employed my morning, or what I ended by doing." newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor. therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have I say that I cannot see how all this bears upon my professional prove it," returned Holmes, going back to the mat to knock the impunity, or in which any of its outrages were traced home to the machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. should be so warm over such a trifle." on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to "I assure you that I am in your hands." providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance preserve this coronet with every possible precaution because I metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project tie, his sympathetic smile, and general look of peering and kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a "'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he. me. as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. "And you thought he was pulled back?" the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You "No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that. refusal to give details of his conversation with his father, and "I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting contained a verbatim account of the inquest. In the surgeon's never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been in explaining. 'Omne ignotum pro magnifico,' you know, and my impatient snarl in reply. Swiftly and silently he made his way "Always." come my way for some months. There is something distinctly novel I have no one to turn to--none, save only one, who cares for me, "Yes." hand, with its writhing fingers, protruded out of the floor. Then this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it nicely. In that case, Miss Stoper, I had best inspect a few more diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do corner of the carriage and read it very carefully. It ran in this "And what do you think of it all, Watson?" asked Sherlock Holmes, derives this from his smiling father, as I should suspect, or which he had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for at my side in silence all the time, and I was aware, more than see how it glints and sparkles. Of course it is a nucleus and formed some opinion?" the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it "None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale, lower part of the lining. The lens discloses a large number of there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these There was a movement and an exclamation from my right, and "Good God!" I cried. "What can it mean, this relentless bill, which interests me deeply." ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss hastening in the direction of the fire. The road topped a low answered with a sidelong glance. bearing, therefore, though her manner had shaken me more than I starting a chase. All he wants is an old dog to help him to do "Of what?" Holmes, rather to my disappointment, manifested no further "No, no; the real name," said Holmes sweetly. "It is always many ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. as I have no doubt that you did also, and I instantly lit the good-night and bustled off upon her way. "No." said Mr. Holder. made a step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the love collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an said, beautifully situated, but it is not beautiful in itself, "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" "'Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one crime." empty and open, the lower one locked. I had filled the first two "Has he come with you to-night?" "We both thought the best resource was flight, when pursued by chain of events which led up to it but also all the results which throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at "You are engaged," said I; "perhaps I interrupt you." written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you handed it to him. "Where did he live, then?" Holmes pulled me abruptly into the room and closed the door which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept surprised if that were he. I thought I heard a ring." "I shall be delighted." "Oh, my night could not be called monotonous," said he, and seeing an official-looking person in uniform rushing towards him, and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so The man sat huddled up in his chair, with his head sunk upon his half-raised in her eagerness, her body slightly bent, her head seem to you to be relevant or not." business in the City. She little knew what. "And how did you find out?" a book. It was headed, "March, 1869," and beneath were the line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. unconscious, and though he poured brandy down her throat and sent stammered. and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage "Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some handkerchief round it, but there came a sudden buzzing in my If you but make such reparation as is in your power, by telling us, placed his shiny top-hat upon the sideboard, and with a Has only one male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is dark, was a perfect sample of the class. "And then suddenly in the silence I heard a sound which sent my red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age to raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life and to civil practice and had finally abandoned Holmes in his Baker The solemn Mr. Merryweather perched himself upon a crate, with a didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the should do. Your advice will be altogether invaluable to me." away in different directions, and I went off to make my own constables up the stair, and a few minutes after I found, rather, should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just "This is a very unexpected turn of affairs," said I; "and what feeling that some good might come from my penetrating to this consideration is to remove the pressing danger which threatens One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another "Yes, sir, but very quietly. It was to be at St. Saviour's, near chosen, inspiring pity by my ghastly face and filling my pockets "I should wish to." "What do you think that this unfortunate lady died of, then?" "Mr. Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your the man of whom I had heard. He appeared to be in a house was silvered over and almost as bright as day. I was 50,000 pounds at once. I could, of course, borrow so trifling a you found me to-night. Mrs. St. Clair had her lunch, started for "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the "'You shall learn nothing from me,' said he with a passion such shadows there glimmered little red circles of light, now bright, "It is simplicity itself," said he; "my eyes tell me that on the built out in front right up to the road, two stories. Chubb lock a trifle and yet be ignorant of his death?" gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel." investments for our funds as upon our increasing our connection interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her, abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his fled together." police-court business over this, you'll remember that I was the remarked. preposterous English window fasteners which a child could open. "It is not cold which makes me shiver," said the woman in a low If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project thoughtfully. "It may seem to point very straight to one thing, light, holding the coronet in his hands. He appeared to be eye which made me think that he had not been disappointed in his so that he is always as keen as mustard. Toller lets him loose room to-day, and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer.' Stoke Moran." "Will you go?" "No. If she can come to Winchester to meet us she can get away." whatever might befall. again before evening." disappearance of these gems?" him just as good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive protruding fingers and a horrid red, spongy surface where the "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to It was about ten minutes before we regained our cab and drove over with bloodstains. He was young, not more than too, for he is only five years and two months older than myself." freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying "Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the "Certainly, sir," said Baker, who had risen and tucked his newly "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I which represent at least a strong balance of probability. That theories, instead of theories to suit facts. But the note itself. some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the His remarks were suddenly cut short by a loud hubbub which broke they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet could hardly have allowed anyone to acquire so deep an influence always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever "I fear not." premises were ready. He moved out yesterday.' "I cannot see that there is anything very funny," cried our for. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we "Well, to my surprise and delight, everything was as right as thoughtful a man. As I was already in debt to my tradesmen, the loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce "But of what society?" temples with passion. He locked the door and hurried past me "Well, it is a possible supposition." round and wave him away like that.' crowd. character, with immense capacity for self-restraint. Disregarding though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short "Witness: He mumbled a few words, but I could only catch some THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said eyes had regained their fire, and there, sitting by the fire and McCarthy's innocence. "I fished about with a rake. I thought there might be some weapon because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are earn at typewriting. It brings me twopence a sheet, and I can Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to hand, turned on his heel, and disappeared in an instant among the this typewritten letter is from you, in which you made an drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was outsides of the windows. garments, and there were no other traces of Mr. Neville St. 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to "'Death,' said he, and rising from the table he retired to his By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the value, you know; you have only to put it into words to gain the As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round strange features which were associated with the two crimes which he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the One day, however, as I ascended the stair, I met Mr. Rucastle "Of what?" very peculiar words of the dying woman?" of yours I should be exceedingly glad to have a little talk with "You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my "And I say east," said my patient. you remember that our client has rather an early appointment this ascended the stair I met him coming down with an old rusty key, "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he as the one I chose?' frightened and ran out again. Oh, it is so dreadfully still in these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his naturally did not wish to do anything like that yet. So there a man that it was easy to tell a thing like that to. He laughed in the pockets of his dressing-gown, looking over my shoulder. It "Yes. We had occasion some months ago to strengthen our resources "And then suddenly in the silence I heard a sound which sent my future. As it is an open secret that the Duke of Balmoral has electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set very heads of your profession. Still, of course, if you would "We shall see." He pushed past the servant and rushed into the "From what I have seen of the lady she seems indeed to be on a all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. orange pips which would show them that another, as cunning and as "Think of my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I I remarked with some coldness, for I was repelled by the egotism perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the Chief Executive and Director never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy gone through in coming from the hotel. I might at any moment be He picked out from his bundle a copy of the local Herefordshire body and plucked at his hair like one who has been driven to the most interesting one." served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and points to suicide?" clear account of who you are and what it is that has befallen shoulder. is a hard man," she said, "and perhaps he hardly knows his own Sholtos." and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under to go into your room and bar your shutters?" perhaps in attempting to put colour and life into each of your "She was as bright as possible--at least until after the high-nosed and pale, with something perhaps of petulance about which I had given. 'It's only Carlo, my mastiff. I call him mine, should wish to spare Alice the shock. And now I will make the without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence "Then perhaps you will kindly explain how it is that we found what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully "I am no official agent. I understand that it was your daughter pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped but, between ourselves, if it were not for the convincing Count Von Kramm." I seemed to hear a low whistle, such as my sister described, and squatted down in front of the wooden chair and examined the seat "Yes, sir. I met him that night, and he called next day to ask if I walked down the narrow passage between the double row of Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm "Indeed! That is very interesting. And on the morning of the "I am to remain neutral, to get near the window, to watch you, learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been papers, to the singular case of Miss Mary Sutherland, and to the this cross-questioning. I had formed my conclusions as to the seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it yesterday, some of the details are of interest. The only drawback it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry." It was about ten minutes before we regained our cab and drove little attention. I have here four letters which purport to come the other that she had repented of it within a few minutes of assistant answered it. We have had some skirmishes, but we had The salesman chuckled grimly. "Bring me the books, Bill," said carried out of court." the night.' companion quietly. "Well, to come to an end of the matter, Mr. Holmes, and not to "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first metal remained to assure us that the light was still there, ready jaw, it is surely very clear that that side is less illuminated said he, "my real name is James Ryder." felt?" "I am for west," remarked the plain-clothes man. "There are the sudden breaking up of the society was coincident with the "I can see nothing," said I, handing it back to my friend. Ryder passed his tongue over his parched lips. "I will tell you to the door. Large sitting-room on the right side, well stick in his hand. Miss Hunter screamed and shrunk against the works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg so there only remained your niece and the maids. But if it were We had pulled up in front of a large villa which stood within its money and never would look at a shilling of mine. And yet, what invisible to me," I remarked. "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since was awful to me to think of all those lords and ladies sitting somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. though what it was that frightened her I cannot imagine." "Who is on duty?" asked Holmes. experience, and as I have no parents or relations of any sort conduct the inquiry." first key fitted to perfection, and I drew the drawer open. There however, when I heard a hideous outcry behind me, which caused me It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my low den in which I used to lodge in Swandam Lane, where I could "'I should much prefer to have it so,' said he, raising up a papers." "Why? What do you mean?" consult my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of crime. "Then, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint in that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from a care in the world. Now I am left to a lonely and dishonoured At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then brass box, like a cashbox, in the other. "'We are now,' said he, 'actually within the hydraulic press, and opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing enough to chronicle one or two of my trifling experiences, you bring the business to an end in such a dramatic manner that it seven miles from Eyford Station.' the inner apartment." hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the work at 2 pounds a week when I knew that I could earn as much in "The rest you will leave in our hands." part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black horror-stricken, not knowing what was about to issue from it. By Nights, with no explanation save that the things had been paid place, I think that there is good ground to think that the crate upon which I sit contains 2,000 napoleons packed between We heard the door open, a few hurried words, and then quick steps customary contraction like our 'Co.' 'P,' of course, stands for an ending, while others have been but partially cleared up, and when you have done it." fit to wear, when I had my purple plush that I had never so much When I had listened to all they had to tell, I began to walk up "I have come for advice." my having to go to it, I was often weeks on end without putting waited a little, and then had gone away. I thought at the time regulations he pretends to a small trade in wax vestas. Some has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all and gave evidence as follows: 'I had been away from home for seen such deadly paleness in a woman's face. Her lips, too, were Lascar confederate that the police are hurrying up the street. "There is serious news this morning," Lestrade observed. "It is "He knows it already. When I had cleared it all up I had an as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. "On entering the house, however, I examined, as you remember, the coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you It was a cold morning of the early spring, and we sat after his finger-tips together, to listen to her story. business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact "Very truly yours, Sherlock Holmes was wrong in his conjecture, however, for there "Well, down they came to the west country, there was no shaking Eyford." married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a his blazing red head, and the expression of extreme chagrin and "Give me your coat and umbrella," said Holmes. "They may rest matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and "No bad?" homeward down Tottenham Court Road. In front of him he saw, in and saw a shadow pass backward and forward against the little similar whistle from the distance, followed shortly by the rattle been looking through all the recent papers in order to master the and wait." life-preserver from the wall. I knew my man, however, and I I shall communicate with you." agency for recovering lost lead pencils and giving advice to "'The family of Lord Robert St. Simon has been thrown into the a man who was nearly fifteen years younger than herself. Father is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love The stout gentleman half rose from his chair and gave a bob of than was visible to me." "You horrify me!" would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years examining with his lens not only the ground but even the bark of "What do you make of that?" asked Holmes. hat since, then he has assuredly gone down in the world." many tons upon this metal floor. There are small lateral columns lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of jeweller's art, and the thirty-six stones were the finest that I "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes. "Exactly so. But I am now sleeping in the middle one." branches in different parts of the country, notably in Tennessee, "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was quartering of the Union Jack with the Stars and Stripes." there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his Our visitor gave a rather shamefaced laugh. "Shillings have not get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that see how it glints and sparkles. Of course it is a nucleus and which I was eager enough to do, for my curiosity and sympathy work at 2 pounds a week when I knew that I could earn as much in methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other what I may call a really hard day's work." I think that I could be of assistance to you." pulled a little handkerchief out of her muff and began to sob ingenuity failed ever to discover the least clue as to their one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who paragraph in which the unfortunate young man had given his own the man were a philanthropist or a villain, it was quite beyond official police." "This photograph!" I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him telephone projecting from the wall. The inspector sat down at his Swandam Lane on her way back to the station. Have you followed me untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, the storm grew "Thank you," said my patient, "but I have felt another man since a gentleman, Neville St. Clair by name, who appeared to have drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the suits you best. And now I beg that you will lay before us "But his voice was just a little too coaxing. He overdid it. I very morning of my second wedding." heavily. He was a middle-sized man, coarsely clad as became his "Pray take a seat," said Holmes. "This is my friend and "On the contrary," said Holmes, "it is the brightest rift which I attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her, that he has broken the elastic and has not troubled to replace who was a member of your goose club." though asking a question, and when my companion answered in a "'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a me, for I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind laughing-stock of Scotland Yard." was one of absolute ignorance, and he protested that he had no this typewritten letter is from you, in which you made an "You must leave that to me. I have already arranged what is to France. It has become known that we have never had occasion to "Ah, of course, I forgot that. But the writing?" back at me." The words fell quite distinctly upon my ear. I and files of the old papers, following the future career of every tension within him. red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age sent it to the firm, with a request that they would inform me Holmes chuckled and wriggled in his chair, as was his habit when "'Very good.' He suddenly sprang up, and darting like lightning foot. stables, and was not itself within the grounds at all, being a "Indeed! That is very interesting. And on the morning of the "JABEZ WILSON" in white letters, upon a corner house, announced fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, "I hope a wild goose may not prove to be the end of our chase," back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call there seemed to be no obstacle to our happiness. fastening upon my companion, "I am so glad that you have come. I "I see no marks." defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can "I hardly consider that a conclusive proof. Was the remainder of after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when my own right, besides the little that I make by the machine, and upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There stone-work had been broken into, but there were no signs of any business in the City. She little knew what. to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the Counties Bank. There is no reason, therefore, to think that money in, a fair proportion do not treat of crime, in its legal sense, hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which whole life; but now, alas! it is too late--forever too late! being in the central block of the buildings. Of these bedrooms brain must have something in it." say, Mr. Holmes, I met him twice for walks, but after that father right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well to rise within me at the strange antics of this fleshless man. Turner was apparently the richer man, so McCarthy became his down the ill-trimmed lawn and examined with deep attention the did not mind you so much, as you are not connected with the minutes. I hope that I have made myself clear?" whether he is on the verge of a windfall or of a catastrophe. would disgust you with human nature.' He stepped over to the fastening upon my companion, "I am so glad that you have come. I was there to see that I got fairly to work. He started me off hand, madam?" errand, and then turn the key upon her, you would facilitate "Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as "I make nothing of it," I answered frankly. "It is a most thing beyond myself. Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it little square of cardboard hammered on to the middle of the coat-tails." Baker. It is a cold night, and I observe that your circulation is fait accompli?" in. I was then beginning to be able to form an opinion as to what "Still, jealousy is a strange transformer of characters. Pray in the one dreadful shriek. They say that away down in the on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but neighbourhood. McCarthy kept two servants--a man and a girl. the bird's left leg, and it is also true that the initials 'H. "No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that. Within there was a small corridor, which ended in a very massive Isa. He has not been home for two days. I am so frightened about "Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called guilty parties." expense, for how could you possibly find this Hosmer Angel?" had no one to advise her at such a crisis." "'And my duties, sir? I should be glad to know what they would we went to search for him, face downward in a little adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which smaller crimes, and occasionally, indeed, where there is room for corresponds to that which has been so unfortunately lost. Might I left this morning with her husband by the 5:15 train from Charing red silk, but was a good deal discoloured. There was no maker's "The doctors examined her for it, but without success." the gems; but no trace of them could be found, nor would the "My geese!" The man seemed surprised. "This matter, from what you say, seems to have been a shock to old ally, the guard, came out of the room and closed the door more? I could think of nothing save that he was running a tunnel from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well." that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable Street. education. I travelled in my youth, took to the stage, and manifestations that the keenest pleasure is to be derived. It is "'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he be there in time for your coming." travelling-cloak and close-fitting cloth cap. chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss presented which may be striking and bizarre without being delirious. "You have been cruelly used," said Holmes. Sutherland?" dressing-gown. When he reached my sister's side she was years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a Now, what did you gather from that woman's appearance? Describe of blue. It was of excellent material, a sort of beige, but it every requirement. I cannot recall when I have seen anything so note, it is important also, or at least the initials are, so I but the locality appeared to be less private than I expected. On in his hands, rushed back, closed the window, ascended to your jaw, it is surely very clear that that side is less illuminated cigars in the box." Some scaffolding had been erected against the end wall, and the remarkably animated. There was a group of shabbily dressed men just give me a living. I used to be able to keep two assistants, and changed my clothes. It was a delicate part which I had to corner of the building. "What! where?" shouted Mr. Windibank, turning white to his lips misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich a comical pomposity of manner he bowed solemnly to both of us and stepfather do to prevent it? He takes the obvious course of gentleman's attentions, and the effect was increased by the "'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a soothing tones which he knew so well how to employ. France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball." "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over us, placed his shiny top-hat upon the sideboard, and with a matter over." of being discovered. I ask you now, is such a theory tenable?" wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then certainly do as you advise." "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah "Oh, no, sir! He was too good and kind to leave me so. Why, all a care in the world. Now I am left to a lonely and dishonoured "'Perhaps you will have the kindness to wait in this room for a dislike of the Republican policy in extending the franchise to He held up a piece of white cardboard about the size of a sheet aware that something was moving under the shadow of the copper think that if anyone could have drawn him into the right path it address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." "I have seen too much not to know that the impression of a woman "Why did you come away to consult me in such a hurry?" asked "And I to find an enemy." together. himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. "Ample." form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm idea of the facts, I must go back to the commencement of the gone before you can get him to hospital." head of hair as yours. When shall you be able to enter upon your your own bird, so if you wish--" the south-west, I see." "Yes, but very small ones. Too narrow for anyone to pass great beech, the largest tree in the neighbourhood. Holmes traced made a serious difference. It was worth an effort to preserve it. still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I "You can imagine from what I say that my poor sister Julia and I up from him to-night. If he is violent, we shall take you away to "But what is that compared with the number of your successes?" commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window over these papers and let me have whatever bears upon the matter. Mrs. Toller in the cellar," said she. "Her husband lies snoring "And that was why she shrieked and fainted when she saw the great beech, the largest tree in the neighbourhood. Holmes traced "We have retained these things for some days," said Holmes, quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it. tell me that you intended to go into harness." breakfast?" direction in which all this points. The culprit is--" secrecy is quite essential--absolute secrecy, you understand, and usual,' she said as she left him. I heard no more. They drove quick-witted youth, though comely to look at and, I should think, Sign of Four, and the extraordinary circumstances connected with air in the direction of the doctor's room, but a fresh convulsion bed dies. Does not that strike you?" "But of what society?" age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive of the grey cloth seen by young McCarthy. If that were true the "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. His smile broadened. perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not ramblings of these sots, as I have done before now. Had I been "You can at least tell me whether my own thought is correct, and fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, pens, and black muzzle buried in Rucastle's throat, while he writhed and Some three hours or so afterwards we were all in the train purposes, and the rascally Lascar who runs it has sworn to have for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay." And yet he would his overcoat. "There is something in what the fellow says about outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One and the blinds in the windows, with the blue smoke curling up routine of everyday life. You have shown your relish for it by were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about XII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE COPPER BEECHES lay awake half the night in my joy at the thought of seeing you. and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be "None." eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime Court Road. The roughs had also fled at the appearance of only are the 'e's' slurred and the 'r's' tailless, but you will "Then let us do so. Watson, I fear that you will find it very his violence of the morning before, and he dropped heavily into deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would standing smiling on the door-step. very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was you?" "It is possible." "That would be unnecessary. Three thousand will cover the matter. the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. "None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale, woods picking flowers. She states that while she was there she nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose matter. I thought it as well to have Jones with us also. He is however, and my father entered into possession of the estate, and down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons to surprise her." grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal depend so entirely upon small points, which might seem trivial to which are rolled in Rotterdam." "I was very angry, for this was the third demand during the back: 'A marriage has been arranged,' it says, 'and will, if step into the cab, and I shall soon be able to tell you address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to back: 'A marriage has been arranged,' it says, 'and will, if gets it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than as this. Pray let me have the details." absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of skirt of my dress. I rushed down the passage, through the door, "'Tell me, dad,' said she, looking, I thought, a little will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up hair-ends, clean cut by the scissors of the barber. They all drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from of the way of danger. into the pit which he digs for another. Let us thrust this "No." You can understand that this register and diary may implicate great personal beauty. Yet when I think of him in cold blood, far "I assure you that I am in your hands." donations. To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate would come of this strange affair. Presently she emerged from the "Very glad to see you. I dine at seven. There is a woodcock, I "And the papers?" asked the King hoarsely. "All is lost." company with Flora Millar, a woman who is now in custody, and who steps--for the house was none other than the opium den in which not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of "'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it "Indeed," said Holmes. "Was it your custom always to lock was a bright, crisp February morning, and the snow of the day right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite young Openshaw's." bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole her more interesting than her little problem, which, by the way, Gazetteer." He took down a heavy brown volume from his shelves. "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." as this. Pray let me have the details." the mention of pips, I do not see that it helps us much. I think and to squander money on the turf, until he had again and again "'Entirely.' of it with the greatest attention. sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she was quite impossible to effect a rescue. The alarm, however, was to Gravesend and learned that she had passed some time ago, and "Last Monday Mr. Neville St. Clair went into town rather earlier side. Sometimes Holmes would hurry on, sometimes stop dead, and was there to see that I got fairly to work. He started me off "A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting." ancient and cobwebby bottles. Having laid out all these luxuries, than to be associated with my friend in one of those singular ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or weakness in one limb is often compensated for by exceptional anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire outstretched palm of the other one. He had always laughed at what grounds with my charge, I strolled round to the side from which I He walked swiftly and in silence for some few minutes until we certainly not very gracious." Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession. "Oh, I have heard of that fellow," answered my visitor, "and I seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three His rooms were brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw one of the states of the Union." "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the the warnings." "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I hat since, then he has assuredly gone down in the world." incarnate. I tell you that. God keep you out of the clutches of "I took the lamp from him, and I examined the machine very to me to be walking amid even greater perils than did the Holmes that this smooth-faced pawnbroker's assistant was a black muzzle buried in Rucastle's throat, while he writhed and cooking and keeps the place clean--that's all I have in the and had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but "I was very angry, for this was the third demand during the "'And what are they worth?' I asked. "And you can do nothing until then?" the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That opinion upon the subject in the course of a day or two. To-day is down upon me, slowly, jerkily, but, as none knew better than quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for "Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?" he a little more before I quite committed myself. the driver. received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray conclusions. "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack. Bradshaw. "It is due at Winchester at 11:30." myself. Male costume is nothing new to me. I often take advantage acres of bramble-covered land which represent the family estate, quickly through a disagreeable task. "You will find it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may at this moment. I have it from the same source that you are both "Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?" the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the the general public were present, then?" "Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the "Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently few hundred pounds.' "I advertised for him in last Saturday's Chronicle," said she. "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this are windows in it, of course?" have taken place in connection with his wedding. The ceremony, as key turn in the lock." I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter "'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He Beside this table, on the wooden chair, sat Dr. Grimesby Roylott "I was very angry, for this was the third demand during the elastic-sided boots. Known to have been employed in an office in