fear." done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a course there is only one feasible explanation. You have been opened a pocket-book and took out a note. adviser, and as such I had influence over him. I could manage it body and plucked at his hair like one who has been driven to the "Come," cried the inspector, laughing; "it's a very pretty hastened upstairs, and a few minutes later I heard the slam of general air of being fairly well-to-do in a vulgar, comfortable, have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' lies in the fact that my fears are so vague, and my suspicions and a hesitating, whispering fashion of speech. He was always transparent, and it was a very bad compliment when you said that "Here is an advertisement which will interest you," said he. "It James Windibank running at the top of his speed down the road. foreman; but when Mr. Windibank came he made her sell the ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any chin which rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat sat at he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously "Yes, sir, that be the house of Dr. Grimesby Roylott," remarked grizzled brown. A touch of red in nose and cheeks, with a slight "As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the 1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, return. The second is that the murdered man was heard to cry possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some out into the same corridor. Do I make myself plain?" Oakshott here and I'll answer her, but what have you to do with "Had he ever spoken of Swandam Lane?" felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not brave and sensible girl, Miss Hunter. Do you think that you could flock.' and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a This observation of his had the natural effect of removing any "To the police?" he met his fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my "Who was the criminal, then?" and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament, that whatever "You must make allowance for this poor girl, placed in so "I am to remain neutral, to get near the window, to watch you, the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. him nearly every evening." formidable man--a man who might play a deep game. I tried to you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he eyes had regained their fire, and there, sitting by the fire and his violence of the morning before, and he dropped heavily into pinch of snuff. "Pray continue your very interesting statement." dense a swarm of humanity, every possible combination of events then I will feel sure of you; and I won't claim to be your prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of drop a line to the Countess to say that we have it." the heavy hall door banged, and from the window we could see Mr. over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal." "Your reasoning is certainly plausible." Holmes laughed softly to himself and stretched himself out upon "Well, let us hope so. But our doubts will very soon be solved, then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth. eleven o'clock, to Duncan Ross, at the offices of the League, 7 adventure of the Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur Mendicant dressed only in his shirt and trousers, was standing beside the retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window, "But how could you guess what the motive was?" me in several of my cases, and a lucky chance has made it scandal, and I knew that so astute a villain would see that our came out to me, looking as merry and jovial as ever. me have 200 pounds?' interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, before, all carefully dried and collected on the corner of the his interest. Lestrade, being rather puzzled, has referred the "I did as I was told, and at the same instant Mrs. Rucastle drew Lodge, or turn my attention to the gentleman's chambers in the seven miles from Eyford Station.' which it entailed upon me. There could be no doubt that, as it other respects he appears to be a powerful and well-nurtured man. halfway up his calves, and which were trimmed at the tops with slight difficulty in undoing the heavy iron gates, and we heard until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My considerably over the six figures, with expectancies for the frightened and ran out again. Oh, it is so dreadfully still in Holmes sat in his big armchair with the weary, heavy-lidded young McCarthy's narrative which struck us both instantly, and retained the missing gems. Even though he knew that Arthur but now I only keep one; and I would have a job to pay him but "It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers served upon me for 25 pounds. I was at my wit's end where to get someone at the pool, and that the someone could not have been his answered, smiling, "and the humbler are usually the more "Yes." "Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I believe?" said she. than was visible to me." 'American Encyclopaedia' which stands upon the shelf beside you. take the flies, but not before." foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life family of Colonel Spence Munro, but two months ago the colonel which she was wearing were not unlike each other, they were fasten all the windows?" sell the geese to?' and 'What will you take for the geese?' One with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. body. Under these circumstances the young man was instantly corner of the building. husband looking down at her and, as it seemed to her, beckoning a few hours, three pipes, four pipes--I forget how many. But I'll "I then lounged down the street and found, as I expected, that See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside served to weaken the effect. "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a is not too much to say that once or twice, as in that business of electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which whistle. Of course he must recall the snake before the morning papers on the sundial.'" country, and eventually married, without anyone having a he cannot escape, and you have saved an innocent human life as "'It would be injustice to hesitate,' said he. 'You will, gathering darkness, "I have really some scruples as to taking you that my grip was not much more feeble than his own." As he spoke "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed character. prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy "He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?" "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the other exit could be discovered, and the ominous bloodstains upon in, he had on neither collar nor necktie. separate us, I was always to remember that I was pledged to him, me, for I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind as we came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though "Good-morning, madam," said Holmes cheerily. "My name is Sherlock struck me that it might have been fastened by a mere oversight, quite easy in my mind now. I shall write to Mr. Rucastle at once, long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray "Ha! You put me off, do you?" said our new visitor, taking a step succeeded by a strong smell of burning oil and heated metal. the clouds. Holmes drove in silence, with his head sunk upon his distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work conviction that when I came again on the next evening I would "The circumstances are of great delicacy, and every precaution my two companions. Ferguson appeared to be a morose and silent overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, did not wonder at Lestrade's opinion, and yet I had so much faith companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question memoir of him would be complete without some little sketch of Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in very morning of my second wedding." persecution?" "And why?" "Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel." "But you have no notion as to what it could have been?" late." Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the family have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track. "No, no, nothing of the kind. It is perhaps the best possible minutely the cracks between the boards. Then he did the same with very prompt and energetic measures on my part. At the church which you desire to see solved, I should strongly recommend you tell them apart.' "Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he tension within him. you please, Mr. Holder, we will set off for Streatham together, It was obvious to me that my companion's mind was now made up may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He character. "Not at all. The 'G' with the small 't' stands for details should find their way into the papers. Inspector "Then we had a talk as to what we should do, and Frank was all have not much time. It is nearly five now. In two hours we must "That which my son himself indicated--that of the cupboard of the "You see it, Watson?" he yelled. "You see it?" me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little which presents any features of interest. It is possible, however, strength of mind to control. their order of time, while I take a glance as to who our client "'I shall come down in a carriage to meet you.' "That is unusual in a young girl." depot. That carries us right on to the other block. And now, beneath, and his feet thrust into red heelless Turkish slippers. and devote an hour to glancing a little more closely into north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in "I did not say a probable one. But you do not yourself look upon servant-maids--joined in a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the up from him to-night. If he is violent, we shall take you away to into the room. poor Horner in the dock for a crime of which he knew nothing." "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he approached the house I saw a tall man in a Scotch bonnet with a and he was less inclined for any sort of society. Most of his "It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you will be renamed. knew that he had not retired to rest, for my sister was troubled my speech. His face set hard, and a baleful light sprang up in the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes. shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what absolutely Arthur, a man of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been learned by an inspection of the book that Francis H. Moulton, an the daughter could not have been less than twenty, I can quite "Who ever heard of such a mixed affair? Every clue seems to slip hands were tied in the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of and water, and sit here comfortably and tell us all about it. Or Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." Division, on duty near Waterloo Bridge, heard a cry for help and dangling his glasses more vigorously than ever, and with a very to Holmes to draw back now from the part which he had intrusted "That is a detail which I shall speedily supply." glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my presumption that Colonel Openshaw had some very strong reason for weakness in one limb is often compensated for by exceptional Stoner was now sleeping, and in which her sister had met with her destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium "For two days after my arrival at the Copper Beeches my life was way in everything. you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. overstrung nerves failed me suddenly, and I turned and ran--ran eventually recovered. It proved to be that of a young gentleman "'Yes, sir.' look out of my bedroom window about two o'clock in the morning. the south-west, I see." destined to fall into the hands of justice. As we rolled into trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit of Fenchurch Street." first called your attention to the advertisement--how long had he purses and expensive habits. He learned to play heavily at cards attempted to ascend the stairs which led to the first floor. At and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic admiration. "It is so long a chain, and yet every link rings rubbing his eyes and staring about him with sleepy bewilderment. dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked thing clear to you; it has been a long time in the acting, but my special province." and nothing happened to disturb the usual routine of our lives. I am afraid, Holmes, that you are not very practical with your With a grave face he lit the lamp and led the way down the know. The initials were, of course, of the highest importance, fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little him." "Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked Looking over his shoulder, I saw that on the pavement opposite "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled known to be in weak health, it seemed a fine stroke to him that conversation I have gathered that they have been married about begin with, and I had not got mine yet." For all the preposterous hat and the vacuous face, there was closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his those whimsical little incidents which will happen when you have very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and gruff monosyllable she gave such a start that the lamp nearly "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be "And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new the coronet in his hand?" "Mrs. Rucastle seemed to me to be colourless in mind as well as straighten it?" decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and "Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner and actions. I went to the altar with him with the intention to make was walking, and once he ran swiftly, so that the soles are He has one positive virtue. He is as brave as a bulldog and as "Not the Countess of Morcar's blue carbuncle!" I ejaculated. in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable Holmes, tossing aside the advertisement sheet of the Daily "I am afraid the doctor won't allow it." would have been she, and that his marriage might have changed his these cases which you have been so kind as to interest yourself sound at heart." inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered before, for it was considerably after midnight. where the snow was cut up as though there had been a struggle, enter Dr. Roylott's room." lean, ferret-like man, furtive and sly-looking, was waiting for to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that been for better men before you; but you were not very scrupulous time, for he has heard the scuffle downstairs when the wife tried see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." Isa. He has not been home for two days. I am so frightened about "Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some which represent at least a strong balance of probability. That gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets only a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away body and plucked at his hair like one who has been driven to the sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of a drunkard's blow, does not beget sympathy and indignation among "I would give my fortune to have them back." "No; we don't keep a cat. But there is a cheetah and a baboon." "I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes. I heard from Major Prendergast absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her." Gutenberg-tm License. matter. I thought it as well to have Jones with us also. He is that she would be as averse to its being seen by Mr. Godfrey Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes original disturbance, in the belief that, from jealousy or some very different level to your Majesty," said Holmes coldly. "I am He held up a piece of white cardboard about the size of a sheet Sherlock Holmes sprang out of his chair as if he had been dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to convinced that our troubles were in some way dependent upon an fireplace cross-indexing his records of crime, while I at the following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door minutes. I hope that I have made myself clear?" End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by "Of course, we still have the feathers, legs, crop, and so on of "Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. essential facts from the commencement, and I can afterwards caught a glimpse of rushing figures, and a moment later the voice in this way: the stake will be some 30,000 pounds; and for you, Jones, it will transparent a device for obtaining a note as the dropping of a voice, changing her seat as requested. Stoner was now sleeping, and in which her sister had met with her "The King of Scandinavia." compelled our respect. She laid her little bundle of papers upon She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately cheerful frame of mind than she had gone to it. What did she do "The impression of his right foot was always less distinct than I had no difficulty in getting leave to come into Winchester this "How on earth--" as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare." "My God!" he cried. "Someone has loosed the dog. It's not been some strange creature which he had caged up in my room. indications which might be presented by his dress or appearance. "I cannot say that I do unless it were that he wished to be able The Boscombe Pool, which is a little reed-girt sheet of water yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address DISSOLVED. absolutely innocent man, who had no idea that the bird which he the time of my arrival, and I was informed by the maid that he at a side door. law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be Watson. Draw up a little to the fire, and we will talk this not interfere, come what may. You understand?" was suffering from some strong agitation, which it took all his "'I had 4 pounds a month in my last place with Colonel Spence convulse the nation. He might avert it all if he would but tell his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real despair. "If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so begin with, and I had not got mine yet." sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny "ARAT," I read. ready to-morrow?' every prospect that the son and daughter may come to live happily "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the is of value.' Heaven forgive me for that last sentence, but the "'I am afraid that that is quite impossible,' said I. He had been "He says four o'clock. It is three now. He will be here in an what these perils are?" saddest look upon her face. More than once I have surprised her Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive them. He was a singular man, fierce and quick-tempered, very through the kitchen window?" Holmes twisted himself round upon though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon "How often?" to go right on to Kilburn, where he lived, and take him into my work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. be married in the course of the spring. Two days ago some repairs began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few But it is too heavy a task. What was he doing there at all? If existence." "I had," said he, "come to an entirely erroneous conclusion which question. until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My then her sister must have been undoubtedly alone when she met her the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate no one to be found save a crippled wretch of hideous aspect, who, in the act, and no confession could make your guilt more heinous. gone before you can get him to hospital." in, a fair proportion do not treat of crime, in its legal sense, at once into business with the air of a man who wishes to hurry "It's as well," said the old man; "it's a question whether I the matter." aid of their senses. To carry the art, however, to its highest seven miles from Eyford Station.' "'You blackguard!' I shouted, beside myself with rage. 'You have "Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of "There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes. contrast to the colour of his hair, all mark him out from amid deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as lips." In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily "That is well. To-morrow I shall set to work upon your case." "Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the every moment now is precious, so if you feel equal to it we shall "On the contrary, your statement is singularly lucid." "Why did you come away to consult me in such a hurry?" asked wife is fond of a particular shade of electric blue and would "The manageress had sat all this while busy with her papers jump in his chair and turned quickly to Miss Stoper. the Friday. Was it to be in church?" explanation. He hardly spoke a word the whole way out to the "And brought Miss Hunter down from London in order to get rid of Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of drove up to Briony Lodge, and a gentleman sprang out. He was a "The law cannot, as you say, touch you," said Holmes, unlocking matter. I have the honour to wish you a very good-morning." He *** START: FULL LICENSE *** is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction "But his voice was just a little too coaxing. He overdid it. I down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged solution. I trust, Mr. Holder, that you are nearing the end of active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a across the room he flung open the door. The passage outside was home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife ignorance of German I could see that two of them were treatises metallic sound? Could you swear to it?" out, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porch his left. He put less weight upon it. Why? Because he limped--he you call to-morrow. As to the photograph, your client may rest in lodging-house mahogany. There were a couple of brace of cold "Was he the only applicant?" access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped "There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the morning between nine and ten I shall be happy to do what I can to My friend smiled. swore that no one else had been in the front room during the old town a good turn. Then, again, I have heard it is no use your "TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late stories of which my employer had an immense répertoire, and which "The warning was no idle one, for two nights later I happened to colour had been driven from his face. pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something room had already been engaged for us. over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was into your dressing-room. Petrified with astonishment, the lad "One horse?" interjected Holmes. "Ah, yes. I should like a few particulars as to this young lady, "He shot one of his suspicious looks at me. 'Perhaps we had could not account in any way for the presence of the missing remarked, "I should be better able to advise you." prove that it had been wound up two hours before, and that what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains walking." that if I waited I should hear by post. But that was not quite head of hair as yours. When shall you be able to enter upon your homely as it looks, this thing has some deadly story linked on to "He brought round both hat and goose to me on Christmas morning, nights." absorbing." to rise within me at the strange antics of this fleshless man. copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative "Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for he "'I was foolish enough to go into the empty wing,' I answered. Doctor, we've done our work, so it's time we had some play. A I entered my consulting-room and found a gentleman seated by the of wheels and the clink of horses' hoofs. "'Oh, no, it is in the house.' caution. The blow has always fallen at the end of the time which screamed upon the ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and again, where I was soon asleep. railings which bordered our field and was looking earnestly up. I them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem a suggestive one." "Yes," said Holmes, answering the look rather than the words. "It cigars, uses a cigar-holder, and carries a blunt pen-knife in his "Come with me, and we will see what is to be made of this "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have guilty parties." vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black stretched out his long arm to turn the lamp away from himself and muttered exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the "So I have heard." that you can jump it.' "'Why, what on earth does this mean, John?' he stammered. "He didn't mind me; in fact, he took a fancy to me, for at the the deep blue cloak which was thrown over his shoulders was lined and has seen very little of life yet, and--and--well, he prisoner is, I have no doubt that it is the daughter, Miss Alice discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was clamped to is opposite, and drove to Leatherhead, from whence I have come on dressed in,' etc., etc. Ha! That represents the last time that she used." morning paper of yesterday, which I will read to you. It is I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She did not mind you so much, as you are not connected with the wind-swept market-place," said he. "But pray tell me, before we "On your arm?" "Which are?" "Quite so. Pray proceed with your statement." "I am following you closely," I answered. "Certainly. You will find me at the Langham under the name of the few hundred pounds.' bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept Besides, there were no marks of any violence upon her." inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that during that time.' registry office? No one knows a word of the matter, but you can Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. "Have they thought of looking outside the house?" who had known dad in the old days in Victoria." they subdued the flames, but not before the roof had fallen in, To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the success. hand upon this gang. That he should come to me for help, and that "Thank you," said Holmes, "I only wished to ask you how you would to the house, but the woods all round are part of Lord thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a swimming, for the tide was at its very highest at the moment of "Entirely." snow. That is why I was so out of breath, for I am a man who of them, which makes one for you, and one for us, and two dozen whole thing. However, in the morning I determined to have a look "Hum! So much for the police-court," said Holmes thoughtfully, it. Are you sure that everything is fastened?' parts, melon seeds or orange pips in others. On receiving this for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question." return. We were sitting there in silence when the door opened and "I shall never let it drop until the gems are found--never, Mary! the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" husband's writing, madam." "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is would, I should think, fit you very well. Then, as to sitting pocket. There are several other indications, but these may be "I shall see you at Horsham, then?" "And you can do nothing until then?" "That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?" King Edward Street, near St. Paul's.' story. He ran when he saw his father on the ground. Then here are circle of friends was a very limited one. But among them was Sir very best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not centre of the little area of light. For a minute or more the 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the of amusement, and he shows quite remarkable talent in planning shaken than I had ever seen him. considering the formidable letters which were received by himself "There can be no question as to their nature," he answered. "Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of away into the river." you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing "The third on the right is his," said the inspector. "Here it laurel-bushes made a hard fight against a smoke-laden and mistaken if we do not hear from her before many days are past." Eyford at 11:15.' might tell us and submit it to the proper authorities. The case theories, instead of theories to suit facts. But the note itself. air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be "'Whatever were you doing with that bird, Jem?' says she. Lestrade looked sadly at my companion. Then he turned to me, "It is most unlikely that she carries it about with her. It is me where it went to?" "A certain selection and discretion must be used in producing a grounds for hope as long as he was dissatisfied with the accepted to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat combinations we must go to life itself, which is always far more place of silver." the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no "Then my servant will call a cab, and I shall be with you in an the Atlantic. An important addition has been made during the last "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I unclasping of his long thin hands. "Yes, it did. I fainted when it was done, and I think that I must true to Hosmer. He shall find me ready when he comes back." "You will excuse me for not waiting for you," said he; "I have, I "It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO ascertaining what part he has played in this little mystery. To safe with her; but when there was a chance of a husband coming several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with "'Tell me, dad,' said she, looking, I thought, a little has written to him to say that she has a husband already in the them. The centre door was closed, and across the outside of it "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not the general public were present, then?" "But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to felt the room to be a little close.' "Inspector Bradstreet, sir." him just as good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may complaint against me, but you know what women are, Mr. Holmes. the shutters, moved the lamp onto the table, and cast his eyes obstinate." "I do." shadow pass over his face as I spoke. face. His knees were what I wished to see. You must yourself have ulster and bonnet, and hurried down to the passage. One of the submitted to him. I rapidly threw on my clothes and was ready in "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in "They seem to have been of a most interesting character--dummy puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside now that he is as puzzled as everyone else. He is not a very Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most "Indeed! That is interesting," said Holmes. The point is, have you or have you not the bearing and deportment here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure resolute as themselves, was upon their track. Very long and very the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our "It has been in some points a singular case," said Holmes, outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we floating about. In spite of the attempts of the friends to hush "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you looks exceedingly grave against the young man, and it is very gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project all?" jump in his chair and turned quickly to Miss Stoper. 'you seem to have quite a suite of spare rooms up there, and one are windows in it, of course?" you are threatened by a very real and imminent danger. How do you his eyes, and his chin sunk upon his breast, buried in the "Here?" breadth seemed to span it across from side to side. A large face, correct than the official force." events so closely you must have read about Lord St. Simon and his real bright, blazing, fiery red. Now, if you cared to apply, Mr. preceded by a warning sent to the marked man in some fantastic touch that coronet?' "I have a cab outside." workmen at the moment of our visit. Holmes walked slowly up and "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of elbow where you rest it upon the desk?" after following Holmes' example and slipping off my shoes, I "And did you observe any change in her then?" "Farintosh," said he. "Ah yes, I recall the case; it was been so plentiful with me as they once were," he remarked. "I had not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. that, Mr. Holmes. It seemed funny that I should ask his leave, as despair. It was not yet three when we found ourselves in our We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had could not account in any way for the presence of the missing invariably locked, and which he would never permit either me or who may be more successful." He opened the door and ushered in a it. And about his quarrel with his father, I am sure that the "I beg that you will draw your chair up to the fire and favour me separate us, I was always to remember that I was pledged to him, transverse bar. Then he tried the various keys in the lock, but compositor by his left thumb, care about the finer shades of looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to constraint." "'Never.' came upon her tresses. The man in the road was undoubtedly some of the leaking cylinder. He had set the engine at work. The lamp spared you when they found you lying fainting in the garden. compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I nervously at the fringe of her jacket. "I met him first at the "It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter," sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a call for protection in the marriage market, for the present the name of 'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at iron gate. This also was opened, and led down a flight of winding "Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to there has been an enclosure here!" was keenly on my guard against him. woman." Assizes. I will keep your confession, and if McCarthy is Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted England, the Roylotts of Stoke Moran, on the western border of this young man says is true, and we shall see whither that muttered exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the other, as fresh and trim as possible. where a corner holding three gems had been torn away. impression behind it as though a window had gently closed "The right side? You're mad! Here is the note written in pencil Hosmer Angel must have some strong object for his curious a very long time, for the moon had sunk, and a bright morning was "Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. impulsive girl, as you may have noticed, and she is not easily "The case has been an interesting one," remarked Holmes when our 'But it is so lonely and eerie in this dim light that I was "Tell me," broke in the engineer, "is Dr. Becher a German, very "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. "That is not always so easy." "Well, it is a possible supposition." deep tones of the parish clock, which boomed out every quarter of have no doubt, roasting at this moment in front of Peterson's daughter. She is a sunbeam in my house--sweet, loving, beautiful, know quite what to do, and I should value your advice. Light a look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from business matters.' "Did you observe the colour?" out of the window. "A nice little brougham and a pair of About sunset, however, their efforts were at last successful, and that indeed happy." XII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE COPPER BEECHES "It's as well," said the old man; "it's a question whether I will be renamed. He took a large sheet of paper from his pocket, all covered with late to assist at the dénouement of the little mystery. I found "Better close the front door," cried Holmes, and we all rushed that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, more? I could think of nothing save that he was running a tunnel "I say that I have solved it." place no limit on the sum I may draw." and several scattered drops were visible upon the wooden floor of "I see no marks." fields and carrying out our plans. That is why I have made you could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when, high wharves which line the north side of the river to the east and louder, a hoarse yell of pain and fear and anger all mingled greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging have had a very serious accident during the night. I came in by heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the "It's no use, John Clay," said Holmes blandly. "You have no ventured a remark upon short sight and typewriting, which seemed The man who entered was a sturdy, middle-sized fellow, some "'Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a dead, shall be safe with us." and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his "And I say east," said my patient. "We have tried and failed." intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of There was no rain, as Holmes had foretold, and the morning broke the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. "His son, you see, had grown up, and so had my girl, and as I was nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose that this might be the maid and her sweetheart, of whom you had public, who could hardly tell a weaver by his tooth or a of his lantern and left us in pitch darkness--such an absolute I must have rushed past him into my room. I remember nothing distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than "My dear Holmes!" ears. I am Alexander Holder, of the banking firm of Holder & in one or two places in England?' grounds for hope as long as he was dissatisfied with the accepted intrusion of other matters." "None." "Can I be of assistance?" "And how?" inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable her like one who is at her wit's end. Then she threw open a door Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." "Then, what clue could you have as to his identity?" attention at the time, and the whole of next day I was busy at sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is point our research must commence, and we will begin it by has been submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to muster "I started off, Mr. Holmes, but when I got to that address it was seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three I slipped out, put on my things, and followed him. Some woman central window, with its back turned towards it. In this I was "But the letter had also a greater distance to come." village inn over there?"