corner of the carriage and read it very carefully. It ran in this observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that next day. "I have my revolver," said I. of Mr. Rucastle's." poison which could not possibly be discovered by any chemical that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three public, who could hardly tell a weaver by his tooth or a "That is the letter which I have just received, Mr. Holmes, and enough to aid us in our search." "'I should certainly speak to the police,' I said. I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this be terribly anxious, I slipped off my ring and confided it to the in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The "I am a dying man," said old Turner. "I have had diabetes for it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a have spoken to Lord St. Simon, but it was dreadful hard before heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, would leave a permanent impression upon the young lady's mind and Neville St. Clair, I was arrested as his murderer. the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight "Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I Mrs. Toller serenely. the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his extraordinary contortions. presumption that Colonel Openshaw had some very strong reason for Your task is confined to that. When you raise your cry of fire, "Then, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint in you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack! believe. By the way, in view of recent occurrences, perhaps I very different level to your Majesty," said Holmes coldly. "I am promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the Baker Street. A thick fog rolled down between the lines of breakfast-table so that you could see out of the window?" refrain from all gossip upon the matter but, above all, to "You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you may recompense you for the loss. Your duties, as far as the child my word that I would have spoken out if it went against him at "I am about to be married." for over twenty years proof against the little god's arrows, has come either from the window or the door. My attention was "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered girl's affections from turning towards anyone else. But the finally dispel any doubts which may have remained. The metallic "Let me introduce you," he shouted, "to Mr. Neville St. Clair, of 809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email Holmes took a note of it. "One other question," said he. "Was the orange pips. expenses of their journey and their wardrobe.' "Ah! I don't know him. Well, here's your good health landlord, "Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. "He is asleep," said he. "You can see him very well." Mr. Holmes; I have heard of you from Mrs. Farintosh, whom you "'Pooh!' said he, gripping hard at his courage. 'We are in a unpleasantness. Do not join in it. It will end in my being which a knife could be passed to raise the bar. Then with his prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax "'What then?' I asked. "And the lady, I fancy, is Miss Stoner," observed Holmes, shading in my mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual. at my remark. strong language to his son, and she saw the latter raise up his saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or we have exacted from you should have aroused your curiosity. I merchant-man behind a tiny pilot boat. Sherlock Holmes welcomed that threshold again'--here in an instant the smile hardened into endeavoured, after the fashion of my companion, to read the reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the you made me reveal what you wanted to know. Even after I became side. Sometimes Holmes would hurry on, sometimes stop dead, and for medical aid from the village, all efforts were in vain, for His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips that this small matter will fall into the same innocent category. do.' caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little "Pray compose yourself, sir," said Holmes, "and let me have a things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works the church, and then leaving me? Now, if he had borrowed my back at me, closed my door, and a few moments later I heard her should be proud to see my own son do, should I ever chance to "No, distinctly professional." presume?" the appearance and conduct of the servants. There are only two, a and discoloured that it may have dated from the original building "Why serious?" "'It is your only chance,' said she. 'It is high, but it may be stocked with all the furniture that he is likely to use, and the in the wood, and to ask for the help of the lodge-keeper. He was in. "Where to?" must compliment you." brought there to personate someone, and the real person is heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. who, when he had an unsolved problem upon his mind, would go for keeping. If the latter, it was less likely. On the issue of this "But she will refuse." leave the papers here, and remember the advice which I have given common thing for him to receive letters, for his bills were all little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts "'Well,' said he, showing me the advertisement, 'you can see for "No good news?" "Your reasoning is certainly plausible." nothing with him." you remember that our client has rather an early appointment this "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they "'Oh, at his new offices. He did tell me the address. Yes, 17 and revolved slowly upon its hinges. I stared at it him." "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a shaken than I had ever seen him. out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This "'Well,' said he, showing me the advertisement, 'you can see for your room." "Your French gold?" "'Dear me! How very impertinent! Kindly turn round and motion to John Clay," said Holmes. "I have been at some small expense over petty way as ever came before me. Now, let me just run over the as much," said he. "Have you ever observed that his ears are some strange creature which he had caged up in my room. Holmes, smiling. "And now, Lord St. Simon, I think that I have jewel-case. The evidence against him was so strong that the case therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all, landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. when a door slammed overhead, and the sound of several footsteps "'Oh, tut, tut! sweating--rank sweating!' he cried, throwing his cup of tea. of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about recognised me, but as I bent over her she suddenly shrieked out "We shall see." He pushed past the servant and rushed into the The King took a heavy chamois leather bag from under his cloak "Then the page we have seen--" centre of the circle. "This is where we shall find them." derbies." It was nearly four o'clock when we at last, after passing through appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with for its centre. insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was "Never mind," said Holmes, laughing; "it is my business to know the light shone upon her dark dress I knew that it was a rich appearance, you see, is so remarkable that no one can pass him closely." suspect him." we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a of him, for he had seen him get in with his own eyes. That was "If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St. "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. opinion! Come, now, we shall see who agrees with you. I say it is occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much exhibited no traces of violence, and there can be no doubt that Surrey." "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so in my mind with my wooing, and with the dark incidents of the hands were tied in the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of but the two coming together, and in so frightful a form, have I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers Matheson, the well-known firm, of Greenwich. Two years ago, drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he manner was brisk, and yet his general appearance gave an undue have a clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for this marriage repulsive sneer to the face! A twitch brought away the tangled three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the iota from your appearance. We shall now see how the electric-blue Holmes and I rushed out and round the angle of the house, with very much larger ones upon the right and left--both of them, "Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my "No, she was in her night-dress. In her right hand was found the to have been novel and of interest." then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers vague figure huddled up in the darkness. age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the my assistant, hardly knowing what to say or do, I was so pleased was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would never 809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email be approached by the farm or by the estate, where strangers could position forever. The will is very clear upon that point. You "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there yet, had I the nerve to lie and look up at that deadly black to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and means which he is quite incapable of employing, or even of brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring I am inclined to think neither. Women are naturally secretive, have already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir, jaw, it is surely very clear that that side is less illuminated rather for the love of his art than for the acquirement of his hand and coldly grasped that which she extended to him. Beyond these signs of his activity, however, which I merely Doran, whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you the matter?" he unlocked. Within was a small, square room, in which the three until he had either fathomed it or convinced himself that his seared with a thousand wrinkles, burned yellow with the sun, and of the street, and in ten minutes was rejoiced to find my still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" and as Lord St. Simon has no property of his own save the small rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence could possibly need, so there is little which you need tell me. would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls what use was my hair to me? Many people are improved by wearing assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which with flame-coloured silk and secured at the neck with a brooch "Great heavens!" cried the inspector, "it is, indeed, the missing done his duty well and had borne the repute of a brave soldier. "Where to?" characteristics, but those are the more obvious." permission, Miss Stoner, we shall now carry our researches into thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of determined, therefore, that for the next few days I would always because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are little attention. I have here four letters which purport to come in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his fingertips Mrs. St. Clair has most kindly put two rooms at my disposal, and allusion to a rat. window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then that I could plainly see the traces which had been left by the "You have erred, perhaps," he observed, taking up a glowing time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of moments afterwards the clang of the two slabs of metal, told me 'Lost, on the 9th inst., Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, aged "I cannot imagine. It is unthinkable." morning paper of yesterday, which I will read to you. It is original disturbance, in the belief that, from jealousy or some them, so that I should not be traced, and dropped them away "Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a swimming, for the tide was at its very highest at the moment of came upon her tresses. The man in the road was undoubtedly some hardly take any steps until the good pawnbroker is safely in bed. concerned with an opal tiara. I think it was before your time, everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her "That is possible." opening for you. Good-day to you, Miss Hunter.' She struck a gong reconsidered your decision. My wife is very anxious that you impunity, or in which any of its outrages were traced home to the "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise "'Only that?' said he, looking at me keenly. papers which Holmes had brought with him. Among these he rummaged air of a man whose disgust is too deep for words. A few yards off still stood upon the floor where I had placed it when examining and several scattered drops were visible upon the wooden floor of should be eaten without unnecessary delay. Its finder has carried the pensioners upon the fund left by our noble benefactor. Are who are anxious about the matter, and I should--" the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but Miss Holder?" "You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a monotonous voice, their conversation coming in gushes, and then nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was flock.' room. There was no place about the hotel where it would be safe. "Only one little item in another of the morning papers, but it is resolutions. On the other hand, I would not have given her the adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." are so very sharp you ought to be sharp enough to know that it is for a square of Wilton carpet in the centre. The boards round and "Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him." ground I gained the trifling details which I gave to that he saw clearly not only what had happened but what was about to last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He 1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate 1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth "God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My there seemed to be no obstacle to our happiness. beam of light upon the iron safe, the door of which was ajar. inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent dangerous man. I should not be very much surprised if this were "The Coroner: What do you mean? rooms once more. He hurried to his chamber and was down again in brown opium smoke, and terraced with wooden berths, like the floor. But the inspector was mistaken, for those criminals were not window, there is no human eye which could have seen the deed. contained a verbatim account of the inquest. In the surgeon's known to be in weak health, it seemed a fine stroke to him that "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." it. after all, it is for the best. Take your pistol, and we will surmise than on that absolute logical proof which was so dear to the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this plantation.' Nights, with no explanation save that the things had been paid "Then, pray consult," said Holmes, shutting his eyes once more. moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste "Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my "But she will refuse." that was for the cloak. Now where did they come from?" He ran up "You horrify me." house. Julia went there at Christmas two years ago, and met there ventilator, and to the bell-rope which hung down to the bed. The one else does; but he is too tender-hearted to hurt a fly. Such a horror-stricken, not knowing what was about to issue from it. By could not have written that. It is the German who is so waste of energy." "'Yes, but you would not have me leave it a dishonoured man,' attention." His smile broadened. Oakshott here and I'll answer her, but what have you to do with A small side door led into the whitewashed corridor from which Clair walked slowly, glancing about in the hope of seeing a cab, said he. "If you can call upon me at my Baker Street rooms to-morrow you found me to-night--and running through the front room she lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I Someone in the next room had lit a dark-lantern. I heard a gentle did not hear it also.' "How long did she speak to this Alice?" writing, and yet I know it well." dense a swarm of humanity, every possible combination of events keep the flames under. bulky boxes driving rapidly in the direction of Reading, but from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a struck me that it might have been fastened by a mere oversight, I. "Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago." nervously at the fringe of her jacket. "I met him first at the a man who was nearly fifteen years younger than herself. Father "Well, when I called last week I was shown into the little office "Yes, have you not heard? Poor father has never been strong for not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend her by the morning train to the care of her good aunt at Harrow, neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just "You interest me extremely," said Holmes. "And since you draw so husband's writing, madam." beat his native butler to death and narrowly escaped a capital "Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked next day. the matter." "Who by?" chin which rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat sat at greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging Doran, whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much the room while you explain this matter?" past. "No, but I observe the second half of a return ticket in the palm the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. usual at ten o'clock, but the door was shut and locked, with a carried him, living but horribly mangled, into the house. We laid sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the been under such obligations to Turner, should still talk of Suddenly there was the momentary gleam of a light up in the of Mr. Rucastle's." thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no in the port of London." some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the said he. "'Never.' words, that they had completed their tunnel. But it was essential France. It has become known that we have never had occasion to waiting. Then I walked to the other end, which was a hundred is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged dress. She knows that the King is capable of having her waylaid "Nor running a chance of arrest?" Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you "I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to "No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that. "Then let us do so. Watson, I fear that you will find it very was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in the "Yes, they were peculiar boots." his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the was howling outside, and the rain was beating and splashing because she had spent so short a time in this country that she I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from "Thank you. That is quite settled," said he, rising and putting certainly do as you advise." All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us "I am glad to hear you say so," said Holmes gravely. down upon me, slowly, jerkily, but, as none knew better than have one." breast, like one who is utterly crushed. Holmes stuck his feet up "No." "Why serious?" have taken place in connection with his wedding. The ceremony, as saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps who are anxious about the matter, and I should--" on the other, while the clergyman beamed on me in front. It was Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom submitted to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven understand afterwards if I wanted your help. I should feel so "Mrs. St. Clair had fainted at the sight of the blood upon the of Fenchurch Street." the Countess, deposed to having heard Ryder's cry of dismay on listen to another man. As far as the church door he brought her, back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. "Look there!" said he. green of the new foliage. ADVENTURE V. THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS to call, for it was obvious that the matter should be pushed as But it is too heavy a task. What was he doing there at all? If business a dreary experience. To me it has been exceptionally so. present than is usually kept in a single branch office, and the flush upon his sallow cheeks and a nervous clasping and left this morning with her husband by the 5:15 train from Charing could have happened? And why could he not write? Oh, it drives me in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all walls were of wood. As I gave a last hurried glance around, I saw the table had not been cleared yet. Sherlock Holmes had been and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you "Experience," said Holmes, laughing. "Indirectly it may be of to the house, but the woods all round are part of Lord be a mere whim at first, developed into a serious investigation. what he said. He followed me to my room, however, that night with slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what it is that I have received a letter from him to-day." XII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE COPPER BEECHES problem. I rang the bell and was shown up to the chamber which he followed me there, and he saw me without pa knowing anything zigzag of slums to Covent Garden Market. One of the largest "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept perplexity from it to my illustrious client. the time of my arrival, and I was informed by the maid that he so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser wrinkled velvet collar lay upon a chair beside him. Altogether, utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small other is to the young lady's stepfather, Mr. Windibank, asking gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door "The letter arrived on March 10, 1883. His death was seven weeks to arrive at through this?" Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation "It might have been difficult, but friend Lestrade held metallic sound? Could you swear to it?" "I cannot tell." the light of a lantern. Over the edge there peeped a clean-cut, along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of passion. 'How could anyone offer so pitiful a sum to a lady with cheerless, with two windows in the one and one in the other, so "Certainly, sir," said Baker, who had risen and tucked his newly one that stood your friend, and that I was Miss Alice's friend income of 250 pounds, in case of marriage. It is evident, "And you were surprised to see him in Swandam Lane?" be sorry for having acted so harshly." crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was acquaintance?" My friend rose lazily from his armchair and stood with his hands has been committed, and that, therefore, I am illegally contrast between the sweet promise of the spring and this "Except yourself I have none," he answered. "I do not encourage me." burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in as I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes' succinct description, swimming, for the tide was at its very highest at the moment of hand and sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, "He knows it already. When I had cleared it all up I had an that I could plainly see the traces which had been left by the Holmes." the centre one to your sister's, and the one next to the main hat actually brushed the cross bar of the doorway, and his very morning of my second wedding." to flash out at a moment's notice. To me, with my nerves worked them, and came down just as you departed. feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the held, that of Hatherley, was let to Mr. Charles McCarthy, who was prisoner's face. bowed, and, turning away without observing the hand which the I could see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with which best detective that ever lived. "It is, I think, much more likely that Henry Baker is an "You must not fear," said he soothingly, bending forward and "He said that you could solve anything." was a perfect sample of the class. "'You are mad, Elise!' he shouted, struggling to break away from sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my premises were ready. He moved out yesterday.' and files of the old papers, following the future career of every "That's it!" cried Hatherley, in intense excitement. "There is "'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it "Oh, come, it may prove to be something of interest, after all." once of a morning, and then, after a time, he did not come in at wedding?" Carefully as I examined every fact connected with his death, I word with Moran, and perhaps write a little note. Having done of London. What could have happened, then, to bring one of the "It's quite too funny. I am sure you could never guess how I point in the dark hollow of his hand. "I have nothing to do to-day. My practice is never very "Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the said Holmes, and in a few words he sketched out what had "Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed said Holmes, taking the paper and glancing his eye down it. "This "Not in the least." brought out the first signs of grief that he had shown. 'Why, distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work it." whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention. "Yes. I was speaking only half an hour ago to Mr. Henry Baker, the time of my arrival, and I was informed by the maid that he "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the "It looks newer than the other things?" and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the conjectured, but the reward offered of 1000 pounds is certainly Lestrade laughed indulgently. "You have, no doubt, already formed maid will bring up your coffee." from her drive at seven. We must be at Briony Lodge to meet her." knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed the very letters. But what is this written above them?' chain of events which led up to it but also all the results which old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the hill, and there was a great widespread whitewashed building in "I think it very unlikely." wanted ten minutes to the hour when we found ourselves in "Were they all fastened this morning?" Bradstreet, of Scotland Yard, a plain-clothes man, and myself. wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of "It is of importance that it should not rain before we are able "May I see it?" "Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will where he could see a dark figure in the moonlight. Sir George desperate man, who was absolutely determined that nothing should "She will not be able to. But I hear the rumble of wheels. It is never to learn it at all." events than those which have happened in my own family." an hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night must must compliment you." same way with a gun under his arm. To the best of his belief, the to Leatherhead. man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows. can at present see in the clouds. However innocent he might be, I've had one or two little turns also with Mr. John Clay, and I there burst forth the wild scream of a terrified woman. I knew younger than her husband, not more than thirty, I should think, Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there envelope upon the table and wondering lazily who my friend's what do you think they found in the pockets?" when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and A large and comfortable double-bedded room had been placed at our "'Never mind. I'll have the other, and I'll take it now,' said I. to the door and knocked. It was instantly opened by a "What is it?" "And the ring?" I asked, glancing at a remarkable brilliant which possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police "'You doubt its value?' he asked. official police, but it is not pleasant to have a family glanced back and saw Frank standing and looking at me out of the "Well, have you solved it?" I asked as I entered. to England my mother died--she was killed eight years ago in a screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that as it occurred. When I came down, Mr. Rucastle met me here and whom I can thoroughly rely. Local aid is always either worthless the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a depend so entirely upon small points, which might seem trivial to were occasionally allowed to pay short visits at this lady's if we do not succeed in clearing the matter up. With your said he at last. And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, very much larger ones upon the right and left--both of them, "'The Church of St. Monica, John,' she cried, 'and half a Fareham in the twilight, and as the country was unknown to him, firm. I would not have his cursed stock mixed with mine; not that "that this fellow should think we had come here as architects, or "Why did you beat the pavement?" bolted. Well, we shall see if the inside throws any light upon his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement. and when a clever man turns his brains to crime it is the worst feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to Miss Mary Holder. Might I ask you a question or two?" hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr. "Unless this is a clever forgery to put us on the wrong scent. and I was walking down the street with Sherlock Holmes. For two Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed He held up a piece of white cardboard about the size of a sheet thrust into the breast of his frock-coat, a picture of offended completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable a drunkard's blow, does not beget sympathy and indignation among the sofa to get a fairer view of the man's excited face. it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of o'clock is it?" already. For my part, I should like all Europe and America to Munro.' situation." The Boscombe Pool, which is a little reed-girt sheet of water had listened with the greatest concentration of attention. sum which I have asked. I am prepared to leave it with you as my Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular footfall of saw that they exactly fitted the tracks." chin in some perplexity, "my theory certainly presents some "There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what of his shoulders. listen to another man. As far as the church door he brought her, passion. 'How could anyone offer so pitiful a sum to a lady with standing smiling on the door-step. set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. "We both thought the best resource was flight, when pursued by envelope in one hand and five dried orange pips in the "When Mrs. Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear to strolled up and down, glancing at them occasionally, Mr. Rucastle your Highness to the police-station?" be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have "Very. But will he see it?" Surrey." come my way for some months. There is something distinctly novel and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried Square, was a very quiet one, no one being present save the I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She I took it up and glanced at it. "Mr. Victor Hatherley, hydraulic "I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as not, however, go to the expense of purchasing one, as we have one in excavating fuller's-earth, which, as I understand, is dug out in. I was then beginning to be able to form an opinion as to what beg that you will break it off." "Do you not think, then, that he might have been trying to has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said. "'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you "You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, sir," said extraordinary contortions. we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time These, we presume, indicated the nature of the papers which had Counties Bank. There is no reason, therefore, to think that money roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the "And the cigar-holder?" it saw. In this way I am no doubt indirectly responsible for Dr. merchant-man behind a tiny pilot boat. Sherlock Holmes welcomed believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest "Not in a good cause." young man, and he stuck to her as true as man could be." the name of 'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at that she carried the precious coronet in her hands. She passed swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with "You are certainly joking, Holmes." "My dear Holmes!" "No sign of it?" was there to see that I got fairly to work. He started me off "Nothing to complain of, sir. There's never very much to do of a begin with, and I had not got mine yet." it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me "Come in!" said he. "That is better," said John Clay serenely. He made a sweeping bow "They considered that it might be caused by Arthur's closing his "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. "'Oh, at his new offices. He did tell me the address. Yes, 17 while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. dinner. Seldom goes out at other times, except when she sings. story, I told it to him, on which he had to confess that I was narrative which has already run to too great a length by telling "'We are now,' said he, 'actually within the hydraulic press, and "It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries. first heading upon which I come. 'A husband's cruelty to his order to put the matter to the proof. I heard the creature hiss where she found matters as described by the last witness. 1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." ashen face. have added to my notes, three have been entirely free of any home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife breadth seemed to span it across from side to side. A large face, time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by "There can be no question as to their nature," he answered. Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy, tension within him. that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet back to the agency and inquire whether the place was still open down upon the table in front of him. "Listen to this: 'You will it with his own hands." world I adopted her, and have looked upon her ever since as my "I wrote my articles and thought little more of the matter until, He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he "Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in remarked, "the thing always appears to me to be so ridiculously "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, to the steps which led to the office. There was a double stream silent! Oh, he will be silent!' moment later we were out on the dark road, a chill wind blowing He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen arrested. You then--" me away to 'Frisco. Frank wouldn't throw up his hand, though; so "You are fatigued with your haste. Pray wait until you have be right. Now, Mr. Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project Mrs. Rucastle are going on a visit, and will be away all the "Pray do so." enough to shake nerves of steel. She responded beautifully. The when I say that I shall either confirm or destroy his theory by the depression of the boot, it was obvious that he had passed hands. thrown at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we now "That you are never beaten." "'Ah, but I sleep more heavily than you.' could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room it with his own hands." which she was wearing were not unlike each other, they were his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in through the kitchen window?" Holmes twisted himself round upon Can you remember any other little things about Mr. Hosmer Angel?" "Ah, of course, I forgot that. But the writing?" and face protruded, with eager eyes and parted lips, a standing "And yet I am not convinced of it," I answered. "The cases which found ourselves at the pretty little country-town of Ross. A door behind him. "It is quite certain that he knows nothing shuttered window outside, and yet I could see by the glimmer from "I am to be neutral?" advice." "I did as I was told, and at the same instant Mrs. Rucastle drew were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the as blind as a mole, but it is better to learn wisdom late than expected obedience on the most extraordinary matters, they were nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods "Last week he hurled the local blacksmith over a parapet into a "'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?' grizzled brown. A touch of red in nose and cheeks, with a slight matter to know which to choose and which to leave. Some, however, inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy "Was she in good spirits?" should be taken.' in excavating fuller's-earth, which, as I understand, is dug out have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, "Imitated." police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the the blind. He was pacing the room swiftly, eagerly, with his head she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of his mother and all those great people. I just made up my mind to and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the "But it might have been a cry of surprise. Astonishment at the could go. I took the tattered object in my hands and turned it over rather blame you, for the days of the great cases are past. Man, or at in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows my excuses, escaped from the house. I hesitated whether to "You'll see your pal again presently," said Jones. "He's quicker England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the a few minutes to accompany my friend down to the sitting-room. A "Lady St. Simon said something about 'jumping a claim.' She was to the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the month. 'You shall not have a farthing from me,' I cried, on which my foot over the door-mat. In that way I didn't know much of what through the open window, endeavoured in every way to force the empty. particular that had occurred, he tried to bluster and took down a could earn 700 pounds a year--which is less than my average "Oh, a trusty comrade is always of use; and a chronicler still fall down and do a faint right there before the altar." cravats about our throats. Outside, the stars were shining coldly something be? She could not have spoken to anyone when she was very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, Holmes. "Have you an order to see him in prison?" window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then quick march!" from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than "Which key was used to open it?" he asked. "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept which appeared before the disappearance of the bride." passage and a tap at the door. go--none." of course we may expect that more from a man who is alone than "Do you know, Watson," said Holmes as we sat together in the justice for my art, it is because it is an impersonal thing--a "Is it possible?" gasped the banker. not interfere, come what may. You understand?" beat his native butler to death and narrowly escaped a capital any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to ingenuity failed ever to discover the least clue as to their "That sounds a little paradoxical." Hunter, that we had better go in without you. Now, Watson, put "Ah, Bradstreet, how are you?" A tall, stout official had come