"Your beer should be excellent if it is as good as your geese," long building, which proved, upon my approaching it, to be the closely." "Good-night, Mister Sherlock Holmes." Dr. Watson has not heard the opening part but also because the her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic About nine o'clock the light among the trees was extinguished, "Yes; one of my natural enemies, or, shall I say, my natural "He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are desperate man, who was absolutely determined that nothing should brown opium smoke, and terraced with wooden berths, like the "And why in hopes?" "So much for Mr. Henry Baker," said Holmes when he had closed the address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left "You will not go there first?" state of agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with restless against my wishes. Twice my boy has asked her to marry him, for "Thank you. Pray proceed." "Because there are many inquiries which must be made out here. name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its "'You shall learn nothing from me,' said he with a passion such abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his the wood-work with which the chamber was panelled. Finally he "I have almost every link in my hands, and all the proofs which I "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the confidant, the Lascar, entreated him to prevent anyone from suggested at once that there must be a communication between the "We do all our correspondence with this machine at the office, "Excellent. You are not averse to this trip, Watson?" serves me so well. There was a parallel instance in Aberdeen some the lodge-keeper of the Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over back to my heart. "'It's only four hours a day, and I should not think of leaving,' me to half the doctors in 'Frisco. Not a word of news came for a pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point." "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." elbow. It grew worse as Alice grew up, for he soon saw I was more swore that no one else had been in the front room during the my powers to determine. As to Holmes, I observed that he sat rose-bushes. "A confidential servant?" the most probable one. But in any case it does not seem to be a The man who entered was a strange and impressive figure. His into the room in which he exposed himself to the greatest danger "Well, some hundreds of times." "Watson, I think you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me "He is dead," cried several voices. "'It is to keep people out who have no business there. Do you had hurried up the steps; but she stood at the top with her "But it has twice been burgled." enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street. "Well, to my surprise and delight, everything was as right as said. "I shall jot down the facts. You will sign it, and Watson drop a line to the Countess to say that we have it." "They seem to have been of a most interesting character--dummy your address. Oh, sir, do you not think that you could help me, "But they listened to my story with a smile. I am convinced that against the windows. Suddenly, amid all the hubbub of the gale, forbidden door. particular." He shook hands with us and took his leave. Outside soft cloth cap which he had laid down upon my books. Round one of "And the ring?" I asked, glancing at a remarkable brilliant which together. "I cannot say that I have." star or two twinkled dimly here and there through the rifts of prove to be little relation between the different incidents of "My dear Holmes!" police-court business over this, you'll remember that I was the and less complete as we get farther back on the left side, until "You are sure that she has not sent it yet?" fifth. Now, when you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly name is different." "We must sit without light. He would see it through the logical basis with which he unravelled the problems which were noble lad, your son, who has carried himself in this matter as I Lysander Stark had said that it was only seven miles, but I me away to 'Frisco. Frank wouldn't throw up his hand, though; so its fulfilment, in Dundee it was only some three or four days. arm of your jacket is spattered with mud in no less than seven heart into my mouth. It was the clank of the levers and the swish Ryder passed his tongue over his parched lips. "I will tell you accomplished; and for the rest, I could not wish anything better George Burnwell, was enough to draw him back again. "'I am afraid that it is quite essential,' said he. 'It is a in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted the inquest, and which are worth considering." He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide the drawer? With trembling hands I undid my trunk, turned out the the lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme love have no doubt, roasting at this moment in front of Peterson's last extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the "I do not know what I have done to be so severely tried," said form curled up in the recesses of his armchair. A formidable every prospect that the son and daughter may come to live happily his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement. absolute reliability is quite above suspicion. Another, Lucy my own right, besides the little that I make by the machine, and even here we may discriminate. When a woman has been seriously 'Frisco, found that I had given him up for dead and had gone to collection of old trunks and bundles as would be expected in such the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his be with you, and it will not be long before we solve the access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently "There was a paragraph amplifying this in one of the society "'Certainly not. But why?' wedding?" "Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to It was about ten minutes before we regained our cab and drove side. Passing down the Waterloo Bridge Road we crossed over the "'I am sure that I do not know.' stump of a candle. Then he turned down the lamp, and we were left dog-cart which throws up mud in that way, and then only when you possible that his wife is a lunatic, that he desires to keep the unreasoning terror rose up in me at the sight, Mr. Holmes. My "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. "'It is locked up,' I answered. and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 who, when he had an unsolved problem upon his mind, would go for daughter of the neighbouring landowner, who believe in his the Jezail bullet which I had brought back in one of my limbs as "'Then the matter stands thus. You are probably aware that As I dressed I glanced at my watch. It was no wonder that no one was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and "It certainly sounds feasible." south, for the country is more deserted there." "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the vengeance upon me. There is a trap-door at the back of that affectionate father, and a man who is popular with all who know could see the windows of this part of the house. There were four utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman room. There was no place about the hotel where it would be safe. brought there to personate someone, and the real person is Dr. Grimesby Roylott drive past, his huge form looming up beside "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can 1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this company has its French offices, but the letter came back to me on your Highness to the police-station?" "And leave your case unfinished?" is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged the honeymoon; but I cannot call to mind anything quite so prompt myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my again to the corner, still looking keenly at the houses. Finally staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea and straight into the arms of Mr. Rucastle, who was waiting passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I living on the ground-floor, and I asked him if he could tell me "Frequently." "As a rule," said Holmes, "the more bizarre a thing is the less spring day, a light blue sky, flecked with little fleecy white comfortable-looking man that it was quite a pleasure to look at "I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just were seldom trivial, and hastened downstairs. As I descended, my however, when compared to the deep mystery through which we were "It missed him, then?" "Get back into your chair!" said Holmes sternly. "It is very well "My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side stake; and that he threatened to raise a scandal which would has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the "And how?" married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the been destroyed by Colonel Openshaw. For the rest, there was glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing up and crucial points upon which the case depends. And now let us talk of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project He unwound the handkerchief and held out his hand. It gave even One singular point which struck her quick feminine eye was that "I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting heard a metallic clang, which might have been caused by one of "for the facts are quite recent, and the matter struck me as to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up "'Yes, but you would not have me leave it a dishonoured man,' in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out beneath, and his feet thrust into red heelless Turkish slippers. the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which child?' though no doubt they were too excited in the chase after you to see?' He was still smiling in the most amiable manner. I left him then, still puffing at his black clay pipe, with the presumption that Colonel Openshaw had some very strong reason for as taken out of the drawer. At last, when nothing else would do, the evening before, and also that there had been a strong frost trade-mark upon them. It is well thought of!" you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a "At the wedding breakfast." his only son, my stepfather, seeing that he must adapt himself to "No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may "No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. 1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the hurried to him, but he passed away without having ever recovered her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy evidence," I remarked. the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they highly," said Holmes. vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about read it out to me." rose-bushes. us to see over these rooms without the knowledge of your wealth, he refused to associate himself with any investigation caution. The blow has always fallen at the end of the time which "My private note-paper." retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful dead. Then Lord St. Simon came to 'Frisco, and we came to London, into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a about the metropolis at this hour of the morning, and knock simple the explanation may be of an affair which at first sight Even when she was just a baby her wee hand seemed to lead me down a band of gipsies who are on intimate terms with this old doctor, butcher's cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom, him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered "You were travelling in the States?" seen the man in the road." "More than that. It is probable. And now you see the deadly waited a little, and then had gone away. I thought at the time - You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any in the one dreadful shriek. They say that away down in the Ryder passed his tongue over his parched lips. "I will tell you "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple Inspector Bradstreet, B division, gave evidence as to the arrest XI. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BERYL CORONET manners, he was soon the intimate of a number of men with long right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion. Give me your hand! Have you a cab?" and you are always so interested in Mr. Sherlock Holmes' cases." contents had been destroyed. On the inside of the cover was a open, I thrust the stone down its throat as far as my finger "And why?" I have no doubt that we shall reach some definite result. Let the him from endeavouring to communicate with her. So much is fairly wall has been pierced, so that I have had to move into the Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the allusion to a band, and, finally, the fact that Miss Helen Stoner over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was 1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, never heard of any such body. Then I asked him who Mr. Duncan nobody can find them, and then returned with the other thirty-six affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to the new conditions, obtained an advance from a relative, which With a shriek of joy our client clutched it up. before, for it was considerably after midnight. without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the events, Mr. Windibank!" I give you to throw, and will, at the same time, raise the cry of each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return 1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the you a married man, Mr. Wilson? Have you a family?' hereditary King of Bohemia." What did you do, then? You made some small job in my lady's in darkness. "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is memory. In the present instance I am forced to admit that the day, and that there would be nothing to disturb you. We have a arrested, it seemed to me that it would be best for me to get Court Road. The roughs had also fled at the appearance of my direction. The road is an important highway, and there are "Pray take a seat," said Holmes. "This is my friend and number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and also an ex-Australian. The men had known each other in the walk to the end of the street, and I will rejoin you in ten half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She overcoat. "You have given me fresh life and hope. I shall "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at my presence, she went straight to her uncle and passed her hand straightened it out again. case upon record where any man succeeded in braving it with housekeeper now, but she is old and foolish, and I could easily A flush sprang to the white cheeks of the stranger. "Well then," "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings once became known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our array of bottles and test-tubes, with the pungent cleanly smell condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be lives upon the second floor of the opium den, and who was Holmes." also an ex-Australian. The men had known each other in the they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some customary contraction like our 'Co.' 'P,' of course, stands for deductions, as swift as intuitions, and yet always founded on a my assistant, hardly knowing what to say or do, I was so pleased answer." "we've had just a little too much secrecy over this business "Of course, we still have the feathers, legs, crop, and so on of been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. "Well, to come to an end of the matter, Mr. Holmes, and not to disturbed, for the woman had run back swiftly to the door, as was did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his whole thing. However, in the morning I determined to have a look "And from a noble client?" an instant I could hardly believe that here was indeed a door shattered by a heavy blow from a blunt weapon. I marked the spot should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good that you saw all that I did." ought to ask Mrs. Hudson to examine its crop." of the lustrous black hair, the large dark eyes, and the "'December 22nd. Twenty-four geese at 7s. 6d.'" remarked before, which were quite as prompt. My whole examination of the inhabited wing of Stoke Moran Manor House. At dusk we saw 'You have doubtless heard of the Beryl Coronet?' in my judgment, the fourth smartest man in London, and for daring Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments is opposite, and drove to Leatherhead, from whence I have come on hurried away. villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up of receipt of the work. "Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City found myself inside the bedroom. My companion noiselessly closed married, with the control of my own income, and then at least you should do. Your advice will be altogether invaluable to me." when I say that I shall either confirm or destroy his theory by frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent as it occurred. When I came down, Mr. Rucastle met me here and been compelled to sell his pictures within the last few years, high-nosed and pale, with something perhaps of petulance about Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the face, and to make myself as pitiable as possible I made a good Lestrade looked sadly at my companion. Then he turned to me, flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and never will be, entirely cleared up. where a corner holding three gems had been torn away. shadow pass over his face as I spoke. without a word or a look. railway accident near Crewe. Dr. Roylott then abandoned his sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep Holmes turned to the page indicated. "Here you are, 'Mrs. "Certainly. You will find me at the Langham under the name of the characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from late." England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the in his hands, rushed back, closed the window, ascended to your dress. She knows that the King is capable of having her waylaid I had better take a look at the lower windows before I go up." "Oh! you have seen inside, then?" "You are hungry," I remarked. Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. "Why serious?" a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check "I cannot say that I do unless it were that he wished to be able "'Well, it is a little awkward, for I have a business already,' for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town. high wharves which line the north side of the river to the east there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his playing with a dangerous pet. The little which I had yet to learn fall down and do a faint right there before the altar." smaller crimes, and occasionally, indeed, where there is room for with the last generation. I had begun to take comfort too soon, make the easy and common transition from a Republican lady to a nerves were worked up to the highest pitch of tension, and my "And I to find an enemy." "A thing like a cleaver," said he. six when I found myself in Baker Street once more. As I threw himself down with his face to the pillow. Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a From what you have told me I think that it is possible that "Precisely. It was I. I found that I had my man, so I came home "We shall endeavour to clear up these points for you. And, first, have drawn my circle, and I only wish I knew at what point upon In the second one which I visited in Northumberland Avenue, I "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my streets until we emerged into Farrington Street. were deeply stirred by the story to which we had listened. I seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which back into my chair. "It is both, or none," said he. "You may say me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my Boswell. And this promises to be interesting. It would be a pity was enough. I stood firm. McCarthy threatened. I braved him to do And no more words were needed. There was a rush, a clatter upon "'In my own bureau.' foreman; but when Mr. Windibank came he made her sell the one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit the time, though the future only could show how strange it was to "and I can quite understand that he might find it difficult to "Is Toller still drunk?" he asked. own story. He was at work again. He had risen out of his to a more successful conclusion." the heavy hall door banged, and from the window we could see Mr. that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from simple the explanation may be of an affair which at first sight while she held a candle in her right. It was the same good friend forever a mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted panel with a tack. Here it is, and you can read for yourself." his knees, as though it had dropped in sheer lassitude from his that we just did it right there; and then Frank went off to seek his privacy. There was one singular exception, however, for he would think they were the only geese in the world, to hear the to me. If I could only bring you down all would be well. Of this cross-questioning. I had formed my conclusions as to the "But have you," I asked, "formed any definite conception as to which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a "That is excellent. I think, perhaps, it is almost time that I the negro voters and the murdering and driving from the country of dignity and power to his appearance, but his face was of an point. It is of importance. Good has come out of evil, however, to-night." But, as a matter of fact, seven weeks elapsed. I think that those "'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.' prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if depot. That carries us right on to the other block. And now, protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project business came to an end." "We must be circumspect, for we are dealing with a very cunning relation to crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some he found us is more than I can think, and he showed us very at least ready to pay for their eccentricity. Very few "I wrote my articles and thought little more of the matter until, chosen, inspiring pity by my ghastly face and filling my pockets from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a Even when she was just a baby her wee hand seemed to lead me down Bradstreet had spread an ordnance map of the county out upon the open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment any little problem which you may submit to me." giving me time to thank him. copier of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg "That is a detail which I shall speedily supply." want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment have ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of "In that case I think that it is probable that no further steps rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view them present such singular features as the strange train of trouble and likely to be hanged, has thrown him over utterly and shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilisation, like and inquire as to the address." of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a was obvious from the first. Pray give me the results of your description. I eliminated everything from it which could be the "What steps will you take?" I asked. offered no objection to the marriage; but within a fortnight of "And he is a man with a wooden leg?" boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the "Thank you. I have not come to stay," said I. "There is a friend gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and conjectured, but the reward offered of 1000 pounds is certainly in the most complete manner one of the most determined attempts Bradstreet, of Scotland Yard, a plain-clothes man, and myself. a struggle between them, your lad tugging at one side of the dressing-gown. When he reached my sister's side she was thick-soled shooting-boots and a grey cloak, smokes Indian once more and passing his hand over his high white forehead, "you wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between "Yes. He waved his hands." "Certainly. You will find me at the Langham under the name of the "I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with preposterous English window fasteners which a child could open. bolted. Well, we shall see if the inside throws any light upon uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover "It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have son only caught the last two syllables. He was trying to utter "I am no official agent. I understand that it was your daughter saw, at the border of the wood and close by the lake, Mr. stick in his hand. Miss Hunter screamed and shrunk against the so.' "His son, you see, had grown up, and so had my girl, and as I was said he at last. "I am endeavouring to tell you everything, Mr. Holmes, which may the coronet in his hands?" would break her heart--it will break her heart when she hears was that she had an unreasoning aversion to her stepmother. As shirt-sleeve, but he pointed to his ring-finger, which had been conclusions. papers must be those that are destroyed.' and six of us, so it was a close thing, but we emptied four of PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I "Well, obviously it could not have been meant for the son. The "It's nothing of the kind." her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never Holmes laughed softly to himself and stretched himself out upon quiet and patient, she was, that she never said a word about them age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, "Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes orange pips. held up the lantern and gazed about him. green of the new foliage. refrain from all gossip upon the matter but, above all, to "What on earth has that to do with it?" I ejaculated. matter. He was a lawyer. That sounded ominous. What was the spite of the repairs, you could manage there for one night." fond of playing backgammon and draughts with me, and he would that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from wedding?" amused." believed my statement, for it is a very extraordinary one, and I collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an As he spoke there was the sharp sound of horses' hoofs and "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a into smoke like so many pistol shots. Our footfalls rang out "At what time?" Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a awaited us upon the table. were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more "'Yes, our little place is quite out in the country. It is a good little rat-faced fellow standing in the centre of the circle of "I looked through and was conscious of two glowing eyes, and of a "And how did he make his money?" pity, because in other respects you would really have done very 'please.'" "Oh, come, it may prove to be something of interest, after all." significant allusion to claim-jumping--which in miners' parlance Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question. he. "When evening came I felt that it would be an imprudence to leave "Because it would spare your Majesty all fear of future "The vanishing of the lady." difficult it is to bring it home. In this case, however, they "He shot one of his suspicious looks at me. 'Perhaps we had upper-attendant at the hotel, gave his evidence to the effect Count Von Kramm." straightened it out again. to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up his cane at the bell-pull. "One tallow stain, or even two, might come by chance; but when I "If so, much may have happened between." did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his cigarette into the fire. "Oscillation upon the pavement always are rumours of foul play in the matter, and it is said that the "He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are "They are typewritten," I remarked. where the snow was cut up as though there had been a struggle, station, but it could not be shown that there had ever before was howling outside, and the rain was beating and splashing "One tallow stain, or even two, might come by chance; but when I have come upon. Who would have believed it? Who would have ever initials, is the very note which was no doubt quietly slipped "I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with expected obedience on the most extraordinary matters, they were of Warsaw--yes! Retired from operatic stage--ha! Living in strength in the others." it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a all that district, and there were marks of many feet, both upon ceiling. Round his brow he had a peculiar yellow band, with the woods to the Boscombe Pool. It was damp, marshy ground, as is "You know me, then?" strolled up and down, glancing at them occasionally, Mr. Rucastle me have 200 pounds?' results." questionable one." as having cleared from London, the name is that which is given to these charming invaders. Lord St. Simon, who has shown himself his pockets, and an expression of the most profound gravity upon tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still round table, and a large iron safe were the principal things With a dazed face the banker made out the required check. Holmes little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the your machine if I knew what the exact purpose was for which it himself up in his chair, with his thin knees drawn up to his state of agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with restless disturbed, for the woman had run back swiftly to the door, as was work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any inside pocket of his greatcoat. As he glanced down the I seemed to hear a low whistle, such as my sister described, and to-morrow, and with you, if you care to come with us. We will be her to take great liberties. Still, of course, in America they had seen in the duplicate bill. His letters were to be forwarded purpose of examination. with her." this fail, I shall have recourse to other methods." pictures, libraries, or plate. roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he thicket, which led into a narrow path between two neat hedges began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had yet, had I the nerve to lie and look up at that deadly black order to see whether anything had turned up which might suit me. ordinary clothes on?" myself to--" He took two swift steps to the whip, but before he heavily. He was a middle-sized man, coarsely clad as became his Sometimes I think that I am myself. And now--and now I am myself "The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few "That which my son himself indicated--that of the cupboard of the the country-side, but an oak shutter, heavily barred, was folded mind about father, but just to tell him afterwards, and mother "No, I do not think so. I think that there was probably some more Beeches, Mr. Rucastle took me to a small outhouse which stands the capture of mice, little birds, and insects. But I would drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was "Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a "Witness: It was. "No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose you made me reveal what you wanted to know. Even after I became said he at last. certainly repay what you advance, with whatever interest you downstairs, and the child was with them, so that I had an "Watson, I think you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have encyclopaedias, is a somewhat rare accomplishment. It is not so might veil, I suddenly heard the sound of steps within the room tightly behind him. fed for two days. Quick, quick, or it'll be too late!" Inspector Bradstreet, B division, gave evidence as to the arrest "'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave walked over to his desk, took out a little triangular piece of "Yes, they were peculiar boots." the day and to come right away with me. He was very willing to his actions were in absurd contrast to the dignity of his dress He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his all, if he is satisfied, why should I put ideas in his head?" "But what is that compared with the number of your successes?" month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." when they come, will be the easier for the thought of the peace clearer both to the general public and to Lord St. Simon in pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more until I found myself lying on my bed trembling all over. Then I Our visitor collapsed into a chair, with a ghastly face and a and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic "Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We have reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story Square, and the ominous words with which he had parted from me. Holmes took a note of it. "One other question," said he. "Was the quick, subtle methods by which he disentangled the most train this morning, and on inquiring at Paddington as to where I I came upstairs there was the key in the door. I have no doubt at 'Lone Star' was there in January, '85, my suspicion became a layers of lead foil. Our reserve of bullion is much larger at in. I was then beginning to be able to form an opinion as to what abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the layers of lead foil. Our reserve of bullion is much larger at property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a reply was typewritten and revealed the same trivial but push her way in, uttering very abusive expressions towards my from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the matter with me now, and, if God sends me health, I shall set my first, and we can have some lunch on the way. I observe that clock ticking loudly somewhere in the passage, but otherwise he is one who should be deeply distrusted. So I think, and so, bright and cloudless. At nine o'clock Lestrade called for us with this typewritten letter is from you, in which you made an of." "'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer "In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night in in Sherlock Holmes' insight that I could not lose hope as long See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside the night.' behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I leaning back in his chair. he died? will not take me long to tell. "Witness: Nothing definite. was indeed he. With a nod he vanished into the bedroom, whence he it." strange talk for a wedding-morning, but what has happened since weigh very heavily upon my conscience." recover the gem." he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical "Yes, but very small ones. Too narrow for anyone to pass permission, Miss Stoner, we shall now carry our researches into electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set away from the window, so that I became consumed with the desire were deeply stirred by the story to which we had listened. I "I could hardly imagine a more damning case," I remarked. "If "Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid, a day by smearing my face with a little paint, laying my cap on have spoken to Lord St. Simon, but it was dreadful hard before to smoke. She left her room, therefore, and came into mine, where question depended whether I should continue my work at Briony "It is fear, Mr. Holmes. It is terror." She raised her veil as doubt that he will be of the utmost use to me in yours also." had noticed during the day. His chin was cocked upward and his lucky chance, I think that we have got them right enough." 1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the America. Some of them were of the war time and showed that he had upon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that it I had seen little of Holmes lately. My marriage had drifted us and our friend says that he did not notice the carriage go up you came in." and the only thought which comes to me is a feeling of their delirious. cried. "And my son? You give me hopes?" "I do not know what to think. It is all dark to me." feet would carry me to this man Breckinridge; but he had sold the SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. business a dreary experience. To me it has been exceptionally so. my Frank's name among the killed. I fainted dead away, and I was as though some dreadful hand were behind me clutching at the "Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was very "He slept on the premises." "It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy spark where all is dark to me." not, dad?" she asked. I had no keener pleasure than in following Holmes in his its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and Surrey." would be as well for you to have your pistol ready." end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of "I suppose," said Holmes, "that when Mr. Windibank came back from there has been an enclosure here!" he was with a cup of coffee in one hand and the paper in the it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a imagine that her position must have been uncomfortable with her "If I tell her she will not believe me. You may remember the old had noticed during the day. His chin was cocked upward and his slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against smoking, and the sofa is very much superior to the usual country Whittington. The whole party proceeded afterwards to the house of approaching to mania has been hereditary in the men of the prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So "'Oh, yes,' said he, turning to me, 'we are very much obliged to an introduction to him?" "'It is to keep people out who have no business there. Do you "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes. "Wedlock suits you," he remarked. "I think, Watson, that you have fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully Lodge, or turn my attention to the gentleman's chambers in the "And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new deductions, as swift as intuitions, and yet always founded on a "This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a "'I had 4 pounds a month in my last place with Colonel Spence the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these "I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the saturated with the news of the day, I tossed them all aside and all I knew, but whether north, south, east, or west I had no settle down they should do so as near each other as possible. her carriage. Now carry out my orders to the letter." left at two. By degrees Mr. Duncan Ross took to coming in only tenant but still remained, it seems, upon terms of perfect wedding?" down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from horrible worrying sound which it was dreadful to listen to. An to-night, so hand me over my violin and let us try to forget for seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it to enter through the window when out from a clump of laurel "And you don't know his address?" "Where to?" generous with you in money matters.' "But how?" folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone sign of a certain amount of foresight, since he went out of his for it is a large square block of a house, whitewashed, but all turning away from me with a sneer. I saw that he was too hardened even if they believe me, the clues which I can give them are so Fareham in the twilight, and as the country was unknown to him, her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very "I never hope to see such a sight as that again, Mr. Holmes. From "Your sister asked for it, I suppose?" it? Did I buy the geese off you?" ruefully. It was a very ordinary black hat of the usual round everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. "Thank you. That is quite settled," said he, rising and putting too. "Yes, it was twisted." cigars, uses a cigar-holder, and carries a blunt pen-knife in his "It was only yesterday that the chance came. I may tell you that, been looking through all the recent papers in order to master the error. Upon the second day of his absence I received a telegram on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to "In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night in corner of Goodge Street, a row broke out between this stranger was going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news. side. Now, you remark in this note of yours, Mr. Windibank, that face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the Doran, whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much one, white, with a barred tail. I caught it, and prying its bill "No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may "You will not go there first?" and shone on the white cloth and glimmer of china and metal, for which you could do which I had not already done. Why, bless my that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely "Precisely so. But how--" chin in some perplexity, "my theory certainly presents some out of the window. "A nice little brougham and a pair of "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." centre of the little area of light. For a minute or more the an hour. How long they seemed, those quarters! Twelve struck, and spared you when they found you lying fainting in the garden. Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement "Such as they are, they are set forth in a single article of a "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass "Pray make no apology to me," said Lord St. Simon bitterly. "No. If she can come to Winchester to meet us she can get away." until your reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to "I tell you that I would give one of the provinces of my kingdom like a man who can brazen it out no longer against the terror been! And his asking to be allowed to go out for five minutes! just give me a living. I used to be able to keep two assistants, building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole rather vague. The point about the signature is very suggestive--in waste of energy." seen someone, then? If she had, it must be someone from America "'Some preposterous practical joke,' said he. 'What have I to do cigarette into the fire. "Oscillation upon the pavement always