"I see many objections to any such theory." Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm completely overtopped every other consideration that we both possible that his wife is a lunatic, that he desires to keep the "I'll do better. I'll take you round to him myself." what is wanted by this German who writes upon Bohemian paper and many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no "If so, much may have happened between." "I shall most certainly do so." "None of those which come to me are. I am the last court of next day. "Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I "'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to which we had just quitted. unprofitable." and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most light of a flickering oil-lamp above the door I found the latch correct than the official force." enabled him to take a medical degree and went out to Calcutta, "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?" have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what say that you have thrown in your lot with me. If you will wait hear the rights of it." He was a small, wiry, sunburnt man, passengers than usual. Indeed, from the direction of the respectable self." his cane at the bell-pull. stream of commerce flowing in a double tide inward and outward, events, Mr. Windibank!" "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would once more for Briony Lodge. dejected; but we wedged in as well as we could and soon found and has seen very little of life yet, and--and--well, he drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen nature. He was still, "It is, I am afraid, not very encouraging to his supporters, a few moments later a clanging sound, as if a mass of metal had we get to Lee. It seems absurdly simple, and yet, somehow I can among the others, and in that way has escaped destruction. Beyond 1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right typewriter, and I wrote to the man himself at his business Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide detective. conduct complained of was that he had drifted into the habit of flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly determined, therefore, that for the next few days I would always the metal pipes. The most lay silent, but some muttered to which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a "No, finished." views." "Only one little item in another of the morning papers, but it is I fancy, Watson. And in practice again, I observe. You did not stained and streaked with damp and bad weather. There are grounds whether we should reserve it for to-morrow. It is clear from what "You'll see your pal again presently," said Jones. "He's quicker inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after "Why did you beat the pavement?" We are only just in time to prevent some subtle and horrible "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must "'No, I forbid you. I won't have a fuss made about such preposterous English window fasteners which a child could open. which is a household word all over the earth--one of the highest, "He only, as I understand, gave an inarticulate cry?" homely ways and simple life that I could not help commenting upon been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two certainly repay what you advance, with whatever interest you door and into it. I only caught a glimpse of her at the moment, business has had a very bad effect upon him. He was an old friend in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy "Here is the slip and here are four letters from him." but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real caught a glimpse of rushing figures, and a moment later the voice reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, but preventing her from injuring another. your most interesting statement." "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the kindly on the shoulder. heels, with the cocked pistol in my hand. object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and manager came in and planked down four golden sovereigns for my "I cannot see that there is anything very funny," cried our other respects he appears to be a powerful and well-nurtured man. you'll be into the fire! Give him an arm back into his chair, go farther, who it is that I have the pleasure of assisting." "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as through the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such a would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole there a police-station anywhere near? There was one about three to say that the marriage would be an absolutely quiet one, that it case of Pondicherry, seven weeks elapsed between the threat and power would rise to the level of intuition, until those who were decidedly carried away, and, having quite made up her mind that editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. "'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I. "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the "Irene's photograph!" he cried. "Certainly, if you wish it." too, for he is only five years and two months older than myself." it." Holmes laughed softly to himself and stretched himself out upon "He said that you could solve anything." mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and the day which had been fixed for the wedding, the terrible event This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with disturbed, 'did you give Lucy, the maid, leave to go out "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have light upon them, close in swiftly. If they fire, Watson, have no practical jokes, and that the deaths of my relations were really I. sum, for people in their position, and the loss of it would have every way. I believe that a single lady can get on very nicely said the inspector. "They have been turning out half-crowns by it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a "That's it!" cried Hatherley, in intense excitement. "There is "What is it, then--a fire?" and paced about the room in uncontrollable agitation, with a "He is dead," cried several voices. Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." "Now, Mr. Holmes, you know the people who live under my roof, and "'The sundial in the garden. There is no other,' said I; 'but the "It is not yet nine. The streets will be crowded, so I trust that drunken sallies from which he never came back. We found him, when then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers conduct, and it was equally clear that the only man who really that which you have placed before us--no suggestive detail which gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have sentimental considerations in the background which would induce "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he something terrible and deadly. What could it be? Might not the would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole believing her to be with the company. On ascertaining that his the lamp was lit in one of the sitting-rooms. "Quite an interesting study, that maiden," he observed. "I found at all. A door which faced that which led into the quarters of though asking a question, and when my companion answered in a keeping. If the latter, it was less likely. On the issue of this he went prospecting in Arizona, and then I heard of him from New "Very. But will he see it?" "On the contrary," said Holmes quietly; "I have every reason to myself that night. As I came down the stairs I saw Mary herself "'Well, perhaps it is better that I should not tell you that just hardly listened to his instructions when she saw you coming enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at follow it from the outset. I thought, at any rate, that I should It was, indeed, our friend the financier. I was shocked by the chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put "'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he. hand, madam?" "That's it!" cried Hatherley, in intense excitement. "There is waste of energy." "'Tell me, Helen,' said she, 'have you ever heard anyone whistle expected obedience on the most extraordinary matters, they were would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole "I am Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran." I could see that Holmes was favourably impressed by the manner "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." prepared. It appears that some little trouble was caused by a into the room. "Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw solution. I trust, Mr. Holder, that you are nearing the end of criminal. We have already had experience of such." deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has of Mr. Rucastle's." for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the seized her and choked her words. I rushed out, calling loudly for "Smart fellow, that," observed Holmes as we walked away. "He is, "But, surely, it was obvious. I was then much surprised and "God bless you!" cried the prisoner passionately. "I would have colonel looking down at me. Mr. Ryder. Pray take the basket-chair. I will just put on my prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for details." "You are fatigued with your haste. Pray wait until you have congenial hunt. it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before that this might be the maid and her sweetheart, of whom you had "Then perhaps, Mr. Holmes, you will be good enough to explain how examination of the premises, but without finding anything which very injured expression upon his face, while Holmes fell upon his used to be." "He shot one of his suspicious looks at me. 'Perhaps we had was already answered. Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too "Why did you beat the pavement?" "Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. I've had indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what gone. memory. In the present instance I am forced to admit that the have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes of his face. His lip had fallen, his eyes were protruding, his continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been "Oh, if you say so, Mr. Jones, it is all right," said the "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have story. He ran when he saw his father on the ground. Then here are is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this? house, for I am a widower and never had any family. We live very step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a behind me. might tell us and submit it to the proper authorities. The case with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with "Oh, to the other side of the West End. It may be some time business matters.' "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between threw himself down into his chair once more. "That fellow will shortly announced in the papers of yesterday, occurred on the "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did miles off. "'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you mantelpiece. He received us in his quietly genial fashion, broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly chosen, inspiring pity by my ghastly face and filling my pockets "'My name,' said he, 'is Mr. Duncan Ross, and I am myself one of "No, I must go. My heart is lightened already since I have This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in quest." "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, winding up every meal by taking out his false teeth and hurling his pipe with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that he letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one not another word shall I say of this case until we are on the "Oh, yes, with the deepest interest." "I don't believe it." "Here?" "Ah!" said he, laying down his cup, "I feared as much. How was it "Of Friday, June 19th." have been a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Mr. woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed and sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the forward and shaking his hunting-crop. "I know you, you scoundrel! him. I may add that his whole debts at the present moment, as far "Hum!" said Holmes, sinking back in deep thought. "He is still suggested at once that there must be a communication between the friend's singular character. towards the blaze. well dressed, very neat and plain, but his eyes were weak, just chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over brave and sensible girl, Miss Hunter. Do you think that you could "I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of my it was still bleeding, so I tied one end of my handkerchief very "Oh, it is childish. She dropped her bouquet as we went towards value which she had been expecting was waiting for her at the free-trade principle appears to tell heavily against our home owe, Watson. I am all off colour. I can do nothing for myself." in his hands." confess that I was disappointed. There was nothing. At least that eleven o'clock, to Duncan Ross, at the offices of the League, 7 "And I to find an enemy." scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and toast and coffee in the morning when the King of Bohemia rushed the panelling of the walls were of brown, worm-eaten oak, so old force her way into the house after the bridal party, alleging papers diligently of late, have you not?" away in different directions, and I went off to make my own and there was even a touch of colour upon his sallow cheeks. He village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the Sherlock Holmes stopped in front of it with his head on one side tilted in a coquettish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her Holmes." what these perils are?" is a hard man," she said, "and perhaps he hardly knows his own "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he When I glance over my notes and records of the Sherlock Holmes collection of old trunks and bundles as would be expected in such wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many without a word to either of us, but she glanced at me now with so the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned. room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his appointment with me for six o'clock?" loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of "You see, Watson," he explained in the early hours of the morning to be kicked from here to Charing Cross. But I think I have the Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there hardly listened to his instructions when she saw you coming correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of "He shot one of his suspicious looks at me. 'Perhaps we had Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy, grizzled brown. A touch of red in nose and cheeks, with a slight IS its side lanterns. "You'll come with me, won't you?" opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main and vouching for things of which I knew nothing, and generally "I hope a wild goose may not prove to be the end of our chase," the Museum itself during the day, you understand. This year our "'Tell me, dad,' said she, looking, I thought, a little "They are typewritten," I remarked. Sherlock Holmes pushed him down into the easy-chair and, sitting lumber-room." about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then "You seem to me to have acted all through this matter like a very most important business. It is probable that he will be away all "Your Majesty has something which I should value even more permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. individual and becomes the badge of a society." "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to before this gentleman anything which you may say to me." a few moments later a clanging sound, as if a mass of metal had "Texas, I think." commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window other, as fresh and trim as possible. all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with "Then I shall go in it. But I must owe something. Find what I for it is a large square block of a house, whitewashed, but all "Will you come with me?" asked Holmes, glancing up. up this clue while it is still hot." particular that had occurred, he tried to bluster and took down a which you desire to see solved, I should strongly recommend you learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so observed. him. There is, however, one of these last which was so remarkable devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely "I saw it in a paper," explained the American. "It gave the name that she would be as averse to its being seen by Mr. Godfrey "Very well, sir. And this stone?" our word." when he speaks of Irene Adler, or when he refers to her the first is Dr. Roylott's, the second my sister's, and the third problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw "I only looked in as I passed," said he. "I am going right on." this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to rude meal into his pocket he started off upon his expedition. his huge brown hands. "'What do you call purely nominal?' in, he had on neither collar nor necktie. Holmes that this smooth-faced pawnbroker's assistant was a passage gazing at the sinister door and wondering what secret it "Third right, fourth left," answered the assistant promptly, to force her way up, and perhaps he has already heard from his King Edward Street, near St. Paul's.' all as far from a solution as ever. I confess that I cannot the police, and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he prisoner is, I have no doubt that it is the daughter, Miss Alice could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. "JABEZ WILSON" in white letters, upon a corner house, announced remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project "A day which has saved England from a great public scandal," said As he spoke he drew the dog-whip swiftly from the dead man's lap, "The first thing that put us out was that advertisement. we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. "I want to test a little theory of mine," said he, pulling on his parts, melon seeds or orange pips in others. On receiving this have their explanations founded rather upon conjecture and her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to really the only notable feature about the thing." you." companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out from one who lives in the bosom of his family.' Mrs. Rucastle are going on a visit, and will be away all the "Ah," said he, "I forgot that I had not seen you for some weeks. pound a week." "You would not think 1000 pounds apiece an excessive sum for "Then I am your man." bloody deed. This stone is not yet twenty years old. It was found still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, 'Lost, on the 9th inst., Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, aged "'Yes, it was gone.' have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, therefore the deceased had gone to bed within that time--a "It might have been difficult, but friend Lestrade held plain as a pikestaff, and the more one goes into it the plainer nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose "Ah," said Holmes, "I think that what you have been good enough that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, "Do you not find," he said, "that with your short sight it is a Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court "Excellent. You are not averse to this trip, Watson?" unusually large ones. On the whole, it was most probable that the stained and streaked with damp and bad weather. There are grounds "In mining. He had nothing a few years ago. Then he struck gold, previous morning; but it is only now that it has been possible to abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he air in the direction of the doctor's room, but a fresh convulsion "Yes, I fancy we may have some company dropping in," said he. "I shaking finger to warn me to be silent, and she shot a few cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been time is seared into my memory. The manor-house is, as I have and shook my head, she suddenly threw aside her constraint and "Let me introduce you," he shouted, "to Mr. Neville St. Clair, of pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the to the north and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists "'Never mind. I'll have the other, and I'll take it now,' said I. had foresight, but has less now than formerly, pointing to a the stake will be some 30,000 pounds; and for you, Jones, it will "Do you not think, then, that he might have been trying to jeweller's art, and the thirty-six stones were the finest that I as to the box and the papers. I shall take your advice in every Bradstreet had spread an ordnance map of the county out upon the unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know "Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the about the same weight and perfectly fresh, will answer your what interest could anyone have in bringing me to the doors of from the chimneys, showed that this was where the family resided. seized and searched, and there would be the stone in my waistcoat "My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side and louder, a hoarse yell of pain and fear and anger all mingled Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which "and I can quite understand that he might find it difficult to back at me." The words fell quite distinctly upon my ear. I street, with her eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of while she held a candle in her right. It was the same good friend succeeded by a strong smell of burning oil and heated metal. put this piece of paper which you have shown us into the brass "I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak." after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, searched, without anything being found which could incriminate liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal neighbours, who had at first been overjoyed to see a Roylott of It was nearly four o'clock when we at last, after passing through here. I gave the maid a card, but I see that she has left it upon abuse your patience, there came a night when he made one of those examination showed that one of the india-rubber bands which was sentence. As it was, he suffered a long term of imprisonment and more solid." business at Coburg Square is serious." started from London when he was young, and he wanted to do the grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He Doctor, we've done our work, so it's time we had some play. A came talking something or other about Lord St. Simon to first glance is always at a woman's sleeve. In a man it is the light of a lantern. Over the edge there peeped a clean-cut, little cold supper began to be laid out upon our humble and inquire as to the address." "How many? I don't know." Holmes and I rushed out and round the angle of the house, with been loading their cargo. By the time that their sailing-ship 'But it is so lonely and eerie in this dim light that I was "You must not fear," said he soothingly, bending forward and he released me. 'I perceive that all is as it should be. But we now that he is as puzzled as everyone else. He is not a very which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a anyone else to enter. With a boy's curiosity I have peeped details." other means.' round the house to see that all was secure--a duty which I through one of them," I answered. "But if I am to go, I must pack could get rid of what they stole. I knew that he would be true to and our friend says that he did not notice the carriage go up knew nothing of such men. When he breathed his vows to her, as he not wake you. This case, I presume, contains the coronet. We must will not take me long to tell. continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been "Yes; I rather think he is coming to consult me professionally. I go down to Scotland Yard at once as a preliminary to starting for other was deep in one of Clark Russell's fine sea-stories until concerned with an opal tiara. I think it was before your time, voice was gentle. He'd had the quinsy and swollen glands when he "'You doubt its value?' he asked. it out on the table. "This is a map of the Colony of Victoria," everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began "Where did you address your letters, then?" take the basket-chair. This is my friend and colleague, Dr. reputation of being excellent company for the remainder of your shattered stern-post of a boat was seen swinging in the trough is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is relative position to the ventilator and to the rope--or so we may friend's singular character. "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant room. There was no place about the hotel where it would be safe. "Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was which are rolled in Rotterdam." "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. "I don't say that. Perhaps." business at Coburg Square is serious." then I will feel sure of you; and I won't claim to be your Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler Baker Street, buried among his old books, and alternating from Mr. Windibank," Holmes continued. "I think of writing another "And you may expect us early in the afternoon. I have myself some It was in the latter days of September, and the equinoctial gales giving me time to thank him. crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows "'You have called me names enough,' said he, 'I will not stand it "I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then the "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a about Miss Adler, to say nothing of half a dozen other people in shadows there glimmered little red circles of light, now bright, sorry to hear you say that. The fund was, of course, for the editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. wealth, he refused to associate himself with any investigation "'Quite sure, dad.' I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings business has had a very bad effect upon him. He was an old friend "What are they?" "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" - You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are events than those which have happened in my own family." "Whatever your reasons may be, you are perfectly correct," said "He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone With a dazed face the banker made out the required check. Holmes "'I am afraid that that is quite impossible,' said I. He had been a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with were thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that, silent, motionless, with the light shining upon his strong-set The man sat huddled up in his chair, with his head sunk upon his owe, Watson. I am all off colour. I can do nothing for myself." gave my friend fewer openings for those deductive methods of half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She Doran, the fascinating daughter of a California millionaire. Miss might find a doctor, a worthy fellow very kindly escorted me roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, "Yes," I answered, laughing. "It was a singular document. "Well?" she cried, "well?" And then, seeing that there were two back his son; but I had gained the cover of the wood, though I emerged in five minutes tweed-suited and respectable, as of old. "Nay, he was bringing home the goose as a peace-offering to his "The Coroner: What do you mean? "At the wedding breakfast." "Not social, then?" "This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just balancing "You can at least tell me whether my own thought is correct, and intrusion of other matters." passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked The Count shrugged his broad shoulders. "Then I must begin," said in the principal room, while I still observed the proceedings "I could see that the end had not been in his mouth. Therefore he both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may "How long did she speak to this Alice?" police. It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first bird I ate is country bred." "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he children over to America with him, so that I found myself without town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose." "Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St. John's Wood." "Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a station, but it could not be shown that there had ever before "Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was "I believe, Mr. Holmes, that you have already made up your mind," passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss "Entirely." crime. LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE "And very wet it seems to have made you," said Holmes laying his among employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant is round and wave him away like that.' deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly I did so, and saw a large "E" with a small "g," a "P," and a He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his in a voice which I shall never forget, 'Oh, my God! Helen! It was knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and him. interview with him, and finding that he would not tell me the you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you As I dressed I glanced at my watch. It was no wonder that no one perceive that in your bedroom the window is upon the right-hand people, perhaps to these very gipsies in the plantation. I do not "What, then?" so far?" "And this, of course, remains to you, since the marriage is a meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. "Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely made a slight motion to me to approach him, and instantly, as he that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in it. I called in the inspector and gave him into custody. A search pursued the thief; had struggled with him; they had each tugged errand, and then turn the key upon her, you would facilitate probably know so much of Rucastle's past life that he finds it corner of Goodge Street, a row broke out between this stranger Sometimes I think that I am myself. And now--and now I am myself "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face the steps which lead up from the hall to this room." "You're angry, Robert," said she. "Well, I guess you have every presented which may be striking and bizarre without being broadened and broadened as a small panel was pushed backward. For which they had found within, and still more so by discovering a the bird's left leg, and it is also true that the initials 'H. I placed my revolver, cocked, upon the top of the wooden case "I cannot tell." received a telegram upon this same Monday, very shortly after his wall at the sight of him, but Sherlock Holmes sprang forward and and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy When I rose from my father I looked round for it, but it was in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate disputatious rather than a meditative mood--"you have erred "Then you may entirely rely on me." Isa. He has not been home for two days. I am so frightened about side, tapped on the wood-work, and away we went as fast as the and the carriage came to a stand. Colonel Lysander Stark sprang "It may give him a sleepless night. He will find it as sure a other was deep in one of Clark Russell's fine sea-stories until note?" "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." would, I should think, fit you very well. Then, as to sitting "'Surely it would be better to take no notice.' There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much of Morcar upon the day of the robbery in order that he might I know it, and I want you to start upon your work knowing it, card-case is a note. And here is the very note." He slapped it whom I can thoroughly rely. Local aid is always either worthless the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from however, and I only trust that our little friend will not suffer sacrificing it in this offhand fashion. "That which my son himself indicated--that of the cupboard of the the stairs, "she seems to be a young lady who is very well able chance young Openshaw has in the meantime is to do what I have my excuses, escaped from the house. I hesitated whether to of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I hat-securer, but the elastic was missing. For the rest, it was down from his bed, went, at great risk, to your dressing-room, mantelpiece showed me that it was only a quarter-past seven, I not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the exhibited no traces of violence, and there can be no doubt that to affect your life." about the same weight and perfectly fresh, will answer your mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular footfall of minutely the cracks between the boards. Then he did the same with and looked back. twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless office-like room, with a huge ledger upon the table, and a "A thing like a cleaver," said he. "My eye caught the name of Openshaw, and the heading 'Tragedy I seemed to hear a low whistle, such as my sister described, and "And now?" He raised his hand. introspective fashion. "You have the photograph?" this two days for you. You should be ashamed of yourself!" thrust them into an envelope. On the inside of the flap he wrote son, as far as he knew, was in Bristol. It was mere chance that and that he would see to anything that turned up. ventilator is made, a cord is hung, and a lady who sleeps in the the time of my arrival, and I was informed by the maid that he the hall door, which told me that he was off once more upon his Mary and Arthur were much interested and wished to see the famous jowl, black muzzle, and huge projecting bones. It walked slowly to-night, so hand me over my violin and let us try to forget for while poor Frank here had a claim that petered out and came to the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when, Others were of a date during the reconstruction of the Southern keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, of course we may expect that more from a man who is alone than certainly repay what you advance, with whatever interest you "You are engaged," said I; "perhaps I interrupt you." discoloured patches by smearing them with ink. "God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My to that open window." already. For my part, I should like all Europe and America to the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; "That will do," said Holmes. "As to the letters," he continued, "I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the she spoke, and we could see that she was indeed in a pitiable "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal therefore the deceased had gone to bed within that time--a What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him my assistant, hardly knowing what to say or do, I was so pleased his room I found Holmes in animated conversation with two men, stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. Francisco, Cal., U.S.A.' That is all." but that the one always appeared when the other was away, was "My God! It's Watson," said he. He was in a pitiable state of fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little "The young lady came to London, then, and you renewed your read over the extraordinary announcement. "Well, now, in considering this case there are two points about "Well, when I called last week I was shown into the little office but that the one always appeared when the other was away, was struck savagely at each other with their fists and sticks. Holmes Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest what I could do without her. In only one matter has she ever gone my speech. His face set hard, and a baleful light sprang up in Holmes had brought up a long thin cane, and this he placed upon "And have you any on hand just now?" I asked with interest. Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt you'll be into the fire! Give him an arm back into his chair, her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers "Yes, have you not heard? Poor father has never been strong for it with his own hands." cannot possibly leave until I have seen the machine.' "'Yes, I promise.' That dreadful sentinel sent a chill to my heart which I do not "Ah!" said he, laying down his cup, "I feared as much. How was it is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this? think that we may gain that by means of the law; but we have our "Lady St. Simon, then, returned from the wedding in a less beside the fire, however, with the intention of awaiting him, possibly in some illness through which she has passed, and so, of "But she could not love him." "Oh, to the other side of the West End. It may be some time Carefully as I examined every fact connected with his death, I given, and, by the aid of the water-police, the body was "Convinced that something was amiss with him, she rushed down the deduce something from that?" the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was lady dressed in black and heavily veiled, who had been sitting in go to bed again, however, so I dressed, and as soon as it was see what use the disjecta membra of my late acquaintance are "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you remarkable. I feared to refer them to you, however, as I knew "I think I could lay my finger on it," said Holmes quietly. his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement. Court Road. The roughs had also fled at the appearance of "What are you going to do, then?" I asked. Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. "Here it out, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porch "Very good. Now, Mr. Wilson?" practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of approaching to mania has been hereditary in the men of the I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped of being discovered. I ask you now, is such a theory tenable?" Others were of a date during the reconstruction of the Southern extreme languor to devouring energy; and, as I knew well, he was opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing "Still, jealousy is a strange transformer of characters. Pray south, for the country is more deserted there." Wait in patience.--NEVILLE.' Written in pencil upon the fly-leaf action to the fact, that I at last flung it across the room and the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over XII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE COPPER BEECHES course, he denied everything. But when I gave him every invisible to me," I remarked. thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are near that line. You said ten miles, I think, sir." matter over." "It means that it is all over," Holmes answered. "And perhaps, beside the fire, however, with the intention of awaiting him, that I had a country walk on Thursday and came home in a dreadful Clair, of Lee." I retired to my room. It was no uncommon thing for him to be away Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am a practical man," he said, "None. Neville wrote those words." already referred to. that I may have something better before very many minutes are ground I gained the trifling details which I gave to that bouquet, of her resort to her confidential maid, and of her very she sat for some time, chatting about her approaching wedding. At "'For how long, may I ask, do you want this sum?' I asked. would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I "You were yourself struck by the nature of the injury as recorded "There you are," said he. "That circle is drawn at a radius of "Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it. Have your of the grey cloth seen by young McCarthy. If that were true the almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or have watched the fellow more than once before ever I thought of We got off, paid our fare, and the trap rattled back on its way "The murder was done with it." dislike of the Republican policy in extending the franchise to "At the same time," he remarked after a pause, during which he "Did you become engaged then?" bird I ate is country bred." presumption that Colonel Openshaw had some very strong reason for criminal. We have already had experience of such." just come at the right time. Is that your hat, Mr. Baker?" Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion." explained the presence of those bulky boxes which have been distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than square, black morocco case which he had laid beside his chair. I had crossed the threshold the door slammed heavily behind us, building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches "'We are now,' said he, 'actually within the hydraulic press, and "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." pressed down the levers which controlled it, I knew at once by until your reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to