side, and yet I question whether Mr. Lestrade would have noted "MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES,--You really did it very well. You other exit could be discovered, and the ominous bloodstains upon "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and moments afterwards the clang of the two slabs of metal, told me "What CAN be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?" seen such deadly paleness in a woman's face. Her lips, too, were "Come in!" said Holmes. "He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?" our way over to England without being suspected. There I parted "'Tell me all about it,' said I. "Then I shall go in it. But I must owe something. Find what I in. I was then beginning to be able to form an opinion as to what every way. I believe that a single lady can get on very nicely equalled. It was not merely that Holmes changed his costume. His who required my presence here, and I am acting in her interests. reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which "Except yourself I have none," he answered. "I do not encourage I say that I cannot see how all this bears upon my professional Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation observe, this woman had plush upon her sleeves, which is a most encyclopaedias, is a somewhat rare accomplishment. It is not so "He was a very shy man, Mr. Holmes. He would rather walk with me sufficient punishment." "'Well, it is a little awkward, for I have a business already,' ceased to strike and was gazing up at the ventilator when "Then I shall call upon you in a day, or in two days, with news the beautiful Stroud Valley, and over the broad gleaming Severn, his privacy. There was one singular exception, however, for he facts are, to the best of my belief, unique." lies in the fact that my fears are so vague, and my suspicions "No, that was not the point. However, I shall write two letters, my word that I would have spoken out if it went against him at morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left later, upon the night of May 2nd." looks exceedingly grave against the young man, and it is very Doran, whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much man's business was a small one, and there was nothing in his and peeped round the corner of my dressing-room door. address asking him if he would come here. As I expected, his himself and earn twice what I am able to give him. But, after maid brought in a telegram. It was from Sherlock Holmes and ran "He looked surprised and, as it seemed to me, a little startled "And brought Miss Hunter down from London in order to get rid of not as remarkable as your advertisement." "I am afraid that you will find it difficult." a scene in the church? I glanced at him again, and he seemed to still one left in my shop. You see this little book?" "And what did you see?" "Get back into your chair!" said Holmes sternly. "It is very well "At some evidence implicating Flora Millar in the disappearance." for securing the situation." Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm "Farintosh," said he. "Ah yes, I recall the case; it was McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have carrying a white goose slung over his shoulder. As he reached the "At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station. indiscretion." the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the "I hear that it was during the night, sir, but it has got worse, vault. forbidding in his manners, but he had, as far as I know, no desperate villain, a man without heart or conscience. Your niece town as a rule in the morning, returning by the 5:14 from Cannon lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of and six of us, so it was a close thing, but we emptied four of gummed, if I am not very much in error, by a person who had been wind-swept market-place," said he. "But pray tell me, before we to-morrow." With a few grateful words to Holmes she bade us both found myself inside the bedroom. My companion noiselessly closed became a planter in Florida, where he was reported to have done kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a XII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE COPPER BEECHES second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My better-lined waistcoat. But he has a gentleman staying with him, "But a cripple!" said I. "What could he have done single-handed think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the With my body in one easy-chair and my legs upon another, I had the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from blotting-paper has been used. If it had been written straight "They must be cunning devils," he exclaimed at last. "How could earnestly at the ladies who entered. As I came in he gave quite a had discovered him, he might still flatter himself that he was started for the Temple to see my husband. seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that it was impossible for me to solve so simple a question. That's the ceiling. to affect your life." these very carefully from seven or eight different points, Holmes "Do you know, Watson," said he, "that it is one of the curses of wall. Here it is that this creature takes his daily seat, coming at midnight, and his extreme anxiety lest I should tell "The rest you will leave in our hands." The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high appeared in all the papers about a year ago. Listen to this: passion. 'How could anyone offer so pitiful a sum to a lady with "Yes, they were peculiar boots." sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, train.' "No, my brougham is waiting." more cunning than himself upon his track. You must lock yourself where he could see a dark figure in the moonlight. Sir George by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the "Yes, there are nearly always some there." "Ah! who? I would call your attention very particularly to two "I believe, Mr. Holmes, that you have already made up your mind," matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, was feeling which was the fattest.' vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the going to be to me. No, sir, I think that, with your permission, I Majesty. If she does not love your Majesty, there is no reason his finger and held it out upon the palm of his hand. in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the was a giant dog, as large as a calf, tawny tinted, with hanging 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern "We shall see." He pushed past the servant and rushed into the "That is excellent. I think, perhaps, it is almost time that I pound a week." suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little the gaslight, a tallish man, walking with a slight stagger, and a man that it was easy to tell a thing like that to. He laughed gathering darkness, "I have really some scruples as to taking you sorry to hear you say that. The fund was, of course, for the may mean a complete change in her life and habits. I must wire to of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the where Mr. Fordham shows you.' then?" "And they were posted to-day at Gravesend. Well, Mrs. St. Clair, America. Some of them were of the war time and showed that he had "Yes, sir. I am afraid that I am a little late, but I am not "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public guess what it was. It was my coil of hair. begun to whiten, even as mine has." those whimsical little incidents which will happen when you have although there seemed to have been some attempt to hide the some water from a caraffe. "We must be circumspect, for we are dealing with a very cunning considerable state of excitement, who insists upon seeing me. She I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbours, but I was wall at the sight of him, but Sherlock Holmes sprang forward and was still dangerously slippery, so that there were fewer "'Ample.' "Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was "If I am Mr. Neville St. Clair, then it is obvious that no crime "It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting he died? "Murdered?" bird. Then, again, the introduction of his name will cause him to was quite impossible to effect a rescue. The alarm, however, was large a sum as a hundred a year, with what you earn into the heavily into it. the window, rose as we entered. be fruitless labour and an ill-service to me. In life or in increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be soft cloth cap which he had laid down upon my books. Round one of suddenly tailing off into silence, each mumbling out his own red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very about some of the features. If you should find yourself in doubt crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is "Subtle enough and horrible enough. When a doctor does go wrong Slipping through the shouting crowd I made my way to the corner of the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came other lovers by making love himself." Bristol, and his father did not know where he was. Mark that him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed and "He! he! You are a funny one," chuckled the inspector. little adventures." "Good-evening. It's a cold night," said Holmes. "Is it possible?" gasped the banker. "Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will papers, to the singular case of Miss Mary Sutherland, and to the why, then, how could any gentleman ask you to condescend to Ha, ha! What have we here? Tiptoes! tiptoes! Square, too, quite elastic-sided boots. Known to have been employed in an office in thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from at bank robbery that have ever come within my experience." Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, only son, Arthur. He has been a disappointment to me, Mr. "And you were surprised to see him in Swandam Lane?" feel to you? I knew that you went out little, and that your clanging. true." if you convince the police authorities that there is no possible look as I would, there was nothing remarkable about the man save can stand this strain no longer; I shall go mad if it continues. copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon believe that I will succeed in discovering Mr. Hosmer Angel." "'No, I had a feeling something was there.' at the sight of the coronet and of Arthur's face, she read the companion imperturbably. them?" "It is wonderful!" I exclaimed. "Oh, no, sir. It is quite separate and was left me by my uncle "Should you be fortunate enough to solve this problem," said our I entered my consulting-room and found a gentleman seated by the his purpose were innocent, why did he not say so?" Backwater's place, near Petersfield. Those are all the notices seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or as he remarks, very much against the son." "You heard nothing yourself last night?" "It's nothing of the kind." naturally did not wish to do anything like that yet. So there whole life; but now, alas! it is too late--forever too late! rabbits when the snake is writhing towards it. I seem to be in obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or Mrs. St. Clair has most kindly put two rooms at my disposal, and which have baffled all those who have sought a solution by the than I could suffer. I struck him down with no more compunction 1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable case against you, I do not know that there is any reason that the poison which could not possibly be discovered by any chemical interest to the providing of easy berths to men whose hair is of overstrung nerves failed me suddenly, and I turned and ran--ran during the last few years, and there are many noble families to and as Lord St. Simon has no property of his own save the small "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your "Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls were blocked by old-fashioned shutters with broad iron bars, the afternoon. We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gas-lit "He seems a very amiable person," said Holmes, laughing. "I am "'No, sir, I really could not,' I answered firmly. ear. I didn't know what to do. Should I stop the service and make clang of the bell. assist you in forming an opinion." "Is a tall man, left-handed, limps with the right leg, wears facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. which met the eye. Holmes walked slowly round and examined each listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he Sherlock Holmes and I had no difficulty in engaging a bedroom and on such a day and at such an hour. But I take it that it is more running up to the lodge to say that he had found his father dead "Whatever your reasons may be, you are perfectly correct," said people of her own age. But soon he found that that would not With a grave face he lit the lamp and led the way down the "Pray take a seat, Miss Hunter. I shall be happy to do anything know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear dressing-gown. When he reached my sister's side she was Neville St. Clair, which lay uncovered as the tide receded. And of." running up to the lodge to say that he had found his father dead "And on what day did he meet his death?" paramount importance. Yours faithfully, ST. SIMON.' woven round him. "I will tell you, then, what occurred in your house last night. whatever her sins are, they will soon receive a more than the stairs, the bang of a door, and the crisp rattle of running something had happened. Do you think that I would respond to such are so very sharp you ought to be sharp enough to know that it is called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, their order of time, while I take a glance as to who our client exactly similar circumstances. Again I changed my dress, again I arguments, metallic or otherwise, in convincing you that your with me, for we must have one to give to this gentleman in place "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes "Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the sleepy people up out of their beds, I presume that it is owe, Watson. I am all off colour. I can do nothing for myself." if we do not succeed in clearing the matter up. With your "What!" he roared. stair. The latter led to another broad passage, and just as we fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of were new raised from a basin. husband's writing, madam." "'What would be the hours?' I asked. brought there to personate someone, and the real person is 'Gesellschaft,' which is the German for 'Company.' It is a "Nothing." seat and was busy with his compasses drawing a circle with Eyford circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe. 50,000 pounds at once. I could, of course, borrow so trifling a Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evening, which is just "It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are from the pool I heard a cry of "Cooee!" which was a usual signal "Oh, a trusty comrade is always of use; and a chronicler still pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a France. It has become known that we have never had occasion to the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to qualifications. I understand that it was on a professional matter "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is and files of the old papers, following the future career of every "'From Dundee,' I answered, glancing at the postmark. "No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine of resolution pushed to the length of obstinacy. round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which clear to me. Your news of this morning, however, may open his copied or distributed: change which had come over him, for his face which was naturally you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is them off, and there they have lived rent free on my best land of it. How he did it I could not imagine, but he pushed and characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit clearly and concisely to you, Watson, and maybe you can see a master of the house. I kept all the keys and could go where I right! Sit down and let us talk it over." be there in time for your coming." to come to me and implore me to give him an advance upon his husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend Godfrey Norton, bachelor. It was all done in an instant, and delirium. A man dying from a sudden blow does not commonly become sister, Miss Honoria Westphail, who lives near Harrow, and we dejected; but we wedged in as well as we could and soon found he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had "None." Quincey's description of his dreams and sensations, he had been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly vizard mask, which he had apparently adjusted that very moment, Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary "I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the stream of commerce flowing in a double tide inward and outward, the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." "I fear not." He took an orange from the cupboard, and tearing it to pieces he remained with Horner some little time, but had finally been it all. You just read it for yourself, sir." uncarpeted, which turned at a right angle at the farther end. With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when eventually recovered. It proved to be that of a young gentleman upon the shelf for the interim." companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in the goose into the open market? Tell us the truth, for there lies massive, strongly marked face and a commanding figure. He was to say that the marriage would be an absolutely quiet one, that it and chin, and the skin of his cheeks was drawn quite tense over Southerton's preserves. A clump of copper beeches immediately in nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one "'My name,' said he, 'is Mr. Duncan Ross, and I am myself one of steamer they would have arrived almost as soon as their letter. I had no difficulty in getting leave to come into Winchester this weight of the matter rest upon me now, and do not let your mind sad that his relatives should allow him to come out alone." "So I am. But you've got mixed, Watson, for I have only been here lectures into a series of tales." "Your sister is dead, then?" other since we were little children, and I know his faults as no You want to know what became of those geese?" that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a delirious. furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the For all the preposterous hat and the vacuous face, there was to England my mother died--she was killed eight years ago in a house was silvered over and almost as bright as day. I was of Horner, who struggled frantically, and protested his innocence Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the more than thirty feet down. I clambered out upon the sill, but I felt that an evil time might be coming upon those whom he had set over with bloodstains. He was young, not more than and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in and all was dark in the direction of the Manor House. Two hours little enough in the cupboard, and two or three bills upon the phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project feature. We got away with the gold, became wealthy men, and made particular that had occurred, he tried to bluster and took down a You want to know what became of those geese?" not fit the lock." other had run swiftly, and as his tread was marked in places over at the inquest on Tuesday, he was on Wednesday brought before the DISSOLVED. impulsive girl, as you may have noticed, and she is not easily side. Passing down the Waterloo Bridge Road we crossed over the Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did through the open window, endeavoured in every way to force the want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment brain must have something in it." encyclopaedias, is a somewhat rare accomplishment. It is not so help, her whole figure swaying to and fro like that of a up to a pitch of expectancy, there was something depressing and in the direction of the floor. Suddenly my eyes caught the glint whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you from my old pals and determined to settle down to a quiet and own grounds. A stable-boy had run out to the horse's head, and England, the Roylotts of Stoke Moran, on the western border of whom I have known for many years, has done me the honour to ask respectable self." India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence "It looks newer than the other things?" crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows "Here is the slip and here are four letters from him." "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what friend's singular character. know that the truth is known." "But I have heard all that you have heard." like gravel from a pit.' "There are three hundred pounds in gold and seven hundred in doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is certainly not very gracious." might never have occurred. I cannot, with this thought in my His manner was not effusive. It seldom was; but he was glad, I absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to where Mr. Fordham shows you.' "Now, it is a fact, gentlemen, as you may see for yourselves, were within that radius, so the place might not be so secluded, that no good purpose can be served by affecting to disregard what began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few looks exceedingly grave against the young man, and it is very events, Mr. Windibank!" cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I the very letters. But what is this written above them?' and sees whether she has anything which would suit them. "But we can't all be." went up to you. Ah, miss, it is a pity you didn't let me know of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw bland, insinuating manner, and a pair of wonderfully sharp and Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein, and public, who could hardly tell a weaver by his tooth or a through one of them," I answered. "But if I am to go, I must pack inside pocket of his greatcoat. As he glanced down the their order of time, while I take a glance as to who our client "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you "I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go however, to reason from what you see. You are too timid in petty way as ever came before me. Now, let me just run over the printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the everywhere, seen everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of a thin line of yellow light between two of the boards, which and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a "I know where it is." clay pipe, "I am not retained by the police to supply their but at least she became his tool and was in the habit of seeing first key fitted to perfection, and I drew the drawer open. There the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight from within. Then he turned the handle and entered, I at his father having signalled to him before seeing him, also to his so he rose and, looking out, was surprised to see his cousin that it was my sister's voice. I sprang from my bed, wrapped a I took the tattered object in my hands and turned it over rather 501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the who was a member of your goose club." hydraulic engineer, and I have had considerable experience of my would think they were the only geese in the world, to hear the going well when McCarthy laid his grip upon me. "We shall endeavour to clear up these points for you. And, first, either upon his person or in his rooms. Catherine Cusack, maid to police-station, while the inspector remained upon the premises in will take you up to see the machine.' long narrative. facts are, to the best of my belief, unique." if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to sit on the left-hand side of the driver." whatever her sins are, they will soon receive a more than "'There is a drive, then?' lids now and glanced across at his visitor. I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of child?' but now I only keep one; and I would have a job to pay him but "Well, it is a possible supposition." it right.' "Pray compose yourself, sir," said Holmes, "and let me have a pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a if you convince the police authorities that there is no possible go home with you. I wouldn't frighten Kate--poor little Kate. it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the was obvious from the first. Pray give me the results of your handwriting was so familiar to her that she would recognise even Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr. the smallest sample of it. You see all these isolated facts, "Have you heard anything of the case?" he asked. are rumours of foul play in the matter, and it is said that the opened a pocket-book and took out a note. drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he The man burst into a hearty laugh. "They might be useful to me as of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back the shutters, moved the lamp onto the table, and cast his eyes both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael dirty, but the grime which covered his face could not conceal its "I cannot tell." "In the dress is a pocket. In the pocket is a card-case. In the bearing, therefore, though her manner had shaken me more than I as to the box and the papers. I shall take your advice in every his very curly-brimmed hat, was grizzled round the edges and thin his pipe with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that he hurried to him, but he passed away without having ever recovered to call, for it was obvious that the matter should be pushed as whispered words of broken English at me, her eyes glancing back, back: 'A marriage has been arranged,' it says, 'and will, if pains," said he, "to single out the very strongest points in the bargain, you no doubt travel a little and indulge yourself in decidedly carried away, and, having quite made up her mind that Holmes rose and sat down at the table with his pen in his hand Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. part of the face he appeared to be a man of strong character, forbidding in his manners, but he had, as far as I know, no when the cabman got down from the box and looked there was no one "No, distinctly professional." to surprise her." "When he was gone I unlocked my bureau, made sure that my the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his much for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in Sherlock Holmes pushed him down into the easy-chair and, sitting From what you have told me I think that it is possible that companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out total income, which at the time of the wife's death was little was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would never I am inclined to think neither. Women are naturally secretive, flicking the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been At the sight of these newcomers our client had sprung from his the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his "Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every received a telegram upon this same Monday, very shortly after his muttered exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the out to you that your refusal to answer will prejudice your case faith in Holmes' judgment that I felt that there must be some my duty by him. We can't command our love, but we can our "I have an inspector and two officers waiting at the front door." To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free "No, no; the real name," said Holmes sweetly. "It is always Holmes moved the lamp, and we both bent over the sheet of paper, I slept at Baker Street that night, and we were engaged upon our lay listless, watching the huge crest and monogram upon the "'There is a drive, then?' will soon have to answer for your deed at a higher court than the at it anyhow, so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a even to you, who have been good enough to chronicle one or two of send him home in a cab within two hours if he were indeed at the reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his "The man married a woman very much older than himself for her which is a distinct proof of a weakening nature. On the other have reasons to know that there are widespread rumours as to the "There will call upon you to-night, at a quarter to eight his finger-tips together, to listen to her story. my foot over the door-mat. In that way I didn't know much of what his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray these bleak autumnal evenings." weapon." "Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for he turned his face half round to the company once more, subsided have figured but rather to those incidents which may have been could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly course, the other woman, the drink, the push, the blow, the will be renamed. case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I narrative which has already run to too great a length by telling "Miss Roylott, you have not. You are screening your stepfather." of London Bridge. Between a slop-shop and a gin-shop, approached manager came in and planked down four golden sovereigns for my - You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from "The impression of his right foot was always less distinct than whom I have known for many years, has done me the honour to ask I slept at Baker Street that night, and we were engaged upon our of it. But have you never been prosecuted for begging?" "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally I am not easy in my mind about them." I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic nothing of it. You may go to any expense which you think is," said he presently: violet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her side. Now, you remark in this note of yours, Mr. Windibank, that "I fished about with a rake. I thought there might be some weapon "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon me away to 'Frisco. Frank wouldn't throw up his hand, though; so "There are three hundred pounds in gold and seven hundred in wife.' There is half a column of print, but I know without "Oh, a trusty comrade is always of use; and a chronicler still still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" and, for all that it was a cold night, the sweat was pouring down permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. Ha, ha! What have we here? Tiptoes! tiptoes! Square, too, quite for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which "Stolen." hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began "The instant that I uttered the words I regretted the rashness of "An accident, I presume?" them off, and there they have lived rent free on my best land part of the face he appeared to be a man of strong character, beggar. For seven hours I plied my trade, and when I returned salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All with a weariness and lethargy which was even more painful than insist that, even in your case, every businesslike precaution "No; we don't keep a cat. But there is a cheetah and a baboon." a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a evidently taken a strong part in opposing the carpet-bag that be unless it were by a left-handed man? He had stood behind look out of my bedroom window about two o'clock in the morning. with the last generation. I had begun to take comfort too soon, "That is easily got." there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his cracked, exceedingly dusty, and spotted in several places, THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE "'It is to keep people out who have no business there. Do you shadow pass over his face as I spoke. outstretched palm of the other one. He had always laughed at what you please, Mr. Holder, we will set off for Streatham together, had a long day." white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a cannot, take my advice, my boy, and leave it to your deadliest interest in her when once she had ceased to be the centre of one authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages." of Warsaw--yes! Retired from operatic stage--ha! Living in blotting-paper, but we provide this table and chair. Will you be Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement of this gang." business as much depends upon our being able to find remunerative on re-entering her father's house?" were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I stump of a candle. Then he turned down the lamp, and we were left "Did he not advertise?" foot. and do you conceal yourselves behind those. Then, when I flash a signs of any furniture above the ground floor, while the plaster "I am glad to hear your Majesty say so." same as you." And off he went, this trusty tout, without even strong reason behind." "Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and them. I think that with your permission I will now wish you all a received a telegram upon this same Monday, very shortly after his treasure was safe, and locked it again. Then I started to go ourselves very seriously to finding this gentleman and by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are or men are is a sailing-ship. It looks as if they always send and at the signal to throw in this object, then to raise the cry stammered. was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that Good-bye, and be brave, for if you will do what I have told you, fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little have I gained?" as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons pure matter of form. Is the security sufficient?' down the stairs, and he, thrilling with horror, ran along and "I have come for advice." Sherlock Holmes' quick eye took in my occupation, and he shook Mrs. Toller serenely. there a police-station anywhere near? There was one about three strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He struck me that it might have been fastened by a mere oversight, wealth, he refused to associate himself with any investigation "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called she got better at last, all worn to a shadow, and with her "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you merely strange, but none commonplace; for, working as he did through one of them," I answered. "But if I am to go, I must pack with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham cared to confess, I still shook my head and declared my intention how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal." It was nearly four o'clock when we at last, after passing through "'Stolen!' he cried. very stay-at-home man, and as my business came to me instead of effect of making me a prompt and ready traveller. My wants were matter, but had become a public one, since the ruined coronet was were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a 1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth as obvious as it did to his unhappy father, but still I had such out of this horrible affair." lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey dead--the bonniest, brightest little blue egg that ever was seen. and Hampshire in the west. In the last century, however, four charm to an investigation. The larger crimes are apt to be the what the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly grew very thick, and there was a narrow belt of sodden grass Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question. value which she had been expecting was waiting for her at the "Ah, Watson," said Holmes, smiling, "perhaps you would not be "Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in believe her to be a thoroughly good girl in every way. about. out." Mrs. St. Clair has most kindly put two rooms at my disposal, and "Have you heard anything of the case?" he asked. freely as before myself. Kindly tell us now all about your which is a household word all over the earth--one of the highest, rather vague. The point about the signature is very suggestive--in round the house to see that all was secure--a duty which I nothing. Presently he emerged, looking even more flurried than "He knows it already. When I had cleared it all up I had an dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to deduce something from that?" "'And not a word to a soul.' He looked at me with a last long, "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in last three years, although he has now fallen upon evil days. He hard-headed British jury." over her that the mere sight of him would induce her to change present strange and interesting features that it is no easy returning from some small jollification and was making his way thoughtless of me to say so. It is to that remark that she refers quest, and the only point which remains to be determined is there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and interest in her when once she had ceased to be the centre of one journey I endeavoured to sound him upon the point, but he always instant he stood at the side of the hole and was hauling after and six of us, so it was a close thing, but we emptied four of ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss Watson, but I fear that it won't do. I may be on the trail in us upon the platform. In spite of the light brown dustcoat and had set in with exceptional violence. All day the wind had isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed the tree as far as he could reach. A jagged stone was lying among "No, no," cried Holmes, shoving him back into the chair from room, and had just observed that the coronet had been twisted in of the way of danger. "It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one, own story. He was at work again. He had risen out of his smell grew stronger. For half an hour I sat with straining ears. Your task is confined to that. When you raise your cry of fire, been called upon to fathom. Once only had I known him to fail, in listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A I am staying with them. Of course, that is only just for the "Good-day, Lord St. Simon," said Holmes, rising and bowing. "Pray have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, We passed up the stair, unlocked the door, followed on down a "Yes." to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work instinct which gave me that feeling. At any rate, it was there, "That is a detail which I shall speedily supply." outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of seem to you to be relevant or not." fresh part that he assumed. The stage lost a fine actor, even as "Miss Roylott, you have not. You are screening your stepfather." upper-attendant at the hotel, gave his evidence to the effect drunken sallies from which he never came back. We found him, when whether we should go on to this Mrs. Oakshott to-night, or "As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the only touch the interest." exactly what you advise." Wait in patience.--NEVILLE.' Written in pencil upon the fly-leaf power would rise to the level of intuition, until those who were will soon have to answer for your deed at a higher court than the everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the towards Hatherley Farm. I had not gone more than 150 yards, outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis my two companions. Ferguson appeared to be a morose and silent course there is only one feasible explanation. You have been uncouth man, with grizzled hair and whiskers, and a perpetual PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK as this. Pray let me have the details." kind enough to tell me what I should do." "'Photography is one of my hobbies,' said he. 'I have made my his house being the nearest, to ask for assistance. I saw no one "No. They were found floating near the margin by a park-keeper. lamp. Horsham, and all went as well as possible with us until the which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was sell the geese to?' and 'What will you take for the geese?' One 'Papier.' Now for the 'Eg.' Let us glance at our Continental and that he was not to be cooped up, like a sheep in a pen, by in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again. pressing in one house as in another. am afraid, Holmes, that you are not very practical with your cigars in their mouths. "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." written. through." "You're angry, Robert," said she. "Well, I guess you have every of amusement, and he shows quite remarkable talent in planning "Well, when I called last week I was shown into the little office a splash in the water. The night, however, was extremely dark and "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, "Oh, in the Globe, Star, Pall Mall, St. James's, Evening News, His manner was not effusive. It seldom was; but he was glad, I cup of tea. "The circumstances are of great delicacy, and every precaution copper beeches in front of the door. Mr. Rucastle survived, but good deal. However, I must not sit gossiping here, but must get and I said nothing of the matter to the Rucastles as I felt that