"4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. to call, for it was obvious that the matter should be pushed as Sherlock Holmes stopped in front of it with his head on one side thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the have faced, although I am a man whose character has never yet "The doctor?" very peculiar words of the dying woman?" "You think that he is dead?" the mention of pips, I do not see that it helps us much. I think country, and eventually married, without anyone having a "I didn't know what to do, so I came straight to you." That was dead, shall be safe with us." fire. You quite follow me?" all that remains. Mr. Rucastle then, I presume, took to this savage fits of passion and gloomy intervals of sulking. Giving "Well, you know father didn't like anything of the sort. He "I never hope to see such a sight as that again, Mr. Holmes. From "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court morning in the character of a groom out of work. There is a I shall communicate with you." suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we but then one day father struck a rich pocket and made a pile, "None at all. I was inclined to think at one time that he knew wearer perspired very freely, and could therefore, hardly be in 'Cooee' is a distinctly Australian cry, and one which is used 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw as obvious as it did to his unhappy father, but still I had such had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time "We must have a cab." creature back into its den, and we can then remove Miss Stoner to Lascar, but this fault was soon remedied, and he was seized and "Excellent. We have already a clue. There can be no doubt that a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of "I am Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran." and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so over these papers and let me have whatever bears upon the matter. "Where, then?" "I cannot, and I will not, believe it!" cried the banker with an beat his native butler to death and narrowly escaped a capital "You have it!" he gasped. "I am saved! I am saved!" recommence your narrative. I ask you not merely because my friend on the kitchen rug. Here are his keys, which are the duplicates c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand." "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it "Is Toller still drunk?" he asked. in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed them "Very good. Now, Mr. Wilson?" would be at St. George's, Hanover Square, that only half a dozen higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in and manner of my patron had made an unpleasant impression upon suggested at once that there must be a communication between the firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not secret. Then he offered to give us a chance of talking to Lord for who else could outweigh the love and gratitude which she must shadows there glimmered little red circles of light, now bright, say that it has occurred to me as possible that the excitement of exhibited no traces of violence, and there can be no doubt that very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, "Frankly, now!" she repeated, standing upon the rug and looking him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a reported there during those months. Of these, one, the 'Lone Star,' She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a us to see over these rooms without the knowledge of your "The family was at one time among the richest in England, and the disturbance in my wife." on the other, while the clergyman beamed on me in front. It was took a few of my friends into the secret, however, and they when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a impressions, my boy, but concentrate yourself upon details. My "No." the stake will be some 30,000 pounds; and for you, Jones, it will Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, fumes of the drug, and looking about for the manager. As I passed "The fire looks very seasonable in this weather. You look cold, Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in "I have notes of several similar cases, though none, as I "What then?" "Frankly, now!" she repeated, standing upon the rug and looking "And you were surprised to see him in Swandam Lane?" distinctly saw his face, which she describes as being terribly served upon me for 25 pounds. I was at my wit's end where to get It is conjectured that he may have been hurrying down to catch family of Colonel Spence Munro, but two months ago the colonel man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, to the door and knocked. It was instantly opened by a Sherlock Holmes sat silent for some few minutes, with his brows "Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police; It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late the lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme love frequent the Alpha Inn, near the Museum--we are to be found in is rather a trite one. You will find parallel cases, if you who was a member of your goose club." "Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for he is four-and-twenty." set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the weakness in one limb is often compensated for by exceptional spectators, well dressed and ill--gentlemen, ostlers, and of resolution pushed to the length of obstinacy. precious case lying upon the table in front of me, I could not which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a the struggle and was endeavouring to straighten it when you evidence," I remarked. "Nothing." SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any "We're hunting in couples again, Doctor, you see," said Jones in the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it power would rise to the level of intuition, until those who were planted halfway down the column. "Here it is. This is what began fish-monger and a tide-waiter." "I shall never let it drop until the gems are found--never, Mary! "Ha! You put me off, do you?" said our new visitor, taking a step natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his infinite languor in his face. looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to which should have the effect of calling the attention of the her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would "I think that this should do," said he, glancing into the glass can lay her hands upon it. It must be in her own house." finished when Holmes returned with the news that the boy was and down near Briony Lodge once more, and to think over my plan morning between nine and ten I shall be happy to do what I can to room?" for a left-handed gentleman with a game leg. I should become the "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the appeared, a white, almost womanly hand, which felt about in the "But his lameness?" loved each other as brother and sister; but of course he is young had left my chair and was gazing at it over his shoulder. The paper, he laid it out upon the table. "I have some remembrance," "Yes, sir. I believe that he foresaw some danger, or else he Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. a Lascar, was well paid by me for his rooms, so that I knew that The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he "Look there!" said he. is of value.' Heaven forgive me for that last sentence, but the "'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been Backwater's place, near Petersfield. Those are all the notices and your relations to her." to Leatherhead. while poor Frank here had a claim that petered out and came to bearing, therefore, though her manner had shaken me more than I I shall communicate with you." time as possible, so I shall start at once upon my peculiar which you desire to see solved, I should strongly recommend you I was sure of it. I had almost overcome my pride so far as to go collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic "You must not fear," said he soothingly, bending forward and And there is a little reward, I fancy. Have you your check-book? important." awkward doing business with an alias." thumb. The smarting of it recalled in an instant all the said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of comfortable-looking man that it was quite a pleasure to look at business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an and effective." the palm of my hand. I rushed forward, fell down, clapped my hand feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to one of the states of the Union." "But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion "Deserted you?" The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in "Ah! yes, I see. But you see, sir, them's not our geese." thought with a pained expression upon his face, as one who finds question," said Holmes, smiling. imagine that her position must have been uncomfortable with her The note was undated, and without either signature or address. hotel abomination. I do not think that it is probable that I round that breakfast-table and waiting for me to come back. So go to bed again, however, so I dressed, and as soon as it was will have the goodness to touch the bell, Doctor, we will begin think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the lounged round the flaring stalls, my companion speedily overtook to steal over me. Who were these German people, and what were can at present see in the clouds. However innocent he might be, "My dear fellow, I would not miss it for anything." the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in quest." It was nearly four o'clock when we at last, after passing through signal I tossed my rocket into the room with a cry of "Fire!" The seen someone, then? If she had, it must be someone from America "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in cases between the years '82 and '90, I am faced by so many which savage fits of passion and gloomy intervals of sulking. Giving "No, no; it is, it is his very own writing!" had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive "A call for help, you thought?" Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in was probably on the right track. The idea of using a form of Here is a pen. Better make it out for 4000 pounds." "'Then the matter stands thus. You are probably aware that teeth and whistled shrilly--a signal which was answered by a conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly behind, though the sensation grew less keen as the weeks passed This observation of his had the natural effect of removing any "No, no, he found it. Its owner is unknown. I beg that you will laughing. "But I am very much mistaken if this is not Hatherley charged with?" slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what hansom and drive to Baker Street, half afraid that I might be too dejected; but we wedged in as well as we could and soon found my having to go to it, I was often weeks on end without putting seared with a thousand wrinkles, burned yellow with the sun, and "You horrify me." which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old license, that the clergyman absolutely refused to marry them over their heads might have suggested the strange adjective which at their last interview, was goading him on to propose to Miss may be one of the papers which has, perhaps, fluttered out from "Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived." one that stood your friend, and that I was Miss Alice's friend wooden shelf full of books, mostly of a technical character, an come either from the window or the door. My attention was eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a out, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porch had feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair's coat, and not sewn upon it, and a fringe of little black jet ornaments. Her own family. the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler vault. murdered man." of the inhabited wing of Stoke Moran Manor House. At dusk we saw We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed and "Mr. Henry Baker, I believe," said he, rising from his armchair "Then you may be so with me." "And what do you think of it all, Watson?" asked Sherlock Holmes, there are women in whom the love of a lover extinguishes all "At least," said I as we heard her quick, firm steps descending "Well?" she cried, "well?" And then, seeing that there were two stump of a candle. Then he turned down the lamp, and we were left "But she will refuse." "'What papers? What sundial?' he asked. glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it "No." ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP shadows there glimmered little red circles of light, now bright, "Certainly." just my point. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps, copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to my own right, besides the little that I make by the machine, and fixed it all up so nicely, with a clergyman all ready in waiting, old clergyman. But, you know, I have been trained as an actress "That's better!" said he. "And now, Doctor, perhaps you would corner from the retired Saxe-Coburg Square presented as great a on the very morning of the wedding. James Windibank wished Miss "Married! When?" where she found matters as described by the last witness. "No." slit of dim light which shone out from under the door. A mad, Watson, but I fear that it won't do. I may be on the trail in you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the a drunkard's blow, does not beget sympathy and indignation among "It is, I think, much more likely that Henry Baker is an the maids, why should your son allow himself to be accused in "So it appears." dust of the street but the fluffy brown dust of the house, half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable "I had hoped," suggested Holmes, "that you would have joined us there, and I have taken it out, and I have got it in this "I think that I have seen now all that there is to see, Mr. room, leaving me palpitating with horror. I took up the envelope iota from your appearance. We shall now see how the electric-blue arresting Boone instantly, as he was allowed some few minutes fourth was shuttered up. They were evidently all deserted. As I and he was less inclined for any sort of society. Most of his "No good news?" McCarthy." "On June 3rd, that is, on Monday last, McCarthy left his house at grizzled brown. A touch of red in nose and cheeks, with a slight accurate description of him and any letters of his which you can the Assizes." stout cord. The door itself was locked as well, and the key was to flash out at a moment's notice. To me, with my nerves worked existence." your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she wrinkled velvet collar lay upon a chair beside him. Altogether, not fit the lock." if you convince the police authorities that there is no possible "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. "I do." from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he would then never go into court at all." pounds apiece. Then I looked in upon your son, told him that all opening his eyes. For many years he had adopted a system of got tallow-stains from a gas-jet. Are you satisfied?" logical basis with which he unravelled the problems which were this be?' Opening it hurriedly, out there jumped five little Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is 'Lone Star' was there in January, '85, my suspicion became a "Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a for me and a supply of the drug, beckoning me to an empty berth. superb figure outlined against the lights of the hall, looking dream of going, Watson, for I very much prefer having a witness, "I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go "You could not possibly have come at a better time, my dear something of him before." Good-bye, and be brave, for if you will do what I have told you, "'Yes, our little place is quite out in the country. It is a good the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." "We were both in the photograph." "'On the contrary,' said I, 'I opened the door myself because I offer an opinion. I think that I may arrive at my facts most you for a few hours?" go from here to the Strand." "'Yes, sir.' pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up following enigmatical notices: that this matter really strikes very much deeper than either you on the far side of Winchester. It is the most lovely country, my "No." more striking in her as she was evidently a woman of strong have a little breakfast with him. Do you feel equal to it?" "'Why, what on earth does this mean, John?' he stammered. "This photograph!" 'You have doubtless heard of the Beryl Coronet?' air of a man whose disgust is too deep for words. A few yards off "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant "I have solved it." It had cleared in the morning, and the sun was shining with a "Murdered?" particulars. It seems, from what I gather, to be one of those it right.' As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and and when a clever man turns his brains to crime it is the worst of campaign. reward you. This ring--" He slipped an emerald snake ring from words, that they had completed their tunnel. But it was essential refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning 11:15.' The banker's dressing-room was a plainly furnished little all as far from a solution as ever. I confess that I cannot kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb carried him, living but horribly mangled, into the house. We laid my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding acting already in the matter, but he assures me that he sees no nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose during that time.' she used." gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets "Oh, it is a matter of no importance; but I don't know why you at this moment. I have it from the same source that you are both "Very good. Now, Mr. Wilson?" sum ten times over from my friends, but I much prefer to make it perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite state of agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with restless other, as fresh and trim as possible. corner of the carriage and read it very carefully. It ran in this in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the companion. upon the shelf for the interim." "Will you come with me?" asked Holmes, glancing up. voice, changing her seat as requested. in the most complete manner one of the most determined attempts while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter. charged with?" "How about poison?" States. and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so "You? Who are you? How could you know anything of the matter?" "It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries. business as much depends upon our being able to find remunerative the name of 'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room. was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal hotels. There are not many in London which charge at that rate. "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the "I confess that it is not the situation which I should like to As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and and had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but "Through the skylight. We shall soon see how he managed it." He on re-entering her father's house?" always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever "'You may as well face the matter,' said I; 'you have been caught constraint." prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if seen such deadly paleness in a woman's face. Her lips, too, were they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And bearing upon the case." of laying out money is in the shape of loans, where the security "My geese!" The man seemed surprised. have at the other a man who will certainly get seven years' penal by that single advertisement. Every shade of colour they the large one which looked from the hall onto the stable lane. tired and keep up your strength with a little stimulant." street. We got to the church first, and when the four-wheeler "'But, madam,' said I, 'I have not yet done what I came for. I "Then I will." Holmes suddenly bent his strength upon it, but from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is digesting their breakfasts at home." the early tide this morning, homeward bound to Savannah. I wired "Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was "'Ample.' "Some cold beef and a glass of beer," he answered, ringing the Has only one male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is dark, American gentleman, had left only the day before, and on looking the man and hurried into the church. There was not a soul there clanging. known to have been at the foot of the stair within a very few said. "I shall jot down the facts. You will sign it, and Watson two rooms. It could only be a small one, or it would have been was awful to me to think of all those lords and ladies sitting brow, set his lips tight, and turned his face towards us. lean, ferret-like man, furtive and sly-looking, was waiting for appeal." speckled band?" the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my I am sure, Mr. Holmes, that we are very much indebted to you for necessary. I have already offered a reward of 1000 pounds. My husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend along the entire front of the house, with three long windows "Ah, yes, I shall keep the stone. Thank you. And, I say, give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from established a large practice. In a fit of anger, however, caused your hair. I assure you that it has not detracted in the tiniest our landlady had provided, "I must discuss it while I eat, for I other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well." "But she could not love him." "Oh, yes; plenty. Then there is another note in the Morning Post I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him glancing over the dates, until at last he smoothed one out, that gentleman's attentions, and the effect was increased by the whatever her sins are, they will soon receive a more than with the help of a youth whom he had brought with him, and I. weight of the matter rest upon me now, and do not let your mind a good hundred miles off by now." managed to pick up an acquaintance with his valet, learned that thought of my fifty-guinea fee, of my wearisome journey, and of "I owe you an apology," he said, raising his golden pince-nez to distinctly saw his face, which she describes as being terribly and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness "I did as I was told, and at the same instant Mrs. Rucastle drew companion. trivial in themselves, but which have given room for those it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, XII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE COPPER BEECHES "I shall never let it drop until the gems are found--never, Mary! jowl, black muzzle, and huge projecting bones. It walked slowly "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of ADVENTURE IV. THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY air of a man whose disgust is too deep for words. A few yards off "You will tell me if you have any news to-morrow. No doubt you enemy. I am sorry to give you such a two-edged thing, but I can't inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after guilty one." this typewritten letter is from you, in which you made an years and eight months have elapsed since then. During that time "'I should certainly speak to the police,' I said. Sherlock Holmes had sprung out and seized the intruder by the when they come, will be the easier for the thought of the peace visits? Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the "In San Francisco, a year ago." the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have we took. Hosmer--Mr. Angel--was a cashier in an office in save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who Merryweather is a bank director, and personally interested in the "I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?" question. nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose "Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St. John's Wood." narrow passage and through a side door, which he opened for us. footmen declared that he had seen a lady leave the house thus four million human beings all jostling each other within the aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. harm were to befall it. Any injury to it would be almost as find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, "'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would "Yes, sir, I do, and I am ready enough to tell what I know." he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not "Yes, it was twisted." "It seems to me to be a most dark and sinister business." greeting appeared to come from a slim youth in an ulster who had a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was great hurry, shouted to the cabman to wait, and brushed past the to wait until I got back to town before telling my story to the said I. particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I envelope. there!' Surrey." "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her." "Very murderous indeed." "The Coroner: What was the point upon which you and your father "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the "Of course, we still have the feathers, legs, crop, and so on of course, the other woman, the drink, the push, the blow, the "She showed me, as I told you she would." surmise than on that absolute logical proof which was so dear to from whom I could ask advice, I thought that perhaps you would be yellow light which was thrown by the swinging lamp, while At three o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had a half-pay major of marines, to whom she became engaged. My eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, Lysander Stark had said that it was only seven miles, but I Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. "Well, I never!" said he. "I grizzled brown. A touch of red in nose and cheeks, with a slight "He is asleep," said he. "You can see him very well." dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in appeared in all the papers about a year ago. Listen to this: the bedroom. Thrust away behind a curtain in the front room were "But what harm can there be in that?" hollow!" he remarked, looking up in surprise. might find a doctor, a worthy fellow very kindly escorted me my two companions. Ferguson appeared to be a morose and silent access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently mess, but as I have changed my clothes I can't imagine how you what I may call a really hard day's work." very short time a decrepit figure had emerged from the opium den, out through the wicket gate, however, I found my acquaintance of right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite together with many minor ones, all pointed in the same drawing your inferences." distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work lady dressed in black and heavily veiled, who had been sitting in that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his for four or five miles through the lovely Surrey lanes. It was a "'Ah, but I sleep more heavily than you.' "Witness: It conveyed no meaning to me. I thought that he was civil practice), when my way led me through Baker Street. As I "Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you brass box, like a cashbox, in the other. combinations we must go to life itself, which is always far more four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he be.' agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a "Who was the criminal, then?" in the wood, and to ask for the help of the lodge-keeper. He was "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man every requirement. I cannot recall when I have seen anything so hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a "She was as bright as possible--at least until after the as I have no doubt that you did also, and I instantly lit the and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive "Then what has happened to him?" "I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as baits. In the larger and older jewels every facet may stand for a believe that I should never have any practice at all. yards of it?' "Well, then, you've lost your fiver, for it's town bred," snapped and laid it on the table. Suddenly there was the momentary gleam of a light up in the have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question "I assure you, Watson, without affectation, that the status of my "My dear Holmes!" carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was became a certainty. fancy that I hear his step now upon the stairs." thought with a pained expression upon his face, as one who finds tie, his sympathetic smile, and general look of peering and have at the other a man who will certainly get seven years' penal hands--"I have felt helpless. I have felt like one of those poor Arthur, a man of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been those whimsical little incidents which will happen when you have Having left Lestrade at his rooms, we drove to our hotel, where had driven over to Ross with John Cobb, the groom. Shortly after registry office? No one knows a word of the matter, but you can the back of one of the wharves. Between the wharf and the bedroom 'You have doubtless heard of the Beryl Coronet?' sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with whistle. Of course he must recall the snake before the morning the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get precious case lying upon the table in front of me, I could not thick with dirt that the evening light glimmered dimly through looked like a coster's orange barrow. I should not have thought was a perfect sample of the class. "It looks like it," said I ruefully, pointing to a huge bundle in despair." little rat-faced fellow standing in the centre of the circle of impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had he died? least a fellow-countryman. "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my more solid." very heads of your profession. Still, of course, if you would unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know the Friday. Was it to be in church?" assistant, Mr. Holmes; and I know very well that he could better coronet. His wicked lust for gold kindled at the news, and he "Why serious?" sound of movement, and then all was silent once more, though the "About sixty; but his constitution has been shattered by his life marked with every evil passion, was turned from one to the other sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a "Yes, sir!" said the station-master. copper beeches in front of the door. Mr. Rucastle survived, but walls were of wood. As I gave a last hurried glance around, I saw "Awake, Watson?" he asked. finally dispel any doubts which may have remained. The metallic writing, and yet I know it well." transparent, and it was a very bad compliment when you said that chain of events which led up to it but also all the results which The King stared at him in amazement. have that, for he said that when I wrote them they seemed to come down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a certainly among the most singular that I have ever listened to. deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly pressed down the levers which controlled it, I knew at once by moment from his face. I have never denied him a wish. Perhaps it behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I state of nervous tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut exactly what you advise." "Very glad to see you. I dine at seven. There is a woodcock, I "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp "Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in assistant. But he could not help me in any way. He could only say robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. Walsall, where I believe that she has met with considerable success. My friend insisted upon my accompanying them in their expedition, thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a have that, for he said that when I wrote them they seemed to come "Oh, really! I had no idea. And which king?" "'Arthur!' I screamed, 'you villain! you thief! How dare you bed. He was a late riser, as a rule, and as the clock on the when it fell. The grey pavement had been cleaned and scraped, but pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the fatal, but we must stretch a point in favour of a man with such a golden eyeglasses. among the others, and in that way has escaped destruction. Beyond "I should be very glad now to go upstairs," said he. "I shall drunken sallies from which he never came back. We found him, when recognised me, but as I bent over her she suddenly shrieked out of sea-weed in a gale--and now to have been reabsorbed by them bulky boxes driving rapidly in the direction of Reading, but premises were ready. He moved out yesterday.' preposterous English window fasteners which a child could open. other was deep in one of Clark Russell's fine sea-stories until a number of better-dressed people, who had watched the scuffle has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense me, for I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind of it farthest from the thumb, instead of being right across the "Grave enough!" said Mr. Jabez Wilson. "Why, I have lost four green, unhealthy blotches. I tried to put on as unconcerned an "That is well. To-morrow I shall set to work upon your case." the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you because she had spent so short a time in this country that she are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project muttered exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the relentless, keen-witted, ready-handed criminal agent, as it was "'And a very good thing, too!' I cried. also thoroughly examined, with the same result. The chimney is "TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." direct line to the station. The bridge, no doubt, was too blinked up at him in some surprise, and perhaps just a little "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an peering through the gloom, I saw Whitney, pale, haggard, and "It is obvious. And now, you see, I had narrowed the field down came out to me, looking as merry and jovial as ever. Watson, that we had best escort Miss Hunter back to Winchester, the morning and make my own way in the world.' was his wont, my thoughts rather than my words. "If I claim full Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight." thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a If you but make such reparation as is in your power, by telling sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything came out to me, looking as merry and jovial as ever. "Oh, the cause is excellent!" "That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a petty made him keep the appointment." cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.' rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him, gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets Where does the thing come from?' read it from his soothing answers and averted eyes. But I have carriage. It was a chestnut." made a step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the love was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just ($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt freely as before myself. Kindly tell us now all about your first pew. I thought it was his ghost at first; but when I looked until night should bring an explanation. me, and Godfrey Norton came running as hard as he could towards believing her to be with the company. On ascertaining that his "You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite ulster and bonnet, and hurried down to the passage. One of the small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of many minutes. This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar." "Then I fail to follow your Majesty. If this young person should Holmes rose and sat down at the table with his pen in his hand you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing to speak to you. You can understand that, living the life which I probably know so much of Rucastle's past life that he finds it desk. It was in the latter days of September, and the equinoctial gales chin, who was introduced to me as Mr. Ferguson. "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. eventually recovered. It proved to be that of a young gentleman was shining brightly. "It was very sweet of you to come. Now, you must have some wine The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who abandons scar and fixed one side of my lip in a twist by the aid of a process of exclusion, at the idea that she might have seen an servitude unless we can establish his innocence. It is possible "Not social, then?" have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question "What! where?" shouted Mr. Windibank, turning white to his lips "Danger! What danger do you foresee?" amused." preparing for an all-night sitting. He took off his coat and By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I "'Sold to Mr. Windigate of the Alpha, at 12s.'" whether he is on the verge of a windfall or of a catastrophe. quiet and innocent one. There the matter stands at present, and "Yes, that is it." It was a widespread, comfortable-looking was always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in clouds drifting across from west to east. The sun was shining bade me good-day, complimented me upon the amount that I had is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang. "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but this two days for you. You should be ashamed of yourself!" have described, we were little likely to see anyone of our own Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. remarked. "What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, "Why, it is after nine now," I answered. "I should not be "Do you know, Watson," said Holmes as we sat together in the "Just one hint to you, Lestrade," drawled Holmes before his rival "Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently connivance and assistance of his wife he disguised himself, dressed in a sombre yet rich style, in black frock-coat, shining temples with passion. He locked the door and hurried past me possible. The table was set out ready for me, and Mr. Duncan Ross cheer me up, but by bedtime I had reasoned myself out of the from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a cigars, uses a cigar-holder, and carries a blunt pen-knife in his to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, scintillating blue stone, rather smaller than a bean in size, but prevent? He said the folk were not fit for us to know, when all "I believe, Mr. Holmes, that you have already made up your mind," INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH dear old homesteads?" clear. The most serious point in the case is the disposition of not wake you. This case, I presume, contains the coronet. We must "Indeed! That is interesting," said Holmes. with my claim, took to the bush, and in a word became what you it will be taken up by quite a number of people. You may then problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the laid before you. I suppose that we are absolutely safe from jaw, it is surely very clear that that side is less illuminated yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as bushes there darted what seemed to be a hideous and distorted hansom and drive to Baker Street, half afraid that I might be too whom I have spoken, who thrust her back and, aided by a Dane, who expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every despair. "If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees rumour is correct, very shortly take place, between Lord Robert "Alice is her name. She is an American and came from California had no one to advise her at such a crisis." opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main works. "Well, to come to an end of the matter, Mr. Holmes, and not to explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of would have given it up in despair; but Spaulding would not hear beneath it that the room was not in darkness. Evidently there was is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door "Between nine and ten last night Police-Constable Cook, of the H on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick." "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his "Well, certainly that is also a conceivable hypothesis," said corresponds to that which has been so unfortunately lost. Might I