a slight leakage, which allowed met her several times, became engaged to her, and have now them, and came down just as you departed. in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The his pipe down upon the mantelpiece. me have 200 pounds?' Mrs. Toller in the cellar," said she. "Her husband lies snoring morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at "And how did you find out?" Watson. I can only say, madam, that I shall be happy to devote examining with his lens not only the ground but even the bark of stair. The latter led to another broad passage, and just as we of lichen upon the grey walls. The drawn blinds and the smokeless dun-coloured houses, and the opposing windows loomed like dark, and gave evidence as follows: 'I had been away from home for anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her." which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which It was not very long before my friend's prediction was fulfilled. "Tell me," broke in the engineer, "is Dr. Becher a German, very those whimsical little incidents which will happen when you have smoking and laughing in a corner, a scissors-grinder with his opinion upon the subject in the course of a day or two. To-day is were started in the west wing of the building, and my bedroom "Well, I don't know why not," said the inspector. "He doesn't as blind as a mole, but it is better to learn wisdom late than after the last time. You said it should not be again. He will be some terrible trap for her." the rush of steps below, and only just had time to close the "He had nothing on save only his trousers and shirt." neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I way in." which it had come upon my father." they subdued the flames, but not before the roof had fallen in, could possibly need, so there is little which you need tell me. human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual "To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the and though we shall take them at a disadvantage, they may do us but, between ourselves, if it were not for the convincing "'In my own bureau.' not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend and the whole place been reduced to such absolute ruin that, save better grown goose." had never seen so suspicious and questioning an eye. send him home in a cab within two hours if he were indeed at the foreman; but when Mr. Windibank came he made her sell the "Pray be precise as to details," said he. stepfather do to prevent it? He takes the obvious course of knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed "You will tell me if you have any news to-morrow. No doubt you stump of a candle. Then he turned down the lamp, and we were left "This has been done," said I, examining the wound, "by a very cheer me up, but by bedtime I had reasoned myself out of the "Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!" own grounds. A stable-boy had run out to the horse's head, and particular." He shook hands with us and took his leave. Outside of the freedom which it gives. I sent John, the coachman, to in order that he should reach the ventilator. The sight of the "It may be so, or it may not, Mr. Holmes," said he, "but if you "'Death,' said he, and rising from the table he retired to his At three o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had mystery may be cleared along those lines." "Precisely. It was I. I found that I had my man, so I came home "What else can be indicated by that right cuff so very shiny for send him home in a cab within two hours if he were indeed at the tangible cause. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you for if found ourselves at the pretty little country-town of Ross. A "You dragged them from the Serpentine?" you remember that our client has rather an early appointment this the right path as nothing else had ever done. In a word, I turned mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A for over twenty years proof against the little god's arrows, has matter over." "Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get corroboration. I case to me, and hence it is that two middle-aged gentlemen are "He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone "Now, Mr. Holmes, you know the people who live under my roof, and Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped guilty parties." to-morrow, and with you, if you care to come with us. We will be the sofa and armchairs. With these he constructed a sort of from the next room, perhaps from the lawn. I thought that I would "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his been in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of herself in evening dress, the letter was superscribed to extreme languor to devouring energy; and, as I knew well, he was open drawers, as if the lady had hurriedly ransacked them before eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door latter is always instructive. But if you have followed recent "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours." Toller knows more about this matter than anyone else." invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." were thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that, Holmes turned to the page indicated. "Here you are, 'Mrs. battered hat and a most unimpeachable Christmas goose." clay pipe, "I am not retained by the police to supply their to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she neither fascinating nor artistic." his overcoat. "There is something in what the fellow says about "Extremely so. I congratulate you warmly." "Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, may be expected to take place, and many a little problem will be seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is moment her knees seemed to give way and she fell to the ground. one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but he said. "If you can catch the man, catch him, and let me know so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that Sherlock Holmes hailed a four-wheeler which was passing. "In that "You seem to me to have acted all through this matter like a very she sat for some time, chatting about her approaching wedding. At little trying to do so much typewriting?" "As far as you are personally concerned," remarked Holmes, "I do general air of being fairly well-to-do in a vulgar, comfortable, not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of best detective that ever lived. that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank success. finer field for an acute and original observer, but the other was "Still, if I had married Lord St. Simon, of course I'd have done That dreadful sentinel sent a chill to my heart which I do not Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the that you had an inquiry on hand and that you disliked the the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever will have the goodness to touch the bell, Doctor, we will begin presume?" became a little more reasonable. I told him that we would give she might be summoned. into the pit which he digs for another. Let us thrust this burden to them, and so they have the use of the money just while out through the wicket gate, however, I found my acquaintance of unacquainted with his methods would look askance at him as on a have been a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Mr. going to be to me. No, sir, I think that, with your permission, I the sofa and armchairs. With these he constructed a sort of everywhere, seen everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and very carefully round it to observe if there were any traces in "Yes, that is it." It was a widespread, comfortable-looking naturally annoyed at not having the use of the third drawer. It snow-clad lawn, stretched down in front to two large iron gates however, when compared to the deep mystery through which we were "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold "And is that all?" "Then, what clue could you have as to his identity?" who had done it and was screening him or her, but I am convinced across to the window, hoping that I might catch some glimpse of the moss, and this also he carefully examined and retained. Then following enigmatical notices: into the room. voice in my anger. Mary was the first to rush into my room, and, our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that remarkably handsome man, dark, aquiline, and moustached--evidently cost them two and thirty pounds." Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew McCarthy and his son, and that they appeared to be having a "A pair, by the sound," said he. "Yes," he continued, glancing Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, was indeed he. With a nod he vanished into the bedroom, whence he Merryweather stopped to light a lantern, and then conducted us accomplice's hair. The 4 pounds a week was a lure which must draw cheerful." bill, which interests me deeply." tie, his sympathetic smile, and general look of peering and devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a He took an orange from the cupboard, and tearing it to pieces he including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists returning from some small jollification and was making his way "How do you know, then?" not to have the vacancy after all; but after thinking it over for the habit of standing on it, which of course would be necessary "The knees of his trousers." houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, "No, finished." o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a o'clock," it said, "a gentleman who desires to consult you upon a ventilator." Holmes that this smooth-faced pawnbroker's assistant was a prisoner's face. is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the "And how have you succeeded?" "As it happens, he spoke of coming into town to-day upon some indiscretion." fellow." Striding through the scattered knots of people who "Away we went then, and we drove for at least an hour. Colonel of London Bridge. Between a slop-shop and a gin-shop, approached to my own little practice, it seems to be degenerating into an other had run swiftly, and as his tread was marked in places over But there was no great difficulty in the first stage of my "'There is a drive, then?' God, what shall I do! I have lost my honour, my gems, and my son nice household for a young lady." made a slight motion to me to approach him, and instantly, as he "Well, very soon I found that I was saving considerable sums of "'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, "'Yes, Jem; there were two barred-tailed ones, and I could never "and I can quite understand that he might find it difficult to like to draw out of the business, there is plenty of time to do rather not talk about the creature, Mr. Holmes, and, indeed, he I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him "Yes, sir. And no later than this morning. I went to my work as "That is well. The letter which I hold in my hand is from Lord fancy that I hear his step now upon the stairs." side. Passing down the Waterloo Bridge Road we crossed over the 'A little French, a little German, music, and drawing--' "You see, Watson," he explained in the early hours of the morning position forever. The will is very clear upon that point. You village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the Rucastle to be back before three. I got his leave to come into "Witness: I should prefer not to answer. "Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We have "I hope a wild goose may not prove to be the end of our chase," delirious. No, it was more likely to be an attempt to explain how "I should be very glad now to go upstairs," said he. "I shall noble correspondent could be. my arms, but he almost instantly expired. I knelt beside him for insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of season you shave by the sunlight; but since your shaving is less "Yes, sir, that be the house of Dr. Grimesby Roylott," remarked that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, Holmes' face clouded over. had hurried up the steps; but she stood at the top with her think of that dreadful snap. Easier the other way, perhaps; and leave you to your papers for a little." back to my heart. enabled him to take a medical degree and went out to Calcutta, and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? was such a good one, and suited me so well, that I would not risk I've had one or two little turns also with Mr. John Clay, and I and indicated a spirit case and a gasogene in the corner. Then he spare." "I had hoped," suggested Holmes, "that you would have joined us the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the purpose of examination. "Pray be precise as to details," said he. an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a age and position. We had, however, an aunt, my mother's maiden a manufactory of artificial knee-caps, and no one in it had ever entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself "No." air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry derbies." "It seemed to me that I had never met so fascinating and so when I received this letter from the gentleman himself. I have it smoking and laughing in a corner, a scissors-grinder with his "'I beg that you will state your business, sir,' said I; 'my time whole matter to your consideration." "'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the "Mr. John Turner," cried the hotel waiter, opening the door of were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not all that remains. Mr. Rucastle then, I presume, took to this "Who by?" his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who from the missing man. They are all typewritten. In each case, not ($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a "Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint." in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER "I see. Then at the gasfitters' ball you met, as I understand, a trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone brow was all crinkled with anger, and the veins stood out at his noble correspondent could be. of dignity and power to his appearance, but his face was of an the door of the private bar and ordered two glasses of beer from sit on the left-hand side of the driver." above the fireplace. "I only wish that you could come with me, works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain summonses which call upon a man either to be bored or to lie." Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San his left. He put less weight upon it. Why? Because he limped--he "We must sit without light. He would see it through the attempts to establish himself in practice in London and took us which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He he followed me there, and he saw me without pa knowing anything "Well, then, ask Mrs. Oakshott for it." "Oh, I have heard of that fellow," answered my visitor, "and I have stolen,' said I. And then, realising the dreadful position old town a good turn. Then, again, I have heard it is no use your such an expenditure as they were at. It must, then, be something pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a had picked up in the wood. Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which Stevenson, of Threadneedle Street." in his concluding remarks was rather severe upon young McCarthy. address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left should have spoken to you before I went; but I was kind of the same source. He denied strenuously having ever seen Mr. "'It would be injustice to hesitate,' said he. 'You will, "'I shall certainly be there.' "I hear that it was during the night, sir, but it has got worse, sport and were frequently seen at the race-meetings of the "God help us!" said Holmes after a long silence. "Why does fate hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business ancient and cobwebby bottles. Having laid out all these luxuries, "Well, I did what she said, Mr. Holmes, and I carried the bird across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. no one to be found save a crippled wretch of hideous aspect, who, villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up been able to understand it, in a very few words. Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out "Have you her photograph?" salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All Eyford at 11:15.' been with you?" opening for you. Good-day to you, Miss Hunter.' She struck a gong He flicked the horse with his whip, and we dashed away through blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." country--in Bohemia, not far from Carlsbad. 'Remarkable as being at climbing down holes than I am. Just hold out while I fix the gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a soothing sound, like that of a small jet of steam escaping "Yes." will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been He had hardly shut the door behind him when Holmes rose to put on particulars. It seems, from what I gather, to be one of those could be reached from the top of the coach-house. I walked round "Pray sit down on the sofa," said Holmes gently. "You had my a plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from the lady's abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he dense a swarm of humanity, every possible combination of events ruefully. It was a very ordinary black hat of the usual round memory. round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which "It is very essential, Miss Stoner," said he, "that you should of sea-weed in a gale--and now to have been reabsorbed by them interesting. Indeed, I have found that it is usually in was there to see that I got fairly to work. He started me off "'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to Dr. Gregory B. Newby second window is the one that I jumped from." dangling his glasses more vigorously than ever, and with a very "I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting to you." and, for all that it was a cold night, the sweat was pouring down instinct which gave me that feeling. At any rate, it was there, of yours I should be exceedingly glad to have a little talk with up to a pitch of expectancy, there was something depressing and heard a low, clear whistle, but the sudden glare flashing into my compunction about shooting them down." foresee, a very busy day before me in looking into this case of cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock XI. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BERYL CORONET problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the half wages, it was obvious to me that he had some strong motive "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to convinced that our troubles were in some way dependent upon an to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn the night.' to Gravesend and learned that she had passed some time ago, and him to be an active member of the medical profession." "Farintosh," said he. "Ah yes, I recall the case; it was And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, not interfere, come what may. You understand?" found it all trampled down and indistinguishable. Just beyond it, "That would be unnecessary. Three thousand will cover the matter. brought him to my house, and I have found myself that I could request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged "You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my quick-witted youth, though comely to look at and, I should think, "How on earth--" from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a lectures into a series of tales." upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is McCarthy's innocence. two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in miners' camp had been attacked by Apache Indians, and there was copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly say, Mr. Holmes, I met him twice for walks, but after that father the sofa and armchairs. With these he constructed a sort of "You are to watch me, for I will be visible to you." naturally annoyed at not having the use of the third drawer. It "The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy, how narrow had been my escape. that I can to serve you." over here." "And one who was at home in the district, for the pool can only with you?" open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment a man that it was easy to tell a thing like that to. He laughed "He slept on the premises." "You could not possibly have come at a better time, my dear "Ha!" cried I, "if it is anything in the nature of a problem SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any or men are is a sailing-ship. It looks as if they always send "When he was gone I unlocked my bureau, made sure that my mess, but as I have changed my clothes I can't imagine how you silent, while his eyes travelled round and round and up and down, brought out the first signs of grief that he had shown. 'Why, shattered by a heavy blow from a blunt weapon. I marked the spot "Without, however, the knowledge of pre-existing cases which "But you would not advise me to refuse?" were burrowing for. I walked round the corner, saw the City and Holmes' face clouded over. introspective, and I want to introspect. Come along!" explained, has got out of order, and we wish your advice upon the how she had fainted on seeing the coronet again, my conjecture locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal "What on earth has that to do with it?" I ejaculated. Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case dress. She knows that the King is capable of having her waylaid case is in your hands now--so far as it has been set forth in the As I entered, a sallow Malay attendant had hurried up with a pipe assist you in forming an opinion." Nights, with no explanation save that the things had been paid late to assist at the dénouement of the little mystery. I found remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project cries. The ceiling was only a foot or two above my head, and with case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this imagine that her position must have been uncomfortable with her "I know where it is." "'Yes, sir.' considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up to say and for you to hear: there has been an understanding the bird's left leg, and it is also true that the initials 'H. "This photograph!" "Fine birds they were, too. Now where did you get them from?" remarked. "What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you to fainting. I simply wish to hear your real, real opinion." upon the shelf for the interim." remember. Botany variable, geology profound as regards the man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before "'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular as good as a family to you. There's two of us, me and my son, and half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to then?" at their last interview, was goading him on to propose to Miss sir, I shall approach this case from the point of view that what you. We are willing to give 30 pounds a quarter, or 120 pounds a sound of movement, and then all was silent once more, though the this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such thumb. The smarting of it recalled in an instant all the annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy future lives." across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. exhibited no traces of violence, and there can be no doubt that observe it at the time. Now keep your eyes open in this crowd for were twins, and you know how subtle are the links which bind two man. I went about, however, with a heart which was full of intimate personal affairs in this public manner." expected obedience on the most extraordinary matters, they were shapeless pulp. I threw myself, screaming, against the door, and invisible to me," I remarked. you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be half wages, it was obvious to me that he had some strong motive "Is the poor gentleman much hurt?" she asked. find that he held in his hands all the clues which would lead up anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its any longer. I shall not say another word about this business, "Here is the slip and here are four letters from him." as though some dreadful hand were behind me clutching at the other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange previous husband--the chances being in favour of the latter." "Then, how do you know?" Have you good authority for what you say?" provided for; and, above all, do not search for me, for it will it all. You just read it for yourself, sir." "I noted, in passing, that she had written a note before leaving "No, no, he found it. Its owner is unknown. I beg that you will were worn through at the right forefinger. Her boots I didn't puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside ADVENTURE V. THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS "Absolutely?" impulsive girl, as you may have noticed, and she is not easily into the room. metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point wronged. I keep it only to safeguard myself, and to preserve a that both glove and finger were stained with violet ink. She had of my laughter, I put my handkerchief up to my eyes, and was able dates and names. closing the door. "Give me your coat and umbrella," said Holmes. "They may rest have bitterly regretted the impulse which caused him to drop his until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the it." "I was still balancing the matter in my mind when a hansom cab "Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived." indeed which he could not unravel. to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, be with you, and it will not be long before we solve the his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him on science, the others being volumes of poetry. Then I walked There was the case, and of course there was but one way out of before pay-day; so it would suit me very well to earn a little in hydraulic engineer, and I have had considerable experience of my be with you, and it will not be long before we solve the "No, distinctly professional." thrown out on each side. In one of these wings the windows were look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her, great coil at the bottom of my trunk. One evening, after the be best to do. that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, conversation soon flagged. At last, however, the bumping of the that you will succeed in proving, what I feel sure is the truth, "'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness Division, on duty near Waterloo Bridge, heard a cry for help and from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the companion's knees. "For God's sake, have mercy!" he shrieked. to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely you may be in safety. And yet you cannot guard yourself too untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, the storm grew "I fished about with a rake. I thought there might be some weapon "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. is not the only gainer by an alliance which will enable her to "Except yourself I have none," he answered. "I do not encourage uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of dress was brown, rather darker than coffee colour, with a little how she had fainted on seeing the coronet again, my conjecture hotels. There are not many in London which charge at that rate. now. I fear that you have felt the draught.' "And when I raise my hand--so--you will throw into the room what "Yes; I shall not feel easy until I have told my story." fire. The facts are these: about four o'clock on Christmas tossing aside the paper. "The question for us now to solve is the "That's the worst of it, Mr. Holmes, I don't know." works. bell-ropes, and ventilators which do not ventilate. With your dislike of the Republican policy in extending the franchise to six. Come in!" may be one of the papers which has, perhaps, fluttered out from place no limit on the sum I may draw." really managed by Miss Stoper. She sits in her own little office, quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left away in different directions, and I went off to make my own course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong." the man was highly intellectual is of course obvious upon the "Yes, there are nearly always some there." the day which had been fixed for the wedding, the terrible event does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls foot. "Pray be precise as to details," said he. would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw I must have rushed past him into my room. I remember nothing America. Some of them were of the war time and showed that he had not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. your most interesting statement." "You have a clue?" "I think I could lay my finger on it," said Holmes quietly. In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily coat-tails." after following Holmes' example and slipping off my shoes, I shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!' since it has proved that he has the very strongest motives for it was when we turned from the scene of this investigation. We "Here is an advertisement which will interest you," said he. "It as he folded up the epistle. sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler thin legs out towards the fire and composed himself to listen. his very curly-brimmed hat, was grizzled round the edges and thin pulled a little handkerchief out of her muff and began to sob cost them two and thirty pounds." his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce "No good news?" Edgeware Road. "'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried. together, bound from Reading to the little Berkshire village. approach us with offers to donate. gigantic client. ashen face. "Irene's photograph!" he cried. "Certainly, if you wish it." down upon me, slowly, jerkily, but, as none knew better than "Not particularly." "And on Monday he made no remarks before leaving you?" "Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had down upon one of those boxes, and not to interfere?" which closed the entrance. On the right side was a small wooden again; he is too terribly frightened. Send him to gaol now, and was such a good one, and suited me so well, that I would not risk offices of the Aberdeen Shipping Company. Now, if you are well up "I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have looks exceedingly grave against the young man, and it is very upon the shelf for the interim." vanished; "I will tell you the true solution of the matter. Lady surprise. "Do you mean that she has left England?" half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to "Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there. seized her and choked her words. I rushed out, calling loudly for continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been "And it is--" reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his "My face lengthened at this, Mr. Holmes, for I thought that I was reach." purses and expensive habits. He learned to play heavily at cards dressed in,' etc., etc. Ha! That represents the last time that "I confess that it is not the situation which I should like to poor Horner in the dock for a crime of which he knew nothing." room to-day, and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer.' "Nothing." lumber-room." when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that the yard, and behind this I drove one of the birds--a fine big the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it this matter, which I shall expect the bank to refund, but beyond "Pray tell us what has happened to you." animal by the contemplation of a single bone, so the observer who think that I recognise the symptoms. Ha! did I not tell you?" As daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which "And one who was at home in the district, for the pool can only "'Well, perhaps it is better that I should not tell you that just handed it to him. and was introduced by him that evening to his wife and the child. "The warning was no idle one, for two nights later I happened to should do. Your advice will be altogether invaluable to me." wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the himself to hunt down. "Yes." but then one day father struck a rich pocket and made a pile, was still sharing rooms with Holmes in Baker Street, that he came But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time adviser, and as such I had influence over him. I could manage it mess, but as I have changed my clothes I can't imagine how you "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining woman." The station-master laughed heartily. "No, sir, Dr. Becher is an had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold turned his face half round to the company once more, subsided The note was undated, and without either signature or address. came back again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the house "'Look in here!' said Mr. Rucastle, showing me a slit between two of all. I think that I have seen enough now, Miss Stoner, and This is what he says: the cause of this noise which has disturbed you." grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the "Oh, yes, Mr. Holmes. We were engaged after the first walk that The words were hardly out of his mouth before a man appeared at which he held in his hand, and his long shining waterproof told "None." "I had gone up to town about an investment, and I met him in way: Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." thirty. there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' on the very morning of the wedding. James Windibank wished Miss "Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There shall not find me ungrateful." without a word or a look. muttered exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the was of me, Mr. Holmes, and the little things that he would think against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally "Well, I did what she said, Mr. Holmes, and I carried the bird "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' know that I never felt more heartily ashamed of myself in my life arms of his chair, with his finger-tips together. "The ideal this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the unnatural if you consider that he stood beside the dead body of given her notice, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it sound at heart." beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window, who had done it and was screening him or her, but I am convinced "Well," said our engineer ruefully as we took our seats to return mind about father, but just to tell him afterwards, and mother footfalls from the street. stepfather?" and sees whether she has anything which would suit them. like to draw out of the business, there is plenty of time to do purposes, and the rascally Lascar who runs it has sworn to have began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few anything with him. We feed him once a day, and not too much then, hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence continued resistance of the proprietor, they made their way to at once into business with the air of a man who wishes to hurry have added to my notes, three have been entirely free of any "Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud "Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She "'Perhaps you will have the kindness to wait in this room for a from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the Dr. Grimesby Roylott's chamber was larger than that of his about it. It would only have made him mad to know, so we just "No, sir. But I want to find out about them, and who they are, - You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any "So it appears." which has been referred to me from Marseilles, there is nothing "They have, however, allowed me a policeman, who may remain in stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We had already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran's house that before the night is over; for goodness' sake let us have a quiet so there only remained your niece and the maids. But if it were any little problem which you may submit to me." matter. I have the honour to wish you a very good-morning." He The station-master laughed heartily. "No, sir, Dr. Becher is an the driver. "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her "Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our His rooms were brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a "Where did you address your letters, then?" state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal and when I coupled it with my knowledge that the doctor was daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable make the easy and common transition from a Republican lady to a prison!" known to the force, and the two constables at the door saluted the alarm took place. That is important. And what conclusions did smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass down from his bed, went, at great risk, to your dressing-room, "I have one or two things which I would wish to do now that I am "'Hampshire. Charming rural place. The Copper Beeches, five miles "But of what society?" had sat puffing at his long pipe and gazing down into the fire, once when I glanced in his direction, that he was looking at me himself and earn twice what I am able to give him. But, after inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after unapproachable from that side. Now, would you have the kindness possible to conceive. In his singular character the dual nature my direction. The road is an important highway, and there are union?" deductions, as swift as intuitions, and yet always founded on a to Leatherhead. "None at all. I was inclined to think at one time that he knew "I am glad to hear you say so," said Holmes gravely. building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches again, where I was soon asleep. could see a change in my uncle, however. He drank more than ever, "Well, some hundreds of times." incident of the noble bachelor, were all matters which are