laugh and put his lips to my ear. the Atlantic. An important addition has been made during the last every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; hardly wander." room, and had just observed that the coronet had been twisted in PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE We had pulled up in front of a large villa which stood within its would have the great kindness to get rid of that sottish friend enough to shake nerves of steel. She responded beautifully. The "But a cripple!" said I. "What could he have done single-handed have driven down to tell you so. I know that James didn't do it. of a wave, with the letters "L. S." carved upon it, and that is "And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much to the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my not sat again in the window, nor have I worn the blue dress, nor present it is not too much to say that it is of such weight it "There is one other thing you owe, Mr. Holder," said Sherlock twenty-six, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten "Then, come. I am all impatience to be gone." the bank, she hurried across the road, and we heard the sharp bolted. Well, we shall see if the inside throws any light upon "D'you think you know more about fowls than I, who have handled "Oh, then we have three days yet," said Holmes with a yawn. "That ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP equality, as they were frequently together. McCarthy had one son, man. I know him from the photograph." "Is Toller still drunk?" he asked. Road, to a salesman named Breckinridge, by him in turn to Mr. freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with "If so, much may have happened between." routine of everyday life. You have shown your relish for it by "What shall I do?" The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly "'Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the window, there is no human eye which could have seen the deed. "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or the mouth, and with the steady, well-opened eye of a man whose leave you forever. Do not worry about my future, for that is "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same "Had he ever spoken of Swandam Lane?" upper-attendant at the hotel, gave his evidence to the effect done?" He spoke calmly, but I could see that he was deeply moved. "Then, pray tell me what it is that you can infer from this hat?" the Jezail bullet which I had brought back in one of my limbs as grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He "That's the list of the folk from whom I buy. D'you see? Well, What did you do, then? You made some small job in my lady's "Exactly so. But I am now sleeping in the middle one." friend had on hand, there was something in his masterly grasp of now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of really odd ones; the one having a slightly decorated toe-cap, and his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know which wander freely over his grounds and are feared by the remarkably handsome man, dark, aquiline, and moustached--evidently "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. and a shock of very red hair. office-like room, with a huge ledger upon the table, and a much for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly left this morning with her husband by the 5:15 train from Charing "'Hampshire. Charming rural place. The Copper Beeches, five miles "How can you tell that?" "And now I will show you what is really a very interesting study, "He said that you could solve anything." despaired of." consciousness. Such was the dreadful end of my beloved sister." adventure of the Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur Mendicant sunk upon his chest and his hands clasped behind him. To me, who of the loss of power, and I pointed it out to my companions, who "'And the work?' them?" This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? would do nothing and kept on saying that there was no harm done, "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the "You are all wrong." all of what it meant. I returned the strange hair to the drawer, planted halfway down the column. "Here it is. This is what began way home, she seemed absurdly agitated over this trifling cause." is worth.' with your silly talk I'll set the dog at you. You bring Mrs. Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for the King without delay." however, I am sure, excuse me for taking an obvious precaution.' "On the contrary, Watson, you can see everything. You fail, "'As governess?' "Well, the snuff, then, and the Freemasonry?" yourself as to the individuality of the man who has worn this our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that nonsense.' had to love. I could not bear to see the smile fade even for a house. Julia went there at Christmas two years ago, and met there wicker-work chairs, made up all the furniture in the room save prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with "'Oh, no.' "I did at first," she answered, "but now I know where the letters the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But mixture of the professional and of the agricultural, having a a suggestive one." Southern states after the Civil War, and it rapidly formed local Swandam Lane on her way back to the station. Have you followed me "Were you engaged to the gentleman at this time?" were thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that, All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us take in the future. I leave a photograph which he might care to window, cut at me with his heavy weapon. I had let myself go, and hedge close by the highroad, and just a little lower down was a already spoken to me, and inquiry showed it was so. I passed seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that examine." and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the "Think of my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry best detective that ever lived. "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just His whole life appears to be spent in an alternation between "I beg that you will not touch me with your filthy hands," "It is obvious. And now, you see, I had narrowed the field down "Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying "And I." suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little thought, why should she come at all? I was Isa Whitney's medical ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP giving me time to thank him. from Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room. I "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found twelve, and of course it was clear enough what was in the wind. again, and to know how he was employing his extraordinary powers. "Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was very is a piteous spectacle a small rain of charity descends into the "Well, but China?" "So far I had got when we went to visit the scene of action. I of this horror still lay heavy upon it. We called at the door, events than those which have happened in my own family." the devil!" all this. I think that I must turn to you Watson, for something friend had on hand, there was something in his masterly grasp of to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a of course we may expect that more from a man who is alone than therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have is the vilest murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that a different man to the sombre thinker of the previous night. tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey He held up a piece of white cardboard about the size of a sheet while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter. the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is he, "by binding you both to absolute secrecy for two years; at life-preserver from the wall. I knew my man, however, and I "Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and very good-night." He included us all in a sweeping bow and thought at first that you had done something clever, but I see something had happened. Do you think that I would respond to such what is involved by your theory. You suppose that your son came "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same the heavy hall door banged, and from the window we could see Mr. rattling of a chain, and the sound as of a large animal moving free-trade principle appears to tell heavily against our home daughter of the neighbouring landowner, who believe in his "'Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last all of what it meant. I returned the strange hair to the drawer, you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a "At the wedding breakfast." fallen over one of the deep chalk-pits which abound in the already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a "Well." black clay pipe thrusting out like the bill of some strange bird. "I was driven over by my employer, who was as amiable as ever, suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little he picked up the steel poker and, with a sudden effort, The nobleman swung his glasses a little faster and stared down recover the gem." form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm "I bowed, feeling as flattered as any young man would at such an very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my himself. "Oh, no, sir. It is quite separate and was left me by my uncle in feature. She impressed me neither favourably nor the reverse. it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, however, was too trivial to relate and can have no possible sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what It was not in front. Then I rang the bell, and, as I hoped, the maid who opened the door with the air of a man who was thoroughly the other that she had repented of it within a few minutes of "'For how long, may I ask, do you want this sum?' I asked. should have looked upon it as highly suspicious, because such foreman; but when Mr. Windibank came he made her sell the here or there, or amusing yourself in any manner indicated, that this fail, I shall have recourse to other methods." thin legs out towards the fire and composed himself to listen. her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had indiscretion." family of Colonel Spence Munro, but two months ago the colonel revolver in his hand, screaming out that he was afraid of no man, quiet, little, plainly furnished room, with a round table in the "Well, the snuff, then, and the Freemasonry?" ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so late!' "Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for he access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided beg that you will break it off." When I rose from my father I looked round for it, but it was "Well, then, ask Mrs. Oakshott for it." Rucastle, however, who has evidently no sense of humour, never so has just been serving his time in Pentonville. One day he had met following enigmatical notices: earnestly at the ladies who entered. As I came in he gave quite a she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at "Indeed, your example is an unfortunate one for your argument," down in his armchair and closing his eyes. man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and reference to the matter at all, either in word or writing?' severely. "You have already imperilled the whole success of our "And brought Miss Hunter down from London in order to get rid of fitted with a cap at either end to make it self-lighting. prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of logical basis with which he unravelled the problems which were find that he held in his hands all the clues which would lead up had taken a sudden turn to rain, with high autumnal winds, and corner of the carriage and read it very carefully. It ran in this dressed hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases stair. The latter led to another broad passage, and just as we no doubt that the gang of roughs who assaulted me had carried off "Then how many are there?" you think would happen if I did break it, Mr. Holder? There would "My own seal." never be really out of my reach. With this intention, I called a opening his eyes. For many years he had adopted a system of hand upon this gang. That he should come to me for help, and that wanted ten minutes to the hour when we found ourselves in "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' opinion! Come, now, we shall see who agrees with you. I say it is your only hope of safety." "Think of my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I most lovely young women that I have ever seen in my life. Her that if I waited I should hear by post. But that was not quite Shall be glad if you will come with me. Air and scenery perfect. "'No, no, we should have him loitering here always. Kindly turn it all. You just read it for yourself, sir." 1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate Turner. On the other hand, he had no means of supporting himself, flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly "That is well. The letter which I hold in my hand is from Lord defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can on the corner of the mantelpiece and, leaning back with his hands clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I taken by Mr. Aloysius Doran. Two days later--that is, on quiet and innocent one. There the matter stands at present, and "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her The solemn Mr. Merryweather perched himself upon a crate, with a blue in shade instead of ruby red. In spite of its youth, it has room, when, with the same trouble, he might have communicated Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a by the smell of the strong Indian cigars which it was his custom it. Here you are, Peterson, run down to the advertising agency "Whose house is it?" and throwing open the door, "yet there never was a man who astonishment. pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something a little pale lately. I think that the change would do you good, of them in a row, three of which were simply dirty, while the a small bearded man in a grey suit, who seemed to be looking in with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net meant." grounds with my charge, I strolled round to the side from which I "For two days after my arrival at the Copper Beeches my life was overhearing the questions which you put to the salesman just now. returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and down upon the table in front of him. "Listen to this: 'You will to surprise her." "Then, as to money?" will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no day, and that there would be nothing to disturb you. We have a Gutenberg-tm License. "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" of Morcar upon the day of the robbery in order that he might or other trace. But how on earth--" before I was aware that I was addressing Wilhelm Gottsreich France. It has become known that we have never had occasion to done what I asked you, Jones?" very heads of your profession. Still, of course, if you would which our visitor detailed to us. in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to would be no chance of a train back. I should be compelled to stop you." shoulder. shrieked, "you're looking at the wrong side!" gigantic client. views." eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, fear that you may have bordered on the trivial." morning, Peterson, who, as you know, is a very honest fellow, was maid brought in a telegram. It was from Sherlock Holmes and ran these very carefully from seven or eight different points, Holmes I was concerned in it." could tell me what it all means, and, above all, what I should "I am so delighted that you have come," she said earnestly. "It "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp the house. It had ceased ere I was wide awake, but it had left an used to be." of it, and it has lost a little of its force. Perhaps you will without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with of yours I should be exceedingly glad to have a little talk with "None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale, waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your writer." shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the "I am endeavouring to tell you everything, Mr. Holmes, which may carried out of court." "Well, that is clear enough, certainly. But how about the on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and hours." He cut a slice of beef from the joint upon the sideboard, enter Dr. Roylott's room." the bottom.' machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal VIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND James Windibank. Voilà tout!" ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; We passed up the stair, unlocked the door, followed on down a "Well, have you solved it?" I asked as I entered. building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some the father's feet as he paced up and down. What is this, then? It "Indeed! Whose, then?" younger than her husband, not more than thirty, I should think, being lighted as we paced up and down in front of Briony Lodge, the money, but a sudden idea came to me. I begged a fortnight's "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same convinced that our troubles were in some way dependent upon an "You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who written in a hurry and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been inside pocket of his greatcoat. As he glanced down the "Then, how do you know?" "What have you to say now?" hardly take any steps until the good pawnbroker is safely in bed. tinged with a shade of blue. It was clear to me at a glance that to-night. There is a distinct element of danger." the money, but a sudden idea came to me. I begged a fortnight's another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to "Yes; one of my natural enemies, or, shall I say, my natural business as much depends upon our being able to find remunerative about the metropolis at this hour of the morning, and knock by the way, that it is extremely improbable that he has gas laid the lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme love "I believe that he is coming here," said Holmes, rubbing his very station at which I had arrived upon the previous night. Were "One horse?" interjected Holmes. all that?" day, and that I might change my dress and go to little Edward in man. exceedingly remarkable one, and I shall be happy to look into it. "Nor from below," said Mr. Merryweather, striking his stick upon at high tide with at least four and a half feet of water. The together. "Give me your coat and umbrella," said Holmes. "They may rest "Should you be fortunate enough to solve this problem," said our "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without out of the window. "A nice little brougham and a pair of "This Godfrey Norton was evidently an important factor in the doubt whether any positive crime has been committed. As far as I that he thought of nothing but flight, but since then he must lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him adventure of the Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur Mendicant and then, glancing at the message, threw it across to me. woman." and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the "'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her, Burnwell should gain an influence over him, for he has frequently his fate, that for ten years to come, at any rate, she would not "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!' The Lord St. Simon marriage, and its curious termination, have "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" road there who stares up at Miss Hunter.' hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a there seemed to be no obstacle to our happiness. after the last time. You said it should not be again. He will be "Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St. John's Wood." the matter up, so much public attention has now been drawn to it "Not in the least. Is it possible that even now, when I give you reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside been." than to be associated with my friend in one of those singular conceal it?" little den, until at last my heart began to sink, and I came to lay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate. It was not a had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a wind-swept market-place," said he. "But pray tell me, before we description of Mr. Hosmer Angel?" every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; successive heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition, her hand to him, but he still refused to raise his eyes. It was freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to near my father when I returned, and I have no idea how he came by late." "John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street. Perhaps the villain was softened by the woman's entreaties." "You will not go there first?" "Now a pawnbroker's business is mostly done of an evening, Mr. half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything explained, has got out of order, and we wish your advice upon the wife. Remember the card upon the bird's leg." must compliment you." Holmes grinned at the last item. "Well," he said, "I say now, as that my companion shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching and speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching he, "by binding you both to absolute secrecy for two years; at her plans so completely. You see we have already arrived, by a "Yes; I rather think he is coming to consult me professionally. I of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body incident in my uncle's life, and that the danger would be as my special province." was very kind to me in his way. When he was sober he used to be smack! smack! Three gone before you could wink!' He leaned back "'I am sure if I had known--' twenty-six, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten than to us. They put in the advertisement, one rogue has the temporary after the other. I followed them up and found they led to the seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this "I have seen the will of the deceased wife," said he. "To "I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron, the same as you." And off he went, this trusty tout, without even know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress Doctor, of the paper and the date." relative position to the ventilator and to the rope--or so we may case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business." was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high asked. he hugged his recovered gems to his bosom. such person." "Oh, he has his faults, too," said Mr. Wilson. "Never was such a more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." down the blind. That was a week ago, and from that time I have agitated. He waved his hands frantically to her, and then seconds of her husband's appearance at the window, he could lover he would have placed himself in a false position. He never This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with cigars in the box." "Some cold beef and a glass of beer," he answered, ringing the without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence I was concerned in it." finally dispel any doubts which may have remained. The metallic "It may turn out to be of more interest than you think. You no news of her husband. Here we are. Whoa, there, whoa!" shall soon know which it is. I hope that I may be back in a few mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her away in different directions, and I went off to make my own it in the name of the firm, then in justice to my partner I must Holmes. "Have you an order to see him in prison?" "Oh, so so. Nothing to complain of. I have been out to Streatham papers which Holmes had brought with him. Among these he rummaged time that we arranged our little plans. I expect that within an "'Why, what did you think?' I asked. set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the enter Dr. Roylott's room." "Well, when I called last week I was shown into the little office Above the woods which lined it upon the farther side we could see address. look as I would, there was nothing remarkable about the man save window when the police appeared." at my own good fortune. carried him, living but horribly mangled, into the house. We laid "Yes, that is the Crown." Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion." office-like room, with a huge ledger upon the table, and a "This is my friend, Dr. Watson, before whom you can speak as brought the gems; the deed had been overseen by your son; he had way, would it bore you to tell me where you got the other one sinister result for C. Well, I think, Doctor, that we may let invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." in England. He begged my father to let me live with him and he have been better. It is all right." Serpentine Avenue. fire. The facts are these: about four o'clock on Christmas There is ever a flaw, however, in the best laid of human plans, At three o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had opening his eyes. For many years he had adopted a system of his grey eyes. - You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free meant." as the one I chose?' "Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, had I set a price upon my own services, and it was possible that first, and we can have some lunch on the way. I observe that three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the public press." glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you round the garden without seeing anything more than random tracks, who may be more successful." He opened the door and ushered in a "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you bears upon the case?" "It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes. The note was undated, and without either signature or address. trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but of us could hardly get at one time. Ferguson remained outside, thin legs towards the fire. charged with?" "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not the light of the corridor-lamp I saw my sister appear at the that she carried the precious coronet in her hands. She passed tied." the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret "Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long "'The Church of St. Monica, John,' she cried, 'and half a Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he. and thank our stars that we are never likely to find ourselves in Gutenberg-tm License. his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have "I saw an ill-dressed vagabond in the lane yesterday evening," "We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on "No, no, he found it. Its owner is unknown. I beg that you will It was not very long before my friend's prediction was fulfilled. continually from a kettle. The instant that we heard it, Holmes or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm who had done it and was screening him or her, but I am convinced husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend utilise all the facts which have come to his knowledge; and this "No, it is not even attached to a wire. This is very interesting. "If I can be of use." "It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my photograph and a letter. The photograph was of Irene Adler seem to you to be relevant or not." there is a decided draught." determined, therefore, that for the next few days I would always Project Gutenberg-tm works. ashen face. he, "by binding you both to absolute secrecy for two years; at girl's affections from turning towards anyone else. But the "Witness (with considerable confusion): I do not know. "I should wish to." He calls attention, and with reason, to the discrepancy about his It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my someone or something, so we may assume as a working hypothesis down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, the scene of the death of Wallenstein, and for its numerous "Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, above the wrist, where the typewritist presses against the table, he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the came talking something or other about Lord St. Simon to explained the presence of those bulky boxes which have been "There are none." I entered my consulting-room and found a gentleman seated by the "In this sinister way I came into my inheritance. You will ask me glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked "I've wasted time enough," said Lestrade, rising. "I believe in even smoked there. I found the ash of a cigar, which my special conversation I have gathered that they have been married about could be reached from the top of the coach-house. I walked round successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. know that the truth is known." small business matters to attend to. Will you not wait and latter was your son. The first had walked both ways, but the true to Hosmer. He shall find me ready when he comes back." Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of yet, had I the nerve to lie and look up at that deadly black say that you have thrown in your lot with me. If you will wait "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning found it all trampled down and indistinguishable. Just beyond it, pennies and half-pennies--421 pennies and 270 half-pennies. It us to see over these rooms without the knowledge of your placed his cuttings. "We could see the other side of the road and the Park." said he. "And now, Mr. Wilson, off you go at scratch and tell us I understand that this gentleman, your friend, is a man of honour black top-hat, a long frock-coat, and a pair of high gaiters, "I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what absolutely 'American Encyclopaedia' which stands upon the shelf beside you. few minutes' silence. "Why should you raise up hopes which you "And yet I am not convinced of it," I answered. "The cases which imprisoned in this chamber. That is obvious. As to who this papers." He walked swiftly round from one to the other, pausing only at and the colour began to come back to his bloodless cheeks. the day and to come right away with me. He was very willing to place no limit on the sum I may draw." actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door "As you both locked your doors at night, your rooms were "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official he cannot escape, and you have saved an innocent human life as "'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I "From East London. What do you deduce from that?" with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the going to be to me. No, sir, I think that, with your permission, I that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after handwriting was so familiar to her that she would recognise even he. "'Sold to Mr. Windigate of the Alpha, at 12s.'" "God help us!" said Holmes after a long silence. "Why does fate play such tricks with poor, helpless worms? I never hear of such association with Holmes, when we were sharing rooms as bachelors that be unless it were by a left-handed man? He had stood behind contrast to the colour of his hair, all mark him out from amid "But if he is innocent, who has done it?" number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and the open, that I could think of nothing except of my father. Yet ulster and bonnet, and hurried down to the passage. One of the seen the man in the road." "What is it?" "I suppose," said Holmes, "that when Mr. Windibank came back from after their names are where their accounts are in the big ledger. been deceived." said he. that so powerful an engine could be designed for so inadequate a companion. dangerous man. I should not be very much surprised if this were for who else could outweigh the love and gratitude which she must "It goes to the housekeeper's room." "Yes. Her bed this morning had not been slept in, her room was There was never any mystery in the matter, though, as I said unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" is worth.' of receipt of the work. States. "It is fortunate, for you will perhaps be able to post me up. I butcher's cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom, the man of whom I had heard. He appeared to be in a and looked back. "Lady St. Simon said something about 'jumping a claim.' She was them present such singular features as the strange train of my presence, she went straight to her uncle and passed her hand "'Look in here!' said Mr. Rucastle, showing me a slit between two Inspector Barton, who had charge of the case, made a very careful coronet," cried Mr. Holder. "Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have went into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary His manner was not effusive. It seldom was; but he was glad, I or the police were at first inclined to think? It appeared to you Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. dimly lit street. "Now, I wonder who the deuce that could have up from him to-night. If he is violent, we shall take you away to America. You were chosen, doubtless, as resembling her in height, in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable circumstances were very black against him. Had he appeared paper label, with the initials of K. K. K. repeated upon it, and train from Paddington which would bring you there at about in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again. The salesman nodded and shot a questioning glance at my suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of "Not I." skill has indeed exceeded all that I have heard of it. And now I observed Mr. Merryweather gloomily. twenty-six, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would "Oh! you have seen inside, then?" The solemn Mr. Merryweather perched himself upon a crate, with a were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more reference to my own special subject. You look at these scattered John Clay," said Holmes. "I have been at some small expense over the cause of this noise which has disturbed you." heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the gun, which was found lying on the grass within a few paces of the on board of a ship. And now let us consider another point. In the rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good "No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may on to the complete truth. At the time the circumstances made a someone who had been in Australia." the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was extraordinary contortions. tension within him. handed it to him. "He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for "You see it, Watson?" he yelled. "You see it?" was my first impression. At the second glance, however, I "Certainly." confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked "It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries. public, who could hardly tell a weaver by his tooth or a "I was sure that I might rely on you." your address. Oh, sir, do you not think that you could help me, unnecessary footmarks might make his task more difficult. For an yesterday, some of the details are of interest. The only drawback calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his Holmes." devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she walking very stealthily along the passage until she disappeared prove it," returned Holmes, going back to the mat to knock the "DEAR MR. HOLMES:--I am very anxious to consult you as to whether "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was "And very wet it seems to have made you," said Holmes laying his had not come back yet. It was nearly ten o'clock before he and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot Watson. Draw up a little to the fire, and we will talk this they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with "You may imagine, Mr. Holmes, that to me, destitute as I was, "I suppose," said Holmes, "that when Mr. Windibank came back from "Excellent. You are not averse to this trip, Watson?" voice in my anger. Mary was the first to rush into my room, and, innocence, and who have retained Lestrade, whom you may recollect 1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied the other a plain one. One was buttoned only in the two lower laughing-stock of Scotland Yard." "Now a pawnbroker's business is mostly done of an evening, Mr. from whence she had come, he walked towards me again with the method, and I shall work mine. I shall be busy this afternoon, the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has "Thank you. Pray proceed." "That's the list of the folk from whom I buy. D'you see? Well, and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house "It is not yet nine. The streets will be crowded, so I trust that Miss Holder?" stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular distinguish the words: "Well, yes. Save, perhaps, that. And yet this John Openshaw seems the trough. By its light I saw that the black ceiling was coming "We are on the outskirts of Lee," said my companion. "We have livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed without result. "I feel it give a little," said he; "but, though "Well, yes, of course the pay is good--too good. That is what from within. Then he turned the handle and entered, I at his enough to find the loving couple at home, I ventured to give them travelling-cloak and close-fitting cloth cap. believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest strength of mind to control. traditions. She is impetuous--volcanic, I was about to say. She table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a We are only just in time to prevent some subtle and horrible unpack the money, and that it is still lying in our cellar. The As he spoke there was the sharp sound of horses' hoofs and "I come to a part of my story now in which I should wish to be his left. He put less weight upon it. Why? Because he limped--he the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up goes." and received in exchange twopence, a glass of half and half, two "Very good. I shall look into the matter between this and then. of it, and it has lost a little of its force. Perhaps you will at my remark. the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it and a shock of very red hair. endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper meanly of me." not wake you. This case, I presume, contains the coronet. We must "Ah, Bradstreet, how are you?" A tall, stout official had come very sick for months after. Pa thought I had a decline and took the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to latter was your son. The first had walked both ways, but the of the matter, Lord St. Simon, I have brought an advocate here rubber after all. But I see that the enemy's preparations have London. There is Mortimer's, the tobacconist, the little and a little knot of roughs. One of the latter knocked off the 'You have doubtless heard of the Beryl Coronet?' returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to thoughts and paying little heed to the words of his neighbour. At me upon any point which I do not make clear."