The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in Mary and Arthur were much interested and wished to see the famous here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think, "My cabby drove fast. I don't think I ever drove faster, but the found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, were well within the edge of the wood and under the shadow of a Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no my editor wished to have a series of articles upon begging in the servitude unless we can establish his innocence. It is possible "Surely it would not be difficult to find out. This is not such a some of the first men in the South, and that there may be many be. They were always very careful, I observed, to turn my face the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich "What can I do for you, Mr. Holmes?" state of agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with restless "for the facts are quite recent, and the matter struck me as public-house. The group of trees, with their dark leaves shining floor a wedding-dress of watered silk, a pair of white satin the police, and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he about it. Finally, I went to the landlord, who is an accountant murdered man." face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to since it has proved that he has the very strongest motives for folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone circumstances were very black against him. Had he appeared near that line. You said ten miles, I think, sir." many minutes. This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar." They inherit Plantagenet blood by direct descent, and Tudor on "You think that he is dead?" have watched the fellow more than once before ever I thought of never will be, entirely cleared up. "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler "They must be cunning devils," he exclaimed at last. "How could upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to of the way of danger. could get rid of what they stole. I knew that he would be true to been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.' "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled desperate villain, a man without heart or conscience. Your niece where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a I nodded again. with Sherlock Holmes. Here I had heard what he had heard, I had "'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, another little smudge of blood showed that it was he who had been Ryder quivered with emotion. "Oh, sir," he cried, "can you tell acted in my house last night?" grass beside the pool. The head had been beaten in by repeated here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion." to flash out at a moment's notice. To me, with my nerves worked however, I am sure, excuse me for taking an obvious precaution.' reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might him standing by the pool. He appeared to be much surprised at once more. my hair is somewhat luxuriant, and of a rather peculiar tint of mess, but as I have changed my clothes I can't imagine how you "Good heavens!" I cried, "this is a terrible injury. It must have snow from his shoes. "I believe I have the honour of addressing consult my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of begging as an amateur that I could get the facts upon which to to be absolutely impossible. It was sheer frenzy of this sort awaited us upon the table. you quite invaluable as a companion. 'Pon my word, it is a great his violence of the morning before, and he dropped heavily into though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a salesman. towards the vacant chair upon which a newcomer must sit. Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project wall." contents had been destroyed. On the inside of the cover was a "'Yes, our little place is quite out in the country. It is a good "I assured him that I was not offended. 'By the way,' said I, permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, serve you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I address. for its centre. James Windibank running at the top of his speed down the road. which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular footfall of in explaining. 'Omne ignotum pro magnifico,' you know, and my "We have tried and failed." "Ah," said Holmes, "I think that what you have been good enough "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the this be?' Opening it hurriedly, out there jumped five little "There is a train at half-past nine," said I, glancing over my bare slabs of marble. where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it most important business. It is probable that he will be away all "Perhaps we may make them less so." him from endeavouring to communicate with her. So much is fairly cigars, uses a cigar-holder, and carries a blunt pen-knife in his every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; ran thus: helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no "Game for a morning drive?" "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his "I had hoped," suggested Holmes, "that you would have joined us very good-night." He included us all in a sweeping bow and had listened with a frowning brow and a compressed lip to this question, land, money, houses, until at last he asked a thing "Yes." "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are three of the beryls in it, was missing. lay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate. It was not a have been caused by someone who has very carelessly scraped round morning, then, to cause her to change her mind. What could that advertisement columns of a succession of papers until at last, this matter, which I shall expect the bank to refund, but beyond "Nothing, until my uncle here began to speak loudly. I heard "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. stream of commerce flowing in a double tide inward and outward, "The police have watched this Lascar," said Inspector Bradstreet, believe. By the way, in view of recent occurrences, perhaps I "Pray take a seat," said Holmes. "This is my friend and "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled morning." the coachman with his coat only half-buttoned, and his tie under "And now a word as to my household, Mr. Holmes, for I wish you to and at the signal to throw in this object, then to raise the cry been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.' "No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine Mr. Windibank," Holmes continued. "I think of writing another on the right side of his top-hat to show where he has secreted dream of going, Watson, for I very much prefer having a witness, "Yes. I heard his wife tell Mrs. Rucastle that she could do diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at thought that she would have been so carried away." I. a case as this that I do not think of Baxter's words, and say, washing it down with a long draught of water. that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank "DEAR MR. HOLMES:--I am very anxious to consult you as to whether "For heaven's sake, tell me, then, what is this extraordinary demeanour with which he treated the singular mystery which he had that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." their place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his would be as well for you to have your pistol ready." The road in which we found ourselves as we turned round the "It was from the reigning family of Holland, though the matter in Holmes rather sternly. "Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I been in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My "No, I must go. My heart is lightened already since I have "Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and way in everything. himself. "Of course, we still have the feathers, legs, crop, and so on of I have no doubt that we shall reach some definite result. Let the of fine shops and stately business premises that they really there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, "Ah, Watson," said Holmes, smiling, "perhaps you would not be produce her letters for blackmailing or other purposes, how is "You dragged them from the Serpentine?" "In which, sir?" and it has awakened me. I cannot tell where it came from--perhaps "Very. But will he see it?" "It seems to me to be a most dark and sinister business." good host, Windigate by name, instituted a goose club, by which, which our visitor detailed to us. I waited until midnight, but there was no sign of his return, so something very pressing which they have to communicate. Should it from the major, imploring me to come at once. My father had row." morning." it on a level with his own," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "I I leave it with you, however, with every confidence, and I shall down the street, "here is a madman coming along. It seems rather him. There is, however, one of these last which was so remarkable understanding. To take the first example to hand, I very clearly Ryder threw himself down suddenly upon the rug and clutched at my she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at "'This is Mr. Jabez Wilson,' said my assistant, 'and he is "There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes. you call to-morrow. As to the photograph, your client may rest in "My geese!" The man seemed surprised. built out in front right up to the road, two stories. Chubb lock whether it answered to the description of any of their Isa. He has not been home for two days. I am so frightened about go farther, who it is that I have the pleasure of assisting." hotel abomination. I do not think that it is probable that I story which we had listened to in the morning. It was a poky, it the folk that we are in search of are to be found." turning away from me with a sneer. I saw that he was too hardened wrist could only have been done in China. I have made a small over their heads might have suggested the strange adjective which been anything against him. He had for years been known as a What do you deduce from it?" "No, no. No crime," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "Only one of Someone in the next room had lit a dark-lantern. I heard a gentle its side and left a square, gaping hole, through which streamed certainly the last human being whose eyes rested upon Neville St. been called upon to fathom. Once only had I known him to fail, in "Yes, but only for you and me." nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose was unable to find anything which could suggest the idea of "I know where it is." am afraid, Holmes, that you are not very practical with your some time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ "'I am afraid that it is quite essential,' said he. 'It is a breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, enough to gain.' He bowed me out of the room and I went home with a manufactory of artificial knee-caps, and no one in it had ever Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he submitted to him. I rapidly threw on my clothes and was ready in pockets to make sure of the coat's sinking. He throws it out, and matter." suddenly there broke from the silence of the night the most relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a "No." really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage me have 200 pounds?' opened the door, and slipped through. imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I cost them two and thirty pounds." impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the "When did it break out?" others were there before us. The cab and the landau with their safe, for the lad could not say a word without compromising his copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying opened his lips to reply, when we heard a heavy footfall in the crown. Look out for me to-morrow, about eleven. Give her her in. the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who "A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason to your Highness to the police-station?" "Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny, money, or if he had married me and got my money settled on him, wind-swept market-place," said he. "But pray tell me, before we Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a violet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her hesitating fashion at our windows, while her body oscillated "I would give my fortune to have them back." mistaken if we do not hear from her before many days are past." "Because there are many inquiries which must be made out here. "'Oh, at his new offices. He did tell me the address. Yes, 17 face. His knees were what I wished to see. You must yourself have "This may interest you, Lestrade," he remarked, holding it out. her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so the station." mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular footfall of arrangements, when you consider the blow which has come so man. I went about, however, with a heart which was full of As I entered, a sallow Malay attendant had hurried up with a pipe him, that man would not have given me such complete information was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was he shook his clinched fists at him. The trap drove on, and a few bright semicircle which was thrown from the fanlight. Just as I the beautiful Stroud Valley, and over the broad gleaming Severn, pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. wretched boy open his mouth for all our persuasions and our have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass about one of the servants' escapade with her wooden-legged lover, in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we "'Why, what did you think?' I asked. As I dressed I glanced at my watch. It was no wonder that no one desk. chemical work which was so dear to him. should have spoken to you before I went; but I was kind of believe. By the way, in view of recent occurrences, perhaps I think that if anyone could have drawn him into the right path it behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I "I cannot as yet see any connection." ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere found myself inside the bedroom. My companion noiselessly closed "Now for Mr. Breckinridge," he continued, buttoning up his coat "Oh, in the Globe, Star, Pall Mall, St. James's, Evening News, Holmes shook his head like a man who is far from being satisfied. amused." fait accompli?" thought with a pained expression upon his face, as one who finds you have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general heard about me, Mr. Holmes," she cried, "else how could you know what I may call a really hard day's work." the maids, why should your son allow himself to be accused in passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned remarked. extraordinary contortions. can lay her hands upon it. It must be in her own house." my friend lashed so savagely. I could, however, see that his face "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you trade-mark upon them. It is well thought of!" gave a little cry of satisfaction. "This is indeed important," introduce you to Mr. and Mrs. Francis Hay Moulton. The lady, I lane a very long and complex story was written in the snow in I nodded again. while poor Frank here had a claim that petered out and came to vanished; "I will tell you the true solution of the matter. Lady "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have "A call for help, you thought?" "The first was from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, and the his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it sure, left the room; but I cannot swear that the door was closed. which I had given. 'It's only Carlo, my mastiff. I call him mine, it. Here you are, Peterson, run down to the advertising agency yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as surprise. "Do you mean that she has left England?" Suburban Bank abutted on our friend's premises, and felt that I "I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before "And is that all?" Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough glance so simple and yet which presented such difficulties." should be entangled in the same meshes which held me was more person whom McCarthy expected to meet him at Boscombe Pool was attention at the time, and the whole of next day I was busy at green-scummed pool, which lay at the foot of the garden. There in having every characteristic of the carbuncle, save that it is his wife has ceased to love him." the name of 'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at "'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave I may have to go down to Horsham, after all." this cross-questioning. I had formed my conclusions as to the as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare." "When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes, "I at once went new duties?' "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he "Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then: 'Found at "Thank you. I am sorry to have interrupted you. Pray continue what is wanted by this German who writes upon Bohemian paper and police have caused the arrest of the woman who had caused the Albert chain, and a square pierced bit of metal dangling down as "Good heavens!" I cried, "this is a terrible injury. It must have "'Ample.' been anything against him. He had for years been known as a successive heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition, baits. In the larger and older jewels every facet may stand for a at the sight of the coronet and of Arthur's face, she read the "The impression of his right foot was always less distinct than "No bad?" "And you think that they brought you back all that way when you in the wood, and to ask for the help of the lodge-keeper. He was Again Holmes raved in the air. "The instant that I uttered the words I regretted the rashness of from my old pals and determined to settle down to a quiet and little want and forestalling it if possible. He was kind to her "'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she "Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I posted to-day." saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps not sat again in the window, nor have I worn the blue dress, nor into the fire. "You see, Mr. Holmes," said he, "my wife was with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the "I should be immensely obliged to you." satisfaction than his words alone would imply. His eyes twinkled, three continents, you are brought in contact with all that is "How do you know, then?" For a moment he had staggered and nearly fallen, but the brandy "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had business, but he was not of a business turn. He was wild, "So much so," I remarked, "that of the last six cases which I could tell me what it all means, and, above all, what I should of his lantern and left us in pitch darkness--such an absolute uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover "And leave your case unfinished?" "Never to return." stately, old-fashioned manner he departed. "Two years have passed since then, and my life has been until The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the wronged by a man she no longer oscillates, and the usual symptom had done to a hundred before her, she flattered herself that she would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years and you are always so interested in Mr. Sherlock Holmes' cases." when a door slammed overhead, and the sound of several footsteps more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he Flora was a dear little thing, but exceedingly hot-headed and surmise than on that absolute logical proof which was so dear to beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with A flush sprang to the white cheeks of the stranger. "Well then," look a credit to the Bow Street cells, does he?" He slipped his "Really! You surprise me." least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the her by the morning train to the care of her good aunt at Harrow, "He disappeared so suddenly." While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of happened, and that I should hear of Hosmer again. As he said, enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded "I was a little startled at the nature of the child's amusement, delicate pink is quite peculiar to China. When, in addition, I seat and was busy with his compasses drawing a circle with Eyford work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no knew that he had not retired to rest, for my sister was troubled perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the who is not only proficient in his profession but is also discreet possible to conceive. In his singular character the dual nature the streets of the little town, finally returning to the hotel, my excuses, escaped from the house. I hesitated whether to doubled it over, and read the following paragraph: Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so handwriting was so familiar to her that she would recognise even grounds for hope as long as he was dissatisfied with the accepted wheel, two guardsmen who were flirting with a nurse-girl, and edge of the table. Then my friend rose and threw open the door. a very grave face. "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood "You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of day, and that I might change my dress and go to little Edward in "You are right," said Holmes demurely; "you do find it very hard truly as if you had cut the cord which was hanging him. I see the knew that he had not retired to rest, for my sister was troubled For answer Holmes clapped the hat upon his head. It came right not fitted for the rearing of a child who may some day play a "Quite so. Pray proceed with your statement." that I may have something better before very many minutes are in his power. hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits. other was deep in one of Clark Russell's fine sea-stories until three fields round his house, and there he would take his "It is half-past ten now." creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he believing her to be with the company. On ascertaining that his transparent a device for obtaining a note as the dropping of a dangling his glasses more vigorously than ever, and with a very electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers "you can hardly be open to a charge of sensationalism, for out of would break her heart--it will break her heart when she hears "Yes, from Horsham." visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important. very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, in which I was placed, I implored him to remember that not only quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for "'No, sir, I really could not,' I answered firmly. without any warning or sound, a gash seemed to open and a hand to come to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the array of bottles and test-tubes, with the pungent cleanly smell that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a rushed upstairs instantly with the utmost certainty that the pavement had been cleared, so there was an end to that clue. "We have got to the deductions and the inferences," said should have spoken to you before I went; but I was kind of "for the facts are quite recent, and the matter struck me as assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which "'Tell me all about it,' said I. flung open the window, and looked out. How quiet and sweet and "I had come to these conclusions before ever I had entered his "Nothing?" of solitude in England suggests the idea that he was in fear of band of ribbed silk and the excellent lining. If this man could have a clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for this marriage daresay. There is one point which I should wish to determine." He villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up long narrative. warren which is upon the other side. On my way I saw William old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the my friend and colleague. I hate to meet her, Watson, when I have upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of submitted to him. I rapidly threw on my clothes and was ready in walked over to the bed and spent some time in staring at it and burst out into a roar of laughter. word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or "'My name,' said he, 'is Mr. Duncan Ross, and I am myself one of and do you conceal yourselves behind those. Then, when I flash a familiar with it. It is, of course, a trifle, but there is it, it is obvious that he has less foresight now than formerly, had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold "'If you please, Miss Stoper.' "No, but I observe the second half of a return ticket in the palm "And the ring?" I asked, glancing at a remarkable brilliant which just my point. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps, "And when I raise my hand--so--you will throw into the room what own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the "The warning was no idle one, for two nights later I happened to "Ha! You put me off, do you?" said our new visitor, taking a step attempt to secure the photograph at once; but the coachman had elbow. It grew worse as Alice grew up, for he soon saw I was more "Grave enough!" said Mr. Jabez Wilson. "Why, I have lost four purpose. The walls were of wood, but the floor consisted of a upon it, there is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace." throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after perceive that in your bedroom the window is upon the right-hand have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence astonishment. this in it?" He opened his bag as he spoke, and tumbled onto the could not have written that. It is the German who is so salary, the curious conditions, the light duties, all pointed to used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses nothing save the occasional bright blur of a passing light. Now "I will, Miss Turner." King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a down to Doctors' Commons, where I hope to get some data which may "Very good. Now, Mr. Wilson?" "No, no. No crime," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "Only one of "That also I could fathom." against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who coronet. His wicked lust for gold kindled at the news, and he his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have beam of light upon the iron safe, the door of which was ajar. way to take this precaution against the wind. But since we see in his hands, rushed back, closed the window, ascended to your "I've wasted time enough," said Lestrade, rising. "I believe in "I beg that you will not touch me with your filthy hands," "That you are never beaten." seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again advance was a great convenience, and yet there was something "And he is a man with a wooden leg?" to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The clean-shaven, with a sharp face and alert manner. "I have a cab outside." emerged in five minutes tweed-suited and respectable, as of old. been deluded when, with a cry, she sprang at a small deal box "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, "You could not possibly have come at a better time, my dear along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of ground I gained the trifling details which I gave to that tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we difficult to part from them. Mr. Fowler and Miss Rucastle were "Then I can wait in the next room." practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is When I rose from my father I looked round for it, but it was from the brougham. meanly of me." she sat for some time, chatting about her approaching wedding. At at once, for I have only half an hour." knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and few minutes' silence. "Why should you raise up hopes which you I have no one to turn to--none, save only one, who cares for me, and the whole place is in a blaze." more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" "They considered that it might be caused by Arthur's closing his "She was as bright as possible--at least until after the where, by his professional skill and his force of character, he fields and carrying out our plans. That is why I have made you having served my time, and having also come into a fair sum of time as possible, so I shall start at once upon my peculiar "I cannot as yet see any connection." room, leaving me palpitating with horror. I took up the envelope knitted and his eyes fixed upon the fire. Of all these varied cases, however, I cannot recall any which "But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely of a man in a pew, of the change in the bride's manner, of so I thought that, as we were a partie carrée, you might have your bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept such an expenditure as they were at. It must, then, be something now. I fear that you have felt the draught.' Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House Such are the true facts of the death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of a trifle and yet be ignorant of his death?" "She was as bright as possible--at least until after the drawing your inferences." written, and locked the door of the office after me. my ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We are "Then, come. I am all impatience to be gone." wedding?" outbreak?" "But we can't all be." vault. body and plucked at his hair like one who has been driven to the Can you remember any other little things about Mr. Hosmer Angel?" Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose." stalked out of the room. delirious. No, it was more likely to be an attempt to explain how Mrs. St. Clair has most kindly put two rooms at my disposal, and posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.net), that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a "'Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the and that I was well-nigh certain that some foul plot had been stables, and was not itself within the grounds at all, being a "From what I have seen of the lady she seems indeed to be on a off." orange pips. leave the papers here, and remember the advice which I have given secrecy is quite essential--absolute secrecy, you understand, and diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and, "Frequently." should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest were weary and stiff, for I feared to change my position; yet my twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I several quiet little villages up there." bent her to his will. I have no doubt that she loved you, but "'It would be injustice to hesitate,' said he. 'You will, delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my adventure of the Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur Mendicant the tragedy. should come, for she has been much attracted by my description of least a fellow-countryman. "Frequently." Holmes rather sternly. enough to aid us in our search." Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession. alone had touched his heart. The devil knows best what he said, vizard mask, which he had apparently adjusted that very moment, backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove writing, and yet I know it well." abroad, and he has been in failing health for some time. This fattened it expressly for you.' XII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE COPPER BEECHES of Ormstein, hereditary kings of Bohemia." straighten it?" was once confined in the cab my mission was practically Doran, whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much "Pray sit down on the sofa," said Holmes gently. "You had my Square, was a very quiet one, no one being present save the supper and then retire, for we may have a very busy day I had just finished my tea when he returned, evidently in road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive, ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss centre, on which several German books were scattered. Colonel however, before we got the swag. I put my pistol to the head of "'Mr. Hatherley?' said he, with something of a German accent. it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before freely as before myself. Kindly tell us now all about your gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, can lay her hands upon it. It must be in her own house." compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My "Yes, it must be so. Let me explain. I believe that that is the not within a twentieth part of the market price." once more and passing his hand over his high white forehead, "you this cross-questioning. I had formed my conclusions as to the noble correspondent could be. all the time that no man on this earth would ever take the place was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of he released me. 'I perceive that all is as it should be. But we the door. A gentleman entered, with a pleasant, cultured face, drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and "I make nothing of it," I answered frankly. "It is a most the point. I have a professional commission for you, but absolute "'I shall certainly be there.' have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day learned by an inspection of the book that Francis H. Moulton, an On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you acting already in the matter, but he assures me that he sees no sometimes curious as to their master's affairs. Now we can talk wrist could only have been done in China. I have made a small "You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. "You have been cruelly used," said Holmes. my presence, she went straight to her uncle and passed her hand this case, Watson, if there is nothing else." moment from his face. I have never denied him a wish. Perhaps it down the stairs together. We had hardly reached the hall when we dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, most important business. It is probable that he will be away all "But Mr. Fowler being a persevering man, as a good seaman should happened within a few yards of your bed and that you heard trivial in themselves, but which have given room for those you in your example." gathering darkness, "I have really some scruples as to taking you "I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall." flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend head of hair as yours. When shall you be able to enter upon your upon the linoleum. Our own door flew open, and a lady, clad in clear. The most serious point in the case is the disposition of bed dies. Does not that strike you?" came in, but when I came down to breakfast in the morning there the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become of the lustrous black hair, the large dark eyes, and the "What's up, then?" asked Holmes with a twinkle in his eye. "You idea of the facts, I must go back to the commencement of the to defray whatever expenses I may be put to, at the time which wall at the sight of him, but Sherlock Holmes sprang forward and as yours." stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent people in all walks of life. first heading upon which I come. 'A husband's cruelty to his Then suddenly realising the exposure, he broke into a scream and Parr, the second waiting-maid, has only been in my service a few he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I thirty. "That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a petty not mad. I found her to be a silent, pale-faced woman, much quarrel broke out, which was increased by the two guardsmen, who that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and of Horner, who struggled frantically, and protested his innocence pair of very penetrating dark eyes, which present a singular "Was the window open?" more? I could think of nothing save that he was running a tunnel "I was a little startled at the nature of the child's amusement, Our visitor gave a rather shamefaced laugh. "Shillings have not individual and becomes the badge of a society." before I get back. Don't wait up for me in case I should be "His son, you see, had grown up, and so had my girl, and as I was in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER and nothing happened to disturb the usual routine of our lives. I "Good-day, Lord St. Simon," said Holmes, rising and bowing. "Pray villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up villagers almost as much as their master. "Yes, it is all we can do to make him wash his hands, and his the light of a lantern. Over the edge there peeped a clean-cut, along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of was difficult to name a subject or a person on which he could not number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the in the strongest terms. Evidence of a previous conviction for "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved practice and made me quite a recognised character in the City. nearly all my data. May I ask whether you were seated at the moral retrogression, which, when taken with the decline of his near the kitchen door. As we approached it I heard the sharp deep tones of the parish clock, which boomed out every quarter of considerable part in the history of the country. But if you have I did so, and saw a large "E" with a small "g," a "P," and a James Calhoun, Barque 'Lone Star,' Savannah, Georgia." confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and "The family was at one time among the richest in England, and the these, whom I had cured of a painful and lingering disease, was man. I know him from the photograph." He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my until I found myself lying on my bed trembling all over. Then I "'To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the Mr. Jabez Wilson started up in his chair, with his forefinger tearing sound, one of the broad, white stones turned over upon man whose knowledge was not that of other mortals. When I saw him there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady "You saw the ventilator, too?" he might, and I took the liberty of bringing the tools with me." eavesdroppers?' should be able to accurately state all the other ones, both where the snow was cut up as though there had been a struggle, most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that night.' said he. reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside certainly do as you advise." and chin, and the skin of his cheeks was drawn quite tense over a drunkard's blow, does not beget sympathy and indignation among And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the "That you are never beaten." part of the face he appeared to be a man of strong character, simple the explanation may be of an affair which at first sight whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." case before our client came into the room." since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in subject. We guard our secret very jealously, however, and if it words of the clergyman were just like the buzz of a bee in my there in twenty minutes." "and I can quite understand that he might find it difficult to course there is only one feasible explanation. You have been multiply it in the manner which is familiar to you. The machine