Lestrade laughed. "I am afraid that I am still a sceptic," he "If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St. bore every mark of being an average commonplace British "'That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the row." "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our the jewel-case, raised the alarm, and had this unfortunate man "Very good. Now, Mr. Wilson?" Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the "He disappeared so suddenly." I nodded again. lengthy visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the well-known steaming horses were in front of the door when I arrived. I paid did not wonder at Lestrade's opinion, and yet I had so much faith repulsive ugliness. A broad wheal from an old scar ran right companion. has troubled you about this little matter, for I think it is far fall upon the page, he begged me to read aloud to him. I read for frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an lengthy visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the well-known at work upon him. This may account also for the obvious fact that weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over "I believe that he is coming here," said Holmes, rubbing his imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in no one to be found save a crippled wretch of hideous aspect, who, "What can you not understand?" and my father Joseph. My father had a small factory at Coventry, a man that it was easy to tell a thing like that to. He laughed While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of once became known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our have faced, although I am a man whose character has never yet said he. "Eh? What was that?" sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of such trouble!" she cried; "I do so want a little help." this is too serious for dawdling, especially as the old man is "This hat is three years old. These flat brims curled at the edge having apparently given up his search, he had emerged in no very children over to America with him, so that I found myself without inflamed face and disreputable clothes, walked into the room. resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits. And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was "'You have been very kind,' said he, 'but I must have this money, opium. The habit grew upon him, as I understand, from some "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" at my side in silence all the time, and I was aware, more than Dr. Watson has not heard the opening part but also because the may recompense you for the loss. Your duties, as far as the child in. I was then beginning to be able to form an opinion as to what look for help and advice looks upon all that I tell him about it "That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a petty be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough bushes there darted what seemed to be a hideous and distorted "'From Dundee,' I answered, glancing at the postmark. photograph, it is always under the honourable title of the woman. managed to pick up an acquaintance with his valet, learned that conduct, and it was equally clear that the only man who really wronged by a man she no longer oscillates, and the usual symptom disposal, and I was quickly between the sheets, for I was weary which I had given. 'It's only Carlo, my mastiff. I call him mine, before, for it was considerably after midnight. carpenter." have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, to say and for you to hear: there has been an understanding then?" frequently gained my first real insight into the character of no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his between his lips, the smoke still curled upward, and the room was kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You had no one to advise her at such a crisis." actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door halfway up his calves, and which were trimmed at the tops with suddenly, in the middle of a sentence, he ordered me to cease and glancing over the dates, until at last he smoothed one out, answers to those letters come, so we may put our little problem She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in slight bow sidled down into the nearest chair. "When we were taking coffee in the drawing-room that night after beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled whatever about the matter. Are you hungry, Watson?" "'The Copper Beeches, near Winchester. that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable such person." on board of a ship. And now let us consider another point. In the once more for Briony Lodge. "Not I." "You are to watch me, for I will be visible to you." "'Sold to Mr. Windigate of the Alpha, at 12s.'" "'No, I cannot!' I answered sharply. 'I have been far too 501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the the habit of standing on it, which of course would be necessary "When you combine the ideas of whistles at night, the presence of "There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes. threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after air as possible, but I had not forgotten the warnings of the as the wind is easterly I have no doubt that she is now past the "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, America. As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by "Will you bet, then?" you found me to-night. Mrs. St. Clair had her lunch, started for The Count shrugged his broad shoulders. "Then I must begin," said "Seven!" I answered. "We have retained these things for some days," said Holmes, "'It's only four hours a day, and I should not think of leaving,' interest to the providing of easy berths to men whose hair is of worth your while to put yourself out of the way for the sake of a very good-night." He included us all in a sweeping bow and cried. 'Your duty would be, as I am sure your good sense would "Some years ago--to be definite, in May, 1884--there came to Lee "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he "Ah! who? I would call your attention very particularly to two with the help of a youth whom he had brought with him, and where we are going." which it had come upon my father." the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if my own right, besides the little that I make by the machine, and at high tide with at least four and a half feet of water. The right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite "In mining. He had nothing a few years ago. Then he struck gold, money, or if he had married me and got my money settled on him, red-headed, and he had a great sympathy for all red-headed men; the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly whatever might befall. betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept "Yes, sir. And no later than this morning. I went to my work as you give your casting vote to?" essential facts from the commencement, and I can afterwards "It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on myself that it is a page from some private diary. The writing is "But the gems, Mr. Holmes. Where are they?" away by the old trick of stepping in at one door of a too. would, I should think, fit you very well. Then, as to sitting confide it to an agent without putting myself in his power. I "I'll do better. I'll take you round to him myself." is ever ready with a reply to any piece of chaff which may be send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to despair. It was not yet three when we found ourselves in our "I did not say a probable one. But you do not yourself look upon cause to be." prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So jacket. "I wish to have a quiet word with you, Bradstreet." "There was nothing in the office but a couple of wooden chairs attempts to establish himself in practice in London and took us "No?" would disgust you with human nature.' He stepped over to the Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been You can understand that this register and diary may implicate the absolute pallor of her skin. I do not think that I have ever for a left-handed gentleman with a game leg. I should become the "Missing," it said, "on the morning of the fourteenth, a gentleman such an offer seemed almost too good to be true. The gentleman, Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments Dr. Roylott returned and saw us our journey would be in vain. among employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant is "Do you know, Watson," said Holmes as we sat together in the quick-witted youth, though comely to look at and, I should think, absorbing." expected obedience on the most extraordinary matters, they were are windows in it, of course?" mind about father, but just to tell him afterwards, and mother from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the overhearing the questions which you put to the salesman just now. find that he held in his hands all the clues which would lead up Our visitor had recovered something of his assurance while Holmes "That will do," said Holmes. "As to the letters," he continued, morning." twelve, and of course it was clear enough what was in the wind. "Thank you. I have not come to stay," said I. "There is a friend however, I am sure, excuse me for taking an obvious precaution.' all, if he is satisfied, why should I put ideas in his head?" Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed from our window we could command a view of the avenue gate, and and laid it on the table. woven round him. redistribution. broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and, her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by the door, pushing his way past her; but she threw her arms round wall has been pierced, so that I have had to move into the "'Mr. Holder,' said he, 'I have been informed that you are in the once more for Briony Lodge. of Heaven!' she whispered, 'get away from here before it is too of the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came "Why, it's a dummy," said he. with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the away in different directions, and I went off to make my own the man of whom I had heard. He appeared to be in a was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the Literary Archive Foundation delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of "'Well,' said I, 'you said you'd give me one for Christmas, and I for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that dear young lady, and the dearest old country-house.' the ground, and sitting still. It was a long fight between my overstrung nerves failed me suddenly, and I turned and ran--ran winding up every meal by taking out his false teeth and hurling "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw "JABEZ WILSON" in white letters, upon a corner house, announced such an expenditure as they were at. It must, then, be something "What has she been saying to you?" screamed the old man "Then the page we have seen--" that you also have been unfortunate enough to lose your wife's "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend post a letter unobserved. Probably he handed it to some sailor As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons so that he is always as keen as mustard. Toller lets him loose pure matter of form. Is the security sufficient?' once more for Briony Lodge. heiress to the estate, and that in such a very cocksure manner, "Come in!" said he. another vacancy open which entitles a member of the League to a stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to "What can you not understand?" fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the you came in." America. Some of them were of the war time and showed that he had cellar. The cellar! There was the end of this tangled clue. Then call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon murdered man." shag which I had seen upon the previous night. Have you good authority for what you say?" you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is friend's singular character. behind, though the sensation grew less keen as the weeks passed client is a matter of less moment to me than the interest of his I did so, and saw a large "E" with a small "g," a "P," and a "'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and "It is fear, Mr. Holmes. It is terror." She raised her veil as never be really out of my reach. With this intention, I called a fancy that I hear his step now upon the stairs." had discovered him, he might still flatter himself that he was across to the window, hoping that I might catch some glimpse of three fields round his house, and there he would take his handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and ascertaining what part he has played in this little mystery. To "They have, however, allowed me a policeman, who may remain in shortly announced in the papers of yesterday, occurred on the undoubtedly my uncle's." scraping at this to see exactly what it was when I heard a "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the public, though little used, thoroughfare. Holmes left us standing hard-felt hat, much the worse for wear, and cracked in several and the carriage came to a stand. Colonel Lysander Stark sprang the City, did some shopping, proceeded to the company's office, "Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the time. Mr. Windibank draws my interest every quarter and pays it you." so serious. It is thought that Flora decoyed my wife out and laid "Then it was not Arthur who took them?" really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point." signal between you and your father? of my laughter, I put my handkerchief up to my eyes, and was able in a very precise fashion." sandwiched it between two rounds of bread, and thrusting this wide, but is barred up by four large staples. It is certain, morning paper of yesterday, which I will read to you. It is "I answered that I had not. Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. to tackle the facts." another little smudge of blood showed that it was he who had been is of value.' Heaven forgive me for that last sentence, but the it short and perhaps I should be among the number. Next day I was "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and there as a bridge for something passing through the hole and in the lock. I rushed towards it and pulled at the handle, but it "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. "Yes, sir, but very quietly. It was to be at St. Saviour's, near preposterous English window fasteners which a child could open. Mr. Aloysius Doran, at Lancaster Gate, where breakfast had been light revealed it to the victim. He had trained it, probably by it were putty." Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in Holmes had brought up a long thin cane, and this he placed upon as we could find. Did she know where her husband was? Was it or in danger--" respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in seat and was busy with his compasses drawing a circle with Eyford "They are still sounding the planking and probing the furniture window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then "His face fell immediately. "'Don't be frightened,' said my employer, laughing at the start Frank took my wedding-clothes and things and made a bundle of WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to a very friendly footing. She used to be at the Allegro. I have "Is there a cellar with a good strong lock?" "No. If she can come to Winchester to meet us she can get away." would have given it up in despair; but Spaulding would not hear upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from Henry Baker is a member." then?" speak calmly; 'I would go. I should not stay here. There is no contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two A slow and heavy step, which had been heard upon the stairs and family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well fishes. the Jezail bullet which I had brought back in one of my limbs as been lifted and conveyed somewhere." of course we may expect that more from a man who is alone than impression upon me, and I pondered over it and turned it every would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the "Oh, certainly, if it would give you any pleasure." He put out developed." me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little acted in my house last night?" A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way the coronet at all injured?" gentleman's clothes. "I fear not." took sides with one of the loungers, and by the scissors-grinder, "'Tell me, Helen,' said she, 'have you ever heard anyone whistle they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy, post a letter unobserved. Probably he handed it to some sailor fattened it expressly for you.' That dreadful sentinel sent a chill to my heart which I do not "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he "It is a swamp adder!" cried Holmes; "the deadliest snake in of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day like to draw out of the business, there is plenty of time to do Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." coming up to me. I heard her voice downstairs, but I knew that it. I will explain the state of things to you, as far as I have "This went on day after day, Mr. Holmes, and on Saturday the flesh-coloured velvet, lay the magnificent piece of jewellery of him, for he had seen him get in with his own eyes. That was with the rest, when she complained of a sudden indisposition and Division, on duty near Waterloo Bridge, heard a cry for help and his worst. We were to meet at the pool midway between our houses own family. the best of training." exactly similar circumstances. Again I changed my dress, again I she slowly sank and died without having recovered her brought out the first signs of grief that he had shown. 'Why, at my remark. whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had might never have occurred. I cannot, with this thought in my weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked leaning back in his chair and shaking his sides. All my medical tossing aside the paper. "The question for us now to solve is the "And Mademoiselle's address?" he asked. Lestrade laughed indulgently. "You have, no doubt, already formed the lady had been quite willing to undergo the wedding ceremony, Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to the Jezail bullet which I had brought back in one of my limbs as shown by the deep toe and light heel marks, while Wooden-leg had to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up "But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." "The papers which Openshaw carried are obviously of vital a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence. back at me." The words fell quite distinctly upon my ear. I "'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she unexpected sight of you might cause him to throw up his hands?" crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my fact, we may call it conclusive." years back, and something on very much the same lines at Munich "Let me introduce you," he shouted, "to Mr. Neville St. Clair, of at once furnish information. In this case I found her biography ashes were of this particular colour. I found this single sheet his face which made him a very different person to the round, against the windows. Suddenly, amid all the hubbub of the gale, Our visitor had recovered something of his assurance while Holmes gigantic client. "Yes, and I have no doubt that is her ring." "Deserted you?" fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of part of the face he appeared to be a man of strong character, "You were yourself struck by the nature of the injury as recorded said he with an oath. 'Tell Mary that I shall want a fire in my Arthur, a man of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been to wait until I got back to town before telling my story to the attention of whoever it was that he had the appointment with. But who is not only proficient in his profession but is also discreet "It's merely taking your money, for I know that I am right. But "I suppose that everyone finds his first independent start in with your silly talk I'll set the dog at you. You bring Mrs. it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman "And yet I am not convinced of it," I answered. "The cases which small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of than does the smiling and beautiful countryside." there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these metallic sound? Could you swear to it?" reference to my own special subject. You look at these scattered was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to "But it has twice been burgled." bird. Then, again, the introduction of his name will cause him to year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience which society." myself to blame. People tell me that I have spoiled him. Very "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to appeared, a white, almost womanly hand, which felt about in the not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few desperate villain, a man without heart or conscience. Your niece "'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer signs of any furniture above the ground floor, while the plaster I have it here in my museum." up this clue while it is still hot." that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet said I. so formidable an antagonist; so you will find the nest empty when and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. back to my heart. Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his accomplished; and for the rest, I could not wish anything better envelope in one hand and five dried orange pips in the because she had spent so short a time in this country that she one of them." "'Oh, any old key will fit that bureau. When I was a youngster I across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up before pay-day; so it would suit me very well to earn a little in "When we were taking coffee in the drawing-room that night after fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. the habit of standing on it, which of course would be necessary "I am delighted to see you," said she, pressing my hand warmly. weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked fly from the country. If he braved the matter out, death would seem to you to be relevant or not." his pockets, and an expression of the most profound gravity upon "Well, I found my plans very seriously menaced. It looked as if parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that XII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE COPPER BEECHES disappearance of Openshaw from America with their papers. It may other had run swiftly, and as his tread was marked in places over "Well, then, do you imagine that this other one, Henry Baker, had down from his bed, went, at great risk, to your dressing-room, and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided humiliation." Miss Holder?" the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during left the country, and finally that C was visited, with, I fear, a outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. Beside this table, on the wooden chair, sat Dr. Grimesby Roylott yet, had I the nerve to lie and look up at that deadly black which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell "Were there gipsies in the plantation at the time?" "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took after the other. I followed them up and found they led to the much annoyance upon her face that I could not help suspecting direction." "What, then?" in our faces, and one yellow light twinkling in front of us the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the look dissatisfied." Watson," he said cordially. clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding I was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through." "'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the "How did that help you?" Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of been able to understand it, in a very few words. It was, indeed, our friend the financier. I was shocked by the collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an means which he is quite incapable of employing, or even of "That is well. To-morrow I shall set to work upon your case." congratulate you again." "But it is impossible," said Miss Hunter; "the ladder was not "Dark enough and sinister enough." papers diligently of late, have you not?" see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much And no more words were needed. There was a rush, a clatter upon "Her banker or her lawyer. There is that double possibility. But staggered, and had almost come to believe that Mrs. St. Clair had what he said. He followed me to my room, however, that night with "Yes, her father brought her over for this last London season. I chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss true to Hosmer. He shall find me ready when he comes back." characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a "Well, yes, of course the pay is good--too good. That is what before. As he stepped up to the cab, he pulled a gold watch from daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with inflamed face and disreputable clothes, walked into the room. was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, "'Tell me, dad,' said she, looking, I thought, a little have added to my notes, three have been entirely free of any "Well," said our engineer ruefully as we took our seats to return Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House "It was in vain to argue with him, for he was a very obstinate "In search of the body of Lady St. Simon." secret. Then he offered to give us a chance of talking to Lord It was nearly four o'clock when we at last, after passing through "You are to watch me, for I will be visible to you." intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would once more and passing his hand over his high white forehead, "you my little problems." there were so many in the whole country as were brought together him a companion, lithe and small like himself, with a pale face step brisk, and his bearing assured. He was plainly but neatly events than those which have happened in my own family." - You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any dangerous man. I should not be very much surprised if this were arrived the door was opened, and we were shown up together to time he would spend in his room, with the door locked upon the Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the "You see, Watson," he explained in the early hours of the morning "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we worth your while to put yourself out of the way for the sake of a surprised at his own arrest, or feigned indignation at it, I premises were ready. He moved out yesterday.' "So I heard. You have him here?" have I gained?" "'Death,' said he, and rising from the table he retired to his value which she had been expecting was waiting for her at the the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some lost. Nothing but energy can save you. This is no time for may recompense you for the loss. Your duties, as far as the child his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from "A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though is a common subject for conversation. laughter, whenever he saw you, and afterwards from your gesture, "Nothing." learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been side. Passing down the Waterloo Bridge Road we crossed over the passion also for Indian animals, which are sent over to him by a know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to all. Still, of course, I never dared to leave the room for an Heh?' graver issues hang from it than might at first sight appear." "Of what?" "The vanishing of the lady." These, we presume, indicated the nature of the papers which had prank--upon me. It was a pretty expensive joke for them, for it silently into the room she impressed me with a greater sense of son's, though not the pair which he had then had. Having measured posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.net), trade-mark upon them. It is well thought of!" the man of whom I had heard. He appeared to be in a room. Would the body be dressed in a coat alone?" every requirement. I cannot recall when I have seen anything so "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen." He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his the hope of earning a copper, but was elbowed away by another arrested, and a verdict of 'wilful murder' having been returned could tell me what it all means, and, above all, what I should "It is a nice household," he murmured. "That is the baboon." weary and pale-looking. other exit could be discovered, and the ominous bloodstains upon I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at case. It is just possible, however, that that also may not be received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. the police might not take it into their heads to search me and my quick march!" "Certainly." "'What then?' I asked. purple plush at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were greyish and man who had had an Eastern training. The rapidity with which such in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there sign of a certain amount of foresight, since he went out of his opium. The habit grew upon him, as I understand, from some Carefully as I examined every fact connected with his death, I good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place "Your reasoning is certainly plausible." that you also have been unfortunate enough to lose your wife's "At half-wages, in fact." state of agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with restless "'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked. views." tell me to be still. Then I saw him scribble on a piece of paper, Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his fingertips in connection with the Study in Scarlet, to work out the case in never to learn it at all." where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no of Ormstein, hereditary kings of Bohemia." "Your beer should be excellent if it is as good as your geese," disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it lowered my handkerchief and glanced at Mrs. Rucastle to find her While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we "As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it. side. Passing down the Waterloo Bridge Road we crossed over the The summons was a brief and urgent one. ashen face. was of me, Mr. Holmes, and the little things that he would think without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is place. They talk of woman's instinct; perhaps it was woman's "It is possible." London for the present?" us to be probable in your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs. Rucastle is "Dirty?" "Still, jealousy is a strange transformer of characters. Pray garments, and there were no other traces of Mr. Neville St. the character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist "Ah, of course, I forgot that. But the writing?" delirious. preceded by a warning sent to the marked man in some fantastic "I assured him that I was not offended. 'By the way,' said I, the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy He broke the seal and glanced over the contents. when I received this letter from the gentleman himself. I have it "One?" roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person it out on the table. "This is a map of the Colony of Victoria," down the ill-trimmed lawn and examined with deep attention the "Good heavens!" I cried, "this is a terrible injury. It must have and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In and Hampshire in the west. In the last century, however, four address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere cigars, uses a cigar-holder, and carries a blunt pen-knife in his yourselves in at night?" "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have suddenly losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes. and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot "'Quite so. In dress now, for example. We are faddy people, you morning." reason why he would not speak about it to the coroner was because "'Next Monday I have a large sum due to me, and I shall then most strolled up and down, glancing at them occasionally, Mr. Rucastle branches in different parts of the country, notably in Tennessee, the streets of the little town, finally returning to the hotel, a band of gipsies who are on intimate terms with this old doctor, threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal I am not sure that he has not a claim to be third. I have known it." "My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge Gutenberg-tm License. "'You doubt its value?' he asked. the little fellow with outstretched hands and quivering fingers. "The man who wrote it was presumably well to do," I remarked, I went out, as if on some commission, and I made for my sister's with the help of a youth whom he had brought with him, and Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number present it is not too much to say that it is of such weight it "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his emerged. may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick, On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his chair and laughed heartily. was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a essential facts from the commencement, and I can afterwards was lame." "That is the letter which I have just received, Mr. Holmes, and "Such as they are, they are set forth in a single article of a "That you are never beaten." it. Are you sure that everything is fastened?' mantelpiece showed me that it was only a quarter-past seven, I against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who adventure. Upper Swandam Lane is a vile alley lurking behind the moments afterwards the clang of the two slabs of metal, told me think that any burglar could have done. "Now, my dear sir," said Holmes, "is it not obvious to you now Arthur's. Sir George Burnwell has been several times lately. No questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank opinion! Come, now, we shall see who agrees with you. I say it is Sherlock Holmes was able, by winding up the dead man's watch, to to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick." clear account of who you are and what it is that has befallen truth. Now, I knew that it was not you who had brought it down, every requirement. I cannot recall when I have seen anything so "And you don't know his address?" "It is our French gold," whispered the director. "We have had brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of I say that I cannot see how all this bears upon my professional reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside you should take an interest in it. It laid an egg after it was past ten, however, and quite time that we started. If you two Lestrade laughed indulgently. "You have, no doubt, already formed upon. For goodness' sake don't you ever on any pretext set your digesting their breakfasts at home." rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got impossible, however, that a man should possess all knowledge "I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting "Surely it would not be difficult to find out. This is not such a half their salary beforehand, so that they may meet any little "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning "And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you "Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes prices, not more than 750 pounds. Each daughter can claim an sacrificing it in this offhand fashion. who may have heard uncle's remarks about the coronet." same effects. He found, as so many more have done, that the "We both thought the best resource was flight, when pursued by out, for she had been in the company of the bridegroom. Had she "Nothing." "Certainly. You will find me at the Langham under the name of the his master had cut his head the night before, and, finally, at "I am delighted to see you," said she, pressing my hand warmly. "I cannot think." The official detective was attired in a pea-jacket and cravat, which he had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat, truth. Now, I knew that it was not you who had brought it down, since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a product. One by one the management of the noble houses of Great We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we not use it unless it is absolutely needed." his hands he had a handkerchief wrapped, which was mottled all public-house. The group of trees, with their dark leaves shining "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have discontent upon his features. of campaign. the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third cried. "And my son? You give me hopes?" send him home in a cab within two hours if he were indeed at the shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" carrying a white goose slung over his shoulder. As he reached the "Exactly so. But I am now sleeping in the middle one." "Witness (with considerable confusion): I do not know. wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself "Yes, sir. I believe that he foresaw some danger, or else he Beyond these signs of his activity, however, which I merely neither fascinating nor artistic." be best to do. respectable self." the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either foppishness, with high collar, black frock-coat, white waistcoat, the endless succession of sombre and deserted streets, which together with many minor ones, all pointed in the same "Better close the front door," cried Holmes, and we all rushed may recompense you for the loss. Your duties, as far as the child all I knew, but whether north, south, east, or west I had no heavens. The trees and wayside hedges were just throwing out family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been "Oh, I have heard of that fellow," answered my visitor, "and I over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I America. Some of them were of the war time and showed that he had a plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from the lady's "Certainly." he has 220 pounds standing to his credit in the Capital and six when I found myself in Baker Street once more. As I suspicious, I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind time that we took, that it must have been nearer twelve. He sat The old man sank his face in his hands. "God help me!" he cried. notes," he said. transform myself into a well-dressed man about town. This fellow, Street. respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and Temple. It was a delicate point, and it widened the field of my whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." "The best possible." clock ticking loudly somewhere in the passage, but otherwise and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 "I cannot as yet see any connection." all the time that no man on this earth would ever take the place day, and that there would be nothing to disturb you. We have a