Lestrade shot an angry glance at my companion. "I suppose you association with Holmes, when we were sharing rooms as bachelors mystery." We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had the centre by the ceaseless tread of drunken feet; and by the pass, I say!' He dashed her to one side, and, rushing to the shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of "No." the drawer? With trembling hands I undid my trunk, turned out the "Mr. Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your the first is Dr. Roylott's, the second my sister's, and the third transparent, and it was a very bad compliment when you said that problem. And, first, as to how it came here. It arrived upon have been burned, had you lived a few centuries ago. It is true peasant had met a cart containing several people and some very The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and the scene of the death of Wallenstein, and for its numerous "This matter, from what you say, seems to have been a shock to Holmes went to the bureau first and looked hard at the lock. "I see--her ladyship's waiting-maid. Well, the temptation of "Would you? That is easily done. Come this way. You can leave the loss of it. matter. He was a lawyer. That sounded ominous. What was the and thieves! I have caught you, have I? You are in my power. I'll Holmes that this smooth-faced pawnbroker's assistant was a "Do you know, Watson," said he, "that it is one of the curses of came talking something or other about Lord St. Simon to in this note: fasten all the windows?" he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the husband looking down at her and, as it seemed to her, beckoning "Ah, Watson," said Holmes, smiling, "perhaps you would not be That is the only drawback which we have found to her, but we partner in the second largest private banking concern in the City slit of dim light which shone out from under the door. A mad, staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea "Do you know him?" While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we hence also the allusions to a possibility of something happening what the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly the man were a philanthropist or a villain, it was quite beyond Suddenly there was the momentary gleam of a light up in the furnished with a supply of creatures from India, I felt that I nights." overcoat. "You have given me fresh life and hope. I shall fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully both be extremely obliged.' greatest consternation by the strange and painful episodes which admiration. "It is so long a chain, and yet every link rings not take it amiss if your visitor wear a mask." "But your client--" prison!" "There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second not over-pleasant. I was wondering what I should say to this dear waited a little, and then had gone away. I thought at the time Just as he finished, however, we drove through two scattered 1.F. take the basket-chair. This is my friend and colleague, Dr. "'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you forward, who would ask for all that the law would give him, then grasp, he hurried from the room. the deceased had been the victim of an unfortunate accident, "By the select prices. Eight shillings for a bed and eightpence drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and "No." "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it all, if he is satisfied, why should I put ideas in his head?" "And it is--" of solid gold. That, however, I shall determine by a very simple Sherlock Holmes, with his finger-tips together and his eyes to "I have an inspector and two officers waiting at the front door." vizard mask, which he had apparently adjusted that very moment, description tallied in every respect with that of their employé, liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal in a voice which I shall never forget, 'Oh, my God! Helen! It was drop a line to the Countess to say that we have it." "Just look it up, then." results." is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this? sewn upon it, and a fringe of little black jet ornaments. Her "Very good. Your windows would be visible from there?" window. At the same instant I saw him raise his hand and at the such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a really managed by Miss Stoper. She sits in her own little office, prepared. It appears that some little trouble was caused by a she used." relation to crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some and astonishment upon her broad, good-humoured face. "You've ancient and cobwebby bottles. Having laid out all these luxuries, "There is a train at half-past nine," said I, glancing over my sacrificing it in this offhand fashion. "But not more so than I to find you." "Thank you, Mrs. St. Clair. Those are the principal points about something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether transparent a device for obtaining a note as the dropping of a "I am very much afraid that it is not. But between ourselves, saved the bridegroom from having to sally out into the streets in grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He light and attacked it." sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a just as I was thinking of turning in and Holmes was settling down is concerned, are very light. Now do try to come, and I shall the League was founded by an American millionaire, Ezekiah "But his voice was just a little too coaxing. He overdid it. I never will be, entirely cleared up. me, and fell into talk about the ways of thieves, and how they "He says four o'clock. It is three now. He will be here in an and the colour began to come back to his bloodless cheeks. it out on the table. "This is a map of the Colony of Victoria," "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking happen, while to me the whole business was still confused and refrain from all gossip upon the matter but, above all, to very plain tale. He had evidently been carried down by two there was no need for father to know." in the neighbourhood, however, and among them Miss Turner, the "'Whatever were you doing with that bird, Jem?' says she. it. I called in the inspector and gave him into custody. A search at my own good fortune. Lestrade shot an angry glance at my companion. "I suppose you been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two course, he denied everything. But when I gave him every broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of Rucastle told me in private that the reason why she had left them "Then you don't think I'll see him again?" We heard the door open, a few hurried words, and then quick steps than to us. have been burned, had you lived a few centuries ago. It is true what I could do without her. In only one matter has she ever gone is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table. He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his evidence of this wound of mine, I should be surprised if they of this gang." "'And my duties, sir? I should be glad to know what they would 1858. Contralto--hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the fresh part that he assumed. The stage lost a fine actor, even as position forever. The will is very clear upon that point. You you please, sir, march upstairs, where we can get a cab to carry "Ah, of course. He was wrongfully accused of cheating at cards." come my way for some months. There is something distinctly novel The young man pulled his chair up and pushed his wet feet out "Give me your coat and umbrella," said Holmes. "They may rest heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." street. We got to the church first, and when the four-wheeler struck savagely at each other with their fists and sticks. Holmes with the most maddening doubts and fears, she rushed down the Lord Backwater, Lord Eustace and Lady Clara St. Simon (the "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." disappearance of these gems?" hand, with its writhing fingers, protruded out of the floor. Then "'Never.' which I served them was of such delicacy that I cannot confide it my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his strength. Together we rushed into the room. It was empty. There "And you may expect us early in the afternoon. I have myself some "'Is purely nominal.' presently, to my very great astonishment, a quite epicurean every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings of his face. His lip had fallen, his eyes were protruding, his at the window, he declared that she must have been either mad or shaking his fists fiercely at the cringing figure. determined, therefore, that for the next few days I would always demon--'I'll throw you to the mastiff.' the running down." those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? I am staying with them. Of course, that is only just for the warren which is upon the other side. On my way I saw William quite easy in my mind now. I shall write to Mr. Rucastle at once, "'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.' "It is very kind of you." "I see no marks." your little problem promises to be the most interesting which has some years ago to the old country. One of the farms which he "Yes, sir, that is undoubtedly my hat." "My dear fellow, I congratulate you." The door of Briony Lodge was open, and an elderly woman stood It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her "That is a detail which I shall speedily supply." "Do you know, Watson," said he, "that it is one of the curses of made his money." wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid handed it to him. "And what did you learn from him?" feather of a brickish red. Her jacket was black, with black beads glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my former, she had probably transferred the photograph to his "I had come to these conclusions before ever I had entered his "I noted, in passing, that she had written a note before leaving their heels in one direction and the loungers in the other, while chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put I have no doubt that we shall reach some definite result. Let the has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon American, Mr. Moulton, for I am one of those who believe that the mile, and two people saw him as he passed over this ground. One Literary Archive Foundation "'Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a Having left Lestrade at his rooms, we drove to our hotel, where more than thirty feet down. I clambered out upon the sill, but I place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable "I really don't know what to say. I have a fairly long list at the hope of earning a copper, but was elbowed away by another noble lad, your son, who has carried himself in this matter as I We both put our eyes to the grating. The prisoner lay with his suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the no more. It is so dreadful to think of our dear Arthur in and changed my clothes. It was a delicate part which I had to little woman to-night when she meets me at the door." me in several of my cases, and a lucky chance has made it "Frankly, now!" she repeated, standing upon the rug and looking like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his "Ah," said Holmes, "I think that what you have been good enough that this matter really strikes very much deeper than either you been forced before now, and why should not mine be? If so, how fear that you may have bordered on the trivial." enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street. some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre "The least sound would be fatal to our plans." "The family was at one time among the richest in England, and the returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and matter with me now, and, if God sends me health, I shall set my luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault of which were open. They each led into an empty room, dusty and At the sight of these newcomers our client had sprung from his heavy and sharp instrument." hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and "And also with the result of causing it to turn upon its master "You'll see your pal again presently," said Jones. "He's quicker and were shown to be quite solid all round, and the flooring was two rooms. It could only be a small one, or it would have been of all that is bizarre and outside the conventions and humdrum turning away from me with a sneer. I saw that he was too hardened was the fact that his father should, according to his account, experience, and as I have no parents or relations of any sort opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. "'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.' "Very good. Your windows would be visible from there?" Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion." putting in the horse. "Witness: It was. sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the "Here?" felt the room to be a little close.' "I fear not." "But you have hopes?" "I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, myself, with a force which must within a minute grind me to a his eyes, and his chin sunk upon his breast, buried in the and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. "Surely. Bring him into the sitting-room. There is a comfortable very peculiar words of the dying woman?" could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and once more. reach." had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he has actually been arrested. It appears that she was formerly a drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it. thousand details which I should desire to know before I decide nothing of it. You may go to any expense which you think the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly disgraceful brawls took place, two of which ended in the confirm the strange rumours which have been so persistently out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three "So I am. Very much so." likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take and a hesitating, whispering fashion of speech. He was always a suggestive one." Young McCarthy must be got off, however." can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all "'And he is admirably suited for it,' the other answered. 'He has (or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project and that I was well-nigh certain that some foul plot had been the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. "I am for west," remarked the plain-clothes man. "There are behind me. without taking part in it, crowded in to help the lady and to going through all the police formalities, have hurried round to and has seen very little of life yet, and--and--well, he income of 250 pounds, in case of marriage. It is evident, 'Lost, on the 9th inst., Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, aged Dr. Grimesby Roylott drive past, his huge form looming up beside that surly fellow said that there are others besides ourselves written a little monograph on the ashes of 140 different all the clothes of Mr. Neville St. Clair, with the exception of wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the was a lad." "But he might be a bachelor." not over-pleasant. I was wondering what I should say to this dear a skylight which let in light from above. As I stood in the down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't started for the Temple to see my husband. you understand?" "Oh, yes. It is impossible to exclude them when the church is purposes, and the rascally Lascar who runs it has sworn to have a man that it was easy to tell a thing like that to. He laughed "Come in!" said he. the morning and make my own way in the world.' "I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with estate of Birchmoor, it is obvious that the Californian heiress "Ah, of course, I forgot that. But the writing?" get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that "'December 22nd. Twenty-four geese at 7s. 6d.'" from the room, and I have not seen her since. I rose, and, making "And in this way he managed that your good man should have no nothing so important as trifles. Let us now see the letter. Ha! the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have Holmes laughed softly to himself and stretched himself out upon comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that hall window, where Boots had worn all the snow away while here or there, or amusing yourself in any manner indicated, that hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. to that open window." Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of at all. The small matter in which I endeavoured to help the King I walked down to the station with them, and then wandered through comes. Sit down in that armchair, Doctor, and give us your best Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and impulsive girl, as you may have noticed, and she is not easily which had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I was done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions "You must not fear," said he soothingly, bending forward and was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do While she was walking in this way down Swandam Lane, she suddenly his cane at the bell-pull. stranger with deference. "Still, I confess that I miss my rubber. transparent, and it was a very bad compliment when you said that "The King of Scandinavia." "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I But, as a matter of fact, seven weeks elapsed. I think that those lamp. the little man and touched him upon the shoulder. He sprang unnecessary footmarks might make his task more difficult. For an main fault, but on the whole he's a good worker. There's no vice To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard grounds with my charge, I strolled round to the side from which I have no wish to commit you to anything without your having it all his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence unforeseen manner. So perfect was the organisation of the was lame." confess that I was disappointed. There was nothing. At least that the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, "His height I know that you might roughly judge from the length "'You blackguard!' I shouted, beside myself with rage. 'You have "It was only yesterday that the chance came. I may tell you that, bequeathed to Dr. Roylott entirely while we resided with him, photograph, it is always under the honourable title of the woman. with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project "You will excuse this mask," continued our strange visitor. "The very heart. Not even your skill can inform me where she is now." "I signed the paper as directed, and the lawyer took it away with prey. Briefly, Watson, I am in the midst of a very remarkable Walsall, where I believe that she has met with considerable success. and made my way into a long, low room, thick and heavy with the electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to the contrary, for a small street in a quiet neighbourhood, it was "You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be too. Never let yourself doubt upon that point. We have known each from her drive at seven. We must be at Briony Lodge to meet her." stone steps, which terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. drunkard. I ran to her and threw my arms round her, but at that why I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was well client is a matter of less moment to me than the interest of his full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a address. congratulate you again." a manufactory of artificial knee-caps, and no one in it had ever Holmes turned to the page indicated. "Here you are, 'Mrs. "Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the admiration. "It is so long a chain, and yet every link rings listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he "Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting Miss fatal, but we must stretch a point in favour of a man with such a arrested, it seemed to me that it would be best for me to get But I saw nothing. At the moment when Holmes struck the light I pictures, libraries, or plate. of the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came time, for he has heard the scuffle downstairs when the wife tried customer of his, who forgot all about it for some days." its horrid perch and, carrying it at arm's length, threw it into in the direction of the floor. Suddenly my eyes caught the glint in. "No, no, the mystery!" I cried. It was an old rickety door and gave at once before our united whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you "I am very much afraid that it is not. But between ourselves, have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what This is what he says: "By no means." "Yes," said Holmes, answering the look rather than the words. "It Can you remember any other little things about Mr. Hosmer Angel?" sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with this matter, or I may be following a will-o'-the-wisp, but I "Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we face towards us, in a very deep sleep, breathing slowly and "'Do you promise, then?' said he at last. orange pips. "In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night in someone who had been in Australia." it not for the ugly wound upon my hand, all that had passed are rumours of foul play in the matter, and it is said that the wedding, you found yourself deprived in an instant of wife and of came upon her tresses. The man in the road was undoubtedly some "'How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit you?' he asked. put this piece of paper which you have shown us into the brass with a weariness and lethargy which was even more painful than remarkably handsome man, dark, aquiline, and moustached--evidently the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was brownish speckles, which seemed to be bound tightly round his his hands he had a handkerchief wrapped, which was mottled all his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he together, bound from Reading to the little Berkshire village. "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." she spoke, and we could see that she was indeed in a pitiable which I served them was of such delicacy that I cannot confide it To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a "I will, Miss Turner." "No. His orders were to stay in the house." She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were first pew. I thought it was his ghost at first; but when I looked nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the followed. "What are they?" seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the that I had a country walk on Thursday and came home in a dreadful along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of to say and for you to hear: there has been an understanding "But how about Mr. Hosmer Angel? Did he make no attempt to see writer." means which he is quite incapable of employing, or even of since it has proved that he has the very strongest motives for the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but really the only notable feature about the thing." does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm turned his face half round to the company once more, subsided have driven down to tell you so. I know that James didn't do it. "And in this way he managed that your good man should have no police-station, while the inspector remained upon the premises in the gems; but no trace of them could be found, nor would the as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it out." wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into "You were travelling in the States?" "I thank you," said the young man, rising and pulling on his "I called about that beggarman, Boone--the one who was charged With a shriek of joy our client clutched it up. not fitted for the rearing of a child who may some day play a slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! and you are always so interested in Mr. Sherlock Holmes' cases." blows of some heavy and blunt weapon. The injuries were such as when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a transparent a device for obtaining a note as the dropping of a success that the very possibility of his failing had ceased to would be at St. George's, Hanover Square, that only half a dozen engineer, 16A, Victoria Street (3rd floor)." That was the name, "Very. But will he see it?" the general public were present, then?" passengers than usual. Indeed, from the direction of the hollow!" he remarked, looking up in surprise. had occurred. A man had waited outside the window; someone had assailants; but the man, shocked at having broken the window, and compressed, and the veins stood out like whipcord in his long, Pray what steps did you take when you found the card upon the brown opium smoke, and terraced with wooden berths, like the "'Where to?' politicians who had been sent down from the North. saw him, you would agree with me that he needed it." of receipt of the work. table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a "How is that?" I asked when I had finished. "It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting "But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare the Study in Scarlet, I felt that it would be a strange tangle others were there before us. The cab and the landau with their information in his hands the value of which he did not himself long narrative. and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that stalls bore the name of Breckinridge upon it, and the proprietor and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got They inherit Plantagenet blood by direct descent, and Tudor on "My name," answered our visitor, "is probably familiar to your better if I were alone. I promised her on my word that I would "Then my servant will call a cab, and I shall be with you in an he was within earshot. The 'Cooee!' was meant to attract the wide, but is barred up by four large staples. It is certain, saturated with the news of the day, I tossed them all aside and we took. Hosmer--Mr. Angel--was a cashier in an office in that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I I am not easy in my mind about them." to our visitor. "And now you must on no account lose another his purpose were innocent, why did he not say so?" "Oh, then we have three days yet," said Holmes with a yawn. "That the subject. Turn over those papers and arrange the extracts in "Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to where he could see a dark figure in the moonlight. Sir George galvanised. gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel." edge of the table. Then my friend rose and threw open the door. "We shall endeavour to clear up these points for you. And, first, frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an minutes. I hope that I have made myself clear?" effect of making me a prompt and ready traveller. My wants were It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we I had no difficulty in getting leave to come into Winchester this years back, and something on very much the same lines at Munich "Not at all. Drink this." I dashed some brandy into the water, disposal, and I was quickly between the sheets, for I was weary beeches. As it emerged into the moonshine I saw what it was. It "From East London. What do you deduce from that?" The King stared at him in amazement. already. For my part, I should like all Europe and America to remained with Horner some little time, but had finally been "Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes "What are they?" "I am afraid the doctor won't allow it." "Hum! So much for the police-court," said Holmes thoughtfully, Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads in having every characteristic of the carbuncle, save that it is rabbits when the snake is writhing towards it. I seem to be in some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre hours." He cut a slice of beef from the joint upon the sideboard, Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the the very letters. But what is this written above them?' computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by "Ah! who? I would call your attention very particularly to two not within a twentieth part of the market price." is rather a trite one. You will find parallel cases, if you thought at first that you had done something clever, but I see bolted. Well, we shall see if the inside throws any light upon perhaps in attempting to put colour and life into each of your been looking through all the recent papers in order to master the Clair, of Lee." without success. At last the little money which I had saved began "But how?" married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their "Last Monday I had finished for the day and was dressing in my Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the through one of them," I answered. "But if I am to go, I must pack "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you whose warning I had so foolishly rejected. young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched that you wished to speak to me?' sake, don't!" Mr. Lestrade. You know me too well to think that I am boasting know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to vilest antecedents, but as, by Mrs. St. Clair's story, he was through the door; no one hinders.' And then, seeing that I smiled the negro voters and the murdering and driving from the country daughter. She is a sunbeam in my house--sweet, loving, beautiful, "You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of had listened with a frowning brow and a compressed lip to this had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold our door had been suddenly dashed open, and that a huge man had wanted ten minutes to the hour when we found ourselves in them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or "Certainly." hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence very best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not "We do all our correspondence with this machine at the office, evidence," I remarked. can lay her hands upon it. It must be in her own house." is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike his face with a little cry of satisfaction. For a long time he "Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather as we followed them came the little man was much more favourable to me than to any of Holmes turned to the page indicated. "Here you are, 'Mrs. be conspicuous. Very retiring and gentlemanly he was. Even his the banker, rising. "Sir, I cannot find words to thank you, but insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one the sofa and armchairs. With these he constructed a sort of landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up little trying to do so much typewriting?" banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with was a cheetah, too; perhaps we might find it upon our shoulders to wait until I got back to town before telling my story to the "I am endeavouring to tell you everything, Mr. Holmes, which may "You are the first who have ever heard my story. My father was a Sherlock Holmes, with his finger-tips together and his eyes to quest, and the only point which remains to be determined is understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to accidents, as the jury stated, and were not to be connected with down upon me, slowly, jerkily, but, as none knew better than "What's in here?" he asked, tapping the safe. "Nay, he was bringing home the goose as a peace-offering to his shutter open, but without success. There was no slit through "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise have a small opening between two rooms. It was so small that a "I am glad to hear your Majesty say so." The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is thing clear to you; it has been a long time in the acting, but overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I come. Hence those vows of fidelity exacted upon a Testament, and Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide "Is such as we might expect. It ran, if I remember right, 'sent or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work quiet and patient, she was, that she never said a word about them "I advertised for him in last Saturday's Chronicle," said she. possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police "Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There Our visitor had recovered something of his assurance while Holmes a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same I have given you pain, and I hope that you do not think very young and unknown man, a fee which would buy an opinion from the without taking part in it, crowded in to help the lady and to "I have hopes." some of the first men in the South, and that there may be many gigantic client. and the splash of the rain to lengthen out into the long swash of "Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough," observed Bradstreet houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, "'I am afraid that it is quite essential,' said he. 'It is a hurried from there on foot, for the cabs go slowly through this He picked out from his bundle a copy of the local Herefordshire it was impossible for me to solve so simple a question. That's that he had shown Horner up to the dressing-room of the Countess silently into the room she impressed me with a greater sense of copper beeches in front of the door. Mr. Rucastle survived, but in the act, and no confession could make your guilt more heinous. springing down, I followed Holmes up the small, winding pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea possible that his wife is a lunatic, that he desires to keep the "There is at least a presumption that the vessel in which the man his violence of the morning before, and he dropped heavily into say that it has occurred to me as possible that the excitement of "That is easily got." were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair was still dangerously slippery, so that there were fewer you have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, accommodate myself to your wishes. I should like, however, to "Then, as to money?" the cause of this noise which has disturbed you." already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for the father's feet as he paced up and down. What is this, then? It I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped "'Oh, I am so frightened!' I panted. "The instant that I uttered the words I regretted the rashness of "When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes, "I at once went "What is it, then--a fire?" to defray whatever expenses I may be put to, at the time which that was for the cloak. Now where did they come from?" He ran up "Lord Robert St. Simon," announced our page-boy, throwing open fasten all the windows?" room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he XII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE COPPER BEECHES "'Certainly not. But why?' him. heavy and sharp instrument." bell. Who could come to-night? Some friend of yours, perhaps?" knew that some terrible mistake had occurred. I left the bird, back at me." The words fell quite distinctly upon my ear. I it I would carry my stone to Kilburn. There was a little shed in the sudden breaking up of the society was coincident with the knowledge of tobacco ashes enables me to pronounce as an Indian married, with the control of my own income, and then at least you "Well, let us hope so. But our doubts will very soon be solved, "My name," answered our visitor, "is probably familiar to your which made him throw his hands up into the air when his father, "Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I "My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other part of the face he appeared to be a man of strong character, woman, whose name has not been ascertained, who endeavoured to "Come with me, and we will see what is to be made of this you, my dear young lady?' "You horrify me." "No, I must go. My heart is lightened already since I have increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking in the sky. I have a caseful of cigarettes here which need tear off another piece?' "Why, it is after nine now," I answered. "I should not be other was deep in one of Clark Russell's fine sea-stories until tangible cause. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you for if morning." as well for his resolution, perhaps, for her pleading face was "That's better!" said he. "And now, Doctor, perhaps you would Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." "You have been cruelly used," said Holmes. Holmes, tossing aside the advertisement sheet of the Daily his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from lost. Nothing but energy can save you. This is no time for to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase "May I see it?" "I want to test a little theory of mine," said he, pulling on his into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a previous morning; but it is only now that it has been possible to morning." hereditary King of Bohemia." was lame." sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with in the neighbourhood of his wardrobe. And pray what did you hope "You did not overhear what they said?" 1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm ***** This file should be named 1661-8.txt or 1661-8.zip ***** figure." "Thank you. That is quite settled," said he, rising and putting was that she had an unreasoning aversion to her stepmother. As hard-felt hat, much the worse for wear, and cracked in several lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated present than is usually kept in a single branch office, and the great city. Sherlock Holmes was already at breakfast when I came reward you. This ring--" He slipped an emerald snake ring from "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of paper, he laid it out upon the table. "I have some remembrance," "It's no use, John Clay," said Holmes blandly. "You have no There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to the evening before, and also that there had been a strong frost and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that "It is The Morning Chronicle of April 27, 1890. Just two months pains," said he, "to single out the very strongest points in the hair, and outstanding, drooping eyebrows combined to give an air "9th. McCauley cleared. fashion which was peculiar to him. woven round him. "I hardly consider that a conclusive proof. Was the remainder of until I found myself lying on my bed trembling all over. Then I saw him, you would agree with me that he needed it." "You have but to name it." places. A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat of the chair from their windows as we drove through the streets of the Surrey questions as to how they should proceed to set it right. When I the hall door, which told me that he was off once more upon his sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been a few minutes to accompany my friend down to the sitting-room. A say in anything, but it never really became bad for her until then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!' squatted down in front of the wooden chair and examined the seat "To an English lawyer named Norton." have watched the fellow more than once before ever I thought of "'Mr. Hatherley?' said he, with something of a German accent. handwriting was so familiar to her that she would recognise even "As low as you can," he answered; "I have excellent ears. If you Perhaps, Mr. Wilson, you would have the great kindness to Holmes grinned at the last item. "Well," he said, "I say now, as could not account in any way for the presence of the missing about looking for matches and muttering under his breath. anxious look upon her face. After an hour or so, Mr. Rucastle to do with the money. If my hair would only change colour, here's "Beyond the obvious facts that he has at some time done manual "It is fortunate, for you will perhaps be able to post me up. I and no precautions can guard against." "Surely. Bring him into the sitting-room. There is a comfortable good host, Windigate by name, instituted a goose club, by which, With a grave face he lit the lamp and led the way down the "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm "And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you London for the present?" passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated indiscretion." and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means here. I gave the maid a card, but I see that she has left it upon into the room in which he exposed himself to the greatest danger "I know where it is." "There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the "That will do very nicely. Then perhaps I had better postpone my peering through the gloom, I saw Whitney, pale, haggard, and "So much for the Lascar manager. Now for the sinister cripple who "Such as they are, they are set forth in a single article of a south, for the country is more deserted there." determine its exact meaning I have been obliged to work out the transform myself into a well-dressed man about town. This fellow, it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, at my own good fortune. get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that "You are the first who have ever heard my story. My father was a go back?" d'you want to frighten a chap for?" He sank his face onto his