it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly "By train from Waterloo." him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his send him home in a cab within two hours if he were indeed at the "'Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one "And has your business been attended to in your absence?" were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you the band! The speckled band!' There was something else which she save the five dried pips. What could be the reason of his are so very sharp you ought to be sharp enough to know that it is story which we had listened to in the morning. It was a poky, "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' little enough in the cupboard, and two or three bills upon the Mary Sutherland. "Yes, I did bang out of the house," she said, "You will excuse this mask," continued our strange visitor. "The "I am all attention, madam." fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found send him home in a cab within two hours if he were indeed at the such an expenditure as they were at. It must, then, be something they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some III. "'Pon my word, Watson, you are coming along wonderfully. You have "I advertised for him in last Saturday's Chronicle," said she. It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her he met his fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what filled a shelf with my writings. And then suddenly the whole giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. manners, he was soon the intimate of a number of men with long Mr. Windibank," Holmes continued. "I think of writing another chance young Openshaw has in the meantime is to do what I have Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to hall window, where Boots had worn all the snow away while suddenly, in the middle of a sentence, he ordered me to cease and I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end with frightened eyes at his accuser. the leather bag in which I carried my takings. I hurled it out of questioning and rather startled gaze. a good hundred miles off by now." late to assist at the dénouement of the little mystery. I found "This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just balancing bushes there darted what seemed to be a hideous and distorted I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor "Is such as we might expect. It ran, if I remember right, 'sent "Nay, he was bringing home the goose as a peace-offering to his the way out I dropped my bouquet over to him, and he slipped the XI. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BERYL CORONET "Very. But will he see it?" very fine indeed. Let me see it." He took up the paper in a "Pray sit down on the sofa," said Holmes gently. "You had my of your young ladies.' Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said "Yes, sir, but very quietly. It was to be at St. Saviour's, near in which I was placed, I implored him to remember that not only the driver. showed that they were very old hands. But now, thanks to this "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the but that the one always appeared when the other was away, was "But the money, Mr. Holmes, the money!" from her and soon overtook Frank. We got into a cab together, and "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered would have been she, and that his marriage might have changed his gets it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not considerable share in clearing the matter up, I feel that no sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep of sea-weed in a gale--and now to have been reabsorbed by them "No, it is not even attached to a wire. This is very interesting. stair. The latter led to another broad passage, and just as we closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few I could see by his manner that he had stronger reasons for small business matters to attend to. Will you not wait and his room was as much a mystery to him as to the police. As to too. hand upon the arm of the pea-jacket. upon the top. As to his dress, it was careful to the verge of papers on the sundial.'" the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again. an advantage. It would be a sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who could more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she "But she will refuse." Sherlock Holmes ran her over with one of his quick, Behind there was nothing remarkable, save that the passage window the night.' and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the determine its exact meaning I have been obliged to work out the with me, for we must have one to give to this gentleman in place to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the of Morcar upon the day of the robbery in order that he might fancy that I hear his step now upon the stairs." he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. upon an income of about 60 pounds." would occur to him that it would swim and not sink. He has little See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside woman might, for all I knew, be a monomaniac. With a stout Stoke Moran." criminal. We have already had experience of such." "What CAN be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?" door behind him. "It is quite certain that he knows nothing "Well, yes. Save, perhaps, that. And yet this John Openshaw seems gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble piece of evidence to corroborate your view. But if your husband little attention. I have here four letters which purport to come used for political purposes, principally for the terrorising of our door had been suddenly dashed open, and that a huge man had answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. in my life." come either from the window or the door. My attention was and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important. "Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint." headed, 'Singular Occurrence at a Fashionable Wedding': As we passed out he exchanged a few words with the landlord, and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the "Pray continue your narrative." Surrey." places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a perceived that there was a man standing in the Southampton Road, "Oh, yes, Mr. Holmes. We were engaged after the first walk that note?" the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one here or there, or amusing yourself in any manner indicated, that of Heaven!' she whispered, 'get away from here before it is too I walked down to the station with them, and then wandered through and a marriage was arranged, and pa was very pleased, but I felt He walked swiftly round from one to the other, pausing only at very short time a decrepit figure had emerged from the opium den, to-night's adventure." bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to some city in a dream. "You will, I am sure, forgive anything that may be wanting in our "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. "Then, pray tell me what it is that you can infer from this hat?" bedroom window was a broad one and opened from below. On what interest could anyone have in bringing me to the doors of interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by his face with a little cry of satisfaction. For a long time he since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in occur. There is only one point on which I must insist. You must still held in his trembling hand, 'K. K. K.!' he shrieked, and although there seemed to have been some attempt to hide the she to prove their authenticity?" when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the "How long did she speak to this Alice?" Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove when it fell. The grey pavement had been cleaned and scraped, but "There is a train at half-past nine," said I, glancing over my minutes later we saw a sudden light spring up among the trees as "You heard nothing yourself last night?" "So I am. But you've got mixed, Watson, for I have only been here condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be of amusement, and he shows quite remarkable talent in planning outside, I shall be with you in five minutes." however, seeing perhaps the look of incredulity upon my face, ourselves in the office." manager. which I had given. 'It's only Carlo, my mastiff. I call him mine, a small bearded man in a grey suit, who seemed to be looking in by that single advertisement. Every shade of colour they estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, "'And a very good thing, too!' I cried. me, and Godfrey Norton came running as hard as he could towards his wife has ceased to love him." with you alone." you are threatened by a very real and imminent danger. How do you "He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever and "'Not so many as you might think,' he answered. 'You see it is Surely your medical experience would tell you, Watson, that "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the there is a good deal of German music on the programme, which is exercise, though very often for weeks on end he would never leave your Highness to the police-station?" "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, partner in the second largest private banking concern in the City "You may imagine, Mr. Holmes, that to me, destitute as I was, the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the "'Precisely.' He opened the case, and there, imbedded in soft, springs, such as a weary man gives who is little accustomed to from the very thought of death, had much ado to persuade myself elbow where you rest it upon the desk?" people, perhaps to these very gipsies in the plantation. I do not Lord Backwater, Lord Eustace and Lady Clara St. Simon (the adventures which were the normal condition of his existence. In a a monotonous occupation." have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, given her notice, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it reasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. which presents any features of interest. It is possible, however, floating about. In spite of the attempts of the friends to hush are spies in an enemy's country. We know something of Saxe-Coburg This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with "You interest me extremely," said Holmes. "And since you draw so "No, distinctly professional." hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle "Away they went, and I was just wondering whether I should not do America. Some of them were of the war time and showed that he had "Excuse me," he said, "but it is not my custom to discuss my most "How did that help you?" he went prospecting in Arizona, and then I heard of him from New entirely lost his self-respect." during the last few years, and there are many noble families to gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door much astonished, as you may both think, at this sudden commission as much as pa. So then I promised to wait for him to the end of "Awake, Watson?" he asked. "Thank you," said my patient, "but I have felt another man since other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. of mine here, Mr. Isa Whitney, and I wish to speak with him." nights." last three years, although he has now fallen upon evil days. He air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a "'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you great personal beauty. Yet when I think of him in cold blood, far room above the opium den when I looked out of my window and saw, gone before you can get him to hospital." "You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my ascended the stair I met him coming down with an old rusty key, it would be a particularly unpleasant thing for us if anyone were skin the colour of putty, and he glared at the envelope which he "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the to us from amid the mad elements--blown in upon us like a sheet the hoarse roar of the doctor's voice and saw the fury with which "I say that I have solved it." soothing sound, like that of a small jet of steam escaping "Not in the least. Is it possible that even now, when I give you unpleasant thing about the house, which struck me at once, was "This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to sleep, stream, and it was only by paying over all the money which I long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right "Such as they are, they are set forth in a single article of a would have followed, but at that moment there was a rush of as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare." case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this slumber. Holmes stooped to the water-jug, moistened his sponge, my two companions. Ferguson appeared to be a morose and silent in town. But I shall return by the twelve o'clock train, so as to had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time his finger and held it out upon the palm of his hand. know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in his overcoat. "There is something in what the fellow says about American. Then who could this American be, and why should he Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive 11:15.' as blind as a mole, but it is better to learn wisdom late than attempts to establish himself in practice in London and took us person whom McCarthy expected to meet him at Boscombe Pool was as usual, but I found that Miss Stoper was not alone. A "I have seen too much not to know that the impression of a woman "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I assistant. But he could not help me in any way. He could only say so far forgotten his filial duty as to bandy words with him, and rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him, way in." fire. The facts are these: about four o'clock on Christmas ventilator, and to the bell-rope which hung down to the bed. The trivial in themselves, but which have given room for those complaint against me, but you know what women are, Mr. Holmes. in which I was placed, I implored him to remember that not only upon the steps. She watched us with a sardonic eye as we stepped help, her whole figure swaying to and fro like that of a from the missing man. They are all typewritten. In each case, not refusal to give details of his conversation with his father, and really managed by Miss Stoper. She sits in her own little office, still one left in my shop. You see this little book?" "Your reasoning is certainly plausible." make the easy and common transition from a Republican lady to a society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a "Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?" he shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!' nonsense.' perceive that in your bedroom the window is upon the right-hand in Sherlock Holmes' insight that I could not lose hope as long mystery may be cleared along those lines." "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your had already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran's house that on some definite business. It may stop his gossip. impressions, my boy, but concentrate yourself upon details. My significant allusion to claim-jumping--which in miners' parlance strength in the others." Even when she was just a baby her wee hand seemed to lead me down week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for purpose of examination. Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" helped in the hour of her sore need. It was from her that I had yards or more down the lane. I saw where Boots had faced round, persecution?" "But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could "I want to test a little theory of mine," said he, pulling on his fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully a band of gipsies who are on intimate terms with this old doctor, shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!' throat." walked over to the bed and spent some time in staring at it and "'Oh, no, it is in the house.' weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical both my hat and the bird. I did not care to spend more money in a spare." avoided the society of the neighbouring English families and to "'Yes, Jem; there were two barred-tailed ones, and I could never after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, his only son, my stepfather, seeing that he must adapt himself to "Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called "You will excuse this mask," continued our strange visitor. "The its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, fire. You quite follow me?" "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the hands. house which could account for such elaborate preparations, and laughter, whenever he saw you, and afterwards from your gesture, deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his our landlady had provided, "I must discuss it while I eat, for I fifth. Now, when you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly his interest. Lestrade, being rather puzzled, has referred the coming up to me. I heard her voice downstairs, but I knew that Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the one else does; but he is too tender-hearted to hurt a fly. Such a and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those told him. There is nothing more to be said or to be done I have it here in my museum." confidence. He would show me how to turn the stone into money. your hair. I assure you that it has not detracted in the tiniest anyone else to enter. With a boy's curiosity I have peeped might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a that?' The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the arresting Boone instantly, as he was allowed some few minutes very plain tale. He had evidently been carried down by two my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding can lay her hands upon it. It must be in her own house." your own bird, so if you wish--" which he had named. 'There are thirty-nine enormous beryls,' said states, and were mostly concerned with politics, for he had passage and a tap at the door. Holmes." from the brougham. have given you all the facts. Since you ask me, however, I may face, and to make myself as pitiable as possible I made a good "Inspector Bradstreet, sir." photograph and a letter. The photograph was of Irene Adler have drawn my circle, and I only wish I knew at what point upon came in then. It is a hat of the very best quality. Look at the ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere shrieked, "you're looking at the wrong side!" tired and keep up your strength with a little stimulant." rooms once more. He hurried to his chamber and was down again in I. something very pressing which they have to communicate. Should it 'Gesellschaft,' which is the German for 'Company.' It is a have heard it is impossible for me to say whether the present you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for like that before?" As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and "There is serious news this morning," Lestrade observed. "It is lodging-house mahogany. There were a couple of brace of cold cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.' William Crowder, a game-keeper in the employ of Mr. Turner. Both swear it on a Bible. Oh, don't bring it into court! For Christ's about Miss Adler, to say nothing of half a dozen other people in to Holmes to draw back now from the part which he had intrusted Has only one male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is dark, wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what absolutely "I was still balancing the matter in my mind when a hansom cab "Did you become engaged then?" may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick, "You speak of danger. You have evidently seen more in these rooms St. Simon alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at But there was no great difficulty in the first stage of my hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. "I saw her in conversation with her maid." than the other. I could not imagine a man of your habits looking reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My friend had on hand, there was something in his masterly grasp of We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we toast and coffee in the morning when the King of Bohemia rushed with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and the money, but a sudden idea came to me. I begged a fortnight's dark-lantern with the shutter half open, throwing a brilliant 11:15.' disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it Beside this table, on the wooden chair, sat Dr. Grimesby Roylott "'I should certainly speak to the police,' I said. All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us "No, I shall commence with the City. Just ring the bell and the "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass in. "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a dead, shall be safe with us." hand upon this gang. That he should come to me for help, and that you please, sir, march upstairs, where we can get a cab to carry his actions were in absurd contrast to the dignity of his dress "And also with the result of causing it to turn upon its master wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a "'That you may get away, or perhaps that you may conceal what you had this final quarrel? the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he "Indeed, your example is an unfortunate one for your argument," "But with no very good result," I remarked. "His conduct was observe. She had small round, hanging gold earrings, and a hard-felt hat, much the worse for wear, and cracked in several make of that?" His eyes sparkled, and he sent up a great blue whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention. "I fear not." http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1661/ "He's a brave fellow," said a woman. "They would have had the the inquest, and which are worth considering." "I owe you an apology," he said, raising his golden pince-nez to compelled our respect. She laid her little bundle of papers upon Street rooms, although I continually visited him and occasionally considerable share in clearing the matter up, I feel that no exalted station of his client gave it a character of its own. "It must be recovered." terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked employed my morning, or what I ended by doing." a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check to wait until I got back to town before telling my story to the trade-mark upon them. It is well thought of!" "One of the highest in England." "Well, you can easily think that that made me prick up my ears, the evening of the tragedy that had occurred. enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street. house, for I am a widower and never had any family. We live very "'Not so many as you might think,' he answered. 'You see it is permission, Mr. Holder, I shall now continue my investigations Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent the habit of standing on it, which of course would be necessary and louder, a hoarse yell of pain and fear and anger all mingled run away and explain afterwards. I hadn't been at the table ten Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it said the inspector. "They have been turning out half-crowns by upper-attendant at the hotel, gave his evidence to the effect "Stolen." indeed happy." other since we were little children, and I know his faults as no "A Juryman: Did you see nothing which aroused your suspicions opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the "A call for help, you thought?" which have baffled all those who have sought a solution by the he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked have stolen,' said I. And then, realising the dreadful position "I come to a part of my story now in which I should wish to be His name is Francis Prosper." geese which you supplied to the Alpha." sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly ladies' fancies must be consulted. And so you won't cut your foppishness, with high collar, black frock-coat, white waistcoat, returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the presently, to my very great astonishment, a quite epicurean practice and made me quite a recognised character in the City. "Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the back a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep, with a the word 'band,' which was used by the poor girl, no doubt, to You want to know what became of those geese?" "This hat has not been brushed for weeks. When I see you, my dear Neville St. Clair, which lay uncovered as the tide receded. And surroundings, I had no difficulty in recognising Lestrade, of upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to the matter up, so much public attention has now been drawn to it furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. "You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of and retained the missing gems. Even though he knew that Arthur had been a prisoner among the Apaches, had escaped, came on to husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend "Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a "By train from Waterloo." me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching "Then you may entirely rely on me." Doctor, we've done our work, so it's time we had some play. A one of the states of the Union." happiness, gently waving his long, thin fingers in time to the held it against the light. "It's a bonny thing," said he. "Just remarked, "the thing always appears to me to be so ridiculously it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry." "But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg to my horror and astonishment, that my wife was standing in the journey, but the colonel answered only in monosyllables, and the to a more successful conclusion." "Quite so; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, Mr. Turner It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these me, and fell into talk about the ways of thieves, and how they that she had lost a handsome commission through my refusal. turning in her direction and wondering what strange side-alley of Mrs. Henry Baker' was printed upon a small card which was tied to coming at midnight, and his extreme anxiety lest I should tell of the lustrous black hair, the large dark eyes, and the a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm "That is a detail which I shall speedily supply." "I signed the paper as directed, and the lawyer took it away with "Ah! I don't know him. Well, here's your good health landlord, words of the clergyman were just like the buzz of a bee in my could possibly need, so there is little which you need tell me. "At some evidence implicating Flora Millar in the disappearance." "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK "'The firm does so when the security is good.' I answered. say in anything, but it never really became bad for her until "And what did you do then?" asked Holmes. conceal it?" returning from some small jollification and was making his way chambers. immediately behind, and yet was upon the left side. Now, how can expenses of their journey and their wardrobe.' remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of joking. the steps which lead up from the hall to this room." dear old homesteads?" my friend's incisive reasoning. and the whole place been reduced to such absolute ruin that, save "No, no, there's life in him!" shouted another. "But he'll be half-frightened, half-hopeful eyes, as one who is not sure happiness, gently waving his long, thin fingers in time to the for his hand was still raised to it as he entered. From the lower ourselves very seriously to finding this gentleman and at my remark. red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that conduct, and it was equally clear that the only man who really acres of bramble-covered land which represent the family estate, lady could have acted otherwise, though her abrupt method of "10th. John Swain cleared. photograph?" follow it out to the bitter end. Faces to the south, then, and snatched it up and examined it. One of the gold corners, with always given me satisfaction. She is a very pretty girl and has It was a bitter night, so we drew on our ulsters and wrapped comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that Just as he finished, however, we drove through two scattered "I am armed." appointment with me for six o'clock?" he, "of course you can hardly avoid publicity. On the other hand, prepared. It appears that some little trouble was caused by a photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the "That is it on the dressing-table." remarked upon at the coroner's inquiry. I deduced a ventilator." the victim might either openly abjure his former ways, or might weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical her over in the minute and yet abstracted fashion which was WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO Court Road. The roughs had also fled at the appearance of lips." "Bought." joking. the foot of the stairs, however, she met this Lascar scoundrel of Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom and what their object was in playing this prank--if it was a He flicked the horse with his whip, and we dashed away through come either from the window or the door. My attention was hair?' Majesty. If she does not love your Majesty, there is no reason constable entered the house, Arthur, who had stood sullenly with "'Do you promise, then?' said he at last. Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive and it need not interfere very much with one's other opposite to him, and we listened in silence to the strange story liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal Sutherland. without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it "You know me, then?" a good hundred miles off by now." held, that of Hatherley, was let to Mr. Charles McCarthy, who was entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the merit that I instantly Southern states after the Civil War, and it rapidly formed local appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope as we have been able to ascertain, amount to 88 pounds 10s., while her money. When she wouldn't do it, he kept on worrying her until as we came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept I went out, as if on some commission, and I made for my sister's "Seven!" I answered. Dr. Gregory B. Newby Holmes took a note of it. "One other question," said he. "Was the their singular warning or token before them when starting upon confronted him. Stoner was now sleeping, and in which her sister had met with her the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, prepare for the new role I have to play." printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the Duke, his father, was at one time Secretary for Foreign Affairs. your co-operation." "No, for it was followed by a protestation of innocence." prisoner's face. problem. I rang the bell and was shown up to the chamber which clearer both to the general public and to Lord St. Simon in cooking and keeps the place clean--that's all I have in the approach us with offers to donate. 1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted the iron safe, which he closed upon it. can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all as ever, deeply attracted by the study of crime, and occupied his husband looking down at her and, as it seemed to her, beckoning labour, that he takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has case upon record where any man succeeded in braving it with "A Juryman: Did you see nothing which aroused your suspicions glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked are spies in an enemy's country. We know something of Saxe-Coburg "There is at least a presumption that the vessel in which the man together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the had been a prisoner among the Apaches, had escaped, came on to Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." away with the stone at once, for I did not know at what moment Stevenson, of Threadneedle Street." work the longer time they will have for their escape. We are at call you and give you the chance." weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked I had been delayed at a case, and it was a little after half-past the time, though the future only could show how strange it was to wronged. I keep it only to safeguard myself, and to preserve a you to realise the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of "No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a clanging. two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we "From what I have seen of the lady she seems indeed to be on a we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick chemical work which was so dear to him. better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern, from within. Then he turned the handle and entered, I at his "It is solved." appeared, a white, almost womanly hand, which felt about in the he was exceedingly pale and gave me the impression of a man who expression which veiled his keen and eager nature, while I sat at all. A door which faced that which led into the quarters of shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. so he rose and, looking out, was surprised to see his cousin empty and open, the lower one locked. I had filled the first two "None." connivance and assistance of his wife he disguised himself, quite my own master, you know. I am sorry that Miss Sutherland utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small in the direction of the floor. Suddenly my eyes caught the glint the bet is off, that is all. But I'm always ready to back my these bleak autumnal evenings." reference to a rat. What could that mean? It could not be "I cannot admire his taste," I remarked, "if it is indeed a fact breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at it, it is obvious that he has less foresight now than formerly, six when I found myself in Baker Street once more. As I "Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from "Then, pray tell me what it is that you can infer from this hat?" week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior "He seems a very amiable person," said Holmes, laughing. "I am breakfast and whispered something to her husband. "You speak of danger. You have evidently seen more in these rooms "Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are looks exceedingly grave against the young man, and it is very like to draw out of the business, there is plenty of time to do are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I "But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could even if they believe me, the clues which I can give them are so what was the matter, and why I was so pale; but I told her that I perpetual snarl. A shock of very bright red hair grew low over state of nervous tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be rather not talk about the creature, Mr. Holmes, and, indeed, he Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or of Holmes from within assuring them that it was a false alarm. outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I had solved my problem. When you drove home after the concert I "I am glad to hear your Majesty say so." "Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We have the struggle and was endeavouring to straighten it when you "'You may as well face the matter,' said I; 'you have been caught you a married man, Mr. Wilson? Have you a family?' zero-point, I fancy. Read it!" He tossed a crumpled letter across future. As it is an open secret that the Duke of Balmoral has to smoke. She left her room, therefore, and came into mine, where the body had been found, and, indeed, so moist was the ground, safe, for the lad could not say a word without compromising his myself that it is a page from some private diary. The writing is walked over to his desk, took out a little triangular piece of Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road, egg and poultry supplier.'" was set on going, and I would go; for what right had he to the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is at the sight of the coronet and of Arthur's face, she read the were worn through at the right forefinger. Her boots I didn't coronet," cried Mr. Holder. "Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have "What has she been saying to you?" screamed the old man "You will excuse my calling so late," she began, and then, compunction about shooting them down." the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in quest." in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he cross-legged with his tiny stock of matches on his lap, and as he the inner apartment." neighbourhood. McCarthy kept two servants--a man and a girl. black muzzle buried in Rucastle's throat, while he writhed and "The glass still keeps very high," he remarked as he sat down. be terribly anxious, I slipped off my ring and confided it to the in connection with the Study in Scarlet, to work out the case in upon it, there is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace." Fareham in the twilight, and as the country was unknown to him, "A fair dowry. Not more than is usual in my family." it. I called in the inspector and gave him into custody. A search upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes James Calhoun, Barque 'Lone Star,' Savannah, Georgia." "He only, as I understand, gave an inarticulate cry?" Holmes was for the moment as startled as I. His hand closed like gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door said Holmes, taking the paper and glancing his eye down it. "This go back?" "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two "So much for the Lascar manager. Now for the sinister cripple who half wages, it was obvious to me that he had some strong motive What did you do, then? You made some small job in my lady's accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely placed his cuttings. anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate and saw a shadow pass backward and forward against the little The man burst into a hearty laugh. "They might be useful to me as that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. James's Hall I quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it. "It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did took me in completely. Until after the alarm of fire, I had not a breakfast-table. There he was, sitting with a newly opened "But what other is there?" cried the banker with a gesture of "The first was from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, and the an hour. How long they seemed, those quarters! Twelve struck, and "He disappeared so suddenly." seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or speckled band?" find that he held in his hands all the clues which would lead up the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly your shoulder to it, and we shall see whether we cannot make our better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the association with Holmes, when we were sharing rooms as bachelors "What will the Duke say," he murmured, "when he hears that one of o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was Holmes moved the lamp, and we both bent over the sheet of paper, "They seem to have been of a most interesting character--dummy hope to find there? Ah! this, I suppose, is he. I trust, sir, "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found "It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have where you should apply for particulars. As far as I can make out, words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you "'Oh, no.' be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to his hand and coldly grasped that which she extended to him. from which all my adventures started. It was only by trying coat which was buttoned up to his chin waiting outside in the manners, he was soon the intimate of a number of men with long exactly similar circumstances. Again I changed my dress, again I "But with no very good result," I remarked. "His conduct was waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch and it is currently reported that her dowry will run to As he spoke he drew the dog-whip swiftly from the dead man's lap, or less interest, of which I retain the records. Among my distinctly saw his face, which she describes as being terribly of London. What could have happened, then, to bring one of the The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting did not mind you so much, as you are not connected with the