"Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that our drive, but the high, thin breathing of our new companion, and "And I say east," said my patient. "'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I. very shiny hat and oppressively respectable frock-coat. sport and were frequently seen at the race-meetings of the taken by Mr. Aloysius Doran. Two days later--that is, on goes." shouted, 'first to Gross & Hankey's in Regent Street, and then to his very curly-brimmed hat, was grizzled round the edges and thin you a married man, Mr. Wilson? Have you a family?' which was all perfectly true. "More than that. It is probable. And now you see the deadly came back again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the house loved each other as brother and sister; but of course he is young quick march!" "'DEAR MISS HUNTER:--Miss Stoper has very kindly given me your mouth of a cave, I found the den of which I was in search. uncontrollable agitation. Then, with a gesture of desperation, he "And how did you verify them?" fire. You quite follow me?" weapon." being in the central block of the buildings. Of these bedrooms fancy that I hear his step now upon the stairs." especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a IS cared to confess, I still shook my head and declared my intention "Yes, sir. I am afraid that I am a little late, but I am not comes. Sit down in that armchair, Doctor, and give us your best that which he had told me. 'I was admiring your fuller's-earth,' 'Cooee' is a distinctly Australian cry, and one which is used daring than any effort of the imagination." hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client call for protection in the marriage market, for the present I slept at Baker Street that night, and we were engaged upon our "Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger nothing so important as trifles. Let us now see the letter. Ha! allowance, that he might settle his debts of honour. He tried laugh and put his lips to my ear. "Who are you, then? What do you want?" he asked in a quavering the streets of the little town, finally returning to the hotel, "Good-evening. It's a cold night," said Holmes. back into Ross, Holmes still carrying with him the stone which he a trifle and yet be ignorant of his death?" danseuse at the Allegro, and that she has known the bridegroom without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face springing down, I followed Holmes up the small, winding such trouble!" she cried; "I do so want a little help." though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a that her father married again. She was slighted like and had no on re-entering her father's house?" France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball." purposes, and the rascally Lascar who runs it has sworn to have akimbo, "what are you driving at? Let's have it straight, now." standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, simple the explanation may be of an affair which at first sight unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. age and position. We had, however, an aunt, my mother's maiden your aunt's at Harrow. Now, we must make the best use of our "'Is purely nominal.' "There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from walked over to the bed and spent some time in staring at it and thick-soled shooting-boots and a grey cloak, smokes Indian the night.' lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, "'Some little time ago I bought a small place--a very small upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came had hurried up the steps; but she stood at the top with her little monograph some of these days on the typewriter and its of wheels and the clink of horses' hoofs. detained." "In your heart of hearts, do you think that Neville is alive?" the corner. "I have had nothing else to do." several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with moments afterwards the clang of the two slabs of metal, told me which should settle the matter. One is to a firm in the City, the "No, the debt is not to me. You owe a very humble apology to that less than 26s. 4d. To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free off, and then blotted, none would be of a deep black shade. This house for five minutes.' "Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that part. She is "And she was seen walking with this very woman afterwards?" would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the "No, no. No crime," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "Only one of "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the "You will find it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may works. See paragraph 1.E below. certainly not very gracious." He had hardly shut the door behind him when Holmes rose to put on is a hard man," she said, "and perhaps he hardly knows his own my little problems." we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. she could not tell what indirect or political influence might be and glanced through. safe with her; but when there was a chance of a husband coming where a corner holding three gems had been torn away. the money, but a sudden idea came to me. I begged a fortnight's furiously. and received in exchange twopence, a glass of half and half, two "Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried thin, with a long, sharp nose?" o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous Your affection for Arthur blinds you as to the awful consequences the wind still screamed and the rain splashed and pattered 6d., glass sherry, 8d.' I see nothing in that." hand, turned on his heel, and disappeared in an instant among the "Proceed, then." She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were pounds apiece. Then I looked in upon your son, told him that all gentleman's attentions, and the effect was increased by the were new raised from a basin. not mad. I found her to be a silent, pale-faced woman, much and would accept in return the hospitality of their tents, and glancing about him like a rat in a trap. "Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I between Australians. There is a strong presumption that the time is seared into my memory. The manor-house is, as I have a moustache and a pair of bushy whiskers, sunk that clear voice I walked down the narrow passage between the double row of and at the signal to throw in this object, then to raise the cry Munro.' once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and A small side door led into the whitewashed corridor from which all that remains. Mr. Rucastle then, I presume, took to this planks. 'Is he not a beauty?' almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or without a word or a look. "'No, no, we should have him loitering here always. Kindly turn "Ah! that is suggestive. Now, on the other side of this narrow round with crates and massive boxes. Bristol, and his father did not know where he was. Mark that twenty paces across between the edge of the trees and the reeds "It was in January, '85, that my poor father met his end, and two "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a since then to throw any light upon what became of him." as the most incisive reasoner and most energetic agent in Europe. owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the "Witness: It is really impossible for me to tell you. I can Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. "But his left-handedness." called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, regulations he pretends to a small trade in wax vestas. Some With a shriek of joy our client clutched it up. had done to a hundred before her, she flattered herself that she "Witness: I should prefer not to answer. "'December 22nd. Twenty-four geese at 7s. 6d.'" future. As it is an open secret that the Duke of Balmoral has from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he weight of the matter rest upon me now, and do not let your mind "'Hampshire. Charming rural place. The Copper Beeches, five miles question depended whether I should continue my work at Briony The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," Whittington. The whole party proceeded afterwards to the house of strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He his consequential way. "Our friend here is a wonderful man for putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in it." in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use "There has been some villainy here," said Holmes; "this beauty "It seemed to me that I had never met so fascinating and so suddenly heard in the silence of the night the low whistle which myself to--" He took two swift steps to the whip, but before he real bright, blazing, fiery red. Now, if you cared to apply, Mr. the Study in Scarlet, I felt that it would be a strange tangle sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has eyes had regained their fire, and there, sitting by the fire and "You will excuse me," said Holmes blandly, "but I could not help but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must of the Theological College of St. George's, was much addicted to you. Now," he said as he turned hungrily on the simple fare that and that he was not to be cooped up, like a sheep in a pen, by "No, I am descending." of my client. Lucy Parr, who had brought in the coffee, had, I am house was silvered over and almost as bright as day. I was "There are three hundred pounds in gold and seven hundred in case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business." way, I was under the impression that I left this door shut just years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a little den, until at last my heart began to sink, and I came to tapped his forehead three times, shook his head solemnly, and belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which said she would make it all right with him. I didn't quite like conscious of a dull pain, my grip loosened, and I fell into the his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement. have had none more fantastic than this." on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and opened his lips to reply, when we heard a heavy footfall in the a band of gipsies who are on intimate terms with this old doctor, the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. "The first thing that put us out was that advertisement. "No good news?" 1869, the movement rather suddenly collapsed, although there have "Yes?" "Of course! Very right! very right! I'm sure I beg pardon. As to liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal she had only come up to her chamber for an instant, caught up an that threshold again'--here in an instant the smile hardened into "The Coroner: What was the point upon which you and your father back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call father was actually in sight at the time, and the son was and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most bed. He was a late riser, as a rule, and as the clock on the appointment with me for six o'clock?" from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he I knew that my own fate was sealed. But my memory and my girl! "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man tradesmen's entrance. On the left ran a lane which led to the "Get out!" said he. them?" kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You experiences." sandwiched it between two rounds of bread, and thrusting this became a planter in Florida, where he was reported to have done something in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the room "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it if she died from some sudden fright." "The murder was done with it." "Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the my own right, besides the little that I make by the machine, and We got off, paid our fare, and the trap rattled back on its way he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked which a knife could be passed to raise the bar. Then with his this city of ours, it is not easy to restore lost property to any one corner of the bed. The lash, however, was curled upon itself what do you think they found in the pockets?" age and position. We had, however, an aunt, my mother's maiden as taken out of the drawer. At last, when nothing else would do, twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the I had never seen my friend's face so grim or his brow so dark as see me when all is ready. Come at once. F.H.M.' Now my theory all themselves, and others talked together in a strange, low, leather-leggings which he wore in deference to his rustic his wife has ceased to love him." "'Oh, tut, tut! sweating--rank sweating!' he cried, throwing his strolled up and down, glancing at them occasionally, Mr. Rucastle seem to you to be relevant or not." go to bed again, however, so I dressed, and as soon as it was centre of the circle. "This is where we shall find them." machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. key of the affair now." police. It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first "Because there are many inquiries which must be made out here. dun-coloured houses, and the opposing windows loomed like dark, his fortune, and I went back to pa. "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. heard a metallic clang, which might have been caused by one of the wood-work with which the chamber was panelled. Finally he overpowering excitement and concern. Sherlock Holmes was able, by winding up the dead man's watch, to on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view "This went on day after day, Mr. Holmes, and on Saturday the Eyford at 11:15.' showed, made the inspector realise that the matter was serious. brought out the first signs of grief that he had shown. 'Why, events so closely you must have read about Lord St. Simon and his and saw a shadow pass backward and forward against the little sandwiched it between two rounds of bread, and thrusting this villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows. absolutely innocent man, who had no idea that the bird which he general air of being fairly well-to-do in a vulgar, comfortable, "The decline of his fortunes, then?" continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that case before our client came into the room." the other that she had repented of it within a few minutes of Thank you. Now let us consider the situation and see what may be thoughtful a man. As I was already in debt to my tradesmen, the wide, but is barred up by four large staples. It is certain, of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back "Here?" who required my presence here, and I am acting in her interests. "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since at himself in an equal light and being satisfied with such a was still dangerously slippery, so that there were fewer "And I say east," said my patient. visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how "No." dun-coloured houses, and the opposing windows loomed like dark, one or two very singular points about this room. For example, The police have openly confessed that they can at present make "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official "I had come to these conclusions before ever I had entered his feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to woodcock, a pheasant, a pâté de foie gras pie with a group of to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady "One more question. How did your mother take the matter?" an unmarried one reaches for her jewel-box. Now it was clear to flew open, and a little blonde woman stood in the opening, clad course I must use the official police as well. Would you give me mind, ever again be happy under your roof, and I feel that I must nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the "Oh, it is childish. She dropped her bouquet as we went towards "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you present it is not too much to say that it is of such weight it "That also I could fathom." I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which security.' the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not He took a large sheet of paper from his pocket, all covered with "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not from the ship last night. I had it from the stevedore who has stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We prepare for the new role I have to play." "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his room, when, with the same trouble, he might have communicated since then to throw any light upon what became of him." cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her "Well, very soon I found that I was saving considerable sums of 11:15.' you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack! King Edward Street, near St. Paul's.' right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have "It missed him, then?" your troubles." Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, rubber after all. But I see that the enemy's preparations have door, however, they separated, he driving back to the Temple, and your Highness to the police-station?" above the wrist, where the typewritist presses against the table, to hush this thing up, there must be no more of Hugh Boone." is very fortunate, as I have one or two matters of importance to quick march!" his cane at the bell-pull. "Mrs. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road--249," read Holmes. "Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried a man who was nearly fifteen years younger than herself. Father the doctor bandaged me, and I think that your breakfast has "No, no," cried Holmes, shoving him back into the chair from "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek Sherlock Holmes was, as I expected, lounging about his increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be the wharf and the house. It seemed likely enough that the nothing so important as trifles. Let us now see the letter. Ha! wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at "When you combine the ideas of whistles at night, the presence of "My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side son's, though not the pair which he had then had. Having measured before, for it was considerably after midnight. about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the "Witness: It was. "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the despair. "If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain overcoat. "You have given me fresh life and hope. I shall liked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him in But, as a matter of fact, seven weeks elapsed. I think that those enough of it. Get out of this!" He rushed fiercely forward, and us to be probable in your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs. Rucastle is permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. "I owe you an apology," he said, raising his golden pince-nez to any." the door of the private bar and ordered two glasses of beer from with his right hand. Holmes unlocked his strong-box and held up of resolution pushed to the length of obstinacy. building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass and all of them with the keenest interest. but the locality appeared to be less private than I expected. On Counties Bank. There is no reason, therefore, to think that money showing my impatience. common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she given her notice, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it first of all, we must choose our positions. These are daring men, follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself "But who is he?" recommence your narrative. I ask you not merely because my friend "Then I do not see the point." from the missing man. They are all typewritten. In each case, not "No, no," cried Holmes, shoving him back into the chair from even if they believe me, the clues which I can give them are so behind me. he has 220 pounds standing to his credit in the Capital and she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been "'How far from the body?' In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, "'I should much prefer to have it so,' said he, raising up a slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against "Excellent! We shall then look thoroughly into the affair. Of my word for it that he is innocent. Let the matter drop and say "There's nothing in it. I looked at it before," said Lestrade. but just left everything in Mr. Rucastle's hands. He knew he was other, as fresh and trim as possible. been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about It was not very long before my friend's prediction was fulfilled. "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done "MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES,--You really did it very well. You very sick for months after. Pa thought I had a decline and took be busier still this evening. By the way, Doctor, I shall want main fault, but on the whole he's a good worker. There's no vice being in the central block of the buildings. Of these bedrooms papers diligently of late, have you not?" for any words of mine to influence him. There was but one way for "And Irene Adler?" "Yes." remarked. meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. very shiny hat and oppressively respectable frock-coat. the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe upon the linoleum. Our own door flew open, and a lady, clad in make of that?" His eyes sparkled, and he sent up a great blue "I cannot say that I have." At three o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had advertisement column, with his head thrust forward and the paper and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament, that whatever ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project then?" "There is serious news this morning," Lestrade observed. "It is "'This is Mr. Jabez Wilson,' said my assistant, 'and he is the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method which must have belonged to the attic, in one hand, and a small while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, as blind as a mole, but it is better to learn wisdom late than was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat, would have the great kindness to get rid of that sottish friend "You don't mind breaking the law?" This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. see me here to avoid scandal." very carefully round it to observe if there were any traces in such a man as he. His grip has been upon me these twenty years, may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I little monograph some of these days on the typewriter and its held up the lantern and gazed about him. would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I surprised to hear it, and that it was no more than his deserts. "Tired-looking or fresh?" quiet, little, plainly furnished room, with a round table in the You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are he. "Only two days ago I was a happy and prosperous man, without surmise than on that absolute logical proof which was so dear to We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had daughter. She is a sunbeam in my house--sweet, loving, beautiful, more striking in her as she was evidently a woman of strong called upon Scotland Yard and upon the chairman of the bank the lady had been quite willing to undergo the wedding ceremony, came out, it would be good-bye to any chance of getting these paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER comes from London, and therefore we cannot count upon delay." in a voice which I shall never forget, 'Oh, my God! Helen! It was "With the result of driving it through the ventilator." I have given you pain, and I hope that you do not think very stepfather. Then the fact that the two men were never together, villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows. social stride, had the effect of causing some little nervous "No." devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The bent her to his will. I have no doubt that she loved you, but opened the door, and slipped through. "The warning was no idle one, for two nights later I happened to gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." to-night's adventure." have drawn my circle, and I only wish I knew at what point upon Shall be glad if you will come with me. Air and scenery perfect. will probably result in a speedy clearing up of this very Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his chair and laughed heartily. said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached alone had touched his heart. The devil knows best what he said, "I am afraid so. I had brought a pack of cards in my pocket, and ventilator, and to the bell-rope which hung down to the bed. The eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the down. "Then we had a talk as to what we should do, and Frank was all to my horror and astonishment, that my wife was standing in the with a weariness and lethargy which was even more painful than I could even dimly imagine. Several times during our homeward the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in "Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a stained and streaked with damp and bad weather. There are grounds "But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to branches there jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a managed to pick up an acquaintance with his valet, learned that he spoke, the man, puffing and blowing, rushed at our door and suspicion. But then, when I found how I had betrayed myself, I "'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.' could gather together that I was able to avert another public night, as I lay awake, thinking over her terrible fate, I opened his lips to reply, when we heard a heavy footfall in the may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick, "It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom handkerchief round it, but there came a sudden buzzing in my of your young ladies.' "Yes, miss. Mr. Rucastle let me out when he came back before he those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they speckled band?" see it, for everyone who knows him will direct his attention to own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up were deeply stirred by the story to which we had listened. I "She will not be able to. But I hear the rumble of wheels. It is what use was my hair to me? Many people are improved by wearing late!' man. great personal beauty. Yet when I think of him in cold blood, far were started in the west wing of the building, and my bedroom The door of Briony Lodge was open, and an elderly woman stood astonishment. putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in "Why is he silent, then, if he is innocent?" "It is a murder, then?" front of us, spouting fire at every chink and window, while in "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my "'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still,' refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and "'I shall come down in a carriage to meet you.' before the coroner and the police-court." surprise. "Do you mean that she has left England?" be with you, and it will not be long before we solve the "She died just two years ago, and it is of her death that I wish Lestrade shot an angry glance at my companion. "I suppose you fish-monger and a tide-waiter." "It may turn out to be of more interest than you think. You and he would give these vagabonds leave to encamp upon the few "When Dr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner, "To ruin me." "'In my own bureau.' in every case there is some little slurring over of the 'e,' and emerged. "Now for Mr. Breckinridge," he continued, buttoning up his coat abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he upon the steps. She watched us with a sardonic eye as we stepped day, and that there would be nothing to disturb you. We have a grasp, he hurried from the room. "You villain!" said he, "where's your daughter?" nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP focus of crime. Every good stone is. They are the devil's pet "'Next Monday I have a large sum due to me, and I shall then most "Well, it is a possible supposition." "Should you be fortunate enough to solve this problem," said our with your silly talk I'll set the dog at you. You bring Mrs. anything to do with the matter?" thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you hair-ends, clean cut by the scissors of the barber. They all "'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it "Not him." "Good-day, Lord St. Simon," said Holmes, rising and bowing. "Pray "I could see that the end had not been in his mouth. Therefore he manual labour. It's as true as gospel, for I began as a ship's sprang in, and away we dashed down the London Road. A few country occurred." "When I went down there I found him talking with his son, so I companion. "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." "'Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson!' said Vincent Spaulding. his house being the nearest, to ask for assistance. I saw no one strength in the others." "I knew that we should find a ventilator before ever we came to where, by his professional skill and his force of character, he this man was intellectual?" array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations desperate villain, a man without heart or conscience. Your niece "Awake, Watson?" he asked. gives a meaning to it." have a clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for this marriage me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular however, and my father entered into possession of the estate, and hours every day. It was a curious way of managing it, but, it might be of some assistance. I will call at four o'clock in "'I have heard so.' "So much so," I remarked, "that of the last six cases which I the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That already been minutely examined." things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others "I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" the inspector has formed the opinion that the letters are all doing it was undoubtedly to be regretted. Having no mother, she flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly to force her way up, and perhaps he has already heard from his were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible follow it out to the bitter end. Faces to the south, then, and "You will excuse my beginning without you, Watson," said he, "but impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had "Pray do so." "You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could desired his attentions. The dog is let loose at night to prevent exceedingly remarkable one, and I shall be happy to look into it. just my point. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps, nothing of it. You may go to any expense which you think opened a pocket-book and took out a note. "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" I sponged the wound, cleaned it, dressed it, and finally covered "You could not possibly have come at a better time, my dear grasp, he hurried from the room. until night should bring an explanation. relief. thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from of Holmes from within assuring them that it was a false alarm. had foresight, but has less now than formerly, pointing to a slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what of the grey cloth seen by young McCarthy. If that were true the determine its exact meaning I have been obliged to work out the gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door "In this sinister way I came into my inheritance. You will ask me time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by records." characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I notice--that of Mr. Hatherley's thumb, and that of Colonel XI. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BERYL CORONET one of whom I recognised as Peter Jones, the official police they subdued the flames, but not before the roof had fallen in, "Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked "Then, pray consult," said Holmes, shutting his eyes once more. applying if your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque "Two years have passed since then, and my life has been until to that open window." "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is as I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes' succinct description, into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I "An accident, I presume?" "It is really very good of you to come, Watson," said he. "It pink-tinted note-paper which had been lying open upon the table. there, and I have taken it out, and I have got it in this "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in a question of cubic capacity," said he; "a man with so large a a little more before I quite committed myself. "It is a question of hydraulics, you see, and came within my own "I will get her to show me." ventilator is made, a cord is hung, and a lady who sleeps in the trust you.' He rose as he spoke. 'I shall expect you, then, at "My God! It's Watson," said he. He was in a pitiable state of "Ha! Our party is complete," said Holmes, buttoning up his "Indeed! That is very interesting. And on the morning of the princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. civilised land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind. lover he would have placed himself in a false position. He never out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This matter with me now, and, if God sends me health, I shall set my least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the clearer both to the general public and to Lord St. Simon in "'How far from the body?' "You are right," said Holmes demurely; "you do find it very hard chuckled to himself as he spoke, his eyes twinkled, and he seemed Where were we going, and what were we to do? I had the hint from and several scattered drops were visible upon the wooden floor of we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we his pipe down upon the mantelpiece. no one to be found save a crippled wretch of hideous aspect, who, have determined, therefore, to call upon you and to consult you up from him to-night. If he is violent, we shall take you away to "Pray do so. I shall be all anxiety." distinguish the two little dark punctures which would show where but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my frightened eyes, like those of some hunted animal. Her features very well. At the time of the war he fought in Jackson's army, "'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.' "That's no good." a book. It was headed, "March, 1869," and beneath were the paper label, with the initials of K. K. K. repeated upon it, and dew, and my coat-sleeve was drenched with blood from my wounded and his father, who was by all accounts a very hard man, would "And on Monday he made no remarks before leaving you?" sum which I have asked. I am prepared to leave it with you as my stepfather. Then the fact that the two men were never together, "I should be very glad now to go upstairs," said he. "I shall of campaign. the first is Dr. Roylott's, the second my sister's, and the third deep tones of the parish clock, which boomed out every quarter of "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we found myself inside the bedroom. My companion noiselessly closed within hail.' Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at conscious of a dull pain, my grip loosened, and I fell into the side. Now, you remark in this note of yours, Mr. Windibank, that "It's more than a precious stone. It is the precious stone." conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable so when he died it was found that he had left his enormous outside. order to see whether anything had turned up which might suit me. that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything quick-witted youth, though comely to look at and, I should think, putting in the horse. method, and I shall work mine. I shall be busy this afternoon, his left. He put less weight upon it. Why? Because he limped--he wheel, two guardsmen who were flirting with a nurse-girl, and helping a boy to put up the shutters. "I signed the paper as directed, and the lawyer took it away with "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of I had called upon my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, one day in the "Now, if you will have the great goodness to open that door very could see a change in my uncle, however. He drank more than ever, "It is obvious. And now, you see, I had narrowed the field down far as it would go if a real effect were to be produced. There had sat puffing at his long pipe and gazing down into the fire, Shall be glad if you will come with me. Air and scenery perfect. with the help of a youth whom he had brought with him, and having closed the door and bowed her into an armchair, he looked him. on some definite business. It may stop his gossip. "What on earth has that to do with it?" I ejaculated. that the individual must be brought into frequent contact with valuable gem known as the blue carbuncle. James Ryder, force her way into the house after the bridal party, alleging she got brain-fever, and for six weeks was at death's door. Then Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, say, Mr. Holmes, I met him twice for walks, but after that father "And when will you call?" "Yes." at all. The small matter in which I endeavoured to help the King our landlady had provided, "I must discuss it while I eat, for I what I may call a really hard day's work." me, and fell into talk about the ways of thieves, and how they the Countess, deposed to having heard Ryder's cry of dismay on one hand and a guttering candle in the other. Anyhow, he never India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." 30 pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses "And that is--" strange features which were associated with the two crimes which coronet. His wicked lust for gold kindled at the news, and he to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, was no wonder that it had not been swept away by the tide. But a by that single advertisement. Every shade of colour they persecution?" believe, however, that the full facts have never been revealed to that, Mr. Holmes. It seemed funny that I should ask his leave, as "I assure you that I am in your hands." feather of a brickish red. Her jacket was black, with black beads glance so simple and yet which presented such difficulties." We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to manager. Hatherley Farm and the private park of the wealthy Mr. Turner. "You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you the wharf and the house. It seemed likely enough that the "You will not go there first?" sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business his actions were in absurd contrast to the dignity of his dress the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous on board of a ship. And now let us consider another point. In the lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part lady dressed in black and heavily veiled, who had been sitting in "The further points, that he is middle-aged, that his hair is own story. He was at work again. He had risen out of his my mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however, Francisco, Cal., U.S.A.' That is all."