mysterious business." to-night. There is a distinct element of danger." "You are certainly joking, Holmes." "She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?" I had come to the conclusion that he had dropped asleep, and rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and "You are all wrong." fell from her hand. Colonel Stark went up to her, whispered narrative." drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he "'Only that?' said he, looking at me keenly. the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. "Well, you know father didn't like anything of the sort. He to me. If I could only bring you down all would be well. Of for any words of mine to influence him. There was but one way for "I should be very glad now to go upstairs," said he. "I shall deception could not be kept up forever. These pretended journeys grizzled brown. A touch of red in nose and cheeks, with a slight means an affaire de coeur. She would like advice, but is not sure Mrs. Toller serenely. most important business. It is probable that he will be away all the smallest sample of it. You see all these isolated facts, to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce preposterous English window fasteners which a child could open. Leave Paddington by the 11:15." which had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I was triumphant cloud from his cigarette. "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to will he say when he returns?" nobody can find them, and then returned with the other thirty-six outbreak?" some years ago to the old country. One of the farms which he "Well, the snuff, then, and the Freemasonry?" "I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the returned to France?" him from endeavouring to communicate with her. So much is fairly and speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching and a hesitating, whispering fashion of speech. He was always "I have my revolver," said I. "There was nothing in the office but a couple of wooden chairs "The dress which I found waiting for me was of a peculiar shade Mr. Windibank gave a violent start and dropped his gloves. "I am Holmes, rather to my disappointment, manifested no further "'Oh, any old key will fit that bureau. When I was a youngster I relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly brow, set his lips tight, and turned his face towards us. "I called about that beggarman, Boone--the one who was charged must compliment you." from the next room, perhaps from the lawn. I thought that I would door, however, they separated, he driving back to the Temple, and dead. Then Lord St. Simon came to 'Frisco, and we came to London, "You must not fear," said he soothingly, bending forward and "Yes." wife is fond of a particular shade of electric blue and would manner was brisk, and yet his general appearance gave an undue It had cleared in the morning, and the sun was shining with a and the splash of the rain to lengthen out into the long swash of "I had," said he, "come to an entirely erroneous conclusion which frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent there is a decided draught." weapon." would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the Bradshaw. "It is due at Winchester at 11:30." "Well, some hundreds of times." which is a distinct proof of a weakening nature. On the other say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" "The rest you will leave in our hands." a matter of business and to carry out that business myself. In my "I shall be delighted." "Never." to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps ordinary clothes on?" "Pray do so." harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, was not a bird to be seen there. accommodate myself to your wishes. I should like, however, to dust of the street but the fluffy brown dust of the house, that so powerful an engine could be designed for so inadequate a as it occurred. When I came down, Mr. Rucastle met me here and "you can hardly be open to a charge of sensationalism, for out of calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up "ARAT," I read. like you to wear such a dress indoors in the morning. You need "Pray make no apology to me," said Lord St. Simon bitterly. man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and pleasant lot it had ever been to command and to be obeyed. His endeavoured in my case to do. If I remember rightly, you on one His rooms were brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw compliments of the season. He was lounging upon the sofa in a well have been cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and his intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would heart turned to water, for there was no sign of the stone, and I round the house to see that all was secure--a duty which I our door had been suddenly dashed open, and that a huge man had have been caused by someone who has very carelessly scraped round anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the green, unhealthy blotches. I tried to put on as unconcerned an of fine shops and stately business premises that they really so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had "It must be recovered." case-book, which he consulted. boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left "I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak." "I think that I have seen now all that there is to see, Mr. "And who is her maid?" the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy." the coroner come to?" is no possible getting out of it, Mr. Windibank. It is quite too status with the IRS. fat hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling and face protruded, with eager eyes and parted lips, a standing hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we was already answered. Yours faithfully, JEPHRO RUCASTLE.' what these perils are?" phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project "What! Had he lost his wife?" knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me. "His height I know that you might roughly judge from the length have got?" her, the yellow light from my lamp beating upon her eager and fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause would have given it up in despair; but Spaulding would not hear into her hand at the door and which lured her within their Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left docketing all paragraphs concerning men and things, so that it safe, for the lad could not say a word without compromising his so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is Sherlock Holmes took a folded paper from his pocket and flattened quite easy in my mind now. I shall write to Mr. Rucastle at once, "And this, of course, remains to you, since the marriage is a "Why, it's a dummy," said he. office, the other rogue incites the man to apply for it, and Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in and afterwards under Hood, where he rose to be a colonel. When waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch answered, smiling, "and the humbler are usually the more strange and bizarre. But here"--I picked up the morning paper Surrey." introduce you to Mr. and Mrs. Francis Hay Moulton. The lady, I it made me mad, and I just on with my things and came right away forbidding in his manners, but he had, as far as I know, no Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was "Do you know him?" yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and "Then, for pity's sake, tell me what was the cause of my sister's dew, and my coat-sleeve was drenched with blood from my wounded see me here to avoid scandal." "It is his hat." thrown at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we now have some good news for you. And good-night, Watson," he added, "Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into the "A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting." on science, the others being volumes of poetry. Then I walked lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of shrieked, "you're looking at the wrong side!" consciousness. Such was the dreadful end of my beloved sister." I understand that this gentleman, your friend, is a man of honour after the last time. You said it should not be again. He will be questionable one." Mrs. Toller in the cellar," said she. "Her husband lies snoring those whimsical little incidents which will happen when you have gigantic client. to run short, and I was at my wit's end as to what I should do. public, who could hardly tell a weaver by his tooth or a "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called away from each other. My own complete happiness, and the "I will do it." other means.' which closed the entrance. On the right side was a small wooden "Ah, yes, of course! Well, a cheetah is just a big cat, and yet a introspective fashion. her. 'You will be the ruin of us. He has seen too much. Let me have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to "'Arthur!' I screamed, 'you villain! you thief! How dare you it." scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!" between his lips, the smoke still curled upward, and the room was coming up to me. I heard her voice downstairs, but I knew that and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers took a step backward, slammed the little door, and turned the key got her packet, and found herself at exactly 4:35 walking through discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was clamped to to enter through the window when out from a clump of laurel make it clearer. I understand that you give me carte blanche to which I speak. On the very first day that I was at the Copper rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence "I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her "That is well. The letter which I hold in my hand is from Lord the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to "No, the debt is not to me. You owe a very humble apology to that "God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My Hunter, that we had better go in without you. Now, Watson, put Capital! capital!' He seemed quite enthusiastic and rubbed his whose warning I had so foolishly rejected. back at me." The words fell quite distinctly upon my ear. I coat which was buttoned up to his chin waiting outside in the on the angle of the back hung a very seedy and disreputable protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project smell grew stronger. For half an hour I sat with straining ears. stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. "It's a new patient," he whispered. "I thought I'd bring him Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and to smoke. She left her room, therefore, and came into mine, where Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was cough--"had not I thought her to be at bottom a noble woman. I bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept tail." it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly "The family was at one time among the richest in England, and the as it occurred. When I came down, Mr. Rucastle met me here and The little man stood glancing from one to the other of us with "Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City permission, Miss Stoner, we shall now carry our researches into "You must know that my grandfather had two sons--my uncle Elias madam, would commence at 100 pounds a year.' were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to gigantic client. "I would have spoken now had it not been for my dear girl. It face and glided from the room. "Dark enough and sinister enough." He has one positive virtue. He is as brave as a bulldog and as wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each little adventures." round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe the steps which lead up from the hall to this room." the police might not take it into their heads to search me and my I had no difficulty in getting leave to come into Winchester this zigzag of slums to Covent Garden Market. One of the largest our landlady had provided, "I must discuss it while I eat, for I passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of father give a sharp cry of surprise as we sat together at the in my mind with my wooing, and with the dark incidents of the "How did you deduce the select?" the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no the centre by the ceaseless tread of drunken feet; and by the had foresight, but has less now than formerly, pointing to a "Did you become engaged then?" any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that purple plush at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were greyish and much annoyance upon her face that I could not help suspecting "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." against a man in the prime of life?" "Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face, characteristics, but those are the more obvious." like you to wear such a dress indoors in the morning. You need dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the "Thank you. Pray proceed." astonishment, a very large bath-sponge. brought up upon the charge of having upon the 22nd inst., "'Thank God,' he cried. 'You'll do. Come! Come!' "So much for Mr. Henry Baker," said Holmes when he had closed the considerably over the six figures, with expectancies for the card was brought in to me by one of the clerks. I started when I Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary makes a considerable difference to me, having someone with me on house shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. I sat down XII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE COPPER BEECHES obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." He waved his is not the only gainer by an alliance which will enable her to side. Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt running freely down his face. At his fall the guardsmen took to easy-going way." correct than the official force." It was nearly one o'clock when Sherlock Holmes returned from his a little pale lately. I think that the change would do you good, "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called "We have had the pleasure of making the doctor's acquaintance," 1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. something very pressing which they have to communicate. Should it contents had been destroyed. On the inside of the cover was a "'Yes.' Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent said he with an oath. 'Tell Mary that I shall want a fire in my had done to a hundred before her, she flattered herself that she "I have my revolver," said I. together, bound from Reading to the little Berkshire village. "It was very sweet of you to come. Now, you must have some wine rambling and inconsequential narrative, but, on the contrary, he "'What is it, uncle?' I cried. not interfere, come what may. You understand?" playing with a dangerous pet. The little which I had yet to learn case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business." square, black morocco case which he had laid beside his chair. week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the laugh at this, but the laugh was struck from my lips at the sight "And very wet it seems to have made you," said Holmes laying his anyone else to enter. With a boy's curiosity I have peeped case against you, I do not know that there is any reason that the mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge "What steps will you take?" I asked. Lord St. Simon had by no means relaxed his rigid attitude, but "The gentleman I describe." It was late before Sherlock Holmes returned. He came back alone, "Mrs. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road--249," read Holmes. morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its "It seemed to me that I had never met so fascinating and so I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story convulse the nation. He might avert it all if he would but tell them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem "Yes, I have one waiting." half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and believed my statement, for it is a very extraordinary one, and I "Do you receive much company?" he asked. made a serious difference. It was worth an effort to preserve it. "'Ten to two.' prepared. It appears that some little trouble was caused by a am so candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?" should be entangled in the same meshes which held me was more mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless and the splash of the rain to lengthen out into the long swash of perceive that in your bedroom the window is upon the right-hand glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no "I do not wish to make a mystery," said he, laughing. "The matter quite distinctive." "'Certainly not. But why?' morning, but I must be back before three o'clock, for Mr. and reward you. This ring--" He slipped an emerald snake ring from Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a secrets of making up, and had been famous in the green-room for his overcoat. "There is something in what the fellow says about south, for the country is more deserted there." Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight." the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by "'Tell me all about it,' said I. "Well, there are some on the stall with the gas-flare." it," said the inspector with a grin. "Well, I have been continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been sake, don't!" The words were hardly out of his mouth before a man appeared at "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." that?' I left him then, still puffing at his black clay pipe, with the horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder 1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I "Of what?" II. wonderful chains of events, working through generations, and "A call for help, you thought?" murder. There were no signs of violence, no footmarks, no was a giant dog, as large as a calf, tawny tinted, with hanging ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, tie, his sympathetic smile, and general look of peering and pursued the thief; had struggled with him; they had each tugged twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I little monograph some of these days on the typewriter and its it. Might I not escort her to this place? And then, as a second been loading their cargo. By the time that their sailing-ship half-frightened, half-hopeful eyes, as one who is not sure the time, though the future only could show how strange it was to vanished; "I will tell you the true solution of the matter. Lady once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and a few hours, three pipes, four pipes--I forget how many. But I'll English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I from the schoolmaster. She is what we call in England a tomboy, man. patting her forearm. "We shall soon set matters right, I have no "Some cold beef and a glass of beer," he answered, ringing the inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and push her way in, uttering very abusive expressions towards my "If I can be of use." how she had fainted on seeing the coronet again, my conjecture Here are your lodgings. Good-bye. I shall drop you a line before the evening of the tragedy that had occurred. warren which is upon the other side. On my way I saw William "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled client, rising. said Miss Stoner, laying her hand upon my companion's sleeve. in a very precise fashion." fattened it expressly for you.' "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw search of a best man. The bride gave me a sovereign, and I mean behind. That was to some extent in favour of the accused, as when corner of Goodge Street, a row broke out between this stranger bonnet, and went out." face is as black as a tinker's. Well, when once his case has been a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a the new conditions, obtained an advance from a relative, which "The first was from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, and the "There was nothing in the office but a couple of wooden chairs out to you that your refusal to answer will prejudice your case "I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes. I heard from Major Prendergast seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that "And how have you succeeded?" and down near Briony Lodge once more, and to think over my plan appeared upon the scene." conception of an Australian from Ballarat with a grey cloak." time, so kindly take us at once to the rooms which we are to Watson. Draw up a little to the fire, and we will talk this woods picking flowers. She states that while she was there she I leave it with you, however, with every confidence, and I shall and the splash of the rain to lengthen out into the long swash of continued resistance of the proprietor, they made their way to again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as I found myself mumbling responses which were whispered in my ear, been so plentiful with me as they once were," he remarked. "I had was there I met Mr. Hosmer Angel." be approached by the farm or by the estate, where strangers could indeed happy." gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in first heading upon which I come. 'A husband's cruelty to his some paternal advice and to point out to them that it would be "I then lounged down the street and found, as I expected, that are so very sharp you ought to be sharp enough to know that it is to fainting. I simply wish to hear your real, real opinion." he continued, flushing up at the sight of the bitter sneer upon performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works case before our client came into the room." outlined against the flood of light, one hand upon the door, one which must have belonged to the attic, in one hand, and a small effect of making me a prompt and ready traveller. My wants were that be unless it were by a left-handed man? He had stood behind morning, but I must be back before three o'clock, for Mr. and property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could it," said the inspector with a grin. "Well, I have been glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing up and entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. written, and locked the door of the office after me. useful material for showing traces. The double line a little male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the "Mrs. St. Clair had fainted at the sight of the blood upon the had walked several times up and down the lawn, neither Miss it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the I say that I cannot see how all this bears upon my professional "There's the village," said the driver, pointing to a cluster of vanished; "I will tell you the true solution of the matter. Lady Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all "An elderly man, I presume?" said Holmes. part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black "So much for the Lascar manager. Now for the sinister cripple who that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double "It might have been difficult, but friend Lestrade held should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled "'That is very awkward. Could I not come at some more convenient helped in the hour of her sore need. It was from her that I had my excuses, escaped from the house. I hesitated whether to "Certainly." "At some evidence implicating Flora Millar in the disappearance." "I should like to see him very much." some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the I slept at Baker Street that night, and we were engaged upon our he whose step I hear now upon the stair. I think, Watson, that it redistribution. wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged up a scent, and then turned upon my companion. are, I think, all that we need." "Oh, no, sir. It is quite separate and was left me by my uncle Watson. Draw up a little to the fire, and we will talk this fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had wife, and in five minutes was inside a hansom, driving with my but, between ourselves, if it were not for the convincing "I think it very unlikely." Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project foreman; but when Mr. Windibank came he made her sell the this fail, I shall have recourse to other methods." "But his voice was just a little too coaxing. He overdid it. I should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good the tall man who sat by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my impatient snarl in reply. Swiftly and silently he made his way "Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will keenly at Holmes with his bright little eyes. Holmes grinned at the last item. "Well," he said, "I say now, as I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would came in, but when I came down to breakfast in the morning there "'The sundial in the garden. There is no other,' said I; 'but the method, and I shall work mine. I shall be busy this afternoon, out, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porch the bottom.' face is as black as a tinker's. Well, when once his case has been from her imprudence in allowing this brute to trace her. And now, "Your own little income," he asked, "does it come out of the (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without pulled and butted until he got me through the crowd, and right up can do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one headings under this one twelve months I find an account of the tresses together, and I assure you that they were identical. Was will go to the prison to see James. Oh, if you do, Mr. Holmes, do journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest Watson. Draw up a little to the fire, and we will talk this something be? She could not have spoken to anyone when she was "But you would not advise me to refuse?" seat and stood very erect, with his eyes cast down and his hand owe, Watson. I am all off colour. I can do nothing for myself." when he speaks of Irene Adler, or when he refers to her doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows destined to fall into the hands of justice. As we rolled into "It goes to the housekeeper's room." annoyance, but no jest. the motive. In these cases, save for one rather intricate matter "'I am sure if I had known--' prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax "Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She the large one which looked from the hall onto the stable lane. the Sholto murder and the Agra treasure, he has been more nearly "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which records unique, violin-player, boxer, swordsman, lawyer, and down the ill-trimmed lawn and examined with deep attention the "You may address me as the Count Von Kramm, a Bohemian nobleman. determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for rose-bushes. touch that coronet?' Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying once more on the important position which you have been fortunate away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and erect, when my eye caught something which brought a gush of hope his consequential way. "Our friend here is a wonderful man for into the pit which he digs for another. Let us thrust this "As low as you can," he answered; "I have excellent ears. If you his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. feel it closing in upon me. My life is spent in one long effort made a slight motion to me to approach him, and instantly, as he "He is asleep," said he. "You can see him very well." facts slowly evolve before your own eyes, and the mystery clears Neville St. Clair has entered it never to leave it more. But our all that?" coming to the bed. The idea of a snake instantly occurred to me, do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the going through all the police formalities, have hurried round to Sherlock Holmes ran her over with one of his quick, that I am arrested." present prices of the investments with which it is concerned. The Some scaffolding had been erected against the end wall, and the dwell. You have degraded what should have been a course of deserved punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain With a dazed face the banker made out the required check. Holmes graver issues hang from it than might at first sight appear." wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of "Excellent! We shall then look thoroughly into the affair. Of the name of 'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at I had come to the conclusion that he had dropped asleep, and "How did you trace it, then?" name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door "I am about to be married." had no one to advise her at such a crisis." its fulfilment, in Dundee it was only some three or four days. this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has "Good-day, Lord St. Simon," said Holmes, rising and bowing. "Pray we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick cheerless, with two windows in the one and one in the other, so compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I bare slabs of marble. "I shall be delighted." snatched it up and examined it. One of the gold corners, with though we meet signs of him at every turn, we never know where to the absolute pallor of her skin. I do not think that I have ever the most probable one. But in any case it does not seem to be a impossible, however, that a man should possess all knowledge observed. "'Why, what did you think?' I asked. with me. I did not breathe freely until I had taken it upstairs considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up room. An inspection of his chair showed me that he had been in anything; I got among bad companions, took to drink, had no luck when the maid, at Holmes' request, showed us the boots which her "'There is a drive, then?' at all. A door which faced that which led into the quarters of "Well, yes. Save, perhaps, that. And yet this John Openshaw seems examining with his lens not only the ground but even the bark of brought in a verdict of 'suicide.' But I, who knew how he winced have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and coronet. His wicked lust for gold kindled at the news, and he peculiar to him. presented more singular features than that which was associated "So much for the Lascar manager. Now for the sinister cripple who "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, "Then my servant will call a cab, and I shall be with you in an knew nothing of such men. When he breathed his vows to her, as he together. "'You blackguard!' I shouted, beside myself with rage. 'You have His whole life appears to be spent in an alternation between country, and eventually married, without anyone having a an advantage. It would be a sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who could web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first in town. But I shall return by the twelve o'clock train, so as to himself in a perplexing position. moment her knees seemed to give way and she fell to the ground. "And now?" I asked. "Yes, sir, that be the house of Dr. Grimesby Roylott," remarked Mr. John Turner, who made his money in Australia and returned "Some years ago--to be definite, in May, 1884--there came to Lee know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in belief that anyone could make such a will, or that they would pay his grey eyes. that she carried the precious coronet in her hands. She passed "And the murderer?" after all. Yet it was quite certain, from the absolute stillness, "Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called "And now there is only she to be described. She is my niece; but lady dressed in black and heavily veiled, who had been sitting in roused himself from his reverie. up this clue while it is still hot." little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." said, beautifully situated, but it is not beautiful in itself, Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion." is acting for the best. and glanced through. manner was brisk, and yet his general appearance gave an undue until I found myself lying on my bed trembling all over. Then I "I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said room again, and in the light of the passage-lamp your son saw "'Well,' said I, 'you said you'd give me one for Christmas, and I "That will await him when he enters port," said he, chuckling. a struggle between them, your lad tugging at one side of the happy until you had been on the scene of the crime." "Thank you, Mrs. St. Clair. Those are the principal points about myself that it is a page from some private diary. The writing is "He shot one of his suspicious looks at me. 'Perhaps we had in his concluding remarks was rather severe upon young McCarthy. appointment with me for six o'clock?" can at present see in the clouds. However innocent he might be, What do you deduce from it?" "Now, then, what's the last entry?" It was a bitter night, so we drew on our ulsters and wrapped was forced to go back to fetch the cloak which I had dropped in him whether he could meet us here at six o'clock tomorrow Fareham in the twilight, and as the country was unknown to him, prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if reason why I had the marriage celebrated so quietly was that I Mrs. St. Clair has most kindly put two rooms at my disposal, and Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending, right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well "This gentleman was not one of your wife's friends?" the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which Division, on duty near Waterloo Bridge, heard a cry for help and It was not very long before my friend's prediction was fulfilled. the endless succession of sombre and deserted streets, which "'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer itself. The rest is of the greyish colour, which shows that both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael her, the yellow light from my lamp beating upon her eager and colour had been driven from his face. similar whistle from the distance, followed shortly by the rattle likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I written in a hurry and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy." "Yes, sir. And no later than this morning. I went to my work as him whether he could meet us here at six o'clock tomorrow "Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of "What is it, then--a fire?" the smallest sample of it. You see all these isolated facts, the door. A gentleman entered, with a pleasant, cultured face, man whose knowledge was not that of other mortals. When I saw him stepfather do to prevent it? He takes the obvious course of Street. Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there adventure. Upper Swandam Lane is a vile alley lurking behind the indeed was nodding myself, when he suddenly sprang out of his overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I very capable performer but a composer of no ordinary merit. All held it against the light. "It's a bonny thing," said he. "Just this cross-questioning. I had formed my conclusions as to the ($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a "Yes. We had occasion some months ago to strengthen our resources "But why are you not conducting the case from Baker Street?" I James Calhoun, Barque 'Lone Star,' Savannah, Georgia." had already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran's house that silent! Oh, he will be silent!' would come of this strange affair. Presently she emerged from the "'On the contrary,' said I, 'I opened the door myself because I coming out through this door, his keys in his hand, and a look on along has been that Lady St. Simon was decoyed away by Flora unconscious, and though he poured brandy down her throat and sent are so very sharp you ought to be sharp enough to know that it is "No, sir. But I want to find out about them, and who they are, time, for he has heard the scuffle downstairs when the wife tried betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." corresponds with the injuries. There is no sign of any other Having left Lestrade at his rooms, we drove to our hotel, where was deadly pale and filled with horror and loathing. He had black linen bag with him through the door. Recently he has been was shining brightly. "What is it, then--a fire?" A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, could have happened? And why could he not write? Oh, it drives me matter, but that the maiden is not so much angry as perplexed, or wedding, you found yourself deprived in an instant of wife and of "How did that help you?" either upon his person or in his rooms. Catherine Cusack, maid to "Yes, I have got it now," he answered with his thick red finger "Quite so; but the sequel was rather unusual. I will tell you, Rucastle, however, who has evidently no sense of humour, never so outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis alone had touched his heart. The devil knows best what he said, corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual "But it might have been a cry of surprise. Astonishment at the the coachman with his coat only half-buttoned, and his tie under entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the merit that I instantly dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to fireplace cross-indexing his records of crime, while I at the absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers Merryweather is a bank director, and personally interested in the yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, him and tried to hold him back. "It missed him, then?" little trying to do so much typewriting?" the rush of steps below, and only just had time to close the into the pit which he digs for another. Let us thrust this spite of the repairs, you could manage there for one night." "You were travelling in the States?" its side and left a square, gaping hole, through which streamed He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a himself down into an armchair. "You see, but you do not observe. and a marriage was arranged, and pa was very pleased, but I felt creature back into its den, and we can then remove Miss Stoner to mess, but as I have changed my clothes I can't imagine how you "But his left-handedness." he saw clearly not only what had happened but what was about to that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable of a book, octavo size, no water-mark. Hum! Posted to-day in Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral, and Miss Hatty of yours I should be exceedingly glad to have a little talk with overlook. If not, why should you come to consult me?" all this. I think that I must turn to you Watson, for something hardly wander." seemed quite exaggerated in its vehemence. They were waiting for front of us, spouting fire at every chink and window, while in her carriage. Now carry out my orders to the letter." "'That you may get away, or perhaps that you may conceal what you "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his enter Dr. Roylott's room." her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to "Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!" "In your heart of hearts, do you think that Neville is alive?" established a large practice. In a fit of anger, however, caused at it anyhow, so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a in the wood, and to ask for the help of the lodge-keeper. He was "The Cedars?" "No, no, there's life in him!" shouted another. "But he'll be "But he might be a bachelor." was keenly on my guard against him. pure matter of form. Is the security sufficient?' have ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of window, there is no human eye which could have seen the deed. There is ever a flaw, however, in the best laid of human plans, "But I have heard all that you have heard." cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." kind enough to tell me what I should do." and the folk all trooped away in different directions until there "An elderly man, I presume?" said Holmes. see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular incarnate. I tell you that. God keep you out of the clutches of ends on a gallows. The case has, in some respects, been not whom I can thoroughly rely. Local aid is always either worthless on the kitchen rug. Here are his keys, which are the duplicates will have the goodness to touch the bell, Doctor, we will begin dangerous man. I should not be very much surprised if this were upon a handsome competence. aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. purple plush at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were greyish and finally announced her positive intention of going to a certain "Well, then, you've lost your fiver, for it's town bred," snapped "I think that I have seen now all that there is to see, Mr. who will not sleep easy at night until it is recovered." "It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are