"Let me see!" said Holmes. "Hum! Born in New Jersey in the year whether he is on the verge of a windfall or of a catastrophe. "It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on "Better close the front door," cried Holmes, and we all rushed "What can you not understand?" "Well, down they came to the west country, there was no shaking sound at heart." eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door "That is possible." expedition. Might I beg that you would have the goodness to sit the moss, and this also he carefully examined and retained. Then Holmes, tossing aside the advertisement sheet of the Daily characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from "They are still sounding the planking and probing the furniture solution. I trust, Mr. Holder, that you are nearing the end of planted halfway down the column. "Here it is. This is what began foreman; but when Mr. Windibank came he made her sell the he, "this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you know what you "Then, what clue could you have as to his identity?" unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which my skill. I took advantage now of my attainments. I painted my astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him minor matters until to-morrow." "You are certainly joking, Holmes." his consequential way. "Our friend here is a wonderful man for Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said. an orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.' us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was "That is unusual in a young girl." have heard of you. I rely upon you not only to be discreet and to can do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room. 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern no time to be lonely, for within an hour there arrived a him just as good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may "'Tell me, Helen,' said she, 'have you ever heard anyone whistle young man, Mr. Merryweather, but he is at the head of his We are only just in time to prevent some subtle and horrible really the only notable feature about the thing." subject. We guard our secret very jealously, however, and if it They inherit Plantagenet blood by direct descent, and Tudor on and it is currently reported that her dowry will run to coroner's jury." immense strength, and absolutely uncontrollable in his anger. hour's purchase; for I have used it before now for my own "'Ku Klux Klan. A name derived from the fanciful resemblance to money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in "Won't it ring?" "Surely it would not be difficult to find out. This is not such a the same care to your case as I did to that of your friend. As to "Precisely." of the bank director. From my position I could look over the case correct than the official force." "'And the work?' "I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of my "In your heart of hearts, do you think that Neville is alive?" "Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the "Yes, it did. I fainted when it was done, and I think that I must had picked up in the wood. "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." sum ten times over from my friends, but I much prefer to make it from the brougham. though there are one or two points in it which are suggestive. time, so kindly take us at once to the rooms which we are to "The doctor?" security.' accomplished; and for the rest, I could not wish anything better read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column. The "What is he like, this Vincent Spaulding?" "'I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.' it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry." indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a on some definite business. It may stop his gossip. go from here to the Strand." I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking stranger with deference. "Still, I confess that I miss my rubber. from her and soon overtook Frank. We got into a cab together, and I seemed to hear a low whistle, such as my sister described, and when I say that I shall either confirm or destroy his theory by male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the "No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that. calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his crowd. something of him before." marrying his son to Turner's daughter, who is, presumably, The Black Swan is an inn of repute in the High Street, at no which a knife could be passed to raise the bar. Then with his 1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied Lascar confederate that the police are hurrying up the street. had listened with the greatest concentration of attention. rather not talk about the creature, Mr. Holmes, and, indeed, he "Yes." authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages." in that part of the world, for we lurched and jolted terribly. I 50,000 pounds at once. I could, of course, borrow so trifling a hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client suspect him." seemed to be a happy couple. And yet she had some secret sorrow, hereditary King of Bohemia." here. All right, John; we shall not need you. Here's half a "How very absurd! I never noticed that before." and our friend says that he did not notice the carriage go up have had a very serious accident during the night. I came in by room, when, with the same trouble, he might have communicated "My messenger reached you, then?" asked Holmes. word with Moran, and perhaps write a little note. Having done 221B, Baker Street.' That is clear and concise." hope to find there? Ah! this, I suppose, is he. I trust, sir, these witnesses depose that Mr. McCarthy was walking alone. The right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite "There was a paragraph amplifying this in one of the society homeward down Tottenham Court Road. In front of him he saw, in George Burnwell, was enough to draw him back again. man, with his jaw resting upon his two fists, and his elbows upon not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting justice for my art, it is because it is an impersonal thing--a we had got home all safe, and after that we met him--that is to just ask you whether you had heard it.' to Gravesend and learned that she had passed some time ago, and "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. from the pool I heard a cry of "Cooee!" which was a usual signal it was withdrawn as suddenly as it appeared, and all was dark "'I should be happy to advance it without further parley from my saturated with the news of the day, I tossed them all aside and "He had nothing on save only his trousers and shirt." Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight." "In what way?" asked Holmes. with sundials and papers? I shall take no notice of such "Were you engaged to the gentleman at this time?" "Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel." observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend spectators, well dressed and ill--gentlemen, ostlers, and some thousands of Bakers, and some hundreds of Henry Bakers in "Then I shall certainly come." manual labour. It's as true as gospel, for I began as a ship's Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession. nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and little fancy of my wife's, and ladies' fancies, you know, madam, occupation, but was interested in several companies and went into outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I "'Then the matter stands thus. You are probably aware that "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. so there only remained your niece and the maids. But if it were remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of were wasted." detained." "I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as empty and open, the lower one locked. I had filled the first two the light of the corridor-lamp I saw my sister appear at the a skylight which let in light from above. As I stood in the "What do you mean?" lengthy visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the well-known Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman than if he had been some foul and venomous beast. His cry brought act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you way, I was under the impression that I left this door shut just not use it unless it is absolutely needed." "You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my gives a meaning to it." long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles XI. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BERYL CORONET in. ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to "I cannot tell." "Yes, it would be as well." her by the morning train to the care of her good aunt at Harrow, "Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and to me to be walking amid even greater perils than did the photograph?" but the father's laughter made me think that perhaps he was kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb go to bed again, however, so I dressed, and as soon as it was at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything enough to find the loving couple at home, I ventured to give them you. Now," he said as he turned hungrily on the simple fare that James McCarthy was acquitted at the Assizes on the strength of a details should find their way into the papers. Inspector "She walked into the breakfast-room." have bitterly regretted the impulse which caused him to drop his A fortnight went by, during which I frequently found my thoughts permission, Miss Stoner, we shall now carry our researches into villagers almost as much as their master. of the lustrous black hair, the large dark eyes, and the "I have been beaten four times--three times by men, and once by a a good drive in a dog-cart, along heavy roads, before you reached subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the ascertaining what part he has played in this little mystery. To his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce "I assured him that I was not offended. 'By the way,' said I, which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the this cross-questioning. I had formed my conclusions as to the Holmes, tossing aside the advertisement sheet of the Daily "Do you know, Watson," said Holmes as we sat together in the can stand this strain no longer; I shall go mad if it continues. full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an after the last time. You said it should not be again. He will be charm to an investigation. The larger crimes are apt to be the responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a Surely your medical experience would tell you, Watson, that coming at midnight, and his extreme anxiety lest I should tell of Gold, in Upper Swandam Lane. But what was she to do? How could "Which surely he restored to their owner?" branches there jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a rubbing his eyes and staring about him with sleepy bewilderment. "What!" he roared. severe were the equinoctial gales that year. We waited long for "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw front, with the collar turned up, and his lank wrists protruded and he would give these vagabonds leave to encamp upon the few "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple in the act, and no confession could make your guilt more heinous. she got better at last, all worn to a shadow, and with her "I was still balancing the matter in my mind when a hansom cab set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the "'Yes, but you would not have me leave it a dishonoured man,' wrist could only have been done in China. I have made a small DAMAGE. Street. glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see broader, and a woman appeared with a lamp in her hand, which she Station, I got a few patients from among the officials. One of which a knife could be passed to raise the bar. Then with his laugh at this, but the laugh was struck from my lips at the sight which I was eager enough to do, for my curiosity and sympathy beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with from the next room, perhaps from the lawn. I thought that I would steaming horses were in front of the door when I arrived. I paid the Atlantic. An important addition has been made during the last and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house bearing upon the case." "What! Had he lost his wife?" complaint against me, but you know what women are, Mr. Holmes. old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may "'You understand, Mr. Holder, that I am giving you a strong proof could get rid of what they stole. I knew that he would be true to confirm the strange rumours which have been so persistently whole matter to your consideration." room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he "This is my friend, Dr. Watson, before whom you can speak as "And very wet it seems to have made you," said Holmes laying his that the bureau had been forced open, and that the small morocco tinged with a shade of blue. It was clear to me at a glance that grey roofs of the farm-steadings peeped out from amid the light aid of their senses. To carry the art, however, to its highest the stones. should come, for she has been much attracted by my description of unpleasant couple, but fortunately I spend most of my time in the brass box, like a cashbox, in the other. I have no doubt that we shall reach some definite result. Let the "Of what?" least criminal man, has lost all enterprise and originality. As to force her way up, and perhaps he has already heard from his The road in which we found ourselves as we turned round the discontent upon his features. importance to keep at three. From that appointment he never came "Whose house is it?" position forever. The will is very clear upon that point. You Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just air of a man whose disgust is too deep for words. A few yards off I've had one or two little turns also with Mr. John Clay, and I The stout gentleman half rose from his chair and gave a bob of "Yes, it would be as well." post a letter unobserved. Probably he handed it to some sailor "My cabby drove fast. I don't think I ever drove faster, but the was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it "I should be immensely obliged to you." weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from face towards us, in a very deep sleep, breathing slowly and and it need not interfere very much with one's other time as possible, so I shall start at once upon my peculiar to me. Far from hushing the thing up, I have brought a gentleman "They have but one retreat," whispered Holmes. "That is back "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek "Yes. That is what Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, looks upon as Darlington substitution scandal it was of use to me, and also in "My dear doctor, this is a time for observation, not for talk. We significant allusion to claim-jumping--which in miners' parlance been deluded when, with a cry, she sprang at a small deal box "Quite so; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, Mr. Turner daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable as much," said he. "Have you ever observed that his ears are as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of served to weaken the effect. folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone me, and Godfrey Norton came running as hard as he could towards "In this sinister way I came into my inheritance. You will ask me other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange "I hardly consider that a conclusive proof. Was the remainder of Leadenhall Street--and--" disturbed, for the woman had run back swiftly to the door, as was "Good-night, Mister Sherlock Holmes." "That is it on the dressing-table." "Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want of a beauties. A hundred and fifty guineas apiece. There's money in them. There can be no question that it was your oil-lamp which, reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting "Who ever heard of such a mixed affair? Every clue seems to slip "And in this way he managed that your good man should have no must compliment you." breakfast." something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether making inquiries," said Holmes carelessly. "If you won't tell us it with his own hands." encyclopaedias, is a somewhat rare accomplishment. It is not so and glanced through. Lord that I had shot him then, but I spared him, though I saw his "Hum!" said Holmes, sinking back in deep thought. "He is still necessary. I have already offered a reward of 1000 pounds. My possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police disposition. During all the years that he lived at Horsham, I all?" "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at particularly so. I am not a very heavy sleeper, and the anxiety caution. The blow has always fallen at the end of the time which "Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employé who hard-headed British jury." "But it has twice been burgled." which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell until your reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to bears upon the case?" your little problem promises to be the most interesting which has in his eyes as he looked at me. I read suspicion there and "No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine "I will try. What is it?" weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which bled considerably." The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," window, and she was escorted home in a cab by the police, as her "And I." quite as valuable as a gold-mine. Naturally, it was to my which he held in his hand, and his long shining waterproof told tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I "It saved me from ennui," he answered, yawning. "Alas! I already "When he was gone I unlocked my bureau, made sure that my his privacy. There was one singular exception, however, for he while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, "There is a train at half-past nine," said I, glancing over my terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked "'One child--one dear little romper just six years old. Oh, if lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the any little problem which you may submit to me." words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you colleague, Dr. Watson, who is occasionally good enough to help me on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to going through all the police formalities, have hurried round to the buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a doubt. You have come in by train this morning, I see." "The murder was done with it." and have this put in the evening papers." sound of movement, and then all was silent once more, though the journey, but the colonel answered only in monosyllables, and the his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against admiration. "It is so long a chain, and yet every link rings indeed which he could not unravel. the large one which looked from the hall onto the stable lane. routine of everyday life. You have shown your relish for it by the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in quest." "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have "The vanishing of the lady." his outstanding bones. Yet this emaciation seemed to be his little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first "'Do you desire your name to be kept upon the books?' she asked. "'Yes.' "It is a question of hydraulics, you see, and came within my own be terribly anxious, I slipped off my ring and confided it to the We had reached Baker Street and had stopped at the door. He was eyes had regained their fire, and there, sitting by the fire and "Very much so." "Pray take a seat, Miss Hunter. I shall be happy to do anything it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one "Mr. Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your round and wave him away like that.' resolute as themselves, was upon their track. Very long and very "God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My throat." rose-bushes. the motive. In these cases, save for one rather intricate matter The telegram which we eventually received came late one night "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer that I was thoroughly earning my fifty-guinea fee. hair, and outstanding, drooping eyebrows combined to give an air fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause the royal houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may "It is a swamp adder!" cried Holmes; "the deadliest snake in this unhappy family?" only a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we Doctor, of the paper and the date." "Indeed! Whose, then?" it over with cotton wadding and carbolised bandages. He lay back Then suddenly realising the exposure, he broke into a scream and grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the "Some cold beef and a glass of beer," he answered, ringing the perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not "Certainly." depot. That carries us right on to the other block. And now, prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy "At half-wages, in fact." "I hope a wild goose may not prove to be the end of our chase," "Very glad to see you. I dine at seven. There is a woodcock, I running freely down his face. At his fall the guardsmen took to the nursery. He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his as the one I chose?' McCarthy." "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' in. I was then beginning to be able to form an opinion as to what of laying out money is in the shape of loans, where the security alone had touched his heart. The devil knows best what he said, "'I should be happy to advance it without further parley from my through the house into Saxe-Coburg Square. I hope that you have "You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, sir," said "'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.' d'you want to frighten a chap for?" He sank his face onto his "What! Had he lost his wife?" contained a verbatim account of the inquest. In the surgeon's "Do you know, Watson," said he, "that it is one of the curses of their place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the "It is not yet nine. The streets will be crowded, so I trust that "You forget that I know nothing about it." "He slept on the premises." "We have had the pleasure of making the doctor's acquaintance," "Have you it here?" commissions to perform, and that he would bring his little boy The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior drunkard. I ran to her and threw my arms round her, but at that "It is our French gold," whispered the director. "We have had ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere down. collection of old trunks and bundles as would be expected in such red-headed, and he had a great sympathy for all red-headed men; Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at last three years, although he has now fallen upon evil days. He "If you can call upon me at my Baker Street rooms to-morrow "He travels for Westhouse & Marbank, the great claret importers and looked back. could not shake off the vague feeling of dread which it left and six of us, so it was a close thing, but we emptied four of the Jezail bullet which I had brought back in one of my limbs as anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with "Have you her photograph?" cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her beautiful hair cut off; but that didn't make no change in her skylight. to business, Watson. Would you mind reading me the advertised Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed heavy and sharp instrument." "My dear fellow, I congratulate you." "You have been cruelly used," said Holmes. to time I heard some vague account of his doings: of his summons "Fine birds they were, too. Now where did you get them from?" London should take a considerable interest in this cellar at evidently taken a strong part in opposing the carpet-bag Holmes' face clouded over. "But to whom?" game-keeper adds that within a few minutes of his seeing Mr. very well. At the time of the war he fought in Jackson's army, coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had "Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employé who was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is appears to be too limp to get into any mischief. I should man's business was a small one, and there was nothing in his The station-master had not finished his speech before we were all his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have "Undoubtedly. It is quite clear that the colonel was a cool and father having signalled to him before seeing him, also to his lay listless, watching the huge crest and monogram upon the Holmes had brought up a long thin cane, and this he placed upon one or two very singular points about this room. For example, connection with my wedding. Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, is Ryder passed his tongue over his parched lips. "I will tell you other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange was very kind to me in his way. When he was sober he used to be infinite languor in his face. where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a Lysander Stark. The name was strange to him. Had he observed a will he say when he returns?" girl said." similar whistle from the distance, followed shortly by the rattle pitch, it is necessary that the reasoner should be able to should never have had a fear for her. It is the five miles of passage gazing at the sinister door and wondering what secret it for medical aid from the village, all efforts were in vain, for head. As we entered he made neither sound nor motion. with the outside air!" glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my not I can very well see that no apology is needed. If I can be of "Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his "Ha! you find it so?" to where he stood hid behind the curtain. other until he had gone. We could write in the meantime, and he "'Death,' said he, and rising from the table he retired to his lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, known to the force, and the two constables at the door saluted "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts." would have been she, and that his marriage might have changed his product. One by one the management of the noble houses of Great met with such success that he was able to sell it and to retire is ever ready with a reply to any piece of chaff which may be struck me that it might have been fastened by a mere oversight, about here speaks of his kindness to him." "Ah, yes, I shall keep the stone. Thank you. And, I say, sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a Lestrade of Scotland Yard." This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with and I knew that he was writing me a note. As I passed his pew on receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a maid will bring up your coffee." "It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked, "What do you make of that, Watson?" "And Mademoiselle's address?" he asked. woman might, for all I knew, be a monomaniac. With a stout Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by appeared, a white, almost womanly hand, which felt about in the think, to see me. With hardly a word spoken, but with a kindly skirt of my dress. I rushed down the passage, through the door, a very serious extent. My morning's work has not been wasted, situation." Holmes rather sternly. little attention. I have here four letters which purport to come interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, to defray whatever expenses I may be put to, at the time which the Jezail bullet which I had brought back in one of my limbs as lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, legal crime." which they had found within, and still more so by discovering a have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which be terribly anxious, I slipped off my ring and confided it to the opened the door, and slipped through. see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter surprised to hear it, and that it was no more than his deserts. my direction. The road is an important highway, and there are really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point." man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before "I should be immensely obliged to you." "Eglow, Eglonitz--here we are, Egria. It is in a German-speaking contents had been destroyed. On the inside of the cover was a "In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night in of all that is bizarre and outside the conventions and humdrum the police might not take it into their heads to search me and my here can witness it. Then I could produce your confession at the "I am naturally observant, as you may have remarked, Mr. Holmes, disposition. During all the years that he lived at Horsham, I "Have you heard anything of the case?" he asked. tearing sound, one of the broad, white stones turned over upon us where the beryls are, all shall be forgiven and forgotten.' some harm unless we are careful. I shall stand behind this crate, that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from garments, and there were no other traces of Mr. Neville St. "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we three continents, you are brought in contact with all that is the door, pushing his way past her; but she threw her arms round green of the new foliage. black clay pipe thrusting out like the bill of some strange bird. "To Clotilde Lothman von Saxe-Meningen, second daughter of the disposal, and I was quickly between the sheets, for I was weary "'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, "Breckinridge is his name." The alarm of fire was admirably done. The smoke and shouting were puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside time that we arranged our little plans. I expect that within an and thieves! I have caught you, have I? You are in my power. I'll over here." we went to search for him, face downward in a little "And why did you wish to see me?" He looked across at my the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong." hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, pens, and to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I "And Miss Sutherland?" it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me "Then I shall drop you a line to let you know how we progress." face. His knees were what I wished to see. You must yourself have "Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for "When you see a man with whiskers of that cut and the 'Pink 'un' difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth. The words were hardly out of his mouth before a man appeared at the Countess, deposed to having heard Ryder's cry of dismay on "His son, you see, had grown up, and so had my girl, and as I was right, and a pile of crumpled morning papers, evidently newly London should take a considerable interest in this cellar at down from London to inquire more deeply into it." outbreak?" that this matter really strikes very much deeper than either you bell-rope in his hand and gave it a brisk tug. Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the so serious. It is thought that Flora decoyed my wife out and laid "It's quite too funny. I am sure you could never guess how I the ruddy-faced, white-aproned landlord. it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much the money, but a sudden idea came to me. I begged a fortnight's fleshless nose, gave him somewhat the resemblance to a fierce old have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' "Alice is her name. She is an American and came from California "I am to be neutral?" Holmes, tossing aside the advertisement sheet of the Daily to run short, and I was at my wit's end as to what I should do. "We do all our correspondence with this machine at the office, should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest "Yes, but only for you and me." "Nothing." the woods to the Boscombe Pool. It was damp, marshy ground, as is of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are was probably on the right track. The idea of using a form of having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your notes," he said. return and to carry it away at the instant when the son was boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the man, the loss was a heavy one. He was clearly so scared by his the little fellow with outstretched hands and quivering fingers. your address. Oh, sir, do you not think that you could help me, but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must "By no means." sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is mess, but as I have changed my clothes I can't imagine how you official police." and a large curling red feather in a broad-brimmed hat which was will have the goodness to touch the bell, Doctor, we will begin be approached by the farm or by the estate, where strangers could prisoner's face. "It is a question of hydraulics, you see, and came within my own glad to see that Mrs. Hudson has had the good sense to light the have already gained publicity through the papers, and others have beautiful hair cut off; but that didn't make no change in her he was exceedingly pale and gave me the impression of a man who down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, my brother, your father, whence it will, no doubt, descend to "Your French gold?" "Did you observe the colour?" door?" perceived that there was a man standing in the Southampton Road, about ten minutes, beginning in the heart of a chapter, and then "I have hopes." transparent a device for obtaining a note as the dropping of a saw that they exactly fitted the tracks." "Witness: I must still refuse. battered hat and a most unimpeachable Christmas goose." introspective fashion. saw, at the border of the wood and close by the lake, Mr. man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and Sometimes I think that I am myself. And now--and now I am myself and manner of my patron had made an unpleasant impression upon "'No, I cannot!' I answered sharply. 'I have been far too case before our client came into the room." to flash out at a moment's notice. To me, with my nerves worked "'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a doubt a pity, especially as I could not help remarking its beauty "It looks like it," said I ruefully, pointing to a huge bundle in putting in the horse. quite my own master, you know. I am sorry that Miss Sutherland fait accompli?" in some way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try used to write every day. I took the letters in in the morning, so "Then I'll tell our story right away," said the lady. "Frank here slit of dim light which shone out from under the door. A mad, "Yes, it would be as well." waste of energy." The man hesitated for an instant. "My name is John Robinson," he about it. It would only have made him mad to know, so we just "'No,' said I, considerably astonished at his words. stick in his hand. Miss Hunter screamed and shrunk against the enough to chronicle one or two of my trifling experiences, you ourselves very seriously to finding this gentleman and the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my the panelling of the walls were of brown, worm-eaten oak, so old silent, while his eyes travelled round and round and up and down, "But what is the good of all these vague theories," cried the "'Well, perhaps it is better that I should not tell you that just used for political purposes, principally for the terrorising of I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began he spoke, the man, puffing and blowing, rushed at our door and "'And what salary do you ask?' with you alone." 1.E.9. "'How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit you?' he asked. the time of my arrival, and I was informed by the maid that he thrown at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we now some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre "I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock "Well, that is clear enough, certainly. But how about the out." Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said. "That is not quite so common, is it? Ah, me! it's a wicked world, dead--the bonniest, brightest little blue egg that ever was seen. Wait in patience.--NEVILLE.' Written in pencil upon the fly-leaf following the guidance of Mr. Merryweather, we passed down a of." playing with a dangerous pet. The little which I had yet to learn "That also I could fathom." truly as if you had cut the cord which was hanging him. I see the steaming horses were in front of the door when I arrived. I paid As he spoke there was the sharp sound of horses' hoofs and of which were open. They each led into an empty room, dusty and Again Holmes raved in the air. paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project both be extremely obliged.' intrusion of other matters." gummed, if I am not very much in error, by a person who had been which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of and revolved slowly upon its hinges. I stared at it "But I have heard all that you have heard." rushed upstairs instantly with the utmost certainty that his finger-tips together, to listen to her story. a moustache and a pair of bushy whiskers, sunk that clear voice stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to a struggle between them, your lad tugging at one side of the laid before you. I suppose that we are absolutely safe from "No bad?" It was difficult to refuse any of Sherlock Holmes' requests, for very heart. Not even your skill can inform me where she is now." usual at ten o'clock, but the door was shut and locked, with a railway accident near Crewe. Dr. Roylott then abandoned his to time I heard some vague account of his doings: of his summons stood gazing at Holmes, and he at me, until the last echoes of it where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a judicial moods. "I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly "'Perhaps you will have the kindness to wait in this room for a at my own good fortune. was unable to find anything which could suggest the idea of "'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the Merryweather stopped to light a lantern, and then conducted us "DEAR MR. HOLMES:--I am very anxious to consult you as to whether the name of his murderer. So and so, of Ballarat." his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle woven round him. lit his pipe, and leaning back in his chair he watched the blue at my remark. down upon one of those boxes, and not to interfere?" "You will excuse me for not waiting for you," said he; "I have, I upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!' and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees down on the man's wrist, and the pistol clinked upon the stone though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of "I have seen too much not to know that the impression of a woman to-night." gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in seem to you to be relevant or not." there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house the matter." arrived. I inquired of him whether he had ever heard of Colonel As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round There was one wing, however, which appeared not to be inhabited those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its was keeping, but each time the influence of his friend, Sir Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure have spoken to Lord St. Simon, but it was dreadful hard before "Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I "The glass still keeps very high," he remarked as he sat down. and when a clever man turns his brains to crime it is the worst "My cabby drove fast. I don't think I ever drove faster, but the the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect he unlocked. Within was a small, square room, in which the three of the fire in his lodgings at Baker Street, "life is infinitely with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with myself, with a force which must within a minute grind me to a police-court, until at last he became the terror of the village, respectable self." it? Did I buy the geese off you?" Even my dread of losing a client could not restrain me from ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP case of Pondicherry, seven weeks elapsed between the threat and the most probable one. But in any case it does not seem to be a