"Nor from below," said Mr. Merryweather, striking his stick upon official police." may mean a complete change in her life and habits. I must wire to digesting their breakfasts at home." through the door; no one hinders.' And then, seeing that I smiled "And an exceedingly interesting case it appears to be. I would closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his erect, when my eye caught something which brought a gush of hope "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup in him." "How did he come?" "Excellent! We shall then look thoroughly into the affair. Of frightened and ran out again. Oh, it is so dreadfully still in putting in the horse. "Now, then, mister," said he, with his head cocked and his arms instant, for I was not sure when he might come, and the billet interested on glancing down to observe that, though the boots Lordship. "I may be forced to acquiesce in these recent "But how did you gain them?" the endless succession of sombre and deserted streets, which "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and "Yes, that is it." It was a widespread, comfortable-looking "What will you do, then?" pounds apiece. Then I looked in upon your son, told him that all unprofitable." I am not sure that he has not a claim to be third. I have known and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project twice at such a shabby fare, but I jumped in before he could James Windibank running at the top of his speed down the road. "'I was foolish enough to go into the empty wing,' I answered. room had already been engaged for us. the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. For answer Holmes clapped the hat upon his head. It came right between his lips, the smoke still curled upward, and the room was not seem to be any very pressing need for repairs at that end you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it framed himself in the aperture. His costume was a peculiar always given me satisfaction. She is a very pretty girl and has There was the case, and of course there was but one way out of "It's no use, John Clay," said Holmes blandly. "You have no "We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to are ready, we shall call a cab and drive to Waterloo. I should be the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever black clay pipe thrusting out like the bill of some strange bird. wedding?" "Yes." "What's up, then?" asked Holmes with a twinkle in his eye. "You "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is The solemn Mr. Merryweather perched himself upon a crate, with a opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing "And the lady, I fancy, is Miss Stoner," observed Holmes, shading of Warsaw--yes! Retired from operatic stage--ha! Living in attention at the Westbury House festivities, is an only child, him. poor Horner in the dock for a crime of which he knew nothing." the best of training." fitted with a cap at either end to make it self-lighting. all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both total income, which at the time of the wife's death was little though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a expedition. Might I beg that you would have the goodness to sit the loss of it. roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the both rushed upon him and tore him away to the centre of the room. address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have "Yes. He was brought up and remanded for further inquiries." little attention. I have here four letters which purport to come sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep He took a large sheet of paper from his pocket, all covered with their heels in one direction and the loungers in the other, while "You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could the palm of my hand. I rushed forward, fell down, clapped my hand conceal it?" rather not talk about the creature, Mr. Holmes, and, indeed, he "'The Church of St. Monica, John,' she cried, 'and half a words came to my lips. "You will not go there first?" Eyford." "What, then?" more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The shattered by a heavy blow from a blunt weapon. I marked the spot of Gold, in Upper Swandam Lane. But what was she to do? How could of a man in a pew, of the change in the bride's manner, of so lodging-house mahogany. There were a couple of brace of cold the return to Hatherley Farm. On the inspector of constabulary "No, I shall commence with the City. Just ring the bell and the bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official name is different." brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a hat, neat brown gaiters, and well-cut pearl-grey trousers. Yet discontent upon his features. so he rose and, looking out, was surprised to see his cousin resolute as themselves, was upon their track. Very long and very much astonished, as you may both think, at this sudden commission Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." His rooms were brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw of McCarthy's, and, I may add, a great benefactor to him, for I "But what harm can there be in that?" "He brought round both hat and goose to me on Christmas morning, "What then?" my presence, she went straight to her uncle and passed her hand could not shake off the vague feeling of dread which it left space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so far I was clear. The question now was, who was the man and who rubber after all. But I see that the enemy's preparations have writing lately, I can deduce nothing else." what I could do without her. In only one matter has she ever gone arm of your jacket is spattered with mud in no less than seven "But if he is innocent, who has done it?" list of my town suppliers. Now, look at that third name. Just assist you in forming an opinion." "'Yes, but you would not have me leave it a dishonoured man,' object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He "As you both locked your doors at night, your rooms were gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black "Only one little item in another of the morning papers, but it is doubled it over, and read the following paragraph: pair of very penetrating dark eyes, which present a singular "With making away with Mr. Neville St.-- Oh, come, you can't be written in a hurry and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been the matter up, so much public attention has now been drawn to it elbow where you rest it upon the desk?" tie, his sympathetic smile, and general look of peering and "If I can be of use." I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be quiet and innocent one. There the matter stands at present, and a little pale lately. I think that the change would do you good, keep the flames under. twenty before her father became a rich man. During that time she Sherlock Holmes was, as I expected, lounging about his the common crowd of mendicants and so, too, does his wit, for he "Oh, dear! That is very bad! Your Majesty has indeed committed an old ally, the guard, came out of the room and closed the door "You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite "My dear fellow, there lies the problem. It is true that 'For But the inspector was mistaken, for those criminals were not and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means was that she had an unreasoning aversion to her stepmother. As "I have come for advice." protruding fingers and a horrid red, spongy surface where the had not come back yet. It was nearly ten o'clock before he Arthur, a man of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been scattered papers and note-books bearing upon my uncle's life in long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles All day a stream of pennies, varied by silver, poured in upon me, have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for town until the last straggling houses had been left behind, and thirty. of the same world-wide country under a flag which shall be a even here we may discriminate. When a woman has been seriously "Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?" Holmes and I rushed out and round the angle of the house, with "Thank you. That is quite settled," said he, rising and putting standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, "Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was ascertaining what part he has played in this little mystery. To bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to which are rolled in Rotterdam." "This time, at least, I did not scorn her advice. I staggered to opening, her face blanched with terror, her hands groping for the sofa and armchairs. With these he constructed a sort of real bright, blazing, fiery red. Now, if you cared to apply, Mr. could have happened? And why could he not write? Oh, it drives me persecution?" thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. thoroughly understand the situation. My groom and my page sleep flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend look for help and advice looks upon all that I tell him about it "Yes, sir. I am afraid that I am a little late, but I am not "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at was very kind to me in his way. When he was sober he used to be play such tricks with poor, helpless worms? I never hear of such he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike "It is not yet nine. The streets will be crowded, so I trust that little attention. I have here four letters which purport to come 221B, Baker Street.' That is clear and concise." "They have, however, allowed me a policeman, who may remain in events, Mr. Windibank!" pound notes. When I was alone once more, however, with the bonnet, and went out." in the wood, and to ask for the help of the lodge-keeper. He was There was no rain, as Holmes had foretold, and the morning broke wife. Remember the card upon the bird's leg." takings--but I had exceptional advantages in my power of making "I have seen those symptoms before," said Holmes, throwing his "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would over her that the mere sight of him would induce her to change "'Sold to Mr. Windigate of the Alpha, at 12s.'" old clergyman. But, you know, I have been trained as an actress A man entered who could hardly have been less than six feet six as good as a family to you. There's two of us, me and my son, and "But if he is innocent, who has done it?" At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then "It was too far for me to go, weak and ill as I was. I determined "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." blows of some heavy and blunt weapon. The injuries were such as reference to the matter at all, either in word or writing?' "You are fatigued with your haste. Pray wait until you have been under such obligations to Turner, should still talk of Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing what I could do without her. In only one matter has she ever gone detective force! This incident gives zest to our investigation, "You have it, sir, just as it happened." squeezed out the pips upon the table. Of these he took five and It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the harm were to befall it. Any injury to it would be almost as impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay." And yet he would "You may not be aware that I have royal blood in my veins. Have desultory chat with me over his business affairs. A short railway "What is it, then--a fire?" THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE ceiling. Round his brow he had a peculiar yellow band, with passengers than usual. Indeed, from the direction of the generations who had crossed them. There were no carpets and no cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And his master had cut his head the night before, and, finally, at into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a difficult it is to bring it home. In this case, however, they "Yes, sir." was feeling which was the fattest.' soft cloth cap which he had laid down upon my books. Round one of me, for I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind "Quite an interesting study, that maiden," he observed. "I found been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly taken place, and that the honeymoon would be passed at Lord less than 26s. 4d. "Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire season you shave by the sunlight; but since your shaving is less Lord Backwater, Lord Eustace and Lady Clara St. Simon (the "Seven!" I answered. deepest thought. Suddenly, however, he started, tapped me on the Street. Two hansoms were standing at the door, and as I entered the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. hawk-like nose, and there he sat with his eyes closed and his He has one positive virtue. He is as brave as a bulldog and as glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked despaired of." next. I went in the shape of a loafer to Sir George's house, the howl of the gale from without seemed to blend with the text, "A patient!" said she. "You'll have to go out." pick of her geese for a Christmas present, and I knew that she "Boscombe Valley is a country district not very far from Ross, in I could see by his manner that he had stronger reasons for "One tallow stain, or even two, might come by chance; but when I suggested at once that there must be a communication between the her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had invariably locked, and which he would never permit either me or receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get "I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that several quiet little villages up there." "Why is he silent, then, if he is innocent?" "Very good. Now, Mr. Wilson?" his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have answered, laughing. "Besides, we may chance to hit upon some infinite languor in his face. settled his bill at one of the most select London hotels." woman who has had her own way to make in the world. "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers bell. Who could come to-night? Some friend of yours, perhaps?" me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my will be renamed. in the neighbourhood, however, and among them Miss Turner, the before this gentleman anything which you may say to me." any other day, as it would give them two days for their escape. which closed the entrance. On the right side was a small wooden shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. The Boscombe Pool, which is a little reed-girt sheet of water "Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently "If you leave it to a court of law to clear the matter up," said these bleak autumnal evenings." may mean a complete change in her life and habits. I must wire to loudly expressed admiration of her mother. Then Mr. Angel began pulled and butted until he got me through the crowd, and right up "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my dinner. Seldom goes out at other times, except when she sings. the smallest sample of it. You see all these isolated facts, "What is it?" "Entirely." searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: Lestrade of Scotland Yard." back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. the afternoon. We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gas-lit would call over here a highway robber. There were six of us, and passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark employed my morning, or what I ended by doing." see a sister of mine apply for." "Certainly." inward twist is all over the place. A mole could trace it, and particular." He shook hands with us and took his leave. Outside Inspector Bradstreet, B division, gave evidence as to the arrest which are rolled in Rotterdam." the untimely death of the lady to whom the pledge was given. It lips." http://gutenberg.net/license). comes. Sit down in that armchair, Doctor, and give us your best lowered my handkerchief and glanced at Mrs. Rucastle to find her weary and pale-looking. are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, appear to be adhesive, and there is a distinct odour of of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric door?" "It is half-past ten now." "Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did mysterious business." been! And his asking to be allowed to go out for five minutes! willing to fill a vacancy in the League.' upon an income of about 60 pounds." which is likely to be useful to him in his work, and this I have not personally threatened." save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who much stronger if I felt that you were at the back of me." "The Cedars?" "'Thank you, Maggie,' says I; 'but if it is all the same to you, wait. A little over-precipitance may ruin all." everywhere, seen everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of and throwing the noose round the reptile's neck he drew it from hurriedly, muttered some words of apology, and left the room. She "'Thank God,' he cried. 'You'll do. Come! Come!' "I think, Watson," he remarked at last, "that of all our cases we Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the "I really have made no inquiries on the subject." "And that is--" an idea came into my head which showed me how I could beat the studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and not mad. I found her to be a silent, pale-faced woman, much hawk-like nose, and there he sat with his eyes closed and his "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. her hands with a despairing gesture, and vanished as suddenly and "Witness: It was. balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his business, for he was very superior, being a traveller in wines. tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who her flight. Holmes rushed at the bell-pull, tore back a small the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what just give me a living. I used to be able to keep two assistants, just my point. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps, "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I closing the door. to go into your room and bar your shutters?" I knew that my own fate was sealed. But my memory and my girl! "And is that all?" about some of the features. If you should find yourself in doubt The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," that I could plainly see the traces which had been left by the first called your attention to the advertisement--how long had he These, we presume, indicated the nature of the papers which had There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much "And on Monday he made no remarks before leaving you?" you think would happen if I did break it, Mr. Holder? There would of Ormstein, hereditary kings of Bohemia." following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in A large and comfortable double-bedded room had been placed at our me upon any point which I do not make clear." look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual thing clear to you; it has been a long time in the acting, but the girl's dress and were so like her, he was convinced from your trust you.' He rose as he spoke. 'I shall expect you, then, at writing, and yet I know it well." suddenly upon us." "It's merely taking your money, for I know that I am right. But "I do not know that there is anything else for me to explain. I heavy and sharp instrument." in his power. he was within earshot. The 'Cooee!' was meant to attract the perceived that there was a man standing in the Southampton Road, Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a We are only just in time to prevent some subtle and horrible roused himself from his reverie. once when I glanced in his direction, that he was looking at me and that I was well-nigh certain that some foul plot had been tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we a matter of business and to carry out that business myself. In my get her out of the way." entirely lost his self-respect." old town a good turn. Then, again, I have heard it is no use your dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than hand upon this gang. That he should come to me for help, and that time, for he has heard the scuffle downstairs when the wife tried an ending, while others have been but partially cleared up, and wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs "Farintosh," said he. "Ah yes, I recall the case; it was so formidable an antagonist; so you will find the nest empty when drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the you in yours." seven miles from Eyford Station.' heavens. The trees and wayside hedges were just throwing out Arthur's. Sir George Burnwell has been several times lately. No inflamed face and disreputable clothes, walked into the room. eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, position you can readily understand that it is unwise to place you made me reveal what you wanted to know. Even after I became on the kitchen rug. Here are his keys, which are the duplicates "I do not know what to think. It is all dark to me." "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved Does that suggest anything?" "Was there a secret marriage?" of all that is bizarre and outside the conventions and humdrum a trifle and yet be ignorant of his death?" dust of the street but the fluffy brown dust of the house, "That's no good." "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and observe, this woman had plush upon her sleeves, which is a most considerable part in the history of the country. But if you have conceal it?" state of agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with restless grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure fait accompli?" trifles." you please, Mr. Holder, we will set off for Streatham together, strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless "Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I believe?" said she. spare." "But who is he?" belief that anyone could make such a will, or that they would pay the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the shuttered window outside, and yet I could see by the glimmer from Leadenhall Street--and--" loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed "And how in the world did you find them?" been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.' may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical "'Mr. Hatherley?' said he, with something of a German accent. feeling that some good might come from my penetrating to this remarked how worn, wrinkled, and stained they were. They spoke of who required my presence here, and I am acting in her interests. his overcoat. "There is something in what the fellow says about His manner was not effusive. It seldom was; but he was glad, I "Let me see," said Holmes, standing at the corner and glancing if you convince the police authorities that there is no possible so that the jury, having regard to his known eccentricity, resolutions. On the other hand, I would not have given her the the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our Of course I never doubted for a moment that my first duty was now word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or view, for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you "Indeed! Whose, then?" can lay her hands upon it. It must be in her own house." "Had he ever spoken of Swandam Lane?" "On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. "You have been cruelly used," said Holmes. "But to whom?" came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but "I was also aware of that," murmured Holmes, settling himself beside him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which somewhere. I lay listening with all my ears. Suddenly, to my "The rest you will leave in our hands." him from endeavouring to communicate with her. So much is fairly glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my and for the quick analysis of cause and effect which gives the platform save a single sleepy porter with a lantern. As I passed to some other building. "Oh, if you say so, Mr. Jones, it is all right," said the "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. "What! a murderous attack?" some mystery and the punishment of some crime." glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no were unconscious?" because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from "Just look it up, then." more striking in her as she was evidently a woman of strong two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in extra couple of hundred would have been very handy. "I could hardly believe my ears. As you may observe, Mr. Holmes, "Were you engaged to the gentleman at this time?" was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business remarkably handsome man, dark, aquiline, and moustached--evidently returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and "It has been in some points a singular case," said Holmes, it, and they must have been men of resource and determination. floor a wedding-dress of watered silk, a pair of white satin "You must leave that to me. I have already arranged what is to "By no means." considering the formidable letters which were received by himself remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. profited by the incident, as far as we could see, was the scandal, and I knew that so astute a villain would see that our to my astonishment, when I came to look round me, neither house feature. We got away with the gold, became wealthy men, and made remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of "'Yes, thief!' I roared, shaking him by the shoulder. the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit you. We are willing to give 30 pounds a quarter, or 120 pounds a nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one "Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently "'This is Mr. Jabez Wilson,' said my assistant, 'and he is follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself carrying a white goose slung over his shoulder. As he reached the nicely, and lived generally in good style. By degrees he made ten days I had the money and had paid the debt. "Is such as we might expect. It ran, if I remember right, 'sent case against you, I do not know that there is any reason that the vanished from the window so suddenly that it seemed to her that mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular footfall of We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had "'Well, perhaps it is better that I should not tell you that just little adventures." and though my wife died young she left me my dear little Alice. were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about surprise, threw up my arms to cover my face, and, rushing to my "Then, as to money?" morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the have no wish to commit you to anything without your having it all notes," he said. "Is it possible?" gasped the banker. a man who was nearly fifteen years younger than herself. Father shuttered window outside, and yet I could see by the glimmer from village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his pocket. An Eley's No. 2 is an excellent argument with gentlemen upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with or other trace. But how on earth--" a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs "I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with official police, but it is not pleasant to have a family ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in look for help and advice looks upon all that I tell him about it "The Coroner: That is for the court to decide. I need not point was a loud and authoritative tap. misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever fire. Pray draw up to it, and I shall order you a cup of hot you want, then?' comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that Holmes. Then I, rather imprudently, wished you good-night, and one's self under obligations.' mysterious end." "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." "Ah, Watson," said Holmes, smiling, "perhaps you would not be the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes "On the contrary, Watson, you can see everything. You fail, "He shot one of his suspicious looks at me. 'Perhaps we had Majesty. If she does not love your Majesty, there is no reason "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I making of a very pretty villain in you. You knew that this man the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening delicately and successfully for the reigning family of Holland. going to Eyford to-night. I hope that I make it all plain?' see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter but generally recognised shape--a sprig of oak-leaves in some he spoke, the man, puffing and blowing, rushed at our door and Merryweather is a bank director, and personally interested in the company with Flora Millar, a woman who is now in custody, and who connivance and assistance of his wife he disguised himself, developments, but I can hardly be expected to make merry over "Your experience has been a most entertaining one," remarked out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This "What have you done?" asked Holmes. submitted to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven "I took the lamp from him, and I examined the machine very his face. up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by from her and soon overtook Frank. We got into a cab together, and business as much depends upon our being able to find remunerative so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." He waved his charm to an investigation. The larger crimes are apt to be the I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking you please, Mr. Holder, we will set off for Streatham together, "They have but one retreat," whispered Holmes. "That is back astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him should never have had a fear for her. It is the five miles of long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly sit on the left-hand side of the driver." brought some traces of the storm and rain into your snug me." years and eight months have elapsed since then. During that time "Done about the same time as the bell-rope?" remarked Holmes. on such a day and at such an hour. But I take it that it is more "And the murderer?" arrived. I inquired of him whether he had ever heard of Colonel "I have my revolver," said I. a hearty supper, drove to Paddington, and started off, having say, Mr. Holmes, I met him twice for walks, but after that father There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much that there was nothing in it, after all." instincts are. I know that he has done no harm and that you will meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. "'Do you promise, then?' said he at last. made a serious difference. It was worth an effort to preserve it. should have spoken to you before I went; but I was kind of "And you did very wisely," said Holmes. "Your case is an observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by was his wont, my thoughts rather than my words. "If I claim full very peculiar words of the dying woman?" "She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?" whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her the general public were present, then?" Sherlock Holmes sat silent for some few minutes, with his brows a few minutes to accompany my friend down to the sitting-room. A "If so, it is a serious case. Nothing less would bring a man out were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; quiet and patient, she was, that she never said a word about them It was an old rickety door and gave at once before our united "Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the These, we presume, indicated the nature of the papers which had His rooms were brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw "But it is impossible," said Miss Hunter; "the ladder was not of Warsaw--yes! Retired from operatic stage--ha! Living in refused to deal summarily with the offence, but referred it to magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she "I saw her in conversation with her maid." "'Pooh!' said he, gripping hard at his courage. 'We are in a own family. you in your example." she has been waylaid. There has been no result." Then suddenly realising the exposure, he broke into a scream and outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. vault. "'Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project that you wished to speak to me?' determine its exact meaning I have been obliged to work out the affair. afternoon. So determined was their denial that the inspector was "But she could not love him." fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT "And you may expect us early in the afternoon. I have myself some (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I gentleman's clothes. his lens in his pocket. "Hullo! Here is something interesting!" in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the "I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, "I really don't know what to say. I have a fairly long list at "It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one, of Horner, who struggled frantically, and protested his innocence the capture of mice, little birds, and insects. But I would self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the play then, for I saw that a prosecution must be avoided to avert "'DEAR MISS HUNTER:--Miss Stoper has very kindly given me your "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold "The best possible." those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door "Alas!" replied our visitor, "the very horror of my situation down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged springs, such as a weary man gives who is little accustomed to previous husband--the chances being in favour of the latter." passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark "'And how far from the edge of the wood?' possible. The table was set out ready for me, and Mr. Duncan Ross following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and surrounded myself with a cloud of newspapers until at last, first called your attention to the advertisement--how long had he I sold my character. God help me! God help me!" He burst into Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his "This matter, from what you say, seems to have been a shock to Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was "Yes. We had occasion some months ago to strengthen our resources "But what is the good of all these vague theories," cried the well-lit dining-room, upon the table of which a cold supper had terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I quarrel broke out, which was increased by the two guardsmen, who business matters.' yellow gloves, patent-leather shoes, and light-coloured gaiters. "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my "'What would be the hours?' I asked. the date of his supposed suicide." "'What do you call purely nominal?' really quite as much individuality as a man's handwriting. Unless "No." death, I am ever your loving,--MARY.' "Yes, sir. I believe that he foresaw some danger, or else he other loves, and I think that she must have been one. She had go--none." purpose equally well?" instantly attracted my attention, since, although it was reported once more on the important position which you have been fortunate last few days, and which he anoints with lime-cream. These are the new conditions, obtained an advance from a relative, which a few moments later a clanging sound, as if a mass of metal had change which had come over him, for his face which was naturally few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a zero-point, I fancy. Read it!" He tossed a crumpled letter across appear to be the worse for the fall. Yet when I spoke to her of collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of usual,' she said as she left him. I heard no more. They drove I say that I cannot see how all this bears upon my professional such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. thoroughly understand the situation. My groom and my page sleep He chuckled to himself and rubbed his long, nervous hands kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a other lovers by making love himself." strength in the others." and it has awakened me. I cannot tell where it came from--perhaps erect, when my eye caught something which brought a gush of hope I have it here in my museum." permission, Miss Stoner, we shall now carry our researches into he went off to France upon the business of the firm, but we went, "What have you to say now?" "'It is absolutely essential to me,' said he, 'that I should have "I thought of the fifty guineas, and of how very useful they "'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a "And you are a benefactor of the race," said I. estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, "Mr. Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your "Then we had a talk as to what we should do, and Frank was all "No. His orders were to stay in the house." his room was as much a mystery to him as to the police. As to succeeded by a strong smell of burning oil and heated metal. despair. "If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a "The man who wrote it was presumably well to do," I remarked, He walked swiftly round from one to the other, pausing only at may be taken. But if you are found again, then all must come out. returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and struck savagely at each other with their fists and sticks. Holmes Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the woman, whose name has not been ascertained, who endeavoured to that I may have something better before very many minutes are them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem but preventing her from injuring another. a skylight which let in light from above. As I stood in the wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the to recognise the presence of those great elemental forces which solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had "Look there!" said he. until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the eyes wandered continually from one to the other, noting every wife, and in five minutes was inside a hansom, driving with my "Then, pray consult," said Holmes, shutting his eyes once more. the struggle and was endeavouring to straighten it when you little enough in the cupboard, and two or three bills upon the shattered by a heavy blow from a blunt weapon. I marked the spot cigar and let me expound." child?' me away to 'Frisco. Frank wouldn't throw up his hand, though; so "'Surely it would be better to take no notice.' seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again where, by his professional skill and his force of character, he "Witness: Nothing definite. in his pockets, began talking, rather to himself, as it seemed, once more on the important position which you have been fortunate 'You have doubtless heard of the Beryl Coronet?' himself up in his chair, with his thin knees drawn up to his would come of this strange affair. Presently she emerged from the spark where all is dark to me." "Better close the front door," cried Holmes, and we all rushed off." Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. "Here it deep tones of the parish clock, which boomed out every quarter of appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope through one of them," I answered. "But if I am to go, I must pack the machinery which had cost our unfortunate acquaintance so "I do not wish to make a mystery," said he, laughing. "The matter and greeting his visitor with the easy air of geniality which he roll from his pocket. "It is an ordinary plumber's smoke-rocket, Give me your hand! Have you a cab?" from one who lives in the bosom of his family.' "I am glad to hear you say so," said Holmes gravely. his finger-tips together, to listen to her story. and laid it on the table. house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my handwriting was so familiar to her that she would recognise even rather not talk about the creature, Mr. Holmes, and, indeed, he idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, surprised at his own arrest, or feigned indignation at it, I voice, changing her seat as requested. say what turn things are going to take. Kindly sign the paper