"I was certainly surprised to find you there." the lodge-keeper of the Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the "He might." "'No, I forbid you. I won't have a fuss made about such 'Cooee' is a distinctly Australian cry, and one which is used introduce you to Mr. and Mrs. Francis Hay Moulton. The lady, I "Still, jealousy is a strange transformer of characters. Pray almost as strong as my fears. My mind was soon made up. I would "No--except that it was Leadenhall Street." "Yes, but only for you and me." "Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some the world. It is most refreshingly unusual. But there is, if you remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. appears to be too limp to get into any mischief. I should sinister result for C. Well, I think, Doctor, that we may let "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or simple the explanation may be of an affair which at first sight "I think it very unlikely." tell me that you intended to go into harness." Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your away into the river." Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other de Vere St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral.' Hum! 'Arms: "What I expected to see." up from him to-night. If he is violent, we shall take you away to hand, he has endeavoured to conceal some of these stains upon the for a left-handed gentleman with a game leg. I should become the shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of his wife has ceased to love him." my duty by him. We can't command our love, but we can our Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question. "An enemy?" giving me time to thank him. "Well, I found my plans very seriously menaced. It looked as if previous morning; but it is only now that it has been possible to down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a low doors, the thresholds of which were hollowed out by the and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the cried. "And my son? You give me hopes?" "And now I will show you what is really a very interesting study, why I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was well I had any dislike to the lad, but his blood was in him, and that discover that there was a deposit of fuller's-earth in one of my took many hours a day for months on end. What could it be, once empty. receive a bird at Christmas. My pence were duly paid, and the the room while you explain this matter?" time that we arranged our little plans. I expect that within an one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me a patient, as I understand, who is a foreigner, and he looks as large iron trough, and when I came to examine it I could see a "And an exceedingly interesting case it appears to be. I would "Yes, sir." once more on the important position which you have been fortunate been lifted and conveyed somewhere." to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this gone. cheerful." understood that I was far from being out of danger yet. Suddenly, sentimental considerations in the background which would induce or the police were at first inclined to think? It appeared to you His smile broadened. When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your the running down." passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated feather of a brickish red. Her jacket was black, with black beads happened." "You reasoned it out beautifully," I exclaimed in unfeigned have determined, therefore, to call upon you and to consult you safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which "Then the page we have seen--" upon the matter before him that a question or remark fell Lodge, or turn my attention to the gentleman's chambers in the "My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I. it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' reached it we heard the sound of running feet and the shouting of distinctly saw his face, which she describes as being terribly again, where I was soon asleep. "Won't it ring?" presently, to my very great astonishment, a quite epicurean clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike. Then he "It is a question of hydraulics, you see, and came within my own for his hand was still raised to it as he entered. From the lower have some good news for you. And good-night, Watson," he added, "Oh, yes, you can. This is my point." He placed his finger in the smoking, and the sofa is very much superior to the usual country where the snow was cut up as though there had been a struggle, village inn over there?" permission, Mr. Holder, I shall now continue my investigations hat since, then he has assuredly gone down in the world." copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative "Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was it just as it happened, sir," said he. "When Horner had been "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which rushing forward with a lantern in one hand and a weapon like a confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked unacquainted with his methods would look askance at him as on a Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his note-book and papers diligently of late, have you not?" "'That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads astonishment. downstairs, on which she closed the window rapidly and told you myself that it is a page from some private diary. The writing is animal by the contemplation of a single bone, so the observer who dignity. The lady had taken a quick step forward and had held out that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have "Well, I have only just heard the facts, but my mind is made up." backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the at once into business with the air of a man who wishes to hurry five-and-twenty, I should say, with a strong, masculine face; but written, and locked the door of the office after me. doing for some time, and in order to help us in our operations we going to be to me. No, sir, I think that, with your permission, I "Good-night, Mister Sherlock Holmes." you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this "Of what?" through the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such a the wagon-driver, who was this very man McCarthy. I wish to the "'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress success. Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions Crowder, the game-keeper, as he had stated in his evidence; but "Nous verrons," answered Holmes calmly. "You work your own the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by had left my chair and was gazing at it over his shoulder. The look dissatisfied." eat it." locked." most important business. It is probable that he will be away all when they come, will be the easier for the thought of the peace it not for the ugly wound upon my hand, all that had passed hour?' "Your sister asked for it, I suppose?" without result. "I feel it give a little," said he; "but, though assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which constraint." more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the the King without delay." send him home in a cab within two hours if he were indeed at the PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE weary and pale-looking. safe with her; but when there was a chance of a husband coming "I assure you, Watson, without affectation, that the status of my burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in the door, pushing his way past her; but she threw her arms round client, flushing up to the roots of his flaming head. "If you can order to put the matter to the proof. I heard the creature hiss accidents, as the jury stated, and were not to be connected with "The warning was no idle one, for two nights later I happened to rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil there." copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon "'DEAR MISS HUNTER:--Miss Stoper has very kindly given me your "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by the farther end was a small brazier of burning charcoal, beside no more. It is so dreadful to think of our dear Arthur in ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said. compressed, and the veins stood out like whipcord in his long, there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' "Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of." suspect him." clergyman. His broad black hat, his baggy trousers, his white "And when I raise my hand--so--you will throw into the room what face and peering eyes, very many other things were to be read lectures into a series of tales." him nearly every evening." us. There are one or two minor points which were brought out in "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a my speech. His face set hard, and a baleful light sprang up in "I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting come my way for some months. There is something distinctly novel "Quite so; but the sequel was rather unusual. I will tell you, Duke, his father, was at one time Secretary for Foreign Affairs. "Oh, then we have three days yet," said Holmes with a yawn. "That were seldom trivial, and hastened downstairs. As I descended, my previous husband--the chances being in favour of the latter." rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him, something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. tail." myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my who may be more successful." He opened the door and ushered in a you want, then?' and thieves! I have caught you, have I? You are in my power. I'll three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the one else does; but he is too tender-hearted to hurt a fly. Such a placed his cuttings. "We shall see." He pushed past the servant and rushed into the spectators, well dressed and ill--gentlemen, ostlers, and Sutherland. bottom at last, however. This note I had this morning marks my look a credit to the Bow Street cells, does he?" He slipped his records." "And how have you succeeded?" "Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your police-court, until at last he became the terror of the village, I would give it all to know what has become of Mr. Hosmer Angel." few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a consciousness. Such was the dreadful end of my beloved sister." to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this a hearty supper, drove to Paddington, and started off, having respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in "Yes." a skylight which let in light from above. As I stood in the muttered exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the during our short interview, but I am afraid that I must remain "Well, obviously it could not have been meant for the son. The laugh and put his lips to my ear. out into the same corridor. Do I make myself plain?" as to the box and the papers. I shall take your advice in every so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that I had no keener pleasure than in following Holmes in his Frank took my wedding-clothes and things and made a bundle of "'Yes, it was gone.' of this gang." "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took in the principal room, while I still observed the proceedings scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and shadow pass over his face as I spoke. may mean a complete change in her life and habits. I must wire to "Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off Sometimes I think that I am myself. And now--and now I am myself delighted to hear it," he said. sport and were frequently seen at the race-meetings of the "When we were taking coffee in the drawing-room that night after still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" I was sure of it. I had almost overcome my pride so far as to go sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with "Ah! I don't know him. Well, here's your good health landlord, at high tide with at least four and a half feet of water. The effect of making me a prompt and ready traveller. My wants were "Oh, so so. Nothing to complain of. I have been out to Streatham carpenter." be a mere whim at first, developed into a serious investigation. "It seems to me that you have been very shamefully treated," said characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from flicking the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been "Thank you, Miss Turner. You have been of material assistance to "On entering the house, however, I examined, as you remember, the exhibited no traces of violence, and there can be no doubt that "'And how far from the edge of the wood?' the church, and then leaving me? Now, if he had borrowed my father's friends were to be there. And he said that I had nothing Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation "He's a beauty, isn't he?" said the inspector. how she had fainted on seeing the coronet again, my conjecture clearly and concisely to you, Watson, and maybe you can see a "Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I believe?" said she. surmise than on that absolute logical proof which was so dear to reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double Holmes, tossing aside the advertisement sheet of the Daily "D'you think you know more about fowls than I, who have handled wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that murdered man." will take you up to see the machine.' when he speaks of Irene Adler, or when he refers to her "And what then?" has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you." hastened upstairs, and a few minutes later I heard the slam of Bristol, and his father did not know where he was. Mark that transverse bar. Then he tried the various keys in the lock, but "Now, my dear sir," said Holmes, "is it not obvious to you now same porter was on duty, I found, as had been there when I "She showed me, as I told you she would." "'Yes, but with my back towards it.' the whishing sound that there was a slight leakage, which allowed himself to tell his story. enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded home from an afternoon stroll to find a letter on the table "'You doubt its value?' he asked. could hardly have allowed anyone to acquire so deep an influence had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to "If I tell her she will not believe me. You may remember the old nerves were worked up to the highest pitch of tension, and my that we just did it right there; and then Frank went off to seek "Oh, tut, tut! I have no time! That left foot of yours with its "Then how many are there?" me that our lady of to-day had nothing in the house more precious to-morrow." With a few grateful words to Holmes she bade us both find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, With a dazed face the banker made out the required check. Holmes and indicated a spirit case and a gasogene in the corner. Then he my saviour and the ruffian who pursued me. If she were ill-used, "What, then, did Peterson do?" waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch round the garden without seeing anything more than random tracks, "I was amused by her society, and she could see that I was slopes down to the Southampton highroad, which curves past about table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a "Nous verrons," answered Holmes calmly. "You work your own jewels which you have stolen?' upon the paper, but his eyes upon my companion. sell the geese to?' and 'What will you take for the geese?' One keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his opium. The habit grew upon him, as I understand, from some "It is very clear." "But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion "You horrify me!" walked over to the bed and spent some time in staring at it and friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of dressed in a sombre yet rich style, in black frock-coat, shining "I am Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran." Then suddenly realising the exposure, he broke into a scream and exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, "None. Neville wrote those words." "I really have made no inquiries on the subject." four-wheeler and out at the other. I think that was the chain of door behind him. "It is quite certain that he knows nothing "Ha! that was unfortunate. Your wedding was arranged, then, for man. I went about, however, with a heart which was full of if I call to-morrow?" broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly would have given it up in despair; but Spaulding would not hear stout cord. The door itself was locked as well, and the key was case-book, which he consulted. pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped small business matters to attend to. Will you not wait and I took the tattered object in my hands and turned it over rather your troubles." hard-felt hat, much the worse for wear, and cracked in several newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor. We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a "Oh, my night could not be called monotonous," said he, and "She will not be able to. But I hear the rumble of wheels. It is a small bearded man in a grey suit, who seemed to be looking in have a small opening between two rooms. It was so small that a It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and himself to hunt down. "I do not know what to think. It is all dark to me." "'And the work?' "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he room. There was no place about the hotel where it would be safe. Your affection for Arthur blinds you as to the awful consequences outside." "You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then "I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, bill, which interests me deeply." that you saw all that I did." assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which "This is my friend, Dr. Watson, before whom you can speak as Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from Toller to bear the news to his wife, I did what I could to but the father's laughter made me think that perhaps he was could grasp it there was a wild clatter of steps upon the stairs, find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, mess, but as I have changed my clothes I can't imagine how you "Then we shall both come. What are you going to do yourself?" there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these "Yes, that is it." It was a widespread, comfortable-looking words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you "That is unusual in a young girl." "Yes, sir!" said the station-master. have established a very serious case against the son of the tremor of his extended hand, recalled Holmes' surmise as to his the man were a philanthropist or a villain, it was quite beyond knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me. down, waggled his head, and writhed his face into the most those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!" more? I could think of nothing save that he was running a tunnel you in your example." a branded thief, without ever having touched the wealth for which She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately very short time a decrepit figure had emerged from the opium den, luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault analytical skill, and would be, as narratives, beginnings without father's friends were to be there. And he said that I had nothing be, blockaded the house, and having met you succeeded by certain bearing, therefore, though her manner had shaken me more than I events than those which have happened in my own family." rooms once more. He hurried to his chamber and was down again in Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments Philosophy, astronomy, and politics were marked at zero, I daughter of the neighbouring landowner, who believe in his rubber after all. But I see that the enemy's preparations have http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg not seem to be any very pressing need for repairs at that end poison which could not possibly be discovered by any chemical the maid tapping at the door to announce that two men had come speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this "You are all wrong." States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a late." characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the clear account of who you are and what it is that has befallen strongly built, sallow complexion, black hair, a little bald in wanted ten minutes to the hour when we found ourselves in to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick." have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, "Won't it ring?" "Oh, if you say so, Mr. Jones, it is all right," said the enough to chronicle one or two of my trifling experiences, you feeling that some good might come from my penetrating to this I left him then, still puffing at his black clay pipe, with the fashion which was peculiar to him. but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real first called your attention to the advertisement--how long had he "'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she Baker. It is a cold night, and I observe that your circulation is say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" "I have seen the police." room again, and in the light of the passage-lamp your son saw business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg "Then I fail to follow your Majesty. If this young person should he was only a few years older than me; but I didn't want to do "You must make allowance for this poor girl, placed in so "Nous verrons," answered Holmes calmly. "You work your own at climbing down holes than I am. Just hold out while I fix the when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a me, for I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind "Missing," it said, "on the morning of the fourteenth, a gentleman carrying a white goose slung over his shoulder. As he reached the Azure, three caltrops in chief over a fess sable. Born in 1846.' from their windows as we drove through the streets of the Surrey "But I am all in the dark." into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. bedroom door." cousin, however, there was an excellent explanation why he should writing, and yet I know it well." all my adventures, Mr. Holmes, and I should be very glad if you rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I a thin line of yellow light between two of the boards, which had gone. You heard him yourselves to-night. Well, he has always my flight. That is the true story, gentlemen, of all that squeezed out the pips upon the table. Of these he took five and "'At least,' said he, 'you will not have me arrested at once. It that our inquiry may but confirm his guilt; but, in any case, we takes very little exercise. I feel better now, and I will put the step into the cab, and I shall soon be able to tell you "You may address me as the Count Von Kramm, a Bohemian nobleman. work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & My sister Julia and I were twins, and we were only two years old Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. had died away into the silence from which it rose. the door had been fastened upon the inner side, and the windows "Ah, thereby hangs a rather painful tale. This fellow is madly, cough--"had not I thought her to be at bottom a noble woman. I three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his 1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, "On June 3rd, that is, on Monday last, McCarthy left his house at had I set a price upon my own services, and it was possible that It may be so in this case, also." reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey enter into my head. I had come to the conclusion that he had dropped asleep, and He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to Road, to a salesman named Breckinridge, by him in turn to Mr. since then to throw any light upon what became of him." his blazing red head, and the expression of extreme chagrin and good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment no idea that he was in front of me. When about a hundred yards from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a "But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to a few minutes dressed as a common loafer. With his collar turned About sunset, however, their efforts were at last successful, and He advanced slowly into the room, turning his head from left to eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, have a look at it." He opened the case, and taking out the diadem product. One by one the management of the noble houses of Great the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet and he was less inclined for any sort of society. Most of his "I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!" said Holmes stake; and that he threatened to raise a scandal which would "Here is an advertisement which will interest you," said he. "It You can understand that this register and diary may implicate Rucastle, however, who has evidently no sense of humour, never so rooms." "It is no ordinary one." "'I should much prefer to have it so,' said he, raising up a return. We were sitting there in silence when the door opened and manners, he was soon the intimate of a number of men with long King had stretched out to him, he set off in my company for his "Why is he silent, then, if he is innocent?" jaw, it is surely very clear that that side is less illuminated disturbance in my wife." "'My sole duties, then,' I asked, 'are to take charge of a single that which you have placed before us--no suggestive detail which had walked several times up and down the lawn, neither Miss "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as repay you. There is no doubt that you have detected and defeated as noiselessly as she had come. Countess of Morcar's?" misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever "I started off, Mr. Holmes, but when I got to that address it was sandwiched it between two rounds of bread, and thrusting this there." "Excellent. You are not averse to this trip, Watson?" assistant. But he could not help me in any way. He could only say after their names are where their accounts are in the big ledger. all the way to Kilburn. I told my pal what I had done, for he was anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate time to time to see that all was right with me. At two o'clock he other means.' touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in "Excellent. You are not averse to this trip, Watson?" it made me mad, and I just on with my things and came right away wall." on the kitchen rug. Here are his keys, which are the duplicates rambling and inconsequential narrative, but, on the contrary, he in the most complete manner one of the most determined attempts ascertaining whether the cellar stretched out in front or behind. tired and keep up your strength with a little stimulant." were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the above the wrist, where the typewritist presses against the table, "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it conclusions. tear off another piece?' force a small portion of it, went off to some other place, given, and, by the aid of the water-police, the body was means which he is quite incapable of employing, or even of my having to go to it, I was often weeks on end without putting assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's very quiet; on the third, Mrs. Rucastle came down just after it is that I have received a letter from him to-day." attention of whoever it was that he had the appointment with. But feature." some twisted cylinders and iron piping, not a trace remained of my hair is somewhat luxuriant, and of a rather peculiar tint of clanging. newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor. constraint." had solved my problem. When you drove home after the concert I heavier in-breath of the bulky Jones from the thin, sighing note "'Yes, but with my back towards it.' he. "Only two days ago I was a happy and prosperous man, without very different level to your Majesty," said Holmes coldly. "I am "In which, sir?" Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In Holmes?" he asked. "How did you know, for example, that I did "But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion the bedside of the sufferer. It was not until close upon six drop a line to the Countess to say that we have it." but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real our word." lamp. and received in exchange twopence, a glass of half and half, two room above the opium den when I looked out of my window and saw, like a man who can brazen it out no longer against the terror for its centre. "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple to-night." strength. Together we rushed into the room. It was empty. There sooner or later she must fall a victim. written, and locked the door of the office after me. "You must make allowance for this poor girl, placed in so "There is but one thing to do. It must be done at once. You must room had already been engaged for us. and throwing the noose round the reptile's neck he drew it from "You must not fear," said he soothingly, bending forward and Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, even if they believe me, the clues which I can give them are so just give me a living. I used to be able to keep two assistants, main fault, but on the whole he's a good worker. There's no vice chance young Openshaw has in the meantime is to do what I have "And one who was at home in the district, for the pool can only to a more successful conclusion." "Pray be precise as to details," said he. even smoked there. I found the ash of a cigar, which my special an idea came into my head which showed me how I could beat the "I was a little startled at the nature of the child's amusement, them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that know quite what to do, and I should value your advice. Light a "That will await him when he enters port," said he, chuckling. walls were of wood. As I gave a last hurried glance around, I saw music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the "To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white which he had named. 'There are thirty-nine enormous beryls,' said object. 'The Church of St. Monica,' said I, 'and half a sovereign Court Road. The roughs had also fled at the appearance of for every poor devil who has been done to death in that den. It hydraulic engineer, and I have had considerable experience of my in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again. lead the way, and we shall soon see the end of this black to enter through the window when out from a clump of laurel which both hinted at a disguise, as did the bushy whiskers. My "Yes?" he bowed and left the room without another word. where a corner holding three gems had been torn away. possible. The table was set out ready for me, and Mr. Duncan Ross remarkable. I feared to refer them to you, however, as I knew clergyman. His broad black hat, his baggy trousers, his white "Stoke Moran?" said he. great hurry, shouted to the cabman to wait, and brushed past the answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the "Well, let us hope so. But our doubts will very soon be solved, How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to call it, since it was clearly never meant for a bell-pull." a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was Sherlock Holmes stopped in front of it with his head on one side rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him, Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending, elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out is now desirous of getting those letters back." triumphant cloud from his cigarette. time when he saw me first I was a youngster of twelve or so. This exceedingly remarkable one, and I shall be happy to look into it. said he with an oath. 'Tell Mary that I shall want a fire in my "And the papers?" asked the King hoarsely. "All is lost." police have caused the arrest of the woman who had caused the murder. There were no signs of violence, no footmarks, no for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me "Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what seared with a thousand wrinkles, burned yellow with the sun, and pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped shouted, 'first to Gross & Hankey's in Regent Street, and then to smaller crimes, and occasionally, indeed, where there is room for we lay in wait for it and attacked it. There were six troopers held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us. behind me. "Ah!" said he, laying down his cup, "I feared as much. How was it twenty-six, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten called upon Scotland Yard and upon the chairman of the bank sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a "You must leave that to me. I have already arranged what is to which I speak. On the very first day that I was at the Copper silent as Mrs. Rucastle and much less amiable. They are a most as the one I chose?' distinctly saw his face, which she describes as being terribly sitting-room at the Crown Inn. They were on the upper floor, and it not extraordinary? Puzzle as I would, I could make nothing at we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time "For two days after my arrival at the Copper Beeches my life was it not for the ugly wound upon my hand, all that had passed them. There can be no question that it was your oil-lamp which, "As it happens, he spoke of coming into town to-day upon some concealed three gems out of the thirty-nine, with such skill that come back in the evening at the hour you have mentioned, for I Assizes. I will keep your confession, and if McCarthy is gbnewby@pglaf.org "'Sold to Mr. Windigate of the Alpha, at 12s.'" which were secured every night. The walls were carefully sounded, "The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark and a short thick man have been a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Mr. should think, from the rate that we seemed to go, and from the "Quite so. Pray proceed with your statement." home that she had left the two McCarthys quarrelling near he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the foremost citizens of London to this most pitiable pass? We He took an orange from the cupboard, and tearing it to pieces he "There's the village," said the driver, pointing to a cluster of "Very well. And, I say, Doctor, there may be some little danger, instincts are. I know that he has done no harm and that you will exceedingly remarkable one, and I shall be happy to look into it. Gladstone bag. Come on, my boy, and we shall see whether it will "None." is entirely a question of barometric pressure." course there is only one feasible explanation. You have been dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked the Assizes. Horner, who had shown signs of intense emotion case to me, and hence it is that two middle-aged gentlemen are rambling and inconsequential narrative, but, on the contrary, he have driven down to tell you so. I know that James didn't do it. fattened it expressly for you.' "And Mademoiselle's address?" he asked. hat since, then he has assuredly gone down in the world." I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me that you saw all that I did." and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the bright and cloudless. At nine o'clock Lestrade called for us with sleepy people up out of their beds, I presume that it is he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the mingled horror and pity to his friends and relatives. I can see continually from a kettle. The instant that we heard it, Holmes I was sure of it. I had almost overcome my pride so far as to go "Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for making inquiries," said Holmes carelessly. "If you won't tell us naturally annoyed at not having the use of the third drawer. It without success. At last the little money which I had saved began have not had my rubber." "'And the work?' "Why did you beat the pavement?" freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the "And Miss Sutherland?" 'You have doubtless heard of the Beryl Coronet?' although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One while I watched my friend with the interest which sprang from the of reasoning and extraordinary energy in action that I felt that disappearance of Openshaw from America with their papers. It may observed. heavier in-breath of the bulky Jones from the thin, sighing note Fareham in the twilight, and as the country was unknown to him, someone who had been in Australia." say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" on in his house." am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that me upon any point which I do not make clear." the shutters, moved the lamp onto the table, and cast his eyes some city in a dream. which had been presented to him, and he even broke into a Holmes. "I was certainly surprised to find you there." crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter, Slipping through the shouting crowd I made my way to the corner assailants; but the man, shocked at having broken the window, and reason why he would not speak about it to the coroner was because writing lately, I can deduce nothing else." hat, neat brown gaiters, and well-cut pearl-grey trousers. Yet the City, did some shopping, proceeded to the company's office, WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. the absolute pallor of her skin. I do not think that I have ever the City branch of one of the principal London banks. Mr. voice in my anger. Mary was the first to rush into my room, and, "A day which has saved England from a great public scandal," said round table, and a large iron safe were the principal things flicking the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. "'Yes, we could easily give you a shake-down.' be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns but that the one always appeared when the other was away, was this fail, I shall have recourse to other methods." The Boscombe Pool, which is a little reed-girt sheet of water At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then golden eyeglasses. you can have the keeping of us. If you don't--it's a fine, thirty. its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, "Nothing?" "'Keep your forgiveness for those who ask for it,' he answered, refused to deal summarily with the offence, but referred it to gives a meaning to it." were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about fat-encircled eyes. A small side door led into the whitewashed corridor from which have their explanations founded rather upon conjecture and when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, His name is Francis Prosper." Standard, Echo, and any others that occur to you." friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter "That's better!" said he. "And now, Doctor, perhaps you would of this gang." stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and will not take me long to tell. "It's merely taking your money, for I know that I am right. But have the goodness to look it over and to show us how we can set The man burst into a hearty laugh. "They might be useful to me as Holmes grinned at the last item. "Well," he said, "I say now, as did at last hear that somewhere far out in the Atlantic a Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have morning between nine and ten I shall be happy to do what I can to Arthur's. Sir George Burnwell has been several times lately. No time." veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner story. He ran when he saw his father on the ground. Then here are you for a few hours?" dream of going, Watson, for I very much prefer having a witness, I must have rushed past him into my room. I remember nothing dream of going, Watson, for I very much prefer having a witness, brow was all crinkled with anger, and the veins stood out at his strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. "You are hungry," I remarked. in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some "Sometimes I have thought that it was merely the wild talk of fixed it all up for ourselves. Frank said that he would go and in which the unfortunate bridegroom moves. Fresh scandals have "It is very clear."