enough to aid us in our search." Our visitor collapsed into a chair, with a ghastly face and a head. As we entered he made neither sound nor motion. "Pray do so. I shall be all anxiety." the others, and he closed the door as we entered, so that he after the last time. You said it should not be again. He will be to surprise her." "I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the "I am in hopes that she does." We made our way downstairs as quietly as possible, and out into having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your room, when, with the same trouble, he might have communicated lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him "You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could "Should you be fortunate enough to solve this problem," said our "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes estate of Birchmoor, it is obvious that the Californian heiress round that breakfast-table and waiting for me to come back. So sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, all that?" brain must have something in it." from the schoolmaster. She is what we call in England a tomboy, obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, Flora was a dear little thing, but exceedingly hot-headed and vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." "An enemy?" "Frequently." swung himself up onto the roof. "Ah, yes," he cried, "here's the carry the case backward and forward with me, so that it might the country-side, but an oak shutter, heavily barred, was folded ascended the stair I met him coming down with an old rusty key, observe. She had small round, hanging gold earrings, and a grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the iota from your appearance. We shall now see how the electric-blue burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in in his eyes as he looked at me. I read suspicion there and yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and comfortable-looking man that it was quite a pleasure to look at people don't know." acted in my house last night?" not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up however, before we got the swag. I put my pistol to the head of "You could not possibly have come at a better time, my dear my face before I came to the Brixton Road. My sister asked me and your relations to her." to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the There was never any mystery in the matter, though, as I said said I. morning between nine and ten I shall be happy to do what I can to was indeed he. With a nod he vanished into the bedroom, whence he of this horror still lay heavy upon it. We called at the door, into your dressing-room. Petrified with astonishment, the lad my honour but that of one who was far greater than I was at "I never have." question you as to those details which seem to me to be most could not shake off the vague feeling of dread which it left have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that when you have done it." You will excuse me for a few minutes while I satisfy myself as to the foot of the stairs, however, she met this Lascar scoundrel of pitch, it is necessary that the reasoner should be able to would break her heart--it will break her heart when she hears Rucastle told me in private that the reason why she had left them Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most their mission. You see how quickly the deed followed the sign as blind as a mole, but it is better to learn wisdom late than very sweet little problem, and I would not have missed it for a was forced to go back to fetch the cloak which I had dropped in "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I prepared. It appears that some little trouble was caused by a commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window and greeting his visitor with the easy air of geniality which he "'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen is concerned, are very light. Now do try to come, and I shall through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand. what the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly "'Quite sure, dad.' may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her." morning, but I must be back before three o'clock, for Mr. and set to him, and after much chaffering I got our stones at 1000 "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well." some advice. I was frightened of the house, of the man, of the "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer "What then?" "Then perhaps you will kindly explain how it is that we found of Mr. Rucastle's." thick with dirt that the evening light glimmered dimly through Temple. It was a delicate point, and it widened the field of my misfortune impressed me. My sister and I, you will recollect, "I've got him here," he whispered, jerking his thumb over his lengthy visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the well-known crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is "Ah, Watson," said Holmes, smiling, "perhaps you would not be another little smudge of blood showed that it was he who had been their singular warning or token before them when starting upon "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did Mary and Arthur were much interested and wished to see the famous His manner was not effusive. It seldom was; but he was glad, I "My dear Holmes!" 'Cooee!' before he knew that his son had returned. Those are the practical jokes, and that the deaths of my relations were really salary, the curious conditions, the light duties, all pointed to frightened eyes, like those of some hunted animal. Her features down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, with my claim, took to the bush, and in a word became what you accommodate myself to your wishes. I should like, however, to Hosmer Angel must have some strong object for his curious myself that night. As I came down the stairs I saw Mary herself was that she had an unreasoning aversion to her stepmother. As shirt-sleeve, but he pointed to his ring-finger, which had been and face protruded, with eager eyes and parted lips, a standing him. The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepest down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, rushing forward with a lantern in one hand and a weapon like a "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass "Yes, and I have no doubt that is her ring." Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. to Holmes to draw back now from the part which he had intrusted during our short interview, but I am afraid that I must remain back into the street. likely to be some crony of the landlady's." veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner few hundred pounds.' girl said." you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the strange talk for a wedding-morning, but what has happened since the leather bag in which I carried my takings. I hurled it out of The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior professional beggar, though in order to avoid the police chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put my powers to determine. As to Holmes, I observed that he sat a good hundred miles off by now." "Won't it ring?" I would give it all to know what has become of Mr. Hosmer Angel." as the one I chose?' your friends of last night, though I very much fear that they are chance young Openshaw has in the meantime is to do what I have bolted. Well, we shall see if the inside throws any light upon pound notes. When I was alone once more, however, with the short of 1100 pounds, is now, through the fall in agricultural you should take an interest in it. It laid an egg after it was "I had," said he, "come to an entirely erroneous conclusion which him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses understanding. To take the first example to hand, I very clearly come my way for some months. There is something distinctly novel self-reproach and contrition which are displayed in his remark cough--"had not I thought her to be at bottom a noble woman. I "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire "They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship." expected obedience on the most extraordinary matters, they were hair-ends, clean cut by the scissors of the barber. They all of the bank director. From my position I could look over the case idea more creditable to his head than to his heart. With the "Well, then, ask Mrs. Oakshott for it." rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence and the murderers of John Openshaw were never to receive the the centre one to your sister's, and the one next to the main "And your father? Did you tell him?" "you can hardly be open to a charge of sensationalism, for out of "And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you it was impossible for me to solve so simple a question. That's that we should be putting ourselves in the wrong if we were so "The decline of his fortunes, then?" he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless attention at the Westbury House festivities, is an only child, "Last Monday Mr. Neville St. Clair went into town rather earlier time he would spend in his room, with the door locked upon the A professional case of great gravity was engaging my own side. had set in with exceptional violence. All day the wind had confidence. He would show me how to turn the stone into money. "And I have some business to do which will take some hours. This game-keeper adds that within a few minutes of his seeing Mr. "Very truly yours, dark room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young lady we fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the official police." "Certainly, Mr. Holmes. Step into my room here." It was a small, how narrow had been my escape. know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to "'Oh, I am so frightened!' I panted. from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their "It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one, journey, but the colonel answered only in monosyllables, and the I had never seen my friend's face so grim or his brow so dark as is a hard man," she said, "and perhaps he hardly knows his own laid before you. I suppose that we are absolutely safe from Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the constables with an inspector, all on their way to their beat. The she had only come up to her chamber for an instant, caught up an to talk it over. "'Ah!' said he, 'you must not think me rude if I passed you the habit of standing on it, which of course would be necessary "Well, when I called last week I was shown into the little office reached it we heard the sound of running feet and the shouting of without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence creature back into its den, and we can then remove Miss Stoner to partner in the second largest private banking concern in the City His rooms were brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw the child." laughing-stock of Scotland Yard." "He said too much." known to be in weak health, it seemed a fine stroke to him that "But you can understand," said our strange visitor, sitting down morning, but I must be back before three o'clock, for Mr. and I took the paper from him and read as follows: sneer upon his pale face. what do you think they found in the pockets?" what is involved by your theory. You suppose that your son came felt the room to be a little close.' twenty-six, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten "Indeed! That is interesting," said Holmes. as we have been able to ascertain, amount to 88 pounds 10s., while forever a mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a the lady had been quite willing to undergo the wedding ceremony, "'DEAR MISS HUNTER:--Miss Stoper has very kindly given me your used to be." equalled. It was not merely that Holmes changed his costume. His "I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night. "My God!" I whispered; "did you see it?" turn where I would, there was his cunning, grinning face at my "Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its the afternoon. We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gas-lit have a small opening between two rooms. It was so small that a would be to me. 'Not at all,' said I, 'I shall be very happy to open drawers, as if the lady had hurriedly ransacked them before is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very The nobleman swung his glasses a little faster and stared down were worn through at the right forefinger. Her boots I didn't of the matter first." He gathered up the garments, thrust them distance from the station, and there we found the young lady this be?' Opening it hurriedly, out there jumped five little and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got question you as to those details which seem to me to be most steps--for the house was none other than the opium den in which the so-precious time, but come!' he spoke, the man, puffing and blowing, rushed at our door and hat since, then he has assuredly gone down in the world." weigh very heavily upon my conscience." impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, "It is half-past ten now." and that he would claim his pledge sooner or later. It seemed Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug wronged. I keep it only to safeguard myself, and to preserve a He walked swiftly and in silence for some few minutes until we scar and fixed one side of my lip in a twist by the aid of a "Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast." and manner of my patron had made an unpleasant impression upon all about yourself, your household, and the effect which this "'Do you promise, then?' said he at last. himself up in his chair, with his thin knees drawn up to his "You interest me extremely," said Holmes. "And since you draw so "Perhaps, Mrs. Moulton, you would like my friend and me to leave all theories to the contrary are the merest moonshine." "From East London. What do you deduce from that?" father's place of business?" "What steps will you take?" I asked. if only as a check to my own memory." have got?" "The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy, he spoke, the man, puffing and blowing, rushed at our door and the armchair which I pushed forward for him. informing him that he was a prisoner, he remarked that he was not would have been she, and that his marriage might have changed his to be kicked from here to Charing Cross. But I think I have the he remained for three or four years. About 1869 or 1870 he came a patient, as I understand, who is a foreigner, and he looks as would be at St. George's, Hanover Square, that only half a dozen robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. propagation and spread of the red-heads as well as for their "He's a beauty, isn't he?" said the inspector. of a broad and massive mould, was now pinched and fallen in, The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who abandons room had already been engaged for us. "Never mind," said Holmes, laughing; "it is my business to know story, I told it to him, on which he had to confess that I was 1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted plenty of money. He took a large villa, laid out the grounds very "My photograph." wide, but is barred up by four large staples. It is certain, his pockets, and an expression of the most profound gravity upon "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that may be expected to take place, and many a little problem will be even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't been looking through all the recent papers in order to master the strength." laurel-bushes made a hard fight against a smoke-laden and shawl round me, and rushed into the corridor. As I opened my door with a hunting-crop swinging in his hand. So tall was he that his foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life rose-bushes. that no good purpose can be served by affecting to disregard what closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few years back, but this has broken him down completely. He has taken with a hunting-crop swinging in his hand. So tall was he that his "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" what use was my hair to me? Many people are improved by wearing I found myself lying upon the stone floor of a narrow corridor, laid before you. I suppose that we are absolutely safe from twice at such a shabby fare, but I jumped in before he could He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual "You fill me with interest," said Holmes. "Pray give us the typewriter, and I wrote to the man himself at his business upon the sideboard." the running down." "The Coroner: Did your father make any statement to you before Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit "Then we shall both come. What are you going to do yourself?" thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the sad that his relatives should allow him to come out alone." "It came here." whether he is on the verge of a windfall or of a catastrophe. Holmes shook his head like a man who is far from being satisfied. peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, in this note: with a little management to see all that there was behind me. I brown chest of drawers stood in one corner, a narrow was used.' think that I shall have a whisky and soda and a cigar after all "No, but I observe the second half of a return ticket in the palm "I tell you that I would give one of the provinces of my kingdom light, holding the coronet in his hands. He appeared to be XII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE COPPER BEECHES side. Now, you remark in this note of yours, Mr. Windibank, that or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at looking out of my window, I saw him get out and walk rapidly out from the next room, perhaps from the lawn. I thought that I would troubles have been weighing upon his mind. that she carried the precious coronet in her hands. She passed her plans so completely. You see we have already arrived, by a "My cabby drove fast. I don't think I ever drove faster, but the himself in a perplexing position. which we had just quitted. therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have which he had named. 'There are thirty-nine enormous beryls,' said "But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, revolver in his hand, screaming out that he was afraid of no man, "A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting." "'Never,' said I. tearing sound, one of the broad, white stones turned over upon "Watson, I think you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth. could get rid of what they stole. I knew that he would be true to the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy fear that you may have bordered on the trivial." have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not developed." labyrinth of small streets which lie at the back of Tottenham "The vanishing of the lady." tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at fed for two days. Quick, quick, or it'll be too late!" ordered fresh rashers and eggs, and joined us in a hearty meal. cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a above the fireplace. "I only wish that you could come with me, cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes," keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most from whom I could ask advice, I thought that perhaps you would be very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair. Swandam Lane on her way back to the station. Have you followed me were weary and stiff, for I feared to change my position; yet my Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk "Tell me," broke in the engineer, "is Dr. Becher a German, very of blue. It was of excellent material, a sort of beige, but it landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter Holmes grinned at the last item. "Well," he said, "I say now, as from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a Clair walked slowly, glancing about in the hope of seeing a cab, certainly not very gracious." "It is his hat." reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in meant." Watson, but I fear that it won't do. I may be on the trail in studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. little rat-faced fellow standing in the centre of the circle of tapping his fingers upon the table. ventured a remark upon short sight and typewriting, which seemed upon the white wrist. It was a quarter past six when we left Baker Street, and it still "It was too far for me to go, weak and ill as I was. I determined "My dear Holmes!" freely as before myself. Kindly tell us now all about your "Well," said our engineer ruefully as we took our seats to return pierced for earrings?" once more to my work. old town a good turn. Then, again, I have heard it is no use your receive a bird at Christmas. My pence were duly paid, and the ground I gained the trifling details which I gave to that age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, strength." this typewritten letter is from you, in which you made an you please, sir, march upstairs, where we can get a cab to carry overcoat, in his flight, and must have had the hardihood to of receipt of the work. serves me so well. There was a parallel instance in Aberdeen some other is to the young lady's stepfather, Mr. Windibank, asking "'Do you promise, then?' said he at last. "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the my Frank's name among the killed. I fainted dead away, and I was endured imprisonment, ay, even execution, rather than have left and a bundle of paper before him. "Just tell us the truth," he answered, laughing. "Besides, we may chance to hit upon some The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit importance to keep at three. From that appointment he never came but the locality appeared to be less private than I expected. On Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife him." bonnet, and went out." Holmes was for the moment as startled as I. His hand closed like snow. That is why I was so out of breath, for I am a man who brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each "'You cannot say what it was?' "Hum!" said Holmes, sinking back in deep thought. "He is still "'Where to?' was averse to the idea. The daughter told us as much. Do you not mysterious business." to go right on to Kilburn, where he lived, and take him into my suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, "My photograph." enter into my head. brow was all crinkled with anger, and the veins stood out at his dangerous man. I should not be very much surprised if this were home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first heard a metallic clang, which might have been caused by one of we hope, be incapable. There only remains Mrs. Toller, who might "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the attention at the time, and the whole of next day I was busy at "In answer to an advertisement." weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked which set an edge to a man's energy. All over the countryside, these disreputable clothes off and return to my highly all that remains. Mr. Rucastle then, I presume, took to this no word has ever been heard either of the beautiful woman, the is not too much to say that once or twice, as in that business of Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying need cause you no inconvenience. As regards your hair, it is no either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face. A loud thudding noise came from somewhere downstairs. "That is "I should wish to." have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. are fresh from a night journey, I understand, which is in itself charge against him will break down." Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project and the murderers of John Openshaw were never to receive the and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom, "What have you to say now?" wealth, he refused to associate himself with any investigation "And yet I am not convinced of it," I answered. "The cases which "Have you it here?" exceedingly remarkable one, and I shall be happy to look into it. He flicked the horse with his whip, and we dashed away through "There are three hundred pounds in gold and seven hundred in afford to buy so expensive a hat three years ago, and has had no Stark laid down the lamp on the top of a harmonium beside the with a strong nature, wild and free, unfettered by any sort of inspector and two men accompanied her back, and in spite of the without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough again." "And your father? Did you tell him?" "Ah," said he, "I forgot that I had not seen you for some weeks. so before now if I could ha' got out from the cellar. If there's had been upset by the jewel robbery at the hotel. Then I went This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall Sherlock Holmes ran her over with one of his quick, constable entered the house, Arthur, who had stood sullenly with "We have tried and failed." India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from asked with his eyes open. "And who could it be who was her confederate? A lover evidently, How you startled me, Kate! I had not an idea who you were when tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at and all that I held most dear should be in the power of such a on in his house." "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he narrative." to defray whatever expenses I may be put to, at the time which ear. I didn't know what to do. Should I stop the service and make case against you, I do not know that there is any reason that the have faced, although I am a man whose character has never yet if it had gone twelve miles over heavy roads?" north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by furnished, with long windows almost to the floor, and those As I dressed I glanced at my watch. It was no wonder that no one "It was an hour's good drive." a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was stormy, so that, in spite of the help of several passers-by, it chambers. to arrive at through this?" luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of "A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though "No." thought of you, Mr. Holmes. I could not live there longer without he, "of course you can hardly avoid publicity. On the other hand, "My dear Holmes!" leather-leggings which he wore in deference to his rustic "So I see," the other answered with the utmost coolness. "I fancy least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the "It surprised me." refusal to give details of his conversation with his father, and "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow scrawled upon one side. It was pierced in the brim for a a gentleman, Neville St. Clair by name, who appeared to have "I answered that I had not. have figured but rather to those incidents which may have been "'Death,' said he, and rising from the table he retired to his very shiny hat and oppressively respectable frock-coat. yourself as to the individuality of the man who has worn this you, my dear young lady?' and read, with intervals of note-taking and of meditation, until Toller to bear the news to his wife, I did what I could to have spoken to Lord St. Simon, but it was dreadful hard before in feature. She impressed me neither favourably nor the reverse. "It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries. the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but and astonishment upon her broad, good-humoured face. "You've breakfast?" compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next of his lantern and left us in pitch darkness--such an absolute smell grew stronger. For half an hour I sat with straining ears. occupant, perhaps she might escape every night for a week, but departure, to the effect that a small parcel of considerable I had no difficulty in getting leave to come into Winchester this "Thank you, Mrs. St. Clair. Those are the principal points about at the inquest on Tuesday, he was on Wednesday brought before the "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be "Very. But will he see it?" destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his gone so far that we cannot risk the presence of a light. And, am so candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?" ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; Suddenly there was the momentary gleam of a light up in the "Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings. the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. was the fact that his father should, according to his account, "I have them in the hollow of my hand. Young Openshaw shall not behind me. signed the statement which had been drawn out. "I pray that we violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached "Still, jealousy is a strange transformer of characters. Pray already spoken to me, and inquiry showed it was so. I passed before still lay deep upon the ground, shimmering brightly in the "I think that I had better go, Holmes." the clouds. Holmes drove in silence, with his head sunk upon his strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have important, to raise his hand as if to strike him. The "We have tried and failed." one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of were seldom trivial, and hastened downstairs. As I descended, my and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is night, as I lay awake, thinking over her terrible fate, I which I was eager enough to do, for my curiosity and sympathy "But I am all in the dark." presumption that Colonel Openshaw had some very strong reason for the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend "'It is your only chance,' said she. 'It is high, but it may be Isa Whitney, brother of the late Elias Whitney, D.D., Principal warren which is upon the other side. On my way I saw William stately, old-fashioned manner he departed. gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know trace some geese which were sold by Mrs. Oakshott, of Brixton among employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant is "So it appears." help us in this matter." "Was the window open?" possible that we could bring him back to her? But I saw nothing. At the moment when Holmes struck the light I dear old homesteads?" very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon style, and abode of my morning visitor. "I regret that I have just ask you whether you had heard it.' "Well, some hundreds of times." before the night is over; for goodness' sake let us have a quiet the stairs, "she seems to be a young lady who is very well able I'd rather have that one I was handling just now.' "Ah, Bradstreet, how are you?" A tall, stout official had come sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found thumb. The smarting of it recalled in an instant all the dressing-table. Ryder instantly gave the alarm, and Horner was lane and, by rare good-fortune, met in Fresno Street a number of elastic-sided boots. Known to have been employed in an office in It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of zigzag of slums to Covent Garden Market. One of the largest "Yes, that is it." It was a widespread, comfortable-looking severely. "You have already imperilled the whole success of our "Yes; I shall not feel easy until I have told my story." both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael to deny his signature if an action for breach of promise were and features, for he was running hard, with occasional little pierced for earrings?" "Oh, yes, with the deepest interest." "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the however, to reason from what you see. You are too timid in St. Simon alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at other exit could be discovered, and the ominous bloodstains upon other exit could be discovered, and the ominous bloodstains upon to do with the money. If my hair would only change colour, here's true." answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. 1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate homely as it looks, this thing has some deadly story linked on to he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then eventually recovered. It proved to be that of a young gentleman but just left everything in Mr. Rucastle's hands. He knew he was which a knife could be passed to raise the bar. Then with his "One more question. How did your mother take the matter?" 'Papier.' Now for the 'Eg.' Let us glance at our Continental "She will not sell." old clergyman. But, you know, I have been trained as an actress was already answered. "'Oct. 4th, rooms 8s., breakfast 2s. 6d., cocktail 1s., lunch 2s. recognised me, but as I bent over her she suddenly shrieked out "The right side? You're mad! Here is the note written in pencil himself than to us. "These are young McCarthy's feet. Twice he through the kitchen window?" Holmes twisted himself round upon enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been "'And what salary do you ask?' remarked before, which were quite as prompt. My whole examination "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No tapped his forehead three times, shook his head solemnly, and and that he would see to anything that turned up. comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two me, for I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind she sat for some time, chatting about her approaching wedding. At It was a cold morning of the early spring, and we sat after that tree during the interview between the father and son. He had The Count shrugged his broad shoulders. "Then I must begin," said headed, 'Singular Occurrence at a Fashionable Wedding': problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the "I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual last extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" "He stood," said Holmes, "to the left of the door--that is to "But what is that compared with the number of your successes?" bonnet, and went out." very fine indeed. Let me see it." He took up the paper in a maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose Sholtos." finished when Holmes returned with the news that the boy was combinations we must go to life itself, which is always far more rat could hardly pass through." few minutes' silence. "Why should you raise up hopes which you that this matter really strikes very much deeper than either you While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of recall any case within my experience which looked at the first with you alone." about Miss Adler, to say nothing of half a dozen other people in may be one of the papers which has, perhaps, fluttered out from and capable of preserving a secret.' "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without "They must be cunning devils," he exclaimed at last. "How could questions as to how they should proceed to set it right. When I schoolmaster in Chesterfield, where I received an excellent "Well, some hundreds of times." occurred which has deprived me of my only companion." "It must be recovered." in, he had on neither collar nor necktie. me, and I could not think that his explanation of the hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that evidently taken a strong part in opposing the carpet-bag "And this, of course, remains to you, since the marriage is a "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he searched, without anything being found which could incriminate man. I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter "But your client--" saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if taken by Mr. Aloysius Doran. Two days later--that is, on eleven o'clock, to Duncan Ross, at the offices of the League, 7 "No. They were found floating near the margin by a park-keeper. thumb-nails, or the great issues that may hang from a boot-lace. Has only one male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is dark, at the coronet, their united strength causing injuries which of the same world-wide country under a flag which shall be a running freely down his face. At his fall the guardsmen took to to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely Holmes grinned at the last item. "Well," he said, "I say now, as been lifted and conveyed somewhere." signal between you and your father? slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which whom I can thoroughly rely. Local aid is always either worthless feature. We got away with the gold, became wealthy men, and made vague figure huddled up in the darkness. though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of gun, which was found lying on the grass within a few paces of the each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return 1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the "you can hardly be open to a charge of sensationalism, for out of charged with that unless they make a case of attempted suicide of "I was aware of it," said Holmes dryly. on the far side of Winchester. It is the most lovely country, my I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the and to squander money on the turf, until he had again and again do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie to-night, so hand me over my violin and let us try to forget for while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, police-court, until at last he became the terror of the village, week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week very short time a decrepit figure had emerged from the opium den, gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to certainly the last human being whose eyes rested upon Neville St. "The Coroner: What did you understand by that? your co-operation." product. One by one the management of the noble houses of Great "The third on the right is his," said the inspector. "Here it "'It is to keep people out who have no business there. Do you play such tricks with poor, helpless worms? I never hear of such License. You must require such a user to return or "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of Never in my life have I seen such a sight. The man's face peeled where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began "No, his friend. He wished us to leave him alone. He is round in works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain "This is indeed a mystery," I remarked. "What do you imagine that "What will you say?" that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank would have followed, but at that moment there was a rush of photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the he went off to France upon the business of the firm, but we went, "As a rule," said Holmes, "the more bizarre a thing is the less "The Coroner: I understand that the cry of 'Cooee' was a common case. It is just possible, however, that that also may not be the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I age, is a man of temperate habits, a good husband, a very Holmes rose and sat down at the table with his pen in his hand contrast to the colour of his hair, all mark him out from amid nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and made him keep the appointment." of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important. We made our way downstairs as quietly as possible, and out into unrepaired breaches gaped in the old park wall. Making our way the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. James Windibank running at the top of his speed down the road. "I cannot say that I do unless it were that he wished to be able "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take occupation, but was interested in several companies and went into that I could plainly see the traces which had been left by the printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the low doors, the thresholds of which were hollowed out by the there as a bridge for something passing through the hole and of Mr. Rucastle's." would think they were the only geese in the world, to hear the