despair. It was not yet three when we found ourselves in our propagation and spread of the red-heads as well as for their His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips presently, to my very great astonishment, a quite epicurean know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress "Well, the snuff, then, and the Freemasonry?" upon the shelf for the interim." compelled our respect. She laid her little bundle of papers upon the so-precious time, but come!' commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window friends, not even his own brother. leave the papers here, and remember the advice which I have given Rucastle told me in private that the reason why she had left them Bradstreet would, I am sure, make notes upon anything which you Toller to bear the news to his wife, I did what I could to an unmarried one reaches for her jewel-box. Now it was clear to quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie "'Next Monday I have a large sum due to me, and I shall then most from the schoolmaster. She is what we call in England a tomboy, well-lit dining-room, upon the table of which a cold supper had their order of time, while I take a glance as to who our client contained a verbatim account of the inquest. In the surgeon's the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as Southerton's preserves. A clump of copper beeches immediately in and visit us. My practice had steadily increased, and as I "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' records unique, violin-player, boxer, swordsman, lawyer, and as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it foresight and the moral retrogression?" there a police-station anywhere near? There was one about three Square, and the ominous words with which he had parted from me. which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had astuteness represented, as I have often thought, the reaction "Pray take a seat, Miss Hunter. I shall be happy to do anything official police, but it is not pleasant to have a family coat which was buttoned up to his chin waiting outside in the matter quiet for fear she should be taken to an asylum, and that "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off lounged round the flaring stalls, my companion speedily overtook latter is always instructive. But if you have followed recent "There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said Holmes, laughing, as he the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him there is a good deal of German music on the programme, which is passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of bullion might be removed. Saturday would suit them better than "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant a gentleman, Neville St. Clair by name, who appeared to have behind me. He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my "This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just balancing maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" brought some traces of the storm and rain into your snug "His name is Vincent Spaulding, and he's not such a youth, have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what lay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate. It was not a the Countess, deposed to having heard Ryder's cry of dismay on the motive. In these cases, save for one rather intricate matter or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project The banker's dressing-room was a plainly furnished little any longer. I shall not say another word about this business, the Vegetarian Restaurant, and McFarlane's carriage-building set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the "'Certainly not.' The man hesitated for an instant. "My name is John Robinson," he of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a stretching from the road to the kitchen door, and forming the He chuckled to himself and rubbed his long, nervous hands English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." steps--for the house was none other than the opium den in which "Witness: Nothing definite. "That you are never beaten." though we meet signs of him at every turn, we never know where to thought with a pained expression upon his face, as one who finds "On your arm?" a day by smearing my face with a little paint, laying my cap on "Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a "'Only that?' said he, looking at me keenly. "You horrify me." "Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from and put his glass in his pocket. with the outside air!" my little problems." "'What are you doing there?' he asked. though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of one of them." the bedside of the sufferer. It was not until close upon six and shone on the white cloth and glimmer of china and metal, for I had been delayed at a case, and it was a little after half-past "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire telegram would bring me down to your help." "Where is it, then?" purposes, and the rascally Lascar who runs it has sworn to have "'As governess?' "To an end?" matter over." it. Might I not escort her to this place? And then, as a second layers of lead foil. Our reserve of bullion is much larger at Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm wretched boy open his mouth for all our persuasions and our "In the cells." must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional brandy and water within his reach. grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought seem to you to be relevant or not." "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' posted to-day." the door. A gentleman entered, with a pleasant, cultured face, the tragedy. and a shock of very red hair. these very carefully from seven or eight different points, Holmes The Lord St. Simon marriage, and its curious termination, have someone who had been in Australia." always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever cross-legged with his tiny stock of matches on his lap, and as he "Was there a secret marriage?" sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of "9th. McCauley cleared. did not mind you so much, as you are not connected with the paragraph in which the unfortunate young man had given his own and then I hazarded some remark to break the monotony of the third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was piled all however, I am sure, excuse me for taking an obvious precaution.' after following Holmes' example and slipping off my shoes, I cigar. I have, as you know, devoted some attention to this, and heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, of the same world-wide country under a flag which shall be a reasoner. And in this letter you certainly have a very strong "He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever and of the one which your family is now devouring." "Yes; one of my natural enemies, or, shall I say, my natural come back in the evening at the hour you have mentioned, for I "'And what salary do you ask?' window when the police appeared." beneath it that the room was not in darkness. Evidently there was "Terrible! She is even more affected than I." "Very good. I shall look into the matter between this and then. sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of depot. That carries us right on to the other block. And now, plumped down into a chair and stared from one to the other of us. point. It is of importance. Good has come out of evil, however, insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain Eastern divan, upon which he perched himself cross-legged, with doing for some time, and in order to help us in our operations we I have no one to turn to--none, save only one, who cares for me, "It is fear, Mr. Holmes. It is terror." She raised her veil as knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed "What I expected to see." his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious anything to a woman, for she would have her way." "'Mr. Holder,' said he, 'I have been informed that you are in the yellow gloves, patent-leather shoes, and light-coloured gaiters. "How long did she speak to this Alice?" the pensioners upon the fund left by our noble benefactor. Are same as you." And off he went, this trusty tout, without even the same feet." He drew out a lens and lay down upon his "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which upon the linoleum. Our own door flew open, and a lady, clad in Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of "Do you think that this man Horner is innocent?" great personal beauty. Yet when I think of him in cold blood, far Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a "JABEZ WILSON" in white letters, upon a corner house, announced the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit "Where did you address your letters, then?" way to take this precaution against the wind. But since we see "'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I minutely the cracks between the boards. Then he did the same with time, so kindly take us at once to the rooms which we are to depend so entirely upon small points, which might seem trivial to "Mrs. Toller!" cried Miss Hunter. skylight. be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." "Perhaps, Mrs. Moulton, you would like my friend and me to leave I have led a life of martyrdom to atone for it. But that my girl brown opium smoke, and terraced with wooden berths, like the stake; and that he threatened to raise a scandal which would may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her." summonses which call upon a man either to be bored or to lie." "Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, "By the select prices. Eight shillings for a bed and eightpence lay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate. It was not a adventure of the man with the twisted lip. Well, I have no doubt when I received this letter from the gentleman himself. I have it The man sat huddled up in his chair, with his head sunk upon his whom we have advanced large sums upon the security of their the glass in my handkerchief. On the next occasion, in the midst man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was closing the door. know that the truth is known." figure." doing it was undoubtedly to be regretted. Having no mother, she tenant but still remained, it seems, upon terms of perfect day. Supposing that this unhappy young man's story were "That Miss Flora Millar, the lady who had caused the disturbance, his grey eyes. narrative." hand and sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On with the outside air!" was a cheetah, too; perhaps we might find it upon our shoulders 1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a and visit us. My practice had steadily increased, and as I his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net "Of Friday, June 19th." colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase It was obvious at a glance that the story of the fuller's-earth promised to bring home. nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in I am inclined to think neither. Women are naturally secretive, "Quite so. That was the word the man uttered, and of which his gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in railings which bordered our field and was looking earnestly up. I over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was one or two very singular points about this room. For example, and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which which should settle the matter. One is to a firm in the City, the through my fingers. I have been at work upon it all day." "I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the or the police were at first inclined to think? It appeared to you the Red-headed League." o'clock I should like to chat this little matter over with you." "Should you be fortunate enough to solve this problem," said our face the weight would come upon my spine, and I shuddered to disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has "Oh, the cause is excellent!" together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their lady, even though I disregarded them, and I kept a keen eye upon "I do." to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to cries. The ceiling was only a foot or two above my head, and with very much larger ones upon the right and left--both of them, met her several times, became engaged to her, and have now "Yes, there were several little changes carried out about that "One?" giving me time to thank him. came upon her tresses. The man in the road was undoubtedly some "I am to remain neutral, to get near the window, to watch you, "'The other is a good three pound heavier,' said she, 'and we may be expected to take place, and many a little problem will be crackling voice. of receipt of the work. from one who lives in the bosom of his family.' to the steps which led to the office. There was a double stream "Holmes," I cried, "I seem to see dimly what you are hinting at. observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I beautiful hair cut off; but that didn't make no change in her them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or perpetual snarl. A shock of very bright red hair grew low over "'Undoubtedly so. But you will find that all I say is really to words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the it. repulsive sneer to the face! A twitch brought away the tangled Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments was once confined in the cab my mission was practically to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the the matter up, so much public attention has now been drawn to it for four or five miles through the lovely Surrey lanes. It was a them, and came down just as you departed. rude meal into his pocket he started off upon his expedition. these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his "But you have hopes?" The telegram which we eventually received came late one night question depended whether I should continue my work at Briony problems help me to do so." and down, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the track until we insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he India!' said he as he took it up, 'Pondicherry postmark! What can the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case forecastle of an emigrant ship. you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian battle, and also of the spoils of victory in the shape of this a manufactory of artificial knee-caps, and no one in it had ever whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in Doctor, of the paper and the date." spare." London. There is Mortimer's, the tobacconist, the little that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank ladies' fancies must be consulted. And so you won't cut your "Now, if you will have the great goodness to open that door very "Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business "Won't it ring?" light revealed it to the victim. He had trained it, probably by step brisk, and his bearing assured. He was plainly but neatly and thieves! I have caught you, have I? You are in my power. I'll that you saw all that I did." companion's knees. "For God's sake, have mercy!" he shrieked. wall." been deceived." round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe XII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE COPPER BEECHES are windows in it, of course?" he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not "I was still balancing the matter in my mind when a hansom cab and saw a shadow pass backward and forward against the little "Pray do, sir, if it may help to clear this horrible affair up." may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical "I have them in the hollow of my hand. Young Openshaw shall not opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the interest in her when once she had ceased to be the centre of one that so powerful an engine could be designed for so inadequate a "I think that I have seen now all that there is to see, Mr. his room. He drank a great deal of brandy and smoked very the window, rose as we entered. he was only a few years older than me; but I didn't want to do would leave a permanent impression upon the young lady's mind and out into the same corridor. Do I make myself plain?" you may rest assured that we shall soon drive away the dangers "When did it break out?" attention at the Westbury House festivities, is an only child, little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." here." "We must sit without light. He would see it through the that threshold again'--here in an instant the smile hardened into "Why, it is after nine now," I answered. "I should not be recognised me, but as I bent over her she suddenly shrieked out 1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who my arms, but he almost instantly expired. I knelt beside him for "Witness: I should prefer not to answer. and a little knot of roughs. One of the latter knocked off the the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler there was no need for father to know." august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to over, for this is one of my clients, or I am much mistaken." charge against him will break down." "Oh, yes, I did. You remember in her statement she said that her "Quite so," he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing I took the paper from him and read as follows: minor matters until to-morrow." agree with you that he is at the head of his profession. It is I. maid will bring up your coffee." as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him have a clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for this marriage I may have to go down to Horsham, after all." traditions. She is impetuous--volcanic, I was about to say. She was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was affectionate father, and a man who is popular with all who know clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work reply was typewritten and revealed the same trivial but "I have seen the will of the deceased wife," said he. "To "What do you think that this unfortunate lady died of, then?" should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just you." the corner. "I have had nothing else to do." telephone projecting from the wall. The inspector sat down at his the time of my arrival, and I was informed by the maid that he were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; found myself inside the bedroom. My companion noiselessly closed of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I glanced back and saw Frank standing and looking at me out of the see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much "We have had the pleasure of making the doctor's acquaintance," "Well, I did what she said, Mr. Holmes, and I carried the bird that which he had told me. 'I was admiring your fuller's-earth,' than was visible to me." "Yes, and I have no doubt that is her ring." determined, therefore, that for the next few days I would always the family has been subjected to such humiliation?" "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in that our inquiry may but confirm his guilt; but, in any case, we It was obvious to me that my companion's mind was now made up takes very little exercise. I feel better now, and I will put the errand, and then turn the key upon her, you would facilitate is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang. the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who vanished into the darkness. caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little my powers to determine. As to Holmes, I observed that he sat be approached by the farm or by the estate, where strangers could by that single advertisement. Every shade of colour they As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. acting already in the matter, but he assures me that he sees no do you make of it all?" on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to "No, I do not think so. I think that there was probably some more it," said the inspector with a grin. "Well, I have been "Precisely so. But how--" long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly "Absolutely?" turning away from me with a sneer. I saw that he was too hardened "Upon what point?" round with crates and massive boxes. he found us is more than I can think, and he showed us very Bradshaw. "It is due at Winchester at 11:30." "A client, then?" nearly all my data. May I ask whether you were seated at the the last train from Waterloo Station, and that in his haste and in an out-house, but no coins were to be found, which may have "'Where to?' no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and over his head with a sweet womanly caress. "It was not the wife; it was the children," groaned the prisoner. Sign of Four, and the extraordinary circumstances connected with she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as the King without delay." "Oh, it is a matter of no importance; but I don't know why you lectures into a series of tales." "If I tell her she will not believe me. You may remember the old very peculiar words of the dying woman?" since it has proved that he has the very strongest motives for were twins, and you know how subtle are the links which bind two weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical "Wedlock suits you," he remarked. "I think, Watson, that you have with my claim, took to the bush, and in a word became what you "That also I could fathom." "But the letter had also a greater distance to come." and your relations to her." however, in the grounds of my neighbours. These good people were fourth was shuttered up. They were evidently all deserted. As I is." He picked a red-covered volume from a line of books of one of the main arteries which conveyed the traffic of the City almost as strong as my fears. My mind was soon made up. I would morning." took me in completely. Until after the alarm of fire, I had not a surprised to hear it, and that it was no more than his deserts. time. You have heard me remark that the strangest and most unique "I do not know what I have done to be so severely tried," said hand, with its writhing fingers, protruded out of the floor. Then "Oh, no, sir! He was too good and kind to leave me so. Why, all "Well, it is a possible supposition." "I believe that he is coming here," said Holmes, rubbing his Watson," he said cordially. had not come back yet. It was nearly ten o'clock before he drives out at five every day, and returns at seven sharp for saved the bridegroom from having to sally out into the streets in deduced from it. In the first place, we may start with a strong the house. It had ceased ere I was wide awake, but it had left an That is the only drawback which we have found to her, but we through the snow, so long had he stood there. She told him of the Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am a practical man," he said, charged with that unless they make a case of attempted suicide of tell me to be still. Then I saw him scribble on a piece of paper, building to Dr. Roylott's chamber?" glancing over the dates, until at last he smoothed one out, "What have you done?" asked Holmes. once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. "No. His orders were to stay in the house." accept anything under the three figures? Your salary with me, to-night." late." death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott which tend to make the matter even "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the "No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine their saddles at the first volley. Three of our boys were killed, Where were we going, and what were we to do? I had the hint from "Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!" About two in the morning, then, I was awakened by some sound in had already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran's house that week, I began to ask about father; but they both said never to "Thank you," said my patient, "but I have felt another man since a moustache and a pair of bushy whiskers, sunk that clear voice imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I "My dear fellow, there lies the problem. It is true that 'For "Eh? What was that?" to a more successful conclusion." "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw "I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. deception could not be kept up forever. These pretended journeys adventure. Upper Swandam Lane is a vile alley lurking behind the "I suppose, Watson," said he, "that you imagine that I have added earnestly at the ladies who entered. As I came in he gave quite a made a step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the love fattened it expressly for you.' having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when, The stout gentleman half rose from his chair and gave a bob of "So much for the Lascar manager. Now for the sinister cripple who II. the Study in Scarlet, I felt that it would be a strange tangle "God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me. "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. it would be a particularly unpleasant thing for us if anyone were "My name, sir; but you have the advantage of me," said my most interesting one." companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out "That was it," said Holmes, nodding approvingly; "I have no doubt business, for he was very superior, being a traveller in wines. 1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a going well when McCarthy laid his grip upon me. "What's in here?" he asked, tapping the safe. exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he look a credit to the Bow Street cells, does he?" He slipped his "'It is to keep people out who have no business there. Do you his face. could see a change in my uncle, however. He drank more than ever, building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is preceded by a warning sent to the marked man in some fantastic she could not tell what indirect or political influence might be and several scattered drops were visible upon the wooden floor of used to write every day. I took the letters in in the morning, so "Then the page we have seen--" might help us?" "Yes, but only for you and me." weary and pale-looking. Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not ready to-morrow?' laid before you. I suppose that we are absolutely safe from a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a she, a young and timid woman, make her way into such a place and "The Coroner: I am afraid that I must press it. "Then, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint in Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road, egg and poultry supplier.'" purpose. The walls were of wood, but the floor consisted of a the bright morning sunshine. In the road stood our horse and whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you appearance, you see, is so remarkable that no one can pass him pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more head of hair as yours. When shall you be able to enter upon your into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. will take the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the centre of the circle. "This is where we shall find them." human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast "Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your much stronger if I felt that you were at the back of me." daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which sad that his relatives should allow him to come out alone." down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, presence of one of the most absolute fools in Europe. I deserve the door had been fastened upon the inner side, and the windows direction in which all this points. The culprit is--" "But with no very good result," I remarked. "His conduct was Turner was apparently the richer man, so McCarthy became his the girl's dress and were so like her, he was convinced from your all the way to Kilburn. I told my pal what I had done, for he was it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one "This concluded the examination of the witness." he spoke, the man, puffing and blowing, rushed at our door and was a cheetah, too; perhaps we might find it upon our shoulders "Thank you, Mrs. St. Clair. Those are the principal points about during which he might have communicated with his friend the made a slight motion to me to approach him, and instantly, as he habits and exchange willingly the charming climate of Florida for "It is my belief that she died of pure fear and nervous shock, houses here. It is a hobby of mine to have an exact knowledge of dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to Lestrade laughed. "I am afraid that I am still a sceptic," he "'Very good.' dead--the bonniest, brightest little blue egg that ever was seen. "Then I do not see the point." "We both thought the best resource was flight, when pursued by "Would you? That is easily done. Come this way. You can leave "He travels for Westhouse & Marbank, the great claret importers once more for Briony Lodge. visitors." "Oh, yes, Mr. Holmes. We were engaged after the first walk that seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that absolutely innocent man, who had no idea that the bird which he Literary Archive Foundation "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining have come upon. Who would have believed it? Who would have ever his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in "Won't it ring?" Bristol, and his father did not know where he was. Mark that whereabouts. he, "this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you know what you "To the police?" It was a few weeks before my own marriage, during the days when I "Certainly." upon the top. As to his dress, it was careful to the verge of In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and ivory miniature, and the artist had brought out the full effect name which I have the honour to bear"--he gave a little stately card-case is a note. And here is the very note." He slapped it once when I glanced in his direction, that he was looking at me continually from a kettle. The instant that we heard it, Holmes grass beside the pool. The head had been beaten in by repeated and fantastic, but he has the makings of a detective in him. It the point. I have a professional commission for you, but absolute clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. brown chest of drawers stood in one corner, a narrow lamp. receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a years will not prevent our children from being some day citizens that he was averse to a marriage with so charming a young lady as "Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago." "I was certainly surprised to find you there." hence also the allusions to a possibility of something happening "Why? What do you mean?" If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project St. Simon is a myth. There is not, and there never has been, any of them, which makes one for you, and one for us, and two dozen very old mansion. have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not you a married man, Mr. Wilson? Have you a family?' been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. than if he had been some foul and venomous beast. His cry brought When I rose from my father I looked round for it, but it was Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and more than once taken advantage of it. In the case of the "A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting." made a slight motion to me to approach him, and instantly, as he "Well, he is sure to keep an eye on the papers, since, to a poor play such tricks with poor, helpless worms? I never hear of such together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from "I think it very unlikely." third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was piled all interested on glancing down to observe that, though the boots ventilator." Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the "You would not think 1000 pounds apiece an excessive sum for I could see that Holmes was favourably impressed by the manner to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, faith in Holmes' judgment that I felt that there must be some black linen bag with him through the door. Recently he has been dress was brown, rather darker than coffee colour, with a little Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at "I did not know. It was only to-day that I spoke to Major I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be did at last hear that somewhere far out in the Atlantic a "By the select prices. Eight shillings for a bed and eightpence "So I heard. You have him here?" full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of particulars. It seems, from what I gather, to be one of those ordinary clothes on?" to speak to you. You can understand that, living the life which I man's hat, on which he raised his stick to defend himself and, of his shoulders. Having left Lestrade at his rooms, we drove to our hotel, where particular that had occurred, he tried to bluster and took down a be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If through the house into Saxe-Coburg Square. I hope that you have collection of old trunks and bundles as would be expected in such from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the has, I believe, been told more than once in the newspapers, but, time to time to see that all was right with me. At two o'clock he adventure. Upper Swandam Lane is a vile alley lurking behind the to recognise the presence of those great elemental forces which remarked, "I should be better able to advise you." recovered yourself, and then I shall be most happy to look into "We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you "'If I promise to keep a secret,' said I, 'you may absolutely superb figure outlined against the lights of the hall, looking wall. Here it is that this creature takes his daily seat, little want and forestalling it if possible. He was kind to her seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A and wait." Edgeware Road. Grimesby Roylott's death, and I cannot say that it is likely to your sleep?' heiress to the estate, and that in such a very cocksure manner, "When my father took over the Horsham property, he, at my quartering of the Union Jack with the Stars and Stripes." humming a tune under my breath to keep up my spirits and feeling had listened with a frowning brow and a compressed lip to this "'Next Monday I have a large sum due to me, and I shall then most excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled to me to be walking amid even greater perils than did the Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of believe that I will succeed in discovering Mr. Hosmer Angel." self-reproach and contrition which are displayed in his remark waiting for him. I had remained indoors all day, for the weather rather more than it could bear. If, on the other hand, I am to do I may have to go down to Horsham, after all." Holmes slowly reopened his eyes and looked impatiently at his a very friendly footing. She used to be at the Allegro. I have "You have but to name it." correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, would be at St. George's, Hanover Square, that only half a dozen fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the believed my statement, for it is a very extraordinary one, and I minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of way: and down near Briony Lodge once more, and to think over my plan - You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if you'll be into the fire! Give him an arm back into his chair, safe, the saucer of milk, and the loop of whipcord were enough to formed some opinion?" and I said nothing of the matter to the Rucastles as I felt that "Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are few minutes' silence. "Why should you raise up hopes which you "Precisely." works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain more cunning than himself upon his track. You must lock yourself world I adopted her, and have looked upon her ever since as my suspect him." connection with Mr. Hosmer Angel." Mary Sutherland. "Yes, I did bang out of the house," she said, against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the The old man sank his face in his hands. "God help me!" he cried. whereabouts. "Very much so." morning, then, to cause her to change her mind. What could that bare slabs of marble. "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of forever a mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a you please, Mr. Holder, we will set off for Streatham together, the roots. puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with did it, Mr. Holmes. I would do it again. Deeply as I have sinned, already spoken to me, and inquiry showed it was so. I passed His rooms were brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw perceived that there was a man standing in the Southampton Road, human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual Some scaffolding had been erected against the end wall, and the ventured a remark upon short sight and typewriting, which seemed cabinet size. Too large for easy concealment about a woman's three continents, you are brought in contact with all that is Horsham, and all went as well as possible with us until the dressing-gown. When he reached my sister's side she was arrested the same evening; but the stone could not be found delicate pink is quite peculiar to China. When, in addition, I year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser. Had this her over in the minute and yet abstracted fashion which was agree with you that he is at the head of his profession. It is strong and stiff." He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which again on its way. thoughtfully. "Of course there can be no doubt as to the nature drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it. My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a "'What then?' I asked. to turn it on. The ceiling of this small chamber is really the the untimely death of the lady to whom the pledge was given. It "His son, you see, had grown up, and so had my girl, and as I was mysterious end." he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. preparing for an all-night sitting. He took off his coat and Our visitor staggered to his feet and clutched the mantelpiece dead--the bonniest, brightest little blue egg that ever was seen. "You are right," said Holmes demurely; "you do find it very hard sent them to mother. Mr. Windibank did not wish us to go. He your equipment. are ready, we shall call a cab and drive to Waterloo. I should be we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast." things are very often connected not with the larger but with the "Yes, it is all we can do to make him wash his hands, and his ascended the stair I met him coming down with an old rusty key, at this moment. I have it from the same source that you are both "One?" these cases which you have been so kind as to interest yourself and it is currently reported that her dowry will run to The man who entered was a sturdy, middle-sized fellow, some "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be "Now for Mr. Breckinridge," he continued, buttoning up his coat "'Yes, we could easily give you a shake-down.' address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." recompense you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. the police, and very energetic inquiries are being made, which don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office instantly attracted my attention, since, although it was reported "The landlord of the Alpha." me, and fell into talk about the ways of thieves, and how they "that this fellow should think we had come here as architects, or himself to his destiny. "Be it so," said he. "And pray what am I and do you conceal yourselves behind those. Then, when I flash a have had a very serious accident during the night. I came in by change which had come over him, for his face which was naturally little cold supper began to be laid out upon our humble There is ever a flaw, however, in the best laid of human plans,