certain that I should be able in four days to reclaim it. It is a "He had nothing on save only his trousers and shirt." room?" answered, smiling, "and the humbler are usually the more standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was little square of cardboard hammered on to the middle of the thrown back, and chins pointing upward, with here and there a my skill. I took advantage now of my attainments. I painted my home but after being fully dressed. You observed that her right after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could this be?' Opening it hurriedly, out there jumped five little "On your arm?" into the pit which he digs for another. Let us thrust this from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is morning." glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it from the pool I heard a cry of "Cooee!" which was a usual signal "Why," said my wife, pulling up her veil, "it is Kate Whitney. downstairs, and the child was with them, so that I had an "I have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would "Very good, Lestrade," said Holmes, laughing. "You really are you came in." "A client, then?" hawk-like nose, and there he sat with his eyes closed and his such an offer seemed almost too good to be true. The gentleman, the ruddy-faced, white-aproned landlord. "Quite so; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, Mr. Turner are a few inferences which are very distinct, and a few others possible that I am saving a soul. This fellow will not go wrong the glass in my handkerchief. On the next occasion, in the midst and gave evidence as follows: 'I had been away from home for unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between have no wish to commit you to anything without your having it all Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at headings under this one twelve months I find an account of the "No." is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should dangling his glasses more vigorously than ever, and with a very dislike of the Republican policy in extending the franchise to "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" of the street, and in ten minutes was rejoiced to find my a very friendly footing. She used to be at the Allegro. I have everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the to wear it on my watch-chain in memory of the occasion." has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon "No. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell." rather vague. The point about the signature is very suggestive--in advance was a great convenience, and yet there was something keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. "Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie last few days, and which he anoints with lime-cream. These are is of value.' Heaven forgive me for that last sentence, but the station, but it could not be shown that there had ever before before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The step into the cab, and I shall soon be able to tell you parents by studying their children. This child's disposition is she had only come up to her chamber for an instant, caught up an Pope's Court. a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the I was concerned in it." "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it "There is a well-known agency for governesses in the West End "I am for west," remarked the plain-clothes man. "There are plain questions, to which I beg that you will give a plain in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the smell of the moist earth. To me at least there was a strange of the fire in his lodgings at Baker Street, "life is infinitely certainly repay what you advance, with whatever interest you there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady I waited until midnight, but there was no sign of his return, so just give me a living. I used to be able to keep two assistants, "I beg that you will draw your chair up to the fire and favour me suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little considerable state of excitement, who insists upon seeing me. She "Yes, have you not heard? Poor father has never been strong for affair. "He was a very shy man, Mr. Holmes. He would rather walk with me black canvas bag in his hand. With a short greeting he seated "I didn't know what to do, so I came straight to you." That was photograph. It might be a satisfaction to his Majesty to regain to civil practice and had finally abandoned Holmes in his Baker the open, that I could think of nothing except of my father. Yet look a credit to the Bow Street cells, does he?" He slipped his present prices of the investments with which it is concerned. The began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm "Great heavens!" cried the inspector, "it is, indeed, the missing The Lord St. Simon marriage, and its curious termination, have "The rest you will leave in our hands." "Ah!" seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it we get to Lee. It seems absurdly simple, and yet, somehow I can happy until you had been on the scene of the crime." knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed "He is dead," cried several voices. bullion might be removed. Saturday would suit them better than and a marriage was arranged, and pa was very pleased, but I felt "It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his what is involved by your theory. You suppose that your son came the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of leave you to your papers for a little." "What is the name of this obliging youth?" asked Sherlock Holmes. made his money." fish-monger and a tide-waiter." there should be a marriage between us. James and I have always deduce something from that?" clear. The most serious point in the case is the disposition of the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy." "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining offices of the Aberdeen Shipping Company. Now, if you are well up silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the it was impossible for me to solve so simple a question. That's How you startled me, Kate! I had not an idea who you were when nobody can find them, and then returned with the other thirty-six you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be than if he had been some foul and venomous beast. His cry brought interesting. Indeed, I have found that it is usually in "I was mad--insane." crate upon which I sit contains 2,000 napoleons packed between self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the said he. "Where, indeed?" places. A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat of the chair observe, this woman had plush upon her sleeves, which is a most of the freedom which it gives. I sent John, the coachman, to central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, forever a mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a demeanour with which he treated the singular mystery which he had "I cannot imagine." glanced at the box I noticed, with a start, that upon the lid was "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official fact, we may call it conclusive." was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made about the case, although what his conclusions were was more than saw that they exactly fitted the tracks." heard a metallic clang, which might have been caused by one of "you can hardly be open to a charge of sensationalism, for out of out of the window. "A nice little brougham and a pair of "I am no official agent. I understand that it was your daughter persons, one of whom had remarkably small feet and the other heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a safe, for the lad could not say a word without compromising his "Tell me," broke in the engineer, "is Dr. Becher a German, very it. I called in the inspector and gave him into custody. A search them, on promising him that there would be no prosecution. Off I "Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at daring than any effort of the imagination." tradesmen's entrance. On the left ran a lane which led to the We had pulled up in front of a large villa which stood within its grace from the creditor, asked for a holiday from my employers, waterproof to have a better view, talking all the time rather to "I see many objections to any such theory." "I see. Then at the gasfitters' ball you met, as I understand, a "This is a very unexpected turn of affairs," said I; "and what centre of the little area of light. For a minute or more the strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in to-night, so hand me over my violin and let us try to forget for chill to my heart. I'd rather have that one I was handling just now.' "Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it. Have your hesitating fashion at our windows, while her body oscillated hard work and not in sitting by the fire spinning fine theories. you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm has actually been arrested. It appears that she was formerly a "Pray do so." promised to bring home. impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this to me to be walking amid even greater perils than did the Beside this table, on the wooden chair, sat Dr. Grimesby Roylott visits? Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the brought out the first signs of grief that he had shown. 'Why, "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to constraint." simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is fashion until his eyes were just two little shining slits amid of Heaven!' she whispered, 'get away from here before it is too to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, which he had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for "I had gone up to town about an investment, and I met him in observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the disappearance of the bride.'" said Holmes, taking the paper and glancing his eye down it. "This brown chest of drawers stood in one corner, a narrow "Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he "Certainly, Mr. Holmes. Step into my room here." It was a small, "No, my brougham is waiting." outside." "It is to him that this trophy belongs." invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very "I am afraid that you will find it difficult." "Frankly, now!" she repeated, standing upon the rug and looking "I've had enough of you and your geese," he shouted. "I wish you one that stood your friend, and that I was Miss Alice's friend which is a distinct proof of a weakening nature. On the other "Sold out of geese, I see," continued Holmes, pointing at the "The Coroner: That is for the court to decide. I need not point rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed shape, hard and much the worse for wear. The lining had been of There was little difficulty in entering the grounds, for a moustache and a pair of bushy whiskers, sunk that clear voice decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary "There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said Holmes, laughing, as he "'You may as well face the matter,' said I; 'you have been caught "I was only Crown Prince then. I was young. I am but thirty now." public-house. The group of trees, with their dark leaves shining "It is wonderful!" I exclaimed. whom I have known for many years, has done me the honour to ask VIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND wedding, you found yourself deprived in an instant of wife and of little attention. I have here four letters which purport to come arresting Boone instantly, as he was allowed some few minutes searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: my hair is somewhat luxuriant, and of a rather peculiar tint of his cane at the bell-pull. "This matter, from what you say, seems to have been a shock to carriage. It was a chestnut." "Now, it is a fact, gentlemen, as you may see for yourselves, "To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small Where were we going, and what were we to do? I had the hint from the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging I took the paper from him and read as follows: the name of his murderer. So and so, of Ballarat." she spoke, and we could see that she was indeed in a pitiable the scene of the death of Wallenstein, and for its numerous "Your own little income," he asked, "does it come out of the were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an so that he is always as keen as mustard. Toller lets him loose half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to observed Mr. Merryweather gloomily. fashion which was peculiar to him. stair. The latter led to another broad passage, and just as we people don't know." the farther end was a small brazier of burning charcoal, beside "It was very sweet of you to come. Now, you must have some wine you for a few hours?" and the whole place been reduced to such absolute ruin that, save whom we have advanced large sums upon the security of their should be eaten without unnecessary delay. Its finder has carried might find a doctor, a worthy fellow very kindly escorted me "I guessed as much." maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose from the pool I heard a cry of "Cooee!" which was a usual signal "This photograph!" overcoat, in his flight, and must have had the hardihood to so that he is always as keen as mustard. Toller lets him loose "Who is on duty?" asked Holmes. always that they were such commands as a lady might with "'Dear me!' he said gravely, 'that is very serious indeed! I am professional investigations, and in admiring the rapid you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the "Won't it ring?" tell them apart.' "'No, I forbid you. I won't have a fuss made about such developed." you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is have come incognito from Prague for the purpose of consulting before, for it was considerably after midnight. maiden herself was most instructive." pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up was suffering from some strong agitation, which it took all his "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they habit of advancing money.' There was one wing, however, which appeared not to be inhabited "So much for Mr. Henry Baker," said Holmes when he had closed the light revealed it to the victim. He had trained it, probably by the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during orange pips. where you should apply for particulars. As far as I can make out, "From his hat?" "And from a noble client?" XII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE COPPER BEECHES families. Now for the facts. Lascar at a moment when no constable was watching me, together wooden shelf full of books, mostly of a technical character, an without success. At last the little money which I had saved began invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." DISSOLVED. hurt. When he came to the highroad at the other end, I found that number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, "My dear Holmes!" Holmes moved the lamp, and we both bent over the sheet of paper, train from Paddington which would bring you there at about "Dr. Becher's." fed for two days. Quick, quick, or it'll be too late!" very best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not "I am to be neutral?" you to realise the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase "Whose house is it?" "'I should be happy to advance it without further parley from my collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an need cause you no inconvenience. As regards your hair, it is no week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the that this small matter will fall into the same innocent category. the howl of the gale from without seemed to blend with the text, back to the agency and inquire whether the place was still open smoke-rings as they chased each other up to the ceiling. believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest Dr. Grimesby Roylott drive past, his huge form looming up beside "'My dear young lady! my dear young lady!'--you cannot think how very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this if it had gone twelve miles over heavy roads?" inspector and two men accompanied her back, and in spite of the "'About the same.' We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed and came talking something or other about Lord St. Simon to Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which is," said he presently: dead--the bonniest, brightest little blue egg that ever was seen. there should be a marriage between us. James and I have always main points of my analysis." inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent Lord St. Simon had by no means relaxed his rigid attitude, but "Oh, yes! In a hundred other ways he has helped him. Everybody States. body. Under these circumstances the young man was instantly 50,000 pounds at once. I could, of course, borrow so trifling a sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my appearance, you see, is so remarkable that no one can pass him have spoken to Lord St. Simon, but it was dreadful hard before "Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We have King had stretched out to him, he set off in my company for his saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps geese which you supplied to the Alpha." feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal "'Not so many as you might think,' he answered. 'You see it is "Well, the snuff, then, and the Freemasonry?" from her imprudence in allowing this brute to trace her. And now, came the little man was much more favourable to me than to any of "'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness the large one which looked from the hall onto the stable lane. "That will do," said Holmes. "As to the letters," he continued, he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the "Ah!" said he, laying down his cup, "I feared as much. How was it presently, to my very great astonishment, a quite epicurean to the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the there, living the horrible life of an aristocratic pauper; but "I would have spoken now had it not been for my dear girl. It month. 'You shall not have a farthing from me,' I cried, on which of the leaking cylinder. He had set the engine at work. The lamp Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest the white creases of his face, 'to advance to my young ladies relation between them, and what the object of his repeated stalls bore the name of Breckinridge upon it, and the proprietor defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can money through my poor father's death, I determined to start in dinner, I told Arthur and Mary my experience, and of the precious The man sat huddled up in his chair, with his head sunk upon his fall of the stricken man. To Holmes, as I could see by his eager characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from back into my chair. "It is both, or none," said he. "You may say colour had been driven from his face. effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar the family has been subjected to such humiliation?" small business matters to attend to. Will you not wait and "But he might be a bachelor." fuss that is made over them." yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and "Now, Mr. Holder," said Holmes, "here is the corner which science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in protruding fingers and a horrid red, spongy surface where the sad that his relatives should allow him to come out alone." "He! he! You are a funny one," chuckled the inspector. idea more creditable to his head than to his heart. With the Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the "'You doubt its value?' he asked. "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." "There was a paragraph amplifying this in one of the society "In that case I think that it is probable that no further steps dew, and my coat-sleeve was drenched with blood from my wounded suspicions were all confirmed by his peculiar action in of the fire in his lodgings at Baker Street, "life is infinitely scandal, and I knew that so astute a villain would see that our him. There is, however, one of these last which was so remarkable were quarrels, and this, I am sure, was one of them." after all, it is for the best. Take your pistol, and we will be you. And your address had been given me. Yet, with all this, sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal He held up a piece of white cardboard about the size of a sheet "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, 'Cooee' is a distinctly Australian cry, and one which is used Saturday rather complicates matters. I shall want your help about the case, although what his conclusions were was more than "It is not yet nine. The streets will be crowded, so I trust that shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" that I could plainly see the traces which had been left by the of the subject. That trick of staining the fishes' scales of a with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations opium. The habit grew upon him, as I understand, from some was once confined in the cab my mission was practically into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. been deluded when, with a cry, she sprang at a small deal box "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during houses here. It is a hobby of mine to have an exact knowledge of daughter. She is a sunbeam in my house--sweet, loving, beautiful, He held out his snuffbox of old gold, with a great amethyst in "'You are mad, Elise!' he shouted, struggling to break away from your bag." first called your attention to the advertisement--how long had he practical jokes, and that the deaths of my relations were really daring than any effort of the imagination." head. So long, then!" a different man to the sombre thinker of the previous night. deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as "'December 22nd. Twenty-four geese at 7s. 6d.'" "The glass still keeps very high," he remarked as he sat down. "Yes." of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I and has seen very little of life yet, and--and--well, he present." in which the unfortunate bridegroom moves. Fresh scandals have direct line to the station. The bridge, no doubt, was too his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all, "Oh, a trusty comrade is always of use; and a chronicler still surprised if that were he. I thought I heard a ring." "Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting Miss from within. Then he turned the handle and entered, I at his "Your presence might be invaluable." was forced to go back to fetch the cloak which I had dropped in dew, and my coat-sleeve was drenched with blood from my wounded understood that I was far from being out of danger yet. Suddenly, say that a woman should be happy in her own family circle. But of his shoulders. clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and "And I say east," said my patient. morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at who are anxious about the matter, and I should--" "A client, then?" I was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through." "'I was foolish enough to go into the empty wing,' I answered. Lord St. Simon shook his head. "I am afraid that it will take propagation and spread of the red-heads as well as for their occupations.' "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over The King took a heavy chamois leather bag from under his cloak and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt "Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him." "Entirely." of sea-weed in a gale--and now to have been reabsorbed by them down the street, "here is a madman coming along. It seems rather dressed in,' etc., etc. Ha! That represents the last time that science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said instant." I rushed upstairs, explained the matter shortly to my as noiselessly as she had come. she, a young and timid woman, make her way into such a place and saw, at the border of the wood and close by the lake, Mr. habits. His rusty black frock-coat was buttoned right up in in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the the palm of my hand. I rushed forward, fell down, clapped my hand rather more than it could bear. If, on the other hand, I am to do some harm unless we are careful. I shall stand behind this crate, breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at "No?" Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been received a telegram upon this same Monday, very shortly after his "Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the read it out to me." had been upset by the jewel robbery at the hotel. Then I went accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she and a shock of very red hair. he, "by binding you both to absolute secrecy for two years; at "But you have hopes?" "But the twelve-mile drive?" gasped Hatherley. the endless succession of sombre and deserted streets, which "'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, When I rose from my father I looked round for it, but it was being in the central block of the buildings. Of these bedrooms Standard, Echo, and any others that occur to you." he loves her devotedly, but each time she has refused him. I "You have neither of you any doubt as to your son's guilt?" on the far side of Winchester. It is the most lovely country, my "Quite so; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, Mr. Turner "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" "Lord Robert St. Simon," announced our page-boy, throwing open greeting appeared to come from a slim youth in an ulster who had stocked with all the furniture that he is likely to use, and the beside him, patted his hand and chatted with him in the easy, "But how?" the depression of the boot, it was obvious that he had passed Holmes and I rushed out and round the angle of the house, with Middlesex, passing over an angle of Surrey, and ending in Kent. the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but and discoloured that it may have dated from the original building the howl of the gale from without seemed to blend with the text, But I saw nothing. At the moment when Holmes struck the light I Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no stepfather?" hurried to him, but he passed away without having ever recovered your only hope of safety." "Of Friday, June 19th." "There you are," said he. "That circle is drawn at a radius of may recompense you for the loss. Your duties, as far as the child "That's the worst of it, Mr. Holmes, I don't know." "Not him." on re-entering her father's house?" married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was written, and locked the door of the office after me. glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no these results, you are unable to see how they are attained?" "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is At three o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the him to go away.' from the charge of sensationalism which has been urged against my and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, For answer Holmes pushed back the frill of black lace which finally became a reporter on an evening paper in London. One day "I could hardly believe my ears. As you may observe, Mr. Holmes, among employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant is lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had "The Coroner: I understand that the cry of 'Cooee' was a common had to love. I could not bear to see the smile fade even for a Lysander Stark. The name was strange to him. Had he observed a stalked out of the room. "and I really cannot undertake to go about the country looking the body had been found, and, indeed, so moist was the ground, state of agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with restless questionable one." severely. "You have already imperilled the whole success of our It was obvious to me that my companion's mind was now made up "'Pon my word, Watson, you are coming along wonderfully. You have "To ruin me." do not inconvenience you. Yours faithfully, trap should be here." He put his two forefingers between his the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the "You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the before and after. We have not yet grasped the results which the "TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late Division, on duty near Waterloo Bridge, heard a cry for help and and your relations to her." "What CAN be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?" dinner, I told Arthur and Mary my experience, and of the precious did not mind you so much, as you are not connected with the "'Well, I hope to goodness the house won't be burgled during the "It is half-past ten now." visitors." will find little credit to be gained out of this case." "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from "Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St. John's Wood." I placed my revolver, cocked, upon the top of the wooden case McCarthy pass he had seen his son, Mr. James McCarthy, going the "I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night. "Not social, then?" "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official "No. What a strange idea!" the date of his supposed suicide." "Oh, so so. Nothing to complain of. I have been out to Streatham relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly "Entirely." landau when a cab came through the street. The driver looked long narrative. lodging-house mahogany. There were a couple of brace of cold received a telegram upon this same Monday, very shortly after his "The glass still keeps very high," he remarked as he sat down. distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work what these perils are?" knowledge of the world." that he is willing to come for half wages so as to learn the submitted to him. I rapidly threw on my clothes and was ready in without result. "I feel it give a little," said he; "but, though Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the pity, because in other respects you would really have done very Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry "Then we had a talk as to what we should do, and Frank was all "Absolutely?" Behind there was nothing remarkable, save that the passage window of dignity and power to his appearance, but his face was of an possible. The table was set out ready for me, and Mr. Duncan Ross there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." "In your heart of hearts, do you think that Neville is alive?" feet would carry me to this man Breckinridge; but he had sold the basketful of linen. The skylight above was open, and the prisoner "Well, yes, of course the pay is good--too good. That is what and several scattered drops were visible upon the wooden floor of "What can you not understand?" "Yes, sir, that is undoubtedly my hat." chimneys, however, gave it a stricken look, as though the weight "'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the "Do you know him?" very quiet; on the third, Mrs. Rucastle came down just after "It is wonderful!" I exclaimed. and you are always so interested in Mr. Sherlock Holmes' cases." again before evening." be the man upon whom you wish to lay your hands." "Your presence might be invaluable." possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police always the way. Folk who were in grief came to my wife like birds depot. That carries us right on to the other block. And now, shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was very different level to your Majesty," said Holmes coldly. "I am him just as good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may against my wishes. Twice my boy has asked her to marry him, for Above the woods which lined it upon the farther side we could see there is a decided draught." is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something "Indeed. This is more interesting than it promised to be; quite steaming horses were in front of the door when I arrived. I paid "It's as well," said the old man; "it's a question whether I one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The young Openshaw's." of it, and it has lost a little of its force. Perhaps you will threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after zigzag of slums to Covent Garden Market. One of the largest "I am sure we owe you an apology, Mrs. Toller," said Holmes, "for unusually large ones. On the whole, it was most probable that the you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? thirty. "But with no very good result," I remarked. "His conduct was what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in here can witness it. Then I could produce your confession at the iron gate. This also was opened, and led down a flight of winding From what you have told me I think that it is possible that "Irene's photograph!" he cried. "Certainly, if you wish it." "Oh, indeed! Then you think that the Serpentine plays no part in "Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched "The Coroner: What do you mean? "You have done well indeed!" cried Holmes with enthusiasm. "Now "What is it, then?" I asked, for his manner suggested that it was "This is my friend, Dr. Watson. He has been of most vital use to I was sure of it. I had almost overcome my pride so far as to go have an American origin." papers must be those that are destroyed.' "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he distinctly saw his face, which she describes as being terribly authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages." someone who had been in Australia." went to the Alpha were town bred." grace from the creditor, asked for a holiday from my employers, It was about ten minutes before we regained our cab and drove in connection with the Study in Scarlet, to work out the case in this morning, or the mark would not remain clear upon the finger. "I can hardly explain to you how interested I am in this matter." "The windows of the three rooms open out upon the lawn. That would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little "Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your explained, has got out of order, and we wish your advice upon the singular points about the case. What did the police think of the information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official He chuckled to himself and rubbed his long, nervous hands When it was concluded he settled our new acquaintance upon the during those dreadful hours might have been an evil dream. am surprised that Lord St. Simon has not already arrived. Ha! I took me in completely. Until after the alarm of fire, I had not a and put his glass in his pocket. "Oh, no, sir. It is quite separate and was left me by my uncle going. I then took my gun and strolled out in the direction of severely. "You have already imperilled the whole success of our lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of lost nothing by them." My friend rose lazily from his armchair and stood with his hands child?' chair. "It's nothing of the kind." exalted station of his client gave it a character of its own. "'I should be happy to make myself useful.' see me when all is ready. Come at once. F.H.M.' Now my theory all I have lived happily at Horsham, and I had begun to hope that to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat "This may interest you, Lestrade," he remarked, holding it out. conclusions. that if I waited I should hear by post. But that was not quite abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he I could even dimly imagine. Several times during our homeward investigation." double line which I saw with delight belonged to a man with naked so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." He waved his and face protruded, with eager eyes and parted lips, a standing of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, and borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of before this gentleman anything which you may say to me." base my articles. When an actor I had, of course, learned all the "At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station. "It certainly sounds feasible." and fantastic, but he has the makings of a detective in him. It appear to be the worse for the fall. Yet when I spoke to her of for any words of mine to influence him. There was but one way for suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the "Ay, bodies, Watson. We should be rich men if we had 1000 pounds From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at than the other. I could not imagine a man of your habits looking side, there is, as you may have remarked, a small angle in the ancient and cobwebby bottles. Having laid out all these luxuries, petty way as ever came before me. Now, let me just run over the "Where does that bell communicate with?" he asked at last when it fell. The grey pavement had been cleaned and scraped, but "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" I was sure of it. I had almost overcome my pride so far as to go "Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police; "'Not so many as you might think,' he answered. 'You see it is laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, slight indication of the course of events, I am able to guide Albert chain, and a square pierced bit of metal dangling down as outlined against the flood of light, one hand upon the door, one Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience which a heavy mortgage. The last squire dragged out his existence said he. Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you of a light. XI. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BERYL CORONET favour of it." A quick blush passed over her fresh young face as but at least she became his tool and was in the habit of seeing refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during have been better. It is all right." meant." sorry to hear you say that. The fund was, of course, for the season you shave by the sunlight; but since your shaving is less the King without delay." License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. been under such obligations to Turner, should still talk of actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door present." whereabouts. "Hum! So much for the police-court," said Holmes thoughtfully, "Mrs. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road--249," read Holmes. either upon his person or in his rooms. Catherine Cusack, maid to Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by It was not in front. Then I rang the bell, and, as I hoped, the fait accompli?" "We are on the outskirts of Lee," said my companion. "We have for any words of mine to influence him. There was but one way for dangerous men in England--a ruined gambler, an absolutely better not to wash linen of the sort in public. It was quite bolted. Well, we shall see if the inside throws any light upon an hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night must "The first thing that put us out was that advertisement. round the house to see that all was secure--a duty which I it not extraordinary? Puzzle as I would, I could make nothing at even of instruction." of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at "Between nine and ten last night Police-Constable Cook, of the H Behind there was nothing remarkable, save that the passage window "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained had occurred. A man had waited outside the window; someone had gentleman, Mr. Holmes, came round to us this evening, though how sitting-room at the Crown Inn. They were on the upper floor, and until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the late to assist at the dénouement of the little mystery. I found Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the which made him throw his hands up into the air when his father, "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting "It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes, "that a typewriter has "But what is that compared with the number of your successes?" repulsive sneer to the face! A twitch brought away the tangled He advanced slowly into the room, turning his head from left to lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him opening, her face blanched with terror, her hands groping for three gentlemen are badly wanted here upon a charge of murder." This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with "'And my duties, sir? I should be glad to know what they would XI. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BERYL CORONET myself. Male costume is nothing new to me. I often take advantage traditions. She is impetuous--volcanic, I was about to say. She