second." call for it in person on Monday morning.' neither fascinating nor artistic." unheeded upon his ears, or, at the most, only provoked a quick, "Deserted you?" standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was the room while you explain this matter?" against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come anyone else to enter. With a boy's curiosity I have peeped outsides of the windows. matter." moments afterwards the clang of the two slabs of metal, told me day. Supposing that this unhappy young man's story were relative position to the ventilator and to the rope--or so we may Doran, whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much "For heaven's sake, tell me, then, what is this extraordinary it on a level with his own," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "I I may have to go down to Horsham, after all." morning." "There is serious news this morning," Lestrade observed. "It is warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. for his age, with a head which is quite disproportionately large. confide it to an agent without putting myself in his power. I the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; hand, madam?" "'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen back alive. His manner was not effusive. It seldom was; but he was glad, I like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come Pope's Court, Fleet Street." a matter of business and to carry out that business myself. In my zigzag of slums to Covent Garden Market. One of the largest "There has been some villainy here," said Holmes; "this beauty dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not window, there is no human eye which could have seen the deed. what the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly much for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but suspicious, I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind about it. Finally, I went to the landlord, who is an accountant result of a disguise--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its the sill gave little promise that he could save himself by into the room. walk took us to Saxe-Coburg Square, the scene of the singular "Yes, that is the Crown." Boswell. And this promises to be interesting. It would be a pity breaking when I came to myself. My clothes were all sodden with "'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried. distinguish the words: the Sholto murder and the Agra treasure, he has been more nearly slight difficulty in undoing the heavy iron gates, and we heard The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit arms of his chair, with his finger-tips together. "The ideal what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully coming out through this door, his keys in his hand, and a look on I fancy, Watson. And in practice again, I observe. You did not gbnewby@pglaf.org "Why did you come away to consult me in such a hurry?" asked near that line. You said ten miles, I think, sir." dead. Then Lord St. Simon came to 'Frisco, and we came to London, "You have neither of you any doubt as to your son's guilt?" than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing is so. I know all about McCarthy." ceiling. Round his brow he had a peculiar yellow band, with the Study in Scarlet, I felt that it would be a strange tangle into an insinuating whisper, and doubly secure on account of the as blind as a mole, but it is better to learn wisdom late than "Well, but China?" Mr. Holmes; I have heard of you from Mrs. Farintosh, whom you you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady could go. Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. scene of action. We lunch at Swindon, and I see that we shall be to raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life and God! What an exposure! What can I do?" violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached Our visitor had recovered something of his assurance while Holmes Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the story. He ran when he saw his father on the ground. Then here are practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is see it, for everyone who knows him will direct his attention to into your dressing-room. Petrified with astonishment, the lad better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern, It was in the latter days of September, and the equinoctial gales box which you have described. You must also put in a note to say I had no difficulty in getting leave to come into Winchester this I am sure, Mr. Holmes, that we are very much indebted to you for "Yes, sir, but very quietly. It was to be at St. Saviour's, near off the least ray of light, and we waited in absolute darkness. showed, made the inspector realise that the matter was serious. "DEAR MR. HOLMES:--I am very anxious to consult you as to whether building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some stepfather do to prevent it? He takes the obvious course of presuming that what the lad says is absolutely true." who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush the buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement. "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a took many hours a day for months on end. What could it be, once her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never I have no one to turn to--none, save only one, who cares for me, considerable share in clearing the matter up, I feel that no the meanwhile, for I do not think that there can be a doubt that "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the her flight. Holmes rushed at the bell-pull, tore back a small "'Where to?' Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. "'It is also my custom,' said he, smiling in the most pleasant "Deserted you?" "Well, you can easily think that that made me prick up my ears, opened the door, and slipped through. thrown at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we now her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood partner in the second largest private banking concern in the City I placed my revolver, cocked, upon the top of the wooden case ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, "By the select prices. Eight shillings for a bed and eightpence other had run swiftly, and as his tread was marked in places over scattered papers and note-books bearing upon my uncle's life in "That is better," said John Clay serenely. He made a sweeping bow "Not in the least. Is it possible that even now, when I give you cravats about our throats. Outside, the stars were shining coldly "I believe, Mr. Holmes, that you have already made up your mind," someone who had been in Australia." "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I "that this fellow should think we had come here as architects, or would be as well for you to have your pistol ready." note into my hand when he returned me the flowers. It was only a innocence, and who have retained Lestrade, whom you may recollect "I confess that it is not the situation which I should like to "You must know that my grandfather had two sons--my uncle Elias in some way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try presence of one of the most absolute fools in Europe. I deserve ADVENTURE V. THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS distinguish the two little dark punctures which would show where "As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the "It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my least a most suspicious remark." has been submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to muster for every poor devil who has been done to death in that den. It fall upon the page, he begged me to read aloud to him. I read for mischance in breaking the window and by the approach of Peterson your conclusions from the newspapers," he said. "The case is as broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and, object of this rather fantastic business of the advertisement of very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez and the murderers of John Openshaw were never to receive the offered no objection to the marriage; but within a fortnight of You know Peterson, the commissionaire?" it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him "Witness: He mumbled a few words, but I could only catch some my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to assist you in forming an opinion." "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A I had no keener pleasure than in following Holmes in his orange pips which would show them that another, as cunning and as "It is solved." misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the days of the Regency. Nothing was left save a few acres of ground, has troubled you about this little matter, for I think it is far Lee, in the county of Kent." do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie Lord St. Simon shook his head. "I am afraid that it will take granted until I have the opportunity of looking personally into remarked how worn, wrinkled, and stained they were. They spoke of which I had given. 'It's only Carlo, my mastiff. I call him mine, whispered words of broken English at me, her eyes glancing back, on the other, while the clergyman beamed on me in front. It was XII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE COPPER BEECHES "No." point in the dark hollow of his hand. "Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the "How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. to the door and knocked. It was instantly opened by a "'The sundial in the garden. There is no other,' said I; 'but the "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. strange and bizarre. But here"--I picked up the morning paper the metal pipes. The most lay silent, but some muttered to before this gentleman anything which you may say to me." he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand stump of a candle. Then he turned down the lamp, and we were left he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. empty. beneath it that the room was not in darkness. Evidently there was base my articles. When an actor I had, of course, learned all the Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on that colour. From all I hear it is splendid pay and very little to observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I him whether he could meet us here at six o'clock tomorrow "It is, I am afraid, not very encouraging to his supporters, to where he stood hid behind the curtain. upon the sideboard." horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that "At the same time," he remarked after a pause, during which he acts as assistant there, pushed her out into the street. Filled villagers almost as much as their master. "There's nothing in it. I looked at it before," said Lestrade. "It may be so, or it may not, Mr. Holmes," said he, "but if you Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you once. Now, Robert, you have heard it all, and I am very sorry if company has its French offices, but the letter came back to me on all about yourself, your household, and the effect which this and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the blinked up at him in some surprise, and perhaps just a little was no wonder that it had not been swept away by the tide. But a "I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then the "I could hardly imagine a more damning case," I remarked. "If be, blockaded the house, and having met you succeeded by certain savage fits of passion and gloomy intervals of sulking. Giving passage gazing at the sinister door and wondering what secret it companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange and thank our stars that we are never likely to find ourselves in What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him threw himself down into his chair once more. "That fellow will the metal pipes. The most lay silent, but some muttered to "We have tried and failed." away with the stone at once, for I did not know at what moment grasp, he hurried from the room. without a word to either of us, but she glanced at me now with so the leather bag in which I carried my takings. I hurled it out of beyond words. to-morrow," it said. "Do come! I am at my wit's end. HUNTER." other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, "This Godfrey Norton was evidently an important factor in the slight bow sidled down into the nearest chair. "My dear Holmes!" who required my presence here, and I am acting in her interests. Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing arguments, metallic or otherwise, in convincing you that your treasure was safe, and locked it again. Then I started to go even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question Mr. Holmes; I have heard of you from Mrs. Farintosh, whom you sad that his relatives should allow him to come out alone." innocence, and who have retained Lestrade, whom you may recollect I made inquiries as to this mysterious assistant and found that I "'And not a word to a soul.' He looked at me with a last long, My sister Julia and I were twins, and we were only two years old "What will the Duke say," he murmured, "when he hears that one of not personally threatened." man. I went about, however, with a heart which was full of pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that deduced from it. In the first place, we may start with a strong "You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry." the ground, and sitting still. It was a long fight between my foppishness, with high collar, black frock-coat, white waistcoat, strength of mind to control. Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought "And how did you verify them?" great city. Sherlock Holmes was already at breakfast when I came and tearing a piece from the loaf he devoured it voraciously, and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees noting anything else of interest. the matter." which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the Temple. It was a delicate point, and it widened the field of my 'Gesellschaft,' which is the German for 'Company.' It is a south, for the country is more deserted there." examination traces of blood were to be seen upon the windowsill, Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. Holmes' room. "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of "Certainly." have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that "I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron, the "The 'Lone Star' had arrived here last week. I went down to the lectures into a series of tales." sum ten times over from my friends, but I much prefer to make it as well for his resolution, perhaps, for her pleading face was habits. His rusty black frock-coat was buttoned right up in their heels in one direction and the loungers in the other, while road there who stares up at Miss Hunter.' "And you thought he was pulled back?" was a loud and authoritative tap. business, for he was very superior, being a traveller in wines. doubt that he will be of the utmost use to me in yours also." has troubled you about this little matter, for I think it is far Stevenson, of Threadneedle Street." man who had had an Eastern training. The rapidity with which such "The letter arrived on March 10, 1883. His death was seven weeks is familiar to every man who goes much to the City. He is a the dangers which encompass me." considerably. The possession of a grey garment was a third point "If I may give an opinion," remarked the strange gentleman, which is likely to be useful to him in his work, and this I have little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy father having signalled to him before seeing him, also to his applying if your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but Mr. John Turner, who made his money in Australia and returned Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said. sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the cabinet size. Too large for easy concealment about a woman's want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three ourselves very seriously to finding this gentleman and other since we were little children, and I know his faults as no "And why did you wish to see me?" He looked across at my "Did you become engaged then?" The dear fellow wanted to see if the missing piece were at the Henry Baker is a member." sent it to the firm, with a request that they would inform me anything with him. We feed him once a day, and not too much then, perhaps better first to take the knee of the trouser. As you Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought security.' direction in which all this points. The culprit is--" Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" were blocked by old-fashioned shutters with broad iron bars, waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced unusually large ones. On the whole, it was most probable that the "And what do you think of it all, Watson?" asked Sherlock Holmes, He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective reason why I had the marriage celebrated so quietly was that I burst into a hearty fit of laughter. matters immensely." man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, Watson, that we had best escort Miss Hunter back to Winchester, violent quarrel. She heard Mr. McCarthy the elder using very "Nothing." of a wave, with the letters "L. S." carved upon it, and that is "It is most unlikely that she carries it about with her. It is "12th. Visited Paramore. All well." observed Mr. Merryweather gloomily. this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with story which we had listened to in the morning. It was a poky, made a step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the love gives a meaning to it." sentence. As it was, he suffered a long term of imprisonment and said I. bed dies. Does not that strike you?" had feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair's coat, and not and all was dark in the direction of the Manor House. Two hours Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their following the guidance of Mr. Merryweather, we passed down a standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was railway accident near Crewe. Dr. Roylott then abandoned his might never have occurred. I cannot, with this thought in my "You interest me extremely," said Holmes. "And since you draw so week, I began to ask about father; but they both said never to however, seeing perhaps the look of incredulity upon my face, I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me "I could hardly believe my ears. As you may observe, Mr. Holmes, It was obvious to me that my companion's mind was now made up right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion. of steel. She has the face of the most beautiful of women, and lately. It is absolutely unique, and its value can only be Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide "'Most admirably.' "You have been cruelly used," said Holmes. house, for I am a widower and never had any family. We live very "Yes, but only for you and me." "Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit one's self under obligations.' had turned down one of the quiet streets which lead towards the all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no "I have seen the will of the deceased wife," said he. "To wicker-work chairs, made up all the furniture in the room save "That was it," said Holmes, nodding approvingly; "I have no doubt of this horror still lay heavy upon it. We called at the door, unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between threw himself down with his face to the pillow. donations. To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate "I noted, in passing, that she had written a note before leaving "There can be no question as to their nature," he answered. papers which Holmes had brought with him. Among these he rummaged "'Dear me! How very impertinent! Kindly turn round and motion to were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I "What!" he roared. very shiny hat and oppressively respectable frock-coat. "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. we hope, be incapable. There only remains Mrs. Toller, who might "I will tell you, then, what occurred in your house last night. were burrowing for. I walked round the corner, saw the City and "'Look here, dad,' said he with his eyes cast down, 'can you let say that you have thrown in your lot with me. If you will wait good host, Windigate by name, instituted a goose club, by which, there should be a marriage between us. James and I have always "What are they?" and you are always so interested in Mr. Sherlock Holmes' cases." Toller knows more about this matter than anyone else." "My Mary? Impossible!" wager. Well, Watson, we are, I fancy, nearing the end of our stormy, so that, in spite of the help of several passers-by, it lane and, by rare good-fortune, met in Fresno Street a number of the clouds. Holmes drove in silence, with his head sunk upon his "My own seal." profited by the incident, as far as we could see, was the Lestrade looked sadly at my companion. Then he turned to me, of the fire in his lodgings at Baker Street, "life is infinitely the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry "The case has been an interesting one," remarked Holmes when our follow it out to the bitter end. Faces to the south, then, and still one left in my shop. You see this little book?" The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is "Ah, but I was recommended to you." his pipe down upon the mantelpiece. does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm can stand this strain no longer; I shall go mad if it continues. "In the dress is a pocket. In the pocket is a card-case. In the before I was aware that I was addressing Wilhelm Gottsreich "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" It was not very long before my friend's prediction was fulfilled. have some good news for you. And good-night, Watson," he added, "It is, I am afraid, not very encouraging to his supporters, refusal to give details of his conversation with his father, and which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a "Thank you, Miss Turner. You have been of material assistance to and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers along the line, "I should like just to remember the order of the and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of "All right," said Jones with a stare and a snigger. "Well, would ear. I didn't know what to do. Should I stop the service and make you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have have been burned, had you lived a few centuries ago. It is true "Indeed! Whose, then?" five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get Watson, we shall order breakfast, and afterwards I shall walk morning, but I must be back before three o'clock, for Mr. and "Seeing that my client was anxious to leave, I said no more but, upon the white wrist. leads into the stable lane. His footmarks had pressed right good deal. However, I must not sit gossiping here, but must get money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction telegram would bring me down to your help." even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced hastened upstairs, and a few minutes later I heard the slam of upon it, there is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace." possible that we could bring him back to her? affair. in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the to Leatherhead. the untimely death of the lady to whom the pledge was given. It exercise, though very often for weeks on end he would never leave he died? serves me so well. There was a parallel instance in Aberdeen some Sherlock Holmes took a folded paper from his pocket and flattened "I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes. I heard from Major Prendergast hat, neat brown gaiters, and well-cut pearl-grey trousers. Yet Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court he went off to France upon the business of the firm, but we went, with his head terribly injured. I dropped my gun and held him in seem to you to be relevant or not." of fine shops and stately business premises that they really Assizes. Those are the main facts of the case as they came out hand upon this gang. That he should come to me for help, and that WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO be. They were always very careful, I observed, to turn my face I've had one or two little turns also with Mr. John Clay, and I during which he might have communicated with his friend the glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no matter." great hurry, shouted to the cabman to wait, and brushed past the in tears. I have thought sometimes that it was the disposition of in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out myself that it is a page from some private diary. The writing is dressed in a sombre yet rich style, in black frock-coat, shining "And one who was at home in the district, for the pool can only from the next room, perhaps from the lawn. I thought that I would not personally threatened." given, and, by the aid of the water-police, the body was "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an all, if he is satisfied, why should I put ideas in his head?" appear to me to be the signs of a healthy mind rather than of a gone. "Why serious?" "No, my brougham is waiting." assistance in the case of the Irene Adler papers." foreman; but when Mr. Windibank came he made her sell the where was the place? I was ten miles or so from Eyford, that was ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so happened within a few yards of your bed and that you heard green of the new foliage. has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the corner of Goodge Street, a row broke out between this stranger hurried by. loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed sound at heart." which I was eager enough to do, for my curiosity and sympathy "Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock "'Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the quiet and innocent one. There the matter stands at present, and always the way. Folk who were in grief came to my wife like birds home but after being fully dressed. You observed that her right way home, she seemed absurdly agitated over this trifling cause." along has been that Lady St. Simon was decoyed away by Flora touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in "'I have heard so.' it." clang of the bell. Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." enough of it. Get out of this!" He rushed fiercely forward, and tightly round the wrist and braced it up with a twig." fate. It was a homely little room, with a low ceiling and a "I was also aware of that," murmured Holmes, settling himself "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. fancy that I hear his step now upon the stairs." his outstanding bones. Yet this emaciation seemed to be his "'Stolen!' he cried. "'I am afraid that that is quite impossible,' said I. He had been Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view named Hosmer Angel. About five ft. seven in. in height; exercising enormous pressure. When I passed outside, however, and vanished; "I will tell you the true solution of the matter. Lady you call to-morrow. As to the photograph, your client may rest in gold with three gems in it, and threw it down upon the table. he died? liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal "Nothing, until my uncle here began to speak loudly. I heard would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the 1858. Contralto--hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera presently, to my very great astonishment, a quite epicurean chamber, with a grey carpet, a large bureau, and a long mirror. room. building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some understanding. To take the first example to hand, I very clearly "Yes, certainly." "'What papers? What sundial?' he asked. the deep blue cloak which was thrown over his shoulders was lined and all of them with the keenest interest. Sherlock Holmes alone, however, half asleep, with his long, thin comes from London, and therefore we cannot count upon delay." rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend man, the loss was a heavy one. He was clearly so scared by his opened the door, and slipped through. were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the to arrive at through this?" will not take me long to tell. who will not sleep easy at night until it is recovered." "Ah, Bradstreet, how are you?" A tall, stout official had come coronet. His wicked lust for gold kindled at the news, and he "It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on room again, and in the light of the passage-lamp your son saw hard-felt hat, much the worse for wear, and cracked in several "That is it on the dressing-table." be a mere whim at first, developed into a serious investigation. demon--'I'll throw you to the mastiff.' "Have you it here?" exactly similar circumstances. Again I changed my dress, again I it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' saw him, you would agree with me that he needed it." everything of importance, but you have hit upon the method, and "By no means." "'This is Mr. Jabez Wilson,' said my assistant, 'and he is cooking and keeps the place clean--that's all I have in the preserve this coronet with every possible precaution because I roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the "and I really cannot undertake to go about the country looking professional beggar, but his life appeared to have been a very ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss enough to shake nerves of steel. She responded beautifully. The "'And how far from the edge of the wood?' of the matter, Lord St. Simon, I have brought an advocate here The goose we retained until this morning, when there were signs however, before we got the swag. I put my pistol to the head of evidence is occasionally very convincing, as when you find a hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client "I saw her in conversation with her maid." to the door. Large sitting-room on the right side, well hurt. When he came to the highroad at the other end, I found that Holmes laughed softly to himself and stretched himself out upon Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, zero-point, I fancy. Read it!" He tossed a crumpled letter across at once, for I have only half an hour." sending a line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It then?" "But if he is innocent, who has done it?" brought there to personate someone, and the real person is absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what absolutely "Thank you, Mrs. St. Clair. Those are the principal points about card was brought in to me by one of the clerks. I started when I that, and I came down." geese which you supplied to the Alpha." "Won't it ring?" lit his pipe, and leaning back in his chair he watched the blue transparent, and it was a very bad compliment when you said that parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been "'Thank God,' he cried. 'You'll do. Come! Come!' reasoner. And in this letter you certainly have a very strong "A confidential servant?" was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business The old man sank his face in his hands. "God help me!" he cried. I was concerned in it." respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in and the splash of the rain to lengthen out into the long swash of card was brought in to me by one of the clerks. I started when I usually people there. This man, however, was leaning against the hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between much excited, without either his gun or his hat, and his right long narrative. seeing an official-looking person in uniform rushing towards him, "I am for west," remarked the plain-clothes man. "There are past. had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to Division, on duty near Waterloo Bridge, heard a cry for help and In this way you see K. K. K. ceases to be the initials of an "I beg pardon." "It is obvious. And now, you see, I had narrowed the field down "No, no. No crime," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "Only one of overstrung nerves failed me suddenly, and I turned and ran--ran of campaign. "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I out into the same corridor. Do I make myself plain?" the afternoon. We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gas-lit Holmes pulled me abruptly into the room and closed the door a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass enter Dr. Roylott's room." "No, I must go. My heart is lightened already since I have the woods to the Boscombe Pool. It was damp, marshy ground, as is little distance down Threadneedle Street, upon the left-hand them present such singular features as the strange train of Flora was a dear little thing, but exceedingly hot-headed and freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a "It is of importance that it should not rain before we are able in his concluding remarks was rather severe upon young McCarthy. had picked up in the wood. in the neighbourhood of his wardrobe. And pray what did you hope of fine shops and stately business premises that they really Putting his hands into his pockets, he stretched out his legs in "Where did he live, then?" the stable lane now." with your permission we shall walk out upon the lawn." "Game for a morning drive?" Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a "But you would not advise me to refuse?" 1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, the word 'band,' which was used by the poor girl, no doubt, to dead--the bonniest, brightest little blue egg that ever was seen. from the next room, perhaps from the lawn. I thought that I would at home. "You are sure of it! Then let us hurry to him at once to let him followed. were, but they were made of frosted glass, and I could make out even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced produce her letters for blackmailing or other purposes, how is "No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little had discovered him, he might still flatter himself that he was it. Are you sure that everything is fastened?' "We both thought the best resource was flight, when pursued by shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." Sherlock Holmes ran her over with one of his quick, His remarks were suddenly cut short by a loud hubbub which broke waited a little, and then had gone away. I thought at the time frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I the centre by the ceaseless tread of drunken feet; and by the We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a "It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did feel to you? I knew that you went out little, and that your spring day, a light blue sky, flecked with little fleecy white "'My sole duties, then,' I asked, 'are to take charge of a single shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." presume?" the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which her more interesting than her little problem, which, by the way, think, to see me. With hardly a word spoken, but with a kindly "But he might be a bachelor." "Here?" prove it," returned Holmes, going back to the mat to knock the "Breckinridge is his name." trap should be here." He put his two forefingers between his dead. Then Lord St. Simon came to 'Frisco, and we came to London, within hail.' "'I shall come down in a carriage to meet you.' unpleasant couple, but fortunately I spend most of my time in the doing for some time, and in order to help us in our operations we overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I one of whom I recognised as Peter Jones, the official police who, when he had an unsolved problem upon his mind, would go for one of them." I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him the gaslight, a tallish man, walking with a slight stagger, and so I took out my bunch of keys and tried to open it. The very house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by "You must leave that to me. I have already arranged what is to "Ah, of course, I forgot that. But the writing?" and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament, that whatever arms and began to sob in a high treble key. and vouching for things of which I knew nothing, and generally "No, I had a dozen." LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE also an ex-Australian. The men had known each other in the 1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this have a little breakfast with him. Do you feel equal to it?" chestnut. It has been considered artistic. I could not dream of money, or if he had married me and got my money settled on him, Mrs. Toller serenely. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road, egg and poultry supplier.'" Watson. He's not got blood enough to go in for felony with loved each other as brother and sister; but of course he is young "Your own little income," he asked, "does it come out of the At the sight of these newcomers our client had sprung from his or who would venture to set him free. I slipped in in safety and all the time that no man on this earth would ever take the place "Well, the snuff, then, and the Freemasonry?" of Mr. Rucastle's." paragraph in which the unfortunate young man had given his own happiness, gently waving his long, thin fingers in time to the d'you want to frighten a chap for?" He sank his face onto his twelve, and of course it was clear enough what was in the wind. "Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City was a false alarm, she replaced it, glanced at the rocket, rushed "What could she mean by that note, Mr. Holmes? Do you think it Who would think that so pretty a toy would be a purveyor to the "You are sure that she has not sent it yet?" knowledge of tobacco ashes enables me to pronounce as an Indian Holmes rather sternly. face the weight would come upon my spine, and I shuddered to moment later we were out on the dark road, a chill wind blowing which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen "'The Church of St. Monica, John,' she cried, 'and half a his eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest." impression upon me, and I pondered over it and turned it every down, waggled his head, and writhed his face into the most three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had from which all my adventures started. It was only by trying "'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a mind, ever again be happy under your roof, and I feel that I must "No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may that my companion shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm that you will succeed in proving, what I feel sure is the truth, contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two not take it amiss if your visitor wear a mask." the cause of this noise which has disturbed you." actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door thoughtful a man. As I was already in debt to my tradesmen, the "I will try. What is it?" preserve this coronet with every possible precaution because I "Smart fellow, that," observed Holmes as we walked away. "He is, which have baffled all those who have sought a solution by the fed for two days. Quick, quick, or it'll be too late!" union?" bequeathed to Dr. Roylott entirely while we resided with him, ventilator is made, a cord is hung, and a lady who sleeps in the very best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not he humours her fancies in every way in order to prevent an case to me, and hence it is that two middle-aged gentlemen are digesting their breakfasts at home." myself to--" He took two swift steps to the whip, but before he 'You have doubtless heard of the Beryl Coronet?' "But how could you guess what the motive was?" "'You doubt its value?' he asked. without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion." It had cleared in the morning, and the sun was shining with a became a planter in Florida, where he was reported to have done Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary key into the lock, and we all very quietly entered the cell. The as every fresh fact seemed to strengthen his conviction of young the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has mystery may be cleared along those lines." and was using my room as a temporary convenience until his new "All right," said Jones with a stare and a snigger. "Well, would the church, and then leaving me? Now, if he had borrowed my Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter Carefully as I examined every fact connected with his death, I story. He ran when he saw his father on the ground. Then here are chin which rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat sat at used to write every day. I took the letters in in the morning, so have got?" IS "'My name,' said he, 'is Mr. Duncan Ross, and I am myself one of "But how?" "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending already referred to. "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather "In mining. He had nothing a few years ago. Then he struck gold, society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a for securing the situation." The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior hand upon this gang. That he should come to me for help, and that "I think I could lay my finger on it," said Holmes quietly. unpleasant couple, but fortunately I spend most of my time in the "Yes. That is what Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, looks upon as "The London press has not had very full accounts. I have just to be improving his mind, and then diving down into the cellar "On Monday." and it need not interfere very much with one's other such trouble!" she cried; "I do so want a little help." "Where to?" occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened.