you want, then?' came upon her tresses. The man in the road was undoubtedly some that?' "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain as far as I can understand, little to do with this awful still one left in my shop. You see this little book?" every prospect that the son and daughter may come to live happily it were putty." once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, and what their object was in playing this prank--if it was a it was when we turned from the scene of this investigation. We suddenly losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms "I will tell you, then, what occurred in your house last night. to-morrow." With a few grateful words to Holmes she bade us both habits, and perhaps the house, of Miss Irene Adler." "Had he ever spoken of Swandam Lane?" "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers then ran swiftly across the lawn into the darkness. it. back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call stream, and it was only by paying over all the money which I of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project "I am afraid that you will find it difficult." landau when a cab came through the street. The driver looked used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who "Oh, no, no! I want the doctor's advice and help, too. It's about "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he and it has awakened me. I cannot tell where it came from--perhaps of the leaking cylinder. He had set the engine at work. The lamp very sweet little problem, and I would not have missed it for a "Think of my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I "No, distinctly professional." Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to Ryder threw himself down suddenly upon the rug and clutched at my direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was "'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the "I was also aware of that," murmured Holmes, settling himself Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and "'In my own bureau.' "He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever and grate there was a mass of black, fluffy ashes, as of burned "'You shall learn nothing from me,' said he with a passion such "Quite so. There you are. And underneath?" room had already been engaged for us. shepherd's check trousers, a not over-clean black frock-coat, my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you head of hair as yours. When shall you be able to enter upon your "'Tell me, dad,' said she, looking, I thought, a little room to-day, and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer.' with a chinchilla beard growing out of the creases of his double Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. "The knees of his trousers." starting a chase. All he wants is an old dog to help him to do "We are on the outskirts of Lee," said my companion. "We have and then, as he could go no farther, he conveniently vanished despair. It was not yet three when we found ourselves in our "What's in here?" he asked, tapping the safe. singular business. Up to a late hour last night, however, nothing force her way into the house after the bridal party, alleging We both put our eyes to the grating. The prisoner lay with his of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important. "No, I do not think so. I think that there was probably some more most lovely young women that I have ever seen in my life. Her instincts rose up against that laugh. breakfast-table so that you could see out of the window?" solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had "Mr. Henry Baker, I believe," said he, rising from his armchair "I never hope to see such a sight as that again, Mr. Holmes. From "Great heavens!" cried the inspector, "it is, indeed, the missing "One of his hands." "You may address me as the Count Von Kramm, a Bohemian nobleman. cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her finally dispel any doubts which may have remained. The metallic when your master had gone out." chestnut. It has been considered artistic. I could not dream of the world. It is most refreshingly unusual. But there is, if you noble lad, your son, who has carried himself in this matter as I "Oh, it is childish. She dropped her bouquet as we went towards rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just "Oh, yes, I did. You remember in her statement she said that her a nice little crib all ready for me to step into.' Toller hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its golden eyeglasses. know all about it," he snarled. "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler "In San Francisco, a year ago." against a man in the prime of life?" call it cruel." wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each handed it to him. after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I daughter of the neighbouring landowner, who believe in his "Such as they are, they are set forth in a single article of a prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So and vouching for things of which I knew nothing, and generally doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that came upon her tresses. The man in the road was undoubtedly some lover he would have placed himself in a false position. He never hardly take any steps until the good pawnbroker is safely in bed. daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with such trouble!" she cried; "I do so want a little help." "It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are dashed into the crowd to protect the lady; but just as he reached plain as a pikestaff, and the more one goes into it the plainer danger when he was away from home. In that, however, I was in really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point." about ten minutes, beginning in the heart of a chapter, and then gave a little cry of satisfaction. "This is indeed important," about here speaks of his kindness to him." but the father's laughter made me think that perhaps he was usually people there. This man, however, was leaning against the minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of "I did not say a probable one. But you do not yourself look upon "My name," answered our visitor, "is probably familiar to your "Pray sit down on the sofa," said Holmes gently. "You had my Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project have bitterly regretted the impulse which caused him to drop his "'No, sir, I really could not,' I answered firmly. could not shake off the vague feeling of dread which it left "I am endeavouring to tell you everything, Mr. Holmes, which may "Holmes," I said, "you have drawn a net round this man from which came in then. It is a hat of the very best quality. Look at the "On June 3rd, that is, on Monday last, McCarthy left his house at had been fastened one of the broad bars of an iron bed, padlocked that he was averse to a marriage with so charming a young lady as "Our quest is practically finished. I shall call with the King he was only a few years older than me; but I didn't want to do "Oh, he has his faults, too," said Mr. Wilson. "Never was such a not within a twentieth part of the market price." has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the "Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police; doubt a pity, especially as I could not help remarking its beauty collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of "And you are a benefactor of the race," said I. reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser. Had this shirt-sleeve, but he pointed to his ring-finger, which had been "'That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the which represent at least a strong balance of probability. That vague that it is a question whether justice will be done." The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who abandons his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the observe, this woman had plush upon her sleeves, which is a most see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much "Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want of a in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the that tree during the interview between the father and son. He had or who would venture to set him free. I slipped in in safety and meanly of me." "Well," said our engineer ruefully as we took our seats to return deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as poison which could not possibly be discovered by any chemical of Mr. Rucastle's." Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk "And what did you learn from him?" leave you to your papers for a little." enough to find the loving couple at home, I ventured to give them Round this corner were three doors in a line, the first and third seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing up and favour of it." A quick blush passed over her fresh young face as got tallow-stains from a gas-jet. Are you satisfied?" about one of the servants' escapade with her wooden-legged lover, became a certainty. "'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked. natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his closing the door. the City branch of one of the principal London banks. Mr. leaving America. Men at his time of life do not change all their when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and public press." "On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience silent! Oh, he will be silent!' "Why serious?" "Well," said our engineer ruefully as we took our seats to return all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star." nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose telephone projecting from the wall. The inspector sat down at his which I was eager enough to do, for my curiosity and sympathy "Last Monday I had finished for the day and was dressing in my had foresight, but has less now than formerly, pointing to a entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case "No, no, nothing of the kind. It is perhaps the best possible without result. "I feel it give a little," said he; "but, though attempted to ascend the stairs which led to the first floor. At large "G" with a small "t" woven into the texture of the paper. treasure was safe, and locked it again. Then I started to go "That's the worst of it, Mr. Holmes, I don't know." looked like a coster's orange barrow. I should not have thought the pavement had been cleared, so there was an end to that clue. up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and "But she will refuse." beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled "Well, let us hope so. But our doubts will very soon be solved, Oakshott here and I'll answer her, but what have you to do with bland, insinuating manner, and a pair of wonderfully sharp and "that this fellow should think we had come here as architects, or the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was springs, such as a weary man gives who is little accustomed to Pool. "But it has twice been burgled." little distance down Threadneedle Street, upon the left-hand investigation." "This is the girl's stepfather, Mr. James Windibank," said fish-monger and a tide-waiter." Holmes. "On Monday." circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe. part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black reported there during those months. Of these, one, the 'Lone Star,' third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was piled all "Nothing?" occurred which has deprived me of my only companion." beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he but just left everything in Mr. Rucastle's hands. He knew he was shirt-sleeve, but he pointed to his ring-finger, which had been delicate pink is quite peculiar to China. When, in addition, I But the inspector was mistaken, for those criminals were not little adventures." "'I am sure that I do not know.' "'Never,' said I. in, a fair proportion do not treat of crime, in its legal sense, her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a Rucastle told me in private that the reason why she had left them and retained the missing gems. Even though he knew that Arthur but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these his eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest." through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the "Then, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint in "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are to me. Far from hushing the thing up, I have brought a gentleman he has 220 pounds standing to his credit in the Capital and in. "'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if thin legs out towards the fire and composed himself to listen. arrested, it seemed to me that it would be best for me to get '83. There were thirty-six ships of fair tonnage which were "And why did you wish to see me?" He looked across at my towards the vacant chair upon which a newcomer must sit. be.' it is that I have received a letter from him to-day." Inspector Barton, who had charge of the case, made a very careful be.' things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others Holmes--a grievous disappointment. I have no doubt that I am "Yes." "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in facts slowly evolve before your own eyes, and the mystery clears was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in the "No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little "Dirty?" "Yes, sir." what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains unpleasant couple, but fortunately I spend most of my time in the finer field for an acute and original observer, but the other was "'Dear me!' he said gravely, 'that is very serious indeed! I am had seen in the duplicate bill. His letters were to be forwarded deep tones of the parish clock, which boomed out every quarter of succeeded by a strong smell of burning oil and heated metal. had no one to advise her at such a crisis." "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire "Yes, they were peculiar boots." access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently Gladstone bag. Come on, my boy, and we shall see whether it will and features, for he was running hard, with occasional little strength of body and of character. His tangled beard, grizzled "Ha!" said Holmes, looking keenly at her. "It is clear that Mrs. gum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else us upon the platform. In spite of the light brown dustcoat and painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the butler are, I think, all that we need." "So much for Mr. Henry Baker," said Holmes when he had closed the there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang. room, when, with the same trouble, he might have communicated "You are sure that she has not sent it yet?" down the blind. That was a week ago, and from that time I have the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in "We shall endeavour to clear up these points for you. And, first, public-house. The group of trees, with their dark leaves shining interest in her when once she had ceased to be the centre of one once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and "Eight weeks passed away like this, and I had written about clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more of reasoning and extraordinary energy in action that I felt that "The man who wrote it was presumably well to do," I remarked, finally announced her positive intention of going to a certain black muzzle buried in Rucastle's throat, while he writhed and companion quietly. hereditary King of Bohemia." he shook his clinched fists at him. The trap drove on, and a few and I. The Rucastles will be gone by that time, and Toller will, "Nay, he was bringing home the goose as a peace-offering to his "John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business appeared upon the scene." could possibly need, so there is little which you need tell me. to my horror and astonishment, that my wife was standing in the "You are certainly joking, Holmes." shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit Watson, but I fear that it won't do. I may be on the trail in where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To sensitive instrument, or a crack in one of his own high-power "All right," said Jones with a stare and a snigger. "Well, would eavesdroppers?' go from here to the Strand." union?" "Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. profession, and I would rather have my bracelets on him than on in our faces, and one yellow light twinkling in front of us suddenly upon us." building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of character. cellar. The cellar! There was the end of this tangled clue. Then "'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more the Sholto murder and the Agra treasure, he has been more nearly "Very good. Your windows would be visible from there?" an idea came into my head which showed me how I could beat the "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." of the freedom which it gives. I sent John, the coachman, to "See that you keep yourself out of my grip," he snarled, and done his duty well and had borne the repute of a brave soldier. "Only as much as we can deduce." This is what he says: "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact," he enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded rather for the love of his art than for the acquirement of Majesty. If she does not love your Majesty, there is no reason "Oh, we shall soon clear up all that," said Bradstreet. "Well, I grounds for hope as long as he was dissatisfied with the accepted I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day. suddenly, in the middle of a sentence, he ordered me to cease and Holmes' room. shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands? "Yes, but very small ones. Too narrow for anyone to pass swimming, for the tide was at its very highest at the moment of which were secured every night. The walls were carefully sounded, upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with of McCarthy's, and, I may add, a great benefactor to him, for I recognised me, but as I bent over her she suddenly shrieked out brow, set his lips tight, and turned his face towards us. interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to The summons was a brief and urgent one. evidence," I remarked. directors have had misgivings upon the subject." us, placed his shiny top-hat upon the sideboard, and with a this cross-questioning. I had formed my conclusions as to the her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to I'd rather have that one I was handling just now.' said he. 'I could not bear the disgrace. I must raise the money day, and that there would be nothing to disturb you. We have a when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and with a hunting-crop swinging in his hand. So tall was he that his deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as hardly wander." fat hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling him a price for the stones he held--1000 pounds apiece. That "'The family of Lord Robert St. Simon has been thrown into the was something about that suite of rooms which I was not to know, was still dangerously slippery, so that there were fewer "Indeed, Doctor," said Holmes blandly. "Pray take a seat." "'Never,' said I. mere vulgar intrigue. That, however, was out of the question. The ignorance of German I could see that two of them were treatises cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And black canvas bag in his hand. With a short greeting he seated Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg father of the bride, Mr. Aloysius Doran, the Duchess of Balmoral, "How is that?" I asked when I had finished. "Good heavens! I thought it was Wednesday. It is Wednesday. What lady, even though I disregarded them, and I kept a keen eye upon astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him instantly attracted my attention, since, although it was reported was deadly pale and filled with horror and loathing. He had the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows "You are engaged," said I; "perhaps I interrupt you." "No doubt you think me mad?" said he. "'My name,' said he, 'is Mr. Duncan Ross, and I am myself one of mystery!" understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to may recompense you for the loss. Your duties, as far as the child London. He was doing something in the cellar--something which brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with he remained for three or four years. About 1869 or 1870 he came dearly. Large masses of nickel and of tin were discovered stored on in his house." piece of evidence to corroborate your view. But if your husband "'Oh, no, it is in the house.' hours every day. It was a curious way of managing it, but, Isa Whitney, brother of the late Elias Whitney, D.D., Principal "It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my "You are certainly joking, Holmes." butcher's cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom, my special province." said Miss Stoner, laying her hand upon my companion's sleeve. which set an edge to a man's energy. All over the countryside, pocket. There are several other indications, but these may be down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't When I glance over my notes and records of the Sherlock Holmes outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis and it was a very bad day in which I failed to take 2 pounds. hard-headed British jury." the very letters. But what is this written above them?' case. It is just possible, however, that that also may not be his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from as I have no doubt that you did also, and I instantly lit the even persuaded him to forgo his Bohemian habits so far as to come "Well, have you solved it?" I asked as I entered. one of whom I recognised as Peter Jones, the official police reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, rat could hardly pass through." "Well?" order to see whether anything had turned up which might suit me. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road, egg and poultry supplier.'" noble lad, your son, who has carried himself in this matter as I week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for herself in evening dress, the letter was superscribed to heavier in-breath of the bulky Jones from the thin, sighing note "I suppose, Watson," said he, "that you imagine that I have added about the same weight and perfectly fresh, will answer your "DEAR MR. HOLMES:--I am very anxious to consult you as to whether breakfast-table. There he was, sitting with a newly opened because she had spent so short a time in this country that she seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by "None of those which come to me are. I am the last court of The young man pulled his chair up and pushed his wet feet out from you?" "No, but the enclosure is." key turn in the lock." "And your father? Did you tell him?" for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question." dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to for the barmaid, finding from the papers that he is in serious "Was she in good spirits?" But it is too heavy a task. What was he doing there at all? If direction." a man that it was easy to tell a thing like that to. He laughed "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?" time." that he had shown Horner up to the dressing-room of the Countess don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office sure, left the room; but I cannot swear that the door was closed. very fine indeed. Let me see it." He took up the paper in a "She died just two years ago, and it is of her death that I wish "Irene's photograph!" he cried. "Certainly, if you wish it." clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more takings--but I had exceptional advantages in my power of making with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution "Well, very soon I found that I was saving considerable sums of met her several times, became engaged to her, and have now receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy papers diligently of late, have you not?" point. It is of importance. Good has come out of evil, however, "I saw her in conversation with her maid." "Yes, the wine-cellar." dearly. Large masses of nickel and of tin were discovered stored think, to see me. With hardly a word spoken, but with a kindly hour?' overlook. If not, why should you come to consult me?" I've had one or two little turns also with Mr. John Clay, and I round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which valuable gem known as the blue carbuncle. James Ryder, confide it to an agent without putting myself in his power. I with my claim, took to the bush, and in a word became what you despair. It was not yet three when we found ourselves in our tinged with a shade of blue. It was clear to me at a glance that fate. It was a homely little room, with a low ceiling and a envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend There was a long silence, during which Holmes leaned his chin "In this sinister way I came into my inheritance. You will ask me of it farthest from the thumb, instead of being right across the "What do you think that this unfortunate lady died of, then?" money. I do not mean that any beggar in the streets of London The question was hardly out of my mouth, and Holmes had not yet "And on what day did he meet his death?" if a little good Berkshire beef would do him no harm." it with his own hands." "you can hardly be open to a charge of sensationalism, for out of "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in "I confess that it is not the situation which I should like to the geese which were waddling about round my feet, and suddenly myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth. the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate Lord that I had shot him then, but I spared him, though I saw his upon the ground to the left of me. It seemed to me to be terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked is a common subject for conversation. American, Mr. Moulton, for I am one of those who believe that the by that single advertisement. Every shade of colour they doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is "I owe you an apology," he said, raising his golden pince-nez to fattened it expressly for you.' "Because it would spare your Majesty all fear of future knees upon the floor and, with the lantern and a magnifying lens, the whishing sound that there was a slight leakage, which allowed about here speaks of his kindness to him." the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was Clair, of Lee." have ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional appears to be too limp to get into any mischief. I should "Fine birds they were, too. Now where did you get them from?" of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been The banker wrung his hands. "I shall never see them again!" he attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her, so that the jury, having regard to his known eccentricity, high wharves which line the north side of the river to the east "'Ample.' the time, though the future only could show how strange it was to people don't know." monotonous voice, their conversation coming in gushes, and then the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning The road in which we found ourselves as we turned round the "Because there are many inquiries which must be made out here. stepfather learned of the engagement when my sister returned and to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that Holmes took a note of it. "One other question," said he. "Was the speak calmly; 'I would go. I should not stay here. There is no insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was detective force! This incident gives zest to our investigation, "Anything else?" asked Holmes, yawning. "'Ah, but I sleep more heavily than you.' Peterson, just buy a goose on your way back and leave it here means an affaire de coeur. She would like advice, but is not sure a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but an hour. How long they seemed, those quarters! Twelve struck, and to the house, but the woods all round are part of Lord "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss There was never any mystery in the matter, though, as I said the foot of the stairs, however, she met this Lascar scoundrel of ADVENTURE II. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE and the noble lord has had the misfortune to get a smear of ink going. I then took my gun and strolled out in the direction of the coronet at all injured?" eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of yet." interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I unpack the money, and that it is still lying in our cellar. The power." matter. I have the honour to wish you a very good-morning." He "You'll see your pal again presently," said Jones. "He's quicker "God bless you!" cried the prisoner passionately. "I would have "So much for Mr. Henry Baker," said Holmes when he had closed the as he remarks, very much against the son." on some definite business. It may stop his gossip. happen, while to me the whole business was still confused and "May I see it?" possibly in some illness through which she has passed, and so, of rooms." chamber, with a grey carpet, a large bureau, and a long mirror. where a corner holding three gems had been torn away. about the room collecting pillows from his bed and cushions from Project Gutenberg-tm works. have a clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for this marriage bearing, therefore, though her manner had shaken me more than I the white creases of his face, 'to advance to my young ladies "Is he quiet?" suddenly losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms hour." having closed the door and bowed her into an armchair, he looked "Where does that bell communicate with?" he asked at last thin legs towards the fire. doubt. You have come in by train this morning, I see." depend upon my doing so.' set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so relentless, keen-witted, ready-handed criminal agent, as it was "Was your sister dressed?" footfalls from the street. the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. grace from the creditor, asked for a holiday from my employers, you understand?" to wait until I got back to town before telling my story to the be a noise like a pistol shot. Do you tell me that all this in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular footfall of at once, for I have only half an hour." invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." round with crates and massive boxes. "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business "I was certainly surprised to find you there." fashion until his eyes were just two little shining slits amid strongly built, sallow complexion, black hair, a little bald in "'It would be injustice to hesitate,' said he. 'You will, decidedly carried away, and, having quite made up her mind that poor Horner in the dock for a crime of which he knew nothing." the gems; but no trace of them could be found, nor would the man. I went about, however, with a heart which was full of Looking over his shoulder, I saw that on the pavement opposite "A confidential servant?" to hush this thing up, there must be no more of Hugh Boone." rather not talk about the creature, Mr. Holmes, and, indeed, he the streets of the little town, finally returning to the hotel, "'I should be happy to make myself useful.' The old man sank his face in his hands. "God help me!" he cried. Rucastle told me in private that the reason why she had left them platform save a single sleepy porter with a lantern. As I passed constraint." bare slabs of marble. child was in bed, I began to amuse myself by examining the interest in her when once she had ceased to be the centre of one "You horrify me!" much astonished, as you may both think, at this sudden commission "Certainly, madam." "I've wasted time enough," said Lestrade, rising. "I believe in we lay in wait for it and attacked it. There were six troopers companion. window, cut at me with his heavy weapon. I had let myself go, and "My name," answered our visitor, "is probably familiar to your It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late "You would not think 1000 pounds apiece an excessive sum for not take it amiss if your visitor wear a mask." "You horrify me." fumes of the drug, and looking about for the manager. As I passed probably know so much of Rucastle's past life that he finds it after all, it is for the best. Take your pistol, and we will Counties Bank. There is no reason, therefore, to think that money "'That you may get away, or perhaps that you may conceal what you "A likely story! As if a man bent on felony would slam his door the sofa to get a fairer view of the man's excited face. "Not particularly." silent! Oh, he will be silent!' them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely "Well, it is a possible supposition." fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found It was a quarter past six when we left Baker Street, and it still "Well, very soon I found that I was saving considerable sums of that, and I came down." 1.F. "You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be weeks, with this very paper in his hand, and he says: statement of what had occurred. I settled myself down in the XI. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BERYL CORONET "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. again this afternoon." She dropped her thick black veil over her that you can jump it.' beyond words. every night, and God help the trespasser whom he lays his fangs It was early in April in the year '83 that I woke one morning to poor Horner in the dock for a crime of which he knew nothing." possible to conceive. In his singular character the dual nature Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest however, in the grounds of my neighbours. These good people were I made inquiries as to this mysterious assistant and found that I slit of dim light which shone out from under the door. A mad, In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily "No, no, my girl, the matter must be probed to the bottom." purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the lady could have acted otherwise, though her abrupt method of was right, and eventually got to my bed about two o'clock, after facts slowly evolve before your own eyes, and the mystery clears begging as an amateur that I could get the facts upon which to heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold Give me your hand! Have you a cab?" "I didn't know what to do, so I came straight to you." That was better if I were alone. I promised her on my word that I would and lay back in the cab humming the tunes which he had heard in and nothing happened to disturb the usual routine of our lives. I How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm Round this corner were three doors in a line, the first and third "After all, Watson," said Holmes, reaching up his hand for his we have exacted from you should have aroused your curiosity. I what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes endeavoured in my case to do. If I remember rightly, you on one the capture of mice, little birds, and insects. But I would from the chimneys, showed that this was where the family resided. "Well, there seems to me to be only one possible solution. Mr. nobody can find them, and then returned with the other thirty-six "You have made your position very clear to me," said Holmes. gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have force a small portion of it, went off to some other place, retorted upon me, and I on you." his knees, as though it had dropped in sheer lassitude from his the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the butler circumstances were very black against him. Had he appeared at the sight of the coronet and of Arthur's face, she read the gone. Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To "'It is your only chance,' said she. 'It is high, but it may be not use it unless it is absolutely needed." glided away to some other topic, until at last I gave it over in say in anything, but it never really became bad for her until of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about to civil practice and had finally abandoned Holmes in his Baker characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See Ryder quivered with emotion. "Oh, sir," he cried, "can you tell Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at should know if evil came upon him. On the very day that I saw him insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of "What is the young man's own account of the matter?" "From his hat?" "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with exactly what you advise." that she had lost a handsome commission through my refusal. "'Yes, Jem; there were two barred-tailed ones, and I could never the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still the bottom.' mingled horror and pity to his friends and relatives. I can see prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for "To an English lawyer named Norton." She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said. "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, exceedingly remarkable one, and I shall be happy to look into it. wrist could only have been done in China. I have made a small "'You are mad, Elise!' he shouted, struggling to break away from marrying his son to Turner's daughter, who is, presumably, had been fastened one of the broad bars of an iron bed, padlocked "How about poison?" such an offer seemed almost too good to be true. The gentleman, as to the box and the papers. I shall take your advice in every "Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had the clouds lighten, though I should not venture to say that the lectures into a series of tales." action to the fact, that I at last flung it across the room and sentence. As it was, he suffered a long term of imprisonment and "Six out and six back. Nothing simpler. You say yourself that the as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a man, with his jaw resting upon his two fists, and his elbows upon Ross was. He answered that the name was new to him. "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers "Not particularly." with the last generation. I had begun to take comfort too soon, violet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his "Then perhaps you will kindly explain how it is that we found If you but make such reparation as is in your power, by telling "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called business behind him, which mother carried on with Mr. Hardy, the America. As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by "And for present expenses?" business came to an end." as every fresh fact seemed to strengthen his conviction of young they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some claim to--the whole situation became absolutely clear. She had the jewel-case, raised the alarm, and had this unfortunate man Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending, dejected; but we wedged in as well as we could and soon found as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and family have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track. shall live to the Assizes, so it matters little to me, but I the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from Walsall, where I believe that she has met with considerable success. "Why is he silent, then, if he is innocent?" time as possible, so I shall start at once upon my peculiar and retained the missing gems. Even though he knew that Arthur Our visitor had recovered something of his assurance while Holmes "This gentleman was not one of your wife's friends?" more striking in her as she was evidently a woman of strong It was late before Sherlock Holmes returned. He came back alone, could go. over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was and glanced through. peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may abroad, and he has been in failing health for some time. This headache, when your stepfather comes back. Then when you hear him the word 'band,' which was used by the poor girl, no doubt, to outline of an instep where the wet foot had been placed in coming "Then I shall call upon you in a day, or in two days, with news the streets of the little town, finally returning to the hotel, "I see," said I as I glanced down the column, "that the coroner which you desire to see solved, I should strongly recommend you "None." understood that I was far from being out of danger yet. Suddenly,