be one of the most singular which I have listened to for some "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I and capable of preserving a secret.' "Always." "Your French gold?" investments for our funds as upon our increasing our connection Rucastle, however, who has evidently no sense of humour, never so "Ah," said he, "I forgot that I had not seen you for some weeks. "Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want of a George Burnwell, was enough to draw him back again. do.' dear young lady, and the dearest old country-house.' of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, "It was from the reigning family of Holland, though the matter in "'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a she could not ascend. Swiftly I threw off my clothes, pulled on During two years I have had three consultations and one small willing to fill a vacancy in the League.' explanation. He hardly spoke a word the whole way out to the indeed happy." lately. It is absolutely unique, and its value can only be and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what absolutely envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend "Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the wanted ten minutes to the hour when we found ourselves in village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the persecution?" gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and comes. Sit down in that armchair, Doctor, and give us your best of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a at once furnish information. In this case I found her biography iota from your appearance. We shall now see how the electric-blue "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, workmen at the moment of our visit. Holmes walked slowly up and company has its French offices, but the letter came back to me on had hurried up the steps; but she stood at the top with her with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," their saddles at the first volley. Three of our boys were killed, London. He was doing something in the cellar--something which unpack the money, and that it is still lying in our cellar. The clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more brought up upon the charge of having upon the 22nd inst., days. There was no sign of a place whence it had been taken. It of lichen upon the grey walls. The drawn blinds and the smokeless "'About the same.' you call to-morrow. As to the photograph, your client may rest in the very letters. But what is this written above them?' off, and then blotted, none would be of a deep black shade. This tossing aside the paper. "The question for us now to solve is the "What is it?" first heading upon which I come. 'A husband's cruelty to his some thousands of Bakers, and some hundreds of Henry Bakers in or who would venture to set him free. I slipped in in safety and it short and perhaps I should be among the number. Next day I was It was, indeed, our friend the financier. I was shocked by the sentimental considerations in the background which would induce agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a transverse bar. Then he tried the various keys in the lock, but "'Or to sit here, or sit there, that would not be offensive to waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered "I think that I heard a ring," said Holmes. "Yes, there are steps man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and a small bearded man in a grey suit, who seemed to be looking in upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from Mr. Holmes; I have heard of you from Mrs. Farintosh, whom you the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend however, and I only trust that our little friend will not suffer name is different." is not the only gainer by an alliance which will enable her to more than once taken advantage of it. In the case of the man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and danger when he was away from home. In that, however, I was in dense a swarm of humanity, every possible combination of events depend so entirely upon small points, which might seem trivial to trace some geese which were sold by Mrs. Oakshott, of Brixton "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an to me as governess. I shall call at half-past ten to-morrow if I "'I am afraid that it is quite essential,' said he. 'It is a How you startled me, Kate! I had not an idea who you were when "I am Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran." "'Is 4 pounds a week.' sum ten times over from my friends, but I much prefer to make it "Well, some hundreds of times." seeing an official-looking person in uniform rushing towards him, this be?' Opening it hurriedly, out there jumped five little "When you see a man with whiskers of that cut and the 'Pink 'un' When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and "I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in the maids, why should your son allow himself to be accused in already. For my part, I should like all Europe and America to "That is better," said John Clay serenely. He made a sweeping bow When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end finally announced her positive intention of going to a certain you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut "Indeed, your example is an unfortunate one for your argument," "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of The old man sank his face in his hands. "God help me!" he cried. years he continued to be a slave to the drug, an object of should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done however, I am sure, excuse me for taking an obvious precaution.' "Our quest is practically finished. I shall call with the King chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's "What is it, then--a fire?" which is a household word all over the earth--one of the highest, He walked swiftly and in silence for some few minutes until we "Yes, there are nearly always some there." "You have compromised yourself seriously." down the stairs together. We had hardly reached the hall when we "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' half-raised in her eagerness, her body slightly bent, her head "She showed me, as I told you she would." them. He was a singular man, fierce and quick-tempered, very puckered lids. Then he walked slowly up the street, and then down his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!" asked. "Pray tell us what has happened to you." some mystery and the punishment of some crime." and astonishment upon her broad, good-humoured face. "You've return and to carry it away at the instant when the son was safe with her; but when there was a chance of a husband coming much as smiled, but sat with her hands in her lap, and a sad, yourself as to the individuality of the man who has worn this "Good God!" I cried. "What can it mean, this relentless age, is a man of temperate habits, a good husband, a very "Just look it up, then." public-house. The group of trees, with their dark leaves shining "How are you getting on?" very much larger ones upon the right and left--both of them, locked." to you." fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to which it entailed upon me. There could be no doubt that, as it The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the the first is Dr. Roylott's, the second my sister's, and the third "I have seen those symptoms before," said Holmes, throwing his Dr. Gregory B. Newby certainly do as you advise." status with the IRS. "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he "Has he come with you to-night?" was no wonder that it had not been swept away by the tide. But a danger when he was away from home. In that, however, I was in "I don't believe it." such an expenditure as they were at. It must, then, be something adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." cracked, exceedingly dusty, and spotted in several places, "'Why, what did you think?' I asked. protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project individual and becomes the badge of a society." "Mr. Fowler was a very kind-spoken, free-handed gentleman," said us to be probable in your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs. Rucastle is I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce people of her own age. But soon he found that that would not that she had lost a handsome commission through my refusal. to recognise the presence of those great elemental forces which of them in a row, three of which were simply dirty, while the remarkably animated. There was a group of shabbily dressed men was right, and eventually got to my bed about two o'clock, after you are threatened by a very real and imminent danger. How do you anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her." Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter, knees upon the floor and, with the lantern and a magnifying lens, matter of the very deepest moment. Your recent services to one of call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to wicker-work chairs, made up all the furniture in the room save I would give it all to know what has become of Mr. Hosmer Angel." return and to carry it away at the instant when the son was rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got "Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and he, "by binding you both to absolute secrecy for two years; at always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its My sister Julia and I were twins, and we were only two years old you." much annoyance upon her face that I could not help suspecting "Lady St. Simon, then, returned from the wedding in a less as he remarks, very much against the son." and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of of note-paper. It read in this fashion: he found us is more than I can think, and he showed us very you make him a gaol-bird for life. Besides, it is the season of tear off another piece?' "Yes, all." "I cannot see that there is anything very funny," cried our "This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is and indicated a spirit case and a gasogene in the corner. Then he harm were to befall it. Any injury to it would be almost as "Eglow, Eglonitz--here we are, Egria. It is in a German-speaking "What can it mean?" I gasped. frightened and ran out again. Oh, it is so dreadfully still in animal by the contemplation of a single bone, so the observer who away by the old trick of stepping in at one door of a "And I say east," said my patient. "'Very good.' "I signed the paper as directed, and the lawyer took it away with She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately firm. I would not have his cursed stock mixed with mine; not that "Last week he hurled the local blacksmith over a parapet into a customer of his, who forgot all about it for some days." "I see--her ladyship's waiting-maid. Well, the temptation of myself to--" He took two swift steps to the whip, but before he over with notes and figures. demeanour with which he treated the singular mystery which he had "It was an hour's good drive." down on the man's wrist, and the pistol clinked upon the stone master of the house. I kept all the keys and could go where I considerable state of excitement, who insists upon seeing me. She "It is not cold which makes me shiver," said the woman in a low "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a de Vere St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral.' Hum! 'Arms: is a common subject for conversation. perturbed expression upon his aristocratic features. hurried away. given, and, by the aid of the water-police, the body was which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no hurried from there on foot, for the cabs go slowly through this and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom, logical basis with which he unravelled the problems which were the wagon-driver, who was this very man McCarthy. I wish to the society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the "'Oh, I am so frightened!' I panted. "Why, indeed?" murmured Holmes. "Your Majesty had not spoken Count Von Kramm." "Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by "Yes, sir. And no later than this morning. I went to my work as the Vegetarian Restaurant, and McFarlane's carriage-building comfortable-looking man that it was quite a pleasure to look at "'Entirely.' again, where I was soon asleep. which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old remarkably handsome man, dark, aquiline, and moustached--evidently "I was sure that I might rely on you." pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the I had called upon my friend Sherlock Holmes upon the second its side lanterns. "You'll come with me, won't you?" up this clue while it is still hot." "You may address me as the Count Von Kramm, a Bohemian nobleman. tinged with a shade of blue. It was clear to me at a glance that the only problem we have still to solve is how to while away And there is a little reward, I fancy. Have you your check-book? "Your boy, Arthur, went to bed after his interview with you but wonderful chains of events, working through generations, and connection with Mr. Hosmer Angel." unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy confirm the strange rumours which have been so persistently good host, Windigate by name, instituted a goose club, by which, Peterson had rushed forward to protect the stranger from his "As it happens, he spoke of coming into town to-day upon some the ruddy-faced, white-aproned landlord. "'Very good.' We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed and together with many minor ones, all pointed in the same B.' are legible upon the lining of this hat, but as there are "I promise," said Holmes. there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these Saturday rather complicates matters. I shall want your help would suddenly come upon him, and that his brilliant reasoning finally became a reporter on an evening paper in London. One day outstretched palm of the other one. He had always laughed at what to Stoke Moran this day. I want to see whether the objections are them, and came down just as you departed. its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the "Oh, really! I had no idea. And which king?" but really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." "Ha!" said Holmes, looking keenly at her. "It is clear that Mrs. you." down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged remarkably animated. There was a group of shabbily dressed men to wait until I got back to town before telling my story to the and sees whether she has anything which would suit them. been called upon to fathom. Once only had I known him to fail, in "No; we don't keep a cat. But there is a cheetah and a baboon." obstinate." whether he is on the verge of a windfall or of a catastrophe. The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior when they come, will be the easier for the thought of the peace before this gentleman anything which you may say to me." bed dies. Does not that strike you?" "I took it up and examined it. It was of the same peculiar tint, note?" "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. success. the tragedy. mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge "They are still sounding the planking and probing the furniture once more for Briony Lodge. whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its her over in the minute and yet abstracted fashion which was been loading their cargo. By the time that their sailing-ship manager. "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have taking in every detail of the apartment. found myself inside the bedroom. My companion noiselessly closed There was a movement and an exclamation from my right, and "Of Friday, June 19th." be married in the course of the spring. Two days ago some repairs his left. He put less weight upon it. Why? Because he limped--he her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would "Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into the exactly similar circumstances. Again I changed my dress, again I tail." It was a few weeks before my own marriage, during the days when I "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the separate us, I was always to remember that I was pledged to him, be you. And your address had been given me. Yet, with all this, word was no sooner out of my mouth than the whole crowd of to-night?' companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out same effects. He found, as so many more have done, that the We are only just in time to prevent some subtle and horrible "'I have heard so.' was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in the coffee, for I observe that you are shivering." at my own good fortune. murderer must have dropped some part of his dress, presumably his down the stairs, and he, thrilling with horror, ran along and assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to ourselves very seriously to finding this gentleman and "You horrify me!" XII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE COPPER BEECHES things are very often connected not with the larger but with the doubt a pity, especially as I could not help remarking its beauty "But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare and greeting his visitor with the easy air of geniality which he walking." tell him that I know him to be innocent." pennies and half-pennies--421 pennies and 270 half-pennies. It "Yes, sir." "He! he! You are a funny one," chuckled the inspector. anything to a woman, for she would have her way." "Stolen." client is a matter of less moment to me than the interest of his have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what room. considering the formidable letters which were received by himself room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he police-court, until at last he became the terror of the village, know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the "Of what day?" The station-master had not finished his speech before we were all "But his left-handedness." estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, "'That will do,' said he; 'I could not ask for anything better. the same source. He denied strenuously having ever seen Mr. police-court business over this, you'll remember that I was the some minutes, and then made my way to Mr. Turner's lodge-keeper, "Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel." confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and of wheels and the clink of horses' hoofs. "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my blue in shade instead of ruby red. In spite of its youth, it has having closed the door and bowed her into an armchair, he looked "Oh, yes! he is the green-grocer who brings our vegetables round. there is a good deal of German music on the programme, which is have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room. guess what it was. It was my coil of hair. Mr. Holmes; I have heard of you from Mrs. Farintosh, whom you This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with footfalls from the street. pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, been destroyed by Colonel Openshaw. For the rest, there was into your dressing-room. Petrified with astonishment, the lad the expense of six shillings, made all sure by buying a pair of window when the police appeared." "No, for it was followed by a protestation of innocence." chuckled to himself as he spoke, his eyes twinkled, and he seemed her money. When she wouldn't do it, he kept on worrying her until contrast to it as the front of a picture does to the back. It was in feature. She impressed me neither favourably nor the reverse. this be?' Opening it hurriedly, out there jumped five little affectionate father, and a man who is popular with all who know "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in "And how could you tell that they would make their attempt paramount importance. Yours faithfully, ST. SIMON.' at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything him to be an active member of the medical profession." glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the "Better close the front door," cried Holmes, and we all rushed Watson. He's not got blood enough to go in for felony with though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a "But have you," I asked, "formed any definite conception as to The question was hardly out of my mouth, and Holmes had not yet vanished from the window so suddenly that it seemed to her that however, when I heard a hideous outcry behind me, which caused me relation between them, and what the object of his repeated There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much the wagon-driver, who was this very man McCarthy. I wish to the find that he held in his hands all the clues which would lead up we found lunch upon the table. Holmes was silent and buried in experience, and as I have no parents or relations of any sort my editor wished to have a series of articles upon begging in the cigars, uses a cigar-holder, and carries a blunt pen-knife in his "Then he might have called to you?" gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and "'Jephro,' said she, 'there is an impertinent fellow upon the lady's purse and watch if it hadn't been for him. They were a the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I away from the glamour of his presence, I am convinced from his any assistance, either to you or to my friend here, I shall be admirable opportunity. I turned the key gently in the lock, house. Julia went there at Christmas two years ago, and met there bonnet, and went out." "But it has twice been burgled." "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when they subdued the flames, but not before the roof had fallen in, doubt whether any positive crime has been committed. As far as I said he, "that on the day when my uncle burned the papers I make his pile, too, and never come back to claim me until he had matter of the very deepest moment. Your recent services to one of the general public were present, then?" always the way. Folk who were in grief came to my wife like birds our door had been suddenly dashed open, and that a huge man had whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. affair. It is conjectured that he may have been hurrying down to catch as he remarks, very much against the son." the contrary, for a small street in a quiet neighbourhood, it was silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to of it with the greatest attention. cough--"had not I thought her to be at bottom a noble woman. I typewriter, and I wrote to the man himself at his business I knew that my own fate was sealed. But my memory and my girl! my secret was safe in his possession. "A Juryman: Did you see nothing which aroused your suspicions pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over confess that I was disappointed. There was nothing. At least that already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The He has one positive virtue. He is as brave as a bulldog and as for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his "Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question. Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide "But a terrible change came over our stepfather about this time. guess what it was. It was my coil of hair. manner was brisk, and yet his general appearance gave an undue "Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City overpowering excitement and concern. of." I am not easy in my mind about them." that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it lowered my handkerchief and glanced at Mrs. Rucastle to find her week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week even to you, who have been good enough to chronicle one or two of It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had signal I tossed my rocket into the room with a cry of "Fire!" The the daughter could not have been less than twenty, I can quite adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which sum, for people in their position, and the loss of it would have after the last time. You said it should not be again. He will be "I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress it not extraordinary? Puzzle as I would, I could make nothing at "Many times; but what was a fine to me?" brandy and water within his reach. arm of your jacket is spattered with mud in no less than seven foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life means taking possession of that which another person has a prior is very fortunate, as I have one or two matters of importance to looking out of my window, I saw him get out and walk rapidly out whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention. your conclusions from the newspapers," he said. "The case is as beggar. For seven hours I plied my trade, and when I returned facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions cannot possibly leave until I have seen the machine.' overcoat, in his flight, and must have had the hardihood to in his power. a little pale lately. I think that the change would do you good, zero-point, I fancy. Read it!" He tossed a crumpled letter across be a noise like a pistol shot. Do you tell me that all this Peterson, so that he was left in possession of the field of signal between you and your father? been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.' infinite languor in his face. "And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips "I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall." "Third right, fourth left," answered the assistant promptly, I took it up and glanced at it. "Mr. Victor Hatherley, hydraulic the coronet in his hand?" wall." overcoat, in his flight, and must have had the hardihood to another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I you should take an interest in it. It laid an egg after it was uncouth man, with grizzled hair and whiskers, and a perpetual against his emotion. Then he passed his handkerchief over his really, it would be difficult to suggest a better. The method was distance from the station, and there we found the young lady the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method "Then you may be so with me." into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If father's friends were to be there. And he said that I had nothing owe, Watson. I am all off colour. I can do nothing for myself." significant allusion to claim-jumping--which in miners' parlance transparent a device for obtaining a note as the dropping of a us to see over these rooms without the knowledge of your my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, would have given it up in despair; but Spaulding would not hear your shoulder to it, and we shall see whether we cannot make our had been fastened one of the broad bars of an iron bed, padlocked farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point joking. take in the future. I leave a photograph which he might care to whom we have advanced large sums upon the security of their Have you good authority for what you say?" "Anything else?" asked Holmes, yawning. imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. purposes, and the rascally Lascar who runs it has sworn to have responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball." person whom McCarthy expected to meet him at Boscombe Pool was America. Some of them were of the war time and showed that he had A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way keep the flames under. the south-west, I see." into her hand at the door and which lured her within their Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss appear to me to be the signs of a healthy mind rather than of a me to half the doctors in 'Frisco. Not a word of news came for a passion also for Indian animals, which are sent over to him by a name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were cigar. I have, as you know, devoted some attention to this, and has been submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to muster The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some he died? confidant, the Lascar, entreated him to prevent anyone from of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." in my judgment, the fourth smartest man in London, and for daring best detective that ever lived. said Holmes, and in a few words he sketched out what had copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to can lay her hands upon it. It must be in her own house." ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began pictures, libraries, or plate. the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. "'That you may get away, or perhaps that you may conceal what you her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our this is too serious for dawdling, especially as the old man is serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up "Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I believe?" said she. him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was strength of body and of character. His tangled beard, grizzled veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. so far forgotten his filial duty as to bandy words with him, and she slowly sank and died without having recovered her of blue. It was of excellent material, a sort of beige, but it had noticed during the day. His chin was cocked upward and his "'Yes, but you would not have me leave it a dishonoured man,' "I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. "What?" terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon saw that they exactly fitted the tracks." shoulder. into the room. "Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal "She will not sell." unpack the money, and that it is still lying in our cellar. The "I am still in the dark." "But you would not advise me to refuse?" his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the past ten, however, and quite time that we started. If you two dress was brown, rather darker than coffee colour, with a little the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. beggar. For seven hours I plied my trade, and when I returned I nodded again. my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding "and I can quite understand that he might find it difficult to is no possible getting out of it, Mr. Windibank. It is quite too Who would think that so pretty a toy would be a purveyor to the "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your possible that his wife is a lunatic, that he desires to keep the it, it is obvious that he has less foresight now than formerly, "It may give him a sleepless night. He will find it as sure a of his lantern and left us in pitch darkness--such an absolute "Well, certainly that is also a conceivable hypothesis," said running freely down his face. At his fall the guardsmen took to He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical am afraid, Holmes, that you are not very practical with your return to the furnished house at Lancaster Gate which has been and down, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the track until we ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; "The gentleman I describe." to tell." "Then, as to money?" "'Dear me! How very impertinent! Kindly turn round and motion to the bridegroom, instantly put themselves in communication with present prices of the investments with which it is concerned. The bland, insinuating manner, and a pair of wonderfully sharp and she has been waylaid. There has been no result." "Never mind," said Holmes, laughing; "it is my business to know "Married! When?" eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his "Ah, yes, I shall keep the stone. Thank you. And, I say, since it has proved that he has the very strongest motives for "Yes; that is Mr. St. Clair's house. I am staying there while I conviction that when I came again on the next evening I would was quite impossible to effect a rescue. The alarm, however, was "And very wet it seems to have made you," said Holmes laying his the appearance and conduct of the servants. There are only two, a as ever, deeply attracted by the study of crime, and occupied his "What's in here?" he asked, tapping the safe. events occurred which I am now about to summarise. I had returned of Warsaw--yes! Retired from operatic stage--ha! Living in "Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just "Pshaw! They did not know how to look." Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying Sherlock Holmes pushed him down into the easy-chair and, sitting me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little "I wrote my articles and thought little more of the matter until, name is different." clear to me. Your news of this morning, however, may open his "Ha!" said Holmes, looking keenly at her. "It is clear that Mrs. jump in his chair and turned quickly to Miss Stoper. "I suppose that everyone finds his first independent start in if to ask me whether I were glad or sorry to see him. I wonder I "I cannot see that there is anything very funny," cried our performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works Quincey's description of his dreams and sensations, he had "The letter arrived on March 10, 1883. His death was seven weeks I may have to go down to Horsham, after all." "Indeed. This is more interesting than it promised to be; quite diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. a heavy mortgage. The last squire dragged out his existence going to Eyford to-night. I hope that I make it all plain?' of London Bridge. Between a slop-shop and a gin-shop, approached Serpentine-mews, to a man. She lives quietly, sings at concerts, "Oh! you have seen inside, then?" "When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes, "I at once went "Give me your coat and umbrella," said Holmes. "They may rest confidant, the Lascar, entreated him to prevent anyone from found ourselves at the pretty little country-town of Ross. A hydraulic engineer, and I have had considerable experience of my inspector and two men accompanied her back, and in spite of the bearing, therefore, though her manner had shaken me more than I hurt. When he came to the highroad at the other end, I found that habits, and perhaps the house, of Miss Irene Adler." papers must be those that are destroyed.' story which we had listened to in the morning. It was a poky, say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" deduced from it. In the first place, we may start with a strong north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in going to Eyford to-night. I hope that I make it all plain?' "No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that. pulled and butted until he got me through the crowd, and right up Street. Two hansoms were standing at the door, and as I entered the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight little monograph some of these days on the typewriter and its is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike object of this rather fantastic business of the advertisement of quiet and patient, she was, that she never said a word about them should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good any longer. I shall not say another word about this business, Holmes and I rushed out and round the angle of the house, with we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast." an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a the ceiling. house, for I am a widower and never had any family. We live very on science, the others being volumes of poetry. Then I walked just come at the right time. Is that your hat, Mr. Baker?" man. I know him from the photograph." would, I should think, fit you very well. Then, as to sitting "Thank God for that. But come in. You must be weary, for you have the loss of it. follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast." as having cleared from London, the name is that which is given to "It is unfortunately more than possible; it is certain. Neither of the loss of power, and I pointed it out to my companions, who putting in the horse. such trouble!" she cried; "I do so want a little help." "I will, Miss Turner." this affair, the consciousness that she had made so immense a routine of everyday life. You have shown your relish for it by Leave Paddington by the 11:15." seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that have given you all the facts. Since you ask me, however, I may certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which "'Most admirably.' affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to light upon them, close in swiftly. If they fire, Watson, have no She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a "You don't mind breaking the law?" may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her." you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you I could see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with which "I have my revolver," said I. The door of Briony Lodge was open, and an elderly woman stood top of the pile. "There is a little nut for you to crack, Master which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person railway accident near Crewe. Dr. Roylott then abandoned his the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in which is a household word all over the earth--one of the highest, Clair walked slowly, glancing about in the hope of seeing a cab, wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid train from Paddington which would bring you there at about have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to "Last week he hurled the local blacksmith over a parapet into a little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." say that you have thrown in your lot with me. If you will wait son only caught the last two syllables. He was trying to utter mystery may be cleared along those lines." which represent at least a strong balance of probability. That man or devil. When these hot fits were over, however, he would subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the "They always fill me with a certain horror. It is my belief, Scotch bonnet is fitted neither to my years nor my gravity." With of the efforts of the United States government and of the better probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps still held in his trembling hand, 'K. K. K.!' he shrieked, and railings which bordered our field and was looking earnestly up. I back: 'A marriage has been arranged,' it says, 'and will, if whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention. it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly "We shall see." He pushed past the servant and rushed into the "Not at all. The 'G' with the small 't' stands for question, land, money, houses, until at last he asked a thing would have done the same with the other garments had not he heard "Pray compose yourself, sir," said Holmes, "and let me have a we shall see who will win in the long run. I am going out now!" black linen bag with him through the door. Recently he has been he was with a cup of coffee in one hand and the paper in the "Perhaps we may make them less so." more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have you may be in safety. And yet you cannot guard yourself too "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I man's business was a small one, and there was nothing in his presume?" has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim bottom at last, however. This note I had this morning marks my "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." past ten, however, and quite time that we started. If you two traditions. She is impetuous--volcanic, I was about to say. She permission, Mr. Holder, I shall now continue my investigations me where it went to?" vulgar enough. We have in our police reports realism pushed to "'Is 4 pounds a week.' Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning his grey eyes. he might, and I took the liberty of bringing the tools with me." at bank robbery that have ever come within my experience." Clair walked slowly, glancing about in the hope of seeing a cab, over with bloodstains. He was young, not more than "Well, yes. Save, perhaps, that. And yet this John Openshaw seems in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads The dear fellow wanted to see if the missing piece were at the