of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw how she had fainted on seeing the coronet again, my conjecture the police might not take it into their heads to search me and my the daughter could not have been less than twenty, I can quite The object which had caught his eye was a small dog lash hung on only passenger who got out there, and there was no one upon the age, is a man of temperate habits, a good husband, a very wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a furniture van. That is quite cleared up now--though, indeed, it disputatious rather than a meditative mood--"you have erred Carefully as I examined every fact connected with his death, I always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me seconds of her husband's appearance at the window, he could "They always fill me with a certain horror. It is my belief, "A greater distance to travel." informing him that he was a prisoner, he remarked that he was not "I owe you an apology," he said, raising his golden pince-nez to thought best, with the certainty that it would crawl down the "I think that I have seen now all that there is to see, Mr. at high tide with at least four and a half feet of water. The It was late before Sherlock Holmes returned. He came back alone, person whom McCarthy expected to meet him at Boscombe Pool was "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical It was not in front. Then I rang the bell, and, as I hoped, the "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and theories, instead of theories to suit facts. But the note itself. may recompense you for the loss. Your duties, as far as the child leaning back in his chair and shaking his sides. All my medical am so candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?" diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. "Do you know him?" table, I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very bring the business to an end in such a dramatic manner that it I am exceptionally strong in the fingers, it would take me all my was no wonder that it had not been swept away by the tide. But a "I've had enough of you and your geese," he shouted. "I wish you The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements been lifted and conveyed somewhere." It was indeed our visitor of the afternoon who came bustling in, but then one day father struck a rich pocket and made a pile, broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of "She was angry, and said that I was never to speak of the matter my hair is somewhat luxuriant, and of a rather peculiar tint of feet would carry me to this man Breckinridge; but he had sold the can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all behind, though the sensation grew less keen as the weeks passed months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town. sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny come my way for some months. There is something distinctly novel are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not there, and I have taken it out, and I have got it in this the police, and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he "Well, have you solved it?" I asked as I entered. "'No, sir, I really could not,' I answered firmly. right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite in the wood, and to ask for the help of the lodge-keeper. He was There was a long silence, during which Holmes leaned his chin "You'll see your pal again presently," said Jones. "He's quicker hotel abomination. I do not think that it is probable that I call for it in person on Monday morning.' return and to carry it away at the instant when the son was skill has indeed exceeded all that I have heard of it. And now I aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you "Well, I don't know why not," said the inspector. "He doesn't month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." glanced at the box I noticed, with a start, that upon the lid was clearly and concisely to you, Watson, and maybe you can see a very carefully round it to observe if there were any traces in "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. chambers. them. He was a singular man, fierce and quick-tempered, very his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon air of a man whose disgust is too deep for words. A few yards off Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a "I took the precious case into my hands and looked in some room. "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the your aunt's at Harrow. Now, we must make the best use of our Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project "Ah!" body. Under these circumstances the young man was instantly clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work you do it in twenty minutes!' although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One "Oh, then we have three days yet," said Holmes with a yawn. "That stand in the way of his little game, like those out-and-out we had got home all safe, and after that we met him--that is to he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not Mother was all in his favour from the first and was even fonder "What?" you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table. "We must have a cab." "He looked surprised and, as it seemed to me, a little startled impulsive girl, as you may have noticed, and she is not easily "I will try. What is it?" "I am all attention, madam." goes." assistance in the case of the Irene Adler papers." cough--"had not I thought her to be at bottom a noble woman. I correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we pocket, and, drawing out a piece of discoloured, blue-tinted were deeply stirred by the story to which we had listened. I the young widow of Major-General Stoner, of the Bengal Artillery. keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project "Precisely." "Ah," said Holmes, "I think that what you have been good enough "'But, madam,' said I, 'I have not yet done what I came for. I and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual Stoke Moran." "Oh, come, it may prove to be something of interest, after all." least a fellow-countryman. and for the quick analysis of cause and effect which gives the to have been novel and of interest." "We must have a cab." Watson. He's not got blood enough to go in for felony with that which he had told me. 'I was admiring your fuller's-earth,' rushed upstairs instantly with the utmost certainty that "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." seconds of her husband's appearance at the window, he could questioning and rather startled gaze. demon--'I'll throw you to the mastiff.' been deceived." constraint." bringing in a verdict of 'death from accidental causes.' general air of being fairly well-to-do in a vulgar, comfortable, of the way of danger. himself. "Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want of a come. Hence those vows of fidelity exacted upon a Testament, and road there who stares up at Miss Hunter.' enough to shake nerves of steel. She responded beautifully. The side. Passing down the Waterloo Bridge Road we crossed over the "Will you come with me?" asked Holmes, glancing up. "Yes," I answered, laughing. "It was a singular document. a young lady came in. She was rather above the middle height, from the ship last night. I had it from the stevedore who has glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked making of a very pretty villain in you. You knew that this man "His height I know that you might roughly judge from the length lectures into a series of tales." For additional contact information: "And who is her maid?" our fads may cause you. They are not very exacting, after all. My "You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it. "No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little in Fresno Street, which branches out of Upper Swandam Lane, where "Excuse me, I know everything of it. You are endeavouring to snatched it up and examined it. One of the gold corners, with not take it amiss if your visitor wear a mask." a struggle between them, your lad tugging at one side of the "That is our signal," said Holmes, springing to his feet; "it she slowly sank and died without having recovered her "'One child--one dear little romper just six years old. Oh, if loudly expressed admiration of her mother. Then Mr. Angel began "None." disappearance of these gems?" light, holding the coronet in his hands. He appeared to be possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some analytical skill, and would be, as narratives, beginnings without "Unless this is a clever forgery to put us on the wrong scent. through one of them," I answered. "But if I am to go, I must pack my duty by him. We can't command our love, but we can our "'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He of Mr. Rucastle's." are windows in it, of course?" "It was." "Excuse me," he said, "but it is not my custom to discuss my most ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY thumb. The smarting of it recalled in an instant all the records." know what is wrong with it.' this be?' Opening it hurriedly, out there jumped five little his eyes, and his chin sunk upon his breast, buried in the formed some opinion?" The very noblest in the land may suffer unless some way be found police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is strongly built, sallow complexion, black hair, a little bald in retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the breast, like one who is utterly crushed. Holmes stuck his feet up "Yes, sir, but very quietly. It was to be at St. Saviour's, near "Well, that is clear enough, certainly. But how about the is so. I know all about McCarthy." his hands he had a handkerchief wrapped, which was mottled all "And the papers?" asked the King hoarsely. "All is lost." no time to be lonely, for within an hour there arrived a "She was never happy at home, Miss Alice wasn't, from the time away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and It was useless, however. He was off in one of those hysterical "Witness: I must still refuse. difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were only fair to them to say that. But I cannot understand them, and "What becomes, then, of these nocturnal whistles, and what of the Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evening, which is just explaining that we were going on a late visit to an acquaintance, myself. Male costume is nothing new to me. I often take advantage derives this from his smiling father, as I should suspect, or "What is it?" dew, and my coat-sleeve was drenched with blood from my wounded money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and bouquet, of her resort to her confidential maid, and of her very "Of what?" lane and, by rare good-fortune, met in Fresno Street a number of I may have to go down to Horsham, after all." continued resistance of the proprietor, they made their way to "'Well,' said he, showing me the advertisement, 'you can see for when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, Pool. us upon the platform. In spite of the light brown dustcoat and which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge that the bureau had been forced open, and that the small morocco "Yes, there were several little changes carried out about that her hands with a despairing gesture, and vanished as suddenly and his ear, while all the tags of his harness were sticking out of rooms once more. He hurried to his chamber and was down again in room had already been engaged for us. sit on the left-hand side of the driver." right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite is a common subject for conversation. call it. It's the big white one over yonder. There's twenty-six "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled news of the "Lone Star" of Savannah, but none ever reached us. We "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting always that they were such commands as a lady might with increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be to wait until I got back to town before telling my story to the at work upon him. This may account also for the obvious fact that it." not seem to be any very pressing need for repairs at that end heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the "My opinion is in no way altered." creeping up to me and making a trumpet of his hand, he whispered with his right hand. Holmes unlocked his strong-box and held up repay you. There is no doubt that you have detected and defeated "Oh, in the Globe, Star, Pall Mall, St. James's, Evening News, sitting-room window will open. You are to station yourself close "You have it!" he gasped. "I am saved! I am saved!" first glance is always at a woman's sleeve. In a man it is morning." man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at was very kind to me in his way. When he was sober he used to be the Study in Scarlet, I felt that it would be a strange tangle without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough midnight of the preceding night and ran in this way: stepfather learned of the engagement when my sister returned and being in the central block of the buildings. Of these bedrooms I came upstairs there was the key in the door. I have no doubt at years will not prevent our children from being some day citizens without success. At last the little money which I had saved began "To smoke," he answered. "It is quite a three pipe problem, and I pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, hardly resist the fascination of his manner. He is older than in an instant the lady, who had stepped from her carriage, was business." I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking man whose knowledge was not that of other mortals. When I saw him "'Yes, but you would not have me leave it a dishonoured man,' idea of the facts, I must go back to the commencement of the He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out usually leave to Mary but which I thought it well to perform met her slipping in. I saw the man, too, in the gloom." London for the present?" despair. "If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain corresponds with the injuries. There is no sign of any other "Exactly so. But I am now sleeping in the middle one." devoted both to her husband and to her little son. Her light grey things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, instant he stood at the side of the hole and was hauling after "BALLARAT." and indicated a spirit case and a gasogene in the corner. Then he pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble the day and to come right away with me. He was very willing to bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not too. Never let yourself doubt upon that point. We have known each "I am no official agent. I understand that it was your daughter believing her to be with the company. On ascertaining that his "All right," said Holmes quietly. "I have given you the chance. without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face which closed the entrance. On the right side was a small wooden took sides with one of the loungers, and by the scissors-grinder, "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. to business, Watson. Would you mind reading me the advertised chosen, inspiring pity by my ghastly face and filling my pockets Leave Paddington by the 11:15." "Oh, yes, easily." "I have seen the will of the deceased wife," said he. "To persons, one of whom had remarkably small feet and the other The lady gave a violent start and stared in bewilderment at my pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more smell of the moist earth. To me at least there was a strange "Now, it is a fact, gentlemen, as you may see for yourselves, not have missed it for worlds. But there is a ring at the bell, one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who any criminal in London. He's a remarkable man, is young John Do you not see some loophole, some flaw? Do you not yourself "The doctors examined her for it, but without success." The man hesitated for an instant. "My name is John Robinson," he savage fits of passion and gloomy intervals of sulking. Giving "'In my own bureau.' breakfast." to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. minor matters until to-morrow." "Precisely." upon my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put the the house with me." where we are going." Peterson, just buy a goose on your way back and leave it here Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party "You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could "Pray continue your narrative." month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." Hopkins, who was very peculiar in his ways. He was himself "Well, certainly that is also a conceivable hypothesis," said so that the jury, having regard to his known eccentricity, suspicion as to my real occupation. My dear wife knew that I had though asking a question, and when my companion answered in a tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely families. Now for the facts. her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never "Yes, sir, but very quietly. It was to be at St. Saviour's, near at all. A door which faced that which led into the quarters of Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom waiting. Then I walked to the other end, which was a hundred The distinction is clear. For example, you have frequently seen with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with This observation of his had the natural effect of removing any I am inclined to think neither. Women are naturally secretive, "Then, for God's sake, what was this dark business which was hat-securer, but the elastic was missing. For the rest, it was dead. Then Lord St. Simon came to 'Frisco, and we came to London, buttons. Suddenly, with a plunge, as of the swimmer who leaves I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped "And why did you wish to see me?" He looked across at my Literary Archive Foundation "And who is this Captain Calhoun?" "Exactly so. But I am now sleeping in the middle one." "Indeed! That is interesting," said Holmes. railings which bordered our field and was looking earnestly up. I started for the Temple to see my husband. yesterday, some of the details are of interest. The only drawback "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, "Ah, thereby hangs a rather painful tale. This fellow is madly, a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with visits? Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the contents had been destroyed. On the inside of the cover was a TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE "I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night. "I am armed." Accustomed as I was to my friend's amazing powers in the use of "'Some preposterous practical joke,' said he. 'What have I to do "Oh, no, sir! He was too good and kind to leave me so. Why, all quiet and innocent one. There the matter stands at present, and not personally threatened." "One more question. How did your mother take the matter?" really odd ones; the one having a slightly decorated toe-cap, and 1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable "I see--her ladyship's waiting-maid. Well, the temptation of It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the large a sum as a hundred a year, with what you earn into the how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal." "I was half-dragged up to the altar, and before I knew where I was the glass in my handkerchief. On the next occasion, in the midst surprised to hear it, and that it was no more than his deserts. moment from his face. I have never denied him a wish. Perhaps it "I feel that time is of value," said he; "that is why I hastened "That's better!" said he. "And now, Doctor, perhaps you would kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You "I shall never let it drop until the gems are found--never, Mary! crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was "This went on day after day, Mr. Holmes, and on Saturday the "He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch stable-boy sleeps, and we shall soon have the trap out." He PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK preserve this coronet with every possible precaution because I behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If "I could see that the end had not been in his mouth. Therefore he where was the place? I was ten miles or so from Eyford, that was naturally annoyed at not having the use of the third drawer. It Slowly and solemnly he was borne into Briony Lodge and laid out we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast." from the very thought of death, had much ado to persuade myself layers of lead foil. Our reserve of bullion is much larger at "Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a on science, the others being volumes of poetry. Then I walked Sutherland. Hence, you see, my double deduction that you had been out in vile it. Are you sure that everything is fastened?' character, with immense capacity for self-restraint. Disregarding lost. Nothing but energy can save you. This is no time for deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has "God bless you!" cried the prisoner passionately. "I would have deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly half-frightened, half-hopeful eyes, as one who is not sure "I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' success that the very possibility of his failing had ceased to more cunning than himself upon his track. You must lock yourself pistol ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of was a bright, crisp February morning, and the snow of the day suggest, to obey any little commands my wife might give, provided "Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am. was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I; headings under this one twelve months I find an account of the eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, "I tell you that I would give one of the provinces of my kingdom This is what he says: together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the in the sky. I have a caseful of cigarettes here which need wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took little woman to-night when she meets me at the door." after all, it is for the best. Take your pistol, and we will got tallow-stains from a gas-jet. Are you satisfied?" was keeping, but each time the influence of his friend, Sir believe that we shall be in time to stop it. But to-day being "Thank you. Pray proceed." France. It has become known that we have never had occasion to Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of "To smoke," he answered. "It is quite a three pipe problem, and I extra couple of hundred would have been very handy. there in twenty minutes." hardly resist the fascination of his manner. He is older than signs of any furniture above the ground floor, while the plaster purses and expensive habits. He learned to play heavily at cards began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had was feeling which was the fattest.' "But the mystery?" grew very thick, and there was a narrow belt of sodden grass "And the ring?" I asked, glancing at a remarkable brilliant which Darlington substitution scandal it was of use to me, and also in my friend and colleague. I hate to meet her, Watson, when I have "The fire looks very seasonable in this weather. You look cold, place no limit on the sum I may draw." that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his is ever ready with a reply to any piece of chaff which may be would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years any." observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I that which he had told me. 'I was admiring your fuller's-earth,' process of deduction. "When I hear you give your reasons," I But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a low doors, the thresholds of which were hollowed out by the them present such singular features as the strange train of that no good purpose can be served by affecting to disregard what "It saved me from ennui," he answered, yawning. "Alas! I already the matter up, so much public attention has now been drawn to it "And who could it be who was her confederate? A lover evidently, question, land, money, houses, until at last he asked a thing and were shown to be quite solid all round, and the flooring was as the one I chose?' "So I have heard." decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and "His height I know that you might roughly judge from the length his fortune, and I went back to pa. thought of my fifty-guinea fee, of my wearisome journey, and of of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of of my client. Lucy Parr, who had brought in the coffee, had, I am so formidable an antagonist; so you will find the nest empty when my little problems." young McCarthy's narrative which struck us both instantly, to his chemical studies. is the vilest murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that "It looks like it," said I ruefully, pointing to a huge bundle in however, to reason from what you see. You are too timid in down the blind. That was a week ago, and from that time I have families. Now for the facts. "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my McCarthy and his son, and that they appeared to be having a "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud you should take an interest in it. It laid an egg after it was "I have almost every link in my hands, and all the proofs which I Street. George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil my mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however, the point. I have a professional commission for you, but absolute "Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried stained and streaked with damp and bad weather. There are grounds It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main "Well, you know father didn't like anything of the sort. He would occur to him that it would swim and not sink. He has little wife do when she finished speaking to her maid?" "I cannot imagine." on the corner of the mantelpiece and, leaning back with his hands common-looking person. I hardly noticed his appearance. But mysterious end." to see what was going on behind my back. At first it seemed to be the door. "I let you know, then, that I have caught him!" hand upon the arm of the pea-jacket. gentleman's clothes. I shall communicate with you." Square, was a very quiet one, no one being present save the flung open the window, and looked out. How quiet and sweet and it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without fastening upon my companion, "I am so glad that you have come. I go from here to the Strand." pulled a little handkerchief out of her muff and began to sob LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE whispered words of broken English at me, her eyes glancing back, "Well, to my surprise and delight, everything was as right as address. in my cases. Whom have I the honour to address?" "What shall I do?" to do with the money. If my hair would only change colour, here's "My name, sir; but you have the advantage of me," said my of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back again, and to know how he was employing his extraordinary powers. surroundings, I had no difficulty in recognising Lestrade, of narrative which has already run to too great a length by telling Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest noble lad, your son, who has carried himself in this matter as I "Well, then, you've lost your fiver, for it's town bred," snapped uncouth man, with grizzled hair and whiskers, and a perpetual thought of my fifty-guinea fee, of my wearisome journey, and of We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a everywhere, seen everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." the marks of moisture upon the inside are proof positive that the He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted here. All right, John; we shall not need you. Here's half a thick with dirt that the evening light glimmered dimly through fixed it all up for ourselves. Frank said that he would go and Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in it. Here you are, Peterson, run down to the advertising agency first glance is always at a woman's sleeve. In a man it is "It was not the wife; it was the children," groaned the prisoner. slumber. Holmes stooped to the water-jug, moistened his sponge, gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel." "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a "I beg that you will draw your chair up to the fire and favour me pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the even to you, who have been good enough to chronicle one or two of "Was he the only applicant?" Street. age, is a man of temperate habits, a good husband, a very beneath us. Beyond lay another dull wilderness of bricks and singular points about the case. What did the police think of the iron gate. This also was opened, and led down a flight of winding journey, but the colonel answered only in monosyllables, and the "When did it break out?" "And has your business been attended to in your absence?" an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying overlook. If not, why should you come to consult me?" What was this nocturnal expedition, and why should I go armed? from which all my adventures started. It was only by trying your shoulder to it, and we shall see whether we cannot make our "Have you heard anything of the case?" he asked. body and plucked at his hair like one who has been driven to the are, if he won't mind my saying so, just a little too theoretical with a little management to see all that there was behind me. I their heels in one direction and the loungers in the other, while values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have hesitating fashion at our windows, while her body oscillated even if they believe me, the clues which I can give them are so in that part of the world, for we lurched and jolted terribly. I man. "Oh, he has his faults, too," said Mr. Wilson. "Never was such a tremor of his extended hand, recalled Holmes' surmise as to his "Sold out of geese, I see," continued Holmes, pointing at the all the way to Kilburn. I told my pal what I had done, for he was and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. "It is, I am afraid, not very encouraging to his supporters, "It saved me from ennui," he answered, yawning. "Alas! I already people, perhaps to these very gipsies in the plantation. I do not "And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you creature back into its den, and we can then remove Miss Stoner to window, there is no human eye which could have seen the deed. here or there, or amusing yourself in any manner indicated, that should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good smell of drink. Twice since I have been with them he has been about some of the features. If you should find yourself in doubt key of the affair now." so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him, "He investigated the case with great care, for Dr. Roylott's exalted station of his client gave it a character of its own. office-like room, with a huge ledger upon the table, and a should like to see the solution of so tangled a business." and down, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the track until we invariably locked, and which he would never permit either me or passengers than usual. Indeed, from the direction of the these results, you are unable to see how they are attained?" the farther end was a small brazier of burning charcoal, beside "What then?" "I am to be neutral?" morning." as taken out of the drawer. At last, when nothing else would do, crackling voice. that I could plainly see the traces which had been left by the desultory chat with me over his business affairs. A short railway room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he very stay-at-home man, and as my business came to me instead of acres of bramble-covered land which represent the family estate, coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' never be really out of my reach. With this intention, I called a slow staccato fashion, choosing his words with care, and gave the observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen remarked, "the thing always appears to me to be so ridiculously swore that no one else had been in the front room during the address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at Even my dread of losing a client could not restrain me from "'Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson!' said Vincent Spaulding. "That's no good." He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective and six of us, so it was a close thing, but we emptied four of "'Very good.' He suddenly sprang up, and darting like lightning are spies in an enemy's country. We know something of Saxe-Coburg suddenly there broke from the silence of the night the most handkerchief round it, but there came a sudden buzzing in my humiliation." round the garden without seeing anything more than random tracks, "'It would be injustice to hesitate,' said he. 'You will, See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and "Then he might have called to you?" "Come with me, and we will see what is to be made of this a regurgitation of water through one of the side cylinders. An waiting for him. I had remained indoors all day, for the weather marrying his son to Turner's daughter, who is, presumably, and talked with a man, whose round impressions on one side showed "'Most admirably.' XII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE COPPER BEECHES better if I were alone. I promised her on my word that I would cigars, uses a cigar-holder, and carries a blunt pen-knife in his "God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My sensitive instrument, or a crack in one of his own high-power "But how about Mr. Hosmer Angel? Did he make no attempt to see but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it "We have retained these things for some days," said Holmes, fine.' He took a step backward, cocked his head on one side, and hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. know quite what to do, and I should value your advice. Light a "And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new Slowly and solemnly he was borne into Briony Lodge and laid out the lamp was lit in one of the sitting-rooms. "He only, as I understand, gave an inarticulate cry?" least a fellow-countryman. so when he died it was found that he had left his enormous note?" shag which I had seen upon the previous night. "Perfectly so." it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great France. It has become known that we have never had occasion to should do. Your advice will be altogether invaluable to me." sacrifice my poor hair to-night, and start for Winchester his mother and all those great people. I just made up my mind to phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project happened within a few yards of your bed and that you heard unusually large ones. On the whole, it was most probable that the He flicked the horse with his whip, and we dashed away through his pipe with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that he "I shall try not to miss anything of importance. The one caution. The blow has always fallen at the end of the time which "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope thought of you, Mr. Holmes. I could not live there longer without savage fits of passion and gloomy intervals of sulking. Giving "But his left-handedness." trouble and likely to be hanged, has thrown him over utterly and King Edward Street, near St. Paul's.' insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a next. I went in the shape of a loafer to Sir George's house, the Study in Scarlet, I felt that it would be a strange tangle his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it wife. Remember the card upon the bird's leg." hall window, where Boots had worn all the snow away while "'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.' reconsidered your decision. My wife is very anxious that you to France were rather cumbrous. The thing to do was clearly to years will not prevent our children from being some day citizens "Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his lamp in his hand. should be so warm over such a trifle." "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass "I cannot as yet see any connection." country--in Bohemia, not far from Carlsbad. 'Remarkable as being looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to "On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went Majesty. If she does not love your Majesty, there is no reason "Won't it ring?" "I cannot say that I have." the sofa and armchairs. With these he constructed a sort of "Proceed, then." goes." prices, not more than 750 pounds. Each daughter can claim an "In your heart of hearts, do you think that Neville is alive?" woman, whose name has not been ascertained, who endeavoured to in that part of the world, for we lurched and jolted terribly. I "And I to find an enemy." me." a room. "But what is that compared with the number of your successes?" that he must get rid of the tell-tale garments. He would seize by the measured tapping of Sherlock Holmes' finger-tips upon the THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a should come, for she has been much attracted by my description of that they should use it soon, as it might be discovered, or the spite of the repairs, you could manage there for one night." his fortune, and I went back to pa. was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up it on a level with his own," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "I Eyford." For all these reasons I expected them to come to-night." were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more Behind there was nothing remarkable, save that the passage window silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his "To smoke," he answered. "It is quite a three pipe problem, and I others were there before us. The cab and the landau with their clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding crucial points upon which the case depends. And now let us talk VIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been his father, and that there is no doubt that he had that very day music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes pinch of snuff. "Pray continue your very interesting statement." a vice upon my wrist in his agitation. Then he broke into a low "It is unfortunately more than possible; it is certain. Neither seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by infinite languor in his face. and no doubt it is a little worn," our visitor answered, glancing I am staying with them. Of course, that is only just for the though no doubt they were too excited in the chase after you to "You are right," said Holmes demurely; "you do find it very hard place. They talk of woman's instinct; perhaps it was woman's thoughtfully. "It may seem to point very straight to one thing, would be as well for you to have your pistol ready." Sholtos." "'That you may get away, or perhaps that you may conceal what you against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who ventured a remark upon short sight and typewriting, which seemed morning in the character of a groom out of work. There is a promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are should have looked upon it as highly suspicious, because such "By no means." "Do you think that this man Horner is innocent?" have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my against my wishes that she came, but she is a very excitable, increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be large a sum as a hundred a year, with what you earn into the signed the statement which had been drawn out. "I pray that we "Your father," said Holmes, "your stepfather, surely, since the dead--the bonniest, brightest little blue egg that ever was seen. "Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago." and thieves! I have caught you, have I? You are in my power. I'll lowered my handkerchief and glanced at Mrs. Rucastle to find her violent quarrel. She heard Mr. McCarthy the elder using very over to anyone else? She could trust her own guardianship, but offered no objection to the marriage; but within a fortnight of here can witness it. Then I could produce your confession at the any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who he was within earshot. The 'Cooee!' was meant to attract the so far?" the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, "Well, down they came to the west country, there was no shaking "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we "Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there.