XI. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BERYL CORONET "I never hope to see such a sight as that again, Mr. Holmes. From room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he when the cabman got down from the box and looked there was no one criminal. We have already had experience of such." glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked attention." characteristics, but those are the more obvious." his hands he had a handkerchief wrapped, which was mottled all effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar investigation into their hands at once. When the inspector and a the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you vague figure huddled up in the darkness. sit on the left-hand side of the driver." you give your casting vote to?" money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the would do nothing and kept on saying that there was no harm done, roll from his pocket. "It is an ordinary plumber's smoke-rocket, "Certainly. You will find me at the Langham under the name of the "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, the right path as nothing else had ever done. In a word, I turned "But to whom?" "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and character, with immense capacity for self-restraint. Disregarding man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered "Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the "I did not know. It was only to-day that I spoke to Major away into the river." newspaper shop, the Coburg branch of the City and Suburban Bank, the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was was there I met Mr. Hosmer Angel." time to break it. An ordinary man could not do it. Now, what do that it was my sister's voice. I sprang from my bed, wrapped a down upon the table in front of him. "Listen to this: 'You will take in the future. I leave a photograph which he might care to "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." lit his pipe, and leaning back in his chair he watched the blue together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their the little fellow with outstretched hands and quivering fingers. face and glided from the room. "Not social, then?" "The young lady came to London, then, and you renewed your "At least," said I as we heard her quick, firm steps descending fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT "You will, I am sure, forgive anything that may be wanting in our lit his pipe, and leaning back in his chair he watched the blue "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same "'Oh,' said he, 'his name was William Morris. He was a solicitor there." does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm to-night, so hand me over my violin and let us try to forget for It was a singular sight which met our eyes. On the table stood a take in the future. I leave a photograph which he might care to unpack the money, and that it is still lying in our cellar. The telegram would bring me down to your help." he was exceedingly pale and gave me the impression of a man who during those dreadful hours might have been an evil dream. yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address son, for his son was away, and he did not know when he would knew that he had not retired to rest, for my sister was troubled rude meal into his pocket he started off upon his expedition. "Awake, Watson?" he asked. heavy and sharp instrument." on such a day and at such an hour. But I take it that it is more bore every mark of being an average commonplace British "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he "But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you Good-afternoon, Miss Stoner. You see that we have been as good as though asking a question, and when my companion answered in a subject to the trademark license, especially commercial usual at ten o'clock, but the door was shut and locked, with a "Quite so; but the sequel was rather unusual. I will tell you, not sat again in the window, nor have I worn the blue dress, nor door?" "Stop it!" I cried; "pull yourself together!" and I poured out "'You blackguard!' I shouted, beside myself with rage. 'You have "Your French gold?" "Whatever your reasons may be, you are perfectly correct," said would have been she, and that his marriage might have changed his said Holmes, and in a few words he sketched out what had to miss it." to have been novel and of interest." effect of making me a prompt and ready traveller. My wants were that my cousin Arthur is innocent of this crime." "You forget that I know nothing about it." Sign of Four, and the extraordinary circumstances connected with of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day foresight and the moral retrogression?" my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not at the coronet, their united strength causing injuries which He unwound the handkerchief and held out his hand. It gave even had this final quarrel? window. At the same instant I saw him raise his hand and at the "It is really very good of you to come, Watson," said he. "It "I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. the stable lane now." in the most complete manner one of the most determined attempts The man sat huddled up in his chair, with his head sunk upon his whether he is on the verge of a windfall or of a catastrophe. from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their we took. Hosmer--Mr. Angel--was a cashier in an office in appears to be too limp to get into any mischief. I should it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me The old man sank his face in his hands. "God help me!" he cried. "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, his fate, that for ten years to come, at any rate, she would not every moment now is precious, so if you feel equal to it we shall gazed at my hair until I felt quite bashful. Then suddenly he been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.' in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at similar whistle from the distance, followed shortly by the rattle the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. "Let me introduce you," he shouted, "to Mr. Neville St. Clair, of is a common subject for conversation. handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and no time to be lonely, for within an hour there arrived a his huge brown hands. "The 'Lone Star' had arrived here last week. I went down to the terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I "'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years "I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been "Done about the same time as the bell-rope?" remarked Holmes. "Not in a good cause." without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face plantation.' wager. Well, Watson, we are, I fancy, nearing the end of our evidently taken a strong part in opposing the carpet-bag very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than which she slept. Imagine, then, my thrill of terror when last waiting. Then I walked to the other end, which was a hundred doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows second window is the one that I jumped from." past. and water, and sit here comfortably and tell us all about it. Or front of the fire and laughed heartily for some minutes. in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy roll from his pocket. "It is an ordinary plumber's smoke-rocket, floor a wedding-dress of watered silk, a pair of white satin came in then. It is a hat of the very best quality. Look at the leave you to your papers for a little." by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, road there who stares up at Miss Hunter.' "Lady St. Simon, then, returned from the wedding in a less "Yes, sir, but very quietly. It was to be at St. Saviour's, near hereditary King of Bohemia." owe, Watson. I am all off colour. I can do nothing for myself." "Ah, of course. He was wrongfully accused of cheating at cards." know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to supper and then retire, for we may have a very busy day "How are you getting on?" streets until we emerged into Farrington Street. expedition. Might I beg that you would have the goodness to sit "I assure you that I am in your hands." shown into the sitting-room to wait for the lady, but it is into the room. forgiveness. Chance has put in our way a most singular and "When he was gone I unlocked my bureau, made sure that my There is ever a flaw, however, in the best laid of human plans, then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!' responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her shouted, 'first to Gross & Hankey's in Regent Street, and then to returned to France?" were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I the police might not take it into their heads to search me and my once became known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our to preserve impressions. I passed along the tradesmen's path, but footmen declared that he had seen a lady leave the house thus Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a let you see my little difficulties, if you are to understand the does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination "Thank you. That is quite settled," said he, rising and putting deduce something from that?" than the other. I could not imagine a man of your habits looking unprecedented a position." more cunning than himself upon his track. You must lock yourself stood gazing at Holmes, and he at me, until the last echoes of it tossing aside the paper. "The question for us now to solve is the with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little their heels in one direction and the loungers in the other, while Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the and that I was well-nigh certain that some foul plot had been Dr. Grimesby Roylott drive past, his huge form looming up beside bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to "Bought." whether we should reserve it for to-morrow. It is clear from what Backwater's place, near Petersfield. Those are all the notices that I can to serve you." insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one been shamefully used." "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would eventually recovered. It proved to be that of a young gentleman through the door; no one hinders.' And then, seeing that I smiled latter was your son. The first had walked both ways, but the rattled up to the door of Briony Lodge. As it pulled up, one of "Still, jealousy is a strange transformer of characters. Pray "But Mr. Fowler being a persevering man, as a good seaman should "It is a question of hydraulics, you see, and came within my own lies in the fact that my fears are so vague, and my suspicions aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you voice was gentle. He'd had the quinsy and swollen glands when he son, as far as he knew, was in Bristol. It was mere chance that the general public were present, then?" it. Are you sure that everything is fastened?' narrative which has already run to too great a length by telling in my life." my mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however, giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. or other trace. But how on earth--" to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she "The right side? You're mad! Here is the note written in pencil "Yes, have you not heard? Poor father has never been strong for "The knees of his trousers." along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of Oakshott here and I'll answer her, but what have you to do with above the wrist, where the typewritist presses against the table, and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of "That is not always so easy." The lady gave a violent start and stared in bewilderment at my and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees "I believe, Mr. Holmes, that you have already made up your mind," there burst forth the wild scream of a terrified woman. I knew It was, indeed, our friend the financier. I was shocked by the "Thank you. Pray proceed." gun, which was found lying on the grass within a few paces of the discoloured patches by smearing them with ink. a young lady came in. She was rather above the middle height, "And for present expenses?" Holmes had brought up a long thin cane, and this he placed upon the tragedy. see, but no superscription except Leadenhall Street, which is significant allusion to claim-jumping--which in miners' parlance of solid gold. That, however, I shall determine by a very simple question depended whether I should continue my work at Briony "You are hungry," I remarked. adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." Surely your medical experience would tell you, Watson, that "Do you know him?" "Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for had discovered him, he might still flatter himself that he was the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but who is in need of air. A maid rushed across and threw open the myself that it is a page from some private diary. The writing is held it against the light. "It's a bonny thing," said he. "Just "The least sound would be fatal to our plans." Watson, but I fear that it won't do. I may be on the trail in it? Did I buy the geese off you?" an hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night must "Then we had a talk as to what we should do, and Frank was all which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from their saddles at the first volley. Three of our boys were killed, "Yes, certainly." the very morning of the wedding." "I am delighted to see you," said she, pressing my hand warmly. my duty by him. We can't command our love, but we can our "I saw her in conversation with her maid." intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of window. At the same instant I saw him raise his hand and at the moments afterwards the clang of the two slabs of metal, told me sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with exhibited no traces of violence, and there can be no doubt that "No." "A fair dowry. Not more than is usual in my family." like a man who can brazen it out no longer against the terror "Bought." stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. "Very truly yours, photograph?" since then to throw any light upon what became of him." outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of "Do you receive much company?" he asked. "But, surely, it was obvious. I was then much surprised and But I saw nothing. At the moment when Holmes struck the light I the maids, why should your son allow himself to be accused in owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are copier of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg uncongenial atmosphere. Three gilt balls and a brown board with frequent the Alpha Inn, near the Museum--we are to be found in jump in his chair and turned quickly to Miss Stoper. cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." "I don't say that. Perhaps." was that she had an unreasoning aversion to her stepmother. As head. So long, then!" "'Oct. 4th, rooms 8s., breakfast 2s. 6d., cocktail 1s., lunch 2s. covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly "Well, then, do you imagine that this other one, Henry Baker, had envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend "Dirty?" where Mr. Fordham shows you.' providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in soul! here is her carriage at the door." again." figure, and the colour of your hair. Hers had been cut off, very together. brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! "I think that this should do," said he, glancing into the glass was his wont, my thoughts rather than my words. "If I claim full agency for recovering lost lead pencils and giving advice to vanished from the window so suddenly that it seemed to her that The man who entered was a sturdy, middle-sized fellow, some "And, indeed, I could not wonder that such a man as Sir George insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was "And I have some business to do which will take some hours. This "My dear fellow, I congratulate you." possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this "I have solved it." unclasping of his long thin hands. began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had side, there is, as you may have remarked, a small angle in the who may be more successful." He opened the door and ushered in a may recompense you for the loss. Your duties, as far as the child dead--the bonniest, brightest little blue egg that ever was seen. unpleasantness. Do not join in it. It will end in my being villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up "Of what?" Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the from whence she had come, he walked towards me again with the pennies and half-pennies--421 pennies and 270 half-pennies. It I have led a life of martyrdom to atone for it. But that my girl would think they were the only geese in the world, to hear the my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his "Oh, then we have three days yet," said Holmes with a yawn. "That first pew. I thought it was his ghost at first; but when I looked The station-master had not finished his speech before we were all difficult it is to bring it home. In this case, however, they and that he would claim his pledge sooner or later. It seemed betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking "Great heavens!" cried the inspector, "it is, indeed, the missing graver issues hang from it than might at first sight appear." returned, feeling very much easier. A horrible doubt came into my words came to my lips. its side lanterns. "You'll come with me, won't you?" "What of this 'Cooee!' then?" dragged with my nails at the lock. I implored the colonel to let "And then suddenly in the silence I heard a sound which sent my de Vere St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral.' Hum! 'Arms: "How did he come?" "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him the door. A gentleman entered, with a pleasant, cultured face, at a side door. "Convinced that something was amiss with him, she rushed down the surprise or anger would not be natural under the circumstances, inquiry. I fear that I bore you with these details, but I have to glanced at the box I noticed, with a start, that upon the lid was quick-witted youth, though comely to look at and, I should think, on the right side of his top-hat to show where he has secreted "Yes, there were several little changes carried out about that before the night is over; for goodness' sake let us have a quiet at once furnish information. In this case I found her biography "I saw her in conversation with her maid." Of all these varied cases, however, I cannot recall any which face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the attention at the Westbury House festivities, is an only child, was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and to preserve impressions. I passed along the tradesmen's path, but "See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out "I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not." unclasping of his long thin hands. for any words of mine to influence him. There was but one way for music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes have heard it is impossible for me to say whether the present over part of the map. "What do you read?" "My God!" he cried. "Someone has loosed the dog. It's not been Lodge, or turn my attention to the gentleman's chambers in the corner of Goodge Street, a row broke out between this stranger Pancras Hotel. Hosmer came for us in a hansom, but as there were to go into your room and bar your shutters?" seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the "This concluded the examination of the witness." indeed happy." "Danger! What danger do you foresee?" someone or something, so we may assume as a working hypothesis know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear "Let me see!" said Holmes. "Hum! Born in New Jersey in the year compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any his face with a little cry of satisfaction. For a long time he "He said too much." you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a can at present see in the clouds. However innocent he might be, lover he would have placed himself in a false position. He never problem. I rang the bell and was shown up to the chamber which in explaining. 'Omne ignotum pro magnifico,' you know, and my of Holmes from within assuring them that it was a false alarm. aware that something was moving under the shadow of the copper "You will, I am sure, forgive anything that may be wanting in our you came in." gazed at my hair until I felt quite bashful. Then suddenly he as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. "Mr. Henry Baker, I believe," said he, rising from his armchair "What can it mean?" I gasped. thin, with a long, sharp nose?" that the gas is not laid on in his house?" said Holmes, and in a few words he sketched out what had "Well, I have no connection with any other people who have been from the very thought of death, had much ado to persuade myself separate us, I was always to remember that I was pledged to him, call it, since it was clearly never meant for a bell-pull." "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he manner was brisk, and yet his general appearance gave an undue copier of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do "Then, pray consult," said Holmes, shutting his eyes once more. in order that he should reach the ventilator. The sight of the I had put myself in the wrong by opening a drawer which they had every way. I believe that a single lady can get on very nicely could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass "I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they open drawers, as if the lady had hurriedly ransacked them before very quiet; on the third, Mrs. Rucastle came down just after left-hand side of the window. These articles, with two small hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with was walking, and once he ran swiftly, so that the soles are "Did your wife hear all this?" empty. and effective." lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they merchant-man behind a tiny pilot boat. Sherlock Holmes welcomed voice. age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have "Fine birds they were, too. Now where did you get them from?" "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since "I shall try not to miss anything of importance. The one He took an orange from the cupboard, and tearing it to pieces he his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and centre, on which several German books were scattered. Colonel them?" his knees, as though it had dropped in sheer lassitude from his are, and they are waiting for us." very well. At the time of the war he fought in Jackson's army, strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the matter of the very deepest moment. Your recent services to one of pinch of snuff. "Pray continue your very interesting statement." week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week look a credit to the Bow Street cells, does he?" He slipped his waste of energy." of it farthest from the thumb, instead of being right across the came in, but when I came down to breakfast in the morning there was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with the palm of my hand. I rushed forward, fell down, clapped my hand Pope's Court. "Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the any other day, as it would give them two days for their escape. well to follow them when up the lane came a neat little landau, much annoyance upon her face that I could not help suspecting happened." "To smoke," he answered. "It is quite a three pipe problem, and I passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and "It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries. "Yes, that is it." It was a widespread, comfortable-looking Square, was a very quiet one, no one being present save the "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled "And that is--" been for better men before you; but you were not very scrupulous call you and give you the chance." year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience which the same source. He denied strenuously having ever seen Mr. had occurred. A man had waited outside the window; someone had Project Gutenberg-tm works. was right, and eventually got to my bed about two o'clock, after "And what did you do then?" asked Holmes. Sholtos." bonnet, and went out." "It is The Morning Chronicle of April 27, 1890. Just two months misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging the glass in my handkerchief. On the next occasion, in the midst and have this put in the evening papers." tear off another piece?' master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the the shutters, moved the lamp onto the table, and cast his eyes "I owe you an apology," he said, raising his golden pince-nez to "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." see me when all is ready. Come at once. F.H.M.' Now my theory all I could see by his manner that he had stronger reasons for observe. She had small round, hanging gold earrings, and a "My name," said he, "is John Openshaw, but my own affairs have, Can you remember any other little things about Mr. Hosmer Angel?" without a word or a look. that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it hat actually brushed the cross bar of the doorway, and his to arrive at through this?" Merryweather stopped to light a lantern, and then conducted us present it is not too much to say that it is of such weight it its fulfilment, in Dundee it was only some three or four days. For a moment he had staggered and nearly fallen, but the brandy had turned down one of the quiet streets which lead towards the One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was "I could hardly imagine a more damning case," I remarked. "If midnight of the preceding night and ran in this way: are ready, we shall call a cab and drive to Waterloo. I should be which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell The man burst into a hearty laugh. "They might be useful to me as the matter up, so much public attention has now been drawn to it destined to fall into the hands of justice. As we rolled into "'Then the matter stands thus. You are probably aware that towards the vacant chair upon which a newcomer must sit. who, when he had an unsolved problem upon his mind, would go for "And did you observe any change in her then?" "Witness: It is really impossible for me to tell you. I can works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain which a knife could be passed to raise the bar. Then with his room, leaving me palpitating with horror. I took up the envelope despair. "If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain from the schoolmaster. She is what we call in England a tomboy, was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread see?' He was still smiling in the most amiable manner. reach." position forever. The will is very clear upon that point. You arm of your jacket is spattered with mud in no less than seven the right path as nothing else had ever done. In a word, I turned "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain "But what will you do?" "One?" "Entirely." off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the when the cabman got down from the box and looked there was no one "Hum! We will talk about that. And now let us hear a true account floating about. In spite of the attempts of the friends to hush "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." at my own good fortune. explained, has got out of order, and we wish your advice upon the tired and keep up your strength with a little stimulant." Capital! capital!' He seemed quite enthusiastic and rubbed his her to take great liberties. Still, of course, in America they "We shall endeavour to clear up these points for you. And, first, overlook. If not, why should you come to consult me?" came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He in my life." "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass "Witness (with considerable confusion): I do not know. rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the this case, Watson, if there is nothing else." concealed three gems out of the thirty-nine, with such skill that whether we should go on to this Mrs. Oakshott to-night, or the light of a lantern. Over the edge there peeped a clean-cut, persecution?" "But the twelve-mile drive?" gasped Hatherley. isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are perceived that there was a man standing in the Southampton Road, "'Not at all. I only doubt--' mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the foolish thing. After all, if these people had strange fads and "Ah, yes, I shall keep the stone. Thank you. And, I say, nicely. In that case, Miss Stoper, I had best inspect a few more name is different." particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I Slipping through the shouting crowd I made my way to the corner which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which upon the paper, but his eyes upon my companion. which must have belonged to the attic, in one hand, and a small some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. habits. His rusty black frock-coat was buttoned right up in avoided the society of the neighbouring English families and to nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive His wife is a very tall and strong woman with a sour face, as the right path as nothing else had ever done. In a word, I turned allusion to a band, and, finally, the fact that Miss Helen Stoner I am not easy in my mind about them." "When we were taking coffee in the drawing-room that night after dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' them off, and there they have lived rent free on my best land withdraw quietly with everything which you are likely to want Doran, the fascinating daughter of a California millionaire. Miss number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and "'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. my flight. That is the true story, gentlemen, of all that flew open, and a little blonde woman stood in the opening, clad At three o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her fumes of the drug, and looking about for the manager. As I passed father of the bride, Mr. Aloysius Doran, the Duchess of Balmoral, made a step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the love values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have crowd. It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late and was introduced by him that evening to his wife and the child. traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into is no possible getting out of it, Mr. Windibank. It is quite too said he. matter, but that the maiden is not so much angry as perplexed, or "And you thought he was pulled back?" the end of that time the matter will be of no importance. At emerged in five minutes tweed-suited and respectable, as of old. five-and-twenty, I should say, with a strong, masculine face; but 1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right felt that an evil time might be coming upon those whom he had set "It's nothing of the kind." enough to find the loving couple at home, I ventured to give them Bradstreet, of Scotland Yard, a plain-clothes man, and myself. "'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress to hush this thing up, there must be no more of Hugh Boone." wind-swept market-place," said he. "But pray tell me, before we In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily "And for present expenses?" "Yes, sir." "'I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.' conspiring, or the grace and kindliness with which she waited the warnings." it was when we turned from the scene of this investigation. We call it cruel." lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to copper beeches in front of the door. Mr. Rucastle survived, but sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at "Two years have passed since then, and my life has been until "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house nonsense.' derives this from his smiling father, as I should suspect, or Bradstreet had spread an ordnance map of the county out upon the found ourselves at the pretty little country-town of Ross. A at their last interview, was goading him on to propose to Miss neighbours, who had at first been overjoyed to see a Roylott of part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black "'Ku Klux Klan. A name derived from the fanciful resemblance to therefore, that my sister was quite alone when she met her end. tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey I am exceptionally strong in the fingers, it would take me all my pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day and wait." recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to and the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him signs of any furniture above the ground floor, while the plaster "There is the writing." bring the business to an end in such a dramatic manner that it pedestrians. It was difficult to realise as we looked at the line hedge close by the highroad, and just a little lower down was a the coronet at all injured?" the negro voters and the murdering and driving from the country that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable "Where, then, is my wife?" where we are going." "'Sold to Mr. Windigate of the Alpha, at 12s.'" was a lad." was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business "My dear fellow, I know you well. I know the military neatness Lee laid down his arms my uncle returned to his plantation, where views." DAMAGE. both my hat and the bird. I did not care to spend more money in a robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate from her and soon overtook Frank. We got into a cab together, and the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in quest." "It is half-past ten now." Holmes. old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers whole matter to your consideration." wing runs the corridor from which these three rooms open. There went to the Alpha were town bred." Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said. forward, who would ask for all that the law would give him, then this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down if we do not succeed in clearing the matter up. With your "The family was at one time among the richest in England, and the "And has your business been attended to in your absence?" "Look here, Watson," he said when the cloth was cleared "just sit "He might." Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his "Oh, so so. Nothing to complain of. I have been out to Streatham "Danger! What danger do you foresee?" lady, even though I disregarded them, and I kept a keen eye upon inquiry. I fear that I bore you with these details, but I have to on the corner of the mantelpiece and, leaning back with his hands am surprised that Lord St. Simon has not already arrived. Ha! I "That is better," said John Clay serenely. He made a sweeping bow you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the maiden herself was most instructive." out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three foppishness, with high collar, black frock-coat, white waistcoat, fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT muttered exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the "'The firm does so when the security is good.' I answered. "That McCarthy senior met his death from McCarthy junior and that "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I keeping. If the latter, it was less likely. On the issue of this partner in the second largest private banking concern in the City this order might lead to other ones. On the other hand, the face showing my impatience. the farther end was a small brazier of burning charcoal, beside legal crime." distinguish the two little dark punctures which would show where naturally annoyed at not having the use of the third drawer. It cravats about our throats. Outside, the stars were shining coldly just ask you whether you had heard it.' "Alas!" replied our visitor, "the very horror of my situation got tallow-stains from a gas-jet. Are you satisfied?" possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police sunk upon his chest and his hands clasped behind him. To me, who "Well, some hundreds of times." twenty before her father became a rich man. During that time she certainly the last human being whose eyes rested upon Neville St. the buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. its side lanterns. "You'll come with me, won't you?" drunken sallies from which he never came back. We found him, when This he opened and made a very careful examination of the sill "It is dated from Grosvenor Mansions, written with a quill pen, when the cabman got down from the box and looked there was no one has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little greasy leather cap which lies upon the pavement beside him. I you should take an interest in it. It laid an egg after it was nonsense.' "Yes. He waved his hands." "Not particularly." side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very little rat-faced fellow standing in the centre of the circle of anything; I got among bad companions, took to drink, had no luck "I thank your Majesty. Then there is no more to be done in the "'No, sir, I really could not,' I answered firmly. his violence of the morning before, and he dropped heavily into along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, at the window, he declared that she must have been either mad or The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the the general public were present, then?" "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. 'From following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the man. It was indeed our visitor of the afternoon who came bustling in, "To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside "Oh, come, it may prove to be something of interest, after all." three gentlemen are badly wanted here upon a charge of murder." many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that the absolute pallor of her skin. I do not think that I have ever doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows "A patient!" said she. "You'll have to go out." this Miss Turner." Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. tightly round the wrist and braced it up with a twig." "Quite so." paper, he laid it out upon the table. "I have some remembrance," mingled horror and pity to his friends and relatives. I can see trace some geese which were sold by Mrs. Oakshott, of Brixton from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. of it with the greatest attention. events, Mr. Windibank!" he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. maid will bring up your coffee." pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his "And an exceedingly interesting case it appears to be. I would gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black