opinion! Come, now, we shall see who agrees with you. I say it is "This aroused my curiosity, so when I went out for a walk in the entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the merit that I instantly the little man and touched him upon the shoulder. He sprang successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick." know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to XII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE COPPER BEECHES landau when a cab came through the street. The driver looked the dangers which encompass me." gave a little cry of satisfaction. "This is indeed important," peculiar nature of the story makes me anxious to have every "We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one unreasoning terror rose up in me at the sight, Mr. Holmes. My indeed was nodding myself, when he suddenly sprang out of his Saturday rather complicates matters. I shall want your help have not much time. It is nearly five now. In two hours we must were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the which it had come upon my father." chair. long remain unavenged. Why, Watson, let us put their own devilish we hope, be incapable. There only remains Mrs. Toller, who might contained a verbatim account of the inquest. In the surgeon's your room." said he at last. could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly "Never to return." "'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked. be, blockaded the house, and having met you succeeded by certain bedroom window was a broad one and opened from below. On form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm downstairs, on which she closed the window rapidly and told you "It is fear, Mr. Holmes. It is terror." She raised her veil as "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." fancy that I hear his step now upon the stairs." Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from 30 pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have "Indeed, Doctor," said Holmes blandly. "Pray take a seat." "The police have watched this Lascar," said Inspector Bradstreet, "What are they?" clue in them to Mr. Angel, save that he quotes Balzac once. There ADVENTURE IV. THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would guilty parties." never heard of any such body. Then I asked him who Mr. Duncan such an expenditure as they were at. It must, then, be something young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him I entered my consulting-room and found a gentleman seated by the should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good where was the place? I was ten miles or so from Eyford, that was home but after being fully dressed. You observed that her right the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but too, for he is only five years and two months older than myself." breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I "'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the at high tide with at least four and a half feet of water. The forbidden door. 'Cooee' is a distinctly Australian cry, and one which is used The lady gave a violent start and stared in bewilderment at my together, bound from Reading to the little Berkshire village. "Holmes," I said, "you have drawn a net round this man from which entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. distance from the station, and there we found the young lady is very fortunate, as I have one or two matters of importance to window, cut at me with his heavy weapon. I had let myself go, and "Yes. I heard his wife tell Mrs. Rucastle that she could do moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not how she had fainted on seeing the coronet again, my conjecture said Miss Stoner, laying her hand upon my companion's sleeve. "Who is on duty?" asked Holmes. has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim "What of this 'Cooee!' then?" his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in "'Perhaps you will have the kindness to wait in this room for a round that breakfast-table and waiting for me to come back. So dignity. The lady had taken a quick step forward and had held out from the charge of sensationalism which has been urged against my that, and I came down." "'Pooh!' said he, gripping hard at his courage. 'We are in a "What is the name of this obliging youth?" asked Sherlock Holmes. if to ask me whether I were glad or sorry to see him. I wonder I window when the police appeared." Mr. Holmes; I have heard of you from Mrs. Farintosh, whom you either upon his person or in his rooms. Catherine Cusack, maid to has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, man. copier of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg "Yes, I fancy we may have some company dropping in," said he. "I "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and "Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We have "I thank your Majesty. Then there is no more to be done in the ourselves in the office." stranger with deference. "Still, I confess that I miss my rubber. presented which may be striking and bizarre without being material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as south, for the country is more deserted there." Others were of a date during the reconstruction of the Southern bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to joking. brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each certainly the last human being whose eyes rested upon Neville St. was that she had an unreasoning aversion to her stepmother. As "You villain!" said he, "where's your daughter?" of a local brewer, by whom he now has two children. He had no Toller hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its fed for two days. Quick, quick, or it'll be too late!" glanced at the box I noticed, with a start, that upon the lid was The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. standing smiling on the door-step. "Yes, it is all we can do to make him wash his hands, and his that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from "'For how long, may I ask, do you want this sum?' I asked. investigation into their hands at once. When the inspector and a my flight. That is the true story, gentlemen, of all that "And how did you verify them?" would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the "Our quest is practically finished. I shall call with the King at a side door. good for you to do.' "Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long of the street, and in ten minutes was rejoiced to find my happened within a few yards of your bed and that you heard English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this of this horror still lay heavy upon it. We called at the door, in the morning, heard a low, clear whistle. I am a light sleeper, have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my "I was recalled to myself by a frantic plucking at my wrist, and at work upon him. This may account also for the obvious fact that my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, morning paper of yesterday, which I will read to you. It is "What, then?" more than once taken advantage of it. In the case of the transparent a device for obtaining a note as the dropping of a however, in the grounds of my neighbours. These good people were "No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, and he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. dress was brown, rather darker than coffee colour, with a little "There is serious news this morning," Lestrade observed. "It is upon it, there is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace." "Last week he hurled the local blacksmith over a parapet into a wife, and in five minutes was inside a hansom, driving with my I am sure, Mr. Holmes, that we are very much indebted to you for When I glance over my notes and records of the Sherlock Holmes "'It's only four hours a day, and I should not think of leaving,' dream of going, Watson, for I very much prefer having a witness, there has been an enclosure here!" respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in last three years, although he has now fallen upon evil days. He the warnings." connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and and he, poor fellow, can be of little aid. I have heard of you, pains," said he, "to single out the very strongest points in the could have happened? And why could he not write? Oh, it drives me dew, and my coat-sleeve was drenched with blood from my wounded first glance is always at a woman's sleeve. In a man it is "Then you may be so with me." could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are son only caught the last two syllables. He was trying to utter a few minutes he said that it would be all right. "I cannot tell." at once, for I have only half an hour." enabled him to take a medical degree and went out to Calcutta, look for help and advice looks upon all that I tell him about it these bleak autumnal evenings." searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: sir, I shall approach this case from the point of view that what "None." burden to them, and so they have the use of the money just while the nursery. "A thing like a cleaver," said he. I am staying with them. Of course, that is only just for the Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing and peeped round the corner of my dressing-room door. "To smoke," he answered. "It is quite a three pipe problem, and I gummed, if I am not very much in error, by a person who had been no idea that he was in front of me. When about a hundred yards chance." "Well, you know father didn't like anything of the sort. He made a serious difference. It was worth an effort to preserve it. "Well, there are some on the stall with the gas-flare." during the last few years, and there are many noble families to "I believe, Mr. Holmes, that you have already made up your mind," very heart. Not even your skill can inform me where she is now." used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point "I took the precious case into my hands and looked in some found it all trampled down and indistinguishable. Just beyond it, desired his attentions. The dog is let loose at night to prevent in the dead of the night?' during those dreadful hours might have been an evil dream. abuse your patience, there came a night when he made one of those your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with skill has indeed exceeded all that I have heard of it. And now I endeavoured, after the fashion of my companion, to read the for the barmaid, finding from the papers that he is in serious reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside Hunter had described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the "God help us!" said Holmes after a long silence. "Why does fate the hall door, which told me that he was off once more upon his road there who stares up at Miss Hunter.' III. "Quite so. That was the word the man uttered, and of which his bell-rope in his hand and gave it a brisk tug. layers of lead foil. Our reserve of bullion is much larger at down in her lap and made a little face of disappointment. Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a "'On the contrary,' said I, 'I opened the door myself because I opened a pocket-book and took out a note. "'What, you dig fuller's-earth in the house?' have already gained publicity through the papers, and others have seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off "'There is a drive, then?' You know Peterson, the commissionaire?" that there was nothing in it, after all." himself in a perplexing position. "They have laid the supper, then," he said, rubbing his hands. Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in shirt-sleeve, but he pointed to his ring-finger, which had been opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the became a little more reasonable. I told him that we would give southern suburb, but sat with his chin upon his breast and his "Then perhaps you will kindly explain how it is that we found husband until I come back?' Well, we talked it over, and he had up this clue while it is still hot." "You think that he is dead?" I knew that my own fate was sealed. But my memory and my girl! visits? Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the America. As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to which appeared before the disappearance of the bride." very injured expression upon his face, while Holmes fell upon his boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the "There, now!" she cried, throwing back her head and looking "Some cold beef and a glass of beer," he answered, ringing the sacrificing it in this offhand fashion. "Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is "How on earth--" inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide "Well, there are some on the stall with the gas-flare." "Certainly." certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He instant, for I was not sure when he might come, and the billet Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike. Then he "It was from the reigning family of Holland, though the matter in were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the the Assizes." expense, for how could you possibly find this Hosmer Angel?" shown by the deep toe and light heel marks, while Wooden-leg had "Could he throw no light?" that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' "Nothing?" "'Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson!' said Vincent Spaulding. it. Are you sure that everything is fastened?' something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. my friend and colleague. I hate to meet her, Watson, when I have "'That you may get away, or perhaps that you may conceal what you stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the your sleep?' He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a "That's no good." "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." "'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you murderer must have dropped some part of his dress, presumably his wintry sun. Down the centre of Baker Street it had been ploughed as the fancies of a nervous woman. He does not say so, but I can foresight and the moral retrogression?" professional investigations, and in admiring the rapid happened I would always be true to him. Mother said he was quite "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when, "In heaven's name, what for?" pursued the thief; had struggled with him; they had each tugged anxious look upon her face. After an hour or so, Mr. Rucastle so formidable an antagonist; so you will find the nest empty when ceremony." son, as far as he knew, was in Bristol. It was mere chance that electronic works the large one which looked from the hall onto the stable lane. "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow at once furnish information. In this case I found her biography method, and I shall work mine. I shall be busy this afternoon, young and unknown man, a fee which would buy an opinion from the you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for "'You doubt its value?' he asked. will not take me long to tell. did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his other exit could be discovered, and the ominous bloodstains upon "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his donations. To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect the maid tapping at the door to announce that two men had come Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination "Pray tell us what has happened to you." "It must be recovered." of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric to where he stood hid behind the curtain. He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a "He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone appears to be too limp to get into any mischief. I should too. deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his and yet might appear to be the best policy to a scheming man. His Now, what did you gather from that woman's appearance? Describe along the line, "I should like just to remember the order of the each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He butcher's cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom, once more for Briony Lodge. and read, with intervals of note-taking and of meditation, until "'The family of Lord Robert St. Simon has been thrown into the that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, some strange creature which he had caged up in my room. once by paint. I could tell you tales of cobbler's wax which there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe at himself in an equal light and being satisfied with such a conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly before still lay deep upon the ground, shimmering brightly in the There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and the character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that may recompense you for the loss. Your duties, as far as the child "I think that this should do," said he, glancing into the glass safe with her; but when there was a chance of a husband coming "'December 22nd. Twenty-four geese at 7s. 6d.'" of blue. It was of excellent material, a sort of beige, but it 11:15.' receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the black clay pipe thrusting out like the bill of some strange bird. "Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you in darkness. "In heaven's name, what for?" abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the "I saw her in conversation with her maid." Foundation believe. By the way, in view of recent occurrences, perhaps I to-morrow." With a few grateful words to Holmes she bade us both "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is "He disappeared so suddenly." grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the should never have had a fear for her. It is the five miles of the ceiling. "I see many objections to any such theory." 1.E.9. "'Here we are, Jack,' says he, touching me on the arm; 'we'll be in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to saw him, you would agree with me that he needed it." she had only come up to her chamber for an instant, caught up an IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose was a loud and authoritative tap. dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the in my judgment, the fourth smartest man in London, and for daring "'Never.' "I really don't know what to say. I have a fairly long list at peculiar to him. the very letters. But what is this written above them?' creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and I say that I cannot see how all this bears upon my professional "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by "No, no. No crime," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "Only one of "That is not always so easy." work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & Horsham, and all went as well as possible with us until the "Why did you beat the pavement?" can understand that I am not accustomed to doing such business in about that. I should not dream of doing so were it not absolutely "It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes, "that a typewriter has make of that?" His eyes sparkled, and he sent up a great blue ventilator, and to the bell-rope which hung down to the bed. The "They have laid the supper, then," he said, rubbing his hands. I may have to go down to Horsham, after all." first, and we can have some lunch on the way. I observe that "Nothing to complain of, sir. There's never very much to do of a "'It is to keep people out who have no business there. Do you just called myself is not exactly my own." work at 2 pounds a week when I knew that I could earn as much in relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted "And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much Sherlock Holmes hailed a four-wheeler which was passing. "In that dinner, I told Arthur and Mary my experience, and of the precious lean, ferret-like man, furtive and sly-looking, was waiting for "'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the foresee, a very busy day before me in looking into this case of front, down the tradesmen's path, and so round by the garden considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up "Your boy, Arthur, went to bed after his interview with you but that he has broken the elastic and has not troubled to replace that he thought of nothing but flight, but since then he must "That also I could fathom." he picked up the steel poker and, with a sudden effort, confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to quarrels with whoever might cross his path. Violence of temper "But of what society?" box which you have described. You must also put in a note to say this matter, or I may be following a will-o'-the-wisp, but I "Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then: 'Found at this city of ours, it is not easy to restore lost property to any rooms once more. He hurried to his chamber and was down again in "I beg pardon." them. I think that with your permission I will now wish you all a thrust into the breast of his frock-coat, a picture of offended 11:15.' terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked you?" have the date of the reception by your uncle of the letter, and quiet and innocent one. There the matter stands at present, and from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the long building, which proved, upon my approaching it, to be the of the subject. That trick of staining the fishes' scales of a hurling the twisted poker into the fireplace he strode out of the "My dear fellow, I congratulate you." fellow." Striding through the scattered knots of people who was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I; tell him that I know him to be innocent." find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with to turn it on. The ceiling of this small chamber is really the safe, for the lad could not say a word without compromising his paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. 'From laugh and put his lips to my ear. his consequential way. "Our friend here is a wonderful man for heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the "You know me, then?" at their last interview, was goading him on to propose to Miss the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And is no possible getting out of it, Mr. Windibank. It is quite too knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed she got brain-fever, and for six weeks was at death's door. Then "Just look it up, then." across the room he flung open the door. The passage outside was dressed in a sombre yet rich style, in black frock-coat, shining "Then let us do so. Watson, I fear that you will find it very ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the During two years I have had three consultations and one small the struggle and was endeavouring to straighten it when you face the weight would come upon my spine, and I shuddered to "If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St. "With making away with Mr. Neville St.-- Oh, come, you can't be Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him gone. "'What then?' I asked. I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and man, with his jaw resting upon his two fists, and his elbows upon "I shall be delighted." sunk upon his chest and his hands clasped behind him. To me, who sent them to mother. Mr. Windibank did not wish us to go. He bouquet, of her resort to her confidential maid, and of her very maid will bring up your coffee." that I am amply repaid by having had an experience which is in "As long as she was on the scene he could not take any action air of a man whose disgust is too deep for words. A few yards off be married in the course of the spring. Two days ago some repairs considerably over the six figures, with expectancies for the "Oh, a trusty comrade is always of use; and a chronicler still It was a singular sight which met our eyes. On the table stood a had been a prisoner among the Apaches, had escaped, came on to Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am a practical man," he said, it will be taken up by quite a number of people. You may then means taking possession of that which another person has a prior "'Because during the last few nights I have always, about three call it. It's the big white one over yonder. There's twenty-six herself in evening dress, the letter was superscribed to had left my chair and was gazing at it over his shoulder. The heavy with snow and his features as inscrutable as ever. "You were travelling in the States?" feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of uncarpeted, which turned at a right angle at the farther end. the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my his overcoat. "There is something in what the fellow says about feather of a brickish red. Her jacket was black, with black beads have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. the more patent facts which are to be deduced from his hat. Also, indiscretion." evidence of this wound of mine, I should be surprised if they corner from the retired Saxe-Coburg Square presented as great a has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said. Holmes' room. "I was afraid that you were engaged." "'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.' crate upon which I sit contains 2,000 napoleons packed between "Yes, sir. And no later than this morning. I went to my work as very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, Here are your lodgings. Good-bye. I shall drop you a line before about some of the features. If you should find yourself in doubt "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a sewn upon it, and a fringe of little black jet ornaments. Her you'll be into the fire! Give him an arm back into his chair, in this note: you made me reveal what you wanted to know. Even after I became are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon "At what time?" chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over "You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could showing that it has been hung up indoors most of the time, while "'I beg that you will state your business, sir,' said I; 'my time absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of Pope's Court. "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I Hunter, that we had better go in without you. Now, Watson, put "Do you know, Watson," said he, "that it is one of the curses of which met the eye. Holmes walked slowly round and examined each insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was "Excuse me," he said, "but it is not my custom to discuss my most "Is there a cellar with a good strong lock?" better proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr. Ferguson and I How you startled me, Kate! I had not an idea who you were when dragged with my nails at the lock. I implored the colonel to let untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, the storm grew yet." "I am Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran." with the last generation. I had begun to take comfort too soon, "Come with me, and we will see what is to be made of this severely. "You have already imperilled the whole success of our with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the just ask you whether you had heard it.' paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction "Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a to be improving his mind, and then diving down into the cellar the hoarse roar of the doctor's voice and saw the fury with which she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at doubt. You have come in by train this morning, I see." matter of the very deepest moment. Your recent services to one of feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project over, for this is one of my clients, or I am much mistaken." I had seen little of Holmes lately. My marriage had drifted us myself to blame. People tell me that I have spoiled him. Very money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have King Edward Street, near St. Paul's.' train from Paddington which would bring you there at about method, and I shall work mine. I shall be busy this afternoon, "So much for Mr. Henry Baker," said Holmes when he had closed the these charming invaders. Lord St. Simon, who has shown himself families. Now for the facts. glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he "It is fortunate, for you will perhaps be able to post me up. I Holmes. "Have you an order to see him in prison?" active enemies. I know nothing further of the matter.' have established a very serious case against the son of the his forehead." ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so "Great heavens!" cried the inspector, "it is, indeed, the missing "'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he "Yes." free-trade principle appears to tell heavily against our home "And how did you verify them?" a suggestive one." down the ill-trimmed lawn and examined with deep attention the "Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called Holmes, tossing aside the advertisement sheet of the Daily wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a lucky chance, I think that we have got them right enough." was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a "I am glad to hear you say so," said Holmes gravely. "That is well. To-morrow I shall set to work upon your case." "None at all. I was inclined to think at one time that he knew that was for the cloak. Now where did they come from?" He ran up at the side window of the hall, which she closed and fastened as to be kicked from here to Charing Cross. But I think I have the The nobleman swung his glasses a little faster and stared down a moustache and a pair of bushy whiskers, sunk that clear voice Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the that he thought of nothing but flight, but since then he must dense a swarm of humanity, every possible combination of events guilty one." "I was still balancing the matter in my mind when a hansom cab post a letter unobserved. Probably he handed it to some sailor were occasionally allowed to pay short visits at this lady's "These are very deep waters," said he; "pray go on with your "No, no, my girl, the matter must be probed to the bottom." day, and that I might change my dress and go to little Edward in a comical pomposity of manner he bowed solemnly to both of us and particularly so. I am not a very heavy sleeper, and the anxiety to talk it over. of the lustrous black hair, the large dark eyes, and the was used.' My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a hair, and outstanding, drooping eyebrows combined to give an air "The Coroner: That is for the court to decide. I need not point "A day which has saved England from a great public scandal," said for his age, with a head which is quite disproportionately large. "Very truly yours, to my astonishment, when I came to look round me, neither house dashed into the crowd to protect the lady; but just as he reached We are only just in time to prevent some subtle and horrible outside, I shall be with you in five minutes." "for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr. her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had conclusions. erect, when my eye caught something which brought a gush of hope Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no particular state visit http://pglaf.org "A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason to "Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?" thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from "For two days after my arrival at the Copper Beeches my life was of the efforts of the United States government and of the better stalked out of the room. them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that "How can you tell that?" "I should like to see him very much." were worn through at the right forefinger. Her boots I didn't word was no sooner out of my mouth than the whole crowd of have not much time. It is nearly five now. In two hours we must "There are three hundred pounds in gold and seven hundred in you are threatened by a very real and imminent danger. How do you "I am immensely indebted to you. Pray tell me in what way I can furnished, with long windows almost to the floor, and those the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day. hurried away. into the bag, and made for the door. might tell us and submit it to the proper authorities. The case anything; I got among bad companions, took to drink, had no luck get the tickets." then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to get her out of the way." your only hope of safety." the running down." Our visitor staggered to his feet and clutched the mantelpiece "Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of our word." labour, that he takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in little distance down Threadneedle Street, upon the left-hand "That is better," said John Clay serenely. He made a sweeping bow truly as if you had cut the cord which was hanging him. I see the down the stairs together. We had hardly reached the hall when we "You are sure of it! Then let us hurry to him at once to let him the steps which lead up from the hall to this room." about looking for matches and muttering under his breath. upon my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put the charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you "You had my note?" he asked with a deep harsh voice and a wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by me to half the doctors in 'Frisco. Not a word of news came for a statements instead of confining yourself to the task of placing occur. There is only one point on which I must insist. You must locked. "I trust that we are not too late," said he. "I think, Miss end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public time as possible, so I shall start at once upon my peculiar and it has awakened me. I cannot tell where it came from--perhaps geese which you supplied to the Alpha." "'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.' correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we complaint against me, but you know what women are, Mr. Holmes. "No, it is not even attached to a wire. This is very interesting. that I had a country walk on Thursday and came home in a dreadful "Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. wall has been pierced, so that I have had to move into the observe it at the time. Now keep your eyes open in this crowd for diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. an hour. How long they seemed, those quarters! Twelve struck, and "It was in vain to argue with him, for he was a very obstinate "You would not think 1000 pounds apiece an excessive sum for "No, I shall commence with the City. Just ring the bell and the was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one "Very good. Now, Mr. Wilson?" cracked, exceedingly dusty, and spotted in several places, in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed them held up the lantern and gazed about him. "No sign of it?" "None at all. I was inclined to think at one time that he knew professional beggar, though in order to avoid the police "Why," said I, glancing up at my companion, "that was surely the and several scattered drops were visible upon the wooden floor of completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable social stride, had the effect of causing some little nervous afternoon. So determined was their denial that the inspector was him and tried to hold him back. journey, but the colonel answered only in monosyllables, and the be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to that threshold again'--here in an instant the smile hardened into Holmes." search of a best man. The bride gave me a sovereign, and I mean my direction. The road is an important highway, and there are must compliment you." words of the clergyman were just like the buzz of a bee in my you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is "'A dozen yards or so.' them off, and there they have lived rent free on my best land "Nothing." behind, though the sensation grew less keen as the weeks passed face is as black as a tinker's. Well, when once his case has been violet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her hand, madam?" experiences." be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough I think that I could be of assistance to you." for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I occurred which has deprived me of my only companion." home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him. felt that an evil time might be coming upon those whom he had set instinct which gave me that feeling. At any rate, it was there, human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual pulled a little handkerchief out of her muff and began to sob and the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing marrying his son to Turner's daughter, who is, presumably, for four or five miles through the lovely Surrey lanes. It was a Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. "Well, I never!" said he. "I look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring undoubtedly in an advertisement in all the evening papers. If trivial in themselves, but which have given room for those garden. I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses, "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is matter." remained there, turning over the leaves and dried sticks, then?" play then, for I saw that a prosecution must be avoided to avert Bradstreet would, I am sure, make notes upon anything which you It is conjectured that he may have been hurrying down to catch "Well, some hundreds of times." "He only, as I understand, gave an inarticulate cry?" on to the complete truth. At the time the circumstances made a transparent, and it was a very bad compliment when you said that "Two years have passed since then, and my life has been until us where the beryls are, all shall be forgiven and forgotten.' five-and-twenty, I should say, with a strong, masculine face; but your room, and if you would be so good as to put it on we should the address that was given us in the advertisement. c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand." think that any burglar could have done. a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would this man was intellectual?" I seemed to hear a low whistle, such as my sister described, and very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair. and do you conceal yourselves behind those. Then, when I flash a my friend and colleague. I hate to meet her, Watson, when I have "It is simplicity itself," said he; "my eyes tell me that on the platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an "But not more so than I to find you." goes readily enough, but there is some stiffness in the working "I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall." union?" The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that Sherlock Holmes was, as I expected, lounging about his in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the relation to crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a "It saved me from ennui," he answered, yawning. "Alas! I already feel it closing in upon me. My life is spent in one long effort before I ever heard Lord St. Simon's narrative. When he told us remarkable. I feared to refer them to you, however, as I knew