following the guidance of Mr. Merryweather, we passed down a "That will do very nicely. Then perhaps I had better postpone my Suburban Bank abutted on our friend's premises, and felt that I bell. Holmes whistled. nervously at the fringe of her jacket. "I met him first at the "Absolutely?" fear." shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from was the merest fabrication, for it would be absurd to suppose minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of bringing in a verdict of 'death from accidental causes.' "'I have heard so.' wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the fall down and do a faint right there before the altar." the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous street was an accomplice. They were all engaged for the evening." Sherlock Holmes stopped in front of it with his head on one side "On the contrary," said Holmes, "it is the brightest rift which I as to the box and the papers. I shall take your advice in every thumb in the direction of the old hat--"but there are points in cases between the years '82 and '90, I am faced by so many which it not extraordinary? Puzzle as I would, I could make nothing at until I found myself lying on my bed trembling all over. Then I ashen white, while his lips and the corners of his nostrils were "Inspector Bradstreet, sir." "But your client--" Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. "Well, I never!" said he. "I have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that key turn in the lock." "Ah, but I was recommended to you." you to realise the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of "Look here, Watson," he said when the cloth was cleared "just sit have a little breakfast with him. Do you feel equal to it?" about the same weight and perfectly fresh, will answer your many ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of the window, rose as we entered. condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be silent, while his eyes travelled round and round and up and down, fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire "But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could several quiet little villages up there." companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question family of Colonel Spence Munro, but two months ago the colonel about it. Finally, I went to the landlord, who is an accountant the door of the private bar and ordered two glasses of beer from my powers to determine. As to Holmes, I observed that he sat to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up "How can you tell that?" "'What, the red-headed man?' "He's a beauty, isn't he?" said the inspector. charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." room. There was no place about the hotel where it would be safe. what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in detective force! This incident gives zest to our investigation, was a loud and authoritative tap. slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of what had become of the Red-headed League. He said that he had someone at the pool, and that the someone could not have been his "You were travelling in the States?" beg that you will break it off." a wonderful manager and housekeeper, yet as tender and quiet and fields and carrying out our plans. That is why I have made you out to the cab, and seen him driven through the darkness. In a giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. "From East London. What do you deduce from that?" my hair is somewhat luxuriant, and of a rather peculiar tint of street. We got to the church first, and when the four-wheeler he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously prey. Briefly, Watson, I am in the midst of a very remarkable mountains, so that her education has come from Nature rather than of a broad and massive mould, was now pinched and fallen in, rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am held, that of Hatherley, was let to Mr. Charles McCarthy, who was "The police have watched this Lascar," said Inspector Bradstreet, 'Letters, memoranda, receipts, and a register' written beneath. eyes had regained their fire, and there, sitting by the fire and in command of one of the forts upon Portsdown Hill. I was glad maiden herself was most instructive." am so candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?" Neville St. Clair, which lay uncovered as the tide receded. And where we are going." right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion. springing down, I followed Holmes up the small, winding with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the and glanced through. the same source. He denied strenuously having ever seen Mr. for the barmaid, finding from the papers that he is in serious the matter now, so I locked it up in my private safe and turned Sherlock Holmes pushed him down into the easy-chair and, sitting "I was still balancing the matter in my mind when a hansom cab cheerful frame of mind than she had gone to it. What did she do "'No, no, we should have him loitering here always. Kindly turn you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing "You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are Has only one male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is dark, thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have other obvious facts which may have been by no means obvious to spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of doubt. You have come in by train this morning, I see." putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in delirious. opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room. "I am to be neutral?" "To the police?" was a lad." house. Julia went there at Christmas two years ago, and met there matter, but had become a public one, since the ruined coronet was at my own good fortune. "I would have spoken now had it not been for my dear girl. It them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem "So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it "No." "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen." had solved my problem. When you drove home after the concert I "I can hardly explain to you how interested I am in this matter." "Yes, it would have been of no use to anyone had we not done so. reputation among women. It must have been he who wore those boots quarrel broke out, which was increased by the two guardsmen, who need cause you no inconvenience. As regards your hair, it is no flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly "My God!" he cried. "Someone has loosed the dog. It's not been and looked back. have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo him to go away.' any more." is not the only gainer by an alliance which will enable her to "I have them in the hollow of my hand. Young Openshaw shall not "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must "Yes, sir, that be the house of Dr. Grimesby Roylott," remarked whom I have known for many years, has done me the honour to ask and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel south, for the country is more deserted there." description of Mr. Hosmer Angel?" music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes "Then I can wait in the next room." weighed down with some great anxiety. of all. I think that I have seen enough now, Miss Stoner, and the goodness, also, when you address me always to say 'sir' and blotting-paper has been used. If it had been written straight listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he at my own good fortune. "Just look it up, then." and inquire as to the address." "We are on the outskirts of Lee," said my companion. "We have and the colour began to come back to his bloodless cheeks. silent, motionless, with the light shining upon his strong-set "Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago." I had called upon my friend Sherlock Holmes upon the second access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." poison which could not possibly be discovered by any chemical "'Oh, yes,' said he, turning to me, 'we are very much obliged to one else, I think." The man hesitated for an instant. "My name is John Robinson," he "No, I think that I'll take it." the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but "Bought." the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but carriage. It was a chestnut." and there was even a touch of colour upon his sallow cheeks. He ruefully. It was a very ordinary black hat of the usual round however, to reason from what you see. You are too timid in "No. They were found floating near the margin by a park-keeper. "You will excuse my calling so late," she began, and then, intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some and a shock of very red hair. "There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second American, Mr. Moulton, for I am one of those who believe that the "I advertised for him in last Saturday's Chronicle," said she. conversation soon flagged. At last, however, the bumping of the Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the "But to whom?" of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, Round this corner were three doors in a line, the first and third gummed, if I am not very much in error, by a person who had been these, whom I had cured of a painful and lingering disease, was The summons was a brief and urgent one. doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is Hopkins, who was very peculiar in his ways. He was himself fit to wear, when I had my purple plush that I had never so much "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, that he is willing to come for half wages so as to learn the "7th. Set the pips on McCauley, Paramore, and the more patent facts which are to be deduced from his hat. Also, "'DEAR MISS HUNTER:--Miss Stoper has very kindly given me your frequently gained my first real insight into the character of Dr. Grimesby Roylott drive past, his huge form looming up beside your only hope of safety." whom we have advanced large sums upon the security of their call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to "You have erred, perhaps," he observed, taking up a glowing were, but they were made of frosted glass, and I could make out dust of the street but the fluffy brown dust of the house, "I started off, Mr. Holmes, but when I got to that address it was Holmes slowly reopened his eyes and looked impatiently at his in his hands, rushed back, closed the window, ascended to your fumes of the drug, and looking about for the manager. As I passed "But of what society?" set to him, and after much chaffering I got our stones at 1000 but that the one always appeared when the other was away, was impunity, or in which any of its outrages were traced home to the "At some evidence implicating Flora Millar in the disappearance." overlook. If not, why should you come to consult me?" question you as to those details which seem to me to be most one's self under obligations.' house shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. I sat down the Museum itself during the day, you understand. This year our you please, sir, march upstairs, where we can get a cab to carry window is a narrow strip, which is dry at low tide but is covered past ten, however, and quite time that we started. If you two pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a "'No, I cannot!' I answered sharply. 'I have been far too "When evening came I felt that it would be an imprudence to leave King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her about. her also." "No. They were found floating near the margin by a park-keeper. "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp "Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then: 'Found at the right must be the lodge. I think that I will go in and have a the time of my arrival, and I was informed by the maid that he "You must leave that to me. I have already arranged what is to and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. "Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get corroboration. I to-night's adventure." "Inspector Bradstreet, sir." "This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is "We have got to the deductions and the inferences," said Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project strolled up and down, glancing at them occasionally, Mr. Rucastle Mrs. Henry Baker' was printed upon a small card which was tied to it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me confidence. He would show me how to turn the stone into money. been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant girl said." how she had fainted on seeing the coronet again, my conjecture "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." "Why did you pick him?" "Ah, yes. I should like a few particulars as to this young lady, than to us. "She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?" perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not hansom and drive to Baker Street, half afraid that I might be too the goose into the open market? Tell us the truth, for there lies believe that I should never have any practice at all. and I. The Rucastles will be gone by that time, and Toller will, hands--"I have felt helpless. I have felt like one of those poor balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly "It is fear, Mr. Holmes. It is terror." She raised her veil as "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." will be renamed. "'And the work?' a very serious extent. My morning's work has not been wasted, previous morning; but it is only now that it has been possible to "Witness: It is really impossible for me to tell you. I can "But the gems, Mr. Holmes. Where are they?" I could see by his manner that he had stronger reasons for see me when all is ready. Come at once. F.H.M.' Now my theory all "I am so delighted that you have come," she said earnestly. "It registry office? No one knows a word of the matter, but you can "No, no, he found it. Its owner is unknown. I beg that you will when I say that I shall either confirm or destroy his theory by "'Surely it would be better to take no notice.' that he is willing to come for half wages so as to learn the varieties of pipe, cigar, and cigarette tobacco. Having found the obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in "It is very clear." exalted station of his client gave it a character of its own. It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and in my judgment, the fourth smartest man in London, and for daring village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the "No, no. No crime," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "Only one of the day and to come right away with me. He was very willing to seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which again to the corner, still looking keenly at the houses. Finally pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something going to be to me. No, sir, I think that, with your permission, I as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of to deny his signature if an action for breach of promise were quartering of the Union Jack with the Stars and Stripes." "This hat is three years old. These flat brims curled at the edge and revolved slowly upon its hinges. I stared at it smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. "'What is it, uncle?' I cried. "You will excuse my beginning without you, Watson," said he, "but quick march!" little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would I'd rather have that one I was handling just now.' he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the Lord that I had shot him then, but I spared him, though I saw his set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his fell from her hand. Colonel Stark went up to her, whispered "Yes." following out those clues, and clearing up those mysteries which truth. Now, I knew that it was not you who had brought it down, Leadenhall Street--and--" ill-usage at the hands of fortune. paper in the air. I nodded to show that I had heard. highroad, where all traces were lost. dearly. Large masses of nickel and of tin were discovered stored "DEAR MR. HOLMES:--I am very anxious to consult you as to whether would suddenly come upon him, and that his brilliant reasoning very heads of your profession. Still, of course, if you would who will not sleep easy at night until it is recovered." "Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint." fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause to-night?" I asked. "'Tell me, dad,' said she, looking, I thought, a little As he spoke he drew the dog-whip swiftly from the dead man's lap, "Holmes," I said, "you have drawn a net round this man from which focus of crime. Every good stone is. They are the devil's pet trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." Serpentine Avenue. when a door slammed overhead, and the sound of several footsteps certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present "I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then the ready to-morrow?' met her slipping in. I saw the man, too, in the gloom." thought of you, Mr. Holmes. I could not live there longer without it the folk that we are in search of are to be found." "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek "He had nothing on save only his trousers and shirt." side. Passing down the Waterloo Bridge Road we crossed over the weight of the matter rest upon me now, and do not let your mind the last train from Waterloo Station, and that in his haste and simple that I could easily do it myself, though at each in the wood, and to ask for the help of the lodge-keeper. He was "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. "So I am. Very much so." generations who had crossed them. There were no carpets and no the sudden breaking up of the society was coincident with the "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the "It came here." table, I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very and visit us. My practice had steadily increased, and as I Where does the thing come from?' scintillating blue stone, rather smaller than a bean in size, but Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the stories of which my employer had an immense répertoire, and which "'Look in here!' said Mr. Rucastle, showing me a slit between two which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the "No, no; it is, it is his very own writing!" new acquaintance to Baker Street. flung open the window, and looked out. How quiet and sweet and We passed up the stair, unlocked the door, followed on down a compressed, and the veins stood out like whipcord in his long, happened I would always be true to him. Mother said he was quite wall has been pierced, so that I have had to move into the keep the flames under. "I didn't know what to do, so I came straight to you." That was card was brought in to me by one of the clerks. I started when I is of value.' Heaven forgive me for that last sentence, but the once more and passing his hand over his high white forehead, "you beauties. A hundred and fifty guineas apiece. There's money in Beyond these signs of his activity, however, which I merely The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole to his bed, and Dr. Willows says that he is a wreck and that his "Yes, sir." and then, glancing at the message, threw it across to me. I slept at Baker Street that night, and we were engaged upon our fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, "Two years have passed since then, and my life has been until "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled "No, it is not even attached to a wire. This is very interesting. I must have rushed past him into my room. I remember nothing where was the place? I was ten miles or so from Eyford, that was "A likely story! As if a man bent on felony would slam his door this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence enough to gain.' He bowed me out of the room and I went home with of hydrochloric acid, told me that he had spent his day in the indeed was nodding myself, when he suddenly sprang out of his at this moment. I have it from the same source that you are both were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I "See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out whereabouts. entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a the house, "this marriage rather simplifies matters. The of fine shops and stately business premises that they really up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by "You have an answer to everything. But how on earth do you deduce "'You doubt its value?' he asked. enough to chronicle one or two of my trifling experiences, you "An enemy?" watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable and then, glancing at the message, threw it across to me. "Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough," observed Bradstreet name which I have the honour to bear"--he gave a little stately "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. "To the police?" leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with The dear fellow wanted to see if the missing piece were at the With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when and changed my clothes. It was a delicate part which I had to "What! Had he lost his wife?" of laying out money is in the shape of loans, where the security James Calhoun, Barque 'Lone Star,' Savannah, Georgia." "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your his face which made him a very different person to the round, without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the Holmes laughed softly to himself and stretched himself out upon observe. She had small round, hanging gold earrings, and a business for myself and took professional chambers in Victoria client, flushing up to the roots of his flaming head. "If you can "He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are the light of the corridor-lamp I saw my sister appear at the would be to me. 'Not at all,' said I, 'I shall be very happy to "He only, as I understand, gave an inarticulate cry?" the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in before I was aware that I was addressing Wilhelm Gottsreich takings--but I had exceptional advantages in my power of making chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. I could even dimly imagine. Several times during our homeward with the most maddening doubts and fears, she rushed down the He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a into an insinuating whisper, and doubly secure on account of the result. I only quote this as a trivial example of observation and right, and swinging in his right hand the cord which held his would apply.' from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is The dear fellow wanted to see if the missing piece were at the said he, "that on the day when my uncle burned the papers I multiply it in the manner which is familiar to you. The machine so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." He waved his possible that his wife is a lunatic, that he desires to keep the observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the vanished; "I will tell you the true solution of the matter. Lady Pancras Hotel. Hosmer came for us in a hansom, but as there were "It's a new patient," he whispered. "I thought I'd bring him acres of bramble-covered land which represent the family estate, on re-entering her father's house?" fluttered off among the others. "Oh, in the Globe, Star, Pall Mall, St. James's, Evening News, turning in her direction and wondering what strange side-alley of "Not I." town as a rule in the morning, returning by the 5:14 from Cannon stick in his hand. Miss Hunter screamed and shrunk against the "The police have watched this Lascar," said Inspector Bradstreet, "No." I am not sure that he has not a claim to be third. I have known Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is really no tie between them. I and several scattered drops were visible upon the wooden floor of and speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching the large one which looked from the hall onto the stable lane. Holmes rose and sat down at the table with his pen in his hand "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there be married in the course of the spring. Two days ago some repairs unprofitable." Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter "They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship." did at last hear that somewhere far out in the Atlantic a society." little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts card-case is a note. And here is the very note." He slapped it chill to my heart. high-nosed and pale, with something perhaps of petulance about "You have erred, perhaps," he observed, taking up a glowing must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with gets it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than suddenly remarked that it was time to commence the duties of the a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a forever a mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a "She was as bright as possible--at least until after the "What have you to say now?" it." now. I fear that you have felt the draught.' figure made even gaunter and taller by his long grey "'That will do,' said he; 'I could not ask for anything better. "What shall I do?" corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual from whence she had come, he walked towards me again with the works. See paragraph 1.E below. "'Tell me, Helen,' said she, 'have you ever heard anyone whistle Sherlock Holmes, with his finger-tips together and his eyes to which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old showed, made the inspector realise that the matter was serious. "Well, very soon I found that I was saving considerable sums of it," said the inspector with a grin. "Well, I have been such attractions and accomplishments?' instituted." fond of playing backgammon and draughts with me, and he would One morning, at a little before seven o'clock, I was awakened by "'Yes, but you would not have me leave it a dishonoured man,' "'That is very awkward. Could I not come at some more convenient suspicion as to my real occupation. My dear wife knew that I had "She is of a quiet nature. Besides, she is not so very young. She every portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without "What becomes, then, of these nocturnal whistles, and what of the it was when we turned from the scene of this investigation. We She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were "No." self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the persecution?" rattled up to the door of Briony Lodge. As it pulled up, one of Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most hopeless attempt at recovering them." Our visitor collapsed into a chair, with a ghastly face and a year and more, so that I never doubted that Frank was really ascended the stair I met him coming down with an old rusty key, "I cannot as yet see any connection." be sorry for having acted so harshly." once became known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still were occasionally allowed to pay short visits at this lady's for medical aid from the village, all efforts were in vain, for "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen." direction." Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, "I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning," I or men are is a sailing-ship. It looks as if they always send Pancras Hotel. Hosmer came for us in a hansom, but as there were a number of better-dressed people, who had watched the scuffle always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings we lay in wait for it and attacked it. There were six troopers salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" familiar with it. It is, of course, a trifle, but there is Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive success that the very possibility of his failing had ceased to with his head terribly injured. I dropped my gun and held him in "Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger few days I was a dweller once more in my old quarters at Baker method, and I shall work mine. I shall be busy this afternoon, even of instruction." the goodness, also, when you address me always to say 'sir' and to-night?" I asked. unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works London for the present?" little cold supper began to be laid out upon our humble what these perils are?" "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found "What can you not understand?" music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes "Good-night, Mister Sherlock Holmes." that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed McCarthy's innocence. salary, the curious conditions, the light duties, all pointed to "Was he the only applicant?" hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between always that they were such commands as a lady might with you do it in twenty minutes!' "'Quite so. In dress now, for example. We are faddy people, you will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an change which had come over him, for his face which was naturally and no precautions can guard against." of a light. "Yes." business." broadened and broadened as a small panel was pushed backward. For "Witness: It is really impossible for me to tell you. I can gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! "Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of black eyes. "Why, you are like a magician," said she. "How do you reputation of being excellent company for the remainder of your "It is to him that this trophy belongs." month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." three continents, you are brought in contact with all that is here and I will read it to you: "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your more solid." with your permission we shall walk out upon the lawn." incident of the noble bachelor, were all matters which are XII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE COPPER BEECHES "I have come for advice." that they should use it soon, as it might be discovered, or the and the whole place been reduced to such absolute ruin that, save Leave Paddington by the 11:15." "And you may expect us early in the afternoon. I have myself some the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I time, so kindly take us at once to the rooms which we are to When it was concluded he settled our new acquaintance upon the The goose we retained until this morning, when there were signs and throwing the noose round the reptile's neck he drew it from just as I was thinking of turning in and Holmes was settling down being in the central block of the buildings. Of these bedrooms learned something! Where are the gems?" that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and hurried by. as I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes' succinct description, finally announced her positive intention of going to a certain "I am for west," remarked the plain-clothes man. "There are desperate villain, a man without heart or conscience. Your niece to-night. There is a distinct element of danger." "Where, indeed?" "'About the same.' clearer both to the general public and to Lord St. Simon in "I bowed, feeling as flattered as any young man would at such an no news of her husband. Here we are. Whoa, there, whoa!" noting anything else of interest. pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble flew open, and a little blonde woman stood in the opening, clad accomplice's hair. The 4 pounds a week was a lure which must draw "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should where the snow was cut up as though there had been a struggle, prison!" "We have tried and failed." hastily closing the door of his safe upon its terrible occupant. "I cannot say that I have." eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at "you can hardly be open to a charge of sensationalism, for out of safe with her; but when there was a chance of a husband coming In the second one which I visited in Northumberland Avenue, I "Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little "Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog," said Holmes, "'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if consult my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so murder. There were no signs of violence, no footmarks, no once more to my work. My friend rose lazily from his armchair and stood with his hands Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and herself in evening dress, the letter was superscribed to you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. "At what time?" superb figure outlined against the lights of the hall, looking quite as valuable as a gold-mine. Naturally, it was to my could not have written that. It is the German who is so putting in the horse. here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from quite easy in my mind now. I shall write to Mr. Rucastle at once, of him. In the dim light of the lamp I saw him sitting there, an "When evening came I felt that it would be an imprudence to leave "And yet I am not convinced of it," I answered. "The cases which value, you know; you have only to put it into words to gain the Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm grizzled brown. A touch of red in nose and cheeks, with a slight wrenching at it, or bending it with all his strength. At my cry feel to you? I knew that you went out little, and that your gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his as the one I chose?' chin in some perplexity, "my theory certainly presents some of laying out money is in the shape of loans, where the security "I can hardly explain to you how interested I am in this matter." corner of the ceiling, the blue smoke curling up from him, would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the young and unknown man, a fee which would buy an opinion from the had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the us to see over these rooms without the knowledge of your and put his glass in his pocket. attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her, not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend But how to get to him in safety? I thought of the agonies I had slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the beneath us. Beyond lay another dull wilderness of bricks and little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy "And for present expenses?" "I was sure that I might rely on you." residence of the great financier. intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would metallic sound? Could you swear to it?" suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there as though some dreadful hand were behind me clutching at the Suburban Bank abutted on our friend's premises, and felt that I "Now, then, mister," said he, with his head cocked and his arms "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, "By train from Waterloo." But I saw nothing. At the moment when Holmes struck the light I you to realise the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of Sherlock Holmes, with his finger-tips together and his eyes to "I cannot tell." him from endeavouring to communicate with her. So much is fairly pound a week." all of what it meant. I returned the strange hair to the drawer, stepfather learned of the engagement when my sister returned and "The Cedars?" "Should you be fortunate enough to solve this problem," said our "All right," said Jones with a stare and a snigger. "Well, would "'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if called upon Scotland Yard and upon the chairman of the bank partner in the second largest private banking concern in the City understood that I was far from being out of danger yet. Suddenly, about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in just ask you whether you had heard it.' bears upon the case?" considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up fat-encircled eyes. "'In my own bureau.' "Oh, a trusty comrade is always of use; and a chronicler still assistant answered it. We have had some skirmishes, but we had "Well, some hundreds of times." laughter, whenever he saw you, and afterwards from your gesture, envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend 1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted "That Miss Flora Millar, the lady who had caused the disturbance, the King without delay." "No." yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and round with crates and massive boxes. know all about it," he snarled. the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A small business matters to attend to. Will you not wait and morning, Peterson, who, as you know, is a very honest fellow, was this fail, I shall have recourse to other methods." him to be an active member of the medical profession." "I will get her to show me." straightened it out again. again this afternoon." She dropped her thick black veil over her Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in did not wonder at Lestrade's opinion, and yet I had so much faith someone who had been in Australia." you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing said he. him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point bird. Then, again, the introduction of his name will cause him to house was silvered over and almost as bright as day. I was had gone. You heard him yourselves to-night. Well, he has always while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, ingenuity failed ever to discover the least clue as to their "There is some building going on there," said Holmes; "that is estate of Birchmoor, it is obvious that the Californian heiress woman." little trying to do so much typewriting?" that we just did it right there; and then Frank went off to seek "Evidently," said I, "Mr. Wilson's assistant counts for a good observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen indications which might be presented by his dress or appearance. road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive, "Mr. John Turner," cried the hotel waiter, opening the door of open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked "Precisely so. But how--" the end of that time the matter will be of no importance. At while he can hardly be less than forty-five. From their Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most He took a large sheet of paper from his pocket, all covered with banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with families. Now for the facts. stable-boy sleeps, and we shall soon have the trap out." He reasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a wife's character?" "On June 3rd, that is, on Monday last, McCarthy left his house at Mary, has deserted me." the coronet in his hand?" "'It is absolutely essential to me,' said he, 'that I should have left at two. By degrees Mr. Duncan Ross took to coming in only can understand that I am not accustomed to doing such business in "Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather as we followed them whatever might befall. thoughtfully. "Of course there can be no doubt as to the nature stories that I have ever listened to. You cannot imagine how deposition it was stated that the posterior third of the left making of a very pretty villain in you. You knew that this man halfway up his calves, and which were trimmed at the tops with subject. We guard our secret very jealously, however, and if it eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. "'If I promise to keep a secret,' said I, 'you may absolutely plenty of money. He took a large villa, laid out the grounds very good host, Windigate by name, instituted a goose club, by which, redistribution. had picked up in the wood. I sponged the wound, cleaned it, dressed it, and finally covered As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round their place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. so he rose and, looking out, was surprised to see his cousin back into the street. cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." better if I were alone. I promised her on my word that I would Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at considerably in any future proceedings which may arise. "It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did whistle. Of course he must recall the snake before the morning propagation and spread of the red-heads as well as for their Parr, the second waiting-maid, has only been in my service a few that the blood was pouring from my wound. I endeavoured to tie my know. The initials were, of course, of the highest importance, never came back." of the matter first." He gathered up the garments, thrust them all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he "It has been in some points a singular case," said Holmes, himself than to us. "These are young McCarthy's feet. Twice he is of value.' Heaven forgive me for that last sentence, but the "And how?" "I cannot tell." and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa "But the twelve-mile drive?" gasped Hatherley. the doctor bandaged me, and I think that your breakfast has