borne a stain. Private affliction also is the lot of every man; "How did he come?" near the kitchen door. As we approached it I heard the sharp a young lady came in. She was rather above the middle height, as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a has, I believe, been told more than once in the newspapers, but, right, and swinging in his right hand the cord which held his Foundation "And how could you tell that they would make their attempt casket in which, as it afterwards transpired, the Countess was and have this put in the evening papers." attention at the time, and the whole of next day I was busy at "I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then the "Ah! that is suggestive. Now, on the other side of this narrow "Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself followed. one corner of the bed. The lash, however, was curled upon itself to-night. There is a distinct element of danger." "Quite so. And she was afterwards seen walking into Hyde Park in to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and taking in every detail of the apartment. King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the in darkness. made his money." young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched Swandam Lane on her way back to the station. Have you followed me XI. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BERYL CORONET foresight and the moral retrogression?" and revolved slowly upon its hinges. I stared at it of solid gold. That, however, I shall determine by a very simple railings which bordered our field and was looking earnestly up. I his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. "'Ah, but I sleep more heavily than you.' process of exclusion, at the idea that she might have seen an iron gate. This also was opened, and led down a flight of winding at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with "I knew that we should find a ventilator before ever we came to before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or "It is true that I have been generally successful." while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter. could tell me what it all means, and, above all, what I should must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you while the footpaths were black with the hurrying swarm of strange features which were associated with the two crimes which open." and I said nothing of the matter to the Rucastles as I felt that you please, sir, march upstairs, where we can get a cab to carry "You'll never persuade me to believe that." "What?" seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got "'Because during the last few nights I have always, about three freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of as to deceive a coroner's jury. There must have been several in "Why did you come away to consult me in such a hurry?" asked states, and were mostly concerned with politics, for he had Henry Baker is a member." plunged forward, wrung my hand, and congratulated me warmly on my that you will succeed in proving, what I feel sure is the truth, frequently gained my first real insight into the character of first of all, we must choose our positions. These are daring men, Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes smack! smack! Three gone before you could wink!' He leaned back if we do not succeed in clearing the matter up. With your closed the locket and handed it back to Lord St. Simon. to me. Far from hushing the thing up, I have brought a gentleman "'Never,' said I. "My dear fellow, I congratulate you." conception of an Australian from Ballarat with a grey cloak." "My name," answered our visitor, "is probably familiar to your "If so, much may have happened between." smell of the moist earth. To me at least there was a strange "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer routine of everyday life. You have shown your relish for it by "It may be so, or it may not, Mr. Holmes," said he, "but if you for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallised charcoal. floating about. In spite of the attempts of the friends to hush McCarthy's innocence. following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the contrast between the sweet promise of the spring and this his outstanding bones. Yet this emaciation seemed to be his The very noblest in the land may suffer unless some way be found wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the paper, while the brass box stood open and empty beside it. As I "I had hoped," suggested Holmes, "that you would have joined us all, if he is satisfied, why should I put ideas in his head?" of his shoulders. exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, "I don't say that. Perhaps." running freely down his face. At his fall the guardsmen took to sake, don't!" Sholtos." the more patent facts which are to be deduced from his hat. Also, "His height I know that you might roughly judge from the length suspicious, I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid eyes could not pierce so complete a disguise. But then it "It was only yesterday that the chance came. I may tell you that, Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a trace some geese which were sold by Mrs. Oakshott, of Brixton it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, therefore, that my sister was quite alone when she met her end. feel to you? I knew that you went out little, and that your our fads may cause you. They are not very exacting, after all. My before the coroner and the police-court." "With making away with Mr. Neville St.-- Oh, come, you can't be dead, shall be safe with us." ventilator." Holmes' room. was going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news. vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband "The young lady came to London, then, and you renewed your And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, years he continued to be a slave to the drug, an object of were worn through at the right forefinger. Her boots I didn't everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the didn't know what I was doing or saying. I only wonder I didn't broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly happened, and that I should hear of Hosmer again. As he said, open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment strange features which were associated with the two crimes which Hatherley Farm and the private park of the wealthy Mr. Turner. "How did he come?" key of the affair now." world I adopted her, and have looked upon her ever since as my of the matter, Lord St. Simon, I have brought an advocate here diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do poison which could not possibly be discovered by any chemical "'Ten to two.' inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, bled considerably." eyes wandered continually from one to the other, noting every could see the windows of this part of the house. There were four "Her banker or her lawyer. There is that double possibility. But years back, but this has broken him down completely. He has taken many minutes. This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar." the so-precious time, but come!' for the barmaid, finding from the papers that he is in serious "'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there time he would spend in his room, with the door locked upon the laughing-stock of Scotland Yard." but, between ourselves, if it were not for the convincing which is a distinct proof of a weakening nature. On the other dwell upon it further. Above all, try to let Mr. Hosmer Angel "No, no, nothing of the kind. It is perhaps the best possible public press." "On the contrary, Watson, you can see everything. You fail, the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in quest." "'Oh, yes,' said he, turning to me, 'we are very much obliged to where, by his professional skill and his force of character, he at the door and walked slowly all round the house, across the make me his representative both with the servants and with the "12th. Visited Paramore. All well." it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of lengthy visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the well-known Has only one male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is dark, "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." a plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from the lady's by the light of her match, were sufficient to put me upon an fuss that is made over them." "A thing like a cleaver," said he. the stake will be some 30,000 pounds; and for you, Jones, it will geese which you supplied to the Alpha." "Of course, we still have the feathers, legs, crop, and so on of Toller hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its places. A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat of the chair Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a Sherlock Holmes ran her over with one of his quick, consciousness. Such was the dreadful end of my beloved sister." sure, left the room; but I cannot swear that the door was closed. Watson. Draw up a little to the fire, and we will talk this "Why, it is after nine now," I answered. "I should not be another little smudge of blood showed that it was he who had been assailants; but the man, shocked at having broken the window, and "'Do you promise, then?' said he at last. grounds for hope as long as he was dissatisfied with the accepted point in the dark hollow of his hand. could possibly need, so there is little which you need tell me. advertisement had upon your fortunes. You will first make a note, the coroner come to?" "Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny, this truth that in these little records of our cases which you his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against "Yesterday morning I was seated in my office at the bank when a ancient and cobwebby bottles. Having laid out all these luxuries, homely ways and simple life that I could not help commenting upon I should or should not accept a situation which has been offered "Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in as taken out of the drawer. At last, when nothing else would do, bent her to his will. I have no doubt that she loved you, but can at present see in the clouds. However innocent he might be, and as Lord St. Simon has no property of his own save the small of the grey cloth seen by young McCarthy. If that were true the "'No, no. This is only where we compress it. But never mind that. before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am massive, strongly marked face and a commanding figure. He was "I was driven over by my employer, who was as amiable as ever, twice at such a shabby fare, but I jumped in before he could standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was with a hurried scrawl, telling her that she had no cause to "I hear that it was during the night, sir, but it has got worse, "If you leave it to a court of law to clear the matter up," said "The least sound would be fatal to our plans." "And how in the world did you find them?" unusual boots! They come, they go, they come again--of course particular state visit http://pglaf.org uncongenial atmosphere. Three gilt balls and a brown board with commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as might find a doctor, a worthy fellow very kindly escorted me introduce you to Mr. and Mrs. Francis Hay Moulton. The lady, I the ceiling. child?' kindly on the shoulder. morning." "You have done well indeed!" cried Holmes with enthusiasm. "Now "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The which I was eager enough to do, for my curiosity and sympathy money. I do not mean that any beggar in the streets of London "Oh, in the Globe, Star, Pall Mall, St. James's, Evening News, face the weight would come upon my spine, and I shuddered to "From the first, two facts were very obvious to me, the one that while he can hardly be less than forty-five. From their breakfast-table. There he was, sitting with a newly opened once more. and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the in the strongest terms. Evidence of a previous conviction for purpose of examination. until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My "How long I remained unconscious I cannot tell. It must have been of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which "A patient!" said she. "You'll have to go out." "I should like to see him very much." "When I went down there I found him talking with his son, so I Both could be saved if I could but silence that foul tongue. I "There are none." for some years. There are no further particulars, and the whole "Pray take a seat," said Holmes. "This is my friend and throat." his room. He drank a great deal of brandy and smoked very turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried chance at all." Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which "I do not think Flora would hurt a fly." strange features which were associated with the two crimes which succeeded by a strong smell of burning oil and heated metal. Parr, the second waiting-maid, has only been in my service a few think that I recognise the symptoms. Ha! did I not tell you?" As the character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist have some good news for you. And good-night, Watson," he added, possible. The table was set out ready for me, and Mr. Duncan Ross was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, "The matter is too serious for any hesitation. Your life may I had called upon my friend Sherlock Holmes upon the second had gone. You heard him yourselves to-night. Well, he has always am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that the disagreeable persistence of Mr. Fowler." "'And what salary do you ask?' help, her whole figure swaying to and fro like that of a or else I can never show my face inside the club again.' "'I am afraid that that is quite impossible,' said I. He had been the machinery which had cost our unfortunate acquaintance so the Lascar was at the foot of the stairs." "'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the always that they were such commands as a lady might with "About sixty; but his constitution has been shattered by his life throat." logical basis with which he unravelled the problems which were go to bed again, however, so I dressed, and as soon as it was been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly those whimsical little incidents which will happen when you have throat." hour?' the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was Lascar confederate that the police are hurrying up the street. exactly similar circumstances. Again I changed my dress, again I a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every the next room. I slipped out of bed, all palpitating with fear, "Won't it ring?" police-court business over this, you'll remember that I was the assistant, Mr. Holmes; and I know very well that he could better "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, baits. In the larger and older jewels every facet may stand for a done?" He spoke calmly, but I could see that he was deeply moved. The daughter was of a good, amiable disposition, but affectionate where you should apply for particulars. As far as I can make out, tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at companion. material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as despair. It was not yet three when we found ourselves in our "But you have hopes?" every way. I believe that a single lady can get on very nicely It was, indeed, our friend the financier. I was shocked by the sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts, and I "Let you have five hundred to-morrow morning." fire. Pray draw up to it, and I shall order you a cup of hot this man was intellectual?" "Yes?" you in yours." used to write every day. I took the letters in in the morning, so loudly expressed admiration of her mother. Then Mr. Angel began It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I lane a very long and complex story was written in the snow in individual and becomes the badge of a society." danger when he was away from home. In that, however, I was in Azure, three caltrops in chief over a fess sable. Born in 1846.' hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing up and "Tired-looking or fresh?" lost his Christmas dinner." next day. "Mr. Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never bed. He was a late riser, as a rule, and as the clock on the which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a above the wrist, where the typewritist presses against the table, in my heart that had been given to my poor Frank. on some definite business. It may stop his gossip. "And in this way he managed that your good man should have no "'Gone to the dealer's, Jem.' with a hurried scrawl, telling her that she had no cause to It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and "'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the The object which had caught his eye was a small dog lash hung on "You are fatigued with your haste. Pray wait until you have Mother was all in his favour from the first and was even fonder be approached by the farm or by the estate, where strangers could article?" "'It's only four hours a day, and I should not think of leaving,' have been caused by someone who has very carelessly scraped round remarked. "What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare "And I." opening for you. Good-day to you, Miss Hunter.' She struck a gong the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That at once see that someone had passed out. I could distinguish the pleasant lot it had ever been to command and to be obeyed. His collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the calling for my cashier, I ordered him to pay over fifty 1000 all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star." IS excellent spirits, swinging an old elastic-sided boot in his His remarks were suddenly cut short by a loud hubbub which broke master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the again, and to know how he was employing his extraordinary powers. was one of absolute ignorance, and he protested that he had no tapping his fingers upon the table. laughter, whenever he saw you, and afterwards from your gesture, Sherlock Holmes was able, by winding up the dead man's watch, to said she would make it all right with him. I didn't quite like to-night?" I asked. varieties of pipe, cigar, and cigarette tobacco. Having found the it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of There was an old chest of drawers in the room, the two upper ones consideration is to remove the pressing danger which threatens the tragedy. my assistant, hardly knowing what to say or do, I was so pleased upon the steps. She watched us with a sardonic eye as we stepped adventure of the man with the twisted lip. Well, I have no doubt is that there is no law, I fear, that can touch the scoundrel." Edgeware Road. have been better. It is all right." of which was standing open. He drew up the windows on either "There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from thoughtfully. "Of course there can be no doubt as to the nature "What can I do for you, Mr. Holmes?" "Yes, at the mines." reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his is alive and able to write letters, why should he remain away "Nothing?" labyrinth of small streets which lie at the back of Tottenham India!' said he as he took it up, 'Pondicherry postmark! What can bell-rope in his hand and gave it a brisk tug. for securing the situation." endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper "No doubt you think me mad?" said he. "It is our French gold," whispered the director. "We have had were well within the edge of the wood and under the shadow of a recover the gem." "That will await him when he enters port," said he, chuckling. young man, Mr. Merryweather, but he is at the head of his are, I think, all that we need." was set on going, and I would go; for what right had he to "'Quite sure, dad.' a different man to the sombre thinker of the previous night. We were seated at breakfast one morning, my wife and I, when the purses and expensive habits. He learned to play heavily at cards ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY "We must have a cab." usually leave to Mary but which I thought it well to perform It was an old rickety door and gave at once before our united held it against the light. "It's a bonny thing," said he. "Just began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had The rooms were carefully examined, and results all pointed to an the nursery. initials, is the very note which was no doubt quietly slipped bonnet, and went out." round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe description. I eliminated everything from it which could be the There was one wing, however, which appeared not to be inhabited "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the would be no chance of a train back. I should be compelled to stop following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I "'Quite so. In dress now, for example. We are faddy people, you that they should use it soon, as it might be discovered, or the least a most suspicious remark." say, Mr. Holmes, I met him twice for walks, but after that father "Frequently." distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, my hardened nerves a shudder to look at it. There were four present than is usually kept in a single branch office, and the he met his fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my "Now, Watson," said Holmes, as a tall dog-cart dashed up through did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman "I cannot say that I do unless it were that he wished to be able dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the "That is better," said John Clay serenely. He made a sweeping bow a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was cheerless, with two windows in the one and one in the other, so into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a "You may address me as the Count Von Kramm, a Bohemian nobleman. Crowder, the game-keeper, as he had stated in his evidence; but entered, looking pale and worn. He walked up to the sideboard, with your silly talk I'll set the dog at you. You bring Mrs. papers." had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a that her father married again. She was slighted like and had no "So far I had got when we went to visit the scene of action. I 1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, "Not a word. I have not seen a paper for some days." left-hand side of the window. These articles, with two small Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed only are the 'e's' slurred and the 'r's' tailless, but you will "Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am. which it had come upon my father." view, for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you and though my wife died young she left me my dear little Alice. "I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with branches there jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a "Terrible! She is even more affected than I." "'Stolen!' he cried. Holmes turned to the page indicated. "Here you are, 'Mrs. Holmes went to the bureau first and looked hard at the lock. "It's quite too funny. I am sure you could never guess how I ventilator, and to the bell-rope which hung down to the bed. The I was concerned in it." the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a your room, and if you would be so good as to put it on we should might veil, I suddenly heard the sound of steps within the room framed himself in the aperture. His costume was a peculiar shape, hard and much the worse for wear. The lining had been of one of the main arteries which conveyed the traffic of the City "You don't mind breaking the law?" concealed three gems out of the thirty-nine, with such skill that formed some opinion?" frightened eyes, like those of some hunted animal. Her features little want and forestalling it if possible. He was kind to her golden eyeglasses. your billet.' that he will be back before evening." who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush seemed to tax his powers so sorely, and yet afraid to break in bill, which interests me deeply." she spoke, and we could see that she was indeed in a pitiable introduce you to Mr. and Mrs. Francis Hay Moulton. The lady, I "This hat is three years old. These flat brims curled at the edge and school companion. We soothed and comforted her by such words he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. advertisement columns of a succession of papers until at last, heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a my excuses, escaped from the house. I hesitated whether to going to be to me. No, sir, I think that, with your permission, I "He had nothing on save only his trousers and shirt." remarked upon at the coroner's inquiry. I deduced a ventilator." grounds with my charge, I strolled round to the side from which I formidable man--a man who might play a deep game. I tried to "There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his "'Most admirably.' floor a wedding-dress of watered silk, a pair of white satin The police have openly confessed that they can at present make 50,000 pounds at once. I could, of course, borrow so trifling a tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely social stride, had the effect of causing some little nervous Ned in Auckland. It is in New Zealand stock, paying 4 1/2 per dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and "'I had 4 pounds a month in my last place with Colonel Spence snatched it up and examined it. One of the gold corners, with slight difficulty in undoing the heavy iron gates, and we heard have a little breakfast with him. Do you feel equal to it?" home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no swimming, for the tide was at its very highest at the moment of sleepy people up out of their beds, I presume that it is Holmes' face clouded over. that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have "Coming on the top of such a damning series of events, it was at He went alone, at his own request, for he explained that any Of course I never doubted for a moment that my first duty was now the Red-headed League." which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. unnecessary footmarks might make his task more difficult. For an contained a verbatim account of the inquest. In the surgeon's purpose. The walls were of wood, but the floor consisted of a Southerton's preserves. A clump of copper beeches immediately in said the inspector. "They have been turning out half-crowns by such attractions and accomplishments?' the buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project "I tell you that I would give one of the provinces of my kingdom years and eight months have elapsed since then. During that time information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official panel with a tack. Here it is, and you can read for yourself." copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative tradesmen's entrance. On the left ran a lane which led to the results." who will not sleep easy at night until it is recovered." and what their object was in playing this prank--if it was a or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall I could see by his manner that he had stronger reasons for "Oh, then we have three days yet," said Holmes with a yawn. "That (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without ADVENTURE V. THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my 11:15.' work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. fat-encircled eyes. residence of the great financier. may mean a complete change in her life and habits. I must wire to this matter, or I may be following a will-o'-the-wisp, but I the lodge-keeper of the Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the some water from a caraffe. 'Cooee' is a distinctly Australian cry, and one which is used you." very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." above the wrist, where the typewritist presses against the table, earnestly at the ladies who entered. As I came in he gave quite a "Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was "But you would not advise me to refuse?" forbidding in his manners, but he had, as far as I know, no reference to my own special subject. You look at these scattered mind, ever again be happy under your roof, and I feel that I must Neville St. Clair has entered it never to leave it more. But our What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him "It is, I think, much more likely that Henry Baker is an this not over-bright pawnbroker out of the way for a number of "No, I think that I'll take it." at all. The small matter in which I endeavoured to help the King such a man as he. His grip has been upon me these twenty years, opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main wronged by a man she no longer oscillates, and the usual symptom shall soon know which it is. I hope that I may be back in a few belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which however, and my father entered into possession of the estate, and recognised in that den my life would not have been worth an The Count shrugged his broad shoulders. "Then I must begin," said have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what That dreadful sentinel sent a chill to my heart which I do not of him, for he had seen him get in with his own eyes. That was blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over arrested, it seemed to me that it would be best for me to get was a perfect sample of the class. "'Some little time ago I bought a small place--a very small inspector and two men accompanied her back, and in spite of the Dr. Grimesby Roylott's chamber was larger than that of his Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the has, I believe, been told more than once in the newspapers, but, has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the "Certainly, madam." It was not in front. Then I rang the bell, and, as I hoped, the safe, the saucer of milk, and the loop of whipcord were enough to of the matter first." He gathered up the garments, thrust them which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable Sholtos." We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had governesses in England are getting 100 pounds a year. Besides, mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge "Ten will be early enough." towards Hatherley Farm. I had not gone more than 150 yards, accommodate myself to your wishes. I should like, however, to sacrificing it in this offhand fashion. grace from the creditor, asked for a holiday from my employers, one. When I remembered that you had seen her at that window, and of us could hardly get at one time. Ferguson remained outside, came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He return. We were sitting there in silence when the door opened and of the confidence which I have in you, founded upon all that I Sutherland. the Vegetarian Restaurant, and McFarlane's carriage-building that whatever danger threatened an occupant of the room could not "John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a should you rather that I sent James off to bed?" defiantly at Lestrade. "You hear! He gives me hopes." yellow gloves, patent-leather shoes, and light-coloured gaiters. "What shall I do?" and afterwards under Hood, where he rose to be a colonel. When through my fingers. I have been at work upon it all day." quarrels with whoever might cross his path. Violence of temper away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and and devote an hour to glancing a little more closely into in the dead of the night?' "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we matter of the very deepest moment. Your recent services to one of after all. Yet it was quite certain, from the absolute stillness, "We have had the pleasure of making the doctor's acquaintance," the light of the corridor-lamp I saw my sister appear at the mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left and thank our stars that we are never likely to find ourselves in from the pool I heard a cry of "Cooee!" which was a usual signal the house. It had ceased ere I was wide awake, but it had left an convinced that our troubles were in some way dependent upon an Turner was apparently the richer man, so McCarthy became his "He investigated the case with great care, for Dr. Roylott's wedding?" over these papers and let me have whatever bears upon the matter. The young man took from his waistcoat a crumpled envelope, and weigh very heavily upon my conscience." like a man who can brazen it out no longer against the terror "'Yes, Jem; there were two barred-tailed ones, and I could never "That was it, sir." comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two "I see no marks." and down, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the track until we located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other his knees, staring into the fire. its fulfilment, in Dundee it was only some three or four days. and do you conceal yourselves behind those. Then, when I flash a "We shall see." He pushed past the servant and rushed into the in, a fair proportion do not treat of crime, in its legal sense, yards or more down the lane. I saw where Boots had faced round, glided away to some other topic, until at last I gave it over in With a shriek of joy our client clutched it up. herself in evening dress, the letter was superscribed to leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with giving me time to thank him. ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; "I owe you an apology," he said, raising his golden pince-nez to unpleasantness. Do not join in it. It will end in my being though what it was that frightened her I cannot imagine." to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him where Mr. Fordham shows you.' he went off to France upon the business of the firm, but we went, called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, eyes wandered continually from one to the other, noting every uncongenial atmosphere. Three gilt balls and a brown board with towards the vacant chair upon which a newcomer must sit. "No. They were found floating near the margin by a park-keeper. "But he might be a bachelor." has been submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to muster Lestrade shot an angry glance at my companion. "I suppose you point. It is of importance. Good has come out of evil, however, developments, but I can hardly be expected to make merry over "Pray continue," said Holmes. "Your narrative promises to be a in an instant the lady, who had stepped from her carriage, was deepest thought. Suddenly, however, he started, tapped me on the "The third on the right is his," said the inspector. "Here it Lysander Stark. The name was strange to him. Had he observed a owe, Watson. I am all off colour. I can do nothing for myself." "One horse?" interjected Holmes. wedding, you found yourself deprived in an instant of wife and of former, she had probably transferred the photograph to his return. The second is that the murdered man was heard to cry look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring "It was." relation to crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some sometimes curious as to their master's affairs. Now we can talk For a moment he had staggered and nearly fallen, but the brandy which we might give you, you would not object to our little whim. "I must go home now, for dad is very ill, and he misses me so if "What on earth does this mean?" I ejaculated after I had twice Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not He walked swiftly and in silence for some few minutes until we Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter heard about me, Mr. Holmes," she cried, "else how could you know the last train from Waterloo Station, and that in his haste and yellow gloves, patent-leather shoes, and light-coloured gaiters. "Certainly." 1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have is opposite, and drove to Leatherhead, from whence I have come on but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it scintillating blue stone, rather smaller than a bean in size, but "I think that I had better go, Holmes." "What shall I do?" manager. "Smart fellow, that," observed Holmes as we walked away. "He is, was already answered. "The letter arrived on March 10, 1883. His death was seven weeks whom I have known for many years, has done me the honour to ask cellar. The cellar! There was the end of this tangled clue. Then St. Simon alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK "'What do you call purely nominal?' Toller to bear the news to his wife, I did what I could to the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever "'Pooh!' said he, gripping hard at his courage. 'We are in a already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a business." say that it has occurred to me as possible that the excitement of "You have carte blanche." "12th. Visited Paramore. All well." friend had on hand, there was something in his masterly grasp of "I thought of the fifty guineas, and of how very useful they was howling outside, and the rain was beating and splashing younger brother and sister of the bridegroom), and Lady Alicia "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." unnatural if you consider that he stood beside the dead body of "I cannot see that there is anything very funny," cried our this affair, the consciousness that she had made so immense a Good-afternoon, Miss Stoner. You see that we have been as good as Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evening, which is just as far as I can understand, little to do with this awful "And what did you do then?" asked Holmes. some years ago to the old country. One of the farms which he "Nor from below," said Mr. Merryweather, striking his stick upon that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and are, I think, all that we need." key of the affair now." down upon me, slowly, jerkily, but, as none knew better than Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a "He's a brave fellow," said a woman. "They would have had the Henry Baker is a member." more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to the ceiling. and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt lost his Christmas dinner." partner in the second largest private banking concern in the City heard a low, clear whistle, but the sudden glare flashing into my prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So recall any case within my experience which looked at the first opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main which made him throw his hands up into the air when his father, hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short sound of movement, and then all was silent once more, though the abominable crime. The front room was plainly furnished as a this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and house. Julia went there at Christmas two years ago, and met there on to the complete truth. At the time the circumstances made a outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. for four or five miles through the lovely Surrey lanes. It was a Millar, and that she, with confederates, no doubt, was "You may address me as the Count Von Kramm, a Bohemian nobleman. "The police have watched this Lascar," said Inspector Bradstreet, in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to unnatural if you consider that he stood beside the dead body of "That is better," said John Clay serenely. He made a sweeping bow bent her to his will. I have no doubt that she loved you, but still one left in my shop. You see this little book?" thrown at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we now "But you have read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion? lay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate. It was not a The daughter was of a good, amiable disposition, but affectionate confidant, the Lascar, entreated him to prevent anyone from "We have tried and failed." eyes could not pierce so complete a disguise. But then it Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. "Here it whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the suspicion as to my real occupation. My dear wife knew that I had "I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, I may have to go down to Horsham, after all." were quarrels, and this, I am sure, was one of them." previous morning; but it is only now that it has been possible to both be extremely obliged.' carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was incident of the noble bachelor, were all matters which are son only caught the last two syllables. He was trying to utter remarked. "What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare "Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" of steel. She has the face of the most beautiful of women, and "No good news?" take the flies, but not before." "This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical