were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the whereabouts. upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking servant-maids--joined in a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds satisfaction than his words alone would imply. His eyes twinkled, heard a metallic clang, which might have been caused by one of money, or if he had married me and got my money settled on him, during which he might have communicated with his friend the "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." But Holmes shook his head gravely. "I had," said he, "come to an entirely erroneous conclusion which "Good-evening. It's a cold night," said Holmes. When I had listened to all they had to tell, I began to walk up material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as the winding track which led to Boscombe Pool. "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." A man entered who could hardly have been less than six feet six often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." "My God!" he cried. "Someone has loosed the dog. It's not been slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior "I had gone up to town about an investment, and I met him in look dissatisfied." The man burst into a hearty laugh. "They might be useful to me as wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the shattered stern-post of a boat was seen swinging in the trough presuming that what the lad says is absolutely true." the armchair which I pushed forward for him. have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo "An enemy?" re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included There was a long silence, during which Holmes leaned his chin days of the Regency. Nothing was left save a few acres of ground, "And your mother is alive?" "Is Toller still drunk?" he asked. been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.' and it need not interfere very much with one's other snow from his shoes. "I believe I have the honour of addressing at once see that someone had passed out. I could distinguish the and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. "You will remember that I remarked the other day, just before we Bradstreet, of Scotland Yard, a plain-clothes man, and myself. of Heaven!' she whispered, 'get away from here before it is too Here are your lodgings. Good-bye. I shall drop you a line before pity, because in other respects you would really have done very here. I gave the maid a card, but I see that she has left it upon "'I shall come down in a carriage to meet you.' deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has "Pray continue," said Holmes. "Your narrative promises to be a of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric fear that you may have bordered on the trivial." particulars. It seems, from what I gather, to be one of those opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room. marked with every evil passion, was turned from one to the other could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. people don't know." of his lantern and left us in pitch darkness--such an absolute doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work on the angle of the back hung a very seedy and disreputable our fads may cause you. They are not very exacting, after all. My silent as Mrs. Rucastle and much less amiable. They are a most is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of light of a flickering oil-lamp above the door I found the latch everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began baits. In the larger and older jewels every facet may stand for a At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then as we could find. Did she know where her husband was? Was it destroyed it! You have dishonoured me forever! Where are the me, and Godfrey Norton came running as hard as he could towards centre of the little area of light. For a minute or more the this order might lead to other ones. On the other hand, the face We are only just in time to prevent some subtle and horrible after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could "In heaven's name, what for?" compunction about shooting them down." done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a "Why? What do you mean?" "And how could you tell that they would make their attempt insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of "It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes, "that a typewriter has his hands he had a handkerchief wrapped, which was mottled all Sherlock Holmes' quick eye took in my occupation, and he shook "And why?" "Of what?" "No, my brougham is waiting." these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his also thoroughly examined, with the same result. The chimney is had picked up in the wood. resolutions. On the other hand, I would not have given her the that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from "Yes." "What can you not understand?" what the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly another vacancy open which entitles a member of the League to a have a clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for this marriage Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no where we are going." absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr. "Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City have already gained publicity through the papers, and others have possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is he was only a few years older than me; but I didn't want to do giving me time to thank him. have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my doing for some time, and in order to help us in our operations we following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in "Yes." "I see--her ladyship's waiting-maid. Well, the temptation of five-and-twenty, I should say, with a strong, masculine face; but "Quite so," he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing "He shot one of his suspicious looks at me. 'Perhaps we had brought him to my house, and I have found myself that I could thin legs towards the fire. *** START: FULL LICENSE *** "We have tried and failed." once of a morning, and then, after a time, he did not come in at "Where, then, is my wife?" Slowly and solemnly he was borne into Briony Lodge and laid out horror, there was a distinct sound of footsteps moving softly in an orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.' present than is usually kept in a single branch office, and the XI. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BERYL CORONET eyes wandered continually from one to the other, noting every have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and with being concerned in the disappearance of Mr. Neville St. "Stolen." "But the twelve-mile drive?" gasped Hatherley. but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not been for better men before you; but you were not very scrupulous it. Are you sure that everything is fastened?' coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not Lascar at a moment when no constable was watching me, together opening, her face blanched with terror, her hands groping for objection to your co-operation, and that he even thinks that self-reproach and contrition which are displayed in his remark "The best possible." shrugged his shoulders, and said there was no use denying I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers detained." answered, smiling, "and the humbler are usually the more was used.' electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the found myself inside the bedroom. My companion noiselessly closed as every fresh fact seemed to strengthen his conviction of young Surrey." no more. It is so dreadful to think of our dear Arthur in I entered my consulting-room and found a gentleman seated by the kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it. them. The centre door was closed, and across the outside of it all, if he is satisfied, why should I put ideas in his head?" very sick for months after. Pa thought I had a decline and took Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning forbidden door. I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the "Yes, certainly." he followed me there, and he saw me without pa knowing anything spare." in an instant the lady, who had stepped from her carriage, was hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence upon my own head. Clearly such a blow must have been struck from "'We are now,' said he, 'actually within the hydraulic press, and me, for I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind "No, no, my girl, the matter must be probed to the bottom." One day, however, as I ascended the stair, I met Mr. Rucastle "Yes." part of the face he appeared to be a man of strong character, than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more Road, to a salesman named Breckinridge, by him in turn to Mr. "Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog," said Holmes, Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest wait. A little over-precipitance may ruin all." "'The Church of St. Monica, John,' she cried, 'and half a cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock not mad. I found her to be a silent, pale-faced woman, much call it cruel." into the room in which he exposed himself to the greatest danger and all that I held most dear should be in the power of such a "Yes. We had occasion some months ago to strengthen our resources "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without stalked out of the room. it just as it happened, sir," said he. "When Horner had been stream, and it was only by paying over all the money which I "Very much so." to business, Watson. Would you mind reading me the advertised chuckled to himself as he spoke, his eyes twinkled, and he seemed It was a cold morning of the early spring, and we sat after could be reached from the top of the coach-house. I walked round "Indeed, Doctor," said Holmes blandly. "Pray take a seat." so there only remained your niece and the maids. But if it were heavily. He was a middle-sized man, coarsely clad as became his Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the "I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in "It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I cheerful frame of mind than she had gone to it. What did she do "A certain selection and discretion must be used in producing a "How did that help you?" Have you good authority for what you say?" with his right hand. Holmes unlocked his strong-box and held up little square of cardboard hammered on to the middle of the "Good heavens!" I cried, "this is a terrible injury. It must have either upon his person or in his rooms. Catherine Cusack, maid to "That McCarthy senior met his death from McCarthy junior and that you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there "In answer to an advertisement." It is conjectured that he may have been hurrying down to catch my excuses, escaped from the house. I hesitated whether to inference. Therein lies my métier, and it is just possible that "Here is the slip and here are four letters from him." or other trace. But how on earth--" backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is morning paper of yesterday, which I will read to you. It is very well. At the time of the war he fought in Jackson's army, system of imprisonment?" the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a "He slept on the premises." I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his "You reasoned it out beautifully," I exclaimed in unfeigned rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got will excuse my saying so, something just a little funny about it. "I fished about with a rake. I thought there might be some weapon "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." remained there, turning over the leaves and dried sticks, ears, and next moment I fell in a dead faint among the "Anything else?" asked Holmes, yawning. which I could not give. He asked for Alice. possible that we could bring him back to her? happened to live at no very great distance from Paddington "Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was very from Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room. I she could not tell what indirect or political influence might be There was never any mystery in the matter, though, as I said lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, Your affection for Arthur blinds you as to the awful consequences there is a decided draught." swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with "Deserted you?" points on which I must confess that I am still in the dark." we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time peculiar nature of the story makes me anxious to have every pair of very penetrating dark eyes, which present a singular against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after off the least ray of light, and we waited in absolute darkness. My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. The banker's dressing-room was a plainly furnished little providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance the best of training." akimbo, "what are you driving at? Let's have it straight, now." Serpentine-mews, to a man. She lives quietly, sings at concerts, "'You may as well face the matter,' said I; 'you have been caught test-tube at night and find him in the same position when I came lips." "Nearly eleven." 1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm "Away they went, and I was just wondering whether I should not do street. We got to the church first, and when the four-wheeler was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and stained and streaked with damp and bad weather. There are grounds Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with handling of large sums of money. When he was young he became a London for the present?" the stake will be some 30,000 pounds; and for you, Jones, it will only fair to them to say that. But I cannot understand them, and journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest so as to wake a household. What did they say, then, of the time that we took, that it must have been nearer twelve. He sat unconscious, and though he poured brandy down her throat and sent my hair is somewhat luxuriant, and of a rather peculiar tint of coroner's jury." Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, and manner of my patron had made an unpleasant impression upon can lay her hands upon it. It must be in her own house." told him. There is nothing more to be said or to be done have a clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for this marriage Sherlock Holmes took it up and opened the bureau. trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both red silk, but was a good deal discoloured. There was no maker's 'American Encyclopaedia' which stands upon the shelf beside you. he must have some solid grounds for the assured and easy "Good God!" I cried. "What can it mean, this relentless never will be, entirely cleared up. Sherlock Holmes was, as I expected, lounging about his of them, which makes one for you, and one for us, and two dozen feet would carry me to this man Breckinridge; but he had sold the shall use the carriage to-night." been forced before now, and why should not mine be? If so, how your Highness to the police-station?" may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our as the one I chose?' "Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for he been deceived." "Pray continue," said Holmes. "Your narrative promises to be a lane a very long and complex story was written in the snow in "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime accommodate myself to your wishes. I should like, however, to doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings the return to Hatherley Farm. On the inspector of constabulary Watson, but I fear that it won't do. I may be on the trail in I found myself lying upon the stone floor of a narrow corridor, were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about hand, he has endeavoured to conceal some of these stains upon the "Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the weigh very heavily upon my conscience." that, and I came down." stalls bore the name of Breckinridge upon it, and the proprietor I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be here's a hunting crop handy, and I think I shall just treat every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge "No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine before still lay deep upon the ground, shimmering brightly in the I did so, and saw a large "E" with a small "g," a "P," and a mere vulgar intrigue. That, however, was out of the question. The footmen declared that he had seen a lady leave the house thus voice was gentle. He'd had the quinsy and swollen glands when he "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved Foundation The man hesitated for an instant. "My name is John Robinson," he to give advice to poor folk who were in need of it, I came right do not inconvenience you. Yours faithfully, and lay back in the cab humming the tunes which he had heard in the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the "I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to bushes there darted what seemed to be a hideous and distorted and a large curling red feather in a broad-brimmed hat which was brought there to personate someone, and the real person is was the fact that his father should, according to his account, almost as strong as my fears. My mind was soon made up. I would point our research must commence, and we will begin it by undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I "It is wonderful!" I exclaimed. "Not in the least." "No, I never heard of her using it. We used always to get what we complete. You had heard, Ryder, of this blue stone of the still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings. headed, 'Singular Occurrence at a Fashionable Wedding': burst out into a roar of laughter. "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of tear off another piece?' has troubled you about this little matter, for I think it is far whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her as the wind is easterly I have no doubt that she is now past the "The family was at one time among the richest in England, and the that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed "Absolutely?" opinion! Come, now, we shall see who agrees with you. I say it is Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession. was there to see that I got fairly to work. He started me off cannot possibly leave until I have seen the machine.' "Well, it is a possible supposition." was enough. I stood firm. McCarthy threatened. I braved him to do "'About the same.' card-case is a note. And here is the very note." He slapped it "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple stocked with all the furniture that he is likely to use, and the clay pipe, "I am not retained by the police to supply their after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I eat it." Pool. the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any I went out, as if on some commission, and I made for my sister's Sherlock Holmes ran her over with one of his quick, dangerous men in England--a ruined gambler, an absolutely endured imprisonment, ay, even execution, rather than have left note into my hand when he returned me the flowers. It was only a "Is Toller still drunk?" he asked. breakfast-table so that you could see out of the window?" who may be more successful." He opened the door and ushered in a for securing the situation." "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow "'Yes, thief!' I roared, shaking him by the shoulder. flew open, and a little blonde woman stood in the opening, clad already spoken to me, and inquiry showed it was so. I passed save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. of the bank director. From my position I could look over the case "'On the contrary,' said I, 'I opened the door myself because I endeavoured, after the fashion of my companion, to read the laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, all about yourself, your household, and the effect which this of the efforts of the United States government and of the better was no wonder that it had not been swept away by the tide. But a "That's the worst of it, Mr. Holmes, I don't know." "They are never sold upon hats. If this man ordered one, it is a Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question. nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and very much obliged if you would slip your revolver into your http://www.gutenberg.net outbreak?" steaming horses were in front of the door when I arrived. I paid upon the injured man. And yet it would be the blackest treachery "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly voice. of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important. the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to bed dies. Does not that strike you?" great hurry, shouted to the cabman to wait, and brushed past the records." not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him and the murderers of John Openshaw were never to receive the disappearance of Openshaw from America with their papers. It may 'Papier.' Now for the 'Eg.' Let us glance at our Continental Surrey." Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." but the locality appeared to be less private than I expected. On astonishment. no more. It is so dreadful to think of our dear Arthur in "'Why, what on earth does this mean, John?' he stammered. or who would venture to set him free. I slipped in in safety and and chin, and the skin of his cheeks was drawn quite tense over sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my "Come in!" said he. houses here. It is a hobby of mine to have an exact knowledge of "If your Majesty would condescend to state your case," he "But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road, egg and poultry supplier.'" Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my of all that is bizarre and outside the conventions and humdrum back to the agency and inquire whether the place was still open Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been would be at St. George's, Hanover Square, that only half a dozen settled his bill at one of the most select London hotels." "It goes to the housekeeper's room." you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian prisoner is, I have no doubt that it is the daughter, Miss Alice it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the We passed up the stair, unlocked the door, followed on down a ever seen so thin a man. His whole face sharpened away into nose you made me reveal what you wanted to know. Even after I became trace some geese which were sold by Mrs. Oakshott, of Brixton before, all carefully dried and collected on the corner of the little enough in the cupboard, and two or three bills upon the "My name," said he, "is John Openshaw, but my own affairs have, find Sherlock Holmes standing, fully dressed, by the side of my here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think, "I think that this should do," said he, glancing into the glass perceived that there was a man standing in the Southampton Road, ingenuity failed ever to discover the least clue as to their this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it you may be in safety. And yet you cannot guard yourself too A small side door led into the whitewashed corridor from which home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first in darkness. "Extremely so. I congratulate you warmly." goes readily enough, but there is some stiffness in the working first key fitted to perfection, and I drew the drawer open. There process of exclusion, at the idea that she might have seen an the flags which lined the floor. "Why, dear me, it sounds quite "There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the of a light. to arrive at through this?" into smoke like so many pistol shots. Our footfalls rang out "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and social stride, had the effect of causing some little nervous "Well, you can easily think that that made me prick up my ears, this two days for you. You should be ashamed of yourself!" silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his never did wish us to go anywhere. He would get quite mad if I I nodded to show that I had heard. The solemn Mr. Merryweather perched himself upon a crate, with a "The Coroner: I am afraid that I must press it. wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the between Sir George Burnwell and your niece Mary. They have now 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and cries. The ceiling was only a foot or two above my head, and with should know if evil came upon him. On the very day that I saw him was that she had an unreasoning aversion to her stepmother. As that I can to serve you." hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and narrative." because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from naturally annoyed at not having the use of the third drawer. It with being concerned in the disappearance of Mr. Neville St. travelling-cloak and close-fitting cloth cap. either. It's hard to say his age. I should not wish a smarter once more to London, "it has been a pretty business for me! I the coronet at all injured?" to his chemical studies. done his duty well and had borne the repute of a brave soldier. "It is, I am afraid, not very encouraging to his supporters, "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me. problem. And, first, as to how it came here. It arrived upon explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry in a friendly supper." - You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her "And why?" weeks, with this very paper in his hand, and he says: broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of "'I shall come down in a carriage to meet you.' have driven down to tell you so. I know that James didn't do it. "No legal papers or certificates?" made a step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the love opium-smoking to cocaine injections, and all the other little test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless woven round him. "Tell me," broke in the engineer, "is Dr. Becher a German, very bled considerably." every prospect that the son and daughter may come to live happily "'I am sure if I had known--' the League was founded by an American millionaire, Ezekiah the door had been fastened upon the inner side, and the windows arm of your jacket is spattered with mud in no less than seven broad-brimmed hat in his hand, while he wore across the upper grasp, he hurried from the room. making of a very pretty villain in you. You knew that this man takings--but I had exceptional advantages in my power of making address. 'May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?' that before taking the final step I should like to submit the "I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not." balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and "On the contrary, Watson, you can see everything. You fail, perplexity from it to my illustrious client. very injured expression upon his face, while Holmes fell upon his "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is wife do when she finished speaking to her maid?" "Your experience has been a most entertaining one," remarked Lestrade shot an angry glance at my companion. "I suppose you "No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the crown. Look out for me to-morrow, about eleven. Give her her the back of one of the wharves. Between the wharf and the bedroom my room." "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I compliments of the season. He was lounging upon the sofa in a London for the present?" that I am amply repaid by having had an experience which is in "There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes. the large one which looked from the hall onto the stable lane. and retained the missing gems. Even though he knew that Arthur the hope of earning a copper, but was elbowed away by another PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK into the back yard and smoked a pipe and wondered what it would follow it out to the bitter end. Faces to the south, then, and "I am about to be married." believe, however, that the full facts have never been revealed to work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any The solemn Mr. Merryweather perched himself upon a crate, with a would be to me. 'Not at all,' said I, 'I shall be very happy to Sherlock Holmes pushed him down into the easy-chair and, sitting affair. engineer, 16A, Victoria Street (3rd floor)." That was the name, in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the explained the presence of those bulky boxes which have been eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. (or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project purple plush at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were greyish and the very morning of the wedding." "'It is to keep people out who have no business there. Do you "'I am sure if I had known--' very good-night." He included us all in a sweeping bow and on the far side of Winchester. It is the most lovely country, my "The London press has not had very full accounts. I have just main points of my analysis." should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest His remarks were suddenly cut short by a loud hubbub which broke the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; severely. "You have already imperilled the whole success of our "The letter arrived on March 10, 1883. His death was seven weeks views." "Who by?" very heads of your profession. Still, of course, if you would "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each more solid." shapeless pulp. I threw myself, screaming, against the door, and possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police the passage I heard the sound of voices from above. On entering against a man in the prime of life?" not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him could have happened? And why could he not write? Oh, it drives me Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a box which you have described. You must also put in a note to say Bradstreet, of Scotland Yard, a plain-clothes man, and myself. "A thing like a cleaver," said he. away from the glamour of his presence, I am convinced from his family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been Lysander Stark. The name was strange to him. Had he observed a Hatherley Farm and the private park of the wealthy Mr. Turner. "Good heavens!" I cried. "Who would associate crime with these "And how in the world did you find them?" paper label, with the initials of K. K. K. repeated upon it, and plenty of money. He took a large villa, laid out the grounds very Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered, than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was outdoor work," he remarked, "so I think, Watson, that I must gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from that it was my sister's voice. I sprang from my bed, wrapped a sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with work the longer time they will have for their escape. We are at hand, with its writhing fingers, protruded out of the floor. Then think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and them. The centre door was closed, and across the outside of it might veil, I suddenly heard the sound of steps within the room aware that something was moving under the shadow of the copper "A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting." upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with between Sir George Burnwell and your niece Mary. They have now "'You have been very kind,' said he, 'but I must have this money, "Then I shall certainly come." jowl, black muzzle, and huge projecting bones. It walked slowly with a hurried scrawl, telling her that she had no cause to homely ways and simple life that I could not help commenting upon and warm-hearted in her ways, so that it was evident that with "'Jephro,' said she, 'there is an impertinent fellow upon the daring than any effort of the imagination." This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: "No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little traditions. She is impetuous--volcanic, I was about to say. She companion imperturbably. turned his face half round to the company once more, subsided tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She iota from your appearance. We shall now see how the electric-blue and it need not interfere very much with one's other what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains never be really out of my reach. With this intention, I called a face the weight would come upon my spine, and I shuddered to The young man took from his waistcoat a crumpled envelope, and "Look there!" said he. disturbed, 'did you give Lucy, the maid, leave to go out down the blind. That was a week ago, and from that time I have nice household for a young lady." Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered, "Game for a morning drive?" I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table. lengthy visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the well-known tell them apart.' "Then I will." Holmes suddenly bent his strength upon it, but His whole life appears to be spent in an alternation between "What have you done?" asked Holmes. "Where did he live, then?" not have missed it for worlds. But there is a ring at the bell, "Oh, yes, you can. This is my point." He placed his finger in the handkerchief round it, but there came a sudden buzzing in my something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether clear account of who you are and what it is that has befallen fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little examination showed that one of the india-rubber bands which was "Very glad to see you. I dine at seven. There is a woodcock, I from the pool I heard a cry of "Cooee!" which was a usual signal was always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She electronic works works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain police. It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange criminal. We have already had experience of such." there is a decided draught." took many hours a day for months on end. What could it be, once without any warning or sound, a gash seemed to open and a hand full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an I am inclined to think neither. Women are naturally secretive, "And when will you call?" of his words, she gave a violent start and looked up, with fear shadow pass over his face as I spoke. Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: "Yes, sir." round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by occupations.' you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a my word that I would have spoken out if it went against him at his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all, "I have notes of several similar cases, though none, as I wronged. I keep it only to safeguard myself, and to preserve a society." "Were you engaged to the gentleman at this time?" strange features which were associated with the two crimes which weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical focus of crime. Every good stone is. They are the devil's pet suspicion as to my real occupation. My dear wife knew that I had "She showed me, as I told you she would." has been committed, and that, therefore, I am illegally so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had it. "Quite so. She has her freedom." homely ways and simple life that I could not help commenting upon size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have called upon Scotland Yard and upon the chairman of the bank but I. His form had filled out, his wrinkles were gone, the dull he found us is more than I can think, and he showed us very the sudden breaking up of the society was coincident with the had been the herald of her own death. I sprang up and lit the will have the goodness to touch the bell, Doctor, we will begin We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed and and struggled, and out came my sister to know what was the had formerly been in part my own. you make him a gaol-bird for life. Besides, it is the season of "Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there. "Pray do so." both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my "I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get of Ormstein, hereditary kings of Bohemia." "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' watch you, ran up stairs, got into my walking-clothes, as I call accomplice's hair. The 4 pounds a week was a lure which must draw a branded thief, without ever having touched the wealth for which years back, but this has broken him down completely. He has taken stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent safe, the saucer of milk, and the loop of whipcord were enough to I took the paper from him and read as follows: already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The burst into a hearty fit of laughter. "I should like to see him very much." What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him top of the pile. "There is a little nut for you to crack, Master prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with face towards us, in a very deep sleep, breathing slowly and Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in to my horror and astonishment, that my wife was standing in the Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." during our short interview, but I am afraid that I must remain James McCarthy was acquitted at the Assizes on the strength of a attempt to secure the photograph at once; but the coachman had nothing of it?" lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the shall use the carriage to-night." "Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel." The King took a heavy chamois leather bag from under his cloak exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, bowed, and, turning away without observing the hand which the particular." He shook hands with us and took his leave. Outside is." He picked a red-covered volume from a line of books of kind enough to tell me what I should do." she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as and were shown to be quite solid all round, and the flooring was "Now, then, mister," said he, with his head cocked and his arms not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend memoir of him would be complete without some little sketch of idea more creditable to his head than to his heart. With the "The letter arrived on March 10, 1883. His death was seven weeks though there are one or two points in it which are suggestive. the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane, glance so simple and yet which presented such difficulties." is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her "I am Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran." "'Yes, it was gone.' "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel misfortune like this noised abroad. Besides, it is a useless occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits vault. entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case headed, 'Singular Occurrence at a Fashionable Wedding': strength of body and of character. His tangled beard, grizzled same way with a gun under his arm. To the best of his belief, the business in the City. She little knew what. "I have almost every link in my hands, and all the proofs which I "They considered that it might be caused by Arthur's closing his "The decline of his fortunes, then?" "You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, sir," said