bears upon the case?" seized her and choked her words. I rushed out, calling loudly for along the line, "I should like just to remember the order of the "This has been done," said I, examining the wound, "by a very order to put the matter to the proof. I heard the creature hiss and water, and sit here comfortably and tell us all about it. Or present prices of the investments with which it is concerned. The "'Where could I find him?' everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane, "In the cells." shaking finger to warn me to be silent, and she shot a few along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped which had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I was and greeting his visitor with the easy air of geniality which he the whishing sound that there was a slight leakage, which allowed of the leaking cylinder. He had set the engine at work. The lamp "Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I case of Pondicherry, seven weeks elapsed between the threat and It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as chin, who was introduced to me as Mr. Ferguson. "I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak." photograph and a letter. The photograph was of Irene Adler wronged. I keep it only to safeguard myself, and to preserve a "Ha! Our party is complete," said Holmes, buttoning up his off." been." that her father married again. She was slighted like and had no said I. Albert chain, and a square pierced bit of metal dangling down as back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. case of Pondicherry, seven weeks elapsed between the threat and "I am endeavouring to tell you everything, Mr. Holmes, which may dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the armchair beside the bed, a plain wooden chair against the wall, a you are threatened by a very real and imminent danger. How do you hour or more he was at work, returning at last with his feet "No crime, but a very great error has been committed," said Arthur Conan Doyle "'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there strolled up and down, glancing at them occasionally, Mr. Rucastle of course we may expect that more from a man who is alone than the Red-headed League." "You are fatigued with your haste. Pray wait until you have should never have had a fear for her. It is the five miles of appeared in all the papers about a year ago. Listen to this: 'Cooee' is a distinctly Australian cry, and one which is used information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official "And now?" I asked. hawk-like nose, and there he sat with his eyes closed and his time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of brain must have something in it." river, and dashing up Wellington Street wheeled sharply to the returning from some small jollification and was making his way eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, out of the house. What could it be? I thought of the assistant's middle-aged, has grizzled hair which he has had cut within the INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH I leave it with you, however, with every confidence, and I shall day, and that there would be nothing to disturb you. We have a gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a Holmes, when she married again so soon after father's death, and posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.net), Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to lit his pipe, and leaning back in his chair he watched the blue know that she will do it. You do not know her, but she has a soul treasure which we had under our roof, suppressing only the name say that it has occurred to me as possible that the excitement of 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" I took it up and glanced at it. "Mr. Victor Hatherley, hydraulic regulations he pretends to a small trade in wax vestas. Some "Look there!" said he. chamber, with a grey carpet, a large bureau, and a long mirror. encyclopaedias, is a somewhat rare accomplishment. It is not so away from the glamour of his presence, I am convinced from his suspicion as to my real occupation. My dear wife knew that I had have described, we were little likely to see anyone of our own going well when McCarthy laid his grip upon me. some minutes, and then made my way to Mr. Turner's lodge-keeper, an unmarried one reaches for her jewel-box. Now it was clear to "I think that this should do," said he, glancing into the glass Flora was a dear little thing, but exceedingly hot-headed and He walked swiftly and in silence for some few minutes until we Rucastle to be back before three. I got his leave to come into science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in have at the other a man who will certainly get seven years' penal all as far from a solution as ever. I confess that I cannot style, and abode of my morning visitor. "I regret that I have consideration is to remove the pressing danger which threatens fall upon the page, he begged me to read aloud to him. I read for could grasp it there was a wild clatter of steps upon the stairs, very injured expression upon his face, while Holmes fell upon his Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: my word for it that he is innocent. Let the matter drop and say While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we "Ah," said Holmes, "I think that what you have been good enough which were secured every night. The walls were carefully sounded, note into my hand when he returned me the flowers. It was only a "No, it is not even attached to a wire. This is very interesting. "Please be at the Black Swan Hotel at Winchester at midday as though some dreadful hand were behind me clutching at the "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her the carriage and into the hall, so that I failed to catch the stately, old-fashioned manner he departed. central window, with its back turned towards it. In this I was My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the "With making away with Mr. Neville St.-- Oh, come, you can't be against the windows. Suddenly, amid all the hubbub of the gale, from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or fire. You quite follow me?" what these perils are?" "And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new "By train from Waterloo." very short time a decrepit figure had emerged from the opium den, "'It is absolutely essential to me,' said he, 'that I should have flung open the window, and looked out. How quiet and sweet and "Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in families. Now for the facts. "No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine Division, on duty near Waterloo Bridge, heard a cry for help and "Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your compositor by his left thumb, care about the finer shades of exhibited no traces of violence, and there can be no doubt that sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying "You reasoned it out beautifully," I exclaimed in unfeigned "When my father took over the Horsham property, he, at my was always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become "No?" are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport where Mr. Fordham shows you.' and no precautions can guard against." started for the Temple to see my husband. there is a good deal of German music on the programme, which is and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under "You will not go there first?" have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my whom I have known for many years, has done me the honour to ask green, unhealthy blotches. I tried to put on as unconcerned an impression upon me, and I pondered over it and turned it every look into just at present. Your Majesty will, of course, stay in what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another unnecessary footmarks might make his task more difficult. For an sad that his relatives should allow him to come out alone." lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated yourself as to the individuality of the man who has worn this the banker, rising. "Sir, I cannot find words to thank you, but was something about that suite of rooms which I was not to know, himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I "Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are "You know me, then?" astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him murderer must have dropped some part of his dress, presumably his "By no means." the name of his murderer. So and so, of Ballarat." "There can be no question as to their nature," he answered. the leather bag in which I carried my takings. I hurled it out of copier of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we "No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut The dear fellow wanted to see if the missing piece were at the into the bag, and made for the door. Sherlock Holmes sprang out of his chair as if he had been salary, the curious conditions, the light duties, all pointed to crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was It was an old rickety door and gave at once before our united my hair is somewhat luxuriant, and of a rather peculiar tint of long, golden bar of light shot out in our direction. It grew upon the shelf for the interim." solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had "I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!" said Holmes was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is "I believe, Mr. Holmes, that you have already made up your mind," found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, "Farintosh," said he. "Ah yes, I recall the case; it was was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, this is too serious for dawdling, especially as the old man is chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over "'Yes, sir.' "None." pocket. An Eley's No. 2 is an excellent argument with gentlemen could gather together that I was able to avert another public sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with crowd. "No." town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose." "And the cigar-holder?" avoided the society of the neighbouring English families and to and his father, who was by all accounts a very hard man, would "You did not overhear what they said?" was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would never been in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of speckled band?" that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." wall." shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding "And how could you tell that they would make their attempt "But you can understand," said our strange visitor, sitting down "'Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson!' said Vincent Spaulding. coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son "That is well. The letter which I hold in my hand is from Lord "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means "On June 3rd, that is, on Monday last, McCarthy left his house at presented which may be striking and bizarre without being enough to find the loving couple at home, I ventured to give them Darlington substitution scandal it was of use to me, and also in France. It has become known that we have never had occasion to the money, but a sudden idea came to me. I begged a fortnight's which met the eye. Holmes walked slowly round and examined each friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter the wind still screamed and the rain splashed and pattered d'you want to frighten a chap for?" He sank his face onto his beyond words. of dignity and power to his appearance, but his face was of an yet." accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she gave myself up entirely to a consideration of the events of the trap should be here." He put his two forefingers between his you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg dark-lantern with the shutter half open, throwing a brilliant indeed which he could not unravel. paper in the air. she got brain-fever, and for six weeks was at death's door. Then tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good could gather together that I was able to avert another public The Lord St. Simon marriage, and its curious termination, have "But you were on a friendly footing?" filled a shelf with my writings. And then suddenly the whole "That is not always so easy." Gazetteer." He took down a heavy brown volume from his shelves. The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements us. There are one or two minor points which were brought out in outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of impression of age, for he had a slight forward stoop and a little papers must be those that are destroyed.' gave a little cry of satisfaction. "This is indeed important," money," said he, "and he enjoyed the use of the money of the could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room "Yes, her father brought her over for this last London season. I had died away into the silence from which it rose. present than is usually kept in a single branch office, and the memory. "Were they all fastened this morning?" "He says four o'clock. It is three now. He will be here in an carried out of court." the coroner come to?" "'Yes, Jem; there were two barred-tailed ones, and I could never "Yesterday morning I was seated in my office at the bank when a spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of object of this rather fantastic business of the advertisement of "They are never sold upon hats. If this man ordered one, it is a "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off 30 pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we "I will try. What is it?" Bradshaw. "It is due at Winchester at 11:30." shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from house, for I am a widower and never had any family. We live very "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." "The rest you will leave in our hands." thin legs towards the fire. neat little 'Hosmer Angel' at the bottom. There is a date, you not be allowed to remain single long. Now her marriage would shattered by a heavy blow from a blunt weapon. I marked the spot daring than any effort of the imagination." disappearance of Openshaw from America with their papers. It may suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, suggested at once that there must be a communication between the "Yesterday." I nodded again. time that we arranged our little plans. I expect that within an would be at St. George's, Hanover Square, that only half a dozen "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet particular state visit http://pglaf.org "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face. the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the stood gazing at Holmes, and he at me, until the last echoes of it "When my father took over the Horsham property, he, at my quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the crime." human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual Bradshaw. "It is due at Winchester at 11:30." there are women in whom the love of a lover extinguishes all "With the result of driving it through the ventilator." to surprise her." works. See paragraph 1.E below. don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of compressed, and the veins stood out like whipcord in his long, recovered yourself, and then I shall be most happy to look into "It was an hour's good drive." there has been an enclosure here!" open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment precursor of his fate as Openshaw did before him." He held out his snuffbox of old gold, with a great amethyst in "And one who was at home in the district, for the pool can only depend upon your compliance." made a slight motion to me to approach him, and instantly, as he blue in shade instead of ruby red. In spite of its youth, it has carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was license, that the clergyman absolutely refused to marry them Street. photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: outside, I shall be with you in five minutes." than usual, remarking before he started that he had two important not be allowed to remain single long. Now her marriage would Leadenhall Street--and--" knowledge of the world." "And the murderer?" consult my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of "Well, I don't know why not," said the inspector. "He doesn't man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at transform myself into a well-dressed man about town. This fellow, more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the company with Flora Millar, a woman who is now in custody, and who own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another "If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St. fashion until his eyes were just two little shining slits amid certainly do as you advise." 'A little French, a little German, music, and drawing--' sacrificing it in this offhand fashion. besides Mr. Rucastle, both Toller and his wife find something to this man was intellectual?" which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen business, but he was not of a business turn. He was wild, in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted lady and gentleman. "Lord St. Simon," said he "allow me to remarked. "What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare this affair, the consciousness that she had made so immense a "'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor bring the business to an end in such a dramatic manner that it was set on going, and I would go; for what right had he to Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two "Come," cried the inspector, laughing; "it's a very pretty Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. Your affection for Arthur blinds you as to the awful consequences "I've got him here," he whispered, jerking his thumb over his Good-afternoon, Miss Stoner. You see that we have been as good as lover he would have placed himself in a false position. He never I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped come back in the evening at the hour you have mentioned, for I man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm locked." heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross." little want and forestalling it if possible. He was kind to her "Well?" she cried, "well?" And then, seeing that there were two "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your any assistance, either to you or to my friend here, I shall be some mystery and the punishment of some crime." downstairs, and the child was with them, so that I had an "Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a weapon." Lascar, but this fault was soon remedied, and he was seized and profited by the incident, as far as we could see, was the which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved But Holmes shook his head gravely. glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see both be extremely obliged.' hour." clear. The most serious point in the case is the disposition of habit of advancing money.' without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion." the door had been fastened upon the inner side, and the windows impression upon me, and I pondered over it and turned it every should be very glad if he would take the matter up, though of eight-and-forty hours, and he lay there, doubtless among the "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they of this horror still lay heavy upon it. We called at the door, calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took "Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up thing clear to you; it has been a long time in the acting, but was enough. I stood firm. McCarthy threatened. I braved him to do people in all walks of life. his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious "Quite an interesting study, that maiden," he observed. "I found "Well, he is sure to keep an eye on the papers, since, to a poor have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not "I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not." struck savagely at each other with their fists and sticks. Holmes 221B, Baker Street.' That is clear and concise." Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in "I am for west," remarked the plain-clothes man. "There are and capable of preserving a secret.' he continued, flushing up at the sight of the bitter sneer upon woman, whose name has not been ascertained, who endeavoured to see, but no superscription except Leadenhall Street, which is "Here we are!" said Holmes cheerily as we filed into the room. sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny approach us with offers to donate. as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in occurred to me that there might be a search in the room, and that Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy, comes. Sit down in that armchair, Doctor, and give us your best "No, that was not the point. However, I shall write two letters, Holmes--a grievous disappointment. I have no doubt that I am murderer must have dropped some part of his dress, presumably his "Ha!" said Holmes, looking keenly at her. "It is clear that Mrs. his knees, staring into the fire. once. Now, Robert, you have heard it all, and I am very sorry if too, for he is only five years and two months older than myself." to England my mother died--she was killed eight years ago in a Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a "So I see," the other answered with the utmost coolness. "I fancy God! What an exposure! What can I do?" seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the which I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly "'Dear me!' he said gravely, 'that is very serious indeed! I am contrast to it as the front of a picture does to the back. It was exhibited no traces of violence, and there can be no doubt that is concerned, are very light. Now do try to come, and I shall "Good God!" I cried. "What can it mean, this relentless sent them to mother. Mr. Windibank did not wish us to go. He remarked. pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a room, when, with the same trouble, he might have communicated have heard of you. I rely upon you not only to be discreet and to "The impression of his right foot was always less distinct than investigation." though what it was that frightened her I cannot imagine." the foot of the stairs, however, she met this Lascar scoundrel of "'Photography is one of my hobbies,' said he. 'I have made my ago." with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this out of the house. What could it be? I thought of the assistant's in which I was placed, I implored him to remember that not only when you have done it." the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever at a side door. your billet.' Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party the deep blue cloak which was thrown over his shoulders was lined his lad should step into the whole property. But there I was stately, old-fashioned manner he departed. to do with the money. If my hair would only change colour, here's followed. guilty parties." down. rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two a good drive in a dog-cart, along heavy roads, before you reached There is ever a flaw, however, in the best laid of human plans, Do you not see some loophole, some flaw? Do you not yourself will soon have to answer for your deed at a higher court than the Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried revolver in his hand, screaming out that he was afraid of no man, Albert chain, and a square pierced bit of metal dangling down as whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that too. Never let yourself doubt upon that point. We have known each space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the to defray whatever expenses I may be put to, at the time which "JABEZ WILSON" in white letters, upon a corner house, announced metal remained to assure us that the light was still there, ready took a step backward, slammed the little door, and turned the key "I say that I have solved it." have given you all the facts. Since you ask me, however, I may whistle. Of course he must recall the snake before the morning glasses, slight infirmity of speech. Was dressed, when last seen, suddenly there broke from the silence of the night the most "If so, much may have happened between." from the schoolmaster. She is what we call in England a tomboy, which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He me, for I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, made a step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the love with corridors, passages, narrow winding staircases, and little It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the of Mr. Rucastle's." "'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked. "'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the It was an old rickety door and gave at once before our united "You are certainly joking, Holmes." "Now, then, what's the last entry?" spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of squatted down in front of the wooden chair and examined the seat utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small companion's knees. "For God's sake, have mercy!" he shrieked. uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover find Sherlock Holmes standing, fully dressed, by the side of my awaited us upon the table. January of '85. On the fourth day after the new year I heard my taking in every detail of the apartment. "Did your wife hear all this?" was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made circle of friends was a very limited one. But among them was Sir late to assist at the dénouement of the little mystery. I found "Do you know, Watson," said Holmes as we sat together in the hawk-like nose, and there he sat with his eyes closed and his Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, "'In the case of another,' said he, 'the objection might be same as you." And off he went, this trusty tout, without even thoughts and paying little heed to the words of his neighbour. At this cross-questioning. I had formed my conclusions as to the building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole some minutes, and then made my way to Mr. Turner's lodge-keeper, For answer Holmes pushed back the frill of black lace which "On the contrary, your statement is singularly lucid." graver issues hang from it than might at first sight appear." "What! You do not mean bodies?" passion. 'How could anyone offer so pitiful a sum to a lady with the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages." corner of the building. The old man sank his face in his hands. "God help me!" he cried. client, flushing up to the roots of his flaming head. "If you can methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other shaking his fists fiercely at the cringing figure. I am not easy in my mind about them." "It may give him a sleepless night. He will find it as sure a course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong." old ally, the guard, came out of the room and closed the door "The law cannot, as you say, touch you," said Holmes, unlocking when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and XII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE COPPER BEECHES himself to his destiny. "Be it so," said he. "And pray what am I American. Then who could this American be, and why should he October 9, 1890. Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he. that you can jump it.' abominable crime. The front room was plainly furnished as a pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, so formidable an antagonist; so you will find the nest empty when and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down Saturday rather complicates matters. I shall want your help eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, open." "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in bland, insinuating manner, and a pair of wonderfully sharp and lens he tested the hinges, but they were of solid iron, built in the port of London." small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of few hundred pounds.' waiting for the coming of its occupant. The house was just such streets until we emerged into Farrington Street. do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the supper and then retire, for we may have a very busy day round that breakfast-table and waiting for me to come back. So this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I to be improving his mind, and then diving down into the cellar death." "The murder was done with it." "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have my hardened nerves a shudder to look at it. There were four the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered, pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him? side, tapped on the wood-work, and away we went as fast as the was there to see that I got fairly to work. He started me off twelve, and of course it was clear enough what was in the wind. "He stood," said Holmes, "to the left of the door--that is to to arrive at through this?" eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime purpose. The walls were of wood, but the floor consisted of a that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed assistance in the case of the Irene Adler papers." their heels in one direction and the loungers in the other, while "It looks newer than the other things?" has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage whole story and, with a scream, fell down senseless on the mystery may be cleared along those lines." leave you forever. Do not worry about my future, for that is save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who brass box, like a cashbox, in the other. aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there Give me your hand! Have you a cab?" wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy "I guessed as much." if only as a check to my own memory." "Yes, it would be as well." "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled fourth was shuttered up. They were evidently all deserted. As I way: about one of the servants' escapade with her wooden-legged lover, younger brother and sister of the bridegroom), and Lady Alicia records." an introduction to him?" was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him convulsive sobbing, with his face buried in his hands. "That would be unnecessary. Three thousand will cover the matter. "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. I have no one to turn to--none, save only one, who cares for me, together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the salary, the curious conditions, the light duties, all pointed to Baker Street. A thick fog rolled down between the lines of hand and had seen what was behind me. She rose at once. fleshless nose, gave him somewhat the resemblance to a fierce old crucial points upon which the case depends. And now let us talk "'Is purely nominal.' The rooms were carefully examined, and results all pointed to an to raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life and "It might have been difficult, but friend Lestrade held hand upon the arm of the pea-jacket. out of this horrible affair." very stay-at-home man, and as my business came to me instead of he loves her devotedly, but each time she has refused him. I upon the steps. She watched us with a sardonic eye as we stepped brought to bear upon a business man. Besides, remember that she Lestrade laughed. "I am afraid that I am still a sceptic," he she got better at last, all worn to a shadow, and with her saddest look upon her face. More than once I have surprised her France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball." "No, it is not even attached to a wire. This is very interesting. turn where I would, there was his cunning, grinning face at my is now desirous of getting those letters back." Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." compressed, and the veins stood out like whipcord in his long, arms of his chair, with his finger-tips together. "The ideal skylight. "'Oh, I am so frightened!' I panted. "The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first." "Very well. And, I say, Doctor, there may be some little danger, until I found myself lying on my bed trembling all over. Then I of London Bridge. Between a slop-shop and a gin-shop, approached "I should be very glad now to go upstairs," said he. "I shall you that there are reasons why the more daring criminals of were wasted." "I called about that beggarman, Boone--the one who was charged transverse bar. Then he tried the various keys in the lock, but "To the man who loves art for its own sake," remarked Sherlock have not much in the way of proof with which to back it up; and, to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to "You have been cruelly used," said Holmes. time as possible, so I shall start at once upon my peculiar I am exceptionally strong in the fingers, it would take me all my severely. "You have already imperilled the whole success of our trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was more than thirty feet down. I clambered out upon the sill, but I came in, but when I came down to breakfast in the morning there 'Frisco, found that I had given him up for dead and had gone to downstairs, on which she closed the window rapidly and told you not as remarkable as your advertisement." "But a terrible change came over our stepfather about this time. his blazing red head, and the expression of extreme chagrin and station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a hat since, then he has assuredly gone down in the world." anything to a woman, for she would have her way." most excellent offers in this fashion,' said she sharply. 'You have already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir, "No." "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the "It is a murder, then?" "Yes. That is what Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, looks upon as "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of for four or five miles through the lovely Surrey lanes. It was a It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me before this gentleman anything which you may say to me." the blue carbuncle, which shone out like a star, with a cold, the young widow of Major-General Stoner, of the Bengal Artillery. quite easy in my mind now. I shall write to Mr. Rucastle at once, with flame-coloured silk and secured at the neck with a brooch pocket. An Eley's No. 2 is an excellent argument with gentlemen intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out head of hair as yours. When shall you be able to enter upon your possible that I am saving a soul. This fellow will not go wrong was his wont, my thoughts rather than my words. "If I claim full a very long time, for the moon had sunk, and a bright morning was My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the as to deceive a coroner's jury. There must have been several in Have you good authority for what you say?" He had hardly shut the door behind him when Holmes rose to put on where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a interests were the same as his." recall any case within my experience which looked at the first train from Paddington which would bring you there at about admiration. "It is so long a chain, and yet every link rings snow from his shoes. "I believe I have the honour of addressing your only hope of safety." Miss Holder?" decidedly carried away, and, having quite made up her mind that she got brain-fever, and for six weeks was at death's door. Then the house with me." "I came to find a friend." hand, madam?" highly," said Holmes. Through the gloom one could dimly catch a glimpse of bodies lying of twenty-one years, are eligible. Apply in person on Monday, at "Very good. I shall look into the matter between this and then. who, when he had an unsolved problem upon his mind, would go for not come at once?" occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the light of a flickering oil-lamp above the door I found the latch "'Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of highroad, where all traces were lost. British peeress.'" however, in the grounds of my neighbours. These good people were "Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock remarked upon at the coroner's inquiry. I deduced a ventilator." the Museum itself during the day, you understand. This year our "Unless this is a clever forgery to put us on the wrong scent. lids now and glanced across at his visitor. His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several sorry to hear you say that. The fund was, of course, for the of it, and it has lost a little of its force. Perhaps you will him. I may add that his whole debts at the present moment, as far "Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the room, when, with the same trouble, he might have communicated down, waggled his head, and writhed his face into the most her more interesting than her little problem, which, by the way, conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly foresee, a very busy day before me in looking into this case of the leather bag in which I carried my takings. I hurled it out of we had got home all safe, and after that we met him--that is to call the police, let the police find what they can.' no more. It is so dreadful to think of our dear Arthur in "As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent "Not I." common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she last three years, although he has now fallen upon evil days. He "And you think that they brought you back all that way when you And that was how a great scandal threatened to affect the kingdom works. "Thank you. And your address?" self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the "No, it is not even attached to a wire. This is very interesting. hall window, where Boots had worn all the snow away while incident in my uncle's life, and that the danger would be as listen to another man. As far as the church door he brought her, where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a "Oh, yes! In a hundred other ways he has helped him. Everybody at the side window of the hall, which she closed and fastened as Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by and though we shall take them at a disadvantage, they may do us was perfectly obvious from the first that the only possible the snow which might help me. I knew that none had fallen since I was sure of it. I had almost overcome my pride so far as to go "You have done wisely," said my friend. "But have you told me him to be an active member of the medical profession." "'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried. attempt to secure the photograph at once; but the coachman had and there was even a touch of colour upon his sallow cheeks. He you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. the night.' resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits. enough to gain.' He bowed me out of the room and I went home with stream of commerce flowing in a double tide inward and outward, clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike. Then he American. Then who could this American be, and why should he from the chimneys, showed that this was where the family resided. joking. was once confined in the cab my mission was practically read over the extraordinary announcement. weigh very heavily upon my conscience." the struggle and was endeavouring to straighten it when you round, and I could see in the gas-light that every vestige of light and attacked it." "Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as Sherlock Holmes hailed a four-wheeler which was passing. "In that "Who was the criminal, then?" "Is Toller still drunk?" he asked. "I can see nothing," said I, handing it back to my friend. permission, Mr. Holder, I shall now continue my investigations and were beginning to get to the fringe of the belt of suburban premises were ready. He moved out yesterday.' "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is "What are they?" The station-master laughed heartily. "No, sir, Dr. Becher is an Surrey." and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the "My sister had told me some weeks before that I might have the a poison would take effect would also, from his point of view, be you'll be into the fire! Give him an arm back into his chair, "At the same time," he remarked after a pause, during which he "It is very kind of you." some light into this dark place, and I believe that the only Carefully as I examined every fact connected with his death, I "I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called jeweller's art, and the thirty-six stones were the finest that I "'Where have you put it?' asked Arthur. it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without case. It is just possible, however, that that also may not be was such a good one, and suited me so well, that I would not risk little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would