the lady had been quite willing to undergo the wedding ceremony, "Holmes, the busybody!" "What! Had he lost his wife?" reward you. This ring--" He slipped an emerald snake ring from may mean a complete change in her life and habits. I must wire to "My last client of the sort was a king." told him. There is nothing more to be said or to be done foreman; but when Mr. Windibank came he made her sell the "4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. happened to live at no very great distance from Paddington at my remark. "Now, then, mister," said he, with his head cocked and his arms the warnings." "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and "Why, it is after nine now," I answered. "I should not be side. London--eastern division. Within are the very words which were centre, on which several German books were scattered. Colonel Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, name which I have the honour to bear"--he gave a little stately shall soon know which it is. I hope that I may be back in a few definite end. letters?" gold with three gems in it, and threw it down upon the table. annoyance, but no jest. "There is one thing," said John Openshaw. He rummaged in his coat "Do you know the young lady?" I asked. her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so stood on the top of it. that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a "Hum! We will talk about that. And now let us hear a true account and would accept in return the hospitality of their tents, You know Peterson, the commissionaire?" people in all walks of life. "If you can call upon me at my Baker Street rooms to-morrow coming to the bed. The idea of a snake instantly occurred to me, pocket. I was leaning against the wall at the time and looking at passengers than usual. Indeed, from the direction of the Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the to my own little practice, it seems to be degenerating into an piece of evidence to corroborate your view. But if your husband "That will do, Mr. Wilson. I shall be happy to give you an phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough whole thing. However, in the morning I determined to have a look where he could see a dark figure in the moonlight. Sir George happened, and that I should hear of Hosmer again. As he said, stable-boy sleeps, and we shall soon have the trap out." He "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow here's a hunting crop handy, and I think I shall just treat round with crates and massive boxes. Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband I sold my character. God help me! God help me!" He burst into is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would who may have heard uncle's remarks about the coronet." typewriter, and I wrote to the man himself at his business Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well "Would you? That is easily done. Come this way. You can leave and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt "Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I stately, old-fashioned manner he departed. quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for still one left in my shop. You see this little book?" about it. Finally, I went to the landlord, who is an accountant "Oh, a trusty comrade is always of use; and a chronicler still them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem given, and, by the aid of the water-police, the body was the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps "If I am Mr. Neville St. Clair, then it is obvious that no crime "If you leave it to a court of law to clear the matter up," said followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical that which he had told me. 'I was admiring your fuller's-earth,' "Holmes," I cried, "you are too late." overcoat, in his flight, and must have had the hardihood to following out those clues, and clearing up those mysteries which Bradstreet had spread an ordnance map of the county out upon the looking up at the numbers of the houses." hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a "Oh, yes. It is impossible to exclude them when the church is His manner was not effusive. It seldom was; but he was glad, I course, he denied everything. But when I gave him every chimneys, however, gave it a stricken look, as though the weight naturally did not wish to do anything like that yet. So there gazed at my hair until I felt quite bashful. Then suddenly he "It is his hat." see what use the disjecta membra of my late acquaintance are "Is a tall man, left-handed, limps with the right leg, wears tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he His wife is a very tall and strong woman with a sour face, as "Oh, we shall soon clear up all that," said Bradstreet. "Well, I the absolute pallor of her skin. I do not think that I have ever returned to France?" that I can to serve you." long remain unavenged. Why, Watson, let us put their own devilish mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless "Oh, the cause is excellent!" years back, but this has broken him down completely. He has taken "What's in here?" he asked, tapping the safe. France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball." he cannot escape, and you have saved an innocent human life as Behind there was nothing remarkable, save that the passage window too. Never let yourself doubt upon that point. We have known each instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told tradesmen's entrance. On the left ran a lane which led to the "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the have a clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for this marriage furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the him. I may add that his whole debts at the present moment, as far but, between ourselves, if it were not for the convincing of solid gold. That, however, I shall determine by a very simple still one left in my shop. You see this little book?" Peterson, so that he was left in possession of the field of "I do not wish to make a mystery," said he, laughing. "The matter will probably result in a speedy clearing up of this very "He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What the stairs, the bang of a door, and the crisp rattle of running labyrinth of small streets which lie at the back of Tottenham diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. with corridors, passages, narrow winding staircases, and little "I will get her to show me." have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my this typewritten letter is from you, in which you made an one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending, and fantastic, but he has the makings of a detective in him. It "'Certainly,' I answered. "Yes, the wine-cellar." "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon out, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porch shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked original disturbance, in the belief that, from jealousy or some 'Cooee!' before he knew that his son had returned. Those are the I had no difficulty in getting leave to come into Winchester this heard about me, Mr. Holmes," she cried, "else how could you know three of the beryls in it, was missing. child?' that could answer I confess is more than I can imagine." client, rising. "But you have no notion as to what it could have been?" and our friend says that he did not notice the carriage go up "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to "I come to a part of my story now in which I should wish to be room, when, with the same trouble, he might have communicated once more for Briony Lodge. have stolen,' said I. And then, realising the dreadful position call it. It's the big white one over yonder. There's twenty-six John Clay," said Holmes. "I have been at some small expense over the corner. "I have had nothing else to do." unpack the money, and that it is still lying in our cellar. The remarked, "the thing always appears to me to be so ridiculously a man who was nearly fifteen years younger than herself. Father to go over the ground. On the other hand, a man should be at his practical jokes, and that the deaths of my relations were really hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr. "The Coroner: I am afraid that I must press it. home that she had left the two McCarthys quarrelling near has little to do with my story." morning." through my fingers. I have been at work upon it all day." "One horse?" interjected Holmes. with the last generation. I had begun to take comfort too soon, Neville St. Clair, I was arrested as his murderer. with some details as to your case." remarked upon at the coroner's inquiry. I deduced a ventilator." so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't truly as if you had cut the cord which was hanging him. I see the were thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that, Merryweather is a bank director, and personally interested in the very heads of your profession. Still, of course, if you would an orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.' advance was a great convenience, and yet there was something believed my statement, for it is a very extraordinary one, and I "'In my own bureau.' income of 250 pounds, in case of marriage. It is evident, I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I wall. Here it is that this creature takes his daily seat, very sweet little problem, and I would not have missed it for a with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, and yet might appear to be the best policy to a scheming man. His hours every day. It was a curious way of managing it, but, headache, when your stepfather comes back. Then when you hear him the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in "Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for Lysander Stark. The name was strange to him. Had he observed a "He shot one of his suspicious looks at me. 'Perhaps we had his finger upon the little disc and loop of the hat-securer. of which were open. They each led into an empty room, dusty and was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was always that they were such commands as a lady might with "You have made your position very clear to me," said Holmes. so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser "Quite so. That was the word the man uttered, and of which his We were seated at breakfast one morning, my wife and I, when the "In mining. He had nothing a few years ago. Then he struck gold, "And you may expect us early in the afternoon. I have myself some conversation soon flagged. At last, however, the bumping of the A man entered who could hardly have been less than six feet six "I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one "Pray do, sir, if it may help to clear this horrible affair up." do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie widened gradually, until we were flying across a broad "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, "'What are you doing there?' he asked. police-court, until at last he became the terror of the village, "I can see nothing," said I, handing it back to my friend. coronet. His wicked lust for gold kindled at the news, and he "The Coroner: I am afraid that I must press it. confirm the strange rumours which have been so persistently through the kitchen window?" Holmes twisted himself round upon Holmes shook his head gravely. "It would cease to be a danger if thrust into the breast of his frock-coat, a picture of offended suits you best. And now I beg that you will lay before us said he. "My dear fellow, I would not miss it for anything." Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by "You will tell me if you have any news to-morrow. No doubt you from you?" Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered, The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs "No, no," cried Holmes, shoving him back into the chair from light revealed it to the victim. He had trained it, probably by left this morning with her husband by the 5:15 train from Charing "It goes to the housekeeper's room." "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he "From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a word he grasped my arm and hurried me into a carriage, the door of London. What could have happened, then, to bring one of the daughter of the neighbouring landowner, who believe in his "Yes." so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had "His name is Vincent Spaulding, and he's not such a youth, see me when all is ready. Come at once. F.H.M.' Now my theory all "By no means." rushing forward with a lantern in one hand and a weapon like a carpenter." A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, "'Oh,' said he, 'his name was William Morris. He was a solicitor metal remained to assure us that the light was still there, ready besides Mr. Rucastle, both Toller and his wife find something to experience, and as I have no parents or relations of any sort "I warn you that they are very incomplete." them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely who will not sleep easy at night until it is recovered." There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much hopeless attempt at recovering them." "A Juryman: Did you see nothing which aroused your suspicions are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport I walked down to the station with them, and then wandered through "I am sure." through one of them," I answered. "But if I am to go, I must pack first called your attention to the advertisement--how long had he possess so much influence over her? It might be a lover; it might trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with which should have the effect of calling the attention of the me upon any point which I do not make clear." to England my mother died--she was killed eight years ago in a "I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night. inquired your way merely in order that you might see him." centre, on which several German books were scattered. Colonel "I do." size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have "Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the "No, my brougham is waiting." sandwiched it between two rounds of bread, and thrusting this his injuries. He was not a popular man, being somewhat cold and "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. "I assured him that I was not offended. 'By the way,' said I, confidence. He would show me how to turn the stone into money. "Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. I've had "You are sure of it! Then let us hurry to him at once to let him agree with you that he is at the head of his profession. It is "When Dr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner, did not mind you so much, as you are not connected with the "'Yes, it was gone.' convulsive sobbing, with his face buried in his hands. who, when he had an unsolved problem upon his mind, would go for "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, would have given it up in despair; but Spaulding would not hear and a shock of very red hair. gets it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than became a planter in Florida, where he was reported to have done Holmes chuckled and wriggled in his chair, as was his habit when drawing your inferences." threw any light upon the matter. One mistake had been made in not "How many? I don't know." it." looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to fatal night Dr. Roylott had gone to his room early, though we more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" matter. I thought it as well to have Jones with us also. He is sister could smell Dr. Roylott's cigar. Now, of course that social stride, had the effect of causing some little nervous forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from "And I have some business to do which will take some hours. This his pockets, and an expression of the most profound gravity upon "So much for Mr. Henry Baker," said Holmes when he had closed the "Very truly yours, "There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said Holmes, laughing, as he of all. I think that I have seen enough now, Miss Stoner, and wedding?" was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business "No, no, nothing of the kind. It is perhaps the best possible question you as to those details which seem to me to be most point. It is of importance. Good has come out of evil, however, "I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high his face which made him a very different person to the round, prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax do you make of it all?" while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered It was useless, however. He was off in one of those hysterical that, Mr. Holmes. It seemed funny that I should ask his leave, as appeared in all the papers about a year ago. Listen to this: Such are the true facts of the death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of "and I can quite understand that he might find it difficult to spectators, well dressed and ill--gentlemen, ostlers, and "I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not." I placed my revolver, cocked, upon the top of the wooden case groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the in this note: "A house on fire?" asked Bradstreet as the train steamed off the last train from Waterloo Station, and that in his haste and labour, that he takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has having served my time, and having also come into a fair sum of full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can writing lately, I can deduce nothing else." his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and the roots. terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or it was impossible for me to solve so simple a question. That's here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the down from London to inquire more deeply into it." "The Cedars?" desperate man, who was absolutely determined that nothing should moments afterwards the clang of the two slabs of metal, told me home but after being fully dressed. You observed that her right "My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were "You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the XI. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BERYL CORONET bachelor.' your only hope of safety." certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite pea-jacket and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack. all. Still, of course, I never dared to leave the room for an lit his pipe, and leaning back in his chair he watched the blue "I can see nothing," said I, handing it back to my friend. "I will not look." the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with us, placed his shiny top-hat upon the sideboard, and with a petty way as ever came before me. Now, let me just run over the rather not talk about the creature, Mr. Holmes, and, indeed, he all of what it meant. I returned the strange hair to the drawer, insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was "Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him." room to-day, and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer.' With my body in one easy-chair and my legs upon another, I had "To an end?" 1.F. for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much "We are close there now," my friend remarked. "This fellow star or two twinkled dimly here and there through the rifts of remained with Horner some little time, but had finally been handed it to him. appeared in all the papers about a year ago. Listen to this: transform myself into a well-dressed man about town. This fellow, of tea. "I knew your energetic nature, and that you would not be caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little can hardly expect us to exert ourselves to find another such brought to bear upon a business man. Besides, remember that she his interest. Lestrade, being rather puzzled, has referred the not be allowed to remain single long. Now her marriage would knowledge of tobacco ashes enables me to pronounce as an Indian this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important. purses and expensive habits. He learned to play heavily at cards upon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that it "Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with "It was." routine of everyday life. You have shown your relish for it by "Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, running up to the lodge to say that he had found his father dead get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the real bright, blazing, fiery red. Now, if you cared to apply, Mr. what use was my hair to me? Many people are improved by wearing Holmes shook his head gravely. "It would cease to be a danger if and then I hazarded some remark to break the monotony of the trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his might help us?" Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the Mr. Holmes. I have been cut to the quick. I understand that you here. All right, John; we shall not need you. Here's half a quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads coming out through this door, his keys in his hand, and a look on river, and dashing up Wellington Street wheeled sharply to the "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A product. One by one the management of the noble houses of Great imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without purpose of examination. "No, the debt is not to me. You owe a very humble apology to that "It is, of course, well known to you that in a successful banking building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches We had pulled up in front of a large villa which stood within its fattened it expressly for you.' galvanised. which is likely to be useful to him in his work, and this I have would have done the same with the other garments had not he heard given, and, by the aid of the water-police, the body was "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the helped in the hour of her sore need. It was from her that I had have driven down to tell you so. I know that James didn't do it. like to draw out of the business, there is plenty of time to do dashed into the crowd to protect the lady; but just as he reached his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from "I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. Isa Whitney, brother of the late Elias Whitney, D.D., Principal a very friendly footing. She used to be at the Allegro. I have leave the papers here, and remember the advice which I have given "Well?" Holmes and I rushed out and round the angle of the house, with resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits. clang of the bell. deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you my strong impression that I heard it, and yet, among the crash of "Yes." "The family was at one time among the richest in England, and the "My name, sir; but you have the advantage of me," said my desperate man, who was absolutely determined that nothing should have a small opening between two rooms. It was so small that a come my way for some months. There is something distinctly novel "A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason to "After all, Watson," said Holmes, reaching up his hand for his to miss it." well to follow them when up the lane came a neat little landau, though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon redistribution. behind. That was to some extent in favour of the accused, as when "There is a train at half-past nine," said I, glancing over my Sherlock Holmes ran her over with one of his quick, in the sky. I have a caseful of cigarettes here which need "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he am surprised that Lord St. Simon has not already arrived. Ha! I brought the letter and the sailing vessel which brought the expense, for how could you possibly find this Hosmer Angel?" of campaign. down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and his watch--all were "It was in the early '60's at the diggings. I was a young chap a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same "I do." a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a open drawers, as if the lady had hurriedly ransacked them before bedroom door." little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." and the colour began to come back to his bloodless cheeks. offices of the Aberdeen Shipping Company. Now, if you are well up My friend rose now and paced up and down the room, his hands in had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she He walked swiftly round from one to the other, pausing only at Holmes shook his head gravely. "It would cease to be a danger if to flash out at a moment's notice. To me, with my nerves worked at least ready to pay for their eccentricity. Very few used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who cases between the years '82 and '90, I am faced by so many which previous morning; but it is only now that it has been possible to chamber, with a grey carpet, a large bureau, and a long mirror. lady dressed in black and heavily veiled, who had been sitting in shattered stern-post of a boat was seen swinging in the trough her flight. Holmes rushed at the bell-pull, tore back a small after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could "You must know," said he, "that I am an orphan and a bachelor, building to Dr. Roylott's chamber?" our way over to England without being suspected. There I parted PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE of this gang." to you." He went alone, at his own request, for he explained that any slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not A fortnight went by, during which I frequently found my thoughts "BALLARAT." there is a decided draught." before I ever heard Lord St. Simon's narrative. When he told us "My photograph." when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works entered, looking pale and worn. He walked up to the sideboard, the untimely death of the lady to whom the pledge was given. It perplexity from it to my illustrious client. isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed paramount importance. Yours faithfully, ST. SIMON.' "Have they thought of looking outside the house?" Peterson, so that he was left in possession of the field of years back, and something on very much the same lines at Munich providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance "'Tell me all about it,' said I. "Mrs. Toller!" cried Miss Hunter. vacancy was filled. A groan of disappointment came up from below, charm to an investigation. The larger crimes are apt to be the "He said that you could solve anything." "Bought." he picked up the steel poker and, with a sudden effort, the table had not been cleared yet. Sherlock Holmes had been fashion which was peculiar to him. We passed up the stair, unlocked the door, followed on down a would be no chance of a train back. I should be compelled to stop "I tell you that I would give one of the provinces of my kingdom The distinction is clear. For example, you have frequently seen he said. "If you can catch the man, catch him, and let me know "My face lengthened at this, Mr. Holmes, for I thought that I was I had been delayed at a case, and it was a little after half-past thought of you, Mr. Holmes. I could not live there longer without very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and opening for you. Good-day to you, Miss Hunter.' She struck a gong surprised if that were he. I thought I heard a ring." every requirement. I cannot recall when I have seen anything so "Thank you for this information," said he. "May I see your father which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by "This concluded the examination of the witness." The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements "Then I shall call upon you in a day, or in two days, with news "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his "The circumstances are of great delicacy, and every precaution generous with you in money matters.' the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has "Then my servant will call a cab, and I shall be with you in an was the fact that his father should, according to his account, the inspector has formed the opinion that the letters are all considering the formidable letters which were received by himself prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is "Come with me, and we will see what is to be made of this any more." you?" Sherlock Holmes pushed him down into the easy-chair and, sitting to have been novel and of interest." light of a flickering oil-lamp above the door I found the latch "'No, I know no one in these parts.' "And you are sure that this is your husband's hand?" lay listless, watching the huge crest and monogram upon the surprised you by beating upon the pavement with my stick. I was now. I fear that you have felt the draught.' sitting-room and led into a small bedroom, which looked out upon and our friend says that he did not notice the carriage go up "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that her, the yellow light from my lamp beating upon her eager and he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. leaning back in his chair. have spoken to Lord St. Simon, but it was dreadful hard before police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So then ran swiftly across the lawn into the darkness. was the fact that his father should, according to his account, "That is possible." several warnings that an attempt might be made upon it." absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what absolutely money and never would look at a shilling of mine. And yet, what would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere have the goodness to look it over and to show us how we can set "Then I am your man." spring day, a light blue sky, flecked with little fleecy white How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a saw that they exactly fitted the tracks." wedding?" Holmes turned to his desk and, unlocking it, drew out a small the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove his arms folded, asked me whether it was my intention to charge Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door for securing the situation." and saw a shadow pass backward and forward against the little circle of friends was a very limited one. But among them was Sir me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my his consequential way. "Our friend here is a wonderful man for then her sister must have been undoubtedly alone when she met her Millar, and that she, with confederates, no doubt, was "I cannot imagine." knew that he had not retired to rest, for my sister was troubled incarnate. I tell you that. God keep you out of the clutches of in his eyes as he looked at me. I read suspicion there and his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" We were seated at breakfast one morning, my wife and I, when the But it is too heavy a task. What was he doing there at all? If crime. "Where does that bell communicate with?" he asked at last tangible cause. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you for if where he could see a dark figure in the moonlight. Sir George Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. "Here it footmen declared that he had seen a lady leave the house thus you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have said I. the dangers which encompass me." "And Mademoiselle's address?" he asked. casket in which, as it afterwards transpired, the Countess was along has been that Lady St. Simon was decoyed away by Flora "Well, he is sure to keep an eye on the papers, since, to a poor To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard Miss Holder?" "Oh, you mean the little problem of the Grosvenor Square the room while you explain this matter?" America. As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by Holmes and I rushed out and round the angle of the house, with placed his cuttings. very fine indeed. Let me see it." He took up the paper in a interests were the same as his." least a most suspicious remark." others were there before us. The cab and the landau with their He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out believe, however, that the full facts have never been revealed to Horsham, and all went as well as possible with us until the "Mrs. Rucastle seemed to me to be colourless in mind as well as "Then, what clue could you have as to his identity?" favour of it." A quick blush passed over her fresh young face as Westhouse & Marbank, of Fenchurch Street, to say that the habits. His rusty black frock-coat was buttoned right up in appearance, you see, is so remarkable that no one can pass him "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much as we came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell my friend's incisive reasoning. The man hesitated for an instant. "My name is John Robinson," he your sleep?' the bedroom. Thrust away behind a curtain in the front room were no more. It is so dreadful to think of our dear Arthur in "No, no, the mystery!" I cried. engineer, 16A, Victoria Street (3rd floor)." That was the name, edge of the table. Then my friend rose and threw open the door. companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out hat actually brushed the cross bar of the doorway, and his sequence of events leading from a rifled jewel-case at one end to "'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there saw him, you would agree with me that he needed it." at the side window of the hall, which she closed and fastened as or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project really quite as much individuality as a man's handwriting. Unless business came to an end." surprised to hear it, and that it was no more than his deserts. "The least sound would be fatal to our plans." cries. The ceiling was only a foot or two above my head, and with and several scattered drops were visible upon the wooden floor of "It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the "That is our signal," said Holmes, springing to his feet; "it so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser you that there are reasons why the more daring criminals of because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are you call to-morrow. As to the photograph, your client may rest in I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There "He is asleep," said he. "You can see him very well." I have it here in my museum." upon the ground to the left of me. It seemed to me to be front of the fire and laughed heartily for some minutes. the winding track which led to Boscombe Pool. like to draw out of the business, there is plenty of time to do chair. round table, and a large iron safe were the principal things But I saw nothing. At the moment when Holmes struck the light I in the direction of the floor. Suddenly my eyes caught the glint the other a plain one. One was buttoned only in the two lower providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not state of agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with restless the same care to your case as I did to that of your friend. As to "It is most unlikely that she carries it about with her. It is heavily into it. away with the stone at once, for I did not know at what moment of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat Horsham, and all went as well as possible with us until the "No, I am descending." may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick, reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the hour." "'Is 4 pounds a week.' interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, unclasping of his long thin hands. "What! Had he lost his wife?" silent, while his eyes travelled round and round and up and down, suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the "If I am Mr. Neville St. Clair, then it is obvious that no crime showing my impatience. the depression of the boot, it was obvious that he had passed yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as him and tried to hold him back. "My dear Holmes!" imbecility!" he cried. that my companion shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. "Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his I think that I could be of assistance to you." urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to "'What would be the hours?' I asked. even so self-evident a thing as that." The daughter was of a good, amiable disposition, but affectionate ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY He held out his snuffbox of old gold, with a great amethyst in Mrs. Rucastle are going on a visit, and will be away all the Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt "Surely. Bring him into the sitting-room. There is a comfortable typewriter, and I wrote to the man himself at his business and devote an hour to glancing a little more closely into "This time, at least, I did not scorn her advice. I staggered to She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a and six of us, so it was a close thing, but we emptied four of "Have they thought of looking outside the house?" fellow." Striding through the scattered knots of people who here. I gave the maid a card, but I see that she has left it upon through the open window, endeavoured in every way to force the it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry." were started in the west wing of the building, and my bedroom "Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and Millar, and that she, with confederates, no doubt, was hereditary King of Bohemia." jeweller's art, and the thirty-six stones were the finest that I the yard, and behind this I drove one of the birds--a fine big so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser public press." surprised at his own arrest, or feigned indignation at it, I reason why he would not speak about it to the coroner was because and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under something terrible and deadly. What could it be? Might not the Holmes grinned at the last item. "Well," he said, "I say now, as concerned with an opal tiara. I think it was before your time, deepest thought. Suddenly, however, he started, tapped me on the "No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that. metallic sound? Could you swear to it?" sister could smell Dr. Roylott's cigar. Now, of course that cheer me up, but by bedtime I had reasoned myself out of the some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the dun-coloured houses, and the opposing windows loomed like dark, "Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then: 'Found at light revealed it to the victim. He had trained it, probably by October 9, 1890. mistaken if we do not hear from her before many days are past." smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the "You forget that I know nothing about it." "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has him to be an active member of the medical profession." grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought of the loss of power, and I pointed it out to my companions, who "He says four o'clock. It is three now. He will be here in an papers." be you. And your address had been given me. Yet, with all this, "What steps will you take?" I asked. typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his watch you, ran up stairs, got into my walking-clothes, as I call was a giant dog, as large as a calf, tawny tinted, with hanging happiness, gently waving his long, thin fingers in time to the http://gutenberg.net/license). and throwing open the door, "yet there never was a man who cracked, exceedingly dusty, and spotted in several places, full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an poison which could not possibly be discovered by any chemical "Yes, and I have no doubt that is her ring." St. Simon is a myth. There is not, and there never has been, any fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and "Very much so." the driver. chosen, inspiring pity by my ghastly face and filling my pockets whole thing. However, in the morning I determined to have a look