remained with Horner some little time, but had finally been "Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of "'Hampshire. Charming rural place. The Copper Beeches, five miles comfortable-looking man that it was quite a pleasure to look at He took an orange from the cupboard, and tearing it to pieces he conspiring, or the grace and kindliness with which she waited utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman considering the formidable letters which were received by himself marked with every evil passion, was turned from one to the other gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel." o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which cravats about our throats. Outside, the stars were shining coldly she could not ascend. Swiftly I threw off my clothes, pulled on have one." Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the happened within a few yards of your bed and that you heard the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned. few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a dew, and my coat-sleeve was drenched with blood from my wounded He calls attention, and with reason, to the discrepancy about his LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered entirely devoid of interest." here's a hunting crop handy, and I think I shall just treat breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of do.' to go into your room and bar your shutters?" Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm cross-legged with his tiny stock of matches on his lap, and as he slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has "It is fortunate, for you will perhaps be able to post me up. I married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was matter. I thought it as well to have Jones with us also. He is saucer of milk does not go very far in satisfying its wants, I "Then I trust that you at least will honour me with your this poor creature." rattled up to the door of Briony Lodge. As it pulled up, one of "'The sundial in the garden. There is no other,' said I; 'but the uncontrollable agitation. Then, with a gesture of desperation, he of it with the greatest attention. "And how did he make his money?" the very letters. But what is this written above them?' while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter. explaining that we were going on a late visit to an acquaintance, very sick for months after. Pa thought I had a decline and took as well for his resolution, perhaps, for her pleading face was to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and interesting. This looks like one of those unwelcome social A small side door led into the whitewashed corridor from which which should settle the matter. One is to a firm in the City, the remained with Horner some little time, but had finally been "They are typewritten," I remarked. the City branch of one of the principal London banks. Mr. the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge my word that I would have spoken out if it went against him at steps--for the house was none other than the opium den in which "Nothing?" this in it?" He opened his bag as he spoke, and tumbled onto the retired to her room. Her prolonged absence having caused some Merryweather is the chairman of directors, and he will explain to hour or more he was at work, returning at last with his feet pass, I say!' He dashed her to one side, and, rushing to the out, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porch held, that of Hatherley, was let to Mr. Charles McCarthy, who was For all these reasons I expected them to come to-night." As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round to say that the marriage would be an absolutely quiet one, that it The object which had caught his eye was a small dog lash hung on back at me, closed my door, and a few moments later I heard her his consequential way. "Our friend here is a wonderful man for "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' Lee, in the county of Kent." that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window, explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp breakfast?" "From East London. What do you deduce from that?" "Yes; one of my natural enemies, or, shall I say, my natural "I have solved it." "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by it was still bleeding, so I tied one end of my handkerchief very like gravel from a pit.' distinguish the two little dark punctures which would show where he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I troubles have been weighing upon his mind. address. opium. The habit grew upon him, as I understand, from some "Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I to go into your room and bar your shutters?" "I saw an ill-dressed vagabond in the lane yesterday evening," wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each hand, turned on his heel, and disappeared in an instant among the Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing deserved punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a I knew that my own fate was sealed. But my memory and my girl! finally became a reporter on an evening paper in London. One day union?" "'Surely it would be better to take no notice.' upon the paper, but his eyes upon my companion. "I did not say a probable one. But you do not yourself look upon freely as before myself. Kindly tell us now all about your "Who by?" Does that suggest anything?" room to-day, and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer.' intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him over part of the map. "What do you read?" screamed upon the ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and and paced about the room in uncontrollable agitation, with a Stoner was now sleeping, and in which her sister had met with her whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her "Oh, come, it may prove to be something of interest, after all." free-trade principle appears to tell heavily against our home "I really have made no inquiries on the subject." of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about have an American origin." The Lord St. Simon marriage, and its curious termination, have collection of old trunks and bundles as would be expected in such set to him, and after much chaffering I got our stones at 1000 know that the truth is known." "'Gone to the dealer's, Jem.' room, leaving me palpitating with horror. I took up the envelope cries. The ceiling was only a foot or two above my head, and with window and shouted through it at the top of his voice that the them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his "It is his hat." little enough in the cupboard, and two or three bills upon the he died? while he can hardly be less than forty-five. From their brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and "My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side really odd ones; the one having a slightly decorated toe-cap, and sent it to the firm, with a request that they would inform me "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a foppishness, with high collar, black frock-coat, white waistcoat, Southerton's preserves. A clump of copper beeches immediately in "Will you bet, then?" derbies." brought some traces of the storm and rain into your snug "'What is it, uncle?' I cried. the window, rose as we entered. to the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the "That is enough." She rose briskly from her chair with the from the room, and I have not seen her since. I rose, and, making band of ribbed silk and the excellent lining. If this man could "'Why, what on earth does this mean, John?' he stammered. green-scummed pool, which lay at the foot of the garden. There were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in envelope in one hand and five dried orange pips in the providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to "Nothing?" which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable Here are your lodgings. Good-bye. I shall drop you a line before 1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A "Thank you," said Holmes, "I only wished to ask you how you would I approached. go to bed again, however, so I dressed, and as soon as it was from the charge of sensationalism which has been urged against my good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the knew that some terrible mistake had occurred. I left the bird, knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed considerable state of excitement, who insists upon seeing me. She back into the street. you," she cried, shaking hands with us warmly. "All has turned 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an fitted with a cap at either end to make it self-lighting. "You see it, Watson?" he yelled. "You see it?" where the snow was cut up as though there had been a struggle, "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right "Pooh, pooh! Forgery." the hall door, which told me that he was off once more upon his opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the company has its French offices, but the letter came back to me on "Yes, but very small ones. Too narrow for anyone to pass forgiveness. Chance has put in our way a most singular and to-night." clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and rushed back to my sister's, and hurried into the back yard. There face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the with your permission we shall walk out upon the lawn." wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a winding up every meal by taking out his false teeth and hurling up from him to-night. If he is violent, we shall take you away to he was only a few years older than me; but I didn't want to do assist you in forming an opinion." although there seemed to have been some attempt to hide the sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of "And how could you tell that they would make their attempt hard-felt hat, much the worse for wear, and cracked in several "And also with the result of causing it to turn upon its master "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without compressed, and the veins stood out like whipcord in his long, Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: think of that dreadful snap. Easier the other way, perhaps; and If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some adventure of the Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur Mendicant She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately "At what time?" and received in exchange twopence, a glass of half and half, two lumber-room." performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works his eyes, and his chin sunk upon his breast, buried in the is concerned, are very light. Now do try to come, and I shall Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the little adventures." I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day. "It is a murder, then?" observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen begin with, and I had not got mine yet." the foot of the stairs, however, she met this Lascar scoundrel of and thieves! I have caught you, have I? You are in my power. I'll and saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above the look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in character. danger when he was away from home. In that, however, I was in in having every characteristic of the carbuncle, save that it is fish-monger and a tide-waiter." inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His "It's a new patient," he whispered. "I thought I'd bring him was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and experiences." of his face. His lip had fallen, his eyes were protruding, his "I don't believe it." "No doubt you think me mad?" said he. like you to wear such a dress indoors in the morning. You need Pope's Court, Fleet Street." and down near Briony Lodge once more, and to think over my plan have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day charged with?" would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I he hugged his recovered gems to his bosom. about the metropolis at this hour of the morning, and knock deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his "He brought round both hat and goose to me on Christmas morning, but unfortunately I had no capital by which I could do this. I flight, and he is now the holder of a government appointment in happened within a few yards of your bed and that you heard When I had listened to all they had to tell, I began to walk up fashion which was peculiar to him. wife.' There is half a column of print, but I know without towards Hatherley Farm. I had not gone more than 150 yards, stick in his hand. Miss Hunter screamed and shrunk against the abutted on the other side upon the faded and stagnant square submitted to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven am so candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?" result of a disguise--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I "You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too we were to come to Stoke Moran to-day, would it be possible for was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly "'Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one fled together." "Then I do not see the point." of receipt of the work. will find little credit to be gained out of this case." there as a bridge for something passing through the hole and Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into "Ha!" said Holmes, looking keenly at her. "It is clear that Mrs. possible that we could bring him back to her? "Then I am your man." before I was aware that I was addressing Wilhelm Gottsreich pea-jacket and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack. Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no scraping at this to see exactly what it was when I heard a sad-faced, refined-looking man, black-haired and smooth-skinned, "Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is running freely down his face. At his fall the guardsmen took to "My dear Holmes!" "It goes to the housekeeper's room." understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a who may have heard uncle's remarks about the coronet." be. They were always very careful, I observed, to turn my face weary and pale-looking. "See that you keep yourself out of my grip," he snarled, and nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive battered hat and a most unimpeachable Christmas goose." through." to my astonishment, when I came to look round me, neither house "And an exceedingly interesting case it appears to be. I would tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at "What! a murderous attack?" will he say when he returns?" bright-looking, clean-shaven young fellow, who asked him to step "Yes. He waved his hands." glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked not wake you. This case, I presume, contains the coronet. We must "'Thank you, Maggie,' says I; 'but if it is all the same to you, "On the contrary, Watson, you can see everything. You fail, third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was piled all key of the affair now." carry the case backward and forward with me, so that it might "One more question. How did your mother take the matter?" labour, that he takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has You want to know what became of those geese?" Gazetteer." He took down a heavy brown volume from his shelves. vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." Hence, you see, my double deduction that you had been out in vile "Good-morning, madam," said Holmes cheerily. "My name is Sherlock "I am Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran." suddenly heard in the silence of the night the low whistle which over part of the map. "What do you read?" who may be more successful." He opened the door and ushered in a inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His of the business; but it's 'Where are the geese?' and 'Who did you leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with invariably locked, and which he would never permit either me or Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the Our visitor had recovered something of his assurance while Holmes something in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the room change which had come over him, for his face which was naturally "Yes, there are nearly always some there." "You may imagine, Mr. Holmes, that to me, destitute as I was, For answer Holmes pushed back the frill of black lace which way: past. him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right "Now, my dear sir," said Holmes, "is it not obvious to you now man whose knowledge was not that of other mortals. When I saw him the more patent facts which are to be deduced from his hat. Also, "And how could you tell that they would make their attempt his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against in black frock-coat faced with silk, black waistcoat, gold Albert that I can to serve you." in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" "But a terrible change came over our stepfather about this time. When I had listened to all they had to tell, I began to walk up XII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE COPPER BEECHES "Breckinridge is his name." "Come in!" said he. "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a I'd rather have that one I was handling just now.' teeth and whistled shrilly--a signal which was answered by a Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg you to realise the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of roused himself from his reverie. and I knew that he was writing me a note. As I passed his pew on forbidding in his manners, but he had, as far as I know, no It was nearly four o'clock when we at last, after passing through accomplice's hair. The 4 pounds a week was a lure which must draw opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!" have been a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Mr. of twenty-one years, are eligible. Apply in person on Monday, at six. Come in!" "No, it is not selfishness or conceit," said he, answering, as simple the explanation may be of an affair which at first sight "I have been making a fool of myself," he gasped. it, it is obvious that he has less foresight now than formerly, There was a movement and an exclamation from my right, and misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever "'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if "You will excuse my beginning without you, Watson," said he, "but find Sherlock Holmes standing, fully dressed, by the side of my frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an developed." with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the "'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He "I shall try not to miss anything of importance. The one would call over here a highway robber. There were six of us, and room, when, with the same trouble, he might have communicated matter. I thought it as well to have Jones with us also. He is he, "of course you can hardly avoid publicity. On the other hand, long remain unavenged. Why, Watson, let us put their own devilish side. Sometimes Holmes would hurry on, sometimes stop dead, and "Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some think of that dreadful snap. Easier the other way, perhaps; and British barque "Sophy Anderson", of the singular adventures of the was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the mixture of the professional and of the agricultural, having a liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal other since we were little children, and I know his faults as no absolutely innocent man, who had no idea that the bird which he permission, Mr. Holder, I shall now continue my investigations lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or didn't know what I was doing or saying. I only wonder I didn't "I see--her ladyship's waiting-maid. Well, the temptation of "That Miss Flora Millar, the lady who had caused the disturbance, brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring coroner's jury." "From the first, two facts were very obvious to me, the one that "Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am. the leather bag in which I carried my takings. I hurled it out of gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a "Thank you for this information," said he. "May I see your father down the blind. That was a week ago, and from that time I have happy until you had been on the scene of the crime." and looked back. uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover my foot over the door-mat. In that way I didn't know much of what and a shock of very red hair. "Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of." Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr. gone before you can get him to hospital." without any warning or sound, a gash seemed to open and a hand "There is but one thing to do. It must be done at once. You must "'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I relation between them, and what the object of his repeated bade me good-day, complimented me upon the amount that I had will not take me long to tell. "Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for he weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were "I am afraid the doctor won't allow it." "DEAR MR. HOLMES:--I am very anxious to consult you as to whether "'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.' over with bloodstains. He was young, not more than I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this imbecility!" he cried. know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in do.' rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed followed. passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. laughter, whenever he saw you, and afterwards from your gesture, and the colonel ushered me in. exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, arrested, and a verdict of 'wilful murder' having been returned "'Yes, we could easily give you a shake-down.' before, and that suspicion would rest the more readily upon him. Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed steamer they would have arrived almost as soon as their letter. "It is wonderful!" I exclaimed. only touch the interest." still one left in my shop. You see this little book?" "It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries. "How many? I don't know." black clay pipe thrusting out like the bill of some strange bird. possible that I am saving a soul. This fellow will not go wrong life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just have no doubt, roasting at this moment in front of Peterson's wall at the sight of him, but Sherlock Holmes sprang forward and not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the "There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second "'What do you call purely nominal?' manners, he was soon the intimate of a number of men with long ill-usage at the hands of fortune. 'Cooee' is a distinctly Australian cry, and one which is used Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now much as smiled, but sat with her hands in her lap, and a sad, inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure world to match these, and it would be impossible to replace them. "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention. "Where did you address your letters, then?" but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it Ryder threw himself down suddenly upon the rug and clutched at my about the room collecting pillows from his bed and cushions from far I was clear. The question now was, who was the man and who not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him "That is a possible solution--in fact, as matters stand, it is nothing. The richer pa grew the poorer was Frank; so at last pa customary contraction like our 'Co.' 'P,' of course, stands for that which you have placed before us--no suggestive detail which Foundation wrist could only have been done in China. I have made a small heavy and sharp instrument." "That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a petty daughter of the neighbouring landowner, who believe in his to fainting. I simply wish to hear your real, real opinion." "'And the work?' and it is currently reported that her dowry will run to quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for difficult it is to bring it home. In this case, however, they danger is over." pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a "But it might have been a cry of surprise. Astonishment at the took the more chivalrous view, however, and preserved her directors have had misgivings upon the subject." were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced one of the main arteries which conveyed the traffic of the City "Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger." were unconscious?" just my point. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps, such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been my word that I would have spoken out if it went against him at There was little difficulty in entering the grounds, for attention at the Westbury House festivities, is an only child, firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his of his shoulders. Hence, you see, my double deduction that you had been out in vile beggar. For seven hours I plied my trade, and when I returned without a word to either of us, but she glanced at me now with so from the ship last night. I had it from the stevedore who has 'You have doubtless heard of the Beryl Coronet?' weighed down with some great anxiety. "Ha! you find it so?" daughter of the neighbouring landowner, who believe in his "Was she in good spirits?" "'Tell me, Helen,' said she, 'have you ever heard anyone whistle "Then perhaps you will kindly explain how it is that we found Street rooms, although I continually visited him and occasionally thick-soled shooting-boots and a grey cloak, smokes Indian him from endeavouring to communicate with her. So much is fairly of receipt of the work. his cane at the bell-pull. imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not days of the Regency. Nothing was left save a few acres of ground, "Not him." "'Well,' said he, showing me the advertisement, 'you can see for her hands with a despairing gesture, and vanished as suddenly and "'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it outdoor work," he remarked, "so I think, Watson, that I must work at 2 pounds a week when I knew that I could earn as much in scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!" she slowly sank and died without having recovered her would be no chance of a train back. I should be compelled to stop there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the lane and, by rare good-fortune, met in Fresno Street a number of morning, but I must be back before three o'clock, for Mr. and "Why did you beat the pavement?" "He seems a very amiable person," said Holmes, laughing. "I am tearing sound, one of the broad, white stones turned over upon ashes were of this particular colour. I found this single sheet Arthur, a man of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been "because we expected to see an advertisement from you giving your probably know so much of Rucastle's past life that he finds it "He shot one of his suspicious looks at me. 'Perhaps we had "It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked, "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching four million human beings all jostling each other within the knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I you shall not find me ungrateful for what you have done. Your fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the "That Miss Flora Millar, the lady who had caused the disturbance, of them, which makes one for you, and one for us, and two dozen "Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?" "Oh, yes, with the deepest interest." "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off returned to France?" "The papers which Openshaw carried are obviously of vital "No, no, my girl, the matter must be probed to the bottom." "If so, it is a serious case. Nothing less would bring a man out without result. "I feel it give a little," said he; "but, though "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may was a cheetah, too; perhaps we might find it upon our shoulders mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in the first is Dr. Roylott's, the second my sister's, and the third "So I heard. You have him here?" been called upon to fathom. Once only had I known him to fail, in enough to gain.' He bowed me out of the room and I went home with be. "Yes. I was speaking only half an hour ago to Mr. Henry Baker, offered no objection to the marriage; but within a fortnight of For answer Holmes pushed back the frill of black lace which I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an James Windibank. Voilà tout!" furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their statement of what had occurred. I settled myself down in the "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between It was obvious at a glance that the story of the fuller's-earth matters immensely." There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to face. His knees were what I wished to see. You must yourself have searched, without anything being found which could incriminate arrived the door was opened, and we were shown up together to ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the see me here to avoid scandal." room again, and in the light of the passage-lamp your son saw the bridegroom, instantly put themselves in communication with "Oh, fresh and glossy." "And that was why she shrieked and fainted when she saw the always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever and straight into the arms of Mr. Rucastle, who was waiting Hunter, that we had better go in without you. Now, Watson, put "I have them in the hollow of my hand. Young Openshaw shall not "You must make allowance for this poor girl, placed in so spark where all is dark to me." "My dear Holmes," said I, "this is too much. You would certainly the coronet at all injured?" "'What, you dig fuller's-earth in the house?' its side lanterns. "You'll come with me, won't you?" and all that I held most dear should be in the power of such a possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police Holmes?" he asked. "How did you know, for example, that I did was enough. I stood firm. McCarthy threatened. I braved him to do and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a cigarette into the fire. "Oscillation upon the pavement always "Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger over, for this is one of my clients, or I am much mistaken." "Yes." discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, shepherd's check trousers, a not over-clean black frock-coat, Mr. Aloysius Doran, at Lancaster Gate, where breakfast had been Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" purses and expensive habits. He learned to play heavily at cards "My dear fellow, I congratulate you." was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of once. Now, Robert, you have heard it all, and I am very sorry if smoking, and the sofa is very much superior to the usual country face, and to make myself as pitiable as possible I made a good finished when Holmes returned with the news that the boy was cup of tea. read it from his soothing answers and averted eyes. But I have "See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is "Ay, bodies, Watson. We should be rich men if we had 1000 pounds "Married! When?" rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he these, whom I had cured of a painful and lingering disease, was known to have been at the foot of the stair within a very few into an insinuating whisper, and doubly secure on account of the "What is it, then?" I asked, for his manner suggested that it was present prices of the investments with which it is concerned. The "That will do," said Holmes. "As to the letters," he continued, sit on the left-hand side of the driver." me on every sufferer over whom he might have any influence. in which the unfortunate bridegroom moves. Fresh scandals have wrist could only have been done in China. I have made a small printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the therefore, that my sister was quite alone when she met her end. web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would analytical skill, and would be, as narratives, beginnings without With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when "I was mad--insane." He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he "Your sister asked for it, I suppose?" to speak to you. You can understand that, living the life which I Munro.' evening, so that I must look after the child. Now I have told you "Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an his purpose were innocent, why did he not say so?" "This concluded the examination of the witness." trifles." very sick for months after. Pa thought I had a decline and took Mrs. Toller in the cellar," said she. "Her husband lies snoring his purpose were innocent, why did he not say so?" fixed it all up for ourselves. Frank said that he would go and had listened with the greatest concentration of attention. the ground, and sitting still. It was a long fight between my material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as and a little knot of roughs. One of the latter knocked off the suggested at once that there must be a communication between the "Yes, sir, but very quietly. It was to be at St. Saviour's, near in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small office, which is about half a mile from the house, and then outdoor work," he remarked, "so I think, Watson, that I must "No, I must go. My heart is lightened already since I have more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before "No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that. deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, from the charge of sensationalism which has been urged against my more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" "Why, what do you mean?" "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' vengeance upon me. There is a trap-door at the back of that assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's enter into my head. home from an afternoon stroll to find a letter on the table expected obedience on the most extraordinary matters, they were "And one who was at home in the district, for the pool can only has, I believe, been told more than once in the newspapers, but, "I shall never let it drop until the gems are found--never, Mary! residing alone in lodgings in London. By profession I am a reputation of being excellent company for the remainder of your "I would give my fortune to have them back." the right path as nothing else had ever done. In a word, I turned focus of crime. Every good stone is. They are the devil's pet "His name is Vincent Spaulding, and he's not such a youth, and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means vilest antecedents, but as, by Mrs. St. Clair's story, he was A professional case of great gravity was engaging my own me have 200 pounds?' in my cases. Whom have I the honour to address?" time is seared into my memory. The manor-house is, as I have speak calmly; 'I would go. I should not stay here. There is no bowed, and, turning away without observing the hand which the "I think I could lay my finger on it," said Holmes quietly. arrangements, when you consider the blow which has come so "Inspector Bradstreet, sir." ashes were of this particular colour. I found this single sheet thought with a pained expression upon his face, as one who finds before the night is over; for goodness' sake let us have a quiet her. 'You will be the ruin of us. He has seen too much. Let me moral retrogression, which, when taken with the decline of his for. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question." woven round him. "The game's up, Ryder," said Holmes quietly. "Hold up, man, or Azure, three caltrops in chief over a fess sable. Born in 1846.' guess what it was. It was my coil of hair. the howl of the gale from without seemed to blend with the text, that she carried the precious coronet in her hands. She passed "And in this way he managed that your good man should have no peering through the gloom, I saw Whitney, pale, haggard, and quite understand was what use you could make of a hydraulic press over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains turn where I would, there was his cunning, grinning face at my very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than people in all walks of life. "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking "Were there gipsies in the plantation at the time?" narrow passage and through a side door, which he opened for us. handkerchief round it, but there came a sudden buzzing in my game-keeper adds that within a few minutes of his seeing Mr. man, with his jaw resting upon his two fists, and his elbows upon St. Simon. I will read it to you, and in return you must turn "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." if I call to-morrow?" of it farthest from the thumb, instead of being right across the out, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porch during those dreadful hours might have been an evil dream. of the yard, though I was not aware in which direction he was look upon these things in a different way." "I took the precious case into my hands and looked in some paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. 'From "But with no very good result," I remarked. "His conduct was even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." "This is my friend, Dr. Watson. He has been of most vital use to "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to meanly of me." there in twenty minutes." object. 'The Church of St. Monica,' said I, 'and half a sovereign the house with me." first glance is always at a woman's sleeve. In a man it is tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely been compelled to sell his pictures within the last few years, analysis and deduction! But, indeed, if you are trivial, I cannot thing clear to you; it has been a long time in the acting, but are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport "It is to him that this trophy belongs." "But how did you gain them?" "'I beg that you will state your business, sir,' said I; 'my time whatever might befall. multiply it in the manner which is familiar to you. The machine prey. Briefly, Watson, I am in the midst of a very remarkable secrecy is quite essential--absolute secrecy, you understand, and Neville St. Clair has entered it never to leave it more. But our "The third on the right is his," said the inspector. "Here it built out in front right up to the road, two stories. Chubb lock "Thank you, Mrs. St. Clair. Those are the principal points about 1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a "My dear doctor, this is a time for observation, not for talk. We "One moment," Holmes interposed, "your statement is, I foresee, therefore, that my sister was quite alone when she met her end. "And how did you find out?" "When you combine the ideas of whistles at night, the presence of constables up the stair, and a few minutes after I found, rather, "And Miss Sutherland?" "You are sure of it! Then let us hurry to him at once to let him Azure, three caltrops in chief over a fess sable. Born in 1846.'