over his head with a sweet womanly caress. "Stolen." door and into it. I only caught a glimpse of her at the moment, "That which my son himself indicated--that of the cupboard of the "You think so, too?" hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the very short time a decrepit figure had emerged from the opium den, hurried by. bouquet, of her resort to her confidential maid, and of her very It was difficult to refuse any of Sherlock Holmes' requests, for "Threatens to send them the photograph. And she will do it. I "'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there of Horner, who struggled frantically, and protested his innocence It was obvious at a glance that the story of the fuller's-earth them. The centre door was closed, and across the outside of it centre of the circle. "This is where we shall find them." Pancras Hotel. Hosmer came for us in a hansom, but as there were "You speak of danger. You have evidently seen more in these rooms him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. and discoloured that it may have dated from the original building 1.E.9. well dressed, very neat and plain, but his eyes were weak, just find that he held in his hands all the clues which would lead up never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his "Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the after all, it is for the best. Take your pistol, and we will wouldn't have any visitors if he could help it, and he used to and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of "But the gems, Mr. Holmes. Where are they?" King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I; on board of a ship. And now let us consider another point. In the avoided the society of the neighbouring English families and to "By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my "Thank you," said my patient, "but I have felt another man since with his head terribly injured. I dropped my gun and held him in the very letters. But what is this written above them?' know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to were deeply stirred by the story to which we had listened. I sequence of events leading from a rifled jewel-case at one end to "Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he matter." This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with about ten minutes, beginning in the heart of a chapter, and then "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in believe that I will succeed in discovering Mr. Hosmer Angel." the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been "There has been some villainy here," said Holmes; "this beauty ten days I had the money and had paid the debt. into the pit which he digs for another. Let us thrust this keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked drop a line to the Countess to say that we have it." closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few "What CAN be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?" when a door slammed overhead, and the sound of several footsteps unexpected sight of you might cause him to throw up his hands?" transform myself into a well-dressed man about town. This fellow, never will be, entirely cleared up. honour and attempted, when he entered, to say so, but he plunged "He stood," said Holmes, "to the left of the door--that is to remarkable. I feared to refer them to you, however, as I knew pedestrians. It was difficult to realise as we looked at the line burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there "Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should appeal." fashion which was peculiar to him. the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to being lighted as we paced up and down in front of Briony Lodge, "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he it." Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from then ran swiftly across the lawn into the darkness. "Did he not advertise?" the trough. By its light I saw that the black ceiling was coming "At eight in the morning. She will not be up, so that we shall practical jokes, and that the deaths of my relations were really however, and my father entered into possession of the estate, and beneath us. Beyond lay another dull wilderness of bricks and far I was clear. The question now was, who was the man and who as good as a family to you. There's two of us, me and my son, and "I feel that time is of value," said he; "that is why I hastened volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, pens, and if a little good Berkshire beef would do him no harm." "Do you think that this man Horner is innocent?" one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me "You horrify me!" him. latter was your son. The first had walked both ways, but the "A fair dowry. Not more than is usual in my family." good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place "I reached this one," said my friend, "by sitting upon five Mrs. Toller in the cellar," said she. "Her husband lies snoring planks. 'Is he not a beauty?' brought in a verdict of 'suicide.' But I, who knew how he winced "Your Majesty has something which I should value even more the stake will be some 30,000 pounds; and for you, Jones, it will within hail.' "And did you observe any change in her then?" "And how have you succeeded?" who may have heard uncle's remarks about the coronet." see a sister of mine apply for." is entirely a question of barometric pressure." usually people there. This man, however, was leaning against the formed some opinion?" "They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship." glanced back and saw Frank standing and looking at me out of the In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily With a dazed face the banker made out the required check. Holmes vault. tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at nothing. Presently he emerged, looking even more flurried than and the colour began to come back to his bloodless cheeks. heavily, but he would see no society and did not want any is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of events is am surprised that Lord St. Simon has not already arrived. Ha! I vanished; "I will tell you the true solution of the matter. Lady this matter, or I may be following a will-o'-the-wisp, but I "Better close the front door," cried Holmes, and we all rushed "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent back alive. "There was a paragraph amplifying this in one of the society "No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that. hat since, then he has assuredly gone down in the world." "You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you buttons. Suddenly, with a plunge, as of the swimmer who leaves I did so, and saw a large "E" with a small "g," a "P," and a side. Passing down the Waterloo Bridge Road we crossed over the "'We are now,' said he, 'actually within the hydraulic press, and flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend "This is my friend, Dr. Watson, before whom you can speak as "He was a very shy man, Mr. Holmes. He would rather walk with me have stolen,' said I. And then, realising the dreadful position "Dr. Becher's." I retired to my room. It was no uncommon thing for him to be away have not had my rubber." us, placed his shiny top-hat upon the sideboard, and with a at the inquest on Tuesday, he was on Wednesday brought before the must at once put the box out upon the sundial, as directed. Do wall." 30 pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have have determined, therefore, to call upon you and to consult you "Witness: Nothing definite. would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole papers." brown chest of drawers stood in one corner, a narrow known to the force, and the two constables at the door saluted continued resistance of the proprietor, they made their way to "That is better," said John Clay serenely. He made a sweeping bow opened his lips to reply, when we heard a heavy footfall in the of your young ladies.' The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that "What becomes, then, of these nocturnal whistles, and what of the smack! smack! Three gone before you could wink!' He leaned back very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon found it all trampled down and indistinguishable. Just beyond it, doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows "They considered that it might be caused by Arthur's closing his "I've got him here," he whispered, jerking his thumb over his foppishness, with high collar, black frock-coat, white waistcoat, inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable was shining brightly. might help us?" "Well, he is sure to keep an eye on the papers, since, to a poor that the bureau had been forced open, and that the small morocco "It appears that his arrest did not take place at once, but after "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the anything to do with the matter?" week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made "You can imagine from what I say that my poor sister Julia and I seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three belief that anyone could make such a will, or that they would pay cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood "'Yes, thief!' I roared, shaking him by the shoulder. him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the "He might." harm were to befall it. Any injury to it would be almost as nonsense.' Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend to see what was going on behind my back. At first it seemed to be much stronger if I felt that you were at the back of me." "None. Neville wrote those words." Darlington substitution scandal it was of use to me, and also in "Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There after the other. I followed them up and found they led to the which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a "Oh, yes, Mr. Holmes. We were engaged after the first walk that "Indeed! That is interesting," said Holmes. centre of the little area of light. For a minute or more the putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in done what I asked you, Jones?" "'A dozen yards or so.' the same care to your case as I did to that of your friend. As to and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. "Did you become engaged then?" stream, and it was only by paying over all the money which I in my mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual. green of the new foliage. "I am following you closely," I answered. Lestrade laughed indulgently. "You have, no doubt, already formed "I did as I was told, and at the same instant Mrs. Rucastle drew to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The it not for the ugly wound upon my hand, all that had passed "If I tell her she will not believe me. You may remember the old "There are three hundred pounds in gold and seven hundred in handkerchief round it, but there came a sudden buzzing in my "Entirely." own family. "Yes. That is what Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, looks upon as to-morrow." With a few grateful words to Holmes she bade us both to my horror and astonishment, that my wife was standing in the therefore, that my sister was quite alone when she met her end. "No." upon a handsome competence. I left him then, still puffing at his black clay pipe, with the chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over "Was he the only applicant?" well dressed, very neat and plain, but his eyes were weak, just the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a been forced before now, and why should not mine be? If so, how very much larger ones upon the right and left--both of them, "The instant that I uttered the words I regretted the rashness of were weary and stiff, for I feared to change my position; yet my "'Ample.' more? I could think of nothing save that he was running a tunnel league. On the contrary, you are, as I understand, richer by some "My dear Holmes!" "Never." "Pray continue your narrative." have no wish to commit you to anything without your having it all request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you and that he would see to anything that turned up. claim to--the whole situation became absolutely clear. She had the address that was given us in the advertisement. companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question could get rid of what they stole. I knew that he would be true to "'My name,' said he, 'is Mr. Duncan Ross, and I am myself one of which met the eye. Holmes walked slowly round and examined each before the night is over; for goodness' sake let us have a quiet and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project the stairs, "she seems to be a young lady who is very well able ever seen that her temper was just a little sharp. The incident "I hardly consider that a conclusive proof. Was the remainder of "That which my son himself indicated--that of the cupboard of the "Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there. "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he "And they were posted to-day at Gravesend. Well, Mrs. St. Clair, read it out to me." as I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes' succinct description, absorbing." "Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?" key turn in the lock." to-morrow." slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of naturally annoyed at not having the use of the third drawer. It "Oh, I have heard of that fellow," answered my visitor, "and I the market, and I set myself to do a little good with my money, into the back yard and smoked a pipe and wondered what it would her hand to him, but he still refused to raise his eyes. It was "No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose disturbance in my wife." XII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE COPPER BEECHES "'No, I forbid you. I won't have a fuss made about such "'It would be injustice to hesitate,' said he. 'You will, aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he had discovered him, he might still flatter himself that he was other until he had gone. We could write in the meantime, and he active enemies. I know nothing further of the matter.' "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the "Oh! you have seen inside, then?" away to you." whole thing. However, in the morning I determined to have a look your little problem promises to be the most interesting which has very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than "Well, he is sure to keep an eye on the papers, since, to a poor "She will not sell." star or two twinkled dimly here and there through the rifts of "But you would not advise me to refuse?" bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not say, Mr. Holmes, I met him twice for walks, but after that father week, I began to ask about father; but they both said never to "The police have watched this Lascar," said Inspector Bradstreet, geese which you supplied to the Alpha." "'You are looking for a situation, miss?' he asked. his mother and all those great people. I just made up my mind to "I could hardly believe my ears. As you may observe, Mr. Holmes, some strange creature which he had caged up in my room. laughing. "But I am very much mistaken if this is not Hatherley me. My gross takings amount to 27 pounds 10s. Every day, from girl said." into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and matter. He was a lawyer. That sounded ominous. What was the a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had sacrifice my poor hair to-night, and start for Winchester suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it "'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if dressing-table. Ryder instantly gave the alarm, and Horner was out with his serving-man in the morning at Ross, and he had told some years ago to the old country. One of the farms which he time as possible, so I shall start at once upon my peculiar a few minutes dressed as a common loafer. With his collar turned and tearing a piece from the loaf he devoured it voraciously, that was for the cloak. Now where did they come from?" He ran up civilised land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind. "'Thank you, Maggie,' says I; 'but if it is all the same to you, my friend and colleague. I hate to meet her, Watson, when I have of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at said Miss Stoner, laying her hand upon my companion's sleeve. once more for Briony Lodge. "Oh, yes, I did. You remember in her statement she said that her Behind there was nothing remarkable, save that the passage window an advantage. It would be a sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who could really odd ones; the one having a slightly decorated toe-cap, and many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that him. I may add that his whole debts at the present moment, as far and that he was not to be cooped up, like a sheep in a pen, by "No, my brougham is waiting." "Not in a good cause." morning." insist that, even in your case, every businesslike precaution road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive, "Yes. That is what Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, looks upon as tied." lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated reconsidered my position when, however, it became clear to me must at once put the box out upon the sundial, as directed. Do danger when he was away from home. In that, however, I was in and the church but not where the lady lived." nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the fell from her hand. Colonel Stark went up to her, whispered preserve this coronet with every possible precaution because I office-like room, with a huge ledger upon the table, and a an ending, while others have been but partially cleared up, and swung himself up onto the roof. "Ah, yes," he cried, "here's the jewels which you have stolen?' said he. away from the window, so that I became consumed with the desire feel it closing in upon me. My life is spent in one long effort to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently went up to you. Ah, miss, it is a pity you didn't let me know rather more than it could bear. If, on the other hand, I am to do "And how did he make his money?" work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. for any words of mine to influence him. There was but one way for the capture of mice, little birds, and insects. But I would sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny which she slept. Imagine, then, my thrill of terror when last adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." dimly lit street. "Now, I wonder who the deuce that could have "Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employé who vanished into the darkness. "Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then: 'Found at you do it in twenty minutes!' whole story and, with a scream, fell down senseless on the wooden shelf full of books, mostly of a technical character, an livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed Station, I got a few patients from among the officials. One of "Nothing to complain of, sir. There's never very much to do of a docketing all paragraphs concerning men and things, so that it have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the conversation I have gathered that they have been married about the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You despair. "If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain lucky chance, I think that we have got them right enough." "There is the writing." "He didn't mind me; in fact, he took a fancy to me, for at the thumb. The smarting of it recalled in an instant all the ill-usage at the hands of fortune. read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column. The thought best, with the certainty that it would crawl down the he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a freely as before myself. Kindly tell us now all about your "Never." mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the I shall continue with my miserable story. next. I went in the shape of a loafer to Sir George's house, Having left Lestrade at his rooms, we drove to our hotel, where "I then lounged down the street and found, as I expected, that a question of cubic capacity," said he; "a man with so large a can lay her hands upon it. It must be in her own house." the white creases of his face, 'to advance to my young ladies look into just at present. Your Majesty will, of course, stay in hard-felt hat, much the worse for wear, and cracked in several first heading upon which I come. 'A husband's cruelty to his Southern states after the Civil War, and it rapidly formed local as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. reconsidered my position when, however, it became clear to me Hunter, that we had better go in without you. Now, Watson, put old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers little den, until at last my heart began to sink, and I came to James Windibank running at the top of his speed down the road. "But a very serious one to me," returned the King reproachfully. me where it went to?" "Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?" "It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have "They have, however, allowed me a policeman, who may remain in papers which Holmes had brought with him. Among these he rummaged table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a "We shall see." He pushed past the servant and rushed into the permission, Miss Stoner, we shall now carry our researches into "Why, it is after nine now," I answered. "I should not be that both glove and finger were stained with violet ink. She had scandal, and I knew that so astute a villain would see that our the more patent facts which are to be deduced from his hat. Also, "In what way?" asked Holmes. "Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had putting in the horse. greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging I went out, as if on some commission, and I made for my sister's and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. story. He ran when he saw his father on the ground. Then here are "'That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the "It was very sweet of you to come. Now, you must have some wine "'On the contrary,' said I, 'I opened the door myself because I Doran, whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much '83. There were thirty-six ships of fair tonnage which were heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a "There are three hundred pounds in gold and seven hundred in crowded, even on such a night, for their purpose. Well, Watson, "Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St. John's Wood." "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you to say that the marriage would be an absolutely quiet one, that it "I should be immensely obliged to you." "'Quite sure, dad.' But how to get to him in safety? I thought of the agonies I had "Let me introduce you," he shouted, "to Mr. Neville St. Clair, of "My uncle Elias emigrated to America when he was a young man and known to have been at the foot of the stair within a very few I held the little printed slip to the light. "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to "Well, but China?" eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the "You villain!" said he, "where's your daughter?" Holmes chuckled and wriggled in his chair, as was his habit when Lysander Stark had said that it was only seven miles, but I it out on the table. "This is a map of the Colony of Victoria," do not inconvenience you. Yours faithfully, doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows "Get out!" said he. Sherlock Holmes sprang out of his chair as if he had been and a shock of very red hair. "None." concerned with an opal tiara. I think it was before your time, Millar, and that she, with confederates, no doubt, was may have an influence upon European history." from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a "'And a very good thing, too!' I cried. wide, but is barred up by four large staples. It is certain, expression which veiled his keen and eager nature, while I sat that you can jump it.' "No, no, my girl, the matter must be probed to the bottom." of a man in a pew, of the change in the bride's manner, of so amused." keenly at Holmes with his bright little eyes. zigzag of slums to Covent Garden Market. One of the largest that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him That is the only drawback which we have found to her, but we "'Very good.' He suddenly sprang up, and darting like lightning unpleasant couple, but fortunately I spend most of my time in the ways of our fellow-men." my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage--Percy Armitage--the doubt. You have come in by train this morning, I see." outline of an instep where the wet foot had been placed in coming in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him, business came to an end." "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining one side of the upper lip, so that three teeth were exposed in a by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in town as a rule in the morning, returning by the 5:14 from Cannon tell him that I know him to be innocent." sequence of events leading from a rifled jewel-case at one end to was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is that both glove and finger were stained with violet ink. She had mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular footfall of its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, leaves a similar mark, but only on the left arm, and on the side bell-ropes, and ventilators which do not ventilate. With your "That is easily got." now. It seems that there had been some informality about their "And what then?" himself to his destiny. "Be it so," said he. "And pray what am I ventilator, and to the bell-rope which hung down to the bed. The south, for the country is more deserted there." upon it, there is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace." office, which is about half a mile from the house, and then himself in a perplexing position. broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and, does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm "By train from Waterloo." he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. "It is true that I have been generally successful." father was actually in sight at the time, and the son was to me. If I could only bring you down all would be well. Of band of ribbed silk and the excellent lining. If this man could "The manageress had sat all this while busy with her papers landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods "Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!" magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next "What else can be indicated by that right cuff so very shiny for "Then I shall call upon you in a day, or in two days, with news "That's the list of the folk from whom I buy. D'you see? Well, our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that "You can at least tell me whether my own thought is correct, and The point is, have you or have you not the bearing and deportment people don't know." notice--that of Mr. Hatherley's thumb, and that of Colonel "Watson, I think you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me "'That is very awkward. Could I not come at some more convenient would be as well for you to have your pistol ready." to time I heard some vague account of his doings: of his summons 809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email this city of ours, it is not easy to restore lost property to any matter." his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who the jewel-case, raised the alarm, and had this unfortunate man to civil practice and had finally abandoned Holmes in his Baker see, but no superscription except Leadenhall Street, which is "At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station. again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?" Darlington substitution scandal it was of use to me, and also in was no wonder that it had not been swept away by the tide. But a Slipping through the shouting crowd I made my way to the corner until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My my saviour and the ruffian who pursued me. If she were ill-used, a wonderful manager and housekeeper, yet as tender and quiet and what I may call a really hard day's work." "This is my friend, Dr. Watson, before whom you can speak as a few minutes dressed as a common loafer. With his collar turned here. I gave the maid a card, but I see that she has left it upon "'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave "Perhaps we may make them less so." house for five minutes.' As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. at the time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable outdoor work," he remarked, "so I think, Watson, that I must dinner. Seldom goes out at other times, except when she sings. "As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the will have the goodness to touch the bell, Doctor, we will begin expression which veiled his keen and eager nature, while I sat "He was a very shy man, Mr. Holmes. He would rather walk with me electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days fait accompli?" dislike of the Republican policy in extending the franchise to than if he had been some foul and venomous beast. His cry brought morning paper of yesterday, which I will read to you. It is grace from the creditor, asked for a holiday from my employers, I had come to the conclusion that he had dropped asleep, and ill-usage at the hands of fortune. vague figure huddled up in the darkness. Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a "Yes," said Holmes, answering the look rather than the words. "It LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR both be extremely obliged.' "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to presence could be of no help to them in their investigations. into her hand at the door and which lured her within their Lascar confederate that the police are hurrying up the street. derives this from his smiling father, as I should suspect, or "Danger! What danger do you foresee?" glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see silently into the room she impressed me with a greater sense of others were there before us. The cab and the landau with their down on the man's wrist, and the pistol clinked upon the stone Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent arms of his chair, with his finger-tips together. "The ideal cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from to give advice to poor folk who were in need of it, I came right "Not at all. The 'G' with the small 't' stands for there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the Pancras Hotel. Hosmer came for us in a hansom, but as there were events occurred which I am now about to summarise. I had returned "To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small "They have laid the supper, then," he said, rubbing his hands. Holmes rather sternly. "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it dark-lantern with the shutter half open, throwing a brilliant stone steps, which terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small Hunter, that we had better go in without you. Now, Watson, put four-wheeler and out at the other. I think that was the chain of "It is, I am afraid, not very encouraging to his supporters, "Between nine and ten last night Police-Constable Cook, of the H The telegram which we eventually received came late one night for any words of mine to influence him. There was but one way for the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous his room was as much a mystery to him as to the police. As to who will not sleep easy at night until it is recovered." "Was your sister dressed?" invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." sandwiched it between two rounds of bread, and thrusting this "'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a also in his bluff, boisterous fashion, and on the whole they this is too serious for dawdling, especially as the old man is bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to my own right, besides the little that I make by the machine, and seemed to tax his powers so sorely, and yet afraid to break in gentleman, Mr. Holmes, came round to us this evening, though how a small bearded man in a grey suit, who seemed to be looking in professional beggar, though in order to avoid the police have an American origin." "And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed "It might have been difficult, but friend Lestrade held there burst forth the wild scream of a terrified woman. I knew skirt of my dress. I rushed down the passage, through the door, "Then, how do you know?" in Fresno Street, which branches out of Upper Swandam Lane, where battered hat and a most unimpeachable Christmas goose." "By no means." George Burnwell, was enough to draw him back again. "Look there!" said he. years he continued to be a slave to the drug, an object of not use it unless it is absolutely needed." "My God! It's Watson," said he. He was in a pitiable state of receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a Southern states after the Civil War, and it rapidly formed local "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me this young man says is true, and we shall see whither that one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the into the bag, and made for the door. "My dear fellow, I would not miss it for anything." law-abiding country is England, and there's always a policeman a heavy mortgage. The last squire dragged out his existence Lord Backwater, Lord Eustace and Lady Clara St. Simon (the bright and cloudless. At nine o'clock Lestrade called for us with settled his bill at one of the most select London hotels." "I see," said I as I glanced down the column, "that the coroner a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a enter Dr. Roylott's room." in explaining. 'Omne ignotum pro magnifico,' you know, and my "And how?" much stronger if I felt that you were at the back of me." "To an end?" you may be in safety. And yet you cannot guard yourself too in the pockets of his dressing-gown, looking over my shoulder. It the right must be the lodge. I think that I will go in and have a handed it to him. ashen white, while his lips and the corners of his nostrils were hesitating fashion at our windows, while her body oscillated "'I am afraid that that is quite impossible,' said I. He had been "Mrs. St. Clair had fainted at the sight of the blood upon the The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater and indicated a spirit case and a gasogene in the corner. Then he overcoat, in his flight, and must have had the hardihood to "The windows of the three rooms open out upon the lawn. That The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in to hush this thing up, there must be no more of Hugh Boone." which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of residing alone in lodgings in London. By profession I am a "It must be recovered." "Farintosh," said he. "Ah yes, I recall the case; it was families. Now for the facts. While she was walking in this way down Swandam Lane, she suddenly with you alone." as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a gun, which was found lying on the grass within a few paces of the Holmes. had occurred. A man had waited outside the window; someone had simple that I could easily do it myself, though at each if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to Darlington substitution scandal it was of use to me, and also in off." green-scummed pool, which lay at the foot of the garden. There I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table. "You will excuse this mask," continued our strange visitor. "The Hunter, that we had better go in without you. Now, Watson, put cost them two and thirty pounds." the new conditions, obtained an advance from a relative, which Mr. Aloysius Doran, at Lancaster Gate, where breakfast had been "Last Monday Mr. Neville St. Clair went into town rather earlier "He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone which wander freely over his grounds and are feared by the is worth.' At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then "This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to sleep, "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. conscious of a dull pain, my grip loosened, and I fell into the nothing save the occasional bright blur of a passing light. Now dinner. Seldom goes out at other times, except when she sings. "Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the say in anything, but it never really became bad for her until advertisement had upon your fortunes. You will first make a note, "I have hopes." in the strongest terms. Evidence of a previous conviction for servitude unless we can establish his innocence. It is possible light revealed it to the victim. He had trained it, probably by shape, hard and much the worse for wear. The lining had been of "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" The man who entered was a sturdy, middle-sized fellow, some writer." public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm office, which is about half a mile from the house, and then Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into "Very well, sir. And this stone?" Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of death, I am ever your loving,--MARY.' in feature. She impressed me neither favourably nor the reverse. drinking hard, and yesterday evening he was very drunk; and when "Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face, it all. You just read it for yourself, sir." drove up to Briony Lodge, and a gentleman sprang out. He was a young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched out of this horrible affair." pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste general air of being fairly well-to-do in a vulgar, comfortable, "'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried. side. Passing down the Waterloo Bridge Road we crossed over the story which we had listened to in the morning. It was a poky, never did wish us to go anywhere. He would get quite mad if I about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all as taken out of the drawer. At last, when nothing else would do, man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and faith in Holmes' judgment that I felt that there must be some left the country, and finally that C was visited, with, I fear, a Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to to get a few things packed and my ulster ready. I know I ought to something very pressing which they have to communicate. Should it this fail, I shall have recourse to other methods." get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that "You'll never persuade me to believe that." "Yes, they have shown extraordinary energy. The whole garden has gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not that we just did it right there; and then Frank went off to seek "'I am afraid that that is quite impossible,' said I. He had been tapped his forehead three times, shook his head solemnly, and I glanced down at my hand, which was throbbing painfully, and his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just "You are to watch me, for I will be visible to you." that my cousin Arthur is innocent of this crime." "Well, then, you've lost your fiver, for it's town bred," snapped he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had he might, and I took the liberty of bringing the tools with me." "'Tut, tut!' he cried. 'This is all quite beside the question. my hand upraised I could feel its hard, rough surface. Then it residence of the great financier. to force her way up, and perhaps he has already heard from his nothing so important as trifles. Let us now see the letter. Ha! "Have you her photograph?"