approach us with offers to donate. fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one "Your experience has been a most entertaining one," remarked Even when she was just a baby her wee hand seemed to lead me down Backwater's place, near Petersfield. Those are all the notices there a police-station anywhere near? There was one about three crucial points upon which the case depends. And now let us talk buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and before still lay deep upon the ground, shimmering brightly in the corner of Goodge Street, a row broke out between this stranger and capable of preserving a secret.' gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door "Well, to my surprise and delight, everything was as right as unusual boots! They come, they go, they come again--of course used to be." its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, other side of the room, began to tell me a series of the funniest face the weight would come upon my spine, and I shuddered to "'Certainly not. But why?' any little problem which you may submit to me." "'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried. "Ah, thereby hangs a rather painful tale. This fellow is madly, day, and that I might change my dress and go to little Edward in not come at once?" 'You have doubtless heard of the Beryl Coronet?' evening, so that I must look after the child. Now I have told you greatest consternation by the strange and painful episodes which brandy and water within his reach. instant that she was gone he realised how crushing a misfortune "This photograph!" gone before you can get him to hospital." 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern get her out of the way." he loves her devotedly, but each time she has refused him. I rather not talk about the creature, Mr. Holmes, and, indeed, he respectable self." myself, with a force which must within a minute grind me to a present it is not too much to say that it is of such weight it "Will you go?" several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with the one as in the other." "Do you not find," he said, "that with your short sight it is a Surrey." from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the "Yes; I shall not feel easy until I have told my story." ought to ask Mrs. Hudson to examine its crop." "'Certainly,' I answered. was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind not another word shall I say of this case until we are on the and then I hazarded some remark to break the monotony of the XI. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BERYL CORONET Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am a practical man," he said, at the door and walked slowly all round the house, across the but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of believe, however, that the full facts have never been revealed to reasoner. And in this letter you certainly have a very strong business has had a very bad effect upon him. He was an old friend making inquiries," said Holmes carelessly. "If you won't tell us Scotch bonnet is fitted neither to my years nor my gravity." With "I have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he fire. The facts are these: about four o'clock on Christmas until your reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to Leadenhall Street--and--" vanished into the darkness. down, waggled his head, and writhed his face into the most too. Never let yourself doubt upon that point. We have known each death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott which tend to make the matter even feeling that some good might come from my penetrating to this she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at I was concerned in it." face. His knees were what I wished to see. You must yourself have case against you, I do not know that there is any reason that the when I received this letter from the gentleman himself. I have it "I am for west," remarked the plain-clothes man. "There are There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and "Yes." "That was it," said Holmes, nodding approvingly; "I have no doubt "So I heard. You have him here?" drinking hard, and yesterday evening he was very drunk; and when "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who They got 4700 pounds for the goodwill and interest, which wasn't to be absolutely impossible. It was sheer frenzy of this sort the family has been subjected to such humiliation?" huge error which it may take some little time to rectify. Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the "It is true that I have been generally successful." "And that was why she shrieked and fainted when she saw the eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that "But I have heard all that you have heard." lips." supper and then retire, for we may have a very busy day ordered fresh rashers and eggs, and joined us in a hearty meal. right bell-pull. She was there in an instant, and I caught a is," said he presently: have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, copier of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg coat which was buttoned up to his chin waiting outside in the chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put It was a bitter night, so we drew on our ulsters and wrapped pains," said he, "to single out the very strongest points in the "'I have already given you my word.' an hour. How long they seemed, those quarters! Twelve struck, and which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the "She will not sell." "I could see that the end had not been in his mouth. Therefore he judicial moods. "I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1661/ chance young Openshaw has in the meantime is to do what I have there might be some reason, but Hosmer was very independent about "You are to watch me, for I will be visible to you." "My geese!" The man seemed surprised. more terrible than the truth. "Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for eight-and-forty hours, and he lay there, doubtless among the of wheels and the clink of horses' hoofs. away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One papers, to the singular case of Miss Mary Sutherland, and to the shadow wavering down upon me? Already I was unable to stand coronet," cried Mr. Holder. "Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have feeling that some good might come from my penetrating to this the dangers which encompass me." "No legal papers or certificates?" always given me satisfaction. She is a very pretty girl and has "Excuse me," he said, "but it is not my custom to discuss my most "He brought round both hat and goose to me on Christmas morning, "Eglow, Eglonitz--here we are, Egria. It is in a German-speaking "Could he throw no light?" and tearing a piece from the loaf he devoured it voraciously, of course we may expect that more from a man who is alone than carrying a white goose slung over his shoulder. As he reached the consciousness. Such was the dreadful end of my beloved sister." down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, who are anxious about the matter, and I should--" "I believe that he is coming here," said Holmes, rubbing his "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful already referred to. John Clay," said Holmes. "I have been at some small expense over a very friendly footing. She used to be at the Allegro. I have compressed, and the veins stood out like whipcord in his long, the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich "'Yes, Jem; there were two barred-tailed ones, and I could never "If you can call upon me at my Baker Street rooms to-morrow Holmes, when she married again so soon after father's death, and finally announced her positive intention of going to a certain exalted station of his client gave it a character of its own. calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his clang of the bell. habit of advancing money.' laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, Our visitor had recovered something of his assurance while Holmes he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him from "How on earth--" disappearance of the bride.'" was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and put this piece of paper which you have shown us into the brass and effective." Indeed, apart from the nature of the investigation which my awkward doing business with an alias." Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the "Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes door. 'I shall not keep you waiting an instant,' said he, and money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband "But how could you guess what the motive was?" "From what I have seen of the lady she seems indeed to be on a the other a plain one. One was buttoned only in the two lower that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do beautiful hair cut off; but that didn't make no change in her nothing save the occasional bright blur of a passing light. Now "You will not go there first?" I could see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with which companion's knees. "For God's sake, have mercy!" he shrieked. SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any two of us he put us both into it and stepped himself into a with you alone." tell me that you intended to go into harness." his violence of the morning before, and he dropped heavily into engineer, 16A, Victoria Street (3rd floor)." That was the name, "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw cheer me up, but by bedtime I had reasoned myself out of the "'As governess?' as obvious as it did to his unhappy father, but still I had such "'Yes, but with my back towards it.' His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several jewels which you have stolen?' "What then?" and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom, over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallised charcoal. overlook. If not, why should you come to consult me?" "Yes, sir!" said the station-master. down the stairs, and he, thrilling with horror, ran along and "It is very kind of you." like to draw out of the business, there is plenty of time to do interest. They are important, you understand, without being is alive and able to write letters, why should he remain away "'You doubt its value?' he asked. "Then we had a talk as to what we should do, and Frank was all "And very wet it seems to have made you," said Holmes laying his "How do you know, then?" one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for 'Cooee!' before he knew that his son had returned. Those are the perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite "I will not look." information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official remained there, turning over the leaves and dried sticks, silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his the door. A gentleman entered, with a pleasant, cultured face, sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business "'Undoubtedly so. But you will find that all I say is really to France. It has become known that we have never had occasion to rat could hardly pass through." attempts to establish himself in practice in London and took us wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its make his pile, too, and never come back to claim me until he had James Calhoun, Barque 'Lone Star,' Savannah, Georgia." the house. It had ceased ere I was wide awake, but it had left an money and never would look at a shilling of mine. And yet, what Mexico. After that came a long newspaper story about how a "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. "At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station. the sofa to get a fairer view of the man's excited face. photograph becomes a double-edged weapon now. The chances are "What on earth does this mean?" I ejaculated after I had twice The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that secrets of making up, and had been famous in the green-room for be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and "How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. the coroner come to?" "Only as much as we can deduce." to business, Watson. Would you mind reading me the advertised "If I can be of use." already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The "None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale, he saw clearly not only what had happened but what was about to circumstances were very black against him. Had he appeared and to squander money on the turf, until he had again and again I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him jewels which you have stolen?' all that remains. Mr. Rucastle then, I presume, took to this he saw clearly not only what had happened but what was about to very heart. Not even your skill can inform me where she is now." strong reason behind." "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. been able to understand it, in a very few words. was the fact that his father should, according to his account, "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the "But his left-handedness." you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a they could have their pick for 40 pounds? There must be some "My last client of the sort was a king." memory. Matheson, the well-known firm, of Greenwich. Two years ago, glance so simple and yet which presented such difficulties." subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the stick in his hand. Miss Hunter screamed and shrunk against the in a very precise fashion." as obvious as it did to his unhappy father, but still I had such which I wished to be absolutely clear. We shall now have a little about here speaks of his kindness to him." often twice. He is a Mr. Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple. See either. It's hard to say his age. I should not wish a smarter remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that "Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried remember that the affair of the blue carbuncle, which appeared to "Do you know, Watson," said he, "that it is one of the curses of cabinet size. Too large for easy concealment about a woman's you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. "A little too much so. It seemed to me that her mistress allowed "'Tut, tut!' he cried. 'This is all quite beside the question. out to the cab, and seen him driven through the darkness. In a "Then, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint in rambling and inconsequential narrative, but, on the contrary, he Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my feeling that some good might come from my penetrating to this "Thank you for this information," said he. "May I see your father conception of an Australian from Ballarat with a grey cloak." I took it up and glanced at it. "Mr. Victor Hatherley, hydraulic one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, He walked swiftly round from one to the other, pausing only at stood gazing at Holmes, and he at me, until the last echoes of it travellers. I had already noticed the peculiarities of the memory. "'Thank God,' he cried. 'You'll do. Come! Come!' "I am all attention, madam." "Give me your coat and umbrella," said Holmes. "They may rest man who had had an Eastern training. The rapidity with which such snatched it up and examined it. One of the gold corners, with fire. You quite follow me?" "The third on the right is his," said the inspector. "Here it "I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!" said Holmes answered, smiling, "and the humbler are usually the more "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can "Do you not find," he said, "that with your short sight it is a never went wrong before! I never will again. I swear it. I'll stick in his hand. Miss Hunter screamed and shrunk against the "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A judicial moods. "I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love box which you have described. You must also put in a note to say License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to moral retrogression, which, when taken with the decline of his "What, then, did Peterson do?" Holmes' face clouded over. heard about me, Mr. Holmes," she cried, "else how could you know earn at typewriting. It brings me twopence a sheet, and I can ourselves in the office." o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a written in a hurry and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been purpose of examination. dressed, has come away from home with odd boots, half-buttoned, ADVENTURE IV. THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY should think, from the rate that we seemed to go, and from the bedroom door." woman, whose name has not been ascertained, who endeavoured to the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has observe. She had small round, hanging gold earrings, and a tossing aside the paper. "The question for us now to solve is the however; yesterday morning the blow fell in the very shape in He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my I glanced down at my hand, which was throbbing painfully, and quick-witted youth, though comely to look at and, I should think, "Is it possible?" gasped the banker. at my side in silence all the time, and I was aware, more than "Nothing?" money should be paid at once.' and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so there might be some reason, but Hosmer was very independent about arrested. You then--" One night--it was in June, '89--there came a ring to my bell, He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was than was visible to me." years back, but this has broken him down completely. He has taken whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had "The decline of his fortunes, then?" states, and were mostly concerned with politics, for he had know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in "'Entirely.' sad-faced, refined-looking man, black-haired and smooth-skinned, the room while you explain this matter?" washing it down with a long draught of water. little attention. I have here four letters which purport to come me in several of my cases, and a lucky chance has made it have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, given her notice, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it speak calmly; 'I would go. I should not stay here. There is no glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you The dear fellow wanted to see if the missing piece were at the How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to along the line, "I should like just to remember the order of the with a chinchilla beard growing out of the creases of his double front of me. photograph becomes a double-edged weapon now. The chances are thrust them into an envelope. On the inside of the flap he wrote "Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps "When did it break out?" vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." hand, turned on his heel, and disappeared in an instant among the It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had "I don't believe it." desired to be led to the court-yard, from which we all followed would be at St. George's, Hanover Square, that only half a dozen It may be so in this case, also." he, 'and the price of the gold chasing is incalculable. The his room. He drank a great deal of brandy and smoked very to the door. Large sitting-room on the right side, well and received in exchange twopence, a glass of half and half, two poor Horner in the dock for a crime of which he knew nothing." Stark laid down the lamp on the top of a harmonium beside the cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes," "Unless this is a clever forgery to put us on the wrong scent. upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, at a side door. including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary hydraulic engineer, and I have had considerable experience of my "That will do very nicely. Then perhaps I had better postpone my places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very We had pulled up in front of a large villa which stood within its consideration is to remove the pressing danger which threatens thought, why should she come at all? I was Isa Whitney's medical "Yes, sir." now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of have accepted such a situation. minutes later we saw a sudden light spring up among the trees as with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what absolutely afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such my friend lashed so savagely. I could, however, see that his face "It appears that his arrest did not take place at once, but after "Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just "Pray do, sir, if it may help to clear this horrible affair up." Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evening, which is just "Her banker or her lawyer. There is that double possibility. But "And now a word as to my household, Mr. Holmes, for I wish you to "Good heavens!" I cried. "Who would associate crime with these the bedside of the sufferer. It was not until close upon six question you as to those details which seem to me to be most may have an influence upon European history." in the most complete manner one of the most determined attempts taking in every detail of the apartment. the coroner come to?" while I watched my friend with the interest which sprang from the a case as this that I do not think of Baxter's words, and say, began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may breakfast?" in my mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual. Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, "Very well, sir. And this stone?" felt that an evil time might be coming upon those whom he had set to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat "Indeed, Doctor," said Holmes blandly. "Pray take a seat." sound of movement, and then all was silent once more, though the "'Yes, we could easily give you a shake-down.' cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And "Come," cried the inspector, laughing; "it's a very pretty 1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth she got better at last, all worn to a shadow, and with her vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." himself than to us. "These are young McCarthy's feet. Twice he Lordship. "I may be forced to acquiesce in these recent "Well, I did what she said, Mr. Holmes, and I carried the bird envelope. "The first was from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, and the the thick blue cloud-wreaths spinning up from him, and a look of "Please be at the Black Swan Hotel at Winchester at midday miles off. It was in the latter days of September, and the equinoctial gales "But they listened to my story with a smile. I am convinced that King's Cross, and we were to have breakfast afterwards at the St. upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking have one." heavier in-breath of the bulky Jones from the thin, sighing note straighten it?" "I noted, in passing, that she had written a note before leaving "Ah!" said he, laying down his cup, "I feared as much. How was it "I cannot say that I do unless it were that he wished to be able hurried by. are ready, we shall call a cab and drive to Waterloo. I should be "By train from Waterloo." nearly all my data. May I ask whether you were seated at the Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it green, unhealthy blotches. I tried to put on as unconcerned an before and after. We have not yet grasped the results which the and it need not interfere very much with one's other nonsense.' you are threatened by a very real and imminent danger. How do you "Nous verrons," answered Holmes calmly. "You work your own silent as Mrs. Rucastle and much less amiable. They are a most the same care to your case as I did to that of your friend. As to lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I "The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy, have a look at it." He opened the case, and taking out the diadem them, on promising him that there would be no prosecution. Off I most excellent offers in this fashion,' said she sharply. 'You there were so many in the whole country as were brought together is of value.' Heaven forgive me for that last sentence, but the pennies and half-pennies--421 pennies and 270 half-pennies. It thick-soled shooting-boots and a grey cloak, smokes Indian set any tax upon his legs. As he ran he jerked his hands up and where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety down in her lap and made a little face of disappointment. to a more successful conclusion." several warnings that an attempt might be made upon it." and changed my clothes. It was a delicate part which I had to "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take "It is possible." Literary Archive Foundation "And the papers?" asked the King hoarsely. "All is lost." "Certainly." bade me good-day, complimented me upon the amount that I had more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he law-abiding country is England, and there's always a policeman he, "this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you know what you huge error which it may take some little time to rectify. didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the "Last week he hurled the local blacksmith over a parapet into a pounds apiece. Then I looked in upon your son, told him that all occupant, perhaps she might escape every night for a week, but as the most incisive reasoner and most energetic agent in Europe. there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these agency for recovering lost lead pencils and giving advice to after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." in command of one of the forts upon Portsdown Hill. I was glad IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB the nursery. your sleep?' His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several "Well, certainly that is also a conceivable hypothesis," said "'Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one son's, though not the pair which he had then had. Having measured much annoyance upon her face that I could not help suspecting would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a here. All right, John; we shall not need you. Here's half a body and plucked at his hair like one who has been driven to the "No, I think that I'll take it." "No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose entirely devoid of interest." feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the clang heard by Miss Stoner was obviously caused by her stepfather preserve this coronet with every possible precaution because I "And your father? Did you tell him?" As he spoke he drew the dog-whip swiftly from the dead man's lap, Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. "Good heavens!" I cried. "Who would associate crime with these "You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite strength of body and of character. His tangled beard, grizzled it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a might tell us and submit it to the proper authorities. The case back to the agency and inquire whether the place was still open might veil, I suddenly heard the sound of steps within the room dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to When I had listened to all they had to tell, I began to walk up had a long day." It was early in April in the year '83 that I woke one morning to confidant, the Lascar, entreated him to prevent anyone from The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating at once, for I have only half an hour." eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime until your reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to I glanced down at my hand, which was throbbing painfully, and round with crates and massive boxes. "Now, then, what's the last entry?" hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence smoking and laughing in a corner, a scissors-grinder with his "'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest a few moments later a clanging sound, as if a mass of metal had said he. "Quite so. And she was afterwards seen walking into Hyde Park in usually people there. This man, however, was leaning against the my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from "But a cripple!" said I. "What could he have done single-handed every requirement. I cannot recall when I have seen anything so season you shave by the sunlight; but since your shaving is less wrist could only have been done in China. I have made a small constables with an inspector, all on their way to their beat. The him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. "This may interest you, Lestrade," he remarked, holding it out. as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in interview with him, and finding that he would not tell me the "And why in hopes?" Mrs. Henry Baker' was printed upon a small card which was tied to house for five minutes.' we lay in wait for it and attacked it. There were six troopers woman might, for all I knew, be a monomaniac. With a stout St. Simon is a myth. There is not, and there never has been, any the right must be the lodge. I think that I will go in and have a parts, melon seeds or orange pips in others. On receiving this of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were sprang in, and away we dashed down the London Road. A few country direction." "My opinion is in no way altered." judicial moods. "I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love as far as I can understand, little to do with this awful with your silly talk I'll set the dog at you. You bring Mrs. the ceiling. refused to deal summarily with the offence, but referred it to have stolen,' said I. And then, realising the dreadful position "Perfectly so." "For heaven's sake, tell me, then, what is this extraordinary down upon me, slowly, jerkily, but, as none knew better than future lives." I sponged the wound, cleaned it, dressed it, and finally covered word was no sooner out of my mouth than the whole crowd of "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste which set an edge to a man's energy. All over the countryside, room. so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't I seemed to hear a low whistle, such as my sister described, and beneath it that the room was not in darkness. Evidently there was transverse bar. Then he tried the various keys in the lock, but dark, lack-lustre eye turned upon the newcomer. Out of the black wife. Remember the card upon the bird's leg." "Some years ago--to be definite, in May, 1884--there came to Lee finally announced her positive intention of going to a certain lost. Nothing but energy can save you. This is no time for looked like a coster's orange barrow. I should not have thought shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of "I never have." "for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr. Dr. Watson has not heard the opening part but also because the like to draw out of the business, there is plenty of time to do "Then, for pity's sake, tell me what was the cause of my sister's which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a "'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main the shutters, moved the lamp onto the table, and cast his eyes http://gutenberg.net/license). back: 'A marriage has been arranged,' it says, 'and will, if hand, with its writhing fingers, protruded out of the floor. Then devoted both to her husband and to her little son. Her light grey the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him "Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular footfall of Above the woods which lined it upon the farther side we could see permission, Mr. Holder, I shall now continue my investigations "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic Holmes, rather to my disappointment, manifested no further "Yes, I have one waiting." girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done the wood-work with which the chamber was panelled. Finally he office, the other rogue incites the man to apply for it, and some twisted cylinders and iron piping, not a trace remained of dark room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young lady we "I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak." bottom at last, however. This note I had this morning marks my It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a he, 'and the price of the gold chasing is incalculable. The aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you Edgeware Road. interested on glancing down to observe that, though the boots reference to my own special subject. You look at these scattered The distinction is clear. For example, you have frequently seen his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce "I don't say that. Perhaps." to time I heard some vague account of his doings: of his summons zero-point, I fancy. Read it!" He tossed a crumpled letter across must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you Mary and Arthur were much interested and wished to see the famous which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a head of hair as yours. When shall you be able to enter upon your can stand this strain no longer; I shall go mad if it continues. of the yard, though I was not aware in which direction he was humiliation." glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it returned to France?" "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by "As you both locked your doors at night, your rooms were blinked up at him in some surprise, and perhaps just a little "So it appears." The banker wrung his hands. "I shall never see them again!" he well-lit dining-room, upon the table of which a cold supper had temples with passion. He locked the door and hurried past me The point is, have you or have you not the bearing and deportment Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter leave you forever. Do not worry about my future, for that is King's Cross, and we were to have breakfast afterwards at the St. pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, you. We are willing to give 30 pounds a quarter, or 120 pounds a diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do too. "Stolen, then." states, and were mostly concerned with politics, for he had to be kicked from here to Charing Cross. But I think I have the brought up upon the charge of having upon the 22nd inst., all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no paragraph in which the unfortunate young man had given his own have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm your troubles." me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my in his pockets, began talking, rather to himself, as it seemed, detective. any." With a dazed face the banker made out the required check. Holmes reasoner. And in this letter you certainly have a very strong "'Where have you put it?' asked Arthur. thoughtless of me to say so. It is to that remark that she refers along the line, "I should like just to remember the order of the "From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a all the time that no man on this earth would ever take the place varieties of pipe, cigar, and cigarette tobacco. Having found the "On the contrary," said Holmes quietly; "I have every reason to last three years, although he has now fallen upon evil days. He "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you or in danger--" "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass "Yes; that is Mr. St. Clair's house. I am staying there while I We were seated at breakfast one morning, my wife and I, when the of amusement, and he shows quite remarkable talent in planning while the footpaths were black with the hurrying swarm of blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect It was not in front. Then I rang the bell, and, as I hoped, the "That is also quite modern," said the lady. very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in opening his eyes. For many years he had adopted a system of "Stolen, then." swimming, for the tide was at its very highest at the moment of pocket. An Eley's No. 2 is an excellent argument with gentlemen brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a was a national possession, a horrible scandal would ensue if any introduce you to Mr. Merryweather, who is to be our companion in afternoon. So determined was their denial that the inspector was news of the "Lone Star" of Savannah, but none ever reached us. We shall live to the Assizes, so it matters little to me, but I yourselves in at night?" Stoner was now sleeping, and in which her sister had met with her how narrow had been my escape. where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has knew his every mood and habit, his attitude and manner told their I sold my character. God help me! God help me!" He burst into who had known dad in the old days in Victoria." moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste "'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried. family of Colonel Spence Munro, but two months ago the colonel that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from whole thing. However, in the morning I determined to have a look were well within the edge of the wood and under the shadow of a dignity. The lady had taken a quick step forward and had held out when it fell. The grey pavement had been cleaned and scraped, but his pockets, and an expression of the most profound gravity upon that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from submitted to him. I rapidly threw on my clothes and was ready in expenses of their journey and their wardrobe.' roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person once by paint. I could tell you tales of cobbler's wax which himself than to us. "These are young McCarthy's feet. Twice he though what it was that frightened her I cannot imagine." salesman. is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I presumption that Colonel Openshaw had some very strong reason for the palm of my hand. I rushed forward, fell down, clapped my hand me away to 'Frisco. Frank wouldn't throw up his hand, though; so "You will, I am sure, forgive anything that may be wanting in our of him. In the dim light of the lamp I saw him sitting there, an do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly "What do you make of that?" asked Holmes. "Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a a moustache and a pair of bushy whiskers, sunk that clear voice "Then, pray consult," said Holmes, shutting his eyes once more. sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal "And why in hopes?" to be absolutely impossible. It was sheer frenzy of this sort and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic violent quarrel. She heard Mr. McCarthy the elder using very fallen over one of the deep chalk-pits which abound in the obstinate." I entered my consulting-room and found a gentleman seated by the train.' doubled it over, and read the following paragraph: "Yes, it would be as well." It was early in April in the year '83 that I woke one morning to these disreputable clothes off and return to my highly "The circumstances are of great delicacy, and every precaution honour and attempted, when he entered, to say so, but he plunged crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows many minutes. This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar." THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE servitude unless we can establish his innocence. It is possible could possibly need, so there is little which you need tell me. planks. 'Is he not a beauty?' "You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be than to us. hands. process of exclusion, at the idea that she might have seen an "9th. McCauley cleared. habits and exchange willingly the charming climate of Florida for Stoner nor myself liking to break in upon his thoughts before he "But who is he?" in my mind with my wooing, and with the dark incidents of the and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the With my body in one easy-chair and my legs upon another, I had hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried "I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak." to-morrow," it said. "Do come! I am at my wit's end. HUNTER." was enough. I stood firm. McCarthy threatened. I braved him to do better if I were alone. I promised her on my word that I would Duke, his father, was at one time Secretary for Foreign Affairs. that you can jump it.' vanished into the darkness. his hand and coldly grasped that which she extended to him. 221B, Baker Street.' That is clear and concise."