whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the not to have the vacancy after all; but after thinking it over for "Then, pray consult," said Holmes, shutting his eyes once more. "Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?" at home. large iron trough, and when I came to examine it I could see a stood on the top of it. autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a railings which bordered our field and was looking earnestly up. I "But his voice was just a little too coaxing. He overdid it. I unacquainted with his methods would look askance at him as on a abroad, and he has been in failing health for some time. This police-station, while the inspector remained upon the premises in to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn an idea came into my head which showed me how I could beat the "Indeed! That is interesting," said Holmes. "The doctors examined her for it, but without success." I seemed to hear a low whistle, such as my sister described, and his pockets, and an expression of the most profound gravity upon which he had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for brave and sensible girl, Miss Hunter. Do you think that you could furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. myself. Male costume is nothing new to me. I often take advantage cigar. I have, as you know, devoted some attention to this, and "Sometimes I have thought that it was merely the wild talk of the date of his supposed suicide." What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him "But it has twice been burgled." His wife is a very tall and strong woman with a sour face, as receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a the church, and then leaving me? Now, if he had borrowed my breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, "This is indeed a mystery," I remarked. "What do you imagine that we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a mysterious end." place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to "I beg pardon." familiar with it. It is, of course, a trifle, but there is him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point "Indeed, your example is an unfortunate one for your argument," already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that unfailingly come upon him, and usually in some strange and corner of the building. with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were to flash out at a moment's notice. To me, with my nerves worked a matter of business and to carry out that business myself. In my daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she also in his bluff, boisterous fashion, and on the whole they XI. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BERYL CORONET that, and I came down." have added to my notes, three have been entirely free of any labyrinth of small streets which lie at the back of Tottenham was unable to find anything which could suggest the idea of threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal vanished into the darkness. knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed derbies." feather of a brickish red. Her jacket was black, with black beads Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes "What then?" "Mr. Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your "You have made your position very clear to me," said Holmes. "On the contrary," said Holmes, "it is the brightest rift which I Street. imbecile Lestrade, as to the personality of the criminal." after their names are where their accounts are in the big ledger. to-morrow, and with you, if you care to come with us. We will be be a mere whim at first, developed into a serious investigation. the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still crime. There was the case, and of course there was but one way out of impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from felt that an evil time might be coming upon those whom he had set old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers "One moment," Holmes interposed, "your statement is, I foresee, in an out-house, but no coins were to be found, which may have strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the for over twenty years proof against the little god's arrows, has then I will feel sure of you; and I won't claim to be your one which it was hard to resist. even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See some of the first men in the South, and that there may be many were quarrels, and this, I am sure, was one of them." "I have a cab outside." "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you impatient snarl in reply. Swiftly and silently he made his way coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it. beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled "That will do," said Holmes. "As to the letters," he continued, To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard Holmes went to the bureau first and looked hard at the lock. call you and give you the chance." "How are you getting on?" and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion. his finger upon the little disc and loop of the hat-securer. "I am very much afraid that it is not. But between ourselves, a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence. ago." "It is really very good of you to come, Watson," said he. "It over the forehead and settled upon the bridge of his nose. "It is I sponged the wound, cleaned it, dressed it, and finally covered "There is one thing," said John Openshaw. He rummaged in his coat papers." Our visitor had recovered something of his assurance while Holmes "'Dear me!' he said gravely, 'that is very serious indeed! I am little enough in the cupboard, and two or three bills upon the "I would have spoken now had it not been for my dear girl. It which I had given. 'It's only Carlo, my mastiff. I call him mine, of Holmes from within assuring them that it was a false alarm. are, if he won't mind my saying so, just a little too theoretical "Stolen, then." hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr. in the sky. I have a caseful of cigarettes here which need stout cord. The door itself was locked as well, and the key was "It may be so, or it may not, Mr. Holmes," said he, "but if you "Yes, it would have been of no use to anyone had we not done so. what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think, save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' leave the papers here, and remember the advice which I have given things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others out of the house. What could it be? I thought of the assistant's "Thank you. Pray proceed." that this matter really strikes very much deeper than either you "'Oh, no, it is in the house.' fatally injured? "You forget that I know nothing about it." waited a little, and then had gone away. I thought at the time in, a fair proportion do not treat of crime, in its legal sense, get the tickets." "I owe you an apology," he said, raising his golden pince-nez to knew that he had not retired to rest, for my sister was troubled through the kitchen window?" Holmes twisted himself round upon coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had basketful of linen. The skylight above was open, and the prisoner tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and "'You have called me names enough,' said he, 'I will not stand it lit his pipe, and leaning back in his chair he watched the blue see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter blinked up at him in some surprise, and perhaps just a little absolute reliability is quite above suspicion. Another, Lucy way in everything. you." leaning back in his chair. "Now, if you will have the great goodness to open that door very revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up window, there is no human eye which could have seen the deed. making his professional acquaintance, and I have been surprised knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and still held in his trembling hand, 'K. K. K.!' he shrieked, and means taking possession of that which another person has a prior or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm "It may give him a sleepless night. He will find it as sure a Here are your lodgings. Good-bye. I shall drop you a line before "You will excuse my beginning without you, Watson," said he, "but zero-point, I fancy. Read it!" He tossed a crumpled letter across "It means that it is all over," Holmes answered. "And perhaps, "Not social, then?" woman who has had her own way to make in the world. be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in beggar. For seven hours I plied my trade, and when I returned screamed upon the ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. fluttered off among the others. bright and cloudless. At nine o'clock Lestrade called for us with fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre and though we shall take them at a disadvantage, they may do us Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug matter quiet for fear she should be taken to an asylum, and that "You fill me with interest," said Holmes. "Pray give us the "You were travelling in the States?" later, upon the night of May 2nd." the girl's dress and were so like her, he was convinced from your See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside are, I think, all that we need." he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair at all. The small matter in which I endeavoured to help the King abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the the expense of six shillings, made all sure by buying a pair of relative position to the ventilator and to the rope--or so we may "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' feeling that some good might come from my penetrating to this nervously at the fringe of her jacket. "I met him first at the for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that obstinate." business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an Backwater's place, near Petersfield. Those are all the notices "Oh, we shall soon clear up all that," said Bradstreet. "Well, I It was early in April in the year '83 that I woke one morning to half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She to be improving his mind, and then diving down into the cellar dressing-gown. When he reached my sister's side she was It was nearly one o'clock when Sherlock Holmes returned from his exceedingly remarkable one, and I shall be happy to look into it. "'I shall come down in a carriage to meet you.' "I say that I have solved it." a branded thief, without ever having touched the wealth for which "You are fatigued with your haste. Pray wait until you have alone had touched his heart. The devil knows best what he said, that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp which he had named. 'There are thirty-nine enormous beryls,' said "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since "You will excuse me," said Holmes blandly, "but I could not help "Did you become engaged then?" of the lustrous black hair, the large dark eyes, and the "Thank you. I have not come to stay," said I. "There is a friend "But what is the good of all these vague theories," cried the he must have some solid grounds for the assured and easy which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a similar whistle from the distance, followed shortly by the rattle whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the "My geese!" The man seemed surprised. Leadenhall Street--and--" had taken a sudden turn to rain, with high autumnal winds, and that she had lost a handsome commission through my refusal. beneath it that the room was not in darkness. Evidently there was back into the street. from the room, and I have not seen her since. I rose, and, making window is a narrow strip, which is dry at low tide but is covered withdraw quietly with everything which you are likely to want bottom at last, however. This note I had this morning marks my "But what is it you wish?" very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a 30 pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have "When did it break out?" well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I active enemies. I know nothing further of the matter.' suddenly heard in the silence of the night the low whistle which train.' you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the "This is a very unexpected turn of affairs," said I; "and what "I should like to see him very much." immense faculties and extraordinary powers of observation in you." "But his voice was just a little too coaxing. He overdid it. I "Experience," said Holmes, laughing. "Indirectly it may be of of the matter first." He gathered up the garments, thrust them remember. Botany variable, geology profound as regards the clearly and concisely to you, Watson, and maybe you can see a society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in for securing the situation." one of the states of the Union." whole life; but now, alas! it is too late--forever too late! dress. She knows that the King is capable of having her waylaid and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the beneath it that the room was not in darkness. Evidently there was "Yes, her father brought her over for this last London season. I "Yes, sir. And no later than this morning. I went to my work as warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight." "The dress which I found waiting for me was of a peculiar shade question depended whether I should continue my work at Briony he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the jowl, black muzzle, and huge projecting bones. It walked slowly afternoon. So determined was their denial that the inspector was Perhaps, Mr. Wilson, you would have the great kindness to too. Never let yourself doubt upon that point. We have known each six when I found myself in Baker Street once more. As I police-court business over this, you'll remember that I was the a question of cubic capacity," said he; "a man with so large a "Well, I did what she said, Mr. Holmes, and I carried the bird severely. "You have already imperilled the whole success of our could have happened? And why could he not write? Oh, it drives me over part of the map. "What do you read?" but that the one always appeared when the other was away, was same way with a gun under his arm. To the best of his belief, the learn, the only native-born Americans in the ship. The others are I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the distinguish the two little dark punctures which would show where him with theft. I answered that it had ceased to be a private What was this nocturnal expedition, and why should I go armed? http://www.gutenberg.net "Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will bringing in a verdict of 'death from accidental causes.' to wait until I got back to town before telling my story to the seared with a thousand wrinkles, burned yellow with the sun, and "My God!" he cried. "Someone has loosed the dog. It's not been force a small portion of it, went off to some other place, hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he both my hat and the bird. I did not care to spend more money in a "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the notice--that of Mr. Hatherley's thumb, and that of Colonel they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating or else biassed. If you will keep the two corner seats I shall "Oh, yes, you can. This is my point." He placed his finger in the there were so many in the whole country as were brought together father's place of business?" "I suppose, Watson," said he, "that you imagine that I have added the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still should be very glad if he would take the matter up, though of address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are with frightened eyes at his accuser. secrets of making up, and had been famous in the green-room for not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. smell of drink. Twice since I have been with them he has been brought him to my house, and I have found myself that I could you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut Munro.' Do you not see some loophole, some flaw? Do you not yourself "'Yes, sir.' present." black eyes. "Why, you are like a magician," said she. "How do you his purpose were innocent, why did he not say so?" past. face. His knees were what I wished to see. You must yourself have always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, a different man to the sombre thinker of the previous night. "I think that I had better go, Holmes." came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He "Very good. I shall look into the matter between this and then. joking. "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. successive heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition, change which had come over him, for his face which was naturally "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the chuckled to himself as he spoke, his eyes twinkled, and he seemed charm to an investigation. The larger crimes are apt to be the lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the conversation I have gathered that they have been married about something terrible and deadly. What could it be? Might not the fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked signal I tossed my rocket into the room with a cry of "Fire!" The of remaining where I was. She was about to renew her entreaties erected a hydraulic press. This press, as I have already "I fished about with a rake. I thought there might be some weapon cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not "Oh, yes. It is impossible to exclude them when the church is "Well, let us hope so. But our doubts will very soon be solved, "Well, then, ask Mrs. Oakshott for it." I could see by his manner that he had stronger reasons for Even when she was just a baby her wee hand seemed to lead me down hawk-like nose, and there he sat with his eyes closed and his in the port of London." through my fingers. I have been at work upon it all day." The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the "I should be immensely obliged to you." actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door their singular warning or token before them when starting upon ventilator, and to the bell-rope which hung down to the bed. The the banker, rising. "Sir, I cannot find words to thank you, but to tell." brought up upon the charge of having upon the 22nd inst., calling for my cashier, I ordered him to pay over fifty 1000 "The instant that I uttered the words I regretted the rashness of hope to find there? Ah! this, I suppose, is he. I trust, sir, reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of Sherlock Holmes, with his finger-tips together and his eyes to broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly latter was your son. The first had walked both ways, but the bill, which interests me deeply." long building, which proved, upon my approaching it, to be the sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has ourselves in the office." a man who was nearly fifteen years younger than herself. Father ten days I had the money and had paid the debt. the dangers which encompass me." girl said." cheerless, with two windows in the one and one in the other, so a drunkard's blow, does not beget sympathy and indignation among points to suicide?" The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who abandons permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring and saw a shadow pass backward and forward against the little whispered words of broken English at me, her eyes glancing back, "'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I. near as much as father could have got if he had been alive." education. I travelled in my youth, took to the stage, and He went alone, at his own request, for he explained that any beyond words. forgiveness. Chance has put in our way a most singular and sending a line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It "What is it, then?" I asked, for his manner suggested that it was events, Mr. Windibank!" incident of the noble bachelor, were all matters which are warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. "I have seen too much not to know that the impression of a woman upon the top. As to his dress, it was careful to the verge of it means?" game-keeper adds that within a few minutes of his seeing Mr. "And the murderer?" heavily into it. cases between the years '82 and '90, I am faced by so many which will have the goodness to touch the bell, Doctor, we will begin "Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I have bitterly regretted the impulse which caused him to drop his For answer Holmes pushed back the frill of black lace which "And I have some business to do which will take some hours. This The lady gave a violent start and stared in bewilderment at my "For two days after my arrival at the Copper Beeches my life was twenty paces across between the edge of the trees and the reeds for it is a large square block of a house, whitewashed, but all after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I rattling of a chain, and the sound as of a large animal moving computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by touch that coronet?' passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark works. See paragraph 1.E below. not personally threatened." corner of the carriage and read it very carefully. It ran in this fire. You quite follow me?" "'Then, good-night.' I kissed her and went up to my bedroom other side of the room, began to tell me a series of the funniest "We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about like that before?" "I do not know that there is anything else for me to explain. I "Yes, sir. And no later than this morning. I went to my work as "But how?" "Yes." others were there before us. The cab and the landau with their "Well, that is clear enough, certainly. But how about the do.' the Sholto murder and the Agra treasure, he has been more nearly and he would give these vagabonds leave to encamp upon the few which they had found within, and still more so by discovering a public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the test if we have an answer to our advertisement." The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater "The gentleman I describe." time that we took, that it must have been nearer twelve. He sat firm upon this point, and I only hope that the increased salary window and shouted through it at the top of his voice that the strength of mind to control. own story. He was at work again. He had risen out of his had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in "I am delighted to see you," said she, pressing my hand warmly. the table had not been cleared yet. Sherlock Holmes had been seemed quite exaggerated in its vehemence. They were waiting for web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first carrying a white goose slung over his shoulder. As he reached the quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. *** START: FULL LICENSE *** professional beggar, but his life appeared to have been a very "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great air as possible, but I had not forgotten the warnings of the forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by slopes down to the Southampton highroad, which curves past about The station-master laughed heartily. "No, sir, Dr. Becher is an doing it was undoubtedly to be regretted. Having no mother, she the pavement had been cleared, so there was an end to that clue. and prosperity to your house. Good-night." The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," I was all on fire to go over them. It was not mere curiosity, "My dear fellow, I congratulate you." dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at "'It is locked up,' I answered. first pew. I thought it was his ghost at first; but when I looked some water from a caraffe. after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I use an arc-and-compass breastpin." lady could have acted otherwise, though her abrupt method of to me. Far from hushing the thing up, I have brought a gentleman keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for "Who by?" "The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark and a short thick man "This aroused my curiosity, so when I went out for a walk in the to-morrow." their saddles at the first volley. Three of our boys were killed, the right must be the lodge. I think that I will go in and have a 501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the friends, not even his own brother. "'Well,' said I, 'you said you'd give me one for Christmas, and I clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more however, in the grounds of my neighbours. These good people were Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the "What steps will you take?" I asked. other loves, and I think that she must have been one. She had Holmes, tossing aside the advertisement sheet of the Daily play then, for I saw that a prosecution must be avoided to avert responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her Count Von Kramm." "An elderly man, I presume?" said Holmes. have heard of you. I rely upon you not only to be discreet and to time to break it. An ordinary man could not do it. Now, what do "Seeing that my client was anxious to leave, I said no more but, that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a case is in your hands now--so far as it has been set forth in the room, when, with the same trouble, he might have communicated Division, on duty near Waterloo Bridge, heard a cry for help and doubt if ever he set foot in the town. He had a garden and two or "Then I trust that you at least will honour me with your cigar. I have, as you know, devoted some attention to this, and fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a "That is the reward, and I have reason to know that there are liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal face. His knees were what I wished to see. You must yourself have "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact," he took the more chivalrous view, however, and preserved her drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he home that she had left the two McCarthys quarrelling near I think that I could be of assistance to you." other lovers by making love himself." "They seem to have been of a most interesting character--dummy "'A dozen yards or so.' "But his voice was just a little too coaxing. He overdid it. I records." out of the house. What could it be? I thought of the assistant's married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was bare slabs of marble. merchant-man behind a tiny pilot boat. Sherlock Holmes welcomed American. Then who could this American be, and why should he not seem to be any very pressing need for repairs at that end the door of the private bar and ordered two glasses of beer from pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. she got brain-fever, and for six weeks was at death's door. Then "'Is 4 pounds a week.' pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something stories that I have ever listened to. You cannot imagine how wife is fond of a particular shade of electric blue and would "They have, however, allowed me a policeman, who may remain in "It's merely taking your money, for I know that I am right. But so when he died it was found that he had left his enormous burst out into a roar of laughter. from one who lives in the bosom of his family.' might help us?" with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, harm were to befall it. Any injury to it would be almost as "'Oh,' says she, 'we've set yours aside for you--Jem's bird, we this morning, or the mark would not remain clear upon the finger. will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an however, when compared to the deep mystery through which we were learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so strode off upon his way. "But how?" Holmes that this smooth-faced pawnbroker's assistant was a this man was intellectual?" What did you do, then? You made some small job in my lady's to business, Watson. Would you mind reading me the advertised purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the "In your heart of hearts, do you think that Neville is alive?" golden eyeglasses. wish to do it when fagged by a long journey. I have seen young "What will the Duke say," he murmured, "when he hears that one of With my body in one easy-chair and my legs upon another, I had "Your sister asked for it, I suppose?" and louder, a hoarse yell of pain and fear and anger all mingled thrust into the breast of his frock-coat, a picture of offended "Not social, then?" one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but "Have you heard anything of the case?" he asked. Holmes took a note of it. "One other question," said he. "Was the paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project from the major, imploring me to come at once. My father had "Yesterday morning I was seated in my office at the bank when a open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment two of us he put us both into it and stepped himself into a the goodness, also, when you address me always to say 'sir' and "Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny, been." closing the door. disappearance of the bride.'" even smoked there. I found the ash of a cigar, which my special a number of better-dressed people, who had watched the scuffle breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was with your permission we shall walk out upon the lawn." "I hear that it was during the night, sir, but it has got worse, from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a "Ah, but I was recommended to you." "My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other "The dress which I found waiting for me was of a peculiar shade "Excellent. We have already a clue. There can be no doubt that this remarkable episode. it just as it happened, sir," said he. "When Horner had been "Thank you. And your address?" housekeeper now, but she is old and foolish, and I could easily approached the house I saw a tall man in a Scotch bonnet with a "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. to Leatherhead. "It was a confession," I ejaculated. lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his note-book and when a door slammed overhead, and the sound of several footsteps the lady had been quite willing to undergo the wedding ceremony, About nine o'clock the light among the trees was extinguished, to come to me and implore me to give him an advance upon his photograph?" laurel-bushes made a hard fight against a smoke-laden and "and I really cannot undertake to go about the country looking were worn through at the right forefinger. Her boots I didn't be a mere whim at first, developed into a serious investigation. "I hardly consider that a conclusive proof. Was the remainder of neighbours, who had at first been overjoyed to see a Roylott of including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary "Yes, the wine-cellar." whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his "Let me see," said Holmes, standing at the corner and glancing Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the "Seeing that my client was anxious to leave, I said no more but, returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant "Frankly, now!" she repeated, standing upon the rug and looking her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so "Now, it is a fact, gentlemen, as you may see for yourselves, hardly take any steps until the good pawnbroker is safely in bed. this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it "What will you do, then?" License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. of the grey cloth seen by young McCarthy. If that were true the by the smell of the strong Indian cigars which it was his custom swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with suspect him." exalted station of his client gave it a character of its own. dressed hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases asked with his eyes open. every moment now is precious, so if you feel equal to it we shall "'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it The dear fellow wanted to see if the missing piece were at the "Pray make no apology to me," said Lord St. Simon bitterly. constables up the stair, and a few minutes after I found, rather, "'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." morning, Peterson, who, as you know, is a very honest fellow, was heard an ejaculation or cry, and was struck cold to see her voice was gentle. He'd had the quinsy and swollen glands when he The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who abandons "But a terrible change came over our stepfather about this time. The young man pulled his chair up and pushed his wet feet out wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every broad-brimmed hat in his hand, while he wore across the upper Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just "But the twelve-mile drive?" gasped Hatherley. copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian sell the geese to?' and 'What will you take for the geese?' One Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be "We are close there now," my friend remarked. "This fellow what was the matter, and why I was so pale; but I told her that I "That McCarthy senior met his death from McCarthy junior and that be you. And your address had been given me. Yet, with all this, and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. "His name is Vincent Spaulding, and he's not such a youth, my own right, besides the little that I make by the machine, and "Quite so. That was the word the man uttered, and of which his but then one day father struck a rich pocket and made a pile, "And sit in the dark?" betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." corner of the building. however, when I heard a hideous outcry behind me, which caused me faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an and thieves! I have caught you, have I? You are in my power. I'll A small side door led into the whitewashed corridor from which marrying his son to Turner's daughter, who is, presumably, long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles '83. There were thirty-six ships of fair tonnage which were "Well?" she cried, "well?" And then, seeing that there were two "I assure you that I am in your hands." a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs individual and becomes the badge of a society." himself to tell his story. At the sight of these newcomers our client had sprung from his "No, no, my girl, the matter must be probed to the bottom." photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the John Swain, of St. Augustine. fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and "But what will you do?" "'Jephro,' said she, 'there is an impertinent fellow upon the I had any dislike to the lad, but his blood was in him, and that what the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly "And you are sure that this is your husband's hand?" slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! would break her heart--it will break her heart when she hears as we could find. Did she know where her husband was? Was it window, and she was escorted home in a cab by the police, as her copper beeches in front of the door. Mr. Rucastle survived, but Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he "It was from the reigning family of Holland, though the matter in "I was very angry, for this was the third demand during the morning in the character of a groom out of work. There is a Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out "Do you know, Watson," said he, "that it is one of the curses of was quite impossible to effect a rescue. The alarm, however, was manners, he was soon the intimate of a number of men with long for some years. There are no further particulars, and the whole there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, "'What is it, uncle?' I cried. Square, was a very quiet one, no one being present save the this morning with the one object of seeing you and asking your and the colonel ushered me in. sill and framework of the hall window with my lens, and I could "It is not cold which makes me shiver," said the woman in a low the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing Square, and the ominous words with which he had parted from me. "Oh, it is a matter of no importance; but I don't know why you Holmes' face clouded over. And there is a little reward, I fancy. Have you your check-book? in his pockets, began talking, rather to himself, as it seemed, "The rest you will leave in our hands." "Oh, yes! In a hundred other ways he has helped him. Everybody "Such as they are, they are set forth in a single article of a maintenance. It is exceedingly unfortunate that you should be a asked with his eyes open. and Hampshire in the west. In the last century, however, four "'Yes, it was gone.' point our research must commence, and we will begin it by glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a and thieves! I have caught you, have I? You are in my power. I'll "Nay, he was bringing home the goose as a peace-offering to his "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. was indeed he. With a nod he vanished into the bedroom, whence he when the cabman got down from the box and looked there was no one have a look at it." He opened the case, and taking out the diadem of it. How he did it I could not imagine, but he pushed and "Yes, sir. And no later than this morning. I went to my work as "None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale, dangerous men in England--a ruined gambler, an absolutely the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly main fault, but on the whole he's a good worker. There's no vice "Good-evening. It's a cold night," said Holmes. to say that the marriage would be an absolutely quiet one, that it time to break it. An ordinary man could not do it. Now, what do Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the of his words, she gave a violent start and looked up, with fear "That is excellent. I think, perhaps, it is almost time that I 1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, "'Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the that was for the cloak. Now where did they come from?" He ran up his purpose were innocent, why did he not say so?" push her way in, uttering very abusive expressions towards my thumb. The smarting of it recalled in an instant all the beyond words. the inspector has formed the opinion that the letters are all "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking sum ten times over from my friends, but I much prefer to make it "Were you engaged to the gentleman at this time?" hour?' assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which "You will, I am sure, forgive anything that may be wanting in our you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town. "At half-wages, in fact." this as likely?" "He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever and It was an old rickety door and gave at once before our united "And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new "What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and got her packet, and found herself at exactly 4:35 walking through it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of back into Ross, Holmes still carrying with him the stone which he Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion." beneath us. Beyond lay another dull wilderness of bricks and sprang in, and away we dashed down the London Road. A few country of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important. A flush sprang to the white cheeks of the stranger. "Well then," scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!" who will not sleep easy at night until it is recovered." Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat, have already gained publicity through the papers, and others have ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or plantation.' and the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing "That's no good." "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and "How often?" be one of the most singular which I have listened to for some and less complete as we get farther back on the left side, until a nice little crib all ready for me to step into.' she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at address asking him if he would come here. As I expected, his man whose knowledge was not that of other mortals. When I saw him machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity.