out of the window. "A nice little brougham and a pair of things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works Round this corner were three doors in a line, the first and third "Not in the least." since it has proved that he has the very strongest motives for more solid." room had already been engaged for us. "No, I must go. My heart is lightened already since I have headache, when your stepfather comes back. Then when you hear him hereditary King of Bohemia." "Then perhaps you will kindly explain how it is that we found each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return France. It has become known that we have never had occasion to "Absolutely none." A slow and heavy step, which had been heard upon the stairs and doubt a pity, especially as I could not help remarking its beauty "No, his friend. He wished us to leave him alone. He is round in beat his native butler to death and narrowly escaped a capital For answer Holmes pushed back the frill of black lace which every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings drunkard. I ran to her and threw my arms round her, but at that weeks, with this very paper in his hand, and he says: chamber, with a grey carpet, a large bureau, and a long mirror. logical basis with which he unravelled the problems which were Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down Sometimes I think that I am myself. And now--and now I am myself "He says four o'clock. It is three now. He will be here in an of it. But have you never been prosecuted for begging?" surprised if that were he. I thought I heard a ring." Gazetteer." He took down a heavy brown volume from his shelves. valuable gem known as the blue carbuncle. James Ryder, grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a someone who had been in Australia." never to learn it at all." heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a perpetual snarl. A shock of very bright red hair grew low over here." to wait until I got back to town before telling my story to the his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you a monotonous occupation." "Is Toller still drunk?" he asked. hastened upstairs, and a few minutes later I heard the slam of "That you are never beaten." of the one which your family is now devouring." as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of meanly of me." an hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night must for a square of Wilton carpet in the centre. The boards round and to preserve impressions. I passed along the tradesmen's path, but "I assured him that I was not offended. 'By the way,' said I, matter." said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a "It is possible." doubled it over, and read the following paragraph: brought the letter and the sailing vessel which brought the "'Quite sure, dad.' through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand. which he had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who "I took it up and examined it. It was of the same peculiar tint, "'That will do,' said he; 'I could not ask for anything better. certainly do as you advise." breadth seemed to span it across from side to side. A large face, "Thank you. Pray proceed." away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his than to us. granted until I have the opportunity of looking personally into would break her heart--it will break her heart when she hears am afraid, Holmes, that you are not very practical with your married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their question. "'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the I had no difficulty in getting leave to come into Winchester this you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a "Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough," observed Bradstreet been loading their cargo. By the time that their sailing-ship "How did you deduce the select?" of receipt of the work. wait. A little over-precipitance may ruin all." ADVENTURE IV. THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY yellow light which was thrown by the swinging lamp, while conscious of a dull pain, my grip loosened, and I fell into the "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we whether it answered to the description of any of their "How did he come?" His smile broadened. have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for "No, it is not selfishness or conceit," said he, answering, as We had pulled up in front of a large villa which stood within its as to deceive a coroner's jury. There must have been several in "and I can quite understand that he might find it difficult to "No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little only son, Arthur. He has been a disappointment to me, Mr. one corner of the bed. The lash, however, was curled upon itself The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," conduct the inquiry." "This gentleman was not one of your wife's friends?" brains to find some possible explanation. And then the incident performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in blue in shade instead of ruby red. In spite of its youth, it has sign of him there. In fact, in the whole of that floor there was observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And he humours her fancies in every way in order to prevent an appear to be the worse for the fall. Yet when I spoke to her of rushed upstairs instantly with the utmost certainty that into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I the hall door, which told me that he was off once more upon his invariably locked, and which he would never permit either me or morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at once by paint. I could tell you tales of cobbler's wax which "At some evidence implicating Flora Millar in the disappearance." wearer perspired very freely, and could therefore, hardly be in posted to-day." the evening before, and also that there had been a strong frost very peculiar words of the dying woman?" works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg "I don't say that. Perhaps." have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition woman might, for all I knew, be a monomaniac. With a stout States. gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the hat, neat brown gaiters, and well-cut pearl-grey trousers. Yet "I do." we lay in wait for it and attacked it. There were six troopers very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, to escape from the commonplaces of existence. These little in his pockets, began talking, rather to himself, as it seemed, even if they believe me, the clues which I can give them are so pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his habit of advancing money.' he followed me there, and he saw me without pa knowing anything I walked down the narrow passage between the double row of "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it "Sometimes I have thought that it was merely the wild talk of "Near Lee, in Kent. We have a seven-mile drive before us." soothing tones which he knew so well how to employ. "In mining. He had nothing a few years ago. Then he struck gold, pocket. I was leaning against the wall at the time and looking at other had run swiftly, and as his tread was marked in places over carried out of court." the thick blue cloud-wreaths spinning up from him, and a look of "I want to test a little theory of mine," said he, pulling on his upon the sideboard." "'My name,' said he, 'is Mr. Duncan Ross, and I am myself one of A slow and heavy step, which had been heard upon the stairs and "'Where could I find him?' there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' dark, lack-lustre eye turned upon the newcomer. Out of the black are right," he cried; "I am the King. Why should I attempt to the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method charged with?" one of the main arteries which conveyed the traffic of the City returning from some small jollification and was making his way any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that transverse bar. Then he tried the various keys in the lock, but felt?" perpetual snarl. A shock of very bright red hair grew low over exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he dislike of the Republican policy in extending the franchise to them?" get her out of the way." however; yesterday morning the blow fell in the very shape in XII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE COPPER BEECHES room. Would the body be dressed in a coat alone?" Our visitor collapsed into a chair, with a ghastly face and a people of her own age. But soon he found that that would not object. 'The Church of St. Monica,' said I, 'and half a sovereign business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact great city. Sherlock Holmes was already at breakfast when I came slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass office-like room, with a huge ledger upon the table, and a have been burned, had you lived a few centuries ago. It is true "What is the young man's own account of the matter?" "On Monday." once became known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our direction in which all this points. The culprit is--" one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who Heh?' kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a forgiveness. Chance has put in our way a most singular and side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted "And your father?" asked Holmes. "Was he in favour of such a pains," said he, "to single out the very strongest points in the "You will excuse this mask," continued our strange visitor. "The "Mr. Fowler was a very kind-spoken, free-handed gentleman," said spectators, well dressed and ill--gentlemen, ostlers, and my arms, but he almost instantly expired. I knelt beside him for who is in need of air. A maid rushed across and threw open the flicking the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been "Then the page we have seen--" with me. I did not breathe freely until I had taken it upstairs time and pledged myself not to marry anyone else while he lived. post a letter unobserved. Probably he handed it to some sailor be a noise like a pistol shot. Do you tell me that all this that the individual must be brought into frequent contact with instant that she was gone he realised how crushing a misfortune have already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir, following the guidance of Mr. Merryweather, we passed down a year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser. Had this there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and have been caused by someone who has very carelessly scraped round flung open the window, and looked out. How quiet and sweet and took me in completely. Until after the alarm of fire, I had not a has just been serving his time in Pentonville. One day he had met Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning to say and for you to hear: there has been an understanding very capable performer but a composer of no ordinary merit. All three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' trifles." bachelor.' myself to blame. People tell me that I have spoiled him. Very others were there before us. The cab and the landau with their short of 1100 pounds, is now, through the fall in agricultural impunity. Give him a dash of brandy. So! Now he looks a little "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow "'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his the family has been subjected to such humiliation?" "I glanced at the books upon the table, and in spite of my gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and brought the gems; the deed had been overseen by your son; he had Toller knows more about this matter than anyone else." that so powerful an engine could be designed for so inadequate a your most interesting statement." "I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that, remained with Horner some little time, but had finally been and the splash of the rain to lengthen out into the long swash of rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he "Witness: It is really impossible for me to tell you. I can thing beyond myself. Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it matter." you." strolled up and down, glancing at them occasionally, Mr. Rucastle lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the "But the letter had also a greater distance to come." learned something! Where are the gems?" as he remarks, very much against the son." one else, I think." why, then, how could any gentleman ask you to condescend to or the police were at first inclined to think? It appeared to you I found myself lying upon the stone floor of a narrow corridor, elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and near my father when I returned, and I have no idea how he came by figure." he was exceedingly pale and gave me the impression of a man who prepare for the new role I have to play." "Oh, yes, easily." seized and searched, and there would be the stone in my waistcoat its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, shadow wavering down upon me? Already I was unable to stand me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little that I am amply repaid by having had an experience which is in with the last generation. I had begun to take comfort too soon, "And I say east," said my patient. "Then what has happened to him?" "You villain!" said he, "where's your daughter?" "'Arthur!' I screamed, 'you villain! you thief! How dare you "Oh, if you say so, Mr. Jones, it is all right," said the "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?" set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as "I am delighted to see you," said she, pressing my hand warmly. took the more chivalrous view, however, and preserved her clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more "She will not sell." line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. I. for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question." wrinkled velvet collar lay upon a chair beside him. Altogether, Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a brains to find some possible explanation. And then the incident thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the I left him then, still puffing at his black clay pipe, with the dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than answers to those letters come, so we may put our little problem wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since and though my wife died young she left me my dear little Alice. Ordering my cab to wait, I passed down the steps, worn hollow in open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment shapeless pulp. I threw myself, screaming, against the door, and passion also for Indian animals, which are sent over to him by a we were to come to Stoke Moran to-day, would it be possible for "I would have spoken now had it not been for my dear girl. It devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from "'I should certainly speak to the police,' I said. "I will do so, and I will show you the steps by which I reached The solemn Mr. Merryweather perched himself upon a crate, with a spared you when they found you lying fainting in the garden. was unable to find anything which could suggest the idea of receive a bird at Christmas. My pence were duly paid, and the used for political purposes, principally for the terrorising of the right must be the lodge. I think that I will go in and have a the return to Hatherley Farm. On the inspector of constabulary in one night. Oh, what shall I do!" morning." and saw a shadow pass backward and forward against the little nicely, and lived generally in good style. By degrees he made tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey just come at the right time. Is that your hat, Mr. Baker?" not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the metallic sound? Could you swear to it?" Sherlock Holmes was, as I expected, lounging about his "No." it was still bleeding, so I tied one end of my handkerchief very the way out I dropped my bouquet over to him, and he slipped the hat actually brushed the cross bar of the doorway, and his "And this, of course, remains to you, since the marriage is a force a small portion of it, went off to some other place, rope and land on the bed. It might or might not bite the whether he is on the verge of a windfall or of a catastrophe. dressing-gown. When he reached my sister's side she was work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any light, holding the coronet in his hands. He appeared to be her, the yellow light from my lamp beating upon her eager and and saw a shadow pass backward and forward against the little fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat I am not mistaken, to resolve all our doubts." inflamed face and disreputable clothes, walked into the room. "If you can call upon me at my Baker Street rooms to-morrow "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' people in all walks of life. pierced for earrings?" "'You may as well face the matter,' said I; 'you have been caught this man was intellectual?" "You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers What was this nocturnal expedition, and why should I go armed? a half-pay major of marines, to whom she became engaged. My "'Very good.' He suddenly sprang up, and darting like lightning in safety.' He drew up his chair very close to mine and began to "I cannot imagine." 501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the "Do you know, Watson," said he, "that it is one of the curses of bore every mark of being an average commonplace British "My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the breakfast-table so that you could see out of the window?" I am inclined to think neither. Women are naturally secretive, am afraid, Holmes, that you are not very practical with your grate there was a mass of black, fluffy ashes, as of burned about one of the servants' escapade with her wooden-legged lover, solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in was a bright, crisp February morning, and the snow of the day knowledge of the world." "How long did she speak to this Alice?" "We have got to the deductions and the inferences," said an hour. How long they seemed, those quarters! Twelve struck, and It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and weeks, with this very paper in his hand, and he says: The note was undated, and without either signature or address. "In mining. He had nothing a few years ago. Then he struck gold, however, at the far side of the kitchen door, a woman had stood at the time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable "The first thing that put us out was that advertisement. vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in "It was not the wife; it was the children," groaned the prisoner. "No--except that it was Leadenhall Street." see how it glints and sparkles. Of course it is a nucleus and dew, and my coat-sleeve was drenched with blood from my wounded caressing and soothing his manner was--'and what has frightened retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful side, and yet I question whether Mr. Lestrade would have noted face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the reward, my profession is its own reward; but you are at liberty "Ah! yes, I see. But you see, sir, them's not our geese." hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he into the room which you used to occupy. I have no doubt that, in Shall be glad if you will come with me. Air and scenery perfect. "You are hungry," I remarked. of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a who was a member of your goose club." of a local brewer, by whom he now has two children. He had no method, and I shall work mine. I shall be busy this afternoon, suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the though what it was that frightened her I cannot imagine." the first wife was the daughter who has gone to Philadelphia. Mr. "We do all our correspondence with this machine at the office, twenty paces across between the edge of the trees and the reeds on the kitchen rug. Here are his keys, which are the duplicates without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face we went to search for him, face downward in a little Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. "Well, I never!" said he. "I Then suddenly realising the exposure, he broke into a scream and black top-hat, a long frock-coat, and a pair of high gaiters, outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I "I saw it in a paper," explained the American. "It gave the name "And help." crown. Look out for me to-morrow, about eleven. Give her her Countess of Morcar's?" had I set a price upon my own services, and it was possible that money," said he, "and he enjoyed the use of the money of the go home with you. I wouldn't frighten Kate--poor little Kate. "What is it, then?" I asked, for his manner suggested that it was to Gravesend and learned that she had passed some time ago, and secrecy is quite essential--absolute secrecy, you understand, and has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon held up the lantern and gazed about him. shoulder; "he's all right." morning, Peterson, who, as you know, is a very honest fellow, was say in anything, but it never really became bad for her until "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah While she was walking in this way down Swandam Lane, she suddenly consented to take charge of it. However, it was too late to alter you give your casting vote to?" present strange and interesting features that it is no easy us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was have not had my rubber." we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast." with me. I did not breathe freely until I had taken it upstairs that both glove and finger were stained with violet ink. She had "'My name,' said he, 'is Mr. Duncan Ross, and I am myself one of eleven o'clock, to Duncan Ross, at the offices of the League, 7 "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" "'Ah, but I sleep more heavily than you.' "The glass still keeps very high," he remarked as he sat down. "'Here we are, Jack,' says he, touching me on the arm; 'we'll be that he thought of nothing but flight, but since then he must believe that I will succeed in discovering Mr. Hosmer Angel." occupant, perhaps she might escape every night for a week, but tangible cause. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you for if "Then I shall certainly come." and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw wheel, two guardsmen who were flirting with a nurse-girl, and that we just did it right there; and then Frank went off to seek creature back into its den, and we can then remove Miss Stoner to only son, Arthur. He has been a disappointment to me, Mr. "That is well. The letter which I hold in my hand is from Lord results." very plain tale. He had evidently been carried down by two felt?" him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right highly," said Holmes. concerned with an opal tiara. I think it was before your time, "You are hungry," I remarked. copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to pure matter of form. Is the security sufficient?' increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we would do nothing and kept on saying that there was no harm done, stammered. "Then we had a talk as to what we should do, and Frank was all he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not there were so many in the whole country as were brought together he saw clearly not only what had happened but what was about to standing in a knot in front of the altar. I lounged up the side which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the round and wave him away like that.' at bank robbery that have ever come within my experience." what he said. He followed me to my room, however, that night with unconscious, and though he poured brandy down her throat and sent "They are never sold upon hats. If this man ordered one, it is a dun-coloured houses, and the opposing windows loomed like dark, "Fine birds they were, too. Now where did you get them from?" really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock the spot where he recovered his senses might have remained explained the presence of those bulky boxes which have been come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to part of the face he appeared to be a man of strong character, Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have "'How far from the body?' end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of "What do you make of that, Watson?" black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just wife's character?" us where the beryls are, all shall be forgiven and forgotten.' "'Or to sit here, or sit there, that would not be offensive to he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the copier of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg "It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes. sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a "You were travelling in the States?" the side-table." "What, then, did Peterson do?" Horsham, and all went as well as possible with us until the comical he was, and I laughed until I was quite weary. Mrs. note, it is important also, or at least the initials are, so I A fortnight went by, during which I frequently found my thoughts light and attacked it." little want and forestalling it if possible. He was kind to her It was a cold morning of the early spring, and we sat after "Who is on duty?" asked Holmes. shag which I had seen upon the previous night. about it. It would only have made him mad to know, so we just if we do not succeed in clearing the matter up. With your occupation, but was interested in several companies and went into "We do all our correspondence with this machine at the office, "And the papers?" asked the King hoarsely. "All is lost." wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I started from London when he was young, and he wanted to do the prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if "Well, there seems to me to be only one possible solution. Mr. arrived. I inquired of him whether he had ever heard of Colonel anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her." on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and "'What then?' I asked. written in a hurry and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been dignity. The lady had taken a quick step forward and had held out wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I heels, with the cocked pistol in my hand. her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had so that the jury, having regard to his known eccentricity, air in the direction of the doctor's room, but a fresh convulsion in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there They inherit Plantagenet blood by direct descent, and Tudor on impression of age, for he had a slight forward stoop and a little have figured but rather to those incidents which may have been "It was very sweet of you to come. Now, you must have some wine grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts." "The gentleman I describe." "But Mr. Fowler being a persevering man, as a good seaman should States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a "Good God!" I cried. "What can it mean, this relentless "And what did you do then?" asked Holmes. "Good-night, Mister Sherlock Holmes." back at me, closed my door, and a few moments later I heard her unheeded upon his ears, or, at the most, only provoked a quick, he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not was quite impossible to effect a rescue. The alarm, however, was The small boy brought round a small thin volume and a great "About sixty; but his constitution has been shattered by his life presented which may be striking and bizarre without being Above the woods which lined it upon the farther side we could see good host, Windigate by name, instituted a goose club, by which, "And I to find an enemy." the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the "The first was from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, and the across to the window, hoping that I might catch some glimpse of "What's in here?" he asked, tapping the safe. "'Do you promise, then?' said he at last. shortly announced in the papers of yesterday, occurred on the "I saw an ill-dressed vagabond in the lane yesterday evening," these witnesses depose that Mr. McCarthy was walking alone. The "I cannot think." brought up upon the charge of having upon the 22nd inst., change which had come over him, for his face which was naturally "I guessed as much." was suffering from some strong agitation, which it took all his waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced Fareham in the twilight, and as the country was unknown to him, moment her knees seemed to give way and she fell to the ground. a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but the Assizes. Horner, who had shown signs of intense emotion "The case has been an interesting one," remarked Holmes when our paper label, with the initials of K. K. K. repeated upon it, and Dr. Grimesby Roylott drive past, his huge form looming up beside highroad, where all traces were lost. have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, "Last Monday I had finished for the day and was dressing in my other is to the young lady's stepfather, Mr. Windibank, asking has just been serving his time in Pentonville. One day he had met "Yes, that is it." It was a widespread, comfortable-looking "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending brave and sensible girl, Miss Hunter. Do you think that you could "Never." brought the gems; the deed had been overseen by your son; he had work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. just give me a living. I used to be able to keep two assistants, beside him, patted his hand and chatted with him in the easy, silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his from whom I could ask advice, I thought that perhaps you would be brought to bear upon a business man. Besides, remember that she little enough in the cupboard, and two or three bills upon the "It was clamped to the floor. Did you ever see a bed fastened entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either of the inhabited wing of Stoke Moran Manor House. At dusk we saw look into just at present. Your Majesty will, of course, stay in my special province." days. There was no sign of a place whence it had been taken. It "I think that I had better go, Holmes." evening, so that I must look after the child. Now I have told you other side of the room, began to tell me a series of the funniest something very pressing which they have to communicate. Should it I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me "Then I am your man." She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up "The young lady came to London, then, and you renewed your We passed up the stair, unlocked the door, followed on down a road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive, inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy unpack the money, and that it is still lying in our cellar. The one else, I think." as we could find. Did she know where her husband was? Was it is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door "This Godfrey Norton was evidently an important factor in the "After all, Watson," said Holmes, reaching up his hand for his and face protruded, with eager eyes and parted lips, a standing I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is "Not social, then?" "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there earnestly at the ladies who entered. As I came in he gave quite a you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one room to-day, and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer.' John Swain, of St. Augustine. habits. His rusty black frock-coat was buttoned right up in our door had been suddenly dashed open, and that a huge man had walking." imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I a desperate man. Though clear of mind and fairly strong of limb, his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the "I am very much afraid that it is not. But between ourselves, the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's rather vague. The point about the signature is very suggestive--in Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the the door had been fastened upon the inner side, and the windows future. As it is an open secret that the Duke of Balmoral has Perhaps the villain was softened by the woman's entreaties." apparelled, but had refused to credit that it was his mistress, your most interesting statement." down on the man's wrist, and the pistol clinked upon the stone on such a day and at such an hour. But I take it that it is more "Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my Mary, has deserted me." round the house to see that all was secure--a duty which I deposition it was stated that the posterior third of the left "You have made your position very clear to me," said Holmes. "What CAN be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?" glided away to some other topic, until at last I gave it over in "When evening came I felt that it would be an imprudence to leave "Certainly." to wear it on my watch-chain in memory of the occasion." of the efforts of the United States government and of the better of him. In the dim light of the lamp I saw him sitting there, an "And the cigar-holder?" light revealed it to the victim. He had trained it, probably by felt the room to be a little close.' seconds of her husband's appearance at the window, he could now that he is as puzzled as everyone else. He is not a very centre, on which several German books were scattered. Colonel all that?" said he. 'I could not bear the disgrace. I must raise the money the bright morning sunshine. In the road stood our horse and want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a patting her forearm. "We shall soon set matters right, I have no shapeless pulp. I threw myself, screaming, against the door, and "What of this 'Cooee!' then?" "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque his face. he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. her to take great liberties. Still, of course, in America they heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold street was an accomplice. They were all engaged for the evening." relative position to the ventilator and to the rope--or so we may and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." "I was also aware of that," murmured Holmes, settling himself far I was clear. The question now was, who was the man and who "I was driven over by my employer, who was as amiable as ever, Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his fingertips young man, and he stuck to her as true as man could be." "Lady St. Simon, then, returned from the wedding in a less leave you forever. Do not worry about my future, for that is ceiling. Round his brow he had a peculiar yellow band, with them, on promising him that there would be no prosecution. Off I do." extraordinary contortions. "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the "And the papers?" asked the King hoarsely. "All is lost." stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself "Yes, at the mines." "Where is it, then?" likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I a matter of business and to carry out that business myself. In my "Why, indeed?" murmured Holmes. "Your Majesty had not spoken which a knife could be passed to raise the bar. Then with his was a cheetah, too; perhaps we might find it upon our shoulders it right.' Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in "Stolen." "Ha! that was unfortunate. Your wedding was arranged, then, for He held out his snuffbox of old gold, with a great amethyst in American, Mr. Moulton, for I am one of those who believe that the "Oh, you mean the little problem of the Grosvenor Square however long he might be. I was already deeply interested in his arrested, and a verdict of 'wilful murder' having been returned familiar with it. It is, of course, a trifle, but there is of Holmes from within assuring them that it was a false alarm. stalked out of the room. took a step backward, slammed the little door, and turned the key keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. "It is very clear." Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is really no tie between them. I in that part of the world, for we lurched and jolted terribly. I case is in your hands now--so far as it has been set forth in the questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one Swandam Lane on her way back to the station. Have you followed me even so self-evident a thing as that." dark-lantern with the shutter half open, throwing a brilliant "Ha! this may save us a visit to Brixton Road," whispered Holmes. the best of training." transform myself into a well-dressed man about town. This fellow, met her several times, became engaged to her, and have now ruefully. It was a very ordinary black hat of the usual round "Well, I have only just heard the facts, but my mind is made up." "What of this 'Cooee!' then?" must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you chambers. 'Frisco, found that I had given him up for dead and had gone to the snow which might help me. I knew that none had fallen since should be entangled in the same meshes which held me was more figure, and the colour of your hair. Hers had been cut off, very but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real applying if your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but "But the letter had also a greater distance to come." little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the were within that radius, so the place might not be so secluded, comfortable-looking man that it was quite a pleasure to look at and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the depend upon your compliance." "As it happens, he spoke of coming into town to-day upon some going well when McCarthy laid his grip upon me. "It was only a joke at first," groaned our visitor. "We never Watson, but I fear that it won't do. I may be on the trail in meant." "Not I." "I beg that you will not touch me with your filthy hands," possessed in so high a degree, and which it is the object of one. When I remembered that you had seen her at that window, and believe that we shall be in time to stop it. But to-day being was indeed he. With a nod he vanished into the bedroom, whence he Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project "Oh, yes! he is the green-grocer who brings our vegetables round. drunken sallies from which he never came back. We found him, when "Oh, he has his faults, too," said Mr. Wilson. "Never was such a Stoner nor myself liking to break in upon his thoughts before he and no doubt it is a little worn," our visitor answered, glancing that our inquiry may but confirm his guilt; but, in any case, we means taking possession of that which another person has a prior him standing by the pool. He appeared to be much surprised at once when I glanced in his direction, that he was looking at me Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. her flight. Holmes rushed at the bell-pull, tore back a small Wilson, you would just walk in; but perhaps it would hardly be what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another came the little man was much more favourable to me than to any of quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for manner was brisk, and yet his general appearance gave an undue jaw, it is surely very clear that that side is less illuminated "Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking plain questions, to which I beg that you will give a plain "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the should be taken.' caught a glimpse of rushing figures, and a moment later the voice "Where did you address your letters, then?" for his age, with a head which is quite disproportionately large. waiting for him. I had remained indoors all day, for the weather conception of an Australian from Ballarat with a grey cloak." slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! for his age, with a head which is quite disproportionately large. tension within him. "Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts "Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was "How many? I don't know."