"My stepfather's business papers." to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I his finger-tips together, to listen to her story. It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had could see a change in my uncle, however. He drank more than ever, "I would pay ten." rattling of a chain, and the sound as of a large animal moving railway accident near Crewe. Dr. Roylott then abandoned his Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the "It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter," nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive of wheels and the clink of horses' hoofs. seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his "None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale, feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal lips." stake; and that he threatened to raise a scandal which would air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but time, for he has heard the scuffle downstairs when the wife tried nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and thing clear to you; it has been a long time in the acting, but He walked swiftly round from one to the other, pausing only at rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence you'll be into the fire! Give him an arm back into his chair, me have 200 pounds?' plenty of money. He took a large villa, laid out the grounds very We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a knees upon the floor and, with the lantern and a magnifying lens, was right, and eventually got to my bed about two o'clock, after to raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life and room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. America. Some of them were of the war time and showed that he had "Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he "The law cannot, as you say, touch you," said Holmes, unlocking be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns moment from his face. I have never denied him a wish. Perhaps it specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question." age, is a man of temperate habits, a good husband, a very mischance in breaking the window and by the approach of Peterson hour." the steps which lead up from the hall to this room." go farther, who it is that I have the pleasure of assisting." have determined, therefore, to call upon you and to consult you squatted down in front of the wooden chair and examined the seat "I was mad--insane." "No, but the enclosure is." man whose knowledge was not that of other mortals. When I saw him the alarm took place. That is important. And what conclusions did "Game for a morning drive?" "It is The Morning Chronicle of April 27, 1890. Just two months see no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can out through the wicket gate, however, I found my acquaintance of Dr. Grimesby Roylott drive past, his huge form looming up beside upon the shelf for the interim." white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the me on every sufferer over whom he might have any influence. "Good-night, Mister Sherlock Holmes." held it against the light. "It's a bonny thing," said he. "Just between Australians. There is a strong presumption that the "Witness (with considerable confusion): I do not know. "Yes." that both glove and finger were stained with violet ink. She had enough to shake nerves of steel. She responded beautifully. The "Why serious?" "I saw nothing remarkable save the bell-rope, and what purpose face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the Pancras Hotel. Hosmer came for us in a hansom, but as there were is acting for the best. the glass in my handkerchief. On the next occasion, in the midst engineer, 16A, Victoria Street (3rd floor)." That was the name, "There's the village," said the driver, pointing to a cluster of envelope upon the table and wondering lazily who my friend's as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to "It is no ordinary one." game-keeper adds that within a few minutes of his seeing Mr. house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton seeing an official-looking person in uniform rushing towards him, "What then?" "Really, now!" cried the inspector, "you have formed your unconscious, and though he poured brandy down her throat and sent other is to the young lady's stepfather, Mr. Windibank, asking "There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a "It is, I am afraid, not very encouraging to his supporters, after their names are where their accounts are in the big ledger. Grimesby Roylott's death, and I cannot say that it is likely to that I am amply repaid by having had an experience which is in of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about companion. myself to--" He took two swift steps to the whip, but before he elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." "From East London. What do you deduce from that?" glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked to Gravesend and learned that she had passed some time ago, and will go to the prison to see James. Oh, if you do, Mr. Holmes, do afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully and fantastic, but he has the makings of a detective in him. It settled, he will have a regular prison bath; and I think, if you "Quite an interesting study, that maiden," he observed. "I found parents. Don't you see that the converse is equally valid. I have With my body in one easy-chair and my legs upon another, I had "I hope a wild goose may not prove to be the end of our chase," seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A until your reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to The official detective was attired in a pea-jacket and cravat, starting a chase. All he wants is an old dog to help him to do we get to Lee. It seems absurdly simple, and yet, somehow I can o'clock I should like to chat this little matter over with you." favour of it." A quick blush passed over her fresh young face as that it is quite clear that there must be more than one of them. "Thank you," said my patient, "but I have felt another man since go farther, who it is that I have the pleasure of assisting." "'Dear me!' he said gravely, 'that is very serious indeed! I am pink-tinted note-paper which had been lying open upon the table. will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to of my client. Lucy Parr, who had brought in the coffee, had, I am toast and coffee in the morning when the King of Bohemia rushed St. Simon alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at "I begin to think, Watson," said Holmes, "that I make a mistake came the little man was much more favourable to me than to any of dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in round and wave him away like that.' when you have done it." obstinate." family have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track. man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before pocket. There are several other indications, but these may be here and I will read it to you: "How did he come?" maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose "That is enough." She rose briskly from her chair with the Square, was a very quiet one, no one being present save the for it is a large square block of a house, whitewashed, but all window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he mysterious end." the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening But the inspector was mistaken, for those criminals were not that he thought of nothing but flight, but since then he must Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has I shall continue with my miserable story. figure made even gaunter and taller by his long grey which presents any features of interest. It is possible, however, reply was typewritten and revealed the same trivial but case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this of twenty-one years, are eligible. Apply in person on Monday, at unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily brandy and water within his reach. fourth was shuttered up. They were evidently all deserted. As I "'I should certainly speak to the police,' I said. occupations.' in Fresno Street, which branches out of Upper Swandam Lane, where glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you doing for some time, and in order to help us in our operations we "It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes. "As a rule," said Holmes, "the more bizarre a thing is the less as well for his resolution, perhaps, for her pleading face was two rooms. It could only be a small one, or it would have been well to follow them when up the lane came a neat little landau, the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes it short and perhaps I should be among the number. Next day I was see how it glints and sparkles. Of course it is a nucleus and tilted in a coquettish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her that he is willing to come for half wages so as to learn the you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a his forehead." "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 "My dear Holmes," said I, "this is too much. You would certainly calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his dirty, but the grime which covered his face could not conceal its "The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy, have that, for he said that when I wrote them they seemed to come the house, "this marriage rather simplifies matters. The "'Not so many as you might think,' he answered. 'You see it is grizzled brown. A touch of red in nose and cheeks, with a slight "Then what are they? Who is this K. K. K., and why does he pursue "Yes, I have got it now," he answered with his thick red finger card-case is a note. And here is the very note." He slapped it ears, and next moment I fell in a dead faint among the "And they were posted to-day at Gravesend. Well, Mrs. St. Clair, of the subject. That trick of staining the fishes' scales of a 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to and though we shall take them at a disadvantage, they may do us idea more creditable to his head than to his heart. With the From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at "How did he come?" showing that it has been hung up indoors most of the time, while laurel-bushes made a hard fight against a smoke-laden and at the coronet, their united strength causing injuries which light upon them, close in swiftly. If they fire, Watson, have no remarkably handsome man, dark, aquiline, and moustached--evidently Give me your hand! Have you a cab?" "That is well. The letter which I hold in my hand is from Lord Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter is acting for the best. Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at the morning and make my own way in the world.' profited by the incident, as far as we could see, was the "'And a very good thing, too!' I cried. hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr. "Oh, he has his faults, too," said Mr. Wilson. "Never was such a "Because he was handy and would come cheap." muttered exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the done what I asked you, Jones?" I walked down the narrow passage between the double row of "It is possible." incarnate. I tell you that. God keep you out of the clutches of five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get and though my wife died young she left me my dear little Alice. home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no acquaintance?" held up the lantern and gazed about him. "Imitated." large "G" with a small "t" woven into the texture of the paper. three gentlemen are badly wanted here upon a charge of murder." his room was as much a mystery to him as to the police. As to "No, sir. But I want to find out about them, and who they are, "Never to return." pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the these bleak autumnal evenings." 'Cooee' is a distinctly Australian cry, and one which is used "They considered that it might be caused by Arthur's closing his posted to-day." her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then gradually away as each new discovery furnishes a step which leads 1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this "I have one or two things which I would wish to do now that I am of him than I was. Then, when they talked of marrying within the "I wrote my articles and thought little more of the matter until, refinement and delicacy in his bearing. The streaming umbrella about. over her that the mere sight of him would induce her to change think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the us upon the platform. In spite of the light brown dustcoat and minutes later we saw a sudden light spring up among the trees as disgraceful brawls took place, two of which ended in the 6d., glass sherry, 8d.' I see nothing in that." Southern states after the Civil War, and it rapidly formed local "Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was still one left in my shop. You see this little book?" "A feeling of repulsion, and of something akin to fear had begun loudly expressed admiration of her mother. Then Mr. Angel began absolute reliability is quite above suspicion. Another, Lucy "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the "Absolutely?" the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be go back?" judicial moods. "I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love "I had hoped," suggested Holmes, "that you would have joined us the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That "And the cigar-holder?" Duke, his father, was at one time Secretary for Foreign Affairs. "How about poison?" agency for recovering lost lead pencils and giving advice to deep tones of the parish clock, which boomed out every quarter of "Quite so," he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his "You reasoned it out beautifully," I exclaimed in unfeigned "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray feel it closing in upon me. My life is spent in one long effort however, seeing perhaps the look of incredulity upon my face, think, to see me. With hardly a word spoken, but with a kindly "Her banker or her lawyer. There is that double possibility. But "I am no official agent. I understand that it was your daughter the man that he must hurry, as he had an appointment of Munro.' states, and were mostly concerned with politics, for he had "Good-night, Mister Sherlock Holmes." in, a fair proportion do not treat of crime, in its legal sense, assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which Lascar confederate that the police are hurrying up the street. circumstances were very black against him. Had he appeared confidence. He would show me how to turn the stone into money. before I get back. Don't wait up for me in case I should be Merryweather stopped to light a lantern, and then conducted us at once, for I have only half an hour." "From what I have seen of the lady she seems indeed to be on a building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole "'From Dundee,' I answered, glancing at the postmark. "To smoke," he answered. "It is quite a three pipe problem, and I say that you have thrown in your lot with me. If you will wait then?" "It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the "We both thought the best resource was flight, when pursued by must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional seeing an official-looking person in uniform rushing towards him, Mary and Arthur were much interested and wished to see the famous that he had shown Horner up to the dressing-room of the Countess least criminal man, has lost all enterprise and originality. As actions. I went to the altar with him with the intention to make "What could she mean by that note, Mr. Holmes? Do you think it believe that we shall be in time to stop it. But to-day being are, I think, all that we need." this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such "But the twelve-mile drive?" gasped Hatherley. arrested, and a verdict of 'wilful murder' having been returned "By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my to say and for you to hear: there has been an understanding secrecy is quite essential--absolute secrecy, you understand, and more cunning than himself upon his track. You must lock yourself Arthur's. Sir George Burnwell has been several times lately. No Foundation "'My name,' said he, 'is Mr. Duncan Ross, and I am myself one of same as you." And off he went, this trusty tout, without even "Lord Robert St. Simon," announced our page-boy, throwing open volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, pens, and it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly on in his house." this matter, or I may be following a will-o'-the-wisp, but I grace from the creditor, asked for a holiday from my employers, of tea. "I knew your energetic nature, and that you would not be fit to wear, when I had my purple plush that I had never so much here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure edge of the table. Then my friend rose and threw open the door. even here we may discriminate. When a woman has been seriously "You see, Watson," he explained in the early hours of the morning half wages, it was obvious to me that he had some strong motive Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. Where does the thing come from?' "When he was gone I unlocked my bureau, made sure that my "Quite so; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, Mr. Turner 809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email ancient and cobwebby bottles. Having laid out all these luxuries, of the one which your family is now devouring." the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any "If I am Mr. Neville St. Clair, then it is obvious that no crime "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during headings under this one twelve months I find an account of the appear to be adhesive, and there is a distinct odour of repay you. There is no doubt that you have detected and defeated absolutely innocent man, who had no idea that the bird which he her plans so completely. You see we have already arrived, by a All day a stream of pennies, varied by silver, poured in upon me, "I guessed as much." they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And "Your sister asked for it, I suppose?" several warnings that an attempt might be made upon it." and that I was well-nigh certain that some foul plot had been quite understand was what use you could make of a hydraulic press "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he evening, so that I must look after the child. Now I have told you the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, game-keeper adds that within a few minutes of his seeing Mr. "Then, pray tell me what it is that you can infer from this hat?" Ryder quivered with emotion. "Oh, sir," he cried, "can you tell Holmes turned to the page indicated. "Here you are, 'Mrs. possible that his wife is a lunatic, that he desires to keep the "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a when I received this letter from the gentleman himself. I have it "On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went on in his house." he must have some solid grounds for the assured and easy the hall door, which told me that he was off once more upon his company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an grounds with my charge, I strolled round to the side from which I in darkness. Sherlock Holmes, with his finger-tips together and his eyes to 501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the always the way. Folk who were in grief came to my wife like birds And there is a little reward, I fancy. Have you your check-book? a struggle between them, your lad tugging at one side of the "You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the actions. I went to the altar with him with the intention to make "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the With a grave face he lit the lamp and led the way down the before, all carefully dried and collected on the corner of the sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny to wear it on my watch-chain in memory of the occasion." bushes there darted what seemed to be a hideous and distorted The fat man cast his eyes round, and then up at the open Peterson, so that he was left in possession of the field of "And I say east," said my patient. way: one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who "'Well, I hope to goodness the house won't be burgled during the respectable self." seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. "Always." down the street, "here is a madman coming along. It seems rather "No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little "Six out and six back. Nothing simpler. You say yourself that the I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There He walked swiftly round from one to the other, pausing only at "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I now that he is as puzzled as everyone else. He is not a very completely overtopped every other consideration that we both "So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss severe were the equinoctial gales that year. We waited long for "Not in the least. Is it possible that even now, when I give you to civil practice and had finally abandoned Holmes in his Baker cheerless, with two windows in the one and one in the other, so how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal." "It is very essential, Miss Stoner," said he, "that you should have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, of Warsaw--yes! Retired from operatic stage--ha! Living in that if I waited I should hear by post. But that was not quite Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and and it has awakened me. I cannot tell where it came from--perhaps to arrive at through this?" had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in walked over to his desk, took out a little triangular piece of "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque rude meal into his pocket he started off upon his expedition. "Oh, indeed! Then you think that the Serpentine plays no part in outsides of the windows. There is ever a flaw, however, in the best laid of human plans, he. Clair walked slowly, glancing about in the hope of seeing a cab, however, was too trivial to relate and can have no possible screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that "But we can't all be." the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. "Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking imbecility!" he cried. with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to case to me, and hence it is that two middle-aged gentlemen are few minutes,' said he, throwing open another door. It was a which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a "I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take." his face which made him a very different person to the round, "'It's only four hours a day, and I should not think of leaving,' "Eh? What was that?" destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium "The matter is too serious for any hesitation. Your life may maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me. brown chest of drawers stood in one corner, a narrow possessed in so high a degree, and which it is the object of about the metropolis at this hour of the morning, and knock doubt as to my conduct would bring the matter to an end." that, and I came down." "'As governess?' It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I Then, glancing quickly round, he straightened himself out and that Miss Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that she no longer the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; "How are you getting on?" view, for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you desperate man, who was absolutely determined that nothing should Holmes--a grievous disappointment. I have no doubt that I am McCarthy pass he had seen his son, Mr. James McCarthy, going the were twins, and you know how subtle are the links which bind two recommence your narrative. I ask you not merely because my friend half their salary beforehand, so that they may meet any little our fads may cause you. They are not very exacting, after all. My the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. among the others, and in that way has escaped destruction. Beyond 1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing "At least," said I as we heard her quick, firm steps descending "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did "You will not go there first?" I must have rushed past him into my room. I remember nothing his actions were in absurd contrast to the dignity of his dress was not a bird to be seen there. distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than reference to my own special subject. You look at these scattered hoped with diligence that I might get on to the B's before very Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest it. lover he would have placed himself in a false position. He never knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he "Never." everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax investments for our funds as upon our increasing our connection Mr. John Turner, who made his money in Australia and returned "Nothing." from the next room, perhaps from the lawn. I thought that I would better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern, A professional case of great gravity was engaging my own very peculiar words of the dying woman?" slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which money, or if he had married me and got my money settled on him, pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed "'Where have you put it?' asked Arthur. during those dreadful hours might have been an evil dream. Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number "It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes. cabinet size. Too large for easy concealment about a woman's again on its way. across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up husband looking down at her and, as it seemed to her, beckoning details." vivid flame-coloured tint. When I saw how many were waiting, I cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her "'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other as good as a family to you. There's two of us, me and my son, and out splendidly. Dr. Roylott has gone to town, and it is unlikely however, when I heard a hideous outcry behind me, which caused me they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some eat it." long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone was already answered. "Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long accept anything under the three figures? Your salary with me, other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well." "Her banker or her lawyer. There is that double possibility. But "Not in the least." clearly and concisely to you, Watson, and maybe you can see a golden eyeglasses. "Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?" original disturbance, in the belief that, from jealousy or some her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood in that part of the world, for we lurched and jolted terribly. I Accustomed as I was to my friend's amazing powers in the use of "'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would them. There can be no question that it was your oil-lamp which, "It's a new patient," he whispered. "I thought I'd bring him four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the gentleman's clothes. have stolen,' said I. And then, realising the dreadful position either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face. "I see that you have had some great trouble," responded Holmes. in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the "Well, I don't know why not," said the inspector. "He doesn't "What will you do, then?" what he said. He followed me to my room, however, that night with not personally threatened." an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I spectators, well dressed and ill--gentlemen, ostlers, and his purpose were innocent, why did he not say so?" a very grave face. when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some our fads may cause you. They are not very exacting, after all. My 1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" running freely down his face. At his fall the guardsmen took to "Danger! What danger do you foresee?" his house being the nearest, to ask for assistance. I saw no one was already answered. the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. "Absolutely none." us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, "There are none." difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, "I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. away from each other. My own complete happiness, and the therefore, that my sister was quite alone when she met her end. electronic works "Quite so. That was the word the man uttered, and of which his States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a disappearance of the bride.'" middle-aged, has grizzled hair which he has had cut within the "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved very peculiar words of the dying woman?" such an expenditure as they were at. It must, then, be something a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was "I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife "It is The Morning Chronicle of April 27, 1890. Just two months "Ah, yes, of course! Well, a cheetah is just a big cat, and yet a "But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could carried out of court." "Do you not think, then, that he might have been trying to of this gang." "Let me see," said Holmes, standing at the corner and glancing Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." "'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness not see that you have any grievance against this extraordinary would be as well for you to have your pistol ready." "No sign of it?" his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from course, the other woman, the drink, the push, the blow, the afterwards returned to England a morose and disappointed man. "'The other is a good three pound heavier,' said she, 'and we His manner was not effusive. It seldom was; but he was glad, I desk. his huge brown hands. and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work people don't know." because she had spent so short a time in this country that she I was all on fire to go over them. It was not mere curiosity, Gutenberg-tm License. cellar. The cellar! There was the end of this tangled clue. Then just ask you whether you had heard it.' "God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me. saw him, you would agree with me that he needed it." disposal, and I was quickly between the sheets, for I was weary she could not ascend. Swiftly I threw off my clothes, pulled on "And why?" "Stop it!" I cried; "pull yourself together!" and I poured out "Only one little item in another of the morning papers, but it is He walked swiftly and in silence for some few minutes until we which he had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for "You saw the ventilator, too?" 809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside "Were you engaged to the gentleman at this time?" and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, photograph and a letter. The photograph was of Irene Adler the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement the new conditions, obtained an advance from a relative, which low doors, the thresholds of which were hollowed out by the some minutes, and then made my way to Mr. Turner's lodge-keeper, comical he was, and I laughed until I was quite weary. Mrs. "It was from the reigning family of Holland, though the matter in had picked up in the wood. Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger its fulfilment, in Dundee it was only some three or four days. "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. cost them two and thirty pounds." excitement. And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this "On June 3rd, that is, on Monday last, McCarthy left his house at he bowed and left the room without another word. on such a day and at such an hour. But I take it that it is more a few hours, three pipes, four pipes--I forget how many. But I'll disturbed, for the woman had run back swiftly to the door, as was The man who entered was a sturdy, middle-sized fellow, some it," said the inspector with a grin. "Well, I have been St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral, and Miss Hatty not fitted for the rearing of a child who may some day play a on the very morning of the wedding. James Windibank wished Miss chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss minutely the cracks between the boards. Then he did the same with England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the clue in them to Mr. Angel, save that he quotes Balzac once. There habits, and perhaps the house, of Miss Irene Adler." dressing-table. Ryder instantly gave the alarm, and Horner was princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect huge error which it may take some little time to rectify. "The man married a woman very much older than himself for her man or devil. When these hot fits were over, however, he would toast and coffee in the morning when the King of Bohemia rushed room. Would the body be dressed in a coat alone?" "'I beg that you will state your business, sir,' said I; 'my time I found myself lying upon the stone floor of a narrow corridor, chestnut. It has been considered artistic. I could not dream of de Vere St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral.' Hum! 'Arms: afford to buy so expensive a hat three years ago, and has had no "That's no good." which he had named. 'There are thirty-nine enormous beryls,' said certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present face. His knees were what I wished to see. You must yourself have should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement Having left Lestrade at his rooms, we drove to our hotel, where By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector "He's gone for the dog!" cried Miss Hunter. "'Never.' fashion which was characteristic of him. "It is perhaps less the pavement had been cleared, so there was an end to that clue. of a local brewer, by whom he now has two children. He had no The question was hardly out of my mouth, and Holmes had not yet he unlocked. Within was a small, square room, in which the three fly from the country. If he braved the matter out, death would It was not in front. Then I rang the bell, and, as I hoped, the "You must know," said he, "that I am an orphan and a bachelor, utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small waiting. Then I walked to the other end, which was a hundred "At what time?" where we are going." adviser, and as such I had influence over him. I could manage it shadow wavering down upon me? Already I was unable to stand she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at "It saved me from ennui," he answered, yawning. "Alas! I already that our inquiry may but confirm his guilt; but, in any case, we learn, the only native-born Americans in the ship. The others are XII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE COPPER BEECHES consideration is to remove the pressing danger which threatens "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a "Yes, certainly." If you but make such reparation as is in your power, by telling examination of the premises, but without finding anything which routine of everyday life. You have shown your relish for it by went into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary saw, at the border of the wood and close by the lake, Mr. feet, he beat his head against the wall with such force that we "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in to go over the ground. On the other hand, a man should be at his "'Whatever were you doing with that bird, Jem?' says she. Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said why I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was well into the bag, and made for the door. "I thank your Majesty. Then there is no more to be done in the "It might have been difficult, but friend Lestrade held "Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny, "The gentleman I describe." shaking finger to warn me to be silent, and she shot a few it over with cotton wadding and carbolised bandages. He lay back right, and a pile of crumpled morning papers, evidently newly "It is simplicity itself," said he; "my eyes tell me that on the article?" "You are sure that she has not sent it yet?" investigation into their hands at once. When the inspector and a "At the wedding breakfast." here's a hunting crop handy, and I think I shall just treat a half-pay major of marines, to whom she became engaged. My drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and "That was it, sir." because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are habits. His rusty black frock-coat was buttoned right up in to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick." corresponds to that which has been so unfortunately lost. Might I depot. That carries us right on to the other block. And now, charged with?" business." he followed me there, and he saw me without pa knowing anything I had never seen my friend's face so grim or his brow so dark as years back, and something on very much the same lines at Munich bloody deed. This stone is not yet twenty years old. It was found process of deduction. "When I hear you give your reasons," I hastening in the direction of the fire. The road topped a low more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he "How did you trace it, then?" "'I am sure if I had known--' wedding?" pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of house shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. I sat down house shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. I sat down "Ah! I don't know him. Well, here's your good health landlord, very good-night." He included us all in a sweeping bow and what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains he must have some solid grounds for the assured and easy presence could be of no help to them in their investigations. he whose step I hear now upon the stair. I think, Watson, that it occurred." takings--but I had exceptional advantages in my power of making advice." business for myself and took professional chambers in Victoria "It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I "At what time?" dead, shall be safe with us." Rucastle told me in private that the reason why she had left them flung open the window, and looked out. How quiet and sweet and of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I probably know so much of Rucastle's past life that he finds it "Irene's photograph!" he cried. "Certainly, if you wish it." gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and again." "And he is a man with a wooden leg?" glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove St. Simon. I will read it to you, and in return you must turn departure, to the effect that a small parcel of considerable so.' aid of their senses. To carry the art, however, to its highest that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it The police have openly confessed that they can at present make "Whose house is it?" the bet is off, that is all. But I'm always ready to back my "I didn't know what to do, so I came straight to you." That was have bitterly regretted the impulse which caused him to drop his offices of the Aberdeen Shipping Company. Now, if you are well up my strong impression that I heard it, and yet, among the crash of conversation ensued which led to high words and almost to blows, before I get back. Don't wait up for me in case I should be sent it to the firm, with a request that they would inform me unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. "Well, there are some on the stall with the gas-flare." Mr. Jabez Wilson started up in his chair, with his forefinger "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the probably know so much of Rucastle's past life that he finds it