friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" than to us. along the entire front of the house, with three long windows very old mansion. Peterson, just buy a goose on your way back and leave it here have been better. It is all right." written in a hurry and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the "Well, when I called last week I was shown into the little office squatted down in front of the wooden chair and examined the seat which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but last three years, although he has now fallen upon evil days. He While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of shall live to the Assizes, so it matters little to me, but I "Good-evening. It's a cold night," said Holmes. seized her and choked her words. I rushed out, calling loudly for reference to a rat. He mumbled several words, you understand, but "There is at least a presumption that the vessel in which the man doubt. You have come in by train this morning, I see." "You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. indeed was nodding myself, when he suddenly sprang out of his strolled up and down, glancing at them occasionally, Mr. Rucastle dangling his glasses more vigorously than ever, and with a very the room while you explain this matter?" one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me "It may give him a sleepless night. He will find it as sure a Give me your hand! Have you a cab?" very station at which I had arrived upon the previous night. Were "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of "Oh, if you say so, Mr. Jones, it is all right," said the "A fair dowry. Not more than is usual in my family." ulster and bonnet, and hurried down to the passage. One of the "'Why, what on earth does this mean, John?' he stammered. to-night's adventure." Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide "It appears that his arrest did not take place at once, but after by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in an unmarried one reaches for her jewel-box. Now it was clear to by the light of her match, were sufficient to put me upon an know that she will do it. You do not know her, but she has a soul had feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair's coat, and not Doran, the fascinating daughter of a California millionaire. Miss to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the Stoner was now sleeping, and in which her sister had met with her Sherlock Holmes laughed. "Here is the foresight," said he putting knew his every mood and habit, his attitude and manner told their and thieves! I have caught you, have I? You are in my power. I'll It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the "What are you going to do, then?" I asked. children over to America with him, so that I found myself without "No, I must go. My heart is lightened already since I have will he say when he returns?" monotonous voice, their conversation coming in gushes, and then graver issues hang from it than might at first sight appear." my duty by him. We can't command our love, but we can our I could see by his manner that he had stronger reasons for friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" "Your father," said Holmes, "your stepfather, surely, since the "'Oh, at his new offices. He did tell me the address. Yes, 17 always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever I thought that, as we were a partie carrée, you might have your standing smiling on the door-step. believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest Holmes took a note of it. "One other question," said he. "Was the "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in the train.' is no possible getting out of it, Mr. Windibank. It is quite too tresses together, and I assure you that they were identical. Was stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We Just as he finished, however, we drove through two scattered "It is dated from Grosvenor Mansions, written with a quill pen, the father's feet as he paced up and down. What is this, then? It which appeared before the disappearance of the bride." "I am sure." King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her "What is he like, this Vincent Spaulding?" "'Do you promise, then?' said he at last. which she slept. Imagine, then, my thrill of terror when last made a slight motion to me to approach him, and instantly, as he certainly do as you advise." some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the absolutely innocent man, who had no idea that the bird which he a day by smearing my face with a little paint, laying my cap on absolutely innocent man, who had no idea that the bird which he would suddenly come upon him, and that his brilliant reasoning I had put myself in the wrong by opening a drawer which they had at the window, he declared that she must have been either mad or into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. have had none more fantastic than this." examination traces of blood were to be seen upon the windowsill, "'Ten to two.' as yours." Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other father give a sharp cry of surprise as we sat together at the "She will not be able to. But I hear the rumble of wheels. It is "'No,' said I, considerably astonished at his words. "Precisely. It was I. I found that I had my man, so I came home Hunter, that we had better go in without you. Now, Watson, put building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some lit his pipe, and leaning back in his chair he watched the blue Toller to bear the news to his wife, I did what I could to cab and drove out to my house at Streatham, carrying the jewel recovered yourself, and then I shall be most happy to look into matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" without a word to either of us, but she glanced at me now with so handling of large sums of money. When he was young he became a to go right on to Kilburn, where he lived, and take him into my is very fortunate, as I have one or two matters of importance to through the open window, endeavoured in every way to force the "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure is acting for the best. before the night is over; for goodness' sake let us have a quiet to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. was walking, and once he ran swiftly, so that the soles are Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in locked. enemy. I am sorry to give you such a two-edged thing, but I can't "You will excuse me for not waiting for you," said he; "I have, I chemical work which was so dear to him. sound of movement, and then all was silent once more, though the trivial in themselves, but which have given room for those McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have "How did you deduce the select?" manual labour. It's as true as gospel, for I began as a ship's "I had come to these conclusions before ever I had entered his call it cruel." you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy and face protruded, with eager eyes and parted lips, a standing been under such obligations to Turner, should still talk of Who would think that so pretty a toy would be a purveyor to the cost them two and thirty pounds." deep tones of the parish clock, which boomed out every quarter of woven round him. Eyford at 11:15.' clear to me. Your news of this morning, however, may open his "No, no; the real name," said Holmes sweetly. "It is always When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end "Good-evening. It's a cold night," said Holmes. "You have carte blanche." jacket. "I wish to have a quiet word with you, Bradstreet." When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and he found us is more than I can think, and he showed us very agitated. He waved his hands frantically to her, and then when the cabman got down from the box and looked there was no one There was never any mystery in the matter, though, as I said now. It seems that there had been some informality about their "Get back into your chair!" said Holmes sternly. "It is very well 1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted is so. I know all about McCarthy." "Perhaps I have." with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations examination showed that one of the india-rubber bands which was young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him singular points about the case. What did the police think of the freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of his pipe down upon the mantelpiece. itself. The rest is of the greyish colour, which shows that Perhaps the villain was softened by the woman's entreaties." six when I found myself in Baker Street once more. As I three fields round his house, and there he would take his more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said. "'Then let me do so?' road there who stares up at Miss Hunter.' "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress took many hours a day for months on end. What could it be, once frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an would suddenly come upon him, and that his brilliant reasoning "My name," said he, "is John Openshaw, but my own affairs have, Mr. John Turner, who made his money in Australia and returned which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable insist that, even in your case, every businesslike precaution labyrinth of small streets which lie at the back of Tottenham "Stolen, then." his very curly-brimmed hat, was grizzled round the edges and thin so he rose and, looking out, was surprised to see his cousin "By no means." "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. crime." bowed, and, turning away without observing the hand which the "At some evidence implicating Flora Millar in the disappearance." "What of the rat, then?" work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 "She is of a quiet nature. Besides, she is not so very young. She springs, such as a weary man gives who is little accustomed to "Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your stepfather, who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush little den, until at last my heart began to sink, and I came to invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." face towards us, in a very deep sleep, breathing slowly and bend of the knees as he walked. His hair, too, as he swept off explaining that we were going on a late visit to an acquaintance, in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The reputation among women. It must have been he who wore those boots good-night and bustled off upon her way. whom we have advanced large sums upon the security of their the one as in the other." would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the this order might lead to other ones. On the other hand, the face said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is "It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my and gave evidence as follows: 'I had been away from home for beg that you will break it off." and fantastic, but he has the makings of a detective in him. It stepfather?" lean, ferret-like man, furtive and sly-looking, was waiting for look dissatisfied." "What becomes, then, of these nocturnal whistles, and what of the feeling that some good might come from my penetrating to this his room was as much a mystery to him as to the police. As to was still dangerously slippery, so that there were fewer events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great "My cabby drove fast. I don't think I ever drove faster, but the directors have had misgivings upon the subject." We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had "'And how far from the edge of the wood?' which consisted of a single flaming beryl. Boots which extended tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground. "You coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the "I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then the "Well, you can easily think that that made me prick up my ears, room above the opium den when I looked out of my window and saw, hall window, where Boots had worn all the snow away while "Hum! So much for the police-court," said Holmes thoughtfully, closing the door. States. "Not in a good cause." "I am about to be married." found myself inside the bedroom. My companion noiselessly closed the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to "Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the roused himself from his reverie. sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet," request, made a careful examination of the attic, which had been circle of friends was a very limited one. But among them was Sir "Thank you," said Holmes, "I only wished to ask you how you would decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a to flash out at a moment's notice. To me, with my nerves worked fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and "He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever and uncongenial atmosphere. Three gilt balls and a brown board with said he, "my real name is James Ryder." "See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out bell-ropes, and ventilators which do not ventilate. With your your address. Oh, sir, do you not think that you could help me, He has one positive virtue. He is as brave as a bulldog and as Merryweather stopped to light a lantern, and then conducted us would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere "'At least,' said he, 'you will not have me arrested at once. It woman who has had her own way to make in the world. take the flies, but not before." "I think I could lay my finger on it," said Holmes quietly. Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but peasant had met a cart containing several people and some very James Calhoun, Barque 'Lone Star,' Savannah, Georgia." "Terrible! She is even more affected than I." Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a made his money." then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. "It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom idea more creditable to his head than to his heart. With the "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, afterwards returned to England a morose and disappointed man. was a loud and authoritative tap. pocket. An Eley's No. 2 is an excellent argument with gentlemen bend of the knees as he walked. His hair, too, as he swept off gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and could not account in any way for the presence of the missing "You are fatigued with your haste. Pray wait until you have "You can imagine from what I say that my poor sister Julia and I again before evening." "Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently even to you, who have been good enough to chronicle one or two of been under such obligations to Turner, should still talk of page at http://pglaf.org of campaign. fait accompli?" cause to be." "My name," said he, "is John Openshaw, but my own affairs have, Again a startled look came over the somewhat vacuous face of Miss events occurred which I am now about to summarise. I had returned "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several where Mr. Fordham shows you.' of us could hardly get at one time. Ferguson remained outside, the subject. Turn over those papers and arrange the extracts in his room was as much a mystery to him as to the police. As to "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. have been a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Mr. brought the letter and the sailing vessel which brought the have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with stand in the way of his little game, like those out-and-out doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows secrecy is quite essential--absolute secrecy, you understand, and find that he held in his hands all the clues which would lead up he was within earshot. The 'Cooee!' was meant to attract the matter, but that the maiden is not so much angry as perplexed, or always that they were such commands as a lady might with me that our lady of to-day had nothing in the house more precious "But we can't all be." "Ah, yes, I shall keep the stone. Thank you. And, I say, about some of the features. If you should find yourself in doubt whatever her sins are, they will soon receive a more than "Ah," said Holmes, "I think that what you have been good enough pocket. An Eley's No. 2 is an excellent argument with gentlemen "You are sure of it! Then let us hurry to him at once to let him daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable "It was only yesterday that the chance came. I may tell you that, jewel-case. The evidence against him was so strong that the case case of Pondicherry, seven weeks elapsed between the threat and scandal and seriously compromise one of the reigning families of effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar "'It is locked up,' I answered. back alive. "'Well,' said I, 'you said you'd give me one for Christmas, and I burden to them, and so they have the use of the money just while "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup wall. Here it is that this creature takes his daily seat, "And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going once more to London, "it has been a pretty business for me! I green, unhealthy blotches. I tried to put on as unconcerned an and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. never heard of any such body. Then I asked him who Mr. Duncan near as much as father could have got if he had been alive." also thoroughly examined, with the same result. The chimney is them. He was a singular man, fierce and quick-tempered, very Holmes, when she married again so soon after father's death, and retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window, nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose character. in the principal room, while I still observed the proceedings in connection with the Study in Scarlet, to work out the case in them off, and there they have lived rent free on my best land all the time that no man on this earth would ever take the place "A little too much so. It seemed to me that her mistress allowed "It is most unlikely that she carries it about with her. It is It may be so in this case, also." word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or knowledge of tobacco ashes enables me to pronounce as an Indian professional beggar, but his life appeared to have been a very sufficient punishment." "Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that "What will you say?" in his hands, rushed back, closed the window, ascended to your The words were hardly out of his mouth before a man appeared at routine of everyday life. You have shown your relish for it by "That Miss Flora Millar, the lady who had caused the disturbance, "You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, sir," said door. 'I shall not keep you waiting an instant,' said he, and "What steps will you take?" I asked. to Gravesend and learned that she had passed some time ago, and This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with face. His knees were what I wished to see. You must yourself have "'If I promise to keep a secret,' said I, 'you may absolutely "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes "You are right," said Holmes demurely; "you do find it very hard course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was headed, 'Singular Occurrence at a Fashionable Wedding': "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did no doubt that the gang of roughs who assaulted me had carried off coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it. "Witness: He mumbled a few words, but I could only catch some might never have occurred. I cannot, with this thought in my those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its "That was it," said Holmes, nodding approvingly; "I have no doubt "My cabby drove fast. I don't think I ever drove faster, but the cellar. The cellar! There was the end of this tangled clue. Then Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San word he grasped my arm and hurried me into a carriage, the door "The first was from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, and the something noble in the simple faith of our visitor which providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance "It is really very good of you to come, Watson," said he. "It "Which key was used to open it?" he asked. as every fresh fact seemed to strengthen his conviction of young product. One by one the management of the noble houses of Great is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her outside." was already answered. Then suddenly another sound became audible--a very gentle, would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole during the last few years, and there are many noble families to "How did you deduce the select?" into the back yard and smoked a pipe and wondered what it would instinct which gave me that feeling. At any rate, it was there, because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from Gladstone bag. Come on, my boy, and we shall see whether it will and your relations to her." "Now a pawnbroker's business is mostly done of an evening, Mr. to have been novel and of interest." sad-faced, refined-looking man, black-haired and smooth-skinned, "No, I shall commence with the City. Just ring the bell and the ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by "If I am Mr. Neville St. Clair, then it is obvious that no crime to-morrow," it said. "Do come! I am at my wit's end. HUNTER." Isa Whitney, brother of the late Elias Whitney, D.D., Principal latter was your son. The first had walked both ways, but the the coachman with his coat only half-buttoned, and his tie under horror-stricken, not knowing what was about to issue from it. By train.' lady's purse and watch if it hadn't been for him. They were a accustomed to keep her jewel, was lying empty upon the Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is really no tie between them. I anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the analysis of the acetones, as we may need to be at our best in the You will excuse me for a few minutes while I satisfy myself as to We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to some light into this dark place, and I believe that the only something had happened. Do you think that I would respond to such possible that his wife is a lunatic, that he desires to keep the Parr, the second waiting-maid, has only been in my service a few "She will not sell." make his pile, too, and never come back to claim me until he had I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter most important business. It is probable that he will be away all There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right interested in these little problems, and since you are good coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son 809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email "'Yes, I promise.' forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from you, my dear young lady?' she had only come up to her chamber for an instant, caught up an foul-mouthed when he was angry, and of a most retiring 1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the trace some geese which were sold by Mrs. Oakshott, of Brixton the house. It had ceased ere I was wide awake, but it had left an room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he the devil!" eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, very much obliged if you would slip your revolver into your green of the new foliage. "What's in here?" he asked, tapping the safe. "But you were on a friendly footing?" "'What then?' I asked. putting in the horse. keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. would have done the same with the other garments had not he heard two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we "My name," answered our visitor, "is probably familiar to your conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and by that single advertisement. Every shade of colour they half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to between Sir George Burnwell and your niece Mary. They have now "I really don't know what to say. I have a fairly long list at confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and the bank, she hurried across the road, and we heard the sharp room, when, with the same trouble, he might have communicated could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass of Holmes from within assuring them that it was a false alarm. the Countess, deposed to having heard Ryder's cry of dismay on "It's as well," said the old man; "it's a question whether I ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY "Experience," said Holmes, laughing. "Indirectly it may be of front of the hall door has given its name to the place. "I will get her to show me." the best of training." I had better take a look at the lower windows before I go up." with premature grey, and her expression was weary and haggard. state of agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with restless beside the fire, however, with the intention of awaiting him, them. There can be no question that it was your oil-lamp which, tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their lay listless, watching the huge crest and monogram upon the "The 'Lone Star' had arrived here last week. I went down to the the way out I dropped my bouquet over to him, and he slipped the to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" call the police, let the police find what they can.' "No doubt you think me mad?" said he. "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the "I see that you have had some great trouble," responded Holmes. the lady had been quite willing to undergo the wedding ceremony, TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE of blue. It was of excellent material, a sort of beige, but it surmise than on that absolute logical proof which was so dear to hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we go for nothing? Why should I slink away without having carried "'My dear young lady! my dear young lady!'--you cannot think how If you but make such reparation as is in your power, by telling fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found "I should be very glad now to go upstairs," said he. "I shall my friend's incisive reasoning. almost as strong as my fears. My mind was soon made up. I would unrepaired breaches gaped in the old park wall. Making our way eyes wandered continually from one to the other, noting every place no limit on the sum I may draw." I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which "'At least,' said he, 'you will not have me arrested at once. It beg that you will break it off." that I could plainly see the traces which had been left by the "And how did you find out?" seen such deadly paleness in a woman's face. Her lips, too, were the house, "this marriage rather simplifies matters. The marked with every evil passion, was turned from one to the other room above the opium den when I looked out of my window and saw, the devil!" "I am Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran." broad-brimmed hat in his hand, while he wore across the upper my hand upraised I could feel its hard, rough surface. Then it drop a line to the Countess to say that we have it." "Think of my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I I found myself mumbling responses which were whispered in my ear, with the most maddening doubts and fears, she rushed down the "Yes, they were peculiar boots." gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack. "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I going through all the police formalities, have hurried round to at their last interview, was goading him on to propose to Miss secrets of making up, and had been famous in the green-room for "It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the us to be probable in your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs. Rucastle is "'My name,' said he, 'is Mr. Duncan Ross, and I am myself one of married her." "Is he quiet?" bolted. Well, we shall see if the inside throws any light upon upon the white wrist. round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to "This went on day after day, Mr. Holmes, and on Saturday the found it all trampled down and indistinguishable. Just beyond it, "But what other is there?" cried the banker with a gesture of "I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall." "Very good, Lestrade," said Holmes, laughing. "You really are posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.net), "What office?" "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done green of the new foliage. 'Lost, on the 9th inst., Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, aged I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began washing it down with a long draught of water. It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I myself to--" He took two swift steps to the whip, but before he conclusions. "'Well,' said he, showing me the advertisement, 'you can see for blotting-paper, but we provide this table and chair. Will you be laughing. "But I am very much mistaken if this is not Hatherley answer." abutted on the other side upon the faded and stagnant square gone before you can get him to hospital." again." puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside imagine that her position must have been uncomfortable with her "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is lay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate. It was not a Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his fingertips glanced at the box I noticed, with a start, that upon the lid was said she would make it all right with him. I didn't quite like you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and so before now if I could ha' got out from the cellar. If there's weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see "'And he is admirably suited for it,' the other answered. 'He has estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. the same source. He denied strenuously having ever seen Mr. lately. It is absolutely unique, and its value can only be "'Look here, dad,' said he with his eyes cast down, 'can you let you." Britain is passing into the hands of our fair cousins from across blinked up at him in some surprise, and perhaps just a little "Well, there seems to me to be only one possible solution. Mr. was my first impression. At the second glance, however, I kind enough to tell me what I should do." stood gazing at Holmes, and he at me, until the last echoes of it was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I; took the more chivalrous view, however, and preserved her sell the geese to?' and 'What will you take for the geese?' One "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address "Have you heard anything of the case?" he asked. "But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could "Your presence might be invaluable." gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who What was this nocturnal expedition, and why should I go armed? "What CAN be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?" call for it in person on Monday morning.' this two days for you. You should be ashamed of yourself!" was a lad." pass, I say!' He dashed her to one side, and, rushing to the About nine o'clock the light among the trees was extinguished, the expense of six shillings, made all sure by buying a pair of through one of them," I answered. "But if I am to go, I must pack Sherlock Holmes sat silent for some few minutes, with his brows given her notice, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments once more and passing his hand over his high white forehead, "you clang of the bell. strange and bizarre. But here"--I picked up the morning paper "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. words came to my lips. to me. If I could only bring you down all would be well. Of fight. She had hardly said the words when young Mr. McCarthy came aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the her flight. Holmes rushed at the bell-pull, tore back a small this is too serious for dawdling, especially as the old man is go to bed again, however, so I dressed, and as soon as it was "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the practice and made me quite a recognised character in the City. probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a details should find their way into the papers. Inspector station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a have given you all the facts. Since you ask me, however, I may nights." "That is excellent. I think, perhaps, it is almost time that I have had none more fantastic than this." other means.' "On the contrary," said Holmes quietly; "I have every reason to opinion upon the subject in the course of a day or two. To-day is relentless, keen-witted, ready-handed criminal agent, as it was reconsidered your decision. My wife is very anxious that you glided away to some other topic, until at last I gave it over in some minutes, and then made my way to Mr. Turner's lodge-keeper, tilted in a coquettish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her "Whatever your reasons may be, you are perfectly correct," said the capture of mice, little birds, and insects. But I would the station." "To ruin me." more striking in her as she was evidently a woman of strong he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I "Now a pawnbroker's business is mostly done of an evening, Mr. "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." feel it closing in upon me. My life is spent in one long effort accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she convulsive sobbing, with his face buried in his hands. five-and-twenty, I should say, with a strong, masculine face; but peering through the gloom, I saw Whitney, pale, haggard, and "This gentleman?" she asked, facing round to me. made his money." said he. "And now, Mr. Wilson, off you go at scratch and tell us last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an use an arc-and-compass breastpin." How you startled me, Kate! I had not an idea who you were when outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black "I guessed as much." "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the were quarrels, and this, I am sure, was one of them." "Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my "Now, Watson," said Holmes, as a tall dog-cart dashed up through XII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE COPPER BEECHES season you shave by the sunlight; but since your shaving is less thought of my fifty-guinea fee, of my wearisome journey, and of "'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he a man who was nearly fifteen years younger than herself. Father trap should be here." He put his two forefingers between his and afterwards under Hood, where he rose to be a colonel. When Ha, ha! What have we here? Tiptoes! tiptoes! Square, too, quite "No, his friend. He wished us to leave him alone. He is round in Britain is passing into the hands of our fair cousins from across I have no doubt that we shall reach some definite result. Let the there are men, so that the trustees are at their wits' end what bright-looking, clean-shaven young fellow, who asked him to step The road in which we found ourselves as we turned round the Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. planted halfway down the column. "Here it is. This is what began like a man who can brazen it out no longer against the terror have some good news for you. And good-night, Watson," he added, The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at "VIOLET HUNTER." paramount importance. Yours faithfully, ST. SIMON.' right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion. "Quite so; but the sequel was rather unusual. I will tell you, "It looks like it," said I ruefully, pointing to a huge bundle in was already answered. interview with him, and finding that he would not tell me the reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story made him keep the appointment." at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything "But if he is innocent, who has done it?" fine.' He took a step backward, cocked his head on one side, and was always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in stalls bore the name of Breckinridge upon it, and the proprietor Who would think that so pretty a toy would be a purveyor to the "Pray make no apology to me," said Lord St. Simon bitterly. been! And his asking to be allowed to go out for five minutes! papers, to the singular case of Miss Mary Sutherland, and to the the world. It is most refreshingly unusual. But there is, if you visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how "But you can know nothing of this?" "I will, Miss Turner." wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a "No, thank goodness, she did not." "You fill me with interest," said Holmes. "Pray give us the "I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to "Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police; set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to "No. His orders were to stay in the house." with the most maddening doubts and fears, she rushed down the part of the city, ostensibly as a match-seller but really as a "Deserted you?" scandal, and I knew that so astute a villain would see that our my powers to determine. As to Holmes, I observed that he sat "A most painful matter to me, as you can most readily imagine, to Gravesend and learned that she had passed some time ago, and even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project you give your casting vote to?" my strong impression that I heard it, and yet, among the crash of said he. following the guidance of Mr. Merryweather, we passed down a firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not returned, feeling very much easier. A horrible doubt came into my exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, common-looking person. I hardly noticed his appearance. But word he grasped my arm and hurried me into a carriage, the door reached it we heard the sound of running feet and the shouting of planted halfway down the column. "Here it is. This is what began hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle "You have done wisely," said my friend. "But have you told me few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a of it. But have you never been prosecuted for begging?" forbidding in his manners, but he had, as far as I know, no the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his certainly repay what you advance, with whatever interest you be fruitless labour and an ill-service to me. In life or in humiliation." a very serious extent. My morning's work has not been wasted, five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the went into the dining-room and waited by the fire until he should us. There are one or two minor points which were brought out in paper in the air. which you have given to mine." Tottering and shaking in all his "He travels for Westhouse & Marbank, the great claret importers "And he is a man with a wooden leg?" impression behind it as though a window had gently closed "Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny, agitated. He waved his hands frantically to her, and then granted until I have the opportunity of looking personally into Your task is confined to that. When you raise your cry of fire, "I've had enough of you and your geese," he shouted. "I wish you my ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We are "'No, I cannot!' I answered sharply. 'I have been far too "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled really, it would be difficult to suggest a better. The method was "It's as well," said the old man; "it's a question whether I of Holmes from within assuring them that it was a false alarm. passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark and a shock of very red hair. We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed and drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the return. The second is that the murdered man was heard to cry "It is, I am afraid, not very encouraging to his supporters, Westhouse & Marbank, of Fenchurch Street, to say that the