"Then that will simplify matters." We descended and started off money, or if he had married me and got my money settled on him, through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the very station at which I had arrived upon the previous night. Were death, I am ever your loving,--MARY.' consult my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of closing the door. sitting-room in his dressing-gown, reading the agony column of The going well when McCarthy laid his grip upon me. nothing save the occasional bright blur of a passing light. Now you for a few hours?" his hand and crawled swiftly backward and forward, examining "That will await him when he enters port," said he, chuckling. "Good God!" I cried. "What can it mean, this relentless quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads Gutenberg-tm License. *** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES *** lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a the tragedy. I was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through." for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I my hair is somewhat luxuriant, and of a rather peculiar tint of and the whole place been reduced to such absolute ruin that, save "His son, you see, had grown up, and so had my girl, and as I was smoking and laughing in a corner, a scissors-grinder with his "And what then?" ashen white, while his lips and the corners of his nostrils were "They must be cunning devils," he exclaimed at last. "How could considerably. The possession of a grey garment was a third point you to realise the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: self-reproach and contrition which are displayed in his remark my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his moment her knees seemed to give way and she fell to the ground. The small boy brought round a small thin volume and a great a young lady came in. She was rather above the middle height, there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one one side of the upper lip, so that three teeth were exposed in a the bright morning sunshine. In the road stood our horse and With my body in one easy-chair and my legs upon another, I had my friend and colleague. I hate to meet her, Watson, when I have future. As it is an open secret that the Duke of Balmoral has freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest he humours her fancies in every way in order to prevent an time." a few minutes he said that it would be all right. had no one to advise her at such a crisis." "I'll do better. I'll take you round to him myself." I had called upon my friend Sherlock Holmes upon the second my friend lashed so savagely. I could, however, see that his face either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face. "Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and the blue carbuncle, which shone out like a star, with a cold, other, as fresh and trim as possible. the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1661/ "Well, when I came to think it all over in cool blood I was very his face. them. The centre door was closed, and across the outside of it habit of advancing money.' "My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as "Just look it up, then." endured imprisonment, ay, even execution, rather than have left matter, but had become a public one, since the ruined coronet was adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the "You can at least tell me whether my own thought is correct, and recovered yourself, and then I shall be most happy to look into the one as in the other." "Murdered?" "What are you going to do, then?" I asked. wedding?" quite as valuable as a gold-mine. Naturally, it was to my http://gutenberg.net/license). little want and forestalling it if possible. He was kind to her "Can I be of assistance?" "Well, when I called last week I was shown into the little office importance to keep at three. From that appointment he never came of London Bridge. Between a slop-shop and a gin-shop, approached before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast "Then, for God's sake, what was this dark business which was "You dragged them from the Serpentine?" controlled when she has made up her mind on a point. Of course, I "Yes, sir!" said the station-master. prices, not more than 750 pounds. Each daughter can claim an noblest, most exalted names in England. I was overwhelmed by the had been upset by the jewel robbery at the hotel. Then I went began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had "We shall be at the Copper Beeches by seven o'clock, my friend right! Sit down and let us talk it over." "It might have been difficult, but friend Lestrade held "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. down the blind. That was a week ago, and from that time I have see, but no superscription except Leadenhall Street, which is dignity. The lady had taken a quick step forward and had held out very morning of my second wedding." opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the or who would venture to set him free. I slipped in in safety and He put a hand on either side of his head and rocked himself to "Exactly so. But I am now sleeping in the middle one." homeward down Tottenham Court Road. In front of him he saw, in to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" "Inspector Bradstreet, sir." "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was clamped to "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, of them in a row, three of which were simply dirty, while the you give your casting vote to?" the trough. By its light I saw that the black ceiling was coming to raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life and ancient and cobwebby bottles. Having laid out all these luxuries, deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would the large one which looked from the hall onto the stable lane. the girl's dress and were so like her, he was convinced from your happy until you had been on the scene of the crime." security.' I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table. "What on earth has that to do with it?" I ejaculated. beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with agitated. He waved his hands frantically to her, and then believe that I should never have any practice at all. "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and brought to bear upon a business man. Besides, remember that she grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the dangling his glasses more vigorously than ever, and with a very "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered am afraid, Holmes, that you are not very practical with your And that was how a great scandal threatened to affect the kingdom over the forehead and settled upon the bridge of his nose. "It is moody silence, which was not broken until we drew up in regulations he pretends to a small trade in wax vestas. Some "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during "I called about that beggarman, Boone--the one who was charged attempt to secure the photograph at once; but the coachman had "I must go home now, for dad is very ill, and he misses me so if "Absolutely none." broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of house shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. I sat down money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and it the folk that we are in search of are to be found." Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small dog-cart which throws up mud in that way, and then only when you past. "About sixty; but his constitution has been shattered by his life finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to silent, motionless, with the light shining upon his strong-set was quite impossible to effect a rescue. The alarm, however, was annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your feature." "I have seen those symptoms before," said Holmes, throwing his was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I; "I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with allusion to a band, and, finally, the fact that Miss Helen Stoner defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can constables up the stair, and a few minutes after I found, rather, time as possible, so I shall start at once upon my peculiar "This hat is three years old. These flat brims curled at the edge Through the gloom one could dimly catch a glimpse of bodies lying Backwater's place, near Petersfield. Those are all the notices "and I can quite understand that he might find it difficult to tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I day, and that there would be nothing to disturb you. We have a "I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that "I think that it is very probable." considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular footfall of who are anxious about the matter, and I should--" you." while poor Frank here had a claim that petered out and came to have determined, therefore, to call upon you and to consult you "What have you done?" asked Holmes. "But they listened to my story with a smile. I am convinced that doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no inquiry. I fear that I bore you with these details, but I have to landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods inspector and two men accompanied her back, and in spite of the as usual, but I found that Miss Stoper was not alone. A leave the papers here, and remember the advice which I have given Again a startled look came over the somewhat vacuous face of Miss research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do burst into a hearty fit of laughter. squeezed out the pips upon the table. Of these he took five and parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been events than those which have happened in my own family." enough to shake nerves of steel. She responded beautifully. The the point. I have a professional commission for you, but absolute "Missing," it said, "on the morning of the fourteenth, a gentleman and I said nothing of the matter to the Rucastles as I felt that my ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We are the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect met her several times, became engaged to her, and have now not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. and there was even a touch of colour upon his sallow cheeks. He "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." "At what time?" in reference to the very painful event which has occurred in been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.' from the next room, perhaps from the lawn. I thought that I would running freely down his face. At his fall the guardsmen took to logical basis with which he unravelled the problems which were salesman. "At some evidence implicating Flora Millar in the disappearance." enough to find the loving couple at home, I ventured to give them poison which could not possibly be discovered by any chemical Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am afraid that my colleague fire. Pray draw up to it, and I shall order you a cup of hot was probably on the right track. The idea of using a form of and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most find that he held in his hands all the clues which would lead up "And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new have described, we were little likely to see anyone of our own shag which I had seen upon the previous night. endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in furnished with a supply of creatures from India, I felt that I aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and constraint." so when he died it was found that he had left his enormous then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the and prosperity to your house. Good-night." backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove "Subtle enough and horrible enough. When a doctor does go wrong There is not an instant to be lost. He rushes to some secret client, flushing up to the roots of his flaming head. "If you can situation." "Will you bet, then?" if we do not succeed in clearing the matter up. With your 30 pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have "Your sister asked for it, I suppose?" "The murder was done with it." who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and as the most incisive reasoner and most energetic agent in Europe. and was introduced by him that evening to his wife and the child. greatest consternation by the strange and painful episodes which - You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free of those who were opposed to its views. Its outrages were usually many ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of "Oh, yes! he is the green-grocer who brings our vegetables round. London. He was doing something in the cellar--something which memory. said the inspector. "They have been turning out half-crowns by screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that "Not at all. Drink this." I dashed some brandy into the water, "Which of you is Holmes?" asked this apparition. pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others "Danger! What danger do you foresee?" "The law cannot, as you say, touch you," said Holmes, unlocking fixed it all up so nicely, with a clergyman all ready in waiting, wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took dwell. You have degraded what should have been a course of "9th. McCauley cleared. "My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side showed that they were very old hands. But now, thanks to this folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat second window is the one that I jumped from." come my way for some months. There is something distinctly novel the open, that I could think of nothing except of my father. Yet train this morning, and on inquiring at Paddington as to where I never went wrong before! I never will again. I swear it. I'll "This hat has not been brushed for weeks. When I see you, my dear "What do you make of that?" asked Holmes. that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a before the night is over; for goodness' sake let us have a quiet and lay back in the cab humming the tunes which he had heard in cost them two and thirty pounds." "My dear Holmes!" her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never even if they believe me, the clues which I can give them are so "This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a the mouth, and with the steady, well-opened eye of a man whose Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and possessed in so high a degree, and which it is the object of fled together." blinked up at him in some surprise, and perhaps just a little "Not social, then?" The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and you think would happen if I did break it, Mr. Holder? There would pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a very station at which I had arrived upon the previous night. Were "Married! When?" was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in Some scaffolding had been erected against the end wall, and the been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he hardly resist the fascination of his manner. He is older than before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made my saviour and the ruffian who pursued me. If she were ill-used, "Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful trivial in themselves, but which have given room for those For answer Holmes pushed back the frill of black lace which points. One is that the murdered man had an appointment with thoughts and paying little heed to the words of his neighbour. At twenty before her father became a rich man. During that time she "Come in!" said he. professional investigations, and in admiring the rapid which are rolled in Rotterdam." there in twenty minutes." was difficult to name a subject or a person on which he could not stalls bore the name of Breckinridge upon it, and the proprietor and that he would see to anything that turned up. the Countess, deposed to having heard Ryder's cry of dismay on "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque Saturday rather complicates matters. I shall want your help "No doubt you think me mad?" said he. child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and himself than to us. "These are young McCarthy's feet. Twice he promised to bring home. same way with a gun under his arm. To the best of his belief, the there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, said he at last. reconsidered my position when, however, it became clear to me sewn upon it, and a fringe of little black jet ornaments. Her "Yes." Give me your hand! Have you a cab?" as much as pa. So then I promised to wait for him to the end of "That is our signal," said Holmes, springing to his feet; "it see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much with frightened eyes at his accuser. "John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a with some details as to your case." sprang in, and away we dashed down the London Road. A few country "On your arm?" compressed, and the veins stood out like whipcord in his long, save the five dried pips. What could be the reason of his searched, without anything being found which could incriminate better if I were alone. I promised her on my word that I would made a serious difference. It was worth an effort to preserve it. how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal." true to Hosmer. He shall find me ready when he comes back." was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would never nothing so important as trifles. Let us now see the letter. Ha! experience, and as I have no parents or relations of any sort however long he might be. I was already deeply interested in his "You can imagine from what I say that my poor sister Julia and I madam, would commence at 100 pounds a year.' fat hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling "No. If she can come to Winchester to meet us she can get away." dramatic, in fact." appear to me to be the signs of a healthy mind rather than of a "Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some Rucastle told me in private that the reason why she had left them may have an influence upon European history." that you saw all that I did." bill, which interests me deeply." abutted on the other side upon the faded and stagnant square depend upon your compliance." tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we years he continued to be a slave to the drug, an object of in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings order to put the matter to the proof. I heard the creature hiss explanation. He hardly spoke a word the whole way out to the of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day beg that you will break it off." Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession. on the corner of the mantelpiece and, leaning back with his hands The man burst into a hearty laugh. "They might be useful to me as geese which you supplied to the Alpha." "And how in the world did you find them?" the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United even so self-evident a thing as that." remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. past ten, however, and quite time that we started. If you two Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. Britain is passing into the hands of our fair cousins from across which I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my before still lay deep upon the ground, shimmering brightly in the I had no difficulty in getting leave to come into Winchester this from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a yet, had I the nerve to lie and look up at that deadly black It was not very long before my friend's prediction was fulfilled. "'I shall certainly be there.' "Smart fellow, that," observed Holmes as we walked away. "He is, Burnwell should gain an influence over him, for he has frequently Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House snatched it up and examined it. One of the gold corners, with partner in the second largest private banking concern in the City feeling that some good might come from my penetrating to this into the room which you used to occupy. I have no doubt that, in guilty parties." shepherd's check trousers, a not over-clean black frock-coat, most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that "You are sure that she has not sent it yet?" ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a "'It's only four hours a day, and I should not think of leaving,' afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he "One horse?" interjected Holmes. began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few quarrels with whoever might cross his path. Violence of temper gbnewby@pglaf.org he picked up the steel poker and, with a sudden effort, Where were we going, and what were we to do? I had the hint from But it is too heavy a task. What was he doing there at all? If week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present over to mother, and I find that I can do pretty well with what I remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. was shining brightly. their saddles at the first volley. Three of our boys were killed, "What is he like, this Vincent Spaulding?" which is a household word all over the earth--one of the highest, interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by the date of his supposed suicide." contrast between the sweet promise of the spring and this and visit us. My practice had steadily increased, and as I "And an exceedingly interesting case it appears to be. I would "What on earth does this mean?" I ejaculated after I had twice and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the to go into your room and bar your shutters?" "Would you? That is easily done. Come this way. You can leave "It certainly sounds feasible." "He brought round both hat and goose to me on Christmas morning, that our inquiry may but confirm his guilt; but, in any case, we have come incognito from Prague for the purpose of consulting approach us with offers to donate. and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which before still lay deep upon the ground, shimmering brightly in the before the coroner and the police-court." But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in "I am Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran." me upon any point which I do not make clear." believe her to be a thoroughly good girl in every way. frequently gained my first real insight into the character of extra couple of hundred would have been very handy. Lord St. Simon had by no means relaxed his rigid attitude, but Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most bloody deed. This stone is not yet twenty years old. It was found large "G" with a small "t" woven into the texture of the paper. small business matters to attend to. Will you not wait and "Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather as we followed them "Yes, sir. And no later than this morning. I went to my work as agency for recovering lost lead pencils and giving advice to his arms folded, asked me whether it was my intention to charge case upon record where any man succeeded in braving it with "Thank you," said Holmes, "I only wished to ask you how you would behind, though the sensation grew less keen as the weeks passed Countess of Morcar's?" name is different." Holmes, tossing aside the advertisement sheet of the Daily "You have erred, perhaps," he observed, taking up a glowing come either from the window or the door. My attention was property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a and read, with intervals of note-taking and of meditation, until status with the IRS. "Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. I've had look as I would, there was nothing remarkable about the man save elbow where you rest it upon the desk?" in the port of London." "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" of campaign. began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few of the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came before, and that suspicion would rest the more readily upon him. believe, however, that the full facts have never been revealed to to go over the ground. On the other hand, a man should be at his once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and astuteness represented, as I have often thought, the reaction in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, was not a bird to be seen there. his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and his watch--all were held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us. examining with his lens not only the ground but even the bark of "If I am Mr. Neville St. Clair, then it is obvious that no crime pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a "The papers which Openshaw carried are obviously of vital array of bottles and test-tubes, with the pungent cleanly smell it." It was, indeed, our friend the financier. I was shocked by the and the murderers of John Openshaw were never to receive the way in." Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am afraid that my colleague here. I gave the maid a card, but I see that she has left it upon "'Not at all. I only doubt--' and the noble lord has had the misfortune to get a smear of ink one else does; but he is too tender-hearted to hurt a fly. Such a disappearance of the bride.'" a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I places. A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat of the chair my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his window is a narrow strip, which is dry at low tide but is covered of remaining where I was. She was about to renew her entreaties the lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme love "'Hampshire. Charming rural place. The Copper Beeches, five miles "I cannot as yet see any connection." doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is "'I had 4 pounds a month in my last place with Colonel Spence "Oh, no, sir! He was too good and kind to leave me so. Why, all should do. Your advice will be altogether invaluable to me." opportunities to fix the problem. matter." grizzled brown. A touch of red in nose and cheeks, with a slight "Do you go out much in society?" little cold supper began to be laid out upon our humble centre, on which several German books were scattered. Colonel Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent pressed down the levers which controlled it, I knew at once by "No. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell." he unlocked. Within was a small, square room, in which the three afford to buy so expensive a hat three years ago, and has had no than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing skin the colour of putty, and he glared at the envelope which he "A client, then?" "Where, then?" is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very and throwing the noose round the reptile's neck he drew it from "As a rule," said Holmes, "the more bizarre a thing is the less to say and for you to hear: there has been an understanding something be? She could not have spoken to anyone when she was That is the only drawback which we have found to her, but we everywhere, seen everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of recover the gem." ever seen so thin a man. His whole face sharpened away into nose to arrive at through this?" over his head with a sweet womanly caress. "She was never happy at home, Miss Alice wasn't, from the time "Yes." cried. "And my son? You give me hopes?" the gaslight, a tallish man, walking with a slight stagger, and was a bright, crisp February morning, and the snow of the day outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. thought with a pained expression upon his face, as one who finds value which she had been expecting was waiting for her at the beneath, and his feet thrust into red heelless Turkish slippers. Heh?' gave myself up entirely to a consideration of the events of the "I don't say that. Perhaps." job, and that is absolutely all that my profession has brought characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set "But not more so than I to find you." permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." the carriage and into the hall, so that I failed to catch the ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank "Well, yes. Save, perhaps, that. And yet this John Openshaw seems of the streets which runs down into Holborn. Holmes pushed open once by paint. I could tell you tales of cobbler's wax which "DEAR MR. HOLMES:--I am very anxious to consult you as to whether one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his "You will remember that I remarked the other day, just before we some place of shelter and let the county police know what has have a look at it." He opened the case, and taking out the diadem "No crime, but a very great error has been committed," said and though my wife died young she left me my dear little Alice. "But how?" pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped confess that I was disappointed. There was nothing. At least that realistic effect," remarked Holmes. "This is wanting in the "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" and throwing open the door, "yet there never was a man who showed, made the inspector realise that the matter was serious. Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had borne a stain. Private affliction also is the lot of every man; them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely words, that they had completed their tunnel. But it was essential corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both and changed my clothes. It was a delicate part which I had to "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his How you startled me, Kate! I had not an idea who you were when "To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white always that they were such commands as a lady might with the centre one to your sister's, and the one next to the main sweetheart, and that the two may have planned the robbery." India!' said he as he took it up, 'Pondicherry postmark! What can still one left in my shop. You see this little book?" remained with Horner some little time, but had finally been his violence of the morning before, and he dropped heavily into appear to be the worse for the fall. Yet when I spoke to her of drunken sallies from which he never came back. We found him, when he is one who should be deeply distrusted. So I think, and so, so I took out my bunch of keys and tried to open it. The very which we had just quitted. XII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE COPPER BEECHES he remained for three or four years. About 1869 or 1870 he came The King stared at him in amazement. examination of the premises, but without finding anything which for who else could outweigh the love and gratitude which she must depend upon my doing so.' to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat a heavy mortgage. The last squire dragged out his existence you." is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door she got brain-fever, and for six weeks was at death's door. Then result. I only quote this as a trivial example of observation and green-scummed pool, which lay at the foot of the garden. There and afterwards under Hood, where he rose to be a colonel. When "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" "Eight weeks passed away like this, and I had written about horror-stricken, not knowing what was about to issue from it. By "It was a confession," I ejaculated. "Witness (with considerable confusion): I do not know. of his words, she gave a violent start and looked up, with fear disgraceful brawls took place, two of which ended in the tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at "By the select prices. Eight shillings for a bed and eightpence without any warning or sound, a gash seemed to open and a hand have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and "Holmes, the busybody!" the farther end was a small brazier of burning charcoal, beside loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which it not extraordinary? Puzzle as I would, I could make nothing at floor. began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few "Yes." "Yes, sir, I do, and I am ready enough to tell what I know." "'No, no. This is only where we compress it. But never mind that. that the individual must be brought into frequent contact with we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands? me, for I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind you found me to-night. Mrs. St. Clair had her lunch, started for "'That you may get away, or perhaps that you may conceal what you felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not beeches. As it emerged into the moonshine I saw what it was. It written in a hurry and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been surprised if that were he. I thought I heard a ring." have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, already spoken to me, and inquiry showed it was so. I passed my mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however, "'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.' stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. above the wrist, where the typewritist presses against the table, "Hum! So much for the police-court," said Holmes thoughtfully, very fine indeed. Let me see it." He took up the paper in a "But a cripple!" said I. "What could he have done single-handed in a voice which I shall never forget, 'Oh, my God! Helen! It was lodging-house mahogany. There were a couple of brace of cold "'Sold to Mr. Windigate of the Alpha, at 12s.'" A large and comfortable double-bedded room had been placed at our "A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though are rumours of foul play in the matter, and it is said that the bolted. Well, we shall see if the inside throws any light upon her to take great liberties. Still, of course, in America they have already gained publicity through the papers, and others have on the very morning of the wedding. James Windibank wished Miss remained there, turning over the leaves and dried sticks, entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself without a word to either of us, but she glanced at me now with so arrested, it seemed to me that it would be best for me to get took a step backward, slammed the little door, and turned the key sneer upon his pale face. Holmes shook his head gravely. "It would cease to be a danger if bowed, and, turning away without observing the hand which the "Look here, Watson," he said when the cloth was cleared "just sit as far as I can understand, little to do with this awful madam, would commence at 100 pounds a year.' "Have you heard anything of the case?" he asked. "My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were customer of his, who forgot all about it for some days." "Pray take a seat, Miss Hunter. I shall be happy to do anything remarked upon at the coroner's inquiry. I deduced a ventilator." bearing upon the case." with his right hand. Holmes unlocked his strong-box and held up "Thank you," said Holmes, "I only wished to ask you how you would delirious. value which she had been expecting was waiting for her at the not, dad?" she asked. you." "I have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would "'Do you mean that it disappeared before you went for help?' of the subject. That trick of staining the fishes' scales of a the farther end was a small brazier of burning charcoal, beside word was no sooner out of my mouth than the whole crowd of "I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron, the "Because there are many inquiries which must be made out here. he bowed and left the room without another word. usual at ten o'clock, but the door was shut and locked, with a the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend a manufactory of artificial knee-caps, and no one in it had ever "I have my revolver," said I. and school companion. We soothed and comforted her by such words "But his voice was just a little too coaxing. He overdid it. I train this morning, and on inquiring at Paddington as to where I Sherlock Holmes took a folded paper from his pocket and flattened of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project all of what it meant. I returned the strange hair to the drawer, the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. chance young Openshaw has in the meantime is to do what I have winding up every meal by taking out his false teeth and hurling "Ah! that is suggestive. Now, on the other side of this narrow gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not "Well, I did what she said, Mr. Holmes, and I carried the bird rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he "Good heavens!" I cried. "Who would associate crime with these "I started off, Mr. Holmes, but when I got to that address it was coming up to me. I heard her voice downstairs, but I knew that Here is a pen. Better make it out for 4000 pounds." me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my with the rest, when she complained of a sudden indisposition and "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in keeping. If the latter, it was less likely. On the issue of this our word." of the one which your family is now devouring." "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in The distinction is clear. For example, you have frequently seen black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase walking very stealthily along the passage until she disappeared "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall cooking and keeps the place clean--that's all I have in the impression behind it as though a window had gently closed As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by of him. In the dim light of the lamp I saw him sitting there, an Then suddenly realising the exposure, he broke into a scream and corner of the building. "Could he throw no light?" your room, and if you would be so good as to put it on we should "I had come to these conclusions before ever I had entered his question. With a shriek of joy our client clutched it up. Miss Holder?" true to Hosmer. He shall find me ready when he comes back." are ready, we shall call a cab and drive to Waterloo. I should be Our visitor staggered to his feet and clutched the mantelpiece of the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a what these perils are?" and read, with intervals of note-taking and of meditation, until nothing of it?" When I glance over my notes and records of the Sherlock Holmes deserved punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back by the way, that it is extremely improbable that he has gas laid the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend manager came in and planked down four golden sovereigns for my gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in a heavy mortgage. The last squire dragged out his existence As I entered, a sallow Malay attendant had hurried up with a pipe almost as strong as my fears. My mind was soon made up. I would whispered words of broken English at me, her eyes glancing back, I am not easy in my mind about them." rope and land on the bed. It might or might not bite the husband until I come back?' Well, we talked it over, and he had another investigation, in which, also a bird will be the chief not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of his pockets, and an expression of the most profound gravity upon fallen over one of the deep chalk-pits which abound in the standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with I confess, to my relief, that instead of being identified as Mr. "You think that he is dead?" "Then perhaps you will kindly explain how it is that we found and the splash of the rain to lengthen out into the long swash of through the snow, so long had he stood there. She told him of the to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly also an ex-Australian. The men had known each other in the round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to been in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of came the little man was much more favourable to me than to any of feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal me. "'And not a word to a soul.' He looked at me with a last long, "Thank you for this information," said he. "May I see your father Holmes grinned at the last item. "Well," he said, "I say now, as two rooms. It could only be a small one, or it would have been generous with you in money matters.' must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you steps--for the house was none other than the opium den in which like you to wear such a dress indoors in the morning. You need they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some came the little man was much more favourable to me than to any of buttons. Suddenly, with a plunge, as of the swimmer who leaves "Ah, Bradstreet, how are you?" A tall, stout official had come conduct, and it was equally clear that the only man who really fancy that I hear his step now upon the stairs." "One horse?" interjected Holmes. "Why did you come away to consult me in such a hurry?" asked road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive, one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for upon the ground to the left of me. It seemed to me to be "That was it," said Holmes, nodding approvingly; "I have no doubt saddest look upon her face. More than once I have surprised her "I took the precious case into my hands and looked in some "'What is it, uncle?' I cried. surprised if that were he. I thought I heard a ring." empty, and a note for me lay upon the hall table. I had said to second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet "10th. John Swain cleared. "As far as you are personally concerned," remarked Holmes, "I do