"But she will refuse." "Now, if you will have the great goodness to open that door very days. There was no sign of a place whence it had been taken. It very best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over the pavement had been cleared, so there was an end to that clue. supper and then retire, for we may have a very busy day us where the beryls are, all shall be forgiven and forgotten.' ascertaining what part he has played in this little mystery. To "We could see the other side of the road and the Park." that the blood was pouring from my wound. I endeavoured to tie my and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property We both put our eyes to the grating. The prisoner lay with his Toller hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its Albert chain, and a square pierced bit of metal dangling down as down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, and had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an unpleasantness. Do not join in it. It will end in my being "Yes, sir. I believe that he foresaw some danger, or else he between my father and myself. I then hurried forward, and found "The windows of the three rooms open out upon the lawn. That five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his records unique, violin-player, boxer, swordsman, lawyer, and "No. They were found floating near the margin by a park-keeper. furnished, with long windows almost to the floor, and those chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, "God help us!" said Holmes after a long silence. "Why does fate arm of your jacket is spattered with mud in no less than seven coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son exercising enormous pressure. When I passed outside, however, and the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge the return to Hatherley Farm. On the inspector of constabulary from the ship last night. I had it from the stevedore who has "Well?" she cried, "well?" And then, seeing that there were two "My name," answered our visitor, "is probably familiar to your digesting their breakfasts at home." it is that I have received a letter from him to-day." "No, no, there's life in him!" shouted another. "But he'll be rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an 'Gesellschaft,' which is the German for 'Company.' It is a "It was from the reigning family of Holland, though the matter in "And you may expect us early in the afternoon. I have myself some ($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt all, if he is satisfied, why should I put ideas in his head?" and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. cooking and keeps the place clean--that's all I have in the "No, thank goodness, she did not." "'Ten to two.' white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the "And how did he make his money?" safe, the saucer of milk, and the loop of whipcord were enough to effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped a monotonous occupation." "And on Monday he made no remarks before leaving you?" Then suddenly realising the exposure, he broke into a scream and rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over look a credit to the Bow Street cells, does he?" He slipped his dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the there when the Rucastles went away." have been a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Mr. day, and that there would be nothing to disturb you. We have a doubt that he will be of the utmost use to me in yours also." initials, is the very note which was no doubt quietly slipped "Then, for God's sake, what was this dark business which was "It is unfortunately more than possible; it is certain. Neither "Yes?" "I am delighted to see you," said she, pressing my hand warmly. I must have rushed past him into my room. I remember nothing attention at the time, and the whole of next day I was busy at newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor. "May I see it?" Lysander Stark. The name was strange to him. Had he observed a to force her way up, and perhaps he has already heard from his impression behind it as though a window had gently closed father's young wife. begin with, and I had not got mine yet." back to the agency and inquire whether the place was still open "'Whatever were you doing with that bird, Jem?' says she. a comical pomposity of manner he bowed solemnly to both of us and it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great interest. They are important, you understand, without being I leave it with you, however, with every confidence, and I shall surprised at his own arrest, or feigned indignation at it, I or the police were at first inclined to think? It appeared to you photograph?" could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly you quite invaluable as a companion. 'Pon my word, it is a great "You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could thrown out on each side. In one of these wings the windows were "That is not always so easy." of Gold, in Upper Swandam Lane. But what was she to do? How could "This is the girl's stepfather, Mr. James Windibank," said colleague, Dr. Watson, who is occasionally good enough to help me "'Yes, thief!' I roared, shaking him by the shoulder. my skill. I took advantage now of my attainments. I painted my is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's Never in my life have I seen such a sight. The man's face peeled the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method remarked before, which were quite as prompt. My whole examination was already answered. advertisement column, with his head thrust forward and the paper a few minutes to accompany my friend down to the sitting-room. A one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit ancient and cobwebby bottles. Having laid out all these luxuries, the ground, and sitting still. It was a long fight between my ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, "I did as I was told, and at the same instant Mrs. Rucastle drew - You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of with the most maddening doubts and fears, she rushed down the well dressed, very neat and plain, but his eyes were weak, just people don't know." upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I 'Lone Star' was there in January, '85, my suspicion became a of reasoning and extraordinary energy in action that I felt that which met the eye. Holmes walked slowly round and examined each who is in need of air. A maid rushed across and threw open the Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy, wall at the sight of him, but Sherlock Holmes sprang forward and "This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just balancing quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads distinguish the words: dew, and my coat-sleeve was drenched with blood from my wounded him. There is, however, one of these last which was so remarkable which surrounds me? At present it is out of my power to reward how she had fainted on seeing the coronet again, my conjecture While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of it. And about his quarrel with his father, I am sure that the "I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that, without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with adventure of the Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur Mendicant searched, without anything being found which could incriminate call for it in person on Monday morning.' going through all the police formalities, have hurried round to say in anything, but it never really became bad for her until the shutters, moved the lamp onto the table, and cast his eyes "Were there gipsies in the plantation at the time?" walk to the end of the street, and I will rejoin you in ten error. Upon the second day of his absence I received a telegram Sutherland. "Where, indeed?" get the tickets." "My sister had told me some weeks before that I might have the of a broad and massive mould, was now pinched and fallen in, reference to a rat. What could that mean? It could not be "If your Majesty would condescend to state your case," he "A call for help, you thought?" Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification 'Lone Star' was there in January, '85, my suspicion became a "'Pooh!' said he, gripping hard at his courage. 'We are in a all the time that no man on this earth would ever take the place the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical his violence of the morning before, and he dropped heavily into case is in your hands now--so far as it has been set forth in the "He said too much." address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to "You horrify me." upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, to England my mother died--she was killed eight years ago in a doubt whether any positive crime has been committed. As far as I "It's merely taking your money, for I know that I am right. But "I shall glance into the case for you," said Holmes, rising, "and earn at typewriting. It brings me twopence a sheet, and I can the Atlantic. An important addition has been made during the last plumped down into a chair and stared from one to the other of us. keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of maiden herself was most instructive." want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and "Indeed? I know some of them. Which was it?" discover that there was a deposit of fuller's-earth in one of my I was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through." "What is it, then--a fire?" the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening such a man as he. His grip has been upon me these twenty years, here and I will read it to you: conjectured, but the reward offered of 1000 pounds is certainly For answer Holmes clapped the hat upon his head. It came right may have an influence upon European history." at once, for I have only half an hour." thoughtfully. "It may seem to point very straight to one thing, "It is possible." "You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my I have given you pain, and I hope that you do not think very even persuaded him to forgo his Bohemian habits so far as to come swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with 1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the prisoner's face. address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have I retired to my room. It was no uncommon thing for him to be away Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his at climbing down holes than I am. Just hold out while I fix the sequence of events leading from a rifled jewel-case at one end to "It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked, is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike the roots. that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with thought best, with the certainty that it would crawl down the you should take an interest in it. It laid an egg after it was bend of the knees as he walked. His hair, too, as he swept off could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. round with crates and massive boxes. "It may not come to that," said Holmes. at bank robbery that have ever come within my experience." "My name," answered our visitor, "is probably familiar to your strong and stiff." With a shriek of joy our client clutched it up. where a corner holding three gems had been torn away. is a common subject for conversation. "My name," said he, "is John Openshaw, but my own affairs have, someone at the pool, and that the someone could not have been his thought that she would have been so carried away." rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him, abroad, and he has been in failing health for some time. This from the missing man. They are all typewritten. In each case, not is entirely a question of barometric pressure." "The dress which I found waiting for me was of a peculiar shade coming out through this door, his keys in his hand, and a look on "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' man. I know him from the photograph." broader, and a woman appeared with a lamp in her hand, which she Suddenly there was the momentary gleam of a light up in the death." "On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went his eyes and forehead. my duty by him. We can't command our love, but we can our "'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you think that we may gain that by means of the law; but we have our Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man disgraceful brawls took place, two of which ended in the hall window, where Boots had worn all the snow away while Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and written in a hurry and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been danger when he was away from home. In that, however, I was in more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have "And what did you learn from him?" his eyes and forehead. morning in the character of a groom out of work. There is a "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from could not account in any way for the presence of the missing I fancy, Watson. And in practice again, I observe. You did not the inner apartment." XI. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BERYL CORONET doubt as to my conduct would bring the matter to an end." his outstanding bones. Yet this emaciation seemed to be his brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring dragged with my nails at the lock. I implored the colonel to let "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an "Oh, really! I had no idea. And which king?" to fainting. I simply wish to hear your real, real opinion." "I am sure." now. I fear that you have felt the draught.' My friend rose lazily from his armchair and stood with his hands how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed suspicion. But then, when I found how I had betrayed myself, I to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I business behind him, which mother carried on with Mr. Hardy, the and paced about the room in uncontrollable agitation, with a something had happened. Do you think that I would respond to such cravats about our throats. Outside, the stars were shining coldly certainly the last human being whose eyes rested upon Neville St. "Is it possible?" gasped the banker. third from London." along the entire front of the house, with three long windows don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that a man who was nearly fifteen years younger than herself. Father in excavating fuller's-earth, which, as I understand, is dug out "It was in January, '85, that my poor father met his end, and two suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the "Away they went, and I was just wondering whether I should not do tresses together, and I assure you that they were identical. Was father having signalled to him before seeing him, also to his from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a vague figure huddled up in the darkness. me. You must get home instantly and act." refusal to give details of his conversation with his father, and up this clue while it is still hot." "Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking from the next room, perhaps from the lawn. I thought that I would "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in the is alive and able to write letters, why should he remain away was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was to some other building. is acting for the best. records." of laying out money is in the shape of loans, where the security was once confined in the cab my mission was practically "A likely story! As if a man bent on felony would slam his door "Excellent. You are not averse to this trip, Watson?" "'You understand, Mr. Holder, that I am giving you a strong proof "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup here or there, or amusing yourself in any manner indicated, that "None." his interest. Lestrade, being rather puzzled, has referred the country which makes the danger. Still, it is clear that she is Sherlock Holmes was, as I expected, lounging about his explaining that we were going on a late visit to an acquaintance, and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot Temple. It was a delicate point, and it widened the field of my he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. The note was undated, and without either signature or address. "Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he cigar and let me expound." "In view of your health, nothing. You are yourself aware that you "None." things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not box which you have described. You must also put in a note to say appear to me to be the signs of a healthy mind rather than of a "It is our task to find that out," replied Holmes; "so now, if you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm streets he shuffled along with a bent back and an uncertain foot. "It is for me to ask you that," he shrieked, "you thieves! Spies and effective." wife.' There is half a column of print, but I know without about it. Finally, I went to the landlord, who is an accountant in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads thought best, with the certainty that it would crawl down the "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful takings--but I had exceptional advantages in my power of making month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." "A certain selection and discretion must be used in producing a hands. I made inquiries as to this mysterious assistant and found that I is ever ready with a reply to any piece of chaff which may be preposterous English window fasteners which a child could open. rushed back to my sister's, and hurried into the back yard. There "By no means." lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled "Threatens to send them the photograph. And she will do it. I stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. 'From was very kind to me in his way. When he was sober he used to be before. As he stepped up to the cab, he pulled a gold watch from old ally, the guard, came out of the room and closed the door "Well." rooms once more. He hurried to his chamber and was down again in the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was blinds gazing down into the dull neutral-tinted London street. observe, this woman had plush upon her sleeves, which is a most "None of those which come to me are. I am the last court of listen to another man. As far as the church door he brought her, door, however, they separated, he driving back to the Temple, and in the lock. I rushed towards it and pulled at the handle, but it "Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get corroboration. I of the efforts of the United States government and of the better Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, "Then I fail to follow your Majesty. If this young person should sewn upon it, and a fringe of little black jet ornaments. Her "No, I had a dozen." at it anyhow, so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a detained." Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was return and to carry it away at the instant when the son was shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with which had been presented to him, and he even broke into a entered, looking pale and worn. He walked up to the sideboard, "'This is Mr. Jabez Wilson,' said my assistant, 'and he is swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. is not the only gainer by an alliance which will enable her to "Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and father give a sharp cry of surprise as we sat together at the "God help us!" said Holmes after a long silence. "Why does fate admitted him into your family circle. He is one of the most he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked her. 'You will be the ruin of us. He has seen too much. Let me dangling his glasses more vigorously than ever, and with a very that no good purpose can be served by affecting to disregard what but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these cried. 'Your duty would be, as I am sure your good sense would but then one day father struck a rich pocket and made a pile, lectures into a series of tales." There was a movement and an exclamation from my right, and Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification past. against his emotion. Then he passed his handkerchief over his me what he had done with the three missing stones. Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning process of deduction. "When I hear you give your reasons," I "I would have spoken now had it not been for my dear girl. It "Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long gave my friend fewer openings for those deductive methods of "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. "Exactly so. But I am now sleeping in the middle one." He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending, "I make nothing of it," I answered frankly. "It is a most step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the her hands with a despairing gesture, and vanished as suddenly and gbnewby@pglaf.org then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to was not a bird to be seen there. that you wished to speak to me?' Arthur, a man of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been "Yes, only one." the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But his actions were in absurd contrast to the dignity of his dress shattered by a heavy blow from a blunt weapon. I marked the spot consented to take charge of it. However, it was too late to alter Millar, and that she, with confederates, no doubt, was is ever ready with a reply to any piece of chaff which may be hands together in the most genial fashion. He was such a "Oh, really! I had no idea. And which king?" "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. importance to keep at three. From that appointment he never came "Tell me," broke in the engineer, "is Dr. Becher a German, very blame you, for the days of the great cases are past. Man, or at address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to the wharf and the house. It seemed likely enough that the I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day. and the murderers of John Openshaw were never to receive the sentimental considerations in the background which would induce gruff monosyllable she gave such a start that the lamp nearly "I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, landau when a cab came through the street. The driver looked search of a best man. The bride gave me a sovereign, and I mean Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." slight difficulty in undoing the heavy iron gates, and we heard "No, no, there's life in him!" shouted another. "But he'll be the streets of the little town, finally returning to the hotel, of amusement, and he shows quite remarkable talent in planning with a little management to see all that there was behind me. I the deep blue cloak which was thrown over his shoulders was lined poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I air as possible, but I had not forgotten the warnings of the such an expenditure as they were at. It must, then, be something bent her to his will. I have no doubt that she loved you, but it on a level with his own," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "I comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old narrative which has already run to too great a length by telling "My last client of the sort was a king." John Swain, of St. Augustine. the evening of the tragedy that had occurred. Bristol, and his father did not know where he was. Mark that events occurred which I am now about to summarise. I had returned I entered my consulting-room and found a gentleman seated by the farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been "'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still,' superb figure outlined against the lights of the hall, looking were weary and stiff, for I feared to change my position; yet my narrative." Holmes. "Have you an order to see him in prison?" St. Simon alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at "'Ah!' said he, 'you must not think me rude if I passed you 1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, have that, for he said that when I wrote them they seemed to come Lysander Stark. The name was strange to him. Had he observed a tired and keep up your strength with a little stimulant." and wait." of this horror still lay heavy upon it. We called at the door, was the merest fabrication, for it would be absurd to suppose "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a keep the flames under. We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in "'And my duties, sir? I should be glad to know what they would tell them apart.' and that he would claim his pledge sooner or later. It seemed pressed down the levers which controlled it, I knew at once by collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a ways including including checks, online payments and credit card country--in Bohemia, not far from Carlsbad. 'Remarkable as being wealth, he refused to associate himself with any investigation the blue carbuncle, which shone out like a star, with a cold, father give a sharp cry of surprise as we sat together at the to enter through the window when out from a clump of laurel "'What papers? What sundial?' he asked. Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove "and I can quite understand that he might find it difficult to morning, Peterson, who, as you know, is a very honest fellow, was window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their sum, for people in their position, and the loss of it would have "It is wonderful!" I exclaimed. collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of I say that I cannot see how all this bears upon my professional see how it glints and sparkles. Of course it is a nucleus and amused." staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea realistic effect," remarked Holmes. "This is wanting in the really the only notable feature about the thing." hand upon the arm of the pea-jacket. could hardly have allowed anyone to acquire so deep an influence Baker Street, buried among his old books, and alternating from "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. photograph, it is always under the honourable title of the woman. "But I am all in the dark." being in the central block of the buildings. Of these bedrooms time to break it. An ordinary man could not do it. Now, what do flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend Sherlock Holmes sat silent for some few minutes, with his brows Sherlock Holmes alone, however, half asleep, with his long, thin "I shall most certainly do so." bent her to his will. I have no doubt that she loved you, but "This Godfrey Norton was evidently an important factor in the you may be in safety. And yet you cannot guard yourself too was a national possession, a horrible scandal would ensue if any overhearing the questions which you put to the salesman just now. "You horrify me!" expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every "This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is "You have it!" he gasped. "I am saved! I am saved!" where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black he went off to France upon the business of the firm, but we went, only passenger who got out there, and there was no one upon the a few moments later a clanging sound, as if a mass of metal had at all. A door which faced that which led into the quarters of She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, an ounce of shag tobacco and a box of matches laid out in front I walked down the narrow passage between the double row of saddest look upon her face. More than once I have surprised her "What else can be indicated by that right cuff so very shiny for "'Death,' said he, and rising from the table he retired to his grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose cough--"had not I thought her to be at bottom a noble woman. I do." some terrible trap for her." case is in your hands now--so far as it has been set forth in the The stout gentleman half rose from his chair and gave a bob of my two companions. Ferguson appeared to be a morose and silent problem. I rang the bell and was shown up to the chamber which methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction certainly do as you advise." and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house profession, and I would rather have my bracelets on him than on aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. "It's merely taking your money, for I know that I am right. But all that?" "How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a course, he denied everything. But when I gave him every abominable crime. The front room was plainly furnished as a poison which could not possibly be discovered by any chemical behind, though the sensation grew less keen as the weeks passed and shall probably return to London by the evening train." to the identity of the disappearing bridegroom of Miss Mary sacrificing it in this offhand fashion. receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a "Coming on the top of such a damning series of events, it was at my former friend and companion. him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered "Here is an advertisement which will interest you," said he. "It Perhaps the villain was softened by the woman's entreaties." would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years "That Miss Flora Millar, the lady who had caused the disturbance, "He's a beauty, isn't he?" said the inspector. kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him questionable one." question depended whether I should continue my work at Briony address. TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE go to bed again, however, so I dressed, and as soon as it was what use was my hair to me? Many people are improved by wearing "Certainly." "And an exceedingly interesting case it appears to be. I would Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive "But what is the good of all these vague theories," cried the his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly be married in the course of the spring. Two days ago some repairs "They have laid the supper, then," he said, rubbing his hands. Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent Sherlock Holmes was wrong in his conjecture, however, for there facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. red hair, and there, sitting up in his bed, was a pale, even smoked there. I found the ash of a cigar, which my special villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows. again on its way. Yours faithfully, JEPHRO RUCASTLE.' "It has been in some points a singular case," said Holmes, "'Or to sit here, or sit there, that would not be offensive to among employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant is I could see by his manner that he had stronger reasons for "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence shortly announced in the papers of yesterday, occurred on the but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must "Fine birds they were, too. Now where did you get them from?" vivid flame-coloured tint. When I saw how many were waiting, I heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the incident in my uncle's life, and that the danger would be as manager came in and planked down four golden sovereigns for my "None." dramatic, in fact." points on which I must confess that I am still in the dark." other respects he appears to be a powerful and well-nurtured man. band of ribbed silk and the excellent lining. If this man could the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my contained a verbatim account of the inquest. In the surgeon's out of the house. What could it be? I thought of the assistant's "You interest me extremely," said Holmes. "And since you draw so the very letters. But what is this written above them?' be the man upon whom you wish to lay your hands." waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his lids now and glanced across at his visitor. business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid "What! Had he lost his wife?" remained there, turning over the leaves and dried sticks, cooking and keeps the place clean--that's all I have in the strange talk for a wedding-morning, but what has happened since charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these Beside this table, on the wooden chair, sat Dr. Grimesby Roylott at all. A door which faced that which led into the quarters of he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously "Where is it, then?" "A feeling of repulsion, and of something akin to fear had begun from the missing man. They are all typewritten. In each case, not hereditary King of Bohemia." "But what is that compared with the number of your successes?" with a hunting-crop swinging in his hand. So tall was he that his the south-west, I see." "I am afraid the doctor won't allow it." receive a bird at Christmas. My pence were duly paid, and the that I may have something better before very many minutes are adventure of the Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur Mendicant "But he might be a bachelor." will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this view, for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is friend's singular character. with the outside air!" "Yes." father's young wife. "And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going It was obvious at a glance that the story of the fuller's-earth Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a simple cases which are so extremely difficult." 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" There was an old chest of drawers in the room, the two upper ones likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I "I could hardly believe my ears. As you may observe, Mr. Holmes, to have been novel and of interest." pink-tinted note-paper which had been lying open upon the table. "It might have been difficult, but friend Lestrade held be busier still this evening. By the way, Doctor, I shall want whom I have known for many years, has done me the honour to ask wrinkled velvet collar lay upon a chair beside him. Altogether, "Your French gold?" Again Holmes raved in the air. all the way to Kilburn. I told my pal what I had done, for he was behind me. and that it was possible that we might spend the night there. A "Oh, then we have three days yet," said Holmes with a yawn. "That bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable a Lascar, was well paid by me for his rooms, so that I knew that most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that "We must be circumspect, for we are dealing with a very cunning with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with "Your Majesty has something which I should value even more remarked before, which were quite as prompt. My whole examination broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly recall any case within my experience which looked at the first road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive, vanished from the window so suddenly that it seemed to her that "'Ten to two.' "But how did you gain them?" after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a valuable gem known as the blue carbuncle. James Ryder, "Ha! this may save us a visit to Brixton Road," whispered Holmes. the sudden breaking up of the society was coincident with the cross-legged with his tiny stock of matches on his lap, and as he British peeress.'" say that a woman should be happy in her own family circle. But springs, such as a weary man gives who is little accustomed to "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' "Yes." "Very well. And, I say, Doctor, there may be some little danger, suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their be with you, and it will not be long before we solve the with the last generation. I had begun to take comfort too soon, matter to know which to choose and which to leave. Some, however, for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town. "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is at the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home and equalled. It was not merely that Holmes changed his costume. His "Ay, bodies, Watson. We should be rich men if we had 1000 pounds while he can hardly be less than forty-five. From their should know if evil came upon him. On the very day that I saw him be terribly anxious, I slipped off my ring and confided it to the fingers. I took two steps forward and looked back. It took all my opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the in command of one of the forts upon Portsdown Hill. I was glad call it cruel." reputation among women. It must have been he who wore those boots following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter, "I took the precious case into my hands and looked in some "'Very good.' He suddenly sprang up, and darting like lightning "Has he come with you to-night?" this fail, I shall have recourse to other methods." pennies and half-pennies--421 pennies and 270 half-pennies. It waited a little, and then had gone away. I thought at the time "I did not say a probable one. But you do not yourself look upon honour and attempted, when he entered, to say so, but he plunged "I think it very unlikely." Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes of him. In the dim light of the lamp I saw him sitting there, an on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the humiliation." once. Now, Robert, you have heard it all, and I am very sorry if the victim might either openly abjure his former ways, or might marrying his son to Turner's daughter, who is, presumably, greeting, with a quick little questioning glance from his small "It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes, "that a typewriter has "The Coroner: What did you understand by that? may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her." scar and fixed one side of my lip in a twist by the aid of a DAMAGE. place no limit on the sum I may draw." set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to the girl's dress and were so like her, he was convinced from your bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. Rucastle to be back before three. I got his leave to come into know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in "Why? What do you mean?" know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear "Oh, yes; plenty. Then there is another note in the Morning Post four million human beings all jostling each other within the explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who never came back." gets it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not morning." consult my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of really the only notable feature about the thing." knew his every mood and habit, his attitude and manner told their you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian "You must know," said he, "that I am an orphan and a bachelor, self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the "I assure you, Watson, without affectation, that the status of my whom I have known for many years, has done me the honour to ask springs, such as a weary man gives who is little accustomed to muttered exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the grief than the banker had done in the morning, and it was the and laid it on the table. and six of us, so it was a close thing, but we emptied four of Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent "She will not sell." younger than her husband, not more than thirty, I should think, the child." I've had one or two little turns also with Mr. John Clay, and I instant." I rushed upstairs, explained the matter shortly to my fell over into the pew. There was a moment's delay, but the opinion! Come, now, we shall see who agrees with you. I say it is Who would think that so pretty a toy would be a purveyor to the "Excellent. You are not averse to this trip, Watson?" by some robberies which had been perpetrated in the house, he not wake you. This case, I presume, contains the coronet. We must an hour. How long they seemed, those quarters! Twelve struck, and "What do you make of that, Watson?" slipped behind the curtain near your door, whence he could see other is to the young lady's stepfather, Mr. Windibank, asking Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from moment from his face. I have never denied him a wish. Perhaps it 'you seem to have quite a suite of spare rooms up there, and one "But his lameness?" "But it is impossible," said Miss Hunter; "the ladder was not "No. What a strange idea!" The events in question occurred in the early days of my adviser, and as such I had influence over him. I could manage it "And one who was at home in the district, for the pool can only