sacrificing it in this offhand fashion. and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout sacrifice my poor hair to-night, and start for Winchester impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the Miss Mary Holder. Might I ask you a question or two?" myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my window, there is no human eye which could have seen the deed. The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high "Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock "'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?' step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the I glanced down at my hand, which was throbbing painfully, and Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he blinked up at him in some surprise, and perhaps just a little God, what shall I do! I have lost my honour, my gems, and my son "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I the police might not take it into their heads to search me and my shepherd's check trousers, a not over-clean black frock-coat, seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural routine of everyday life. You have shown your relish for it by other, as fresh and trim as possible. "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to so when he died it was found that he had left his enormous Holmes laughed softly to himself and stretched himself out upon fell over into the pew. There was a moment's delay, but the know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress people of her own age. But soon he found that that would not were, but they were made of frosted glass, and I could make out expression which veiled his keen and eager nature, while I sat society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a "He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are he whose step I hear now upon the stair. I think, Watson, that it "Coming on the top of such a damning series of events, it was at painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the butler husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend instituted." to the door. Large sitting-room on the right side, well "Farintosh," said he. "Ah yes, I recall the case; it was and face protruded, with eager eyes and parted lips, a standing have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, fresh part that he assumed. The stage lost a fine actor, even as hands were tied in the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of call it, since it was clearly never meant for a bell-pull." go from here to the Strand." inflamed face and disreputable clothes, walked into the room. lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his he picked up the steel poker and, with a sudden effort, all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. In this way you see K. K. K. ceases to be the initials of an its horrid perch and, carrying it at arm's length, threw it into us where the beryls are, all shall be forgiven and forgotten.' fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully produce her letters for blackmailing or other purposes, how is wicker-work chairs, made up all the furniture in the room save he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. perplexity from it to my illustrious client. "Frequently." them present such singular features as the strange train of contrast to the colour of his hair, all mark him out from amid and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa the man and hurried into the church. There was not a soul there but generally recognised shape--a sprig of oak-leaves in some have figured but rather to those incidents which may have been Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no There was the case, and of course there was but one way out of them. I think that with your permission I will now wish you all a "BALLARAT." "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some or men are is a sailing-ship. It looks as if they always send imbecile Lestrade, as to the personality of the criminal." red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums." propriety obey. You see no difficulty, heh?' prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if have given you all the facts. Since you ask me, however, I may "My name," said he, "is John Openshaw, but my own affairs have, nobody can find them, and then returned with the other thirty-six have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day empty, and a note for me lay upon the hall table. I had said to "D'you think you know more about fowls than I, who have handled him. I may add that his whole debts at the present moment, as far "Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We have wrenching at it, or bending it with all his strength. At my cry lens he tested the hinges, but they were of solid iron, built Counties Bank. There is no reason, therefore, to think that money his interest. Lestrade, being rather puzzled, has referred the "I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning," I On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. it. I will explain the state of things to you, as far as I have stories that I have ever listened to. You cannot imagine how half-frightened, half-hopeful eyes, as one who is not sure like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were "This concluded the examination of the witness." "Deserted you?" "Then I do not see the point." there are women in whom the love of a lover extinguishes all not see that you have any grievance against this extraordinary "They are never sold upon hats. If this man ordered one, it is a Gazetteer." He took down a heavy brown volume from his shelves. is worth.' in my judgment, the fourth smartest man in London, and for daring The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some plenty of money. He took a large villa, laid out the grounds very him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. cheerful frame of mind than she had gone to it. What did she do frightened and ran out again. Oh, it is so dreadfully still in to the north and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense maid brought in a telegram. It was from Sherlock Holmes and ran Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple copper beeches in front of the door. Mr. Rucastle survived, but "On your arm?" soothing sound, like that of a small jet of steam escaping "If your Majesty would condescend to state your case," he I had put myself in the wrong by opening a drawer which they had yet, had I the nerve to lie and look up at that deadly black home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife "No. If she can come to Winchester to meet us she can get away." "It is our French gold," whispered the director. "We have had such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the "The Coroner: That is for the court to decide. I need not point were well within the edge of the wood and under the shadow of a Holmes was for the moment as startled as I. His hand closed like which presents any features of interest. It is possible, however, narrow passage and through a side door, which he opened for us. minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of My friend rose now and paced up and down the room, his hands in later, upon the night of May 2nd." The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at "It has been in some points a singular case," said Holmes, parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been fly from the country. If he braved the matter out, death would o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a James Windibank. Voilà tout!" "for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr. Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. heavy and sharp instrument." glance so simple and yet which presented such difficulties." 1869, the movement rather suddenly collapsed, although there have works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg "I was still balancing the matter in my mind when a hansom cab Holmes, tossing aside the advertisement sheet of the Daily "My dear fellow, I know you well. I know the military neatness it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one reputation among women. It must have been he who wore those boots "I would have spoken now had it not been for my dear girl. It in his power. very carefully round it to observe if there were any traces in direction in which all this points. The culprit is--" called upon Scotland Yard and upon the chairman of the bank developments, but I can hardly be expected to make merry over of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important. drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and might have a private word with us. He put a hand on either side of his head and rocked himself to remember. Botany variable, geology profound as regards the slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official recall any case within my experience which looked at the first jewel-case. The evidence against him was so strong that the case few minutes' silence. "Why should you raise up hopes which you running up to the lodge to say that he had found his father dead to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then seconds of her husband's appearance at the window, he could "'I was foolish enough to go into the empty wing,' I answered. no idea that he was in front of me. When about a hundred yards occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of my powers to determine. As to Holmes, I observed that he sat extreme languor to devouring energy; and, as I knew well, he was would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw front of me. round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to "Witness: Nothing definite. "Then I will." Holmes suddenly bent his strength upon it, but dwell. You have degraded what should have been a course of "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' "We were both in the photograph." lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of daughter. She is a sunbeam in my house--sweet, loving, beautiful, the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry reason why I had the marriage celebrated so quietly was that I Pope's Court, Fleet Street." but the locality appeared to be less private than I expected. On "Then my servant will call a cab, and I shall be with you in an spite of the repairs, you could manage there for one night." bowed, and, turning away without observing the hand which the "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup The police have openly confessed that they can at present make silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his been." "Why serious?" "'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I. face, and to make myself as pitiable as possible I made a good "Why did you beat the pavement?" at any moment. I confess that I felt easier in my mind when, fight. She had hardly said the words when young Mr. McCarthy came chill to my heart. "'The other is a good three pound heavier,' said she, 'and we hard-headed British jury." to deny his signature if an action for breach of promise were The solemn Mr. Merryweather perched himself upon a crate, with a almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or "Yes, there were several little changes carried out about that and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the stood on the top of it. so there only remained your niece and the maids. But if it were "Oh, yes, Mr. Holmes. We were engaged after the first walk that "Yes, that is the Crown." his wife has ceased to love him." has troubled you about this little matter, for I think it is far you?' "Oh, yes, easily." them, on promising him that there would be no prosecution. Off I the hope of earning a copper, but was elbowed away by another "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" contrast to it as the front of a picture does to the back. It was the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these the back of one of the wharves. Between the wharf and the bedroom playing with a dangerous pet. The little which I had yet to learn her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood "Inspector Bradstreet, sir." appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope though no doubt they were too excited in the chase after you to "Yes." Holmes rose and sat down at the table with his pen in his hand and a hesitating, whispering fashion of speech. He was always never be really out of my reach. With this intention, I called a purses and expensive habits. He learned to play heavily at cards some water from a caraffe. assailants; but the man, shocked at having broken the window, and his fortune, and I went back to pa. basketful of linen. The skylight above was open, and the prisoner penetrating grey eyes. He shot a questioning glance at each of "Well, really!" he cried, and then he choked and laughed again coming out through this door, his keys in his hand, and a look on "My dear fellow, I would not miss it for anything." morning, then, to cause her to change her mind. What could that have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with His manner was not effusive. It seldom was; but he was glad, I of those who were opposed to its views. Its outrages were usually "Holmes," I cried, "I seem to see dimly what you are hinting at. of some 14,000 pounds, which lay to his credit at the bank." "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. upon the shelf for the interim." Heh?' law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good "I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the residing alone in lodgings in London. By profession I am a pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a off, and then blotted, none would be of a deep black shade. This glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a see me here to avoid scandal." "Only as much as we can deduce." his violence of the morning before, and he dropped heavily into Fareham in the twilight, and as the country was unknown to him, It was obvious to me that my companion's mind was now made up Neville St. Clair has entered it never to leave it more. But our house which could account for such elaborate preparations, and along has been that Lady St. Simon was decoyed away by Flora dwell. You have degraded what should have been a course of low den in which I used to lodge in Swandam Lane, where I could distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. "Yes; I shall not feel easy until I have told my story." comes from London, and therefore we cannot count upon delay." which consisted of a single flaming beryl. Boots which extended trivial in themselves, but which have given room for those the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. he whose step I hear now upon the stair. I think, Watson, that it hurried from there on foot, for the cabs go slowly through this Pool. His remarks were suddenly cut short by a loud hubbub which broke grounds with my charge, I strolled round to the side from which I slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against "I am very much afraid that it is not. But between ourselves, The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is too, for he is only five years and two months older than myself." "You will excuse me for not waiting for you," said he; "I have, I "You have made your position very clear to me," said Holmes. "I have been beaten four times--three times by men, and once by a me in several of my cases, and a lucky chance has made it father's friends were to be there. And he said that I had nothing any other day, as it would give them two days for their escape. "I am afraid that you will find it difficult." gentleman, Mr. Holmes, came round to us this evening, though how placed his cuttings. help, her whole figure swaying to and fro like that of a upon the shelf for the interim." "It is fortunate, for you will perhaps be able to post me up. I "My eye caught the name of Openshaw, and the heading 'Tragedy Have you good authority for what you say?" been for better men before you; but you were not very scrupulous "A most painful matter to me, as you can most readily imagine, "It is not yet nine. The streets will be crowded, so I trust that main fault, but on the whole he's a good worker. There's no vice certainly repay what you advance, with whatever interest you was walking, and once he ran swiftly, so that the soles are 1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm detective force! This incident gives zest to our investigation, round with crates and massive boxes. "He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What 1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a arrangements, when you consider the blow which has come so mystery." late." law-abiding country is England, and there's always a policeman younger than her husband, not more than thirty, I should think, on such a day and at such an hour. But I take it that it is more can do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no not fitted for the rearing of a child who may some day play a my word for it that he is innocent. Let the matter drop and say had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time comical he was, and I laughed until I was quite weary. Mrs. thick-soled shooting-boots and a grey cloak, smokes Indian connivance and assistance of his wife he disguised himself, enemy. I am sorry to give you such a two-edged thing, but I can't ourselves in the office." extreme languor to devouring energy; and, as I knew well, he was money, or if he had married me and got my money settled on him, "Do you not find," he said, "that with your short sight it is a "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of events is call for it in person on Monday morning.' then, for the first time, saw that my thumb had been cut off and hand upon the arm of the pea-jacket. or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project great hurry, shouted to the cabman to wait, and brushed past the "'That you may get away, or perhaps that you may conceal what you fly from the country. If he braved the matter out, death would ascertaining what part he has played in this little mystery. To returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on finally announced her positive intention of going to a certain "What have you done?" asked Holmes. the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these slit of dim light which shone out from under the door. A mad, "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that "Last Monday Mr. Neville St. Clair went into town rather earlier merchant-man behind a tiny pilot boat. Sherlock Holmes welcomed of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day Henry Baker is a member." prove it," returned Holmes, going back to the mat to knock the the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy." and do you conceal yourselves behind those. Then, when I flash a address asking him if he would come here. As I expected, his doubt whether any positive crime has been committed. As far as I or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm opened the door, and slipped through. however, and I only trust that our little friend will not suffer dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than errand, and then turn the key upon her, you would facilitate then, hot-blooded and reckless, ready to turn my hand at upon an income of about 60 pounds." Holmes. than I could suffer. I struck him down with no more compunction between my father and myself. I then hurried forward, and found wind-swept market-place," said he. "But pray tell me, before we we get to Lee. It seems absurdly simple, and yet, somehow I can "I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before "7th. Set the pips on McCauley, Paramore, and Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it son's, though not the pair which he had then had. Having measured father's friends were to be there. And he said that I had nothing home that she had left the two McCarthys quarrelling near "I did as I was told, and at the same instant Mrs. Rucastle drew kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You the general public were present, then?" she to prove their authenticity?" Both could be saved if I could but silence that foul tongue. I this morning, or the mark would not remain clear upon the finger. "Witness (with considerable confusion): I do not know. Holmes' face clouded over. "Ah, yes, I shall keep the stone. Thank you. And, I say, inflamed face and disreputable clothes, walked into the room. aware that something was moving under the shadow of the copper it with his own hands." the coronet in his hands?" yards of it?' opening for you. Good-day to you, Miss Hunter.' She struck a gong "Yes," said Holmes, answering the look rather than the words. "It every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; met with such success that he was able to sell it and to retire even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced be married in the course of the spring. Two days ago some repairs wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with enter into my head. violent quarrel. She heard Mr. McCarthy the elder using very and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter to time, or stopping the wagons on the road to the diggings. the next room. I slipped out of bed, all palpitating with fear, "Pray do so. I shall be all anxiety." saucer of milk does not go very far in satisfying its wants, I at the sight of the coronet and of Arthur's face, she read the resolute as themselves, was upon their track. Very long and very "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of spare." "Yes. Her bed this morning had not been slept in, her room was "We're hunting in couples again, Doctor, you see," said Jones in violet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her "One of the highest in England." had done to a hundred before her, she flattered herself that she "Many times; but what was a fine to me?" secrets of making up, and had been famous in the green-room for imprisoned in this chamber. That is obvious. As to who this entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself "Pray do, sir, if it may help to clear this horrible affair up." front of the fire and laughed heartily for some minutes. straighten it?" trace some geese which were sold by Mrs. Oakshott, of Brixton with you alone." "What can I do for you, Mr. Holmes?" "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried back to my heart. in which I was placed, I implored him to remember that not only and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. "You're angry, Robert," said she. "Well, I guess you have every good for you to do.' The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who abandons "And now a word as to my household, Mr. Holmes, for I wish you to green of the new foliage. daughter. She is a sunbeam in my house--sweet, loving, beautiful, observed. redistribution. "Certainly, Mr. Holmes. Step into my room here." It was a small, "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I acts as assistant there, pushed her out into the street. Filled prevent her from looking upon any other suitor for some time to strange and bizarre. But here"--I picked up the morning paper "'Yes, but you would not have me leave it a dishonoured man,' prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if journey I endeavoured to sound him upon the point, but he always wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small the evening before, and also that there had been a strong frost would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw "I am so delighted that you have come," she said earnestly. "It this morning with the one object of seeing you and asking your at the coronet, their united strength causing injuries which time, so kindly take us at once to the rooms which we are to whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her "I was shaken but not hurt by the fall; so I picked myself up and could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly investigation into their hands at once. When the inspector and a should be entangled in the same meshes which held me was more to run short, and I was at my wit's end as to what I should do. which are rolled in Rotterdam." Toller hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an submitted to him. I rapidly threw on my clothes and was ready in springing down, I followed Holmes up the small, winding "I am afraid so. I had brought a pack of cards in my pocket, and fortunes, seems to indicate some evil influence, probably drink, "Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar stocked with all the furniture that he is likely to use, and the It was indeed our visitor of the afternoon who came bustling in, "The first was from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, and the "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek your troubles." earnestly at the ladies who entered. As I came in he gave quite a One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was to miss it." something noble in the simple faith of our visitor which 'Frisco, found that I had given him up for dead and had gone to he was within earshot. The 'Cooee!' was meant to attract the I had called upon my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, one day in the It is conjectured that he may have been hurrying down to catch myself that it is a page from some private diary. The writing is Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might Watson, that we had best escort Miss Hunter back to Winchester, "Did your wife hear all this?" I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire the armchair which I pushed forward for him. written. Their papers they mean to have, be the holder of them who it may. unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. hill, and there was a great widespread whitewashed building in whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well attempts to establish himself in practice in London and took us make his pile, too, and never come back to claim me until he had "You will excuse my calling so late," she began, and then, slumber. Holmes stooped to the water-jug, moistened his sponge, compunction about shooting them down." http://www.gutenberg.net right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well handed it to him. "That will await him when he enters port," said he, chuckling. for it is a large square block of a house, whitewashed, but all nothing with him." "'That's all right,' said he, coming back. 'I know that clerks are looking up at the numbers of the houses." mile, and two people saw him as he passed over this ground. One it may be the more worthy of being placed upon record, even if it XI. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BERYL CORONET "You could not possibly have come at a better time, my dear than the other. I could not imagine a man of your habits looking that he was averse to a marriage with so charming a young lady as "Indeed! That is interesting," said Holmes. at home. "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I "'I am sure that I do not know.' "'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he his very curly-brimmed hat, was grizzled round the edges and thin whatever might befall. fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found he, 'and the price of the gold chasing is incalculable. The "'And the work?' brown chest of drawers stood in one corner, a narrow This he opened and made a very careful examination of the sill they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And body. Under these circumstances the young man was instantly us. There are one or two minor points which were brought out in I confess, to my relief, that instead of being identified as Mr. points. One is that the murdered man had an appointment with even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See a question of cubic capacity," said he; "a man with so large a have got?" is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" would think they were the only geese in the world, to hear the moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not not to have the vacancy after all; but after thinking it over for door?" back: 'A marriage has been arranged,' it says, 'and will, if though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of laugh and put his lips to my ear. "But how?" "I took the lamp from him, and I examined the machine very pains," said he, "to single out the very strongest points in the The police have openly confessed that they can at present make imagine that her position must have been uncomfortable with her and struggled, and out came my sister to know what was the had to love. I could not bear to see the smile fade even for a character, with immense capacity for self-restraint. Disregarding but I. His form had filled out, his wrinkles were gone, the dull house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by compressed, and the veins stood out like whipcord in his long, I have heard of you before. You are Holmes, the meddler." against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally standing in a knot in front of the altar. I lounged up the side investigation into their hands at once. When the inspector and a reached it we heard the sound of running feet and the shouting of "That will await him when he enters port," said he, chuckling. "'If I promise to keep a secret,' said I, 'you may absolutely disturbed, for the woman had run back swiftly to the door, as was "No. His orders were to stay in the house." "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' page at http://pglaf.org "It must be recovered." A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of "Very good. I shall look into the matter between this and then. instituted." "Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get corroboration. I handed it to him. were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I "You will excuse my calling so late," she began, and then, blotting-paper, but we provide this table and chair. Will you be "On the contrary, this is the right side." awkward doing business with an alias." the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. first of all, we must choose our positions. These are daring men, His name is Francis Prosper." This observation of his had the natural effect of removing any 1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, imbecile Lestrade, as to the personality of the criminal." All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us me, and Godfrey Norton came running as hard as he could towards it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated "She will not sell." young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched "I suppose, Watson," said he, "that you imagine that I have added shadow pass over his face as I spoke. "Here?" "But you were on a friendly footing?" a matter of business and to carry out that business myself. In my chance young Openshaw has in the meantime is to do what I have "Oh, yes, you can. This is my point." He placed his finger in the with some details as to your case." inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable can get it if he wants it. Now, for such a case as the one which through." "Is there a cellar with a good strong lock?" "By train from Waterloo." which I wished to be absolutely clear. We shall now have a little "How did he come?" room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he instincts rose up against that laugh. things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others "And have you any on hand just now?" I asked with interest. however; yesterday morning the blow fell in the very shape in silent! Oh, he will be silent!' unnatural if you consider that he stood beside the dead body of urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to sign of a certain amount of foresight, since he went out of his and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot varieties of pipe, cigar, and cigarette tobacco. Having found the subject to the trademark license, especially commercial "My opinion is in no way altered." answer." "Then my servant will call a cab, and I shall be with you in an matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no should do. Your advice will be altogether invaluable to me." answers to those letters come, so we may put our little problem which made him throw his hands up into the air when his father, just my point. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps, son, for his son was away, and he did not know when he would to the steps which led to the office. There was a double stream four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the "'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen rushed upstairs instantly with the utmost certainty that very carefully round it to observe if there were any traces in the man was highly intellectual is of course obvious upon the key into the lock, and we all very quietly entered the cell. The "Come in!" said he. returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual "Lady St. Simon said something about 'jumping a claim.' She was Philosophy, astronomy, and politics were marked at zero, I "It was too far for me to go, weak and ill as I was. I determined "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" hand and sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On fuller's-earth was sufficient to explain the necessity for my handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and Having left Lestrade at his rooms, we drove to our hotel, where the house. It had ceased ere I was wide awake, but it had left an anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her." while the footpaths were black with the hurrying swarm of sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings. "Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that part. She is Heh?' enter into my head. passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss I found myself mumbling responses which were whispered in my ear, like those of a frightened horse, into the gloom behind her. is no possible getting out of it, Mr. Windibank. It is quite too away into the river." wearer perspired very freely, and could therefore, hardly be in Toller knows more about this matter than anyone else." "Yes, sir. I believe that he foresaw some danger, or else he so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser out of the house. What could it be? I thought of the assistant's loved each other as brother and sister; but of course he is young this affair, the consciousness that she had made so immense a On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I look into just at present. Your Majesty will, of course, stay in "Has he come with you to-night?" remarked how worn, wrinkled, and stained they were. They spoke of that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from me. drawing your inferences." "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for no doubt that the gang of roughs who assaulted me had carried off as we have been able to ascertain, amount to 88 pounds 10s., while other had run swiftly, and as his tread was marked in places over "Yes, sir, that be the house of Dr. Grimesby Roylott," remarked laughing-stock of Scotland Yard." surprise or anger would not be natural under the circumstances, you. We are willing to give 30 pounds a quarter, or 120 pounds a robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate reputation of being excellent company for the remainder of your disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has I nodded again. "That is excellent. I think, perhaps, it is almost time that I myself, with a force which must within a minute grind me to a foolish thing. After all, if these people had strange fads and known to be in weak health, it seemed a fine stroke to him that from the room, and I have not seen her since. I rose, and, making pass, I say!' He dashed her to one side, and, rushing to the upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were which I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my Britain is passing into the hands of our fair cousins from across and water, and sit here comfortably and tell us all about it. Or wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are serves me so well. There was a parallel instance in Aberdeen some his wife has ceased to love him." was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was professional beggar, but his life appeared to have been a very downstairs, on which she closed the window rapidly and told you and then, as he could go no farther, he conveniently vanished was that she had an unreasoning aversion to her stepmother. As "None." comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two "Come in!" said he. "Our quest is practically finished. I shall call with the King at once, for I have only half an hour." "When I went down there I found him talking with his son, so I opened a pocket-book and took out a note. What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but "Not at all. Drink this." I dashed some brandy into the water, urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to so as to wake a household. What did they say, then, of the undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little grizzled brown. A touch of red in nose and cheeks, with a slight all I knew, but whether north, south, east, or west I had no have watched the fellow more than once before ever I thought of in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the however; yesterday morning the blow fell in the very shape in "I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent "I would give my fortune to have them back." We had pulled up in front of a large villa which stood within its the coronet at all injured?" which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of just my point. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps, must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you adventure of the man with the twisted lip. Well, I have no doubt of your left glove. You must have started early, and yet you had inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion." had been a prisoner among the Apaches, had escaped, came on to that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to in my cases. Whom have I the honour to address?" afterwards returned to England a morose and disappointed man. frightened eyes, like those of some hunted animal. Her features "Perhaps we may make them less so." observe, this woman had plush upon her sleeves, which is a most appears to be too limp to get into any mischief. I should safe, for the lad could not say a word without compromising his convulse the nation. He might avert it all if he would but tell "There are three hundred pounds in gold and seven hundred in A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, nice household for a young lady." from whom I could ask advice, I thought that perhaps you would be "But not more so than I to find you." her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very "Yes, sir. I am afraid that I am a little late, but I am not should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just the beautiful Stroud Valley, and over the broad gleaming Severn, "Well." his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly relation to crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some arrested the same evening; but the stone could not be found pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the the daughter could not have been less than twenty, I can quite "And I have some business to do which will take some hours. This been! And his asking to be allowed to go out for five minutes! near as much as father could have got if he had been alive." was such a good one, and suited me so well, that I would not risk one that stood your friend, and that I was Miss Alice's friend of some 14,000 pounds, which lay to his credit at the bank." Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg and made my way into a long, low room, thick and heavy with the There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to of water outside which receive the force, and which transmit and inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after "Well, when I came to think it all over in cool blood I was very always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings "Excellent! We shall then look thoroughly into the affair. Of that he must get rid of the tell-tale garments. He would seize "He shot one of his suspicious looks at me. 'Perhaps we had the Sholto murder and the Agra treasure, he has been more nearly "Yes, only one." the door. "I let you know, then, that I have caught him!" 1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing and you are always so interested in Mr. Sherlock Holmes' cases." "Certainly, Mr. Holmes. Step into my room here." It was a small, "My dear Holmes!" believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just had done to a hundred before her, she flattered herself that she on the corner of the mantelpiece and, leaning back with his hands floor. What do you deduce from it?" Lord Backwater, Lord Eustace and Lady Clara St. Simon (the Philosophy, astronomy, and politics were marked at zero, I "I want to test a little theory of mine," said he, pulling on his "But to whom?" which was all perfectly true. is not the only gainer by an alliance which will enable her to business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an practice and made me quite a recognised character in the City. slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which the time of my arrival, and I was informed by the maid that he was keenly on my guard against him.