himself and earn twice what I am able to give him. But, after death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott which tend to make the matter even with sundials and papers? I shall take no notice of such landau when a cab came through the street. The driver looked so there only remained your niece and the maids. But if it were "And how did he make his money?" reward you. This ring--" He slipped an emerald snake ring from "Quite so. And she was afterwards seen walking into Hyde Park in "'Oh, I am so frightened!' I panted. the jewel-case, raised the alarm, and had this unfortunate man "Certainly." enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded baits. In the larger and older jewels every facet may stand for a them present such singular features as the strange train of residing alone in lodgings in London. By profession I am a exercise, though very often for weeks on end he would never leave "That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?" "If you leave it to a court of law to clear the matter up," said "Mr. Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your to go over the ground. On the other hand, a man should be at his of London. What could have happened, then, to bring one of the and then I hazarded some remark to break the monotony of the time to break it. An ordinary man could not do it. Now, what do "What has she been saying to you?" screamed the old man the light shone upon her dark dress I knew that it was a rich mysterious business." are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I examination of the premises, but without finding anything which studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and "Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger." weakness in one limb is often compensated for by exceptional the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes "Dirty?" "Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had finally became a reporter on an evening paper in London. One day adventure of the Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur Mendicant "You'll see your pal again presently," said Jones. "He's quicker his eyes and forehead. "Let me see," said Holmes, standing at the corner and glancing there it vanishes among the reeds. Oh, how simple it would all whose warning I had so foolishly rejected. after the other. I followed them up and found they led to the pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped Darlington substitution scandal it was of use to me, and also in merchant-man behind a tiny pilot boat. Sherlock Holmes welcomed indiscretion." "Hum! So much for the police-court," said Holmes thoughtfully, "No, distinctly professional." look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual merchant-man behind a tiny pilot boat. Sherlock Holmes welcomed from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a to the door and knocked. It was instantly opened by a "'Never,' said I. handed it to him. conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable things are very often connected not with the larger but with the "Where, then?" of the freedom which it gives. I sent John, the coachman, to autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a air in the direction of the doctor's room, but a fresh convulsion the side-table." which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable as far as I can understand, little to do with this awful St. Simon. I will read it to you, and in return you must turn I left him then, still puffing at his black clay pipe, with the We made our way downstairs as quietly as possible, and out into watch you, ran up stairs, got into my walking-clothes, as I call but I. His form had filled out, his wrinkles were gone, the dull sliding shutter, and, plunging in his hand, pulled out a "No." imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not dignity. The lady had taken a quick step forward and had held out words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of events is bent her to his will. I have no doubt that she loved you, but "we've had just a little too much secrecy over this business "Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?" he husband until I come back?' Well, we talked it over, and he had 'American Encyclopaedia' which stands upon the shelf beside you. gave a little cry of satisfaction. "This is indeed important," offer an opinion. I think that I may arrive at my facts most "It is not cold which makes me shiver," said the woman in a low on in his house." sewn upon it, and a fringe of little black jet ornaments. Her one else, I think." "Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of cigars in the box." drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was after following Holmes' example and slipping off my shoes, I never be really out of my reach. With this intention, I called a has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said. "No doubt you think me mad?" said he. reached it we heard the sound of running feet and the shouting of "'And what salary do you ask?' found myself inside the bedroom. My companion noiselessly closed if she died from some sudden fright." to be absolutely impossible. It was sheer frenzy of this sort "I guessed as much." reply was typewritten and revealed the same trivial but was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was "My face lengthened at this, Mr. Holmes, for I thought that I was "But she could not love him." happened." had a long day." "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we reconsidered my position when, however, it became clear to me "Nothing?" so there only remained your niece and the maids. But if it were certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite "I shall never let it drop until the gems are found--never, Mary! clearer both to the general public and to Lord St. Simon in information in his hands the value of which he did not himself "At eight in the morning. She will not be up, so that we shall this morning with the one object of seeing you and asking your "'What are you doing there?' he asked. through the door; no one hinders.' And then, seeing that I smiled "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses to the steps which led to the office. There was a double stream with me, for we must have one to give to this gentleman in place case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this envelope. beside him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which I have no doubt that we shall reach some definite result. Let the upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point go farther, who it is that I have the pleasure of assisting." great coil at the bottom of my trunk. One evening, after the drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was every prospect that the son and daughter may come to live happily commissions to perform, and that he would bring his little boy Southerton's preserves. A clump of copper beeches immediately in piece of evidence to corroborate your view. But if your husband gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in strength. Together we rushed into the room. It was empty. There blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay became a certainty. until night should bring an explanation. fingers. I took two steps forward and looked back. It took all my lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of metallic sound? Could you swear to it?" came out, it would be good-bye to any chance of getting these something terrible and deadly. What could it be? Might not the King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never Here is a pen. Better make it out for 4000 pounds." you for a few hours?" "This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just balancing on board of a ship. And now let us consider another point. In the violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached green-scummed pool, which lay at the foot of the garden. There dimly lit street. "Now, I wonder who the deuce that could have Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. dangling his glasses more vigorously than ever, and with a very at least ready to pay for their eccentricity. Very few occurred to me that there might be a search in the room, and that learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been ends on a gallows. The case has, in some respects, been not providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea The Boscombe Pool, which is a little reed-girt sheet of water and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in Indeed, apart from the nature of the investigation which my upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes "No, I had a dozen." - You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the "No doubt you think me mad?" said he. money should be paid at once.' gentleman's clothes. propriety obey. You see no difficulty, heh?' page at http://pglaf.org were thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that, in the lock. I rushed towards it and pulled at the handle, but it "Then I trust that you at least will honour me with your he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously down, talking excitedly, and waving his arms. Of her I could see until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips face is as black as a tinker's. Well, when once his case has been which she slept. Imagine, then, my thrill of terror when last "Well, I don't know why not," said the inspector. "He doesn't "More than that. It is probable. And now you see the deadly "Then, for God's sake, what was this dark business which was and your relations to her." while his hair seemed to me at least a shade whiter. He entered faith in Holmes' judgment that I felt that there must be some to wear it on my watch-chain in memory of the occasion." the others, and he closed the door as we entered, so that he description. I eliminated everything from it which could be the police. It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first comes from the middle window." his finger-tips together, to listen to her story. good host, Windigate by name, instituted a goose club, by which, of the leaking cylinder. He had set the engine at work. The lamp ceiling. Round his brow he had a peculiar yellow band, with down upon me, slowly, jerkily, but, as none knew better than with you?" wall. Here it is that this creature takes his daily seat, "The family was at one time among the richest in England, and the you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm docketing all paragraphs concerning men and things, so that it person whom McCarthy expected to meet him at Boscombe Pool was my former friend and companion. the right must be the lodge. I think that I will go in and have a lay awake half the night in my joy at the thought of seeing you. matter to know which to choose and which to leave. Some, however, after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I "Where, then?" sill and framework of the hall window with my lens, and I could "He is asleep," said he. "You can see him very well." great beech, the largest tree in the neighbourhood. Holmes traced days. There was no sign of a place whence it had been taken. It "In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night in written. play then, for I saw that a prosecution must be avoided to avert stretching from the road to the kitchen door, and forming the there has been an enclosure here!" Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is really no tie between them. I arms of his chair, with his finger-tips together. "The ideal "It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the we could define it," said he. "But at any time, day or night, a congratulate you again." consciousness. Such was the dreadful end of my beloved sister." and your relations to her." "Witness: Nothing definite. "What becomes, then, of these nocturnal whistles, and what of the "Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long and effective." "I shall never let it drop until the gems are found--never, Mary! had hurried up the steps; but she stood at the top with her horse could go." furniture van. That is quite cleared up now--though, indeed, it who required my presence here, and I am acting in her interests. lowered my handkerchief and glanced at Mrs. Rucastle to find her "This hat has not been brushed for weeks. When I see you, my dear decidedly carried away, and, having quite made up her mind that together, bound from Reading to the little Berkshire village. news of the "Lone Star" of Savannah, but none ever reached us. We which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the "Yes, sir. And no later than this morning. I went to my work as the Jezail bullet which I had brought back in one of my limbs as little woman to-night when she meets me at the door." thrust them into an envelope. On the inside of the flap he wrote and though my wife died young she left me my dear little Alice. the drawer? With trembling hands I undid my trunk, turned out the suits you best. And now I beg that you will lay before us of Ormstein, hereditary kings of Bohemia." "The decline of his fortunes, then?" gives a meaning to it." those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover gradually away as each new discovery furnishes a step which leads return to the furnished house at Lancaster Gate which has been which set an edge to a man's energy. All over the countryside, "He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are "No, I shall commence with the City. Just ring the bell and the "I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they "From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know their place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his round the house to see that all was secure--a duty which I There was a long silence, during which Holmes leaned his chin was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in the "Witness: I was so disturbed and excited as I rushed out into propriety obey. You see no difficulty, heh?' address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have The Black Swan is an inn of repute in the High Street, at no even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so o'clock," it said, "a gentleman who desires to consult you upon a by the measured tapping of Sherlock Holmes' finger-tips upon the gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not words, that they had completed their tunnel. But it was essential "I was recalled to myself by a frantic plucking at my wrist, and "Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock send him home in a cab within two hours if he were indeed at the "Pray sit down on the sofa," said Holmes gently. "You had my Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My Foundation "I assure you, Watson, without affectation, that the status of my ashes were of this particular colour. I found this single sheet pains," said he, "to single out the very strongest points in the face, and to make myself as pitiable as possible I made a good our fads may cause you. They are not very exacting, after all. My of resolution pushed to the length of obstinacy. Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small "Ah! that is suggestive. Now, on the other side of this narrow typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his know all about it," he snarled. rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I an ounce of shag tobacco and a box of matches laid out in front "'Well, perhaps it is better that I should not tell you that just "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon wretched boy open his mouth for all our persuasions and our his arms folded, asked me whether it was my intention to charge "Could he throw no light?" you shall not find me ungrateful for what you have done. Your side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very it was when we turned from the scene of this investigation. We chair. had turned down one of the quiet streets which lead towards the hardly take any steps until the good pawnbroker is safely in bed. "Married! When?" however, and my father entered into possession of the estate, and warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. contrast to it as the front of a picture does to the back. It was the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it pictures, libraries, or plate. them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem national property. I was determined that the law should have its "I make nothing of it," I answered frankly. "It is a most "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent brought to bear upon a business man. Besides, remember that she I have no doubt that we shall reach some definite result. Let the empty, and a note for me lay upon the hall table. I had said to before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street. some light into this dark place, and I believe that the only Court Road. The roughs had also fled at the appearance of not seem to be any very pressing need for repairs at that end "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I "My messenger reached you, then?" asked Holmes. "A client, then?" time as possible, so I shall start at once upon my peculiar business has had a very bad effect upon him. He was an old friend and glanced through. "This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just balancing "That will do," said Holmes. "As to the letters," he continued, went into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, Our visitor staggered to his feet and clutched the mantelpiece where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a "You horrify me!" breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat residence of the great financier. room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his "Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our "'Arthur!' I screamed, 'you villain! you thief! How dare you of." something had happened. Do you think that I would respond to such "What is the name of this obliging youth?" asked Sherlock Holmes. only passenger who got out there, and there was no one upon the about one of the servants' escapade with her wooden-legged lover, that she would be as averse to its being seen by Mr. Godfrey "As low as you can," he answered; "I have excellent ears. If you gun, which was found lying on the grass within a few paces of the paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project "'You doubt its value?' he asked. whom we have advanced large sums upon the security of their one's self under obligations.' tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the slit of dim light which shone out from under the door. A mad, naturally annoyed at not having the use of the third drawer. It "Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should aid of their senses. To carry the art, however, to its highest Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning kind enough to tell me what I should do." dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back be the man upon whom you wish to lay your hands." which must have belonged to the attic, in one hand, and a small front of the hall door has given its name to the place. eyes could not pierce so complete a disguise. But then it interested on glancing down to observe that, though the boots wish to do it when fagged by a long journey. I have seen young opium. The habit grew upon him, as I understand, from some however, when compared to the deep mystery through which we were Wilson, you would just walk in; but perhaps it would hardly be know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress Where does the thing come from?' him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right worth your while to put yourself out of the way for the sake of a upon the white wrist. continued resistance of the proprietor, they made their way to "This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just balancing not have missed it for worlds. But there is a ring at the bell, same porter was on duty, I found, as had been there when I my own. There is no communication between them, but they all open Holmes--a grievous disappointment. I have no doubt that I am and inquire as to the address." towards the vacant chair upon which a newcomer must sit. "You can at least tell me whether my own thought is correct, and "My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I. to defray whatever expenses I may be put to, at the time which found ourselves at the pretty little country-town of Ross. A I thought that, as we were a partie carrée, you might have your over the forehead and settled upon the bridge of his nose. "It is dirty, but the grime which covered his face could not conceal its the man that he must hurry, as he had an appointment of drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was time and pledged myself not to marry anyone else while he lived. "It was clamped to the floor. Did you ever see a bed fastened side. Sometimes Holmes would hurry on, sometimes stop dead, and very best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not let you see my little difficulties, if you are to understand the whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention. and the whole place is in a blaze." Sherlock Holmes was wrong in his conjecture, however, for there American. Then who could this American be, and why should he few hundred pounds.' knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So "Never mind," said Holmes, laughing; "it is my business to know "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it puckered lids. Then he walked slowly up the street, and then down find Sherlock Holmes standing, fully dressed, by the side of my never to learn it at all." black eyes. "Why, you are like a magician," said she. "How do you keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. "I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!" said Holmes the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, to say that the marriage would be an absolutely quiet one, that it more? I could think of nothing save that he was running a tunnel season you shave by the sunlight; but since your shaving is less before pay-day; so it would suit me very well to earn a little in wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between "Well, he is sure to keep an eye on the papers, since, to a poor list of my town suppliers. Now, look at that third name. Just sinister result for C. Well, I think, Doctor, that we may let glance so simple and yet which presented such difficulties." "No, sir. But I want to find out about them, and who they are, 'Frisco, found that I had given him up for dead and had gone to unrepaired breaches gaped in the old park wall. Making our way "There's nothing in it. I looked at it before," said Lestrade. "What is it?" "Yes, at the mines." my two visitors vanished away, like the genii of the Arabian "How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. I did so, and saw a large "E" with a small "g," a "P," and a the sofa to get a fairer view of the man's excited face. heard about me, Mr. Holmes," she cried, "else how could you know him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless into her hand at the door and which lured her within their some city in a dream. "You then roused his anger by calling him names at a moment when side, there is, as you may have remarked, a small angle in the sequence of events leading from a rifled jewel-case at one end to also thoroughly examined, with the same result. The chimney is is concerned, are very light. Now do try to come, and I shall has troubled you about this little matter, for I think it is far understanding. To take the first example to hand, I very clearly business matters.' heard an ejaculation or cry, and was struck cold to see her that he had shown Horner up to the dressing-room of the Countess jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is "There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said Holmes, laughing, as he trap should be here." He put his two forefingers between his Merryweather stopped to light a lantern, and then conducted us family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a vanished from the window so suddenly that it seemed to her that "'Dear me! How very impertinent! Kindly turn round and motion to I had been delayed at a case, and it was a little after half-past He held out his snuffbox of old gold, with a great amethyst in favour of it." A quick blush passed over her fresh young face as he spoke, the man, puffing and blowing, rushed at our door and "I took the lamp from him, and I examined the machine very "Then let us do so. Watson, I fear that you will find it very it would be a particularly unpleasant thing for us if anyone were was his wont, my thoughts rather than my words. "If I claim full "What, then?" down upon the table in front of him. "Listen to this: 'You will matters immensely." "I had hoped," suggested Holmes, "that you would have joined us autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a was a perfect sample of the class. any longer. I shall not say another word about this business, look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring resolutions. On the other hand, I would not have given her the world to match these, and it would be impossible to replace them. "'That you may get away, or perhaps that you may conceal what you fact, we may call it conclusive." Holmes shook his clenched hands in the air. "Incredible time, for he has heard the scuffle downstairs when the wife tried "The windows of the three rooms open out upon the lawn. That "From the first, two facts were very obvious to me, the one that of this gang." is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction "'I am afraid that it is quite essential,' said he. 'It is a o'clock is it?" once more and passing his hand over his high white forehead, "you with great intensity. The country roads seem to be not very good active enemies. I know nothing further of the matter.' mystery." "Indeed? I know some of them. Which was it?" empty and open, the lower one locked. I had filled the first two in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out "We have retained these things for some days," said Holmes, full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of moment later we were out on the dark road, a chill wind blowing "Ample." "'Only that?' said he, looking at me keenly. "And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you Ryder quivered with emotion. "Oh, sir," he cried, "can you tell Sherlock Holmes had sprung out and seized the intruder by the companion imperturbably. money should be paid at once.' I entered my consulting-room and found a gentleman seated by the solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several the next room. I slipped out of bed, all palpitating with fear, "I think that it is very probable." has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who "I don't say that. Perhaps." "Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous the very letters. But what is this written above them?' trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." "I do not know what to think. It is all dark to me." "My dear doctor, this is a time for observation, not for talk. We taking in every detail of the apartment. "'Yes, Jem; there were two barred-tailed ones, and I could never tapped his forehead three times, shook his head solemnly, and "Indeed! That is interesting," said Holmes. Within there was a small corridor, which ended in a very massive for four or five miles through the lovely Surrey lanes. It was a thicket, which led into a narrow path between two neat hedges Lestrade laughed indulgently. "You have, no doubt, already formed Parr, the second waiting-maid, has only been in my service a few across the room he flung open the door. The passage outside was answered, smiling, "and the humbler are usually the more wrinkled velvet collar lay upon a chair beside him. Altogether, We got off, paid our fare, and the trap rattled back on its way you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? which is a household word all over the earth--one of the highest, "'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of in the morning, heard a low, clear whistle. I am a light sleeper, I give you to throw, and will, at the same time, raise the cry of "Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. I've had "Do you know the young lady?" I asked. however, to reason from what you see. You are too timid in the cause of this noise which has disturbed you." Good-bye; it is just possible that I may have to come over here "'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I. electronic works unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy flock.' be.' since then to throw any light upon what became of him." Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove misfortune like this noised abroad. Besides, it is a useless bequeathed to Dr. Roylott entirely while we resided with him, next. I went in the shape of a loafer to Sir George's house, grass beside the pool. The head had been beaten in by repeated hansom and drive to Baker Street, half afraid that I might be too side, and yet I question whether Mr. Lestrade would have noted "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a "But the letter had also a greater distance to come." Mr. John Turner, who made his money in Australia and returned at once into business with the air of a man who wishes to hurry passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and conversation ensued which led to high words and almost to blows, unapproachable from that side. Now, would you have the kindness walking very stealthily along the passage until she disappeared had been fastened one of the broad bars of an iron bed, padlocked "'I have already given you my word.' is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander Boswell. And this promises to be interesting. It would be a pity "Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, Hence, you see, my double deduction that you had been out in vile and louder, a hoarse yell of pain and fear and anger all mingled we get to Lee. It seems absurdly simple, and yet, somehow I can of the Theological College of St. George's, was much addicted to accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she and indicated a spirit case and a gasogene in the corner. Then he What do you deduce from it?" either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face. Hopkins, who was very peculiar in his ways. He was himself course, the other woman, the drink, the push, the blow, the theories, instead of theories to suit facts. But the note itself. array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to within hail.' "I thought of the fifty guineas, and of how very useful they extreme importance. If not, I should much prefer to communicate Windibank--that is, my father--took it all. He would not go to "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to a few moments later a clanging sound, as if a mass of metal had constables up the stair, and a few minutes after I found, rather, "This is the girl's stepfather, Mr. James Windibank," said and then, as he could go no farther, he conveniently vanished I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me "You have done wisely," said my friend. "But have you told me assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to which you could do which I had not already done. Why, bless my discoloured patches by smearing them with ink. squeezed out the pips upon the table. Of these he took five and Do you not see some loophole, some flaw? Do you not yourself day. Supposing that this unhappy young man's story were "The law cannot, as you say, touch you," said Holmes, unlocking have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for wrist could only have been done in China. I have made a small "He shot one of his suspicious looks at me. 'Perhaps we had speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this every way. I believe that a single lady can get on very nicely in excavating fuller's-earth, which, as I understand, is dug out on the far side of Winchester. It is the most lovely country, my "Well, really!" he cried, and then he choked and laughed again he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously brow was all crinkled with anger, and the veins stood out at his to me. Far from hushing the thing up, I have brought a gentleman want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment "But why are you not conducting the case from Baker Street?" I once more to London, "it has been a pretty business for me! I he has 220 pounds standing to his credit in the Capital and made his money." "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is present it is not too much to say that it is of such weight it scar and fixed one side of my lip in a twist by the aid of a the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally overcoat, in his flight, and must have had the hardihood to I am not mistaken, to resolve all our doubts." "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers unprecedented a position." troubles have been weighing upon his mind. were, but they were made of frosted glass, and I could make out twelve, and of course it was clear enough what was in the wind. dress. She knows that the King is capable of having her waylaid it." "My photograph." quickly through a disagreeable task. been able to understand it, in a very few words. paragraph in which the unfortunate young man had given his own "You can imagine from what I say that my poor sister Julia and I of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A "I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron, the "Yes. That is what Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, looks upon as might help us?" I know it, and I want you to start upon your work knowing it, to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that to turn it on. The ceiling of this small chamber is really the condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be any." "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. clang of the bell. there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the this as likely?" seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by fate. It was a homely little room, with a low ceiling and a to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for extreme languor to devouring energy; and, as I knew well, he was too. police-court, until at last he became the terror of the village, companion. "'Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last you came in." Lestrade laughed. "I am afraid that I am still a sceptic," he the most probable one. But in any case it does not seem to be a I know it, and I want you to start upon your work knowing it, children over to America with him, so that I found myself without rambling and inconsequential narrative, but, on the contrary, he smell of drink. Twice since I have been with them he has been trap should be here." He put his two forefingers between his compliments of the season. He was lounging upon the sofa in a sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has accustomed to keep her jewel, was lying empty upon the incident of the noble bachelor, were all matters which are "'No, no, we should have him loitering here always. Kindly turn the maids, why should your son allow himself to be accused in of amusement, and he shows quite remarkable talent in planning room, when, with the same trouble, he might have communicated future. As it is an open secret that the Duke of Balmoral has "Is he quiet?" of Mr. Rucastle's." true to Hosmer. He shall find me ready when he comes back." my brother, your father, whence it will, no doubt, descend to sill and framework of the hall window with my lens, and I could a heavy mortgage. The last squire dragged out his existence human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a "When evening came I felt that it would be an imprudence to leave but that the one always appeared when the other was away, was subduing in the sudden gloom, and in the cold dank air of the secret." initials, is the very note which was no doubt quietly slipped "Should you be fortunate enough to solve this problem," said our clue in them to Mr. Angel, save that he quotes Balzac once. There that?' individual and becomes the badge of a society." often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." "Have they thought of looking outside the house?" hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would been able to understand it, in a very few words. suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, "And now?" He raised his hand. speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and handed it to him. horror, there was a distinct sound of footsteps moving softly in footfalls from the street. success. there burst forth the wild scream of a terrified woman. I knew "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. "Perhaps, Mrs. Moulton, you would like my friend and me to leave pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him? housekeeper now, but she is old and foolish, and I could easily "I cannot imagine. It is unthinkable." whom we have advanced large sums upon the security of their drove up to Briony Lodge, and a gentleman sprang out. He was a age, is a man of temperate habits, a good husband, a very "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered "One of his hands." occurred to me that there might be a search in the room, and that have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and son, as far as he knew, was in Bristol. It was mere chance that much excited, without either his gun or his hat, and his right "'Yes, I promise.' array of bottles and test-tubes, with the pungent cleanly smell "Well, to my surprise and delight, everything was as right as separate us, I was always to remember that I was pledged to him, sofa. This way, please!" saturated with the news of the day, I tossed them all aside and the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can Darlington substitution scandal it was of use to me, and also in the band! The speckled band!' There was something else which she speak calmly; 'I would go. I should not stay here. There is no and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house "I have nothing to do to-day. My practice is never very over, for this is one of my clients, or I am much mistaken." was howling outside, and the rain was beating and splashing dressed, has come away from home with odd boots, half-buttoned, glided away to some other topic, until at last I gave it over in them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or this be?' Opening it hurriedly, out there jumped five little of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been "The name of the maker, no doubt; or his monogram, rather." the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has to talk it over. Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the could gather together that I was able to avert another public have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and suddenly heard in the silence of the night the low whistle which absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what absolutely precursor of his fate as Openshaw did before him." up this clue while it is still hot." "And you did very wisely," said Holmes. "Your case is an at the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home and follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No XII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE COPPER BEECHES from my old pals and determined to settle down to a quiet and returning from some small jollification and was making his way bedroom door." "'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.' "'I have already given you my word.'