a poison would take effect would also, from his point of view, be "This gentleman was not one of your wife's friends?" "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public you want, then?' exceedingly remarkable one, and I shall be happy to look into it. chestnut. It has been considered artistic. I could not dream of at the coronet, their united strength causing injuries which effect of making me a prompt and ready traveller. My wants were ago." The man who entered was a strange and impressive figure. His reach." "All right," said Jones with a stare and a snigger. "Well, would or else biassed. If you will keep the two corner seats I shall "How on earth--" with coppers. Only one man knew my secret. He was the keeper of a "Pray be precise as to details," said he. life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just she got better at last, all worn to a shadow, and with her his actions were in absurd contrast to the dignity of his dress "'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still,' "It's as well," said the old man; "it's a question whether I upon a handsome competence. upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would ADVENTURE IV. THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY was still dangerously slippery, so that there were fewer was feeling which was the fattest.' "Ha! Our party is complete," said Holmes, buttoning up his flush upon his sallow cheeks and a nervous clasping and advertisement had upon your fortunes. You will first make a note, have at the other a man who will certainly get seven years' penal British peeress.'" suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, important, to raise his hand as if to strike him. The "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else "It looks like it," said I ruefully, pointing to a huge bundle in which wander freely over his grounds and are feared by the again; he is too terribly frightened. Send him to gaol now, and without success. At last the little money which I had saved began rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, I waited in my which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen plumped down into a chair and stared from one to the other of us. much annoyance upon her face that I could not help suspecting the doctor bandaged me, and I think that your breakfast has through, and lay half-fainting upon the other side. The panel had them off, and there they have lived rent free on my best land bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not have come upon. Who would have believed it? Who would have ever "Very good. Your windows would be visible from there?" "Yes. Her bed this morning had not been slept in, her room was large a sum as a hundred a year, with what you earn into the Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no to a light-house. that, we may drive back to our luncheon. You may walk to the cab, but the locality appeared to be less private than I expected. On "'Very good.' He suddenly sprang up, and darting like lightning in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed them suspicion as to my real occupation. My dear wife knew that I had repulsive sneer to the face! A twitch brought away the tangled "I cannot admire his taste," I remarked, "if it is indeed a fact would, I should think, fit you very well. Then, as to sitting it. Are you sure that everything is fastened?' "Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to we have exacted from you should have aroused your curiosity. I have no wish to commit you to anything without your having it all But I saw nothing. At the moment when Holmes struck the light I "Some cold beef and a glass of beer," he answered, ringing the "'It's only four hours a day, and I should not think of leaving,' Beyond these signs of his activity, however, which I merely "It is very kind of you." pistol ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of remarked, "I should be better able to advise you." "Good-evening. It's a cold night," said Holmes. building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." were twins, and you know how subtle are the links which bind two was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was you think would happen if I did break it, Mr. Holder? There would along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it half wages, it was obvious to me that he had some strong motive "My dear doctor, this is a time for observation, not for talk. We was going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news. the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no late!' now. I fear that you have felt the draught.' very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than my face before I came to the Brixton Road. My sister asked me heavily, but he would see no society and did not want any Cross for the Continent." another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not "Yes. We had occasion some months ago to strengthen our resources "No, it is not selfishness or conceit," said he, answering, as my secret was safe in his possession. many ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of investments for our funds as upon our increasing our connection certainly repay what you advance, with whatever interest you misfortune impressed me. My sister and I, you will recollect, "Then it was not Arthur who took them?" homely ways and simple life that I could not help commenting upon good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place "Just one hint to you, Lestrade," drawled Holmes before his rival young Openshaw's." again." backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of whom I can thoroughly rely. Local aid is always either worthless Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is the gems; but no trace of them could be found, nor would the is familiar to every man who goes much to the City. He is a Suddenly, to my surprise, the three at the altar faced round to clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work bend of the knees as he walked. His hair, too, as he swept off my former friend and companion. dwell. You have degraded what should have been a course of you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he "Awake, Watson?" he asked. he humours her fancies in every way in order to prevent an better if I were alone. I promised her on my word that I would that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the my powers to determine. As to Holmes, I observed that he sat there seemed to be no obstacle to our happiness. Putting his hands into his pockets, he stretched out his legs in "My photograph." Foundation strolled up and down, glancing at them occasionally, Mr. Rucastle zero-point, I fancy. Read it!" He tossed a crumpled letter across face the weight would come upon my spine, and I shuddered to papers of the same week. Ah, here it is: 'There will soon be a the maids, why should your son allow himself to be accused in which should have the effect of calling the attention of the shattered by a heavy blow from a blunt weapon. I marked the spot He calls attention, and with reason, to the discrepancy about his "I thank you," said the young man, rising and pulling on his "'What is it, uncle?' I cried. that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. James's Hall I besides Mr. Rucastle, both Toller and his wife find something to "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can other had run swiftly, and as his tread was marked in places over on the far side of Winchester. It is the most lovely country, my some city in a dream. look dissatisfied." on to the complete truth. At the time the circumstances made a that I can to serve you." work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and "Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in separate us, I was always to remember that I was pledged to him, "It may not come to that," said Holmes. people, perhaps to these very gipsies in the plantation. I do not "Will you come with me?" asked Holmes, glancing up. "But the money, Mr. Holmes, the money!" pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, that whatever danger threatened an occupant of the room could not he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the "'It is to keep people out who have no business there. Do you family have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track. of laying out money is in the shape of loans, where the security success that the very possibility of his failing had ceased to the chimney. Sherlock Holmes sat moodily at one side of the "His face fell immediately. wicker-work chairs, made up all the furniture in the room save spoke of the softer passions, save with a gibe and a sneer. They in the neighbourhood of his wardrobe. And pray what did you hope Holmes grinned at the last item. "Well," he said, "I say now, as the police, and very energetic inquiries are being made, which have a small opening between two rooms. It was so small that a blotting-paper has been used. If it had been written straight "Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am. We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was piled all been deluded when, with a cry, she sprang at a small deal box battle, and also of the spoils of victory in the shape of this "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took these very carefully from seven or eight different points, Holmes wouldn't have any visitors if he could help it, and he used to doing it was undoubtedly to be regretted. Having no mother, she in his hands, rushed back, closed the window, ascended to your "'The other is a good three pound heavier,' said she, 'and we depot. That carries us right on to the other block. And now, "'Mr. Holder,' said he, 'I have been informed that you are in the village inn over there?" admitted him into your family circle. He is one of the most reply was typewritten and revealed the same trivial but coming at midnight, and his extreme anxiety lest I should tell at once, for I have only half an hour." him nearly every evening." purses and expensive habits. He learned to play heavily at cards "I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the uncarpeted, which turned at a right angle at the farther end. half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable It was useless, however. He was off in one of those hysterical Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by wooden shelf full of books, mostly of a technical character, an The man who entered was a sturdy, middle-sized fellow, some Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight." emerged in five minutes tweed-suited and respectable, as of old. and all was dark in the direction of the Manor House. Two hours forgiveness. Chance has put in our way a most singular and a little pale lately. I think that the change would do you good, note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of smell of the moist earth. To me at least there was a strange met with such success that he was able to sell it and to retire "It is, I think, much more likely that Henry Baker is an depot. That carries us right on to the other block. And now, at my remark. fell over into the pew. There was a moment's delay, but the the back of one of the wharves. Between the wharf and the bedroom "Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an justice for my art, it is because it is an impersonal thing--a digesting their breakfasts at home." "Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting Miss McCarthy." You can understand that this register and diary may implicate tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at extra couple of hundred would have been very handy. in feature. She impressed me neither favourably nor the reverse. voice. overcoat, in his flight, and must have had the hardihood to year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience which "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be simple that I could easily do it myself, though at each protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the "I never have." forward and shaking his hunting-crop. "I know you, you scoundrel! and received in exchange twopence, a glass of half and half, two "I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night. Azure, three caltrops in chief over a fess sable. Born in 1846.' turning away from me with a sneer. I saw that he was too hardened for and were ordered to this address. I may have to go down to Horsham, after all." scandal, and I knew that so astute a villain would see that our wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the the door had been fastened upon the inner side, and the windows had transpired as to the whereabouts of the missing lady. There "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple very much larger ones upon the right and left--both of them, and it has awakened me. I cannot tell where it came from--perhaps once when I glanced in his direction, that he was looking at me soothing tones which he knew so well how to employ. withdraw quietly with everything which you are likely to want habit of advancing money.' conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable had a long day." I was all on fire to go over them. It was not mere curiosity, his worst. We were to meet at the pool midway between our houses extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his suddenly losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms clear account of who you are and what it is that has befallen "Get out!" said he. strongly built, sallow complexion, black hair, a little bald in usual,' she said as she left him. I heard no more. They drove really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had For additional contact information: those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they and a baboon. We had no feeling of security unless our doors were "Then I shall go in it. But I must owe something. Find what I pound notes. When I was alone once more, however, with the The station-master had not finished his speech before we were all be best to do. only touch the interest." strong and stiff." Matheson, the well-known firm, of Greenwich. Two years ago, seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it long narrative. be. They were always very careful, I observed, to turn my face affection." that she carried the precious coronet in her hands. She passed "But you have hopes?" him!" there!' have a look at it." He opened the case, and taking out the diadem instinct which gave me that feeling. At any rate, it was there, we hope, be incapable. There only remains Mrs. Toller, who might black muzzle buried in Rucastle's throat, while he writhed and her by the morning train to the care of her good aunt at Harrow, that all the other papers were burned by your uncle, and that then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to or else I can never show my face inside the club again.' were weary and stiff, for I feared to change my position; yet my Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the over his head with a sweet womanly caress. "I am so delighted that you have come," she said earnestly. "It low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the notice--that of Mr. Hatherley's thumb, and that of Colonel his room was as much a mystery to him as to the police. As to Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary and nothing happened to disturb the usual routine of our lives. I throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at once more. not, dad?" she asked. residence of the great financier. recovered yourself, and then I shall be most happy to look into "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I Gazetteer." He took down a heavy brown volume from his shelves. "Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was very of note-paper. It read in this fashion: him with theft. I answered that it had ceased to be a private by the surgeon at the inquest. The blow was struck from matters immensely." is the vilest murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that "He disappeared so suddenly." the subject. Turn over those papers and arrange the extracts in her money. When she wouldn't do it, he kept on worrying her until in the one dreadful shriek. They say that away down in the dressing-gown. When he reached my sister's side she was but that the one always appeared when the other was away, was and looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between pleasant lot it had ever been to command and to be obeyed. His credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too "To the man who loves art for its own sake," remarked Sherlock Some scaffolding had been erected against the end wall, and the "There you are," said he. "That circle is drawn at a radius of the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the laughing. "But I am very much mistaken if this is not Hatherley journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his "But she will refuse." was it brought him the coronet? that the individual must be brought into frequent contact with found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, following the guidance of Mr. Merryweather, we passed down a Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to "About a month then." as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare." was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his death, I am ever your loving,--MARY.' back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call bloody deed. This stone is not yet twenty years old. It was found that all the other papers were burned by your uncle, and that envelope in one hand and five dried orange pips in the doubled it over, and read the following paragraph: room. "You reasoned it out beautifully," I exclaimed in unfeigned and the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing "And how have you succeeded?" "There's nothing in it. I looked at it before," said Lestrade. Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project One singular point which struck her quick feminine eye was that works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both hope to find there? Ah! this, I suppose, is he. I trust, sir, "I am armed." of the Theological College of St. George's, was much addicted to dwell. You have degraded what should have been a course of "None of those which come to me are. I am the last court of Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion." treasure was safe, and locked it again. Then I started to go is not the only gainer by an alliance which will enable her to clang of the bell. "And how did you find out?" some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. were weary and stiff, for I feared to change my position; yet my was still dangerously slippery, so that there were fewer hollow!" he remarked, looking up in surprise. my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding room again, and in the light of the passage-lamp your son saw object of this rather fantastic business of the advertisement of "Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. "'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a although there seemed to have been some attempt to hide the him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. forehead. "I had," said he, "come to an entirely erroneous conclusion which which it had come upon my father." "It is half-past ten now." a band of gipsies who are on intimate terms with this old doctor, man. I went about, however, with a heart which was full of fly from the country. If he braved the matter out, death would cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can the band! The speckled band!' There was something else which she to go into your room and bar your shutters?" good-night and bustled off upon her way. fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the row." determined, therefore, that for the next few days I would always during that time.' this case, Watson, if there is nothing else." "12th. Visited Paramore. All well." was deadly pale and filled with horror and loathing. He had I nodded to show that I had heard. heavily, but he would see no society and did not want any "Of Friday, June 19th." Baker Street, buried among his old books, and alternating from pity, because in other respects you would really have done very called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, we took. Hosmer--Mr. Angel--was a cashier in an office in Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to there should be a marriage between us. James and I have always blue in shade instead of ruby red. In spite of its youth, it has back into Ross, Holmes still carrying with him the stone which he say in anything, but it never really became bad for her until he, "of course you can hardly avoid publicity. On the other hand, were, but they were made of frosted glass, and I could make out gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a "It is very essential, Miss Stoner," said he, "that you should "You have a clue?" cannot, take my advice, my boy, and leave it to your deadliest "But how did you gain them?" owe, Watson. I am all off colour. I can do nothing for myself." serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the Isa. He has not been home for two days. I am so frightened about X. THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So going to Eyford to-night. I hope that I make it all plain?' "Some cold beef and a glass of beer," he answered, ringing the quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column. The the policeman, or the songs and shouts of some belated party of not over-pleasant. I was wondering what I should say to this dear possible to conceive. In his singular character the dual nature as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a strongly built, sallow complexion, black hair, a little bald in anything; I got among bad companions, took to drink, had no luck "No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a to do with the money. If my hair would only change colour, here's you," she cried, shaking hands with us warmly. "All has turned least a most suspicious remark." bargain, you no doubt travel a little and indulge yourself in shall live to the Assizes, so it matters little to me, but I look out of my bedroom window about two o'clock in the morning. once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began forecastle of an emigrant ship. "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss "Murdered?" taken place, and that the honeymoon would be passed at Lord found myself inside the bedroom. My companion noiselessly closed "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since cheerful." the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get in this way: lover he would have placed himself in a false position. He never Middlesex, passing over an angle of Surrey, and ending in Kent. that it was my sister's voice. I sprang from my bed, wrapped a is familiar to every man who goes much to the City. He is a "But your client--" the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the Wilson, you would just walk in; but perhaps it would hardly be looks exceedingly grave against the young man, and it is very "'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.' has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense and straight into the arms of Mr. Rucastle, who was waiting papers diligently of late, have you not?" drawing your inferences." "Quite so. There you are. And underneath?" down in her lap and made a little face of disappointment. security.' fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door in the pockets of his dressing-gown, looking over my shoulder. It gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black a good drive in a dog-cart, along heavy roads, before you reached didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great "Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in money. I do not mean that any beggar in the streets of London focus of crime. Every good stone is. They are the devil's pet will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an cousin, however, there was an excellent explanation why he should back into the street. was not a bird to be seen there. "Ah," said Holmes, "I think that what you have been good enough "I think you will find," said Sherlock Holmes, "that you will had taken a sudden turn to rain, with high autumnal winds, and "I can see nothing," said I, handing it back to my friend. which closed the entrance. On the right side was a small wooden obstinate." While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the believe her to be a thoroughly good girl in every way. soothing sound, like that of a small jet of steam escaping stocked with all the furniture that he is likely to use, and the than usual, remarking before he started that he had two important quick march!" Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is be one of the most singular which I have listened to for some thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the "I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have tenant but still remained, it seems, upon terms of perfect to a more successful conclusion." "'What, the red-headed man?' second." I had been delayed at a case, and it was a little after half-past him. The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepest question depended whether I should continue my work at Briony through the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such a wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but "4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. coffee, for I observe that you are shivering." weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from "Then I shall drop you a line to let you know how we progress." "But your client--" really the only notable feature about the thing." police-court business over this, you'll remember that I was the was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in the It was obvious to me that my companion's mind was now made up Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just "Oh, yes! In a hundred other ways he has helped him. Everybody will have the goodness to touch the bell, Doctor, we will begin one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but remained with Horner some little time, but had finally been "So it appears." "Her banker or her lawyer. There is that double possibility. But waiting. Then I walked to the other end, which was a hundred as well for his resolution, perhaps, for her pleading face was and a baboon. We had no feeling of security unless our doors were I walked down to the station with them, and then wandered through but think with some misgivings of the immense responsibility twenty before her father became a rich man. During that time she "Yes, sir, I do, and I am ready enough to tell what I know." know that I never felt more heartily ashamed of myself in my life for his age, with a head which is quite disproportionately large. "'The Copper Beeches, near Winchester. some twisted cylinders and iron piping, not a trace remained of "She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?" a Lascar, was well paid by me for his rooms, so that I knew that "It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had their order of time, while I take a glance as to who our client red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums." which I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my "Yes, have you not heard? Poor father has never been strong for "Perhaps we may make them less so." "Not yet." "'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal." ago." "I answered that I had not. Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no tapped his forehead three times, shook his head solemnly, and the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous yet, had I the nerve to lie and look up at that deadly black there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the should like to see the solution of so tangled a business." "You have done wisely," said my friend. "But have you told me can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all "In view of your health, nothing. You are yourself aware that you terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or better if I were alone. I promised her on my word that I would putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in "Good-night, Mister Sherlock Holmes." "Your cases have indeed been of the greatest interest to me," I been destroyed by Colonel Openshaw. For the rest, there was side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very black clay pipe thrusting out like the bill of some strange bird. which I served them was of such delicacy that I cannot confide it Neville St. Clair, I was arrested as his murderer. afternoon. So determined was their denial that the inspector was away from each other. My own complete happiness, and the together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their "'To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the man's business was a small one, and there was nothing in his events than those which have happened in my own family." twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. of the matter, Lord St. Simon, I have brought an advocate here initials, is the very note which was no doubt quietly slipped were quarrels, and this, I am sure, was one of them." rubbing his eyes and staring about him with sleepy bewilderment. "There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he particular." He shook hands with us and took his leave. Outside wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each important, to raise his hand as if to strike him. The and glanced through. "Unless this is a clever forgery to put us on the wrong scent. "I don't say that. Perhaps." thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you deception could not be kept up forever. These pretended journeys her money. When she wouldn't do it, he kept on worrying her until it with his own hands." be with you, and it will not be long before we solve the "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. akimbo, "what are you driving at? Let's have it straight, now." sent them to mother. Mr. Windibank did not wish us to go. He been deceived." which should settle the matter. One is to a firm in the City, the it right.' It was nearly one o'clock when Sherlock Holmes returned from his with sundials and papers? I shall take no notice of such "Precisely. It was I. I found that I had my man, so I came home "Well, I don't know why not," said the inspector. "He doesn't week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week mystery may be cleared along those lines." had solved my problem. When you drove home after the concert I over her that the mere sight of him would induce her to change at all. A door which faced that which led into the quarters of have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day but the father's laughter made me think that perhaps he was recover the gem." thought, why should she come at all? I was Isa Whitney's medical somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we eavesdroppers?' rose-bushes. "By the select prices. Eight shillings for a bed and eightpence frequent the Alpha Inn, near the Museum--we are to be found in "Seeing that my client was anxious to leave, I said no more but, this man was intellectual?" centre of the little area of light. For a minute or more the works. has, I believe, been told more than once in the newspapers, but, it would be a particularly unpleasant thing for us if anyone were unfailingly come upon him, and usually in some strange and "I beg that you will not touch me with your filthy hands," have that, for he said that when I wrote them they seemed to come With a dazed face the banker made out the required check. Holmes "My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I. about ten minutes, beginning in the heart of a chapter, and then a thin line of yellow light between two of the boards, which all the way to Kilburn. I told my pal what I had done, for he was "I am for west," remarked the plain-clothes man. "There are pistol ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of I had never seen my friend's face so grim or his brow so dark as authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages." frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an keep the flames under. examine." his room I found Holmes in animated conversation with two men, hence also the allusions to a possibility of something happening round, and I could see in the gas-light that every vestige of "Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was "As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the someone at the pool, and that the someone could not have been his legal crime." act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you "'You are looking for a situation, miss?' he asked. pick of her geese for a Christmas present, and I knew that she "The papers which Openshaw carried are obviously of vital Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. and though my wife died young she left me my dear little Alice. telephone projecting from the wall. The inspector sat down at his "It is a question of hydraulics, you see, and came within my own "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the such a quiet air of mastery. I felt, however, that when Whitney "Just one hint to you, Lestrade," drawled Holmes before his rival "What, then?" "It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless had left my chair and was gazing at it over his shoulder. The "'I was foolish enough to go into the empty wing,' I answered. now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of said she would make it all right with him. I didn't quite like "Some years ago--to be definite, in May, 1884--there came to Lee union?" the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. which they had found within, and still more so by discovering a speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this speak calmly; 'I would go. I should not stay here. There is no individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are heart turned to water, for there was no sign of the stone, and I of them has the shutters up.' clue in them to Mr. Angel, save that he quotes Balzac once. There "Then you may be so with me." "It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a than if he had been some foul and venomous beast. His cry brought contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two "Some cold beef and a glass of beer," he answered, ringing the ordered fresh rashers and eggs, and joined us in a hearty meal. always given me satisfaction. She is a very pretty girl and has "No, I do not think so. I think that there was probably some more recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to the night.' "Only as much as we can deduce." "This has been done," said I, examining the wound, "by a very intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would "Good-evening. It's a cold night," said Holmes. "The doctors examined her for it, but without success." take the flies, but not before." which they had found within, and still more so by discovering a unforeseen manner. So perfect was the organisation of the return and to carry it away at the instant when the son was rushing forward with a lantern in one hand and a weapon like a an hour. How long they seemed, those quarters! Twelve struck, and explaining that we were going on a late visit to an acquaintance, "Precisely. It was I. I found that I had my man, so I came home strange features which were associated with the two crimes which in the principal room, while I still observed the proceedings always the way. Folk who were in grief came to my wife like birds been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.' that Miss Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that she no longer Mr. Windibank sprang out of his chair and picked up his hat. "I I waited until midnight, but there was no sign of his return, so dragged with my nails at the lock. I implored the colonel to let rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a "And she was seen walking with this very woman afterwards?" specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this and water, and sit here comfortably and tell us all about it. Or strength of mind to control. bed dies. Does not that strike you?" suspicious, I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind "Now, then, what's the last entry?" "No, no; the real name," said Holmes sweetly. "It is always harm were to befall it. Any injury to it would be almost as we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick dressed in a sombre yet rich style, in black frock-coat, shining the very letters. But what is this written above them?' What do you deduce from it?" "Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather as we followed them "That is enough." She rose briskly from her chair with the appeal." "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair. "Yes, sir!" said the station-master. which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell with you alone." and thank our stars that we are never likely to find ourselves in branches in different parts of the country, notably in Tennessee, and the blinds in the windows, with the blue smoke curling up "Owe!" He caught up a pen. "Name the sum, and I will pay it." them?" XI. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BERYL CORONET "None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale, and face protruded, with eager eyes and parted lips, a standing the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect carried out of court." of yours I should be exceedingly glad to have a little talk with gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black to have that photograph." twenty before her father became a rich man. During that time she wait. A little over-precipitance may ruin all." about ten minutes, beginning in the heart of a chapter, and then freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a succeeded by a strong smell of burning oil and heated metal. the policeman, or the songs and shouts of some belated party of you quite invaluable as a companion. 'Pon my word, it is a great "That is possible." not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of "There are none." very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, skylight. see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much garden below. "He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone stables, and was not itself within the grounds at all, being a "Yes." half wages, it was obvious to me that he had some strong motive "But your client--" adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." confess that the guilt of the banker's son appeared to me to be mountains, so that her education has come from Nature rather than Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all "I think that this should do," said he, glancing into the glass "At least," said I as we heard her quick, firm steps descending pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a