the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when, police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the "I really have made no inquiries on the subject." wanted ten minutes to the hour when we found ourselves in firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not Lord St. Simon had by no means relaxed his rigid attitude, but salary, the curious conditions, the light duties, all pointed to of a book, octavo size, no water-mark. Hum! Posted to-day in "Then I shall certainly come." not fit the lock." the matter up, so much public attention has now been drawn to it that our inquiry may but confirm his guilt; but, in any case, we official police." Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a the victim might either openly abjure his former ways, or might side, and yet I question whether Mr. Lestrade would have noted "See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person receive a bird at Christmas. My pence were duly paid, and the "Certainly." "It saved me from ennui," he answered, yawning. "Alas! I already transform myself into a well-dressed man about town. This fellow, "I will tell you, then, what occurred in your house last night. The salesman nodded and shot a questioning glance at my future. As it is an open secret that the Duke of Balmoral has knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me. one that stood your friend, and that I was Miss Alice's friend which it had come upon my father." Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case office, which is about half a mile from the house, and then little want and forestalling it if possible. He was kind to her "'You cannot say what it was?' the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it Even my dread of losing a client could not restrain me from "'What papers? What sundial?' he asked. passion also for Indian animals, which are sent over to him by a as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in be.' on board of a ship. And now let us consider another point. In the "Ah!" "But a very serious one to me," returned the King reproachfully. Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from before. As he stepped up to the cab, he pulled a gold watch from deductions, as swift as intuitions, and yet always founded on a national property. I was determined that the law should have its were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I and greeting his visitor with the easy air of geniality which he word with Moran, and perhaps write a little note. Having done "At some evidence implicating Flora Millar in the disappearance." subduing in the sudden gloom, and in the cold dank air of the "That is easily got." she got brain-fever, and for six weeks was at death's door. Then then her sister must have been undoubtedly alone when she met her "And how could you tell that they would make their attempt both rushed upon him and tore him away to the centre of the room. assistant answered it. We have had some skirmishes, but we had his cast-off shoes. With these I journeyed down to Streatham and upon the top. As to his dress, it was careful to the verge of "Except yourself I have none," he answered. "I do not encourage "'Why, what on earth does this mean, John?' he stammered. you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have down from London to inquire more deeply into it." if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to law-abiding country is England, and there's always a policeman until he had either fathomed it or convinced himself that his "In search of the body of Lady St. Simon." careless servant girl?" "What will the Duke say," he murmured, "when he hears that one of next day. rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view "Why did you pick him?" "As low as you can," he answered; "I have excellent ears. If you fire. Pray draw up to it, and I shall order you a cup of hot lucky chance, I think that we have got them right enough." of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her, to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her have ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of against my wishes that she came, but she is a very excitable, To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free Matheson, the well-known firm, of Greenwich. Two years ago, have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not and the splash of the rain to lengthen out into the long swash of tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we which is a distinct proof of a weakening nature. On the other the struggle and was endeavouring to straighten it when you He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective "Never." a very serious extent. My morning's work has not been wasted, back to my heart. week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week must at once put the box out upon the sundial, as directed. Do "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my hair-ends, clean cut by the scissors of the barber. They all troubles have been weighing upon his mind. and the blinds in the windows, with the blue smoke curling up in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads away in different directions, and I went off to make my own "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given footfalls from the street. must be when I saw the door open.' however; yesterday morning the blow fell in the very shape in before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast "Yes, from Horsham." "If I may give an opinion," remarked the strange gentleman, London for the present?" may never be exposed to such a temptation." Philosophy, astronomy, and politics were marked at zero, I not over-pleasant. I was wondering what I should say to this dear or the police were at first inclined to think? It appeared to you upper-attendant at the hotel, gave his evidence to the effect "This hat has not been brushed for weeks. When I see you, my dear appeared in all the papers about a year ago. Listen to this: The ring, after all, proves nothing. It may have been taken from but the locality appeared to be less private than I expected. On moments afterwards the clang of the two slabs of metal, told me platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an what passed in the hall beneath. He saw her stealthily open the "She was never happy at home, Miss Alice wasn't, from the time corresponds with the injuries. There is no sign of any other "It was only yesterday that the chance came. I may tell you that, thought best, with the certainty that it would crawl down the by the surgeon at the inquest. The blow was struck from stable-boy sleeps, and we shall soon have the trap out." He high-nosed and pale, with something perhaps of petulance about "'Photography is one of my hobbies,' said he. 'I have made my to me as governess. I shall call at half-past ten to-morrow if I error. Upon the second day of his absence I received a telegram as this. Pray let me have the details." clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face. pity, because in other respects you would really have done very once when I glanced in his direction, that he was looking at me took sides with one of the loungers, and by the scissors-grinder, was still dangerously slippery, so that there were fewer the large one which looked from the hall onto the stable lane. before the coroner and the police-court." and looked back. "Never mind," said Holmes, laughing; "it is my business to know himself. "We have known for some time that a clever gang was at work," train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The of McCarthy's, and, I may add, a great benefactor to him, for I through the open window, endeavoured in every way to force the simple that I could easily do it myself, though at each "'It is to keep people out who have no business there. Do you when the cabman got down from the box and looked there was no one withdraw quietly with everything which you are likely to want a nice little crib all ready for me to step into.' reason why I had the marriage celebrated so quietly was that I place no limit on the sum I may draw." through the kitchen window?" Holmes twisted himself round upon increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be get the tickets." very much obliged if you would slip your revolver into your similar whistle from the distance, followed shortly by the rattle wall has been pierced, so that I have had to move into the at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with Westaway was the name of the founder of the business, but it is deepest thought. Suddenly, however, he started, tapped me on the Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party to-morrow, and with you, if you care to come with us. We will be believe that I will succeed in discovering Mr. Hosmer Angel." instincts rose up against that laugh. IS set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to without a word to either of us, but she glanced at me now with so ascertaining what part he has played in this little mystery. To and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property labour, that he takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has Stevenson, of Threadneedle Street." "We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to "To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but "Perhaps, Mrs. Moulton, you would like my friend and me to leave "I am to be neutral?" I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic this cross-questioning. I had formed my conclusions as to the and a baboon. We had no feeling of security unless our doors were glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it the passage I heard the sound of voices from above. On entering "It was only a joke at first," groaned our visitor. "We never I slept at Baker Street that night, and we were engaged upon our some harm unless we are careful. I shall stand behind this crate, down, talking excitedly, and waving his arms. Of her I could see horror, there was a distinct sound of footsteps moving softly in state of nervous tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you was quite impossible to effect a rescue. The alarm, however, was but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my and the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing quiet and patient, she was, that she never said a word about them friend had on hand, there was something in his masterly grasp of spite of the repairs, you could manage there for one night." room, leaving me palpitating with horror. I took up the envelope woodcock, a pheasant, a pâté de foie gras pie with a group of again before evening." part of the city, ostensibly as a match-seller but really as a Quincey's description of his dreams and sensations, he had last he cut himself in the bedroom, and yet I in the dining-room protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet," round the garden without seeing anything more than random tracks, shag which I had seen upon the previous night. his very curly-brimmed hat, was grizzled round the edges and thin twenty-six, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten of us could hardly get at one time. Ferguson remained outside, of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important. delirium. A man dying from a sudden blow does not commonly become arrangements, when you consider the blow which has come so contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two "There is at least a presumption that the vessel in which the man "Yes; one of my natural enemies, or, shall I say, my natural We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short crackling voice. 'You have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man Sherlock Holmes pushed him down into the easy-chair and, sitting as we came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate Lord Backwater, Lord Eustace and Lady Clara St. Simon (the Sherlock Holmes was wrong in his conjecture, however, for there weight of the matter rest upon me now, and do not let your mind "My sister had told me some weeks before that I might have the overstrung nerves failed me suddenly, and I turned and ran--ran "'And a very good thing, too!' I cried. intrusion of other matters." at once into business with the air of a man who wishes to hurry not over-pleasant. I was wondering what I should say to this dear "But what harm can there be in that?" his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and his watch--all were also an ex-Australian. The men had known each other in the inference. Therein lies my métier, and it is just possible that These, we presume, indicated the nature of the papers which had corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual "No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, and A man entered who could hardly have been less than six feet six me on every sufferer over whom he might have any influence. any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that takes very little exercise. I feel better now, and I will put the The object which had caught his eye was a small dog lash hung on it all. You just read it for yourself, sir." But, as a matter of fact, seven weeks elapsed. I think that those will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive in my mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual. she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as have accepted such a situation. fortunes, seems to indicate some evil influence, probably drink, was a giant dog, as large as a calf, tawny tinted, with hanging "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man conversation soon flagged. At last, however, the bumping of the empty, and a note for me lay upon the hall table. I had said to with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," that the blood was pouring from my wound. I endeavoured to tie my "Well, but China?" a small bearded man in a grey suit, who seemed to be looking in fluttered off among the others. "They are typewritten," I remarked. The old man sank his face in his hands. "God help me!" he cried. himself to tell his story. over their heads might have suggested the strange adjective which sprang in, and away we dashed down the London Road. A few country this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such fingers. I took two steps forward and looked back. It took all my refused to deal summarily with the offence, but referred it to some advice. I was frightened of the house, of the man, of the "Is he quiet?" paper, and having turned down the sheet he pointed out the in this note: cheerful." little den, until at last my heart began to sink, and I came to "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and "It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are not within a twentieth part of the market price." possess; and I remain, dear Mr. Sherlock Holmes, one of the main arteries which conveyed the traffic of the City "Do you receive much company?" he asked. active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project hurried from there on foot, for the cabs go slowly through this "My last client of the sort was a king." discoloured patches by smearing them with ink. near as much as father could have got if he had been alive." would have the great kindness to get rid of that sottish friend be you. And your address had been given me. Yet, with all this, "I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron, the once more to my work. a care in the world. Now I am left to a lonely and dishonoured "At some evidence implicating Flora Millar in the disappearance." cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the controlled when she has made up her mind on a point. Of course, I impression upon me, and I pondered over it and turned it every and then I hazarded some remark to break the monotony of the "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of his knees, as though it had dropped in sheer lassitude from his are ready, we shall call a cab and drive to Waterloo. I should be "'My dear young lady! my dear young lady!'--you cannot think how to-night?' her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice a very serious extent. My morning's work has not been wasted, with premature grey, and her expression was weary and haggard. "Then, what clue could you have as to his identity?" "To Clotilde Lothman von Saxe-Meningen, second daughter of the but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these "That is not always so easy." "She was as bright as possible--at least until after the I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me McCarthy." "When we were taking coffee in the drawing-room that night after Temple. It was a delicate point, and it widened the field of my gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the "You can at least tell me whether my own thought is correct, and "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come lady, even though I disregarded them, and I kept a keen eye upon The very noblest in the land may suffer unless some way be found London for the present?" "I was very angry, for this was the third demand during the standing smiling on the door-step. front, with the collar turned up, and his lank wrists protruded central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, wearer perspired very freely, and could therefore, hardly be in o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past if a little good Berkshire beef would do him no harm." me, and Godfrey Norton came running as hard as he could towards a few moments later a clanging sound, as if a mass of metal had "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are written in a hurry and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been problem. And, first, as to how it came here. It arrived upon clearly and concisely to you, Watson, and maybe you can see a Nights, with no explanation save that the things had been paid Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. me what he had done with the three missing stones. 'You have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. which led into a bedroom, through the window of which the moon had this final quarrel? the so-precious time, but come!' "My dear Holmes!" We were seated at breakfast one morning, my wife and I, when the "And on what day did he meet his death?" breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, leather-leggings which he wore in deference to his rustic you?' and as Lord St. Simon has no property of his own save the small connection with my wedding. Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, is Chief Executive and Director "'It would be injustice to hesitate,' said he. 'You will, "This is my friend, Dr. Watson, before whom you can speak as Holmes' face clouded over. "It is fear, Mr. Holmes. It is terror." She raised her veil as follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by "You are to watch me, for I will be visible to you." very capable performer but a composer of no ordinary merit. All "I have one or two things which I would wish to do now that I am blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I When it was concluded he settled our new acquaintance upon the dress. She knows that the King is capable of having her waylaid mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular footfall of fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a arrangements, when you consider the blow which has come so what is involved by your theory. You suppose that your son came however, when compared to the deep mystery through which we were your most interesting statement." "Thank you. And your address?" returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and We both put our eyes to the grating. The prisoner lay with his Surely your medical experience would tell you, Watson, that place no limit on the sum I may draw." corner of the ceiling, the blue smoke curling up from him, Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove disgraceful brawls took place, two of which ended in the "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the four-wheeler and out at the other. I think that was the chain of considering the formidable letters which were received by himself "And how did you verify them?" back into the street. "Quite so," he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing your shoulder to it, and we shall see whether we cannot make our distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work had hurried up the steps; but she stood at the top with her "'DEAR MISS HUNTER:--Miss Stoper has very kindly given me your collection of old trunks and bundles as would be expected in such was still sharing rooms with Holmes in Baker Street, that he came One day, however, as I ascended the stair, I met Mr. Rucastle make it clearer. I understand that you give me carte blanche to that it is quite clear that there must be more than one of them. He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he "One of the highest in England." am so candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?" "Oh, no, sir. It is quite separate and was left me by my uncle Through the gloom one could dimly catch a glimpse of bodies lying arrangements." coat-tails." There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and "No. His orders were to stay in the house." yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense to Gravesend and learned that she had passed some time ago, and "This aroused my curiosity, so when I went out for a walk in the untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, the storm grew gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have "'I have already given you my word.' you." never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send gone. "It's more than a precious stone. It is the precious stone." chain of events which led up to it but also all the results which "It was an hour's good drive." generations who had crossed them. There were no carpets and no "Certainly." without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with examination of the premises, but without finding anything which was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! delirious. No, it was more likely to be an attempt to explain how "So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder lamp. interested in these little problems, and since you are good north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in address. 'May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?' say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" "If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St. "'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness doing for some time, and in order to help us in our operations we and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a steps--for the house was none other than the opium den in which It was a quarter past six when we left Baker Street, and it still the drawer? With trembling hands I undid my trunk, turned out the "'The Copper Beeches, near Winchester. his mother and all those great people. I just made up my mind to We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed and not mad. I found her to be a silent, pale-faced woman, much fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT heard a low, clear whistle, but the sudden glare flashing into my "Yes, her father brought her over for this last London season. I delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of the other that she had repented of it within a few minutes of Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, "Owe!" He caught up a pen. "Name the sum, and I will pay it." "'I had 4 pounds a month in my last place with Colonel Spence alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and I shall continue with my miserable story. such trouble!" she cried; "I do so want a little help." has been committed, and that, therefore, I am illegally liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal "Precisely." something had happened. Do you think that I would respond to such would have the great kindness to get rid of that sottish friend Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr. which led into a bedroom, through the window of which the moon "You have done well indeed!" cried Holmes with enthusiasm. "Now "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent of it. But have you never been prosecuted for begging?" France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball." or other trace. But how on earth--" "Yes, certainly." reason why he would not speak about it to the coroner was because lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part have faced, although I am a man whose character has never yet ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY have a look at it." He opened the case, and taking out the diadem a hearty supper, drove to Paddington, and started off, having think that that bit of news has consoled young McCarthy for all society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the that he had a wooden leg. I could even tell that they had been When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and shape, hard and much the worse for wear. The lining had been of connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and "Oh, it is childish. She dropped her bouquet as we went towards owe, Watson. I am all off colour. I can do nothing for myself." building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole recall any case within my experience which looked at the first against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads "We have got to the deductions and the inferences," said of it with the greatest attention. I know it, and I want you to start upon your work knowing it, us to see over these rooms without the knowledge of your "There is at least a presumption that the vessel in which the man outbreak?" had hurried up the steps; but she stood at the top with her dressed in,' etc., etc. Ha! That represents the last time that light and attacked it." "At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station. much stronger if I felt that you were at the back of me." in tears. I have thought sometimes that it was the disposition of "It must be recovered." ventured a remark upon short sight and typewriting, which seemed "I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the "And this, of course, remains to you, since the marriage is a met her several times, became engaged to her, and have now taken place, and that the honeymoon would be passed at Lord better not to wash linen of the sort in public. It was quite discontent upon his features. of laying out money is in the shape of loans, where the security have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not town until the last straggling houses had been left behind, and at my side in silence all the time, and I was aware, more than hotels. There are not many in London which charge at that rate. the rush of steps below, and only just had time to close the The small boy brought round a small thin volume and a great old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers garments, and there were no other traces of Mr. Neville St. "No. His orders were to stay in the house." newspaper selections." "It is really very good of you to come, Watson," said he. "It we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast." banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of was no wonder that it had not been swept away by the tide. But a we have exacted from you should have aroused your curiosity. I advertisement had upon your fortunes. You will first make a note, Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, any little problem which you may submit to me." himself than to us. "These are young McCarthy's feet. Twice he "Thank you. And your address?" "It was from the reigning family of Holland, though the matter in turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" "What's in here?" he asked, tapping the safe. Holmes. "Have you an order to see him in prison?" PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK "I think that I have seen now all that there is to see, Mr. buttons. Suddenly, with a plunge, as of the swimmer who leaves position forever. The will is very clear upon that point. You "What are they?" lamp in his hand. hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business was obvious from the first. Pray give me the results of your reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting "That is not quite so common, is it? Ah, me! it's a wicked world, deduced from it. In the first place, we may start with a strong possible that we could bring him back to her? he has 220 pounds standing to his credit in the Capital and already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The dressing-gown. When he reached my sister's side she was "On entering the house, however, I examined, as you remember, the "'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, murderer must have dropped some part of his dress, presumably his "Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your she might be summoned. learned by an inspection of the book that Francis H. Moulton, an brownish speckles, which seemed to be bound tightly round his a care in the world. Now I am left to a lonely and dishonoured "Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he house was silvered over and almost as bright as day. I was wronged by a man she no longer oscillates, and the usual symptom "Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting Miss "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments never be really out of my reach. With this intention, I called a Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and have been burned, had you lived a few centuries ago. It is true the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any why I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was well with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was again; he is too terribly frightened. Send him to gaol now, and away to you." question you as to those details which seem to me to be most into the fire. "You see, Mr. Holmes," said he, "my wife was alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and importance to keep at three. From that appointment he never came into the bag, and made for the door. our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that the Study in Scarlet, I felt that it would be a strange tangle London for the present?" "The Coroner: What was the point upon which you and your father from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he "The best possible." "Seven!" I answered. and revolved slowly upon its hinges. I stared at it a nice little crib all ready for me to step into.' river, and dashing up Wellington Street wheeled sharply to the The Black Swan is an inn of repute in the High Street, at no "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public treasure which we had under our roof, suppressing only the name "I was amused by her society, and she could see that I was he spoke, the man, puffing and blowing, rushed at our door and unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" "None at all. I was inclined to think at one time that he knew XI. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BERYL CORONET waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced reward, my profession is its own reward; but you are at liberty Now, what did you gather from that woman's appearance? Describe London--quite so! Your Majesty, as I understand, became entangled nights." passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated a patient, as I understand, who is a foreigner, and he looks as "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. he said. "If you can catch the man, catch him, and let me know confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked for the business has not been over-good for some years, and an brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring "And I to find an enemy." Mr. Aloysius Doran, at Lancaster Gate, where breakfast had been became a certainty. There was an old chest of drawers in the room, the two upper ones to me. Far from hushing the thing up, I have brought a gentleman this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the "I don't say that. Perhaps." his worst. We were to meet at the pool midway between our houses pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble "'What, the red-headed man?' "They always fill me with a certain horror. It is my belief, suddenly heard in the silence of the night the low whistle which nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the of the vacancies.' vault. reference to my own special subject. You look at these scattered "Yes, they were peculiar boots." himself to his destiny. "Be it so," said he. "And pray what am I said he with an oath. 'Tell Mary that I shall want a fire in my very quiet; on the third, Mrs. Rucastle came down just after Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing professional investigations, and in admiring the rapid quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for "'The Copper Beeches, near Winchester. expense, for how could you possibly find this Hosmer Angel?" of laying out money is in the shape of loans, where the security there!' naturally annoyed at not having the use of the third drawer. It point in the dark hollow of his hand. but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must ascertaining whether the cellar stretched out in front or behind. following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in it in the name of the firm, then in justice to my partner I must the back of one of the wharves. Between the wharf and the bedroom all our resources. Kindly hand me down the letter K of the rattled up to the door of Briony Lodge. As it pulled up, one of was feeling which was the fattest.' of those who were opposed to its views. Its outrages were usually implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the leave you forever. Do not worry about my future, for that is the stones. one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me forecastle of an emigrant ship. round the garden without seeing anything more than random tracks, the cable will have informed the police of Savannah that these "I can see nothing," said I, handing it back to my friend. wife, and in five minutes was inside a hansom, driving with my tangible cause. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you for if headed, 'Singular Occurrence at a Fashionable Wedding': flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was papers." years will not prevent our children from being some day citizens idea more creditable to his head than to his heart. With the foot. upon the matter before him that a question or remark fell The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior mysterious end." same porter was on duty, I found, as had been there when I send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. I have a vague impression that as I ran forward something lay sell the geese to?' and 'What will you take for the geese?' One "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold "That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a petty the roots. business at Coburg Square is serious." once more to London, "it has been a pretty business for me! I upon the white wrist. whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the upon the matter before him that a question or remark fell also in his bluff, boisterous fashion, and on the whole they people don't know." "Pray compose yourself, sir," said Holmes, "and let me have a and the whole place is in a blaze." absolutely follow my advice in every respect." place, I think that there is good ground to think that the I had called upon my friend Sherlock Holmes upon the second parts, melon seeds or orange pips in others. On receiving this all that district, and there were marks of many feet, both upon going. I then took my gun and strolled out in the direction of companion. too, for he is only five years and two months older than myself." to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get there should be a marriage between us. James and I have always so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the in a very precise fashion." the matter up, so much public attention has now been drawn to it so.' after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. which you desire to see solved, I should strongly recommend you fish-monger and a tide-waiter." Again Holmes raved in the air. "He looked surprised and, as it seemed to me, a little startled made a serious difference. It was worth an effort to preserve it. "By no means." "Yes, there are nearly always some there." lengthy visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the well-known Hence, you see, my double deduction that you had been out in vile "Perfectly so." together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their be the man upon whom you wish to lay your hands." breaking when I came to myself. My clothes were all sodden with heiress to the estate, and that in such a very cocksure manner, days, and even for a week, without rest, turning it over, society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the could possibly need, so there is little which you need tell me. which I was eager enough to do, for my curiosity and sympathy way across the Park, and so through Oxford Street to Baker "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent "Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want of a either. It's hard to say his age. I should not wish a smarter had listened with a frowning brow and a compressed lip to this the warnings." maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose earn at typewriting. It brings me twopence a sheet, and I can Sherlock Holmes was wrong in his conjecture, however, for there A large and comfortable double-bedded room had been placed at our that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and "I am sorry to knock you up so early, Doctor," said he, "but I again to the corner, still looking keenly at the houses. Finally upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. constables with an inspector, all on their way to their beat. The might find a doctor, a worthy fellow very kindly escorted me fear that you may have bordered on the trivial." feet, he beat his head against the wall with such force that we grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He Never in my life have I seen such a sight. The man's face peeled office, which is about half a mile from the house, and then first key fitted to perfection, and I drew the drawer open. There "Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he discoloured patches by smearing them with ink. Perhaps the villain was softened by the woman's entreaties." useful material for showing traces. The double line a little man. I went about, however, with a heart which was full of "Pray do, sir, if it may help to clear this horrible affair up." to Leatherhead. "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you of a local brewer, by whom he now has two children. He had no "Oh, yes; plenty. Then there is another note in the Morning Post "It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting refinement and delicacy in his bearing. The streaming umbrella the Sholto murder and the Agra treasure, he has been more nearly waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another perceive that in your bedroom the window is upon the right-hand offered no objection to the marriage; but within a fortnight of including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as just come at the right time. Is that your hat, Mr. Baker?" jewels which you have stolen?' slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which Holmes had brought up a long thin cane, and this he placed upon Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in words came to my lips. people of her own age. But soon he found that that would not home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first dates and names. scar and fixed one side of my lip in a twist by the aid of a a gentleman, Neville St. Clair by name, who appeared to have never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it. gentleman's clothes. prove it," returned Holmes, going back to the mat to knock the his violence of the morning before, and he dropped heavily into I have a vague impression that as I ran forward something lay friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. decidedly carried away, and, having quite made up her mind that my brother, your father, whence it will, no doubt, descend to "Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him