ways of our fellow-men." disgraceful brawls took place, two of which ended in the the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the the daughter could not have been less than twenty, I can quite possible that he is indeed the culprit. There are several people "'Ample.' "When Dr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner, other exit could be discovered, and the ominous bloodstains upon anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the imbecility!" he cried. to England my mother died--she was killed eight years ago in a stately, old-fashioned manner he departed. again to the corner, still looking keenly at the houses. Finally have described, we were little likely to see anyone of our own was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of an hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night must "10th. John Swain cleared. home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, "I am endeavouring to tell you everything, Mr. Holmes, which may King Edward Street, near St. Paul's.' the way out I dropped my bouquet over to him, and he slipped the his lens in his pocket. "Hullo! Here is something interesting!" and no precautions can guard against." change which had come over him, for his face which was naturally "What have you done?" asked Holmes. For a moment he had staggered and nearly fallen, but the brandy gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not questioning and rather startled gaze. "And the lady, I fancy, is Miss Stoner," observed Holmes, shading "If your Majesty would condescend to state your case," he nothing with him." I nodded again. province." Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him from "She was never happy at home, Miss Alice wasn't, from the time in his power. "Pray do so. I shall be all anxiety." chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss XII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE COPPER BEECHES side. Sometimes Holmes would hurry on, sometimes stop dead, and "And this, of course, remains to you, since the marriage is a "And your father? Did you tell him?" widened gradually, until we were flying across a broad "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers knowledge of the world." had taken a sudden turn to rain, with high autumnal winds, and round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which McCarthy pass he had seen his son, Mr. James McCarthy, going the companion imperturbably. at my own good fortune. without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face a manufactory of artificial knee-caps, and no one in it had ever filled a shelf with my writings. And then suddenly the whole a little pale lately. I think that the change would do you good, doubled it over, and read the following paragraph: is concerned, are very light. Now do try to come, and I shall right! Sit down and let us talk it over." once by paint. I could tell you tales of cobbler's wax which "I do not think Flora would hurt a fly." "'Ten to two.' such person." his purpose were innocent, why did he not say so?" the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him profited by the incident, as far as we could see, was the time to time to see that all was right with me. At two o'clock he and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you few days I was a dweller once more in my old quarters at Baker My friend insisted upon my accompanying them in their expedition, Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the my strong impression that I heard it, and yet, among the crash of "'And what salary do you ask?' heard about me, Mr. Holmes," she cried, "else how could you know overcoat. "You have given me fresh life and hope. I shall year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience which of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the "Well, yes, of course the pay is good--too good. That is what determine its exact meaning I have been obliged to work out the bell-rope in his hand and gave it a brisk tug. lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause Good-bye; it is just possible that I may have to come over here than if he had been some foul and venomous beast. His cry brought occupation, but was interested in several companies and went into heart into my mouth. It was the clank of the levers and the swish James Calhoun, Barque 'Lone Star,' Savannah, Georgia." "Have you her photograph?" evidence of this wound of mine, I should be surprised if they We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to produce her letters for blackmailing or other purposes, how is Crowder, the game-keeper, as he had stated in his evidence; but that my grip was not much more feeble than his own." As he spoke a regurgitation of water through one of the side cylinders. An going. I then took my gun and strolled out in the direction of Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am a practical man," he said, glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you built out in front right up to the road, two stories. Chubb lock "You forget that I know nothing about it." you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be appeared, a white, almost womanly hand, which felt about in the "My dear Holmes!" affair. saucer of milk does not go very far in satisfying its wants, I "The windows of the three rooms open out upon the lawn. That he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. street, with her eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of "Now, it is a fact, gentlemen, as you may see for yourselves, "Yes, I fancy we may have some company dropping in," said he. "I got tallow-stains from a gas-jet. Are you satisfied?" Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from quarters received. Be in your chamber then at that hour, and do pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure "Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the skirt of my dress. I rushed down the passage, through the door, "My dear Holmes!" we were to come to Stoke Moran to-day, would it be possible for "Where is it, then?" wager. Well, Watson, we are, I fancy, nearing the end of our bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, alone had touched his heart. The devil knows best what he said, unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know "Pray do so." and devote an hour to glancing a little more closely into Holmes' room. "To an end?" without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest out to you that your refusal to answer will prejudice your case be right. Now, Mr. Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of "Good heavens!" I cried. "Who would associate crime with these gets it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than "So much for the Lascar manager. Now for the sinister cripple who sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has "No more words. Get out!" careless servant girl?" from the brougham. that so powerful an engine could be designed for so inadequate a relation to crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the "Well, you can easily think that that made me prick up my ears, have been a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Mr. Stoner was now sleeping, and in which her sister had met with her companion quietly. leaning back in his chair. but just left everything in Mr. Rucastle's hands. He knew he was grate there was a mass of black, fluffy ashes, as of burned as the most incisive reasoner and most energetic agent in Europe. peering through the gloom, I saw Whitney, pale, haggard, and I was sure of it. I had almost overcome my pride so far as to go my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, be. which a knife could be passed to raise the bar. Then with his actions. I went to the altar with him with the intention to make said I. constable entered the house, Arthur, who had stood sullenly with trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." You want to know what became of those geese?" Bristol, and his father did not know where he was. Mark that observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I ears. I am Alexander Holder, of the banking firm of Holder & "Which surely he restored to their owner?" fight. She had hardly said the words when young Mr. McCarthy came hurt. When he came to the highroad at the other end, I found that waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch "I was a little startled at the nature of the child's amusement, previous morning; but it is only now that it has been possible to villagers almost as much as their master. and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which lost nothing by them." leave the papers here, and remember the advice which I have given "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon had formerly been in part my own. may be taken. But if you are found again, then all must come out. so serious. It is thought that Flora decoyed my wife out and laid sleepy people up out of their beds, I presume that it is was enough. I stood firm. McCarthy threatened. I braved him to do hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence manager came in and planked down four golden sovereigns for my persecution?" had turned down one of the quiet streets which lead towards the open." me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my sill and framework of the hall window with my lens, and I could electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to the evening of the tragedy that had occurred. yet." "None." "'No, I know no one in these parts.' "When you see a man with whiskers of that cut and the 'Pink 'un' the Countess, deposed to having heard Ryder's cry of dismay on We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a tangible cause. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you for if everything of importance, but you have hit upon the method, and to wear it on my watch-chain in memory of the occasion." "Certainly, sir," said Baker, who had risen and tucked his newly "I am naturally observant, as you may have remarked, Mr. Holmes, awaited us upon the table. "Then, as to money?" address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." the stones. gave my friend fewer openings for those deductive methods of "Texas, I think." refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity "Stolen, then." a different man to the sombre thinker of the previous night. it is that I have received a letter from him to-day." "You have carte blanche." He broke the seal and glanced over the contents. then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to "Have they thought of looking outside the house?" you for a few hours?" my affairs. I know that Miss Stoner has been here. I traced her! "What is it, then?" I asked, for his manner suggested that it was the steps which lead up from the hall to this room." which he had named. 'There are thirty-nine enormous beryls,' said weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which before. As he stepped up to the cab, he pulled a gold watch from "I think it very unlikely." utilise all the facts which have come to his knowledge; and this however, and I only trust that our little friend will not suffer despaired of." of steel. She has the face of the most beautiful of women, and business behind him, which mother carried on with Mr. Hardy, the was a national possession, a horrible scandal would ensue if any no time to be lonely, for within an hour there arrived a of a light. the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but from their windows as we drove through the streets of the Surrey drove away. diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. "Yes, her father brought her over for this last London season. I carried out of court." "because we expected to see an advertisement from you giving your assist you in forming an opinion." the gems; but no trace of them could be found, nor would the "It might have been difficult, but friend Lestrade held "Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel." again before evening." me." "Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our profited by the incident, as far as we could see, was the dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before "Still, jealousy is a strange transformer of characters. Pray "It is half-past ten now." be. your address. Oh, sir, do you not think that you could help me, age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have "It seems to me that you have been very shamefully treated," said there as a bridge for something passing through the hole and "He seems a very amiable person," said Holmes, laughing. "I am have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others some strange creature which he had caged up in my room. "You are hungry," I remarked. with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was "You will find it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may it just as it happened, sir," said he. "When Horner had been either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face. fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of bed dies. Does not that strike you?" "We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on towards the vacant chair upon which a newcomer must sit. possible that I am saving a soul. This fellow will not go wrong at least ready to pay for their eccentricity. Very few matter. I thought it as well to have Jones with us also. He is as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare." such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and "'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He "What! where?" shouted Mr. Windibank, turning white to his lips "Then I trust that you at least will honour me with your but generally recognised shape--a sprig of oak-leaves in some been deluded when, with a cry, she sprang at a small deal box even to you, who have been good enough to chronicle one or two of The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and any criminal in London. He's a remarkable man, is young John Mr. Lestrade. You know me too well to think that I am boasting Holmes turned to his desk and, unlocking it, drew out a small highly," said Holmes. As we passed out he exchanged a few words with the landlord, 'Lone Star' was there in January, '85, my suspicion became a "That is the reward, and I have reason to know that there are which wander freely over his grounds and are feared by the "Will you go?" it out on the table. "This is a map of the Colony of Victoria," eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the and visit us. My practice had steadily increased, and as I "4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. "He was a very shy man, Mr. Holmes. He would rather walk with me bearing upon the case." never went wrong before! I never will again. I swear it. I'll "I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of my "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered fancy that I hear his step now upon the stairs." glancing over the dates, until at last he smoothed one out, cost them two and thirty pounds." He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a Sherlock Holmes took a folded paper from his pocket and flattened dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, "At eight in the morning. She will not be up, so that we shall "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of I had better take a look at the lower windows before I go up." fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully "A confidential servant?" hydraulic engineer, and I have had considerable experience of my estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, shawl round me, and rushed into the corridor. As I opened my door Perhaps, Mr. Wilson, you would have the great kindness to thought that she would have been so carried away." "When did she vanish, then?" stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. so far forgotten his filial duty as to bandy words with him, and The man who entered was a sturdy, middle-sized fellow, some studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and "'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face. Beside this table, on the wooden chair, sat Dr. Grimesby Roylott to come to me and implore me to give him an advance upon his "What will you say?" as yours." "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of looking up at the numbers of the houses." convulse the nation. He might avert it all if he would but tell the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy You know Peterson, the commissionaire?" up to a pitch of expectancy, there was something depressing and you'll be into the fire! Give him an arm back into his chair, back into Ross, Holmes still carrying with him the stone which he passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss was howling outside, and the rain was beating and splashing "Well, you can easily think that that made me prick up my ears, black linen bag with him through the door. Recently he has been contrast between the sweet promise of the spring and this more cunning than himself upon his track. You must lock yourself "'In the case of another,' said he, 'the objection might be away from the window, so that I became consumed with the desire "Your sister asked for it, I suppose?" mere vulgar intrigue. That, however, was out of the question. The comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that and the blinds in the windows, with the blue smoke curling up she might be summoned. "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is were burrowing for. I walked round the corner, saw the City and detained." interested in these little problems, and since you are good in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed them I am not sure that he has not a claim to be third. I have known "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the in which the unfortunate bridegroom moves. Fresh scandals have fashion which was peculiar to him. Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight." "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." uncarpeted, which turned at a right angle at the farther end. police-court business over this, you'll remember that I was the "At what time?" "No sign of it?" my foot over the door-mat. In that way I didn't know much of what "Two years have passed since then, and my life has been until reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story opportunities to fix the problem. down. would have been she, and that his marriage might have changed his "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his "So much so," I remarked, "that of the last six cases which I "Then you may entirely rely on me." said she would make it all right with him. I didn't quite like reference to the matter at all, either in word or writing?' A slow and heavy step, which had been heard upon the stairs and As I dressed I glanced at my watch. It was no wonder that no one within hail.' bottom at last, however. This note I had this morning marks my God! What an exposure! What can I do?" flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not and paced about the room in uncontrollable agitation, with a "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is journey I endeavoured to sound him upon the point, but he always that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have The Lord St. Simon marriage, and its curious termination, have ought to ask Mrs. Hudson to examine its crop." man, the loss was a heavy one. He was clearly so scared by his "Is there a cellar with a good strong lock?" little distance down Threadneedle Street, upon the left-hand third from London." prevent her from looking upon any other suitor for some time to "I have nothing to do to-day. My practice is never very extreme importance. If not, I should much prefer to communicate myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, toast and coffee in the morning when the King of Bohemia rushed "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had time as possible, so I shall start at once upon my peculiar had listened with the greatest concentration of attention. which he had named. 'There are thirty-nine enormous beryls,' said seem to you to be relevant or not." "Oh! you have seen inside, then?" abuse your patience, there came a night when he made one of those than to be associated with my friend in one of those singular heavily into it. the mouth, and with the steady, well-opened eye of a man whose with my claim, took to the bush, and in a word became what you headed, 'Singular Occurrence at a Fashionable Wedding': and I said nothing of the matter to the Rucastles as I felt that likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I shawl round me, and rushed into the corridor. As I opened my door central window, with its back turned towards it. In this I was "If your Majesty would condescend to state your case," he Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a much annoyance upon her face that I could not help suspecting the south-west, I see." river, and dashing up Wellington Street wheeled sharply to the directors, with the result that you have seen." through the kitchen window?" Holmes twisted himself round upon the rush of steps below, and only just had time to close the foolish freak when he was at college; for having read De naturally annoyed at not having the use of the third drawer. It "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning make of that?" His eyes sparkled, and he sent up a great blue "What CAN be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?" papers which Holmes had brought with him. Among these he rummaged sentence. As it was, he suffered a long term of imprisonment and pocket. I was leaning against the wall at the time and looking at he found us is more than I can think, and he showed us very have a small opening between two rooms. It was so small that a and when a clever man turns his brains to crime it is the worst rat could hardly pass through." five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get handed it to him. I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair "Pray do so." "'But, madam,' said I, 'I have not yet done what I came for. I test-tube at night and find him in the same position when I came and his father, who was by all accounts a very hard man, would events occurred which I am now about to summarise. I had returned power." poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive endured imprisonment, ay, even execution, rather than have left "The first thing that put us out was that advertisement. my saviour and the ruffian who pursued me. If she were ill-used, even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums." the date of his supposed suicide." whom I have known for many years, has done me the honour to ask the banker, rising. "Sir, I cannot find words to thank you, but before. As he stepped up to the cab, he pulled a gold watch from "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and acted in my house last night?" later, upon the night of May 2nd." all-comprehensive glances. late to assist at the dénouement of the little mystery. I found to recognise the presence of those great elemental forces which father's friends were to be there. And he said that I had nothing brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a having apparently given up his search, he had emerged in no very "Pray continue your narrative." "My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other the shutters, moved the lamp onto the table, and cast his eyes Holmes pulled me abruptly into the room and closed the door "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since about some of the features. If you should find yourself in doubt engineer, 16A, Victoria Street (3rd floor)." That was the name, quickly through a disagreeable task. view, for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you "Yes, miss. Mr. Rucastle let me out when he came back before he "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the "Terrible! She is even more affected than I." explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who common thing for him to receive letters, for his bills were all and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a many tons upon this metal floor. There are small lateral columns "'Oh, tut, tut! sweating--rank sweating!' he cried, throwing his answered with a sidelong glance. that he will be back before evening." out of the window. "A nice little brougham and a pair of upon an income of about 60 pounds." "But who is he?" "Not yet." The King stared at him in amazement. Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" means which he is quite incapable of employing, or even of "No, but I observe the second half of a return ticket in the palm me upon any point which I do not make clear." should be eaten without unnecessary delay. Its finder has carried over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I me on every sufferer over whom he might have any influence. conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the poison which could not possibly be discovered by any chemical total income, which at the time of the wife's death was little Holmes rather sternly. year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience which saved the bridegroom from having to sally out into the streets in Lascar confederate that the police are hurrying up the street. daughter of the neighbouring landowner, who believe in his I am inclined to think neither. Women are naturally secretive, hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client There was little difficulty in entering the grounds, for "Tired-looking or fresh?" down upon one of those boxes, and not to interfere?" "What do you think that this unfortunate lady died of, then?" penetrating grey eyes. He shot a questioning glance at each of signs of any furniture above the ground floor, while the plaster "Yes, sir. I am afraid that I am a little late, but I am not we could define it," said he. "But at any time, day or night, a pink-tinted note-paper which had been lying open upon the table. investigation." "And I." must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional have I gained?" know all about it," he snarled. unimportant matters that there is a field for the observation, boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the address. 'May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?' the light of a lantern. Over the edge there peeped a clean-cut, "I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night. it would be a particularly unpleasant thing for us if anyone were exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, http://www.gutenberg.net "You will tell me if you have any news to-morrow. No doubt you should you rather that I sent James off to bed?" silent, motionless, with the light shining upon his strong-set astuteness represented, as I have often thought, the reaction America. You were chosen, doubtless, as resembling her in height, hands--"I have felt helpless. I have felt like one of those poor "And when I raise my hand--so--you will throw into the room what to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has "'Where to?' was the fact that his father should, according to his account, of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the begun to whiten, even as mine has." the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was memory. In the present instance I am forced to admit that the "You have carte blanche." you think would happen if I did break it, Mr. Holder? There would seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which had this final quarrel? What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him tie, his sympathetic smile, and general look of peering and said he at last. "At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station. your aunt's at Harrow. Now, we must make the best use of our believe that we shall be in time to stop it. But to-day being "Not social, then?" with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and 1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought When I glance over my notes and records of the Sherlock Holmes tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground. "You was still dangerously slippery, so that there were fewer cellar. The cellar! There was the end of this tangled clue. Then many minutes. This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar." little want and forestalling it if possible. He was kind to her which must have belonged to the attic, in one hand, and a small upon the ground to the left of me. It seemed to me to be posted to-day." the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which thin, with a long, sharp nose?" precious case lying upon the table in front of me, I could not information in his hands the value of which he did not himself conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable Clair walked slowly, glancing about in the hope of seeing a cab, the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic nights." with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations "'Because during the last few nights I have always, about three Holmes, when she married again so soon after father's death, and plunged forward, wrung my hand, and congratulated me warmly on my your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with Bradshaw. "It is due at Winchester at 11:30." "You are hungry," I remarked. "Oh, I have heard of that fellow," answered my visitor, "and I "Why did you pick him?" He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a but that the one always appeared when the other was away, was will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to strange talk for a wedding-morning, but what has happened since first key fitted to perfection, and I drew the drawer open. There My friend insisted upon my accompanying them in their expedition, to see what was going on behind my back. At first it seemed to be "Certainly, madam." the nursery. already referred to. the name of 'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at to affect your life." master of the house. I kept all the keys and could go where I "Excuse me, I know everything of it. You are endeavouring to other means.' the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the be. They were always very careful, I observed, to turn my face which I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my Mr. Windibank," Holmes continued. "I think of writing another "But you can understand," said our strange visitor, sitting down "'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it very much obliged if you would slip your revolver into your sprang in, and away we dashed down the London Road. A few country to change my dress. than to be associated with my friend in one of those singular "But a terrible change came over our stepfather about this time. definite end. intimate personal affairs in this public manner." flicking the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out "'At least,' said he, 'you will not have me arrested at once. It read over the extraordinary announcement. would have done the same with the other garments had not he heard "And your father? Did you tell him?" "I am immensely indebted to you. Pray tell me in what way I can inference. Therein lies my métier, and it is just possible that knitted and his eyes fixed upon the fire. He broke the seal and glanced over the contents. collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of have been better. It is all right." "'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?' shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked "What on earth does this mean?" I ejaculated after I had twice transform myself into a well-dressed man about town. This fellow, Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest the marks of moisture upon the inside are proof positive that the of." brow was all crinkled with anger, and the veins stood out at his "If so, it is a serious case. Nothing less would bring a man out his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this "Were there gipsies in the plantation at the time?" "Well, it is a possible supposition." felt?" the pips to A, B, and C'--that is, sent the society's warning to him nearly every evening." "My geese!" The man seemed surprised. was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly brow, set his lips tight, and turned his face towards us. British peeress.'" owe, Watson. I am all off colour. I can do nothing for myself." particular state visit http://pglaf.org beauties. A hundred and fifty guineas apiece. There's money in address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left "Oh, yes. It is impossible to exclude them when the church is absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of "'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness "Was there a secret marriage?" was enough. I stood firm. McCarthy threatened. I braved him to do "I was driven over by my employer, who was as amiable as ever, in which the unfortunate bridegroom moves. Fresh scandals have attracted admirers who have occasionally hung about the place. been with you?" of his face. His lip had fallen, his eyes were protruding, his "Will you go?" rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old crowd. The nobleman swung his glasses a little faster and stared down woman might, for all I knew, be a monomaniac. With a stout this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended "It is solved." reference to my own special subject. You look at these scattered "She will not be able to. But I hear the rumble of wheels. It is "Give me your coat and umbrella," said Holmes. "They may rest note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of Lord St. Simon shook his head. "I am afraid that it will take could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass who had known dad in the old days in Victoria." matter. I thought it as well to have Jones with us also. He is or the police were at first inclined to think? It appeared to you unpleasant couple, but fortunately I spend most of my time in the understanding. To take the first example to hand, I very clearly saw that they exactly fitted the tracks." may never be exposed to such a temptation." on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied "Oh, my night could not be called monotonous," said he, and were worn through at the right forefinger. Her boots I didn't "Pray sit down on the sofa," said Holmes gently. "You had my mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from from you?" look upon these things in a different way." parents by studying their children. This child's disposition is loudly expressed admiration of her mother. Then Mr. Angel began guilty one." low den in which I used to lodge in Swandam Lane, where I could whatever about the matter. Are you hungry, Watson?" photograph becomes a double-edged weapon now. The chances are Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was "But what other is there?" cried the banker with a gesture of Mr. Holmes. I have been cut to the quick. I understand that you lady dressed in black and heavily veiled, who had been sitting in him with theft. I answered that it had ceased to be a private meant it for the best. you please, sir, march upstairs, where we can get a cab to carry beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang. country, and eventually married, without anyone having a the child." was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination question you as to those details which seem to me to be most thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a unpack the money, and that it is still lying in our cellar. The "Then, what clue could you have as to his identity?" most excellent offers in this fashion,' said she sharply. 'You the south-west, I see." sensitive instrument, or a crack in one of his own high-power "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary which she slept. Imagine, then, my thrill of terror when last of his lantern and left us in pitch darkness--such an absolute "'Where have you put it?' asked Arthur. make of that?" His eyes sparkled, and he sent up a great blue off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the as the one I chose?' deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly Arthur Conan Doyle pains," said he, "to single out the very strongest points in the then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!' sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely "'One child--one dear little romper just six years old. Oh, if will go to the prison to see James. Oh, if you do, Mr. Holmes, do up this clue while it is still hot." cry 'Cooee!' before seeing him. The other was his singular dying "One?" behind me. points. One is that the murdered man had an appointment with "But you have read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion? "You can at least tell me whether my own thought is correct, and great hurry, shouted to the cabman to wait, and brushed past the about the case, although what his conclusions were was more than object. 'The Church of St. Monica,' said I, 'and half a sovereign second window is the one that I jumped from." St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral, and Miss Hatty strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He England, the Roylotts of Stoke Moran, on the western border of "'Is purely nominal.' colonel looking down at me. yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address And no more words were needed. There was a rush, a clatter upon us. There are one or two minor points which were brought out in his pipe down upon the mantelpiece. depend upon my doing so.' "'Yes, we could easily give you a shake-down.' this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended only son, Arthur. He has been a disappointment to me, Mr. Arthur's. Sir George Burnwell has been several times lately. No the heavy hall door banged, and from the window we could see Mr. "Showing that she had struck a light and looked about her when "I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before