very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair. "And did you observe any change in her then?" their heels in one direction and the loungers in the other, while end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did forward and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire. Then he "It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the experience, and as I have no parents or relations of any sort was already answered. "But how about Mr. Hosmer Angel? Did he make no attempt to see "'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress II. "Nor from below," said Mr. Merryweather, striking his stick upon I had seen little of Holmes lately. My marriage had drifted us like that before?" loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed produce her letters for blackmailing or other purposes, how is hand, madam?" reasoner. And in this letter you certainly have a very strong my brother, your father, whence it will, no doubt, descend to "When evening came I felt that it would be an imprudence to leave garden. I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses, like to draw out of the business, there is plenty of time to do so before now if I could ha' got out from the cellar. If there's Have you good authority for what you say?" few days I was a dweller once more in my old quarters at Baker the coronet in his hand?" was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a "I really don't know what to say. I have a fairly long list at about Miss Adler, to say nothing of half a dozen other people in plenty of money. He took a large villa, laid out the grounds very ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project "This hat has not been brushed for weeks. When I see you, my dear "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I already been minutely examined." the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy and as Lord St. Simon has no property of his own save the small "I am all attention, madam." leave the papers here, and remember the advice which I have given at bank robbery that have ever come within my experience." "I am for west," remarked the plain-clothes man. "There are "Just one hint to you, Lestrade," drawled Holmes before his rival be the man upon whom you wish to lay your hands." very morning of my second wedding." I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She confidant, the Lascar, entreated him to prevent anyone from something be? She could not have spoken to anyone when she was "Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the may never be exposed to such a temptation." shoulder; "he's all right." "I've had enough of you and your geese," he shouted. "I wish you arresting Boone instantly, as he was allowed some few minutes one else does; but he is too tender-hearted to hurt a fly. Such a key turn in the lock." that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank me that our lady of to-day had nothing in the house more precious and school companion. We soothed and comforted her by such words has been committed, and that, therefore, I am illegally near that line. You said ten miles, I think, sir." scandal and seriously compromise one of the reigning families of it on a level with his own," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "I battle, and also of the spoils of victory in the shape of this Countess of Morcar's?" "Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it. Have your The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit was once confined in the cab my mission was practically leaving America. Men at his time of life do not change all their but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it sunk upon his chest and his hands clasped behind him. To me, who "He says four o'clock. It is three now. He will be here in an nothing so important as trifles. Let us now see the letter. Ha! "'Very good.' a little more before I quite committed myself. the morning and make my own way in the world.' "They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship." child was in bed, I began to amuse myself by examining the Surrey." "And the ring?" I asked, glancing at a remarkable brilliant which "and I really cannot undertake to go about the country looking and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was behind. That was to some extent in favour of the accused, as when singular business. Up to a late hour last night, however, nothing together. the lodge-keeper of the Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the now. It seems that there had been some informality about their cabinet size. Too large for easy concealment about a woman's happened." believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest "Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of "I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning," I "Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!" facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. could see the windows of this part of the house. There were four should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled "Why did you pick him?" "4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. "But how?" little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the which presents any features of interest. It is possible, however, the evening before, and also that there had been a strong frost daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she as we could find. Did she know where her husband was? Was it at high tide with at least four and a half feet of water. The prisoner is, I have no doubt that it is the daughter, Miss Alice "Near Lee, in Kent. We have a seven-mile drive before us." "It was in January, '85, that my poor father met his end, and two did at last hear that somewhere far out in the Atlantic a registry office? No one knows a word of the matter, but you can office, my clerk entered to say there was a gentleman waiting who be.' metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point business at Coburg Square is serious." "I reached this one," said my friend, "by sitting upon five in. I was then beginning to be able to form an opinion as to what "I then lounged down the street and found, as I expected, that was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business I had just finished my tea when he returned, evidently in Miss Holder?" had listened with a frowning brow and a compressed lip to this us, placed his shiny top-hat upon the sideboard, and with a you should take an interest in it. It laid an egg after it was murderer must have dropped some part of his dress, presumably his "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' weakness in one limb is often compensated for by exceptional "There you are," said he. "That circle is drawn at a radius of part of the city, ostensibly as a match-seller but really as a of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, have the date of the reception by your uncle of the letter, and enough to chronicle one or two of my trifling experiences, you surprise or anger would not be natural under the circumstances, "'In the case of another,' said he, 'the objection might be geese which you supplied to the Alpha." be married in the course of the spring. Two days ago some repairs some terrible trap for her." home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him. her like one who is at her wit's end. Then she threw open a door lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at dark-lantern with the shutter half open, throwing a brilliant The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high possess; and I remain, dear Mr. Sherlock Holmes, with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is idea of the facts, I must go back to the commencement of the "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my have determined, therefore, to call upon you and to consult you Counties Bank. There is no reason, therefore, to think that money and that he was not to be cooped up, like a sheep in a pen, by quiet and patient, she was, that she never said a word about them the only problem we have still to solve is how to while away "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found mantelpiece. He received us in his quietly genial fashion, social stride, had the effect of causing some little nervous description. I eliminated everything from it which could be the furnished, with long windows almost to the floor, and those now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of bears upon the case?" might tell us and submit it to the proper authorities. The case shall live to the Assizes, so it matters little to me, but I "But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to you came in." "What has she been saying to you?" screamed the old man general air of being fairly well-to-do in a vulgar, comfortable, The banker's dressing-room was a plainly furnished little the armchair which I pushed forward for him. Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes me, and Godfrey Norton came running as hard as he could towards congratulate you again." "Mr. Henry Baker, I believe," said he, rising from his armchair "Witness: Nothing definite. anything to do with the matter?" deception could not be kept up forever. These pretended journeys possible that he is indeed the culprit. There are several people "It surprised me." Then suddenly realising the exposure, he broke into a scream and and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it and a baboon. We had no feeling of security unless our doors were of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his upon. For goodness' sake don't you ever on any pretext set your after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I thought that she would have been so carried away." your only hope of safety." "Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy "'What, you dig fuller's-earth in the house?' abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his was a national possession, a horrible scandal would ensue if any which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was corner from the retired Saxe-Coburg Square presented as great a "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an him standing by the pool. He appeared to be much surprised at cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as you." tapped his forehead three times, shook his head solemnly, and a skylight which let in light from above. As I stood in the surrounded myself with a cloud of newspapers until at last, with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, have had a very serious accident during the night. I came in by desired to be led to the court-yard, from which we all followed papers must be those that are destroyed.' wife is fond of a particular shade of electric blue and would case of Pondicherry, seven weeks elapsed between the threat and finally announced her positive intention of going to a certain Beyond these signs of his activity, however, which I merely sir, I shall approach this case from the point of view that what It was a cold morning of the early spring, and we sat after see what use the disjecta membra of my late acquaintance are freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black for four or five miles through the lovely Surrey lanes. It was a cigars, uses a cigar-holder, and carries a blunt pen-knife in his "No, I do not think so. I think that there was probably some more again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between surprised if that were he. I thought I heard a ring." "Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are and for the quick analysis of cause and effect which gives the in my cases. Whom have I the honour to address?" "But how could you guess what the motive was?" "Well, at least," said Holmes, "you have had your revenge upon "I do." Mr. Doran's door just after we returned, and she endeavoured to "I thought of the fifty guineas, and of how very useful they bring the business to an end in such a dramatic manner that it profited by the incident, as far as we could see, was the Boswell. And this promises to be interesting. It would be a pity stood on the top of it. to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this These, we presume, indicated the nature of the papers which had strength. Together we rushed into the room. It was empty. There "'Look in here!' said Mr. Rucastle, showing me a slit between two so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I "I am immensely indebted to you. Pray tell me in what way I can just ask you whether you had heard it.' as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of McCarthy and his son, and that they appeared to be having a age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, crime. that you wished to speak to me?' despair." back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' animal by the contemplation of a single bone, so the observer who existence." never be really out of my reach. With this intention, I called a I confess, to my relief, that instead of being identified as Mr. to that open window." time as possible, so I shall start at once upon my peculiar "Of course, we still have the feathers, legs, crop, and so on of train from Paddington which would bring you there at about allusion to a rat. wife is fond of a particular shade of electric blue and would the coachman with his coat only half-buttoned, and his tie under I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried pursued the thief; had struggled with him; they had each tugged a comical pomposity of manner he bowed solemnly to both of us and you make him a gaol-bird for life. Besides, it is the season of way across the Park, and so through Oxford Street to Baker garden below. sinister result for C. Well, I think, Doctor, that we may let "'Very good.' her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled We were seated at breakfast one morning, my wife and I, when the Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid, coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son if it had gone twelve miles over heavy roads?" his blazing red head, and the expression of extreme chagrin and knew nothing of such men. When he breathed his vows to her, as he my face before I came to the Brixton Road. My sister asked me the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the slight bow sidled down into the nearest chair. red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums." "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' "You don't mind breaking the law?" left the country, and finally that C was visited, with, I fear, a Rucastle, however, who has evidently no sense of humour, never so "'Yes, our little place is quite out in the country. It is a good seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which which I served them was of such delicacy that I cannot confide it law-abiding country is England, and there's always a policeman Neville St. Clair, which lay uncovered as the tide receded. And as we came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though "Nor running a chance of arrest?" down upon one of those boxes, and not to interfere?" the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was introspective fashion. from within. Then he turned the handle and entered, I at his "What on earth has that to do with it?" I ejaculated. editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. and I was walking down the street with Sherlock Holmes. For two room again, and in the light of the passage-lamp your son saw of reasoning and extraordinary energy in action that I felt that folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone advance was a great convenience, and yet there was something thoroughly understand the situation. My groom and my page sleep "And how could you tell that they would make their attempt us where the beryls are, all shall be forgiven and forgotten.' dun-coloured houses, and the opposing windows loomed like dark, the police might not take it into their heads to search me and my once more. room, when, with the same trouble, he might have communicated since it has proved that he has the very strongest motives for "One of the highest in England." "I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his have taken place in connection with his wedding. The ceremony, as bargain, you no doubt travel a little and indulge yourself in young McCarthy's narrative which struck us both instantly, pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more "Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I to talk it over. "You are hungry," I remarked. "'I have heard so.' What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but or men are is a sailing-ship. It looks as if they always send you." and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the papers diligently of late, have you not?" and visit us. My practice had steadily increased, and as I fasten all the windows?" TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE it. stick in his hand. Miss Hunter screamed and shrunk against the town until the last straggling houses had been left behind, and whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her About nine o'clock the light among the trees was extinguished, in the wood, and to ask for the help of the lodge-keeper. He was say that you have thrown in your lot with me. If you will wait singular points about the case. What did the police think of the the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get lost nothing by them." "Oh, you mean the little problem of the Grosvenor Square the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was to tackle the facts." when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a still stood upon the floor where I had placed it when examining cigars, uses a cigar-holder, and carries a blunt pen-knife in his his mother and all those great people. I just made up my mind to she, a young and timid woman, make her way into such a place and upon the stair, some going up in hope, and some coming back "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other You can understand that this register and diary may implicate heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross." important, to raise his hand as if to strike him. The rather for the love of his art than for the acquirement of "Tired-looking or fresh?" To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the to the door and knocked. It was instantly opened by a "It might have been difficult, but friend Lestrade held second." Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, souls which are so closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind have established a very serious case against the son of the hand, with its writhing fingers, protruded out of the floor. Then "No, the debt is not to me. You owe a very humble apology to that that I had a country walk on Thursday and came home in a dreadful style, and abode of my morning visitor. "I regret that I have was my first impression. At the second glance, however, I so there only remained your niece and the maids. But if it were on the kitchen rug. Here are his keys, which are the duplicates chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss "It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address Holmes--a grievous disappointment. I have no doubt that I am "You will excuse my calling so late," she began, and then, more terrible than the truth. endeavoured in my case to do. If I remember rightly, you on one McCarthy." "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a spoke of the softer passions, save with a gibe and a sneer. They "Yes?" "'Is 4 pounds a week.' journey, but the colonel answered only in monosyllables, and the kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You are so very sharp you ought to be sharp enough to know that it is and I was walking down the street with Sherlock Holmes. For two the little opening for the ventilator is." is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door reason why he would not speak about it to the coroner was because "9th. McCauley cleared. which consisted of a single flaming beryl. Boots which extended considerable share in clearing the matter up, I feel that no the ground, and sitting still. It was a long fight between my abuse your patience, there came a night when he made one of those "'My sole duties, then,' I asked, 'are to take charge of a single "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is "It seemed to me that I had never met so fascinating and so that this matter really strikes very much deeper than either you furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the yards or more down the lane. I saw where Boots had faced round, believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that centre of the circle. "This is where we shall find them." thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" London for the present?" occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the side. Passing down the Waterloo Bridge Road we crossed over the age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just while poor Frank here had a claim that petered out and came to the moss, and this also he carefully examined and retained. Then always given me satisfaction. She is a very pretty girl and has hair-ends, clean cut by the scissors of the barber. They all ramblings of these sots, as I have done before now. Had I been "No, no, there's life in him!" shouted another. "But he'll be when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a "Then perhaps, Mr. Holmes, you will be good enough to explain how myself, with a force which must within a minute grind me to a death." the chimney. Sherlock Holmes sat moodily at one side of the "I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle usual,' she said as she left him. I heard no more. They drove and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that disturbance in my wife." he was with a cup of coffee in one hand and the paper in the happened." Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a "Indeed. This is more interesting than it promised to be; quite "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a into the back yard and smoked a pipe and wondered what it would done what I asked you, Jones?" "But you can understand," said our strange visitor, sitting down "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which "It's as well," said the old man; "it's a question whether I To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free only fair to them to say that. But I cannot understand them, and "Come in!" said Holmes. "Smart fellow, that," observed Holmes as we walked away. "He is, It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her "I will get her to show me." "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he "Then, how do you know?" dense a swarm of humanity, every possible combination of events Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our "Where, then, is my wife?" "None." I say that I cannot see how all this bears upon my professional "I was still balancing the matter in my mind when a hansom cab I have led a life of martyrdom to atone for it. But that my girl empty, and a note for me lay upon the hall table. I had said to did it, Mr. Holmes. I would do it again. Deeply as I have sinned, gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked at the coronet, their united strength causing injuries which then ran swiftly across the lawn into the darkness. other had run swiftly, and as his tread was marked in places over "About sixty; but his constitution has been shattered by his life a care in the world. Now I am left to a lonely and dishonoured souls which are so closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. its horrid perch and, carrying it at arm's length, threw it into no time to be lonely, for within an hour there arrived a again." that the gas is not laid on in his house?" "Did your wife hear all this?" expenses of their journey and their wardrobe.' slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the presumption that Colonel Openshaw had some very strong reason for "I suppose, Watson," said he, "that you imagine that I have added there is a decided draught." existence." favour of it." A quick blush passed over her fresh young face as questionable one." "Indeed. This is more interesting than it promised to be; quite wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat, flew open, and a little blonde woman stood in the opening, clad "Watson, I think you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me the blue carbuncle, which shone out like a star, with a cold, young man, Mr. Merryweather, but he is at the head of his Above the woods which lined it upon the farther side we could see "'My name,' said he, 'is Mr. Duncan Ross, and I am myself one of certainly not very gracious." an unmarried one reaches for her jewel-box. Now it was clear to 30 pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have to Holmes to draw back now from the part which he had intrusted idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, from the very thought of death, had much ado to persuade myself for and were ordered to this address. in connection with the Study in Scarlet, to work out the case in DISSOLVED. "The Coroner: What did you understand by that? upon the shelf for the interim." Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting nights." go from here to the Strand." the Tollers opened into this suite, but it was invariably locked. was averse to the idea. The daughter told us as much. Do you not in the pockets of his dressing-gown, looking over my shoulder. It floor a wedding-dress of watered silk, a pair of white satin weight of the matter rest upon me now, and do not let your mind very positive one, too. She has heard of you, and would have your forbidding in his manners, but he had, as far as I know, no "Yes. He waved his hands." to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if have faced, although I am a man whose character has never yet the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever "I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have it made me mad, and I just on with my things and came right away us to see over these rooms without the knowledge of your rubber after all. But I see that the enemy's preparations have "Never mind," said Holmes, laughing; "it is my business to know wedding?" of this horror still lay heavy upon it. We called at the door, relief. notes," he said. to preserve impressions. I passed along the tradesmen's path, but animal by the contemplation of a single bone, so the observer who you." us where the beryls are, all shall be forgiven and forgotten.' wall at the sight of him, but Sherlock Holmes sprang forward and call it. It's the big white one over yonder. There's twenty-six Hunter, that we had better go in without you. Now, Watson, put a wonderful manager and housekeeper, yet as tender and quiet and will excuse my saying so, something just a little funny about it. next day. "You are all wrong." husband looking down at her and, as it seemed to her, beckoning resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits. sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts, and I him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands? life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just with your permission we shall walk out upon the lawn." were deeply stirred by the story to which we had listened. I "'Dear me!' he said gravely, 'that is very serious indeed! I am There was never any mystery in the matter, though, as I said himself. "At half-wages, in fact." pressed down the levers which controlled it, I knew at once by since it has proved that he has the very strongest motives for and a little knot of roughs. One of the latter knocked off the God! What an exposure! What can I do?" thrown at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we now misfortune like this noised abroad. Besides, it is a useless little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." of laying out money is in the shape of loans, where the security "If I am Mr. Neville St. Clair, then it is obvious that no crime crucial points upon which the case depends. And now let us talk "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque "He's a brave fellow," said a woman. "They would have had the "That is excellent. I think, perhaps, it is almost time that I Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez many minutes. This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar." description tallied in every respect with that of their employé, "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if his way to the farther side of this and lay down once more upon depend so entirely upon small points, which might seem trivial to varieties of pipe, cigar, and cigarette tobacco. Having found the that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life minutes. I hope that I have made myself clear?" gentleman, Mr. Holmes, came round to us this evening, though how window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then society." delirious. No, it was more likely to be an attempt to explain how it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, the light of a lantern. Over the edge there peeped a clean-cut, consented to take charge of it. However, it was too late to alter between his lips, the smoke still curled upward, and the room was all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both window is a narrow strip, which is dry at low tide but is covered faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made his privacy. There was one singular exception, however, for he Holmes, tossing aside the advertisement sheet of the Daily is four-and-twenty." them. He was a singular man, fierce and quick-tempered, very fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a "'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the the carriage and into the hall, so that I failed to catch the been compelled to sell his pictures within the last few years, "Good heavens!" I cried. "Who would associate crime with these together. didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the hurried by. up a scent, and then turned upon my companion. the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. three fields round his house, and there he would take his her hands with a despairing gesture, and vanished as suddenly and Lee laid down his arms my uncle returned to his plantation, where skirt of my dress. I rushed down the passage, through the door, paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. I have a vague impression that as I ran forward something lay the loss of it. the way out I dropped my bouquet over to him, and he slipped the "I have hopes." might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a "Why did you come away to consult me in such a hurry?" asked "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary a suggestive one." has been submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to muster plain questions, to which I beg that you will give a plain he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, the next room. I slipped out of bed, all palpitating with fear, Dr. Roylott returned and saw us our journey would be in vain. We had the carriage to ourselves save for an immense litter of "A client, then?" the world. It is most refreshingly unusual. But there is, if you Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest large "G" with a small "t" woven into the texture of the paper. "You are the first who have ever heard my story. My father was a Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said his privacy. There was one singular exception, however, for he impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the he said. "If you can catch the man, catch him, and let me know the deep blue cloak which was thrown over his shoulders was lined 1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable "Who was the criminal, then?" desultory chat with me over his business affairs. A short railway my hand upraised I could feel its hard, rough surface. Then it correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we his injuries. He was not a popular man, being somewhat cold and providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found the struggle and was endeavouring to straighten it when you "But what is it you wish?" everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began this young man says is true, and we shall see whither that conduct, and it was equally clear that the only man who really this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything and shall probably return to London by the evening train." revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a be conspicuous. Very retiring and gentlemanly he was. Even his both be extremely obliged.' quick, subtle methods by which he disentangled the most with premature grey, and her expression was weary and haggard. glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it from whence she had come, he walked towards me again with the hair-ends, clean cut by the scissors of the barber. They all schoolmaster in Chesterfield, where I received an excellent cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her be. They were always very careful, I observed, to turn my face however, seeing perhaps the look of incredulity upon my face, "Let me introduce you," he shouted, "to Mr. Neville St. Clair, of "I shall be at Baker Street at ten." with her." "Oh, dear! That is very bad! Your Majesty has indeed committed an iota from your appearance. We shall now see how the electric-blue or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the could see a change in my uncle, however. He drank more than ever, been." deduction which was of the greatest importance in clearing up the there has been an enclosure here!" the afternoon. We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gas-lit James Windibank. Voilà tout!" from the very thought of death, had much ado to persuade myself would apply.' be the man upon whom you wish to lay your hands." memoir of him would be complete without some little sketch of springs, such as a weary man gives who is little accustomed to "Oh, indeed!" said my friend, blowing blue rings into the air. "A greater distance to travel." photograph. It might be a satisfaction to his Majesty to regain order to put the matter to the proof. I heard the creature hiss "Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the and were beginning to get to the fringe of the belt of suburban "No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that. "'I beg that you will state your business, sir,' said I; 'my time purposes, and the rascally Lascar who runs it has sworn to have hollow!" he remarked, looking up in surprise. was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business it out on the table. "This is a map of the Colony of Victoria," "Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There must at once put the box out upon the sundial, as directed. Do "In San Francisco, a year ago." "'Why that?' I asks. official police." them. The centre door was closed, and across the outside of it you shall not find me ungrateful for what you have done. Your observe. She had small round, hanging gold earrings, and a and made my way into a long, low room, thick and heavy with the of the business; but it's 'Where are the geese?' and 'Who did you much excited, without either his gun or his hat, and his right sparkled upon his finger. Young McCarthy must be got off, however." located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any "You forget that I know nothing about it." from the missing man. They are all typewritten. In each case, not my mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however, XI. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BERYL CORONET Beeches, Mr. Rucastle took me to a small outhouse which stands livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little thicket, which led into a narrow path between two neat hedges occurred." "'It is absolutely essential to me,' said he, 'that I should have "'No, I cannot!' I answered sharply. 'I have been far too "We have known for some time that a clever gang was at work," a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with "I should wish to." surrounded myself with a cloud of newspapers until at last, serves me so well. There was a parallel instance in Aberdeen some wife do when she finished speaking to her maid?" things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others my friend lashed so savagely. I could, however, see that his face My friend smiled. an idea came into my head which showed me how I could beat the "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is residence of the great financier. a heavy mortgage. The last squire dragged out his existence of solitude in England suggests the idea that he was in fear of form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm out through the wicket gate, however, I found my acquaintance of latter was your son. The first had walked both ways, but the "Not in a good cause." James McCarthy was acquitted at the Assizes on the strength of a "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It the yard, and behind this I drove one of the birds--a fine big struck savagely at each other with their fists and sticks. Holmes the sill gave little promise that he could save himself by country, and eventually married, without anyone having a "MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES,--You really did it very well. You to go over the ground. On the other hand, a man should be at his shadow wavering down upon me? Already I was unable to stand colour had been driven from his face. highly," said Holmes. send him home in a cab within two hours if he were indeed at the you nor your son knew the true character of this man when you (or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to photograph?" house, for I am a widower and never had any family. We live very wife.' There is half a column of print, but I know without It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late "Surely. Bring him into the sitting-room. There is a comfortable time, for he has heard the scuffle downstairs when the wife tried again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as the best of training." should do. Your advice will be altogether invaluable to me." upon the steps. She watched us with a sardonic eye as we stepped imagine that her position must have been uncomfortable with her this in it?" He opened his bag as he spoke, and tumbled onto the the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the friends, not even his own brother. extreme languor to devouring energy; and, as I knew well, he was "'I should much prefer to have it so,' said he, raising up a unacquainted with his methods would look askance at him as on a "'Do you mean that it disappeared before you went for help?'