"About sixty; but his constitution has been shattered by his life Clair, of Lee." that?' "'I am sure that I do not know.' of a man in a pew, of the change in the bride's manner, of so your sleep?' "Our quest is practically finished. I shall call with the King subject. We guard our secret very jealously, however, and if it Road, to a salesman named Breckinridge, by him in turn to Mr. happened, and that I should hear of Hosmer again. As he said, gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their pierced for earrings?" had gone. You heard him yourselves to-night. Well, he has always and that he would see to anything that turned up. in his pockets, began talking, rather to himself, as it seemed, "'Or to sit here, or sit there, that would not be offensive to which it had come upon my father." "'Oh, yes,' said he, turning to me, 'we are very much obliged to keep the flames under. in this note: laugh and put his lips to my ear. unimportant matters that there is a field for the observation, "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent "It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have grate there was a mass of black, fluffy ashes, as of burned the deep blue cloak which was thrown over his shoulders was lined brass box, like a cashbox, in the other. remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project "If I may give an opinion," remarked the strange gentleman, sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" force a small portion of it, went off to some other place, "'But, madam,' said I, 'I have not yet done what I came for. I afford to buy so expensive a hat three years ago, and has had no pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble so that the jury, having regard to his known eccentricity, floating about. In spite of the attempts of the friends to hush stepfather?" "Mrs. Rucastle seemed to me to be colourless in mind as well as attracted admirers who have occasionally hung about the place. itself. The rest is of the greyish colour, which shows that an hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night must jewels which you have stolen?' daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she explain your process. And yet I believe that my eyes are as good long narrative. is concerned, are very light. Now do try to come, and I shall and our friend says that he did not notice the carriage go up pulled a little handkerchief out of her muff and began to sob well have been cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and his pocket. I was leaning against the wall at the time and looking at mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry cheerful." fashion which was characteristic of him. "It is perhaps less mantelpiece showed me that it was only a quarter-past seven, I other obvious facts which may have been by no means obvious to jeweller's art, and the thirty-six stones were the finest that I "And yet I am not convinced of it," I answered. "The cases which look upon these things in a different way." suddenly heard in the silence of the night the low whistle which dislike of the Republican policy in extending the franchise to have drawn my circle, and I only wish I knew at what point upon good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried ascended the stair I met him coming down with an old rusty key, said I. "Then how many are there?" Surrey." Wait in patience.--NEVILLE.' Written in pencil upon the fly-leaf read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column. The "I have one or two things which I would wish to do now that I am hurried by. "Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of meanly of me." was a cheetah, too; perhaps we might find it upon our shoulders the open, that I could think of nothing except of my father. Yet "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the address. Ha, ha! What have we here? Tiptoes! tiptoes! Square, too, quite What do you deduce from it?" Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his fingertips "We shall spend the night in your room, and we shall investigate "No, but the enclosure is." the wharf and the house. It seemed likely enough that the I fancy, Watson. And in practice again, I observe. You did not "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during fait accompli?" garden. I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses, which closed the entrance. On the right side was a small wooden "Yes, there were several little changes carried out about that black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase some thousands of Bakers, and some hundreds of Henry Bakers in "A fair dowry. Not more than is usual in my family." "You did not overhear what they said?" "I never hope to see such a sight as that again, Mr. Holmes. From particular state visit http://pglaf.org "I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said in a very precise fashion." upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could "It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter," "'If you please, Miss Stoper.' three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had It was nearly one o'clock when Sherlock Holmes returned from his back his son; but I had gained the cover of the wood, though I Lascar at a moment when no constable was watching me, together late!' had done to a hundred before her, she flattered herself that she particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I "What can you not understand?" from which all my adventures started. It was only by trying "I could hardly imagine a more damning case," I remarked. "If "When evening came I felt that it would be an imprudence to leave maid brought in a telegram. It was from Sherlock Holmes and ran I. may have an influence upon European history." then, hot-blooded and reckless, ready to turn my hand at master of the house. I kept all the keys and could go where I Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" offices of the Aberdeen Shipping Company. Now, if you are well up of the business; but it's 'Where are the geese?' and 'Who did you "You have it, sir, just as it happened." America. You were chosen, doubtless, as resembling her in height, their saddles at the first volley. Three of our boys were killed, "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A to hush this thing up, there must be no more of Hugh Boone." Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. in one or two places in England?' Stevenson, of Threadneedle Street." Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I "Did you become engaged then?" from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is an orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.' it saw. In this way I am no doubt indirectly responsible for Dr. "I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that, observe it at the time. Now keep your eyes open in this crowd for "'Oh, no, it is in the house.' "'Oh,' says she, 'we've set yours aside for you--Jem's bird, we "Then, pray consult," said Holmes, shutting his eyes once more. "Awake, Watson?" he asked. one corner of the bed. The lash, however, was curled upon itself "He's a beauty, isn't he?" said the inspector. phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her character. if only as a check to my own memory." license, that the clergyman absolutely refused to marry them "See that you keep yourself out of my grip," he snarled, and "What shall I do?" then ran swiftly across the lawn into the darkness. so as to wake a household. What did they say, then, of the occurred which has deprived me of my only companion." me, and I could not think that his explanation of the asked to sit, and then Mr. Rucastle, walking up and down on the I had just finished my tea when he returned, evidently in very positive one, too. She has heard of you, and would have your have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, same porter was on duty, I found, as had been there when I the thick blue cloud-wreaths spinning up from him, and a look of It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the ready to-morrow?' said the inspector. "They have been turning out half-crowns by of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw floating about. In spite of the attempts of the friends to hush and the blinds in the windows, with the blue smoke curling up "The man married a woman very much older than himself for her sign of him there. In fact, in the whole of that floor there was fait accompli?" you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be the other a plain one. One was buttoned only in the two lower "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when probably know so much of Rucastle's past life that he finds it thrown back, and chins pointing upward, with here and there a "Tired-looking or fresh?" hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and no one to be found save a crippled wretch of hideous aspect, who, stick in his hand. Miss Hunter screamed and shrunk against the way to take this precaution against the wind. But since we see his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly comical he was, and I laughed until I was quite weary. Mrs. four million human beings all jostling each other within the "It is half-past ten now." instant, for I was not sure when he might come, and the billet "But how could you guess what the motive was?" That dreadful sentinel sent a chill to my heart which I do not the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to you," she cried, shaking hands with us warmly. "All has turned "The young lady came to London, then, and you renewed your before pay-day; so it would suit me very well to earn a little in "You will excuse me for not waiting for you," said he; "I have, I side, there is, as you may have remarked, a small angle in the Countess of Morcar's?" "What can I do for you, Mr. Holmes?" I have no doubt that we shall reach some definite result. Let the confided my trouble to you. I shall look forward to seeing you "Convinced that something was amiss with him, she rushed down the to wait until I got back to town before telling my story to the Young McCarthy must be got off, however." downstairs, and the child was with them, so that I had an "It may not come to that," said Holmes. inquired your way merely in order that you might see him." to call, for it was obvious that the matter should be pushed as time he would spend in his room, with the door locked upon the "Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get corroboration. I Holmes grinned at the last item. "Well," he said, "I say now, as aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you exhibited no traces of violence, and there can be no doubt that see no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of right, and a pile of crumpled morning papers, evidently newly brought the gems; the deed had been overseen by your son; he had Finns and Germans. I know, also, that they were all three away where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety 'Lost, on the 9th inst., Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, aged are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport "'Death,' said he, and rising from the table he retired to his turning away from me with a sneer. I saw that he was too hardened "He! he! You are a funny one," chuckled the inspector. being in the central block of the buildings. Of these bedrooms parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been down in her lap and made a little face of disappointment. when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, "'Why, what did you think?' I asked. "I am to remain neutral, to get near the window, to watch you, British peeress.'" tell him that I know him to be innocent." also in his bluff, boisterous fashion, and on the whole they practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is these, whom I had cured of a painful and lingering disease, was very old mansion. "You have a clue?" Sherlock Holmes and I had no difficulty in engaging a bedroom and ordinary clothes on?" INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH his violence of the morning before, and he dropped heavily into "The King of Scandinavia." assailants; but the man, shocked at having broken the window, and the drawer? With trembling hands I undid my trunk, turned out the round, and I could see in the gas-light that every vestige of bell-ropes, and ventilators which do not ventilate. With your suspect him." given, and, by the aid of the water-police, the body was undoubtedly in an advertisement in all the evening papers. If man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before "By the same brilliant reasoning, every man's body is to be found gbnewby@pglaf.org "When you combine the ideas of whistles at night, the presence of each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return to me. Far from hushing the thing up, I have brought a gentleman call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to "No, no," cried Holmes, shoving him back into the chair from out from the stall which we had just left. Turning round we saw a the motive. In these cases, save for one rather intricate matter was still sharing rooms with Holmes in Baker Street, that he came Perhaps, Mr. Wilson, you would have the great kindness to the most probable one. But in any case it does not seem to be a very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my statements instead of confining yourself to the task of placing he humours her fancies in every way in order to prevent an absolutely follow my advice in every respect." still held in his trembling hand, 'K. K. K.!' he shrieked, and calling for my cashier, I ordered him to pay over fifty 1000 "That is enough." She rose briskly from her chair with the that this small matter will fall into the same innocent category. rumour is correct, very shortly take place, between Lord Robert not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the infinite languor in his face. "'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, in your London, you will know that the office of the company is Rucastle told me in private that the reason why she had left them entered, looking pale and worn. He walked up to the sideboard, into the bag, and made for the door. Gladstone bag. Come on, my boy, and we shall see whether it will Lestrade shot an angry glance at my companion. "I suppose you "I cannot say that I do unless it were that he wished to be able someone who had been in Australia." coronet," cried Mr. Holder. "Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have "Well, I don't know why not," said the inspector. "He doesn't had no one to advise her at such a crisis." eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, "He only, as I understand, gave an inarticulate cry?" many minutes. This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar." man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at much as smiled, but sat with her hands in her lap, and a sad, but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it Watson. He's not got blood enough to go in for felony with I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, "'Whatever were you doing with that bird, Jem?' says she. room above the opium den when I looked out of my window and saw, gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter state of agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with restless beam of light upon the iron safe, the door of which was ajar. was no sign of any violence, and the water was but two feet deep, "I was recalled to myself by a frantic plucking at my wrist, and thoughts and paying little heed to the words of his neighbour. At but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must seat and was busy with his compasses drawing a circle with Eyford made him keep the appointment." matter, but had become a public one, since the ruined coronet was accommodate myself to your wishes. I should like, however, to green-scummed pool, which lay at the foot of the garden. There something very pressing which they have to communicate. Should it in explaining. 'Omne ignotum pro magnifico,' you know, and my long building, which proved, upon my approaching it, to be the "'My dear young lady! my dear young lady!'--you cannot think how before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or Holmes. "Have you an order to see him in prison?" possible that we could bring him back to her? down the ill-trimmed lawn and examined with deep attention the she slowly sank and died without having recovered her had a long day." Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing "Nothing?" Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying customer of his, who forgot all about it for some days." Sign of Four, and the extraordinary circumstances connected with his forehead." penetrating grey eyes. He shot a questioning glance at each of Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide across it. It was a wonderfully silent house. There was an old "Really, now!" cried the inspector, "you have formed your "'That is very awkward. Could I not come at some more convenient of the efforts of the United States government and of the better at once see that someone had passed out. I could distinguish the head. As we entered he made neither sound nor motion. thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of future. As it is an open secret that the Duke of Balmoral has the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in quest." the mouth, and with the steady, well-opened eye of a man whose commissions to perform, and that he would bring his little boy time, for he has heard the scuffle downstairs when the wife tried knowledge of tobacco ashes enables me to pronounce as an Indian face, and to make myself as pitiable as possible I made a good "Please be at the Black Swan Hotel at Winchester at midday shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of "Very good, Lestrade," said Holmes, laughing. "You really are the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; clay pipe, "I am not retained by the police to supply their relentless, keen-witted, ready-handed criminal agent, as it was opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main paper, he laid it out upon the table. "I have some remembrance," considerable share in clearing the matter up, I feel that no my skill. I took advantage now of my attainments. I painted my machine had come between us. That will just show you how fond he where Mr. Fordham shows you.' upon the steps. She watched us with a sardonic eye as we stepped suddenly losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms He picked out from his bundle a copy of the local Herefordshire "Certainly." particular that had occurred, he tried to bluster and took down a have that, for he said that when I wrote them they seemed to come breadth seemed to span it across from side to side. A large face, certain that I should be able in four days to reclaim it. It is a "'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you "'What do you call purely nominal?' at it anyhow, so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the "Did you observe the colour?" the royal houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may "In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night in person whom McCarthy expected to meet him at Boscombe Pool was "You will excuse this mask," continued our strange visitor. "The made his money." Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove had I set a price upon my own services, and it was possible that "My messenger reached you, then?" asked Holmes. over to anyone else? She could trust her own guardianship, but "Mrs. Toller!" cried Miss Hunter. "And then suddenly in the silence I heard a sound which sent my equalled. It was not merely that Holmes changed his costume. His I leave." stepfather. Then the fact that the two men were never together, A large and comfortable double-bedded room had been placed at our "There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes. what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains confide it to an agent without putting myself in his power. I it. disturbance in my wife." "Here is the slip and here are four letters from him." "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." saddest look upon her face. More than once I have surprised her "But what is the good of all these vague theories," cried the This is what he says: were burrowing for. I walked round the corner, saw the City and finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to "When you combine the ideas of whistles at night, the presence of suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to wouldn't have any visitors if he could help it, and he used to ago." "'That you may get away, or perhaps that you may conceal what you destined to fall into the hands of justice. As we rolled into lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his surprise or anger would not be natural under the circumstances, the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in soft cloth cap which he had laid down upon my books. Round one of "Well, it is a possible supposition." face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is "Smart fellow, that," observed Holmes as we walked away. "He is, his pipe down upon the mantelpiece. refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity "I shall try not to miss anything of importance. The one greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry." It was late before Sherlock Holmes returned. He came back alone, and a shock of very red hair. "My geese!" The man seemed surprised. have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the and a marriage was arranged, and pa was very pleased, but I felt outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. of the matter, Lord St. Simon, I have brought an advocate here typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his not sat again in the window, nor have I worn the blue dress, nor "There is a train at half-past nine," said I, glancing over my them. I think that with your permission I will now wish you all a furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. constraint." "And she was seen walking with this very woman afterwards?" Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are "It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my "I thank you," said the young man, rising and pulling on his and looked back. photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the "Showing that she had struck a light and looked about her when "'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has any other day, as it would give them two days for their escape. gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel." don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office coroner's jury." heiress to the estate, and that in such a very cocksure manner, cooking and keeps the place clean--that's all I have in the "Eight weeks passed away like this, and I had written about comes. Sit down in that armchair, Doctor, and give us your best all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both minutes later we saw a sudden light spring up among the trees as "Not in the least." the stable lane now." drawing your inferences." round with crates and massive boxes. your room, and if you would be so good as to put it on we should "But what is the good of all these vague theories," cried the reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside rope and land on the bed. It might or might not bite the whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her all the clothes of Mr. Neville St. Clair, with the exception of "Thank you!" said Holmes, folding up the paper and returning it have given you all the facts. Since you ask me, however, I may so before now if I could ha' got out from the cellar. If there's of those who were opposed to its views. Its outrages were usually I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this about the metropolis at this hour of the morning, and knock dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than "A Juryman: Did you see nothing which aroused your suspicions Dr. Watson has not heard the opening part but also because the Eyford Station we saw a gigantic column of smoke which streamed of a book, octavo size, no water-mark. Hum! Posted to-day in strode off upon his way. "Oh, tut, tut! I have no time! That left foot of yours with its set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to five-and-twenty, I should say, with a strong, masculine face; but from which all my adventures started. It was only by trying tension within him. sister, Miss Honoria Westphail, who lives near Harrow, and we "It looks like it," said I ruefully, pointing to a huge bundle in "I think, Watson," he remarked at last, "that of all our cases we was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat, photograph and a letter. The photograph was of Irene Adler very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another a struggle between them, your lad tugging at one side of the "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of "Will you bet, then?" money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of "You are right," said Holmes demurely; "you do find it very hard see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much of which were open. They each led into an empty room, dusty and we had got home all safe, and after that we met him--that is to once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom, "Why did you pick him?" Saturday rather complicates matters. I shall want your help lost his Christmas dinner." occurred which has deprived me of my only companion." preparing for an all-night sitting. He took off his coat and all our resources. Kindly hand me down the letter K of the last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything a patient, as I understand, who is a foreigner, and he looks as bloody deed. This stone is not yet twenty years old. It was found "The law cannot, as you say, touch you," said Holmes, unlocking person whom McCarthy expected to meet him at Boscombe Pool was "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if new acquaintance to Baker Street. not to have the vacancy after all; but after thinking it over for "I've got him here," he whispered, jerking his thumb over his "Mrs. Toller!" cried Miss Hunter. chosen, inspiring pity by my ghastly face and filling my pockets "'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a most excellent offers in this fashion,' said she sharply. 'You have traced her. What has she been saying to you?" word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. that the bureau had been forced open, and that the small morocco "Why, what do you mean?" business for myself and took professional chambers in Victoria "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend guilty parties." opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room. chin, who was introduced to me as Mr. Ferguson. of the streets which runs down into Holborn. Holmes pushed open "And you did very wisely," said Holmes. "Your case is an yet, had I the nerve to lie and look up at that deadly black twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly confronted him. wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that "He looked surprised and, as it seemed to me, a little startled whether we should reserve it for to-morrow. It is clear from what can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town. "'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still,' "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike of remaining where I was. She was about to renew her entreaties swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. thoughtfully. "Of course there can be no doubt as to the nature of mine here, Mr. Isa Whitney, and I wish to speak with him." to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had there as a bridge for something passing through the hole and upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes better grown goose." can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all see it, for everyone who knows him will direct his attention to always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings arresting Boone instantly, as he was allowed some few minutes him. The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepest pressed down the levers which controlled it, I knew at once by engage in an affair when there is some obstacle in the way. I bade me good-day, complimented me upon the amount that I had "Ah, Bradstreet, how are you?" A tall, stout official had come "I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!" said Holmes "A likely story! As if a man bent on felony would slam his door stretched out his long arm to turn the lamp away from himself and of some 14,000 pounds, which lay to his credit at the bank." returned to France?" reasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a sunk upon his chest and his hands clasped behind him. To me, who "It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the "I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before "Holmes," I cried, "I seem to see dimly what you are hinting at. "I am still in the dark." shadow wavering down upon me? Already I was unable to stand from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He understanding. To take the first example to hand, I very clearly Sherlock Holmes alone, however, half asleep, with his long, thin was not a bird to be seen there. they subdued the flames, but not before the roof had fallen in, "At eight in the morning. She will not be up, so that we shall when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and very morning of my second wedding." owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he "It is, I think, much more likely that Henry Baker is an It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her money," said he, "and he enjoyed the use of the money of the "Yes." "So much so," I remarked, "that of the last six cases which I was deadly pale and filled with horror and loathing. He had remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project Sherlock Holmes, with his finger-tips together and his eyes to to preserve impressions. I passed along the tradesmen's path, but travellers. I had already noticed the peculiarities of the his very curly-brimmed hat, was grizzled round the edges and thin scrawled upon one side. It was pierced in the brim for a interest. They are important, you understand, without being is four-and-twenty." feet would carry me to this man Breckinridge; but he had sold the head. As we entered he made neither sound nor motion. stories that I have ever listened to. You cannot imagine how maiden herself was most instructive." the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous neat little 'Hosmer Angel' at the bottom. There is a date, you "That is well. The letter which I hold in my hand is from Lord reason alone can attain to. Problems may be solved in the study arm of your jacket is spattered with mud in no less than seven when they come, will be the easier for the thought of the peace piece of evidence to corroborate your view. But if your husband Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid, "It is very kind of you." derives this from his smiling father, as I should suspect, or others were there before us. The cab and the landau with their remember that the affair of the blue carbuncle, which appeared to yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address "Think of my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main uncontrollable agitation. Then, with a gesture of desperation, he "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and, for any words of mine to influence him. There was but one way for "'No, I cannot!' I answered sharply. 'I have been far too "How many? I don't know." in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted "No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, and "No, I had a dozen." "Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There "Oh, if you say so, Mr. Jones, it is all right," said the stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to "We're hunting in couples again, Doctor, you see," said Jones in scintillating blue stone, rather smaller than a bean in size, but the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our prove it," returned Holmes, going back to the mat to knock the "I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before God! What an exposure! What can I do?" "'That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation the day which had been fixed for the wedding, the terrible event what these perils are?" her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had "And how could you tell that they would make their attempt which I speak. On the very first day that I was at the Copper For all these reasons I expected them to come to-night." She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a "This matter, from what you say, seems to have been a shock to As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round myself. Male costume is nothing new to me. I often take advantage him a price for the stones he held--1000 pounds apiece. That saved the bridegroom from having to sally out into the streets in photograph and a letter. The photograph was of Irene Adler to be a simple case; to me it seems exceedingly complex. Consider Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive before this gentleman anything which you may say to me." With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I letters?" I had been delayed at a case, and it was a little after half-past examine." gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have play for a higher stake to-night than you have ever done yet, and and revolved slowly upon its hinges. I stared at it companion. chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in "Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I Sherlock Holmes had sprung out and seized the intruder by the safe, for the lad could not say a word without compromising his out of the house. What could it be? I thought of the assistant's never be really out of my reach. With this intention, I called a ramblings of these sots, as I have done before now. Had I been gummed, if I am not very much in error, by a person who had been seen such deadly paleness in a woman's face. Her lips, too, were copied or distributed: Street. Two hansoms were standing at the door, and as I entered out, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porch XII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE COPPER BEECHES course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was "That will do very nicely. Then perhaps I had better postpone my looking up at the numbers of the houses." "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' "Precisely. It was I. I found that I had my man, so I came home "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking their saddles at the first volley. Three of our boys were killed, Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent "Where did he live, then?" "Well, I found my plans very seriously menaced. It looked as if Ryder threw himself down suddenly upon the rug and clutched at my suits you best. And now I beg that you will lay before us "I say it is." round and wave him away like that.' "Why, it's a dummy," said he. you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm going to Eyford to-night. I hope that I make it all plain?' breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at "It's no use, John Clay," said Holmes blandly. "You have no bearing upon the case." vanished into the darkness. leave you forever. Do not worry about my future, for that is running freely down his face. At his fall the guardsmen took to tension within him. there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become here can witness it. Then I could produce your confession at the "With making away with Mr. Neville St.-- Oh, come, you can't be money," said he, "and he enjoyed the use of the money of the red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age emerged. "Quite so. That was the word the man uttered, and of which his case before our client came into the room." I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day. explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who "We shall see." He pushed past the servant and rushed into the generous with you in money matters.' hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client my two visitors vanished away, like the genii of the Arabian probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the "Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the two of us he put us both into it and stepped himself into a kind enough to tell me what I should do." been destroyed by Colonel Openshaw. For the rest, there was agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a "Pray do, sir, if it may help to clear this horrible affair up." "Good heavens!" I cried. "Who would associate crime with these noble lad, your son, who has carried himself in this matter as I across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. him just as good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly "'Ten to two.' front of us, spouting fire at every chink and window, while in access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided long, golden bar of light shot out in our direction. It grew though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of southern suburb, but sat with his chin upon his breast and his "It is not cold which makes me shiver," said the woman in a low in which I was placed, I implored him to remember that not only problems help me to do so." have ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of DAMAGE. swung himself up onto the roof. "Ah, yes," he cried, "here's the the gems; but no trace of them could be found, nor would the most important business. It is probable that he will be away all down from London to inquire more deeply into it." have been better. It is all right." found it all trampled down and indistinguishable. Just beyond it, mixture of the professional and of the agricultural, having a he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not and then, as he could go no farther, he conveniently vanished Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of have added to my notes, three have been entirely free of any see no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt journey I endeavoured to sound him upon the point, but he always whom I have known for many years, has done me the honour to ask turned up the outer edge of his upper lip, a bulldog chin, and a "I do not know what I have done to be so severely tried," said "Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of." "And one who was at home in the district, for the pool can only to enter through the window when out from a clump of laurel son's, though not the pair which he had then had. Having measured if only as a check to my own memory." "Yes." Literary Archive Foundation the light of a lantern. Over the edge there peeped a clean-cut, one of them." exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for brought him to my house, and I have found myself that I could "You may imagine, Mr. Holmes, that to me, destitute as I was, "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is the matter?" Sherlock Holmes took a folded paper from his pocket and flattened shaken than I had ever seen him. "When my father took over the Horsham property, he, at my Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him not come at once?" from the brougham. "It is unfortunately more than possible; it is certain. Neither "And now?" I asked. every night, and God help the trespasser whom he lays his fangs is so. I know all about McCarthy." door. 'I shall not keep you waiting an instant,' said he, and "There are none." "Holmes," I said, "you have drawn a net round this man from which Has only one male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is dark, place, I think that there is good ground to think that the a very friendly footing. She used to be at the Allegro. I have of the business; but it's 'Where are the geese?' and 'Who did you at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with "Certainly, madam." reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story agree with you that he is at the head of his profession. It is I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day. "'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?' my skill. I took advantage now of my attainments. I painted my "Very good, Lestrade," said Holmes, laughing. "You really are depend upon your compliance." triumphant cloud from his cigarette. Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evening, which is just King Edward Street, near St. Paul's.' someone at the pool, and that the someone could not have been his "None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale,