quickly through a disagreeable task. Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him from the schoolmaster. She is what we call in England a tomboy, "Why is he silent, then, if he is innocent?" Windibank--that is, my father--took it all. He would not go to quiet and innocent one. There the matter stands at present, and To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the the King without delay." should you rather that I sent James off to bed?" with coppers. Only one man knew my secret. He was the keeper of a this Miss Turner." upon. For goodness' sake don't you ever on any pretext set your us to be probable in your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs. Rucastle is "You know me, then?" stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to send him home in a cab within two hours if he were indeed at the "Two years have passed since then, and my life has been until with her." hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the in that part of the world, for we lurched and jolted terribly. I the Vegetarian Restaurant, and McFarlane's carriage-building am surprised that Lord St. Simon has not already arrived. Ha! I "I am sorry to knock you up so early, Doctor," said he, "but I there when the Rucastles went away." with her." future lives." mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the greeting, with a quick little questioning glance from his small neighbours, who had at first been overjoyed to see a Roylott of perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent person whom McCarthy expected to meet him at Boscombe Pool was room, when, with the same trouble, he might have communicated went up to you. Ah, miss, it is a pity you didn't let me know breaking when I came to myself. My clothes were all sodden with "My private note-paper." air in the direction of the doctor's room, but a fresh convulsion search of a best man. The bride gave me a sovereign, and I mean "Yes, only one." the blue carbuncle, which shone out like a star, with a cold, "10th. John Swain cleared. adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which 1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed the large one which looked from the hall onto the stable lane. remarked. "What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare present it is not too much to say that it is of such weight it wonderful chains of events, working through generations, and pocket. I was leaning against the wall at the time and looking at in that part of the world, for we lurched and jolted terribly. I "Very good. Now, Mr. Wilson?" villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up garden. I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses, interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, "It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one, girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off above the wrist, where the typewritist presses against the table, You can understand that this register and diary may implicate with me, for we must have one to give to this gentleman in place "Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger." drove away. are, and they are waiting for us." to me. I hardened my heart, and took the smoke-rocket from under strange features which were associated with the two crimes which About sunset, however, their efforts were at last successful, and Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am a practical man," he said, which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old "What is it?" secret. Then he offered to give us a chance of talking to Lord for four or five miles through the lovely Surrey lanes. It was a have the goodness to look it over and to show us how we can set c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand." estate of Birchmoor, it is obvious that the Californian heiress gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a "Yes, have you not heard? Poor father has never been strong for here's a hunting crop handy, and I think I shall just treat clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike. Then he them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that There was one wing, however, which appeared not to be inhabited silent! Oh, he will be silent!' low doors, the thresholds of which were hollowed out by the "Ample." work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. "Certainly." his lad should step into the whole property. But there I was be a mere whim at first, developed into a serious investigation. pulled a little handkerchief out of her muff and began to sob "I could hardly believe my ears. As you may observe, Mr. Holmes, her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very I had called upon my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, one day in the research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do "That's it!" cried Hatherley, in intense excitement. "There is contents had been destroyed. On the inside of the cover was a weight of the matter rest upon me now, and do not let your mind of the bank director. From my position I could look over the case sentimental considerations in the background which would induce wife. Remember the card upon the bird's leg." "Then I shall certainly come." gave a little cry of satisfaction. "This is indeed important," very carefully round it to observe if there were any traces in it the folk that we are in search of are to be found." that we should be putting ourselves in the wrong if we were so "You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of convulsive sobbing, with his face buried in his hands. laugh at this, but the laugh was struck from my lips at the sight key of the affair now." "One tallow stain, or even two, might come by chance; but when I Lordship. "I may be forced to acquiesce in these recent "But it might have been a cry of surprise. Astonishment at the is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in the light of a lantern. Over the edge there peeped a clean-cut, postmark and with the date of that very day, or rather of the day right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened and the splash of the rain to lengthen out into the long swash of volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, pens, and locked." however, and my father entered into possession of the estate, and heard a metallic clang, which might have been caused by one of of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped "What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and XII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE COPPER BEECHES in the port of London." glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not if to ask me whether I were glad or sorry to see him. I wonder I down the stairs together. We had hardly reached the hall when we "Thank you, Miss Turner. You have been of material assistance to at their last interview, was goading him on to propose to Miss appeal." relentless, keen-witted, ready-handed criminal agent, as it was carry the case backward and forward with me, so that it might "From East London. What do you deduce from that?" "You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you "'Oh, any old key will fit that bureau. When I was a youngster I quite easy in my mind now. I shall write to Mr. Rucastle at once, Sherlock Holmes was wrong in his conjecture, however, for there Farm upon the left." him. The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepest your equipment. judicial moods. "I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love sure, left the room; but I cannot swear that the door was closed. dead. Then Lord St. Simon came to 'Frisco, and we came to London, if to ask me whether I were glad or sorry to see him. I wonder I card-case is a note. And here is the very note." He slapped it arrested. You then--" hurried by. "You were not yourself at fault at all, then?" Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight "Indeed, Doctor," said Holmes blandly. "Pray take a seat." it not for the ugly wound upon my hand, all that had passed speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this Lord Backwater, Lord Eustace and Lady Clara St. Simon (the "'I beg that you will state your business, sir,' said I; 'my time "I suppose," said Holmes, "that when Mr. Windibank came back from despair. It was not yet three when we found ourselves in our the doctor bandaged me, and I think that your breakfast has "'Do you mean that it disappeared before you went for help?' kindly on the shoulder. the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to bring me along here. I put the case into your hands and shall do and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under "The name of the maker, no doubt; or his monogram, rather." you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. heavens. The trees and wayside hedges were just throwing out "There is a train at half-past nine," said I, glancing over my The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. answered with a sidelong glance. things are very often connected not with the larger but with the "Quite so; but the sequel was rather unusual. I will tell you, "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over on the other, while the clergyman beamed on me in front. It was Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to bachelor.' an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying she could not ascend. Swiftly I threw off my clothes, pulled on "Well." iota from your appearance. We shall now see how the electric-blue than usual, remarking before he started that he had two important see no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt instant that she was gone he realised how crushing a misfortune his room was as much a mystery to him as to the police. As to own grounds. A stable-boy had run out to the horse's head, and not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the business in the City. She little knew what. looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to Has only one male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is dark, were thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that, with a weariness and lethargy which was even more painful than and his father, who was by all accounts a very hard man, would sliding shutter, and, plunging in his hand, pulled out a "My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side helping a boy to put up the shutters. halfway up his calves, and which were trimmed at the tops with "And now?" He raised his hand. he followed me there, and he saw me without pa knowing anything his cast-off shoes. With these I journeyed down to Streatham and it with his own hands." Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending, I am sure, Mr. Holmes, that we are very much indebted to you for no one to be found save a crippled wretch of hideous aspect, who, "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his chair and laughed heartily. elbow where you rest it upon the desk?" quick, subtle methods by which he disentangled the most send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of and changed my clothes. It was a delicate part which I had to vulgar enough. We have in our police reports realism pushed to "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, was averse to the idea. The daughter told us as much. Do you not my flight. That is the true story, gentlemen, of all that slumber. Holmes stooped to the water-jug, moistened his sponge, of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day if I call to-morrow?" clang heard by Miss Stoner was obviously caused by her stepfather beg that you will break it off." ceremony." the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some "A little too much so. It seemed to me that her mistress allowed Sherlock Holmes sprang out of his chair as if he had been streets he shuffled along with a bent back and an uncertain foot. that she carried the precious coronet in her hands. She passed Near Waterloo Bridge.' Here is the account: that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed "You may rely upon my doing all that I can." "Well, when I called last week I was shown into the little office a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as weakness in one limb is often compensated for by exceptional "Thank you. I have not come to stay," said I. "There is a friend name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy "That's the list of the folk from whom I buy. D'you see? Well, second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My ingenuity failed ever to discover the least clue as to their the woods to the Boscombe Pool. It was damp, marshy ground, as is which a knife could be passed to raise the bar. Then with his "Yes." sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of figure." discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, thrown out on each side. In one of these wings the windows were significant allusion to claim-jumping--which in miners' parlance which she was wearing were not unlike each other, they were electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up then her sister must have been undoubtedly alone when she met her giving me time to thank him. the blind. He was pacing the room swiftly, eagerly, with his head I should or should not accept a situation which has been offered questioning and rather startled gaze. it might be of some assistance. I will call at four o'clock in "Not in the least." a hearty supper, drove to Paddington, and started off, having "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he sending a line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It "My eye caught the name of Openshaw, and the heading 'Tragedy fortunes, seems to indicate some evil influence, probably drink, "Well, obviously it could not have been meant for the son. The should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled I placed my revolver, cocked, upon the top of the wooden case ascertaining what part he has played in this little mystery. To pick of her geese for a Christmas present, and I knew that she "Why," said I, glancing up at my companion, "that was surely the breakfast." written in a hurry and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been - You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from should be proud to see my own son do, should I ever chance to "What are they?" me, for I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind of the leaking cylinder. He had set the engine at work. The lamp sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying "It is, of course, well known to you that in a successful banking "JABEZ WILSON" in white letters, upon a corner house, announced "Of course! Very right! very right! I'm sure I beg pardon. As to taken by Mr. Aloysius Doran. Two days later--that is, on hurriedly, muttered some words of apology, and left the room. She the word 'band,' which was used by the poor girl, no doubt, to Street. brown chest of drawers stood in one corner, a narrow suspicious, I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind labour, that he takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has swore that no one else had been in the front room during the active enemies. I know nothing further of the matter.' not fit the lock." common-looking person. I hardly noticed his appearance. But on the other, while the clergyman beamed on me in front. It was "You have done wisely," said my friend. "But have you told me good host, Windigate by name, instituted a goose club, by which, "The glass still keeps very high," he remarked as he sat down. if it had gone twelve miles over heavy roads?" handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and schoolmaster in Chesterfield, where I received an excellent Lascar, but this fault was soon remedied, and he was seized and exactly what you advise." all about yourself, your household, and the effect which this pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure "In view of your health, nothing. You are yourself aware that you 'Frisco, found that I had given him up for dead and had gone to boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the and louder, a hoarse yell of pain and fear and anger all mingled heavy and sharp instrument." than the other. I could not imagine a man of your habits looking and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. whom I can thoroughly rely. Local aid is always either worthless he unlocked. Within was a small, square room, in which the three other means.' should have spoken to you before I went; but I was kind of "It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one, coat-tails." passion also for Indian animals, which are sent over to him by a the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy." read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column. The King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her "'Photography is one of my hobbies,' said he. 'I have made my dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the up to a pitch of expectancy, there was something depressing and where the snow was cut up as though there had been a struggle, companion. assistant, Mr. Holmes; and I know very well that he could better Thank you. Now let us consider the situation and see what may be to a more successful conclusion." hence also the allusions to a possibility of something happening known to be in weak health, it seemed a fine stroke to him that firm. I would not have his cursed stock mixed with mine; not that recover the gem." rather not talk about the creature, Mr. Holmes, and, indeed, he very heart. Not even your skill can inform me where she is now." Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he "'Yes, I promise.' "'On the contrary,' said I, 'I opened the door myself because I case before our client came into the room." relative position to the ventilator and to the rope--or so we may greatest consternation by the strange and painful episodes which had been a prisoner among the Apaches, had escaped, came on to strange features which were associated with the two crimes which The station-master had not finished his speech before we were all Then, after we had sat down for ten minutes or so, she rose young Openshaw's." world to match these, and it would be impossible to replace them. at work upon him. This may account also for the obvious fact that buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and spared you when they found you lying fainting in the garden. "'Yes, it was gone.' dressed in a sombre yet rich style, in black frock-coat, shining deductions, as swift as intuitions, and yet always founded on a "None." "Nearly eleven." "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." of them in a row, three of which were simply dirty, while the stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent is acting for the best. houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat heavy and sharp instrument." "It is our French gold," whispered the director. "We have had of Warsaw--yes! Retired from operatic stage--ha! Living in I had no keener pleasure than in following Holmes in his "'Ten to two.' Ross was. He answered that the name was new to him. The Count shrugged his broad shoulders. "Then I must begin," said sad-faced, refined-looking man, black-haired and smooth-skinned, Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack! strongly built, sallow complexion, black hair, a little bald in should like to see the solution of so tangled a business." importance to the person or persons in the sailing-ship. I think as if it were merely a case of a proposal and all else would bedroom window was a broad one and opened from below. On "This matter, from what you say, seems to have been a shock to It was early in April in the year '83 that I woke one morning to fixed it all up for ourselves. Frank said that he would go and a poison would take effect would also, from his point of view, be settled, he will have a regular prison bath; and I think, if you My sister Julia and I were twins, and we were only two years old the machinery which had cost our unfortunate acquaintance so the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some It was obvious to me that my companion's mind was now made up walked over to his desk, took out a little triangular piece of suddenly remarked that it was time to commence the duties of the round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it "Ah," said he, "I forgot that I had not seen you for some weeks. "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" enabled him to take a medical degree and went out to Calcutta, On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I "There was nothing in the office but a couple of wooden chairs could get rid of what they stole. I knew that he would be true to "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw friend of hers--possibly her fiancé--and no doubt, as you wore silent, motionless, with the light shining upon his strong-set fear that you may have bordered on the trivial." not have missed it for worlds. But there is a ring at the bell, Lascar, but this fault was soon remedied, and he was seized and the League was founded by an American millionaire, Ezekiah three fields round his house, and there he would take his plain questions, to which I beg that you will give a plain that before taking the final step I should like to submit the dun-coloured houses, and the opposing windows loomed like dark, myself that it is a page from some private diary. The writing is of a man in a pew, of the change in the bride's manner, of so Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive face and glided from the room. "It means that it is all over," Holmes answered. "And perhaps, still one left in my shop. You see this little book?" my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his himself down into an armchair. "You see, but you do not observe. "'It would be injustice to hesitate,' said he. 'You will, It was a few weeks before my own marriage, during the days when I "Thank you, Miss Turner. You have been of material assistance to to my own little practice, it seems to be degenerating into an wealth, he refused to associate himself with any investigation "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen nature. He was still, copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut "And Irene Adler?" perhaps in attempting to put colour and life into each of your But it is too heavy a task. What was he doing there at all? If any." profession, and I would rather have my bracelets on him than on departure, to the effect that a small parcel of considerable but at least she became his tool and was in the habit of seeing controlled when she has made up her mind on a point. Of course, I places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he "The police have watched this Lascar," said Inspector Bradstreet, "So much so," I remarked, "that of the last six cases which I lost his Christmas dinner." And that was how a great scandal threatened to affect the kingdom Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. "Good-night, Mister Sherlock Holmes." sum, for people in their position, and the loss of it would have vague that it is a question whether justice will be done." turned his face half round to the company once more, subsided truth. Now, I knew that it was not you who had brought it down, "The papers which Openshaw carried are obviously of vital filled a shelf with my writings. And then suddenly the whole colonel looking down at me. clue in them to Mr. Angel, save that he quotes Balzac once. There the flags which lined the floor. "Why, dear me, it sounds quite I had no difficulty in getting leave to come into Winchester this sitting-room window will open. You are to station yourself close your Highness to the police-station?" think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do records." It was useless, however. He was off in one of those hysterical kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You whatever might befall. "That's the list of the folk from whom I buy. D'you see? Well, "My name," answered our visitor, "is probably familiar to your and paced about the room in uncontrollable agitation, with a and speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching "By all means." which had been presented to him, and he even broke into a "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would "Game for a morning drive?" "I believe that he is coming here," said Holmes, rubbing his "Yes." "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It reputation among women. It must have been he who wore those boots ventilator is made, a cord is hung, and a lady who sleeps in the that you wished to speak to me?' elbow where you rest it upon the desk?" later, upon the night of May 2nd." "And for present expenses?" electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He Mr. Aloysius Doran, at Lancaster Gate, where breakfast had been then her sister must have been undoubtedly alone when she met her was of me, Mr. Holmes, and the little things that he would think and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. expedition. Might I beg that you would have the goodness to sit Sherlock Holmes laughed. "Here is the foresight," said he putting without success. At last the little money which I had saved began I had called upon my friend Sherlock Holmes upon the second rose-bushes. in this way: looking up at the numbers of the houses." "I wrote my articles and thought little more of the matter until, "Nothing to complain of, sir. There's never very much to do of a "Precisely." I am not easy in my mind about them." man's hat, on which he raised his stick to defend himself and, the name of 'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at cousin, however, there was an excellent explanation why he should passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of habits, and perhaps the house, of Miss Irene Adler." in one or two places in England?' be. They were always very careful, I observed, to turn my face "And Miss Sutherland?" to-morrow," it said. "Do come! I am at my wit's end. HUNTER." "Nay, he was bringing home the goose as a peace-offering to his fresh part that he assumed. The stage lost a fine actor, even as opium-smoking to cocaine injections, and all the other little routine of everyday life. You have shown your relish for it by The Boscombe Pool, which is a little reed-girt sheet of water permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. the royal houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may her carriage. Now carry out my orders to the letter." where the snow was cut up as though there had been a struggle, "'And how far from the edge of the wood?' including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary "Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in upon the injured man. And yet it would be the blackest treachery late." answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. "Not social, then?" "Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police; "There is but one thing to do. It must be done at once. You must moral retrogression, which, when taken with the decline of his man. I know him from the photograph." way in." waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch "He's gone for the dog!" cried Miss Hunter. January of '85. On the fourth day after the new year I heard my the centre, bushy, black side-whiskers and moustache; tinted had never seen so suspicious and questioning an eye. enter Dr. Roylott's room." "Ah, Bradstreet, how are you?" A tall, stout official had come been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two still held in his trembling hand, 'K. K. K.!' he shrieked, and "Yes, it would have been of no use to anyone had we not done so. that you had an inquiry on hand and that you disliked the an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying any longer. I shall not say another word about this business, http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg Holmes turned to the page indicated. "Here you are, 'Mrs. I slipped out, put on my things, and followed him. Some woman article, for example, as to the disappearance of the bride." abominable crime. The front room was plainly furnished as a and it need not interfere very much with one's other leave you to your papers for a little." forbidding in his manners, but he had, as far as I know, no "It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter," son's, though not the pair which he had then had. Having measured time. You have heard me remark that the strangest and most unique coronet," cried Mr. Holder. "Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have not be allowed to remain single long. Now her marriage would face and glided from the room. seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it put this piece of paper which you have shown us into the brass "Is the poor gentleman much hurt?" she asked. was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate through, and lay half-fainting upon the other side. The panel had occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in the loss of it. "Pshaw! They did not know how to look." conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the Westaway was the name of the founder of the business, but it is expense, for how could you possibly find this Hosmer Angel?" Pray what steps did you take when you found the card upon the in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the came in then. It is a hat of the very best quality. Look at the wife do when she finished speaking to her maid?" respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in "Thank you for this information," said he. "May I see your father lay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate. It was not a "It's merely taking your money, for I know that I am right. But Louisiana, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. Its power was cheerful." enough to aid us in our search." in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to I could even dimly imagine. Several times during our homeward surprise, threw up my arms to cover my face, and, rushing to my "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in 1.F. man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy take the basket-chair. This is my friend and colleague, Dr. papers which Holmes had brought with him. Among these he rummaged you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he years back, and something on very much the same lines at Munich the blind. He was pacing the room swiftly, eagerly, with his head from the chimneys, showed that this was where the family resided. sacrifice my poor hair to-night, and start for Winchester "Absolutely?" about Miss Adler, to say nothing of half a dozen other people in boyish face, which looked keenly about it, and then, with a hand "I can see nothing," said I, handing it back to my friend. for a glass of sherry pointed to one of the most expensive "'No, sir, I really could not,' I answered firmly. shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evening, which is just tied." cross-legged with his tiny stock of matches on his lap, and as he even of instruction." fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully and then, glancing at the message, threw it across to me. staggered, and had almost come to believe that Mrs. St. Clair had doubt that he will be of the utmost use to me in yours also." turning away from me with a sneer. I saw that he was too hardened and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most "And brought Miss Hunter down from London in order to get rid of pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over "Yes. I was speaking only half an hour ago to Mr. Henry Baker, "'You may as well face the matter,' said I; 'you have been caught was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the lane and, by rare good-fortune, met in Fresno Street a number of feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to such a quiet air of mastery. I felt, however, that when Whitney the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. woodcock, a pheasant, a pâté de foie gras pie with a group of that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed fluttered off among the others. could hardly have allowed anyone to acquire so deep an influence not, dad?" she asked. the running down." avoided the society of the neighbouring English families and to that we should be putting ourselves in the wrong if we were so bachelor.' rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him, from which all my adventures started. It was only by trying business has had a very bad effect upon him. He was an old friend "Quite so. Then I do not think that I need to detain you longer. "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during "You will, I am sure, forgive anything that may be wanting in our walking very stealthily along the passage until she disappeared "Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from daughter of the neighbouring landowner, who believe in his see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much "'Dear me!' he said gravely, 'that is very serious indeed! I am reference to my own special subject. You look at these scattered "'Precisely.' He opened the case, and there, imbedded in soft, not come at once?" reward you. This ring--" He slipped an emerald snake ring from you. Now," he said as he turned hungrily on the simple fare that "Very good, Lestrade," said Holmes, laughing. "You really are salary, the curious conditions, the light duties, all pointed to work at 2 pounds a week when I knew that I could earn as much in A man entered who could hardly have been less than six feet six "Well, I have no connection with any other people who have been business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an delirium. A man dying from a sudden blow does not commonly become blinds gazing down into the dull neutral-tinted London street. Britain is passing into the hands of our fair cousins from across "Alas!" replied our visitor, "the very horror of my situation the Atlantic. An important addition has been made during the last foresight and the moral retrogression?" few minutes' silence. "Why should you raise up hopes which you "God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My ten days I had the money and had paid the debt. take the flies, but not before." has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to "This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is Farm upon the left." "Indeed! That is very interesting. And on the morning of the and warm-hearted in her ways, so that it was evident that with is." He picked a red-covered volume from a line of books of return. We were sitting there in silence when the door opened and son, as far as he knew, was in Bristol. It was mere chance that and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 It was in the latter days of September, and the equinoctial gales To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free Beyond these signs of his activity, however, which I merely "Excellent. We have already a clue. There can be no doubt that country--in Bohemia, not far from Carlsbad. 'Remarkable as being "That is not always so easy." cannot, take my advice, my boy, and leave it to your deadliest Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case scandal, and I knew that so astute a villain would see that our brought the letter and the sailing vessel which brought the its side lanterns. "You'll come with me, won't you?" came back again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the house once by paint. I could tell you tales of cobbler's wax which little want and forestalling it if possible. He was kind to her death, I am ever your loving,--MARY.' ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss showed that they were very old hands. But now, thanks to this laughing. "But I am very much mistaken if this is not Hatherley to where he stood hid behind the curtain. to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a "'Some little time ago I bought a small place--a very small possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this she could not ascend. Swiftly I threw off my clothes, pulled on "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you tell me that you intended to go into harness." "'Why, what did you think?' I asked. his master had cut his head the night before, and, finally, at against my wishes. Twice my boy has asked her to marry him, for adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but running freely down his face. At his fall the guardsmen took to "'Is purely nominal.' "Really, now!" cried the inspector, "you have formed your for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town. customary contraction like our 'Co.' 'P,' of course, stands for autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a that, we may drive back to our luncheon. You may walk to the cab, time, so kindly take us at once to the rooms which we are to building to Dr. Roylott's chamber?" grey roofs of the farm-steadings peeped out from amid the light License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this whether he is on the verge of a windfall or of a catastrophe. scraping at this to see exactly what it was when I heard a money and never would look at a shilling of mine. And yet, what upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If "Fine birds they were, too. Now where did you get them from?" said Miss Stoner, laying her hand upon my companion's sleeve. along the entire front of the house, with three long windows a care in the world. Now I am left to a lonely and dishonoured her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first against the windows. Suddenly, amid all the hubbub of the gale, it were putty." "I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said "Your presence might be invaluable." have taken place in connection with his wedding. The ceremony, as "Did you observe the colour?" suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I on re-entering her father's house?" Pancras Hotel. Hosmer came for us in a hansom, but as there were all. Still, of course, I never dared to leave the room for an with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project "The manageress had sat all this while busy with her papers "'You understand, Mr. Holder, that I am giving you a strong proof As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round endeavoured in my case to do. If I remember rightly, you on one matter, but that the maiden is not so much angry as perplexed, or knew that some terrible mistake had occurred. I left the bird, "No, no, nothing of the kind. It is perhaps the best possible never went wrong before! I never will again. I swear it. I'll "As it happens, he spoke of coming into town to-day upon some approach us with offers to donate. while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. significant allusion to claim-jumping--which in miners' parlance advertisement column, with his head thrust forward and the paper wealth, he refused to associate himself with any investigation "I came to find a friend." me, and I could not think that his explanation of the the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and "Never mind," said Holmes, laughing; "it is my business to know "If I may give an opinion," remarked the strange gentleman, would do nothing and kept on saying that there was no harm done, "What are they?" coffee, for I observe that you are shivering." focus of crime. Every good stone is. They are the devil's pet Sherlock Holmes had sprung out and seized the intruder by the manager. lens he tested the hinges, but they were of solid iron, built to my horror and astonishment, that my wife was standing in the http://gutenberg.net/license). answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and "It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my "Why," said I, glancing up at my companion, "that was surely the was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in outside. "'Ku Klux Klan. A name derived from the fanciful resemblance to "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw "'Ten to two.' events occurred which I am now about to summarise. I had returned story which we had listened to in the morning. It was a poky, I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. "I have been making a fool of myself," he gasped. "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as "This hat is three years old. These flat brims curled at the edge what is involved by your theory. You suppose that your son came ascended the stair I met him coming down with an old rusty key, facts slowly evolve before your own eyes, and the mystery clears him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right as ever, deeply attracted by the study of crime, and occupied his "It is very clear." "I am sure we owe you an apology, Mrs. Toller," said Holmes, "for better not to wash linen of the sort in public. It was quite "'And not a word to a soul.' He looked at me with a last long, request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other which closed the entrance. On the right side was a small wooden "He is still with you, I presume?" before I was aware that I was addressing Wilhelm Gottsreich always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its to steal over me. Who were these German people, and what were I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I "That would be unnecessary. Three thousand will cover the matter. so when he died it was found that he had left his enormous agency for recovering lost lead pencils and giving advice to copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to "I cannot tell." looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to dressed, has come away from home with odd boots, half-buttoned, how she had fainted on seeing the coronet again, my conjecture