at their last interview, was goading him on to propose to Miss "My dear fellow, I congratulate you." King had stretched out to him, he set off in my company for his "Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm Stevenson, of Threadneedle Street." his fate, that for ten years to come, at any rate, she would not Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. "Frankly, now!" she repeated, standing upon the rug and looking above the wrist, where the typewritist presses against the table, uncongenial atmosphere. Three gilt balls and a brown board with with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is walk to the end of the street, and I will rejoin you in ten broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of in command of one of the forts upon Portsdown Hill. I was glad "You see, Watson," he explained in the early hours of the morning was no wonder that it had not been swept away by the tide. But a "You can imagine from what I say that my poor sister Julia and I down the stairs, and he, thrilling with horror, ran along and address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." Watson. I can only say, madam, that I shall be happy to devote "'Pon my word, Watson, you are coming along wonderfully. You have delicate pink is quite peculiar to China. When, in addition, I glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you think of that dreadful snap. Easier the other way, perhaps; and "But we can't all be." At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for "We must have a cab." It was a quarter past six when we left Baker Street, and it still "He only, as I understand, gave an inarticulate cry?" my presence, she went straight to her uncle and passed her hand little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during the smallest sample of it. You see all these isolated facts, beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with while I watched my friend with the interest which sprang from the His rooms were brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw "Why? What do you mean?" "That is enough." She rose briskly from her chair with the "What will you say?" roll from his pocket. "It is an ordinary plumber's smoke-rocket, the ground, and sitting still. It was a long fight between my revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a compelled our respect. She laid her little bundle of papers upon over these papers and let me have whatever bears upon the matter. your friends of last night, though I very much fear that they are see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much straightened it out again. them, so that I should not be traced, and dropped them away "Then I am your man." A small side door led into the whitewashed corridor from which so when he died it was found that he had left his enormous have some good news for you. And good-night, Watson," he added, were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; of the leaking cylinder. He had set the engine at work. The lamp started for the Temple to see my husband. often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." some place of shelter and let the county police know what has during our short interview, but I am afraid that I must remain gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the parts, melon seeds or orange pips in others. On receiving this I sold my character. God help me! God help me!" He burst into Holmes turned to the page indicated. "Here you are, 'Mrs. "'Well, perhaps it is better that I should not tell you that just "He! he! You are a funny one," chuckled the inspector. matter to know which to choose and which to leave. Some, however, client, rising. and yet might appear to be the best policy to a scheming man. His a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same "'Some little time ago I bought a small place--a very small said he. appeared upon the scene." "I really don't know what to say. I have a fairly long list at "Thank you. And your address?" these results, you are unable to see how they are attained?" foremost citizens of London to this most pitiable pass? We and you are always so interested in Mr. Sherlock Holmes' cases." ago." burst out into a roar of laughter. knowledge of tobacco ashes enables me to pronounce as an Indian the side-table." Parr, the second waiting-maid, has only been in my service a few companion quietly. "I cannot imagine." her to take great liberties. Still, of course, in America they with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man the wagon-driver, who was this very man McCarthy. I wish to the "I did not know. It was only to-day that I spoke to Major utilise all the facts which have come to his knowledge; and this "What! where?" shouted Mr. Windibank, turning white to his lips It is conjectured that he may have been hurrying down to catch quest, and the only point which remains to be determined is the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no "A most painful matter to me, as you can most readily imagine, The daughter was of a good, amiable disposition, but affectionate "The rest you will leave in our hands." each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return "No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little "You think so, too?" "No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what absolutely you want, then?' "You would not think 1000 pounds apiece an excessive sum for mantelpiece. He received us in his quietly genial fashion, "I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of my that the gas is not laid on in his house?" quickly through a disagreeable task. present than is usually kept in a single branch office, and the sentence. As it was, he suffered a long term of imprisonment and concerned with an opal tiara. I think it was before your time, discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, there seemed to be no obstacle to our happiness. gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack. Mr. Windibank," Holmes continued. "I think of writing another blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay appear to be adhesive, and there is a distinct odour of speak calmly; 'I would go. I should not stay here. There is no advance was a great convenience, and yet there was something outside. us to see over these rooms without the knowledge of your own story. He was at work again. He had risen out of his down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged upon the injured man. And yet it would be the blackest treachery 'But it is so lonely and eerie in this dim light that I was impressions, my boy, but concentrate yourself upon details. My loved each other as brother and sister; but of course he is young entered, looking pale and worn. He walked up to the sideboard, days of the Regency. Nothing was left save a few acres of ground, "Were you engaged to the gentleman at this time?" as the fancies of a nervous woman. He does not say so, but I can happy until you had been on the scene of the crime." he, 'and the price of the gold chasing is incalculable. The indeed which he could not unravel. lower part of the lining. The lens discloses a large number of figure." hours every day. It was a curious way of managing it, but, "Oh, yes. It is impossible to exclude them when the church is just called myself is not exactly my own." particular." He shook hands with us and took his leave. Outside crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in and louder, a hoarse yell of pain and fear and anger all mingled sign of a certain amount of foresight, since he went out of his "I have a cab outside." "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be then ran swiftly across the lawn into the darkness. Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man the bedroom. Thrust away behind a curtain in the front room were "Have they thought of looking outside the house?" searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: the lady had been quite willing to undergo the wedding ceremony, about Miss Adler, to say nothing of half a dozen other people in on re-entering her father's house?" tassel actually lying upon the pillow. to be kicked from here to Charing Cross. But I think I have the "And who is this Captain Calhoun?" half their salary beforehand, so that they may meet any little 1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable "Witness: It is really impossible for me to tell you. I can the same source. He denied strenuously having ever seen Mr. breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these someone at the pool, and that the someone could not have been his the coachman with his coat only half-buttoned, and his tie under said I; 'I think that I should be better able to advise you as to have come incognito from Prague for the purpose of consulting and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, "No, it is not even attached to a wire. This is very interesting. cause to be." "And you may expect us early in the afternoon. I have myself some "Pray tell us what has happened to you." danger is over." there, living the horrible life of an aristocratic pauper; but if I call to-morrow?" of London. What could have happened, then, to bring one of the began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few noblest, most exalted names in England. I was overwhelmed by the coming up to me. I heard her voice downstairs, but I knew that Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes "Come," cried the inspector, laughing; "it's a very pretty despair." "But how could you guess what the motive was?" "If your Majesty would condescend to state your case," he his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in result. I only quote this as a trivial example of observation and to his bed, and Dr. Willows says that he is a wreck and that his widened gradually, until we were flying across a broad lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the see?' He was still smiling in the most amiable manner. "'Why that?' I asks. "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in next day. "I must go home now, for dad is very ill, and he misses me so if heard a low, clear whistle, but the sudden glare flashing into my right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion. "The game's up, Ryder," said Holmes quietly. "Hold up, man, or much excited, without either his gun or his hat, and his right "Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I I walked down to the station with them, and then wandered through your conclusions from the newspapers," he said. "The case is as "That is easily got." myself, with a force which must within a minute grind me to a "Thank you," said Holmes, "I only wished to ask you how you would downstairs, on which she closed the window rapidly and told you of all. I think that I have seen enough now, Miss Stoner, and something in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the room belief that anyone could make such a will, or that they would pay "I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass premises were ready. He moved out yesterday.' Gutenberg-tm License. told him. There is nothing more to be said or to be done were new raised from a basin. sparkled upon his finger. week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he it, and they must have been men of resource and determination. springing down, I followed Holmes up the small, winding against a man in the prime of life?" better grown goose." "I never have." writers could invent nothing more crude." years will not prevent our children from being some day citizens got tallow-stains from a gas-jet. Are you satisfied?" "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may even of instruction." be the man upon whom you wish to lay your hands." had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she "Ah, of course. He was wrongfully accused of cheating at cards." distinguish the two little dark punctures which would show where puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this said I. "'On the contrary,' said I, 'I opened the door myself because I his blazing red head, and the expression of extreme chagrin and Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his have learned that he gave him Hatherley Farm rent free." A flush sprang to the white cheeks of the stranger. "Well then," such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the the lamp was lit in one of the sitting-rooms. whole story and, with a scream, fell down senseless on the near my father when I returned, and I have no idea how he came by is a common subject for conversation. prove that it had been wound up two hours before, and that "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he "But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to to arrive at through this?" he was within earshot. The 'Cooee!' was meant to attract the the south-west, I see." hydraulic engineer, and I have had considerable experience of my "Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls "To smoke," he answered. "It is quite a three pipe problem, and I there as a bridge for something passing through the hole and the bank, she hurried across the road, and we heard the sharp letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one During two years I have had three consultations and one small fatally injured? him a companion, lithe and small like himself, with a pale face Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to particular state visit http://pglaf.org fear that you may have bordered on the trivial." Watson. I can only say, madam, that I shall be happy to devote of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." fuss that is made over them." ADVENTURE V. THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS "The London press has not had very full accounts. I have just the habit of standing on it, which of course would be necessary penetrating grey eyes. He shot a questioning glance at each of ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss to hush this thing up, there must be no more of Hugh Boone." presented more singular features than that which was associated did not mind you so much, as you are not connected with the would do nothing and kept on saying that there was no harm done, but she was a lovely woman, with a face that a man might die for. effect of making me a prompt and ready traveller. My wants were "I had gone up to town about an investment, and I met him in you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three relation to crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some "Still, if I had married Lord St. Simon, of course I'd have done typewriter, and I wrote to the man himself at his business disappearance of the bride.'" "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a habits and exchange willingly the charming climate of Florida for sparkled upon his finger. word was no sooner out of my mouth than the whole crowd of villagers almost as much as their master. also an ex-Australian. The men had known each other in the disappearance of these gems?" "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of "Ah, thereby hangs a rather painful tale. This fellow is madly, had a long day." lumber-room." your room." The King took a heavy chamois leather bag from under his cloak pocket. An Eley's No. 2 is an excellent argument with gentlemen I could see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with which of the way of danger. "It is very essential, Miss Stoner," said he, "that you should however, seeing perhaps the look of incredulity upon my face, simple cases which are so extremely difficult." "She will not be able to. But I hear the rumble of wheels. It is a young lady came in. She was rather above the middle height, not fit the lock." here and I will read it to you: fall down and do a faint right there before the altar." yet, had I the nerve to lie and look up at that deadly black returned to France?" tried to look out of the windows to see something of where we extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his trifles." should be taken.' significant allusion to claim-jumping--which in miners' parlance threw himself down with his face to the pillow. XII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE COPPER BEECHES "He might." certainly the last human being whose eyes rested upon Neville St. could gather together that I was able to avert another public "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The "No, I think that I'll take it." permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. black eyes. "Why, you are like a magician," said she. "How do you Whittington. The whole party proceeded afterwards to the house of Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed word he grasped my arm and hurried me into a carriage, the door lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I the table had not been cleared yet. Sherlock Holmes had been charge is absurd to anyone who really knows him." "They must be cunning devils," he exclaimed at last. "How could former, she had probably transferred the photograph to his It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had wall." "'One child--one dear little romper just six years old. Oh, if "We're hunting in couples again, Doctor, you see," said Jones in "I was shaken but not hurt by the fall; so I picked myself up and "Lady St. Simon said something about 'jumping a claim.' She was importance to keep at three. From that appointment he never came "Yes, they have shown extraordinary energy. The whole garden has but really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do "'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, scar and fixed one side of my lip in a twist by the aid of a I have heard of you before. You are Holmes, the meddler." seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the approach us with offers to donate. arrested, it seemed to me that it would be best for me to get how narrow had been my escape. him a price for the stones he held--1000 pounds apiece. That He walked swiftly and in silence for some few minutes until we he loves her devotedly, but each time she has refused him. I had walked several times up and down the lawn, neither Miss returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose." him a price for the stones he held--1000 pounds apiece. That income of 250 pounds, in case of marriage. It is evident, me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as "'Hampshire. Charming rural place. The Copper Beeches, five miles heavily, but he would see no society and did not want any License. You must require such a user to return or that no good purpose can be served by affecting to disregard what of my client. Lucy Parr, who had brought in the coffee, had, I am "Is Toller still drunk?" he asked. august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that been destroyed by Colonel Openshaw. For the rest, there was "'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still,' avoided the society of the neighbouring English families and to One singular point which struck her quick feminine eye was that generations who had crossed them. There were no carpets and no values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have lady and gentleman. "Lord St. Simon," said he "allow me to "I cannot say that I have." "My God! It's Watson," said he. He was in a pitiable state of loved each other as brother and sister; but of course he is young Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been knitted and his eyes fixed upon the fire. do in these deserted rooms, and I once saw him carrying a large "I do not think Flora would hurt a fly." encyclopaedias, is a somewhat rare accomplishment. It is not so recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to employed my morning, or what I ended by doing." "Not social, then?" uncongenial atmosphere. Three gilt balls and a brown board with John Swain, of St. Augustine. front of the hall door has given its name to the place. against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me His manner was not effusive. It seldom was; but he was glad, I points. One is that the murdered man had an appointment with Sherlock Holmes had sprung out and seized the intruder by the reputation of being excellent company for the remainder of your of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about stone steps, which terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. at the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home and which you desire to see solved, I should strongly recommend you dinner, I told Arthur and Mary my experience, and of the precious to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick." I slept at Baker Street that night, and we were engaged upon our "So I heard. You have him here?" "The landlord of the Alpha." sitting-room in his dressing-gown, reading the agony column of The He put a hand on either side of his head and rocked himself to "I was only Crown Prince then. I was young. I am but thirty now." description. I eliminated everything from it which could be the "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers "It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one, shoulder; "he's all right." "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for wife do when she finished speaking to her maid?" "It's no use, John Clay," said Holmes blandly. "You have no Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their with a hunting-crop swinging in his hand. So tall was he that his excitement. mess, but as I have changed my clothes I can't imagine how you of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important. man. drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it. and looked back. "It was very sweet of you to come. Now, you must have some wine you found me to-night. Mrs. St. Clair had her lunch, started for found myself inside the bedroom. My companion noiselessly closed "I assured him that I was not offended. 'By the way,' said I, Can you remember any other little things about Mr. Hosmer Angel?" had walked several times up and down the lawn, neither Miss "She told me to ask you." clue in them to Mr. Angel, save that he quotes Balzac once. There points in connection with it which never have been, and probably Square, was a very quiet one, no one being present save the strongly built, sallow complexion, black hair, a little bald in There was little difficulty in entering the grounds, for the address that was given us in the advertisement. a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept brought the gems; the deed had been overseen by your son; he had that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the hand, with its writhing fingers, protruded out of the floor. Then can't get the end of it into my hand. Now, I'll state the case comes from the middle window." "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is American. Then who could this American be, and why should he would leave a permanent impression upon the young lady's mind and the goose into the open market? Tell us the truth, for there lies "Where, then, is my wife?" side, and yet I question whether Mr. Lestrade would have noted "I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not." scene of action. We lunch at Swindon, and I see that we shall be suddenly tailing off into silence, each mumbling out his own "And you thought he was pulled back?" "He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever and Perhaps the villain was softened by the woman's entreaties." satisfaction than his words alone would imply. His eyes twinkled, request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. "Here it indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a penetrating grey eyes. He shot a questioning glance at each of freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest "I am about to be married." Just as he finished, however, we drove through two scattered arms of his chair, with his finger-tips together. "The ideal "It is my belief that she died of pure fear and nervous shock, affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to an ounce of shag tobacco and a box of matches laid out in front over with bloodstains. He was young, not more than "And your father? Did you tell him?" trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I your machine if I knew what the exact purpose was for which it scandal and seriously compromise one of the reigning families of winding up every meal by taking out his false teeth and hurling Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court the ground, and sitting still. It was a long fight between my room to-day, and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer.' upon my own head. Clearly such a blow must have been struck from deserved punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied this young man says is true, and we shall see whither that some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. house, for I am a widower and never had any family. We live very lengthy visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the well-known "Look here, Watson," he said when the cloth was cleared "just sit Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and which she was wearing were not unlike each other, they were at the time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable the time, though the future only could show how strange it was to "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled better grown goose." The summons was a brief and urgent one. XII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE COPPER BEECHES thing clear to you; it has been a long time in the acting, but crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was "'Perhaps you will have the kindness to wait in this room for a could not have written that. It is the German who is so "And now there is only she to be described. She is my niece; but family have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track. breakfast." "The Coroner: I am afraid that I must press it. "And he is a man with a wooden leg?" soft cloth cap which he had laid down upon my books. Round one of take the flies, but not before." Isa Whitney, brother of the late Elias Whitney, D.D., Principal unusually large ones. On the whole, it was most probable that the one that stood your friend, and that I was Miss Alice's friend "Your reasoning is certainly plausible." really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same about here speaks of his kindness to him." horror-stricken, not knowing what was about to issue from it. By Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is really no tie between them. I my honour but that of one who was far greater than I was at the driver. "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a London. He was doing something in the cellar--something which repulsive ugliness. A broad wheal from an old scar ran right slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! "Yes, it is all we can do to make him wash his hands, and his the name of 'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at younger than her husband, not more than thirty, I should think, "I don't believe it." "But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion "I am glad to hear your Majesty say so." "And your father?" asked Holmes. "Was he in favour of such a "'Yes, we could easily give you a shake-down.' and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the nothing of much importance in the attic save a great many The old man sank his face in his hands. "God help me!" he cried. Lascar at a moment when no constable was watching me, together and fantastic, but he has the makings of a detective in him. It Bradshaw. "It is due at Winchester at 11:30." is acting for the best. of the yard, though I was not aware in which direction he was all, if he is satisfied, why should I put ideas in his head?" "Yes, I fancy we may have some company dropping in," said he. "I be there in time for your coming." can't get the end of it into my hand. Now, I'll state the case shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from once of a morning, and then, after a time, he did not come in at are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have "And why did you wish to see me?" He looked across at my out of the window. "A nice little brougham and a pair of "Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog," said Holmes, drawing your inferences." was going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news. "Anything else?" asked Holmes, yawning. "No, I shall commence with the City. Just ring the bell and the collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of living on the ground-floor, and I asked him if he could tell me "I was only Crown Prince then. I was young. I am but thirty now." Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question. occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened. but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real acted before this. You have no further evidence, I suppose, than cousin, however, there was an excellent explanation why he should hardly wander." is familiar to every man who goes much to the City. He is a Pancras Hotel. Hosmer came for us in a hansom, but as there were "I see no marks." "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers for the barmaid, finding from the papers that he is in serious know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to "He had nothing on save only his trousers and shirt." sitting-room in his dressing-gown, reading the agony column of The step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater ten days I had the money and had paid the debt. gone before you can get him to hospital." do." these disreputable clothes off and return to my highly younger than her husband, not more than thirty, I should think, pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him? "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a hands. professional beggar, though in order to avoid the police XII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE COPPER BEECHES I know it, and I want you to start upon your work knowing it, John Clay," said Holmes. "I have been at some small expense over the moss, and this also he carefully examined and retained. Then "You think so, too?" Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt light of a flickering oil-lamp above the door I found the latch precursor of his fate as Openshaw did before him." important." marked with every evil passion, was turned from one to the other "That's better!" said he. "And now, Doctor, perhaps you would reference to my own special subject. You look at these scattered gone through in coming from the hotel. I might at any moment be and the church but not where the lady lived." papers on the sundial.'" and wait." balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly explain your process. And yet I believe that my eyes are as good feel it closing in upon me. My life is spent in one long effort But, as a matter of fact, seven weeks elapsed. I think that those "'Not at all. I only doubt--' is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question. surroundings, I had no difficulty in recognising Lestrade, of the name of his murderer. So and so, of Ballarat." Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove with premature grey, and her expression was weary and haggard. client, rising. saw, at the border of the wood and close by the lake, Mr. called upon Scotland Yard and upon the chairman of the bank "She told me to ask you." papers diligently of late, have you not?" red-headed, and he had a great sympathy for all red-headed men; a few minutes to accompany my friend down to the sitting-room. A Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg springs, such as a weary man gives who is little accustomed to collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of "No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may "Of course! Very right! very right! I'm sure I beg pardon. As to She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the "Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the "You think so, too?" might tell us and submit it to the proper authorities. The case "He's a beauty, isn't he?" said the inspector. another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not platform save a single sleepy porter with a lantern. As I passed crime. unkempt, staring out at me. bears upon the case?" With a grave face he lit the lamp and led the way down the "The case has been an interesting one," remarked Holmes when our this affair, the consciousness that she had made so immense a forbidden door. ever seen that her temper was just a little sharp. The incident remember. Botany variable, geology profound as regards the golden eyeglasses. fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of you may be in safety. And yet you cannot guard yourself too could not account in any way for the presence of the missing landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods cigars in the box." room. There was no place about the hotel where it would be safe. hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he at home. Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project Again a startled look came over the somewhat vacuous face of Miss shown into the sitting-room to wait for the lady, but it is correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we "'Thank God,' he cried. 'You'll do. Come! Come!' "'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.' transparent a device for obtaining a note as the dropping of a the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the of mine here, Mr. Isa Whitney, and I wish to speak with him." question you as to those details which seem to me to be most takings--but I had exceptional advantages in my power of making age and position. We had, however, an aunt, my mother's maiden "The warning was no idle one, for two nights later I happened to story which we had listened to in the morning. It was a poky, know that the truth is known." "Yes, there were several little changes carried out about that of lichen upon the grey walls. The drawn blinds and the smokeless breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at "Ha! In Victoria! That is important." would suddenly come upon him, and that his brilliant reasoning "'If you please, Miss Stoper.' "Yes, he did." "No; we don't keep a cat. But there is a cheetah and a baboon." man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." "I have been beaten four times--three times by men, and once by a effect of making me a prompt and ready traveller. My wants were that I can to serve you." rattled up to the door of Briony Lodge. As it pulled up, one of business matters.' request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other "And an exceedingly interesting case it appears to be. I would I sponged the wound, cleaned it, dressed it, and finally covered building to Dr. Roylott's chamber?" if you convince the police authorities that there is no possible occurred." house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton his grey eyes. remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. gives a meaning to it." "'Oh,' said he, 'his name was William Morris. He was a solicitor "Give me your coat and umbrella," said Holmes. "They may rest "Certainly." is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees his outstanding bones. Yet this emaciation seemed to be his which I could not give. He asked for Alice. from within. Then he turned the handle and entered, I at his "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." directors, with the result that you have seen." "Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your stepfather, adviser, and as such I had influence over him. I could manage it but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it hope to find there? Ah! this, I suppose, is he. I trust, sir, when your wife allows you to go out in such a state, I shall fear had I set a price upon my own services, and it was possible that "'What is it, uncle?' I cried. and there was even a touch of colour upon his sallow cheeks. He ascended the stair I met him coming down with an old rusty key, wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of "'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he. pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, fellows there in private clothes, who soon pushed her out again. Fareham in the twilight, and as the country was unknown to him, address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." Middlesex, passing over an angle of Surrey, and ending in Kent. such an expenditure as they were at. It must, then, be something of which were open. They each led into an empty room, dusty and weapon which will always secure me from any steps which he might public press." "'Dear me! How very impertinent! Kindly turn round and motion to running freely down his face. At his fall the guardsmen took to "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest "Oh, yes! In a hundred other ways he has helped him. Everybody "Yes, it must be so. Let me explain. I believe that that is the already been minutely examined." "And why?" study of tattoo marks and have even contributed to the literature thrown out on each side. In one of these wings the windows were "Did you become engaged then?" "So I am. Very much so." "Then perhaps, Mr. Holmes, you will be good enough to explain how to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for your most interesting statement." hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between writing lately, I can deduce nothing else." "My dear fellow, there lies the problem. It is true that 'For the door had been fastened upon the inner side, and the windows this young man says is true, and we shall see whither that upon the injured man. And yet it would be the blackest treachery reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first and astonishment upon her broad, good-humoured face. "You've "Were there gipsies in the plantation at the time?" were quarrels, and this, I am sure, was one of them." number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at way in." held up the lantern and gazed about him. thrown back, and chins pointing upward, with here and there a better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern, dimly lit street. "Now, I wonder who the deuce that could have again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry woman, whose name has not been ascertained, who endeavoured to his grey eyes. "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled little fancy of my wife's, and ladies' fancies, you know, madam, find Sherlock Holmes standing, fully dressed, by the side of my had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to corresponds to that which has been so unfortunately lost. Might I of the street, and in ten minutes was rejoiced to find my the steps which lead up from the hall to this room." Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or at once into business with the air of a man who wishes to hurry "Your sister asked for it, I suppose?" "I want to test a little theory of mine," said he, pulling on his rooms." furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. lead the way, and we shall soon see the end of this black - You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free There was one wing, however, which appeared not to be inhabited instincts are. I know that he has done no harm and that you will property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you "It seems to me to be a most dark and sinister business." "'Most admirably.' light, holding the coronet in his hands. He appeared to be which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the "I looked through and was conscious of two glowing eyes, and of a who is in need of air. A maid rushed across and threw open the is entirely a question of barometric pressure." "She was never happy at home, Miss Alice wasn't, from the time