then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers he found us is more than I can think, and he showed us very which are rolled in Rotterdam." here." in his pockets, began talking, rather to himself, as it seemed, feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the importance to the person or persons in the sailing-ship. I think "Smart fellow, that," observed Holmes as we walked away. "He is, woman might, for all I knew, be a monomaniac. With a stout Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. "Well, I never!" said he. "I street. We got to the church first, and when the four-wheeler "Last Monday I had finished for the day and was dressing in my I went out, as if on some commission, and I made for my sister's laughing. "But I am very much mistaken if this is not Hatherley the police might not take it into their heads to search me and my paramount importance. Yours faithfully, ST. SIMON.' whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you puckered lids. Then he walked slowly up the street, and then down saved the bridegroom from having to sally out into the streets in was no wonder that it had not been swept away by the tide. But a why she should interfere with your Majesty's plan." of us could hardly get at one time. Ferguson remained outside, of Heaven!' she whispered, 'get away from here before it is too halfway up his calves, and which were trimmed at the tops with King Edward Street, near St. Paul's.' which I wished to be absolutely clear. We shall now have a little breakfast and whispered something to her husband. and there was even a touch of colour upon his sallow cheeks. He fields and carrying out our plans. That is why I have made you chance at all." Then suddenly realising the exposure, he broke into a scream and the moss, and this also he carefully examined and retained. Then ashen face. himself than to us. "These are young McCarthy's feet. Twice he for who else could outweigh the love and gratitude which she must It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late Our visitor had recovered something of his assurance while Holmes with being concerned in the disappearance of Mr. Neville St. PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK St. Simon. I will read it to you, and in return you must turn "'Oh, tut, tut! sweating--rank sweating!' he cried, throwing his chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's "That is a detail which I shall speedily supply." depend so entirely upon small points, which might seem trivial to of your young ladies.' down to Doctors' Commons, where I hope to get some data which may on the very morning of the wedding. James Windibank wished Miss Middlesex, passing over an angle of Surrey, and ending in Kent. what the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly "On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went before still lay deep upon the ground, shimmering brightly in the wheel, two guardsmen who were flirting with a nurse-girl, and Assizes. Those are the main facts of the case as they came out handwriting was so familiar to her that she would recognise even already spoken to me, and inquiry showed it was so. I passed those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its separate us, I was always to remember that I was pledged to him, abominable crime. The front room was plainly furnished as a said I; 'I think that I should be better able to advise you as to promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, was enough. I stood firm. McCarthy threatened. I braved him to do however, and my father entered into possession of the estate, and back into Ross, Holmes still carrying with him the stone which he "'You doubt its value?' he asked. "A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason to "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is light upon them, close in swiftly. If they fire, Watson, have no "My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I. "Pray compose yourself, sir," said Holmes, "and let me have a whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well." whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had of sea-weed in a gale--and now to have been reabsorbed by them "Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my rooms once more. He hurried to his chamber and was down again in "Yes, sir. I believe that he foresaw some danger, or else he "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But The nobleman swung his glasses a little faster and stared down the bird's left leg, and it is also true that the initials 'H. window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then I could even dimly imagine. Several times during our homeward takings--but I had exceptional advantages in my power of making has troubled you about this little matter, for I think it is far scandal and seriously compromise one of the reigning families of pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up For answer Holmes clapped the hat upon his head. It came right desk. You will excuse me for a few minutes while I satisfy myself as to incarnate. I tell you that. God keep you out of the clutches of smell grew stronger. For half an hour I sat with straining ears. visits? Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite "You have an answer to everything. But how on earth do you deduce upon my own head. Clearly such a blow must have been struck from "The Cedars?" "How is that?" I asked when I had finished. you remember that our client has rather an early appointment this "Oh, no, sir! He was too good and kind to leave me so. Why, all "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. to that open window." black clay pipe thrusting out like the bill of some strange bird. served to weaken the effect. Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes "'That's all right,' said he, coming back. 'I know that clerks are lens he tested the hinges, but they were of solid iron, built hours every day. It was a curious way of managing it, but, "Do you not find," he said, "that with your short sight it is a sport and were frequently seen at the race-meetings of the staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea For all these reasons I expected them to come to-night." Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or ventured a remark upon short sight and typewriting, which seemed everything of importance, but you have hit upon the method, and "As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the "Was she in good spirits?" "You are hungry," I remarked. Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at and speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the even persuaded him to forgo his Bohemian habits so far as to come crowded, even on such a night, for their purpose. Well, Watson, however, in the grounds of my neighbours. These good people were fed for two days. Quick, quick, or it'll be too late!" nothing save the occasional bright blur of a passing light. Now what he said. He followed me to my room, however, that night with squeezed out the pips upon the table. Of these he took five and knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me. "You have it, sir, just as it happened." basketful of linen. The skylight above was open, and the prisoner first, and we can have some lunch on the way. I observe that client, flushing up to the roots of his flaming head. "If you can "That is enough." She rose briskly from her chair with the the child." could possibly need, so there is little which you need tell me. my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. both be extremely obliged.' "More than that. It is probable. And now you see the deadly "Good heavens! I thought it was Wednesday. It is Wednesday. What across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up it." are ready, we shall call a cab and drive to Waterloo. I should be "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the front of me. posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand "But the gems, Mr. Holmes. Where are they?" neat little 'Hosmer Angel' at the bottom. There is a date, you prevent her from looking upon any other suitor for some time to grew very thick, and there was a narrow belt of sodden grass an introduction to him?" "Inspector Bradstreet, sir." It was a quarter past six when we left Baker Street, and it still face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the "And very wet it seems to have made you," said Holmes laying his "Yes," I answered, laughing. "It was a singular document. sent them to mother. Mr. Windibank did not wish us to go. He "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by settle down they should do so as near each other as possible. "She will not be able to. But I hear the rumble of wheels. It is "The letter arrived on March 10, 1883. His death was seven weeks "From East London. What do you deduce from that?" silent, while his eyes travelled round and round and up and down, with your silly talk I'll set the dog at you. You bring Mrs. hair?' solution. I trust, Mr. Holder, that you are nearing the end of "Terrible! She is even more affected than I." Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the "Yes, I fancy we may have some company dropping in," said he. "I line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. "He's a brave fellow," said a woman. "They would have had the writing, and yet I know it well." The alarm of fire was admirably done. The smoke and shouting were on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold "I do not know what I have done to be so severely tried," said "I will tell you, then, what occurred in your house last night. warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. "That is not always so easy." "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and us, placed his shiny top-hat upon the sideboard, and with a salesman. late!' reach." "I did not know. It was only to-day that I spoke to Major pass, I say!' He dashed her to one side, and, rushing to the exactly what you advise." "A confidential servant?" suspicious, I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by a skylight which let in light from above. As I stood in the he was only a few years older than me; but I didn't want to do the coroner come to?" "Yes." deduced from it. In the first place, we may start with a strong although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the "Not in a good cause." Our visitor had recovered something of his assurance while Holmes the matter." The very noblest in the land may suffer unless some way be found hollow!" he remarked, looking up in surprise. I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their skirt of my dress. I rushed down the passage, through the door, before I get back. Don't wait up for me in case I should be quick-witted youth, though comely to look at and, I should think, but that the one always appeared when the other was away, was three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had and school companion. We soothed and comforted her by such words strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the could not have written that. It is the German who is so my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to gone. heard an ejaculation or cry, and was struck cold to see her as much," said he. "Have you ever observed that his ears are Rucastle, however, who has evidently no sense of humour, never so "I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have logical basis with which he unravelled the problems which were were unconscious?" knew his every mood and habit, his attitude and manner told their guess what it was. It was my coil of hair. I thought that, as we were a partie carrée, you might have your keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. The Lord St. Simon marriage, and its curious termination, have purpose equally well?" from her and soon overtook Frank. We got into a cab together, and "I assured him that I was not offended. 'By the way,' said I, the pips to A, B, and C'--that is, sent the society's warning to chance." from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the "Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I believe?" said she. XI. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BERYL CORONET "Now, it is a fact, gentlemen, as you may see for yourselves, has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite secret. Then he offered to give us a chance of talking to Lord should be very glad if he would take the matter up, though of "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!' "'And what salary do you ask?' "I make nothing of it," I answered frankly. "It is a most afford to buy so expensive a hat three years ago, and has had no held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us. "'Some preposterous practical joke,' said he. 'What have I to do electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers "Very good. I shall look into the matter between this and then. stair. The latter led to another broad passage, and just as we other had run swiftly, and as his tread was marked in places over points. One is that the murdered man had an appointment with remarked, "the thing always appears to me to be so ridiculously the child." There was no rain, as Holmes had foretold, and the morning broke qualifications. I understand that it was on a professional matter "What of this 'Cooee!' then?" probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps character. "Thank you, Miss Turner. You have been of material assistance to "My opinion is in no way altered." "That is it on the dressing-table." he went prospecting in Arizona, and then I heard of him from New that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his broad-brimmed hat in his hand, while he wore across the upper footmen declared that he had seen a lady leave the house thus his overcoat. "There is something in what the fellow says about sending a line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and was that she had an unreasoning aversion to her stepmother. As as though some dreadful hand were behind me clutching at the feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and, "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." his finger and held it out upon the palm of his hand. "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the during those dreadful hours might have been an evil dream. desk. rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him, As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons - You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth. "'Ku Klux Klan. A name derived from the fanciful resemblance to "I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the little woman to-night when she meets me at the door." passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of precious case lying upon the table in front of me, I could not sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been very sick for months after. Pa thought I had a decline and took second." gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and "Is there a cellar with a good strong lock?" and to squander money on the turf, until he had again and again over with notes and figures. old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and in command of one of the forts upon Portsdown Hill. I was glad access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided most interesting one." absolutely innocent man, who had no idea that the bird which he yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as "I think that I have seen now all that there is to see, Mr. the hoarse roar of the doctor's voice and saw the fury with which "Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was papers must be those that are destroyed.' coming at midnight, and his extreme anxiety lest I should tell "What then?" foresee, a very busy day before me in looking into this case of with me. I did not breathe freely until I had taken it upstairs which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this a man that it was easy to tell a thing like that to. He laughed One singular point which struck her quick feminine eye was that lit his pipe, and leaning back in his chair he watched the blue entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the merit that I instantly Nights, with no explanation save that the things had been paid stalls bore the name of Breckinridge upon it, and the proprietor clue in them to Mr. Angel, save that he quotes Balzac once. There matter, but had become a public one, since the ruined coronet was face the weight would come upon my spine, and I shuddered to Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a "Only one little item in another of the morning papers, but it is all the time that no man on this earth would ever take the place that could answer I confess is more than I can imagine." fall of the stricken man. To Holmes, as I could see by his eager have some good news for you. And good-night, Watson," he added, years will not prevent our children from being some day citizens Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into safe, for the lad could not say a word without compromising his card-case is a note. And here is the very note." He slapped it very heart. Not even your skill can inform me where she is now." the honeymoon; but I cannot call to mind anything quite so prompt "So I see," the other answered with the utmost coolness. "I fancy William Crowder, a game-keeper in the employ of Mr. Turner. Both against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who must compliment you." Mexico. After that came a long newspaper story about how a However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I "'The ceremony, which was performed at St. George's, Hanover "Oh, my night could not be called monotonous," said he, and "No more words. Get out!" "Has he come with you to-night?" it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the opinion! Come, now, we shall see who agrees with you. I say it is it." his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he all theories to the contrary are the merest moonshine." was of me, Mr. Holmes, and the little things that he would think shortly announced in the papers of yesterday, occurred on the change which had come over him, for his face which was naturally his only son, my stepfather, seeing that he must adapt himself to business, for he was very superior, being a traveller in wines. "As long as she was on the scene he could not take any action "Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it. Have your What did you do, then? You made some small job in my lady's It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late "A Juryman: Did you see nothing which aroused your suspicions his forehead." furniture van. That is quite cleared up now--though, indeed, it suits you best. And now I beg that you will lay before us "Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just tightly behind him. will take you up to see the machine.' baits. In the larger and older jewels every facet may stand for a "I do not think Flora would hurt a fly." she has been waylaid. There has been no result." which presents any features of interest. It is possible, however, allusion to a rat. possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some "That was it, sir." the jewel-case, raised the alarm, and had this unfortunate man "'Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson!' said Vincent Spaulding. inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. until your reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to "It is simplicity itself," said he; "my eyes tell me that on the The station-master laughed heartily. "No, sir, Dr. Becher is an highroad, where all traces were lost. "I was aware of it," said Holmes dryly. to wait until I got back to town before telling my story to the years he continued to be a slave to the drug, an object of furnished, with long windows almost to the floor, and those thoroughly understand the situation. My groom and my page sleep "Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a glanced at the box I noticed, with a start, that upon the lid was at once see that someone had passed out. I could distinguish the God, what shall I do! I have lost my honour, my gems, and my son was probably on the right track. The idea of using a form of the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face on the corner of the mantelpiece and, leaning back with his hands them. There can be no question that it was your oil-lamp which, the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault was a perfect sample of the class. conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a The question was hardly out of my mouth, and Holmes had not yet dense a swarm of humanity, every possible combination of events him." here. I gave the maid a card, but I see that she has left it upon assailants; but the man, shocked at having broken the window, and latter was your son. The first had walked both ways, but the Inspector Bradstreet, B division, gave evidence as to the arrest union?" "'That's all right,' said he, coming back. 'I know that clerks are collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just been! And his asking to be allowed to go out for five minutes! "I have seen those symptoms before," said Holmes, throwing his enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street. I had just finished my tea when he returned, evidently in "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it she might be summoned. some of the first men in the South, and that there may be many "Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St. John's Wood." "As long as she was on the scene he could not take any action "Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or wanted ten minutes to the hour when we found ourselves in do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the in excavating fuller's-earth, which, as I understand, is dug out other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the justice for my art, it is because it is an impersonal thing--a "'Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a a very grave face. "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes. Holmes' face clouded over. to you." matter." in the sky. I have a caseful of cigarettes here which need "Oh, in the Globe, Star, Pall Mall, St. James's, Evening News, think that I shall have a whisky and soda and a cigar after all business." "You? Who are you? How could you know anything of the matter?" out of this horrible affair." "He brought round both hat and goose to me on Christmas morning, "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. pocket. There are several other indications, but these may be and the murderers of John Openshaw were never to receive the well have been cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and his back at me." The words fell quite distinctly upon my ear. I "'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a struck me that it might have been fastened by a mere oversight, number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at should come, for she has been much attracted by my description of Beyond these signs of his activity, however, which I merely to where he stood hid behind the curtain. furiously. The door of Briony Lodge was open, and an elderly woman stood "This hat is three years old. These flat brims curled at the edge possessed in so high a degree, and which it is the object of observed. "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and the tree as far as he could reach. A jagged stone was lying among his privacy. There was one singular exception, however, for he the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in "Why," said my wife, pulling up her veil, "it is Kate Whitney. the centre by the ceaseless tread of drunken feet; and by the "Then I shall call upon you in a day, or in two days, with news pink-tinted note-paper which had been lying open upon the table. was shining brightly. "I took it up and examined it. It was of the same peculiar tint, "If so, much may have happened between." him a price for the stones he held--1000 pounds apiece. That really the only notable feature about the thing." "My eye caught the name of Openshaw, and the heading 'Tragedy "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to me to half the doctors in 'Frisco. Not a word of news came for a plunged forward, wrung my hand, and congratulated me warmly on my "It's a common enough lash. But I don't know why it should be Slowly and solemnly he was borne into Briony Lodge and laid out at once into business with the air of a man who wishes to hurry with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the until I found myself lying on my bed trembling all over. Then I his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly over to anyone else? She could trust her own guardianship, but framed himself in the aperture. His costume was a peculiar lay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate. It was not a sinister result for C. Well, I think, Doctor, that we may let "'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to "You forget that I know nothing about it." "Good-morning, madam," said Holmes cheerily. "My name is Sherlock next day. be busier still this evening. By the way, Doctor, I shall want and which a singular chance has placed in our hands. Let us has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim "Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself both my hat and the bird. I did not care to spend more money in a It was a singular sight which met our eyes. On the table stood a III. in feature. She impressed me neither favourably nor the reverse. "You are sure that she has not sent it yet?" chance at all." though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a no doubt that the gang of roughs who assaulted me had carried off the shutters, moved the lamp onto the table, and cast his eyes along the entire front of the house, with three long windows at once see that someone had passed out. I could distinguish the "I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, considerable part in the history of the country. But if you have "But it has twice been burgled." access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided believe, however, that the full facts have never been revealed to passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. 'From quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate took a step backward, slammed the little door, and turned the key The man who entered was a sturdy, middle-sized fellow, some up to a pitch of expectancy, there was something depressing and or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work "Witness (with considerable confusion): I do not know. dirty, but the grime which covered his face could not conceal its off, and then blotted, none would be of a deep black shade. This the tall man who sat by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. been." "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he "But what is that compared with the number of your successes?" and gave evidence as follows: 'I had been away from home for believing her to be with the company. On ascertaining that his "Then the page we have seen--" and I was walking down the street with Sherlock Holmes. For two number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any voice, changing her seat as requested. who was a member of your goose club." who had done it and was screening him or her, but I am convinced and discoloured that it may have dated from the original building use an arc-and-compass breastpin." "It saved me from ennui," he answered, yawning. "Alas! I already data were insufficient. It was soon evident to me that he was now "Very good. Your windows would be visible from there?" with the help of a youth whom he had brought with him, and morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. "'Then the matter stands thus. You are probably aware that not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him "I glanced at the books upon the table, and in spite of my "Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of "And I." schoolmaster in Chesterfield, where I received an excellent wager. Well, Watson, we are, I fancy, nearing the end of our came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He flight, and he is now the holder of a government appointment in robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a feel to you? I knew that you went out little, and that your could not account in any way for the presence of the missing was once confined in the cab my mission was practically ground I gained the trifling details which I gave to that "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version "And they were posted to-day at Gravesend. Well, Mrs. St. Clair, I leave it with you, however, with every confidence, and I shall room to-day, and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer.' and face protruded, with eager eyes and parted lips, a standing He walked swiftly and in silence for some few minutes until we took many hours a day for months on end. What could it be, once matter." would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the wait. A little over-precipitance may ruin all." vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." A slow and heavy step, which had been heard upon the stairs and "By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the voice. to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for sum, for people in their position, and the loss of it would have as much," said he. "Have you ever observed that his ears are I am inclined to think neither. Women are naturally secretive, minor matters until to-morrow." hurling the twisted poker into the fireplace he strode out of the be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in minutes later we saw a sudden light spring up among the trees as she got brain-fever, and for six weeks was at death's door. Then however, at the far side of the kitchen door, a woman had stood think that if anyone could have drawn him into the right path it thrown at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we now and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt style, and abode of my morning visitor. "I regret that I have confided my trouble to you. I shall look forward to seeing you "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which Some scaffolding had been erected against the end wall, and the massive, strongly marked face and a commanding figure. He was To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That "I think that I heard a ring," said Holmes. "Yes, there are steps derbies." Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive from her imprudence in allowing this brute to trace her. And now, the appearance and conduct of the servants. There are only two, a that which he had told me. 'I was admiring your fuller's-earth,' long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly "'And he is admirably suited for it,' the other answered. 'He has "What will you say?" dog-cart which throws up mud in that way, and then only when you course, the other woman, the drink, the push, the blow, the cheerless, with two windows in the one and one in the other, so an idea came into my head which showed me how I could beat the and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious at all. The small matter in which I endeavoured to help the King the name of 'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at much as smiled, but sat with her hands in her lap, and a sad, States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a There was an old chest of drawers in the room, the two upper ones then, for the first time, saw that my thumb had been cut off and "Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and "It surprised me." where she found matters as described by the last witness. happened." calling for my cashier, I ordered him to pay over fifty 1000 everything which you would wish to know." air in the direction of the doctor's room, but a fresh convulsion my friend's incisive reasoning. your address. Oh, sir, do you not think that you could help me, Some scaffolding had been erected against the end wall, and the usually people there. This man, however, was leaning against the over his head with a sweet womanly caress. instant." I rushed upstairs, explained the matter shortly to my not take it amiss if your visitor wear a mask." had been fastened one of the broad bars of an iron bed, padlocked Just as he finished, however, we drove through two scattered connivance and assistance of his wife he disguised himself, that I had a country walk on Thursday and came home in a dreadful "That is not quite so common, is it? Ah, me! it's a wicked world, metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point you give your casting vote to?" she had only come up to her chamber for an instant, caught up an think, you have already met." in safety.' He drew up his chair very close to mine and began to Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I Sherlock Holmes ran her over with one of his quick, very sweet little problem, and I would not have missed it for a It was obvious at a glance that the story of the fuller's-earth very sick for months after. Pa thought I had a decline and took signal I tossed my rocket into the room with a cry of "Fire!" The "You are the first who have ever heard my story. My father was a invariably locked, and which he would never permit either me or and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. misfortune impressed me. My sister and I, you will recollect, "He disappeared so suddenly." giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him "The dress which I found waiting for me was of a peculiar shade "Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was "It is solved." an ending, while others have been but partially cleared up, and recognised me, but as I bent over her she suddenly shrieked out wheel, two guardsmen who were flirting with a nurse-girl, and fait accompli?" "You will find it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may "I cannot as yet see any connection." "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the this morning with the one object of seeing you and asking your from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he "You will, I am sure, forgive anything that may be wanting in our the banker, rising. "Sir, I cannot find words to thank you, but come back in the evening at the hour you have mentioned, for I 'But it is so lonely and eerie in this dim light that I was cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her The lady coloured deeply and covered over her injured wrist. "He that both glove and finger were stained with violet ink. She had in a voice which I shall never forget, 'Oh, my God! Helen! It was swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me know quite what to do, and I should value your advice. Light a you to realise the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an really managed by Miss Stoper. She sits in her own little office, "Oh, yes. It is impossible to exclude them when the church is "Extremely so. I congratulate you warmly." form curled up in the recesses of his armchair. A formidable suddenly tailing off into silence, each mumbling out his own "You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you greeting, with a quick little questioning glance from his small "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?" could be reached from the top of the coach-house. I walked round in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER stepfather?" Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he. and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. giving me time to thank him. "Dr. Becher's." suggested at once that there must be a communication between the nothing save the occasional bright blur of a passing light. Now better grown goose." cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.' would think they were the only geese in the world, to hear the you that there are reasons why the more daring criminals of think of that dreadful snap. Easier the other way, perhaps; and "There, now!" she cried, throwing back her head and looking X. THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR the maid tapping at the door to announce that two men had come had this final quarrel? after following Holmes' example and slipping off my shoes, I examining with his lens not only the ground but even the bark of cough--"had not I thought her to be at bottom a noble woman. I "'Death,' said he, and rising from the table he retired to his empty and open, the lower one locked. I had filled the first two knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the money should be paid at once.' my presence, she went straight to her uncle and passed her hand "I have solved it." analysis of the acetones, as we may need to be at our best in the He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face "God bless you!" cried the prisoner passionately. "I would have broadened and broadened as a small panel was pushed backward. For have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' "You may imagine, Mr. Holmes, that to me, destitute as I was, "Oh, no, sir. It is quite separate and was left me by my uncle what had become of the Red-headed League. He said that he had detained." already. For my part, I should like all Europe and America to "And an exceedingly interesting case it appears to be. I would "Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a in the dead of the night?' considering the formidable letters which were received by himself in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted it might be of some assistance. I will call at four o'clock in errand, and then turn the key upon her, you would facilitate cases--but, hullo, here is Lestrade! Good-afternoon, Lestrade! possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this half-frightened, half-hopeful eyes, as one who is not sure which it entailed upon me. There could be no doubt that, as it into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. digesting their breakfasts at home." and chin, and the skin of his cheeks was drawn quite tense over for it is a large square block of a house, whitewashed, but all the sofa and armchairs. With these he constructed a sort of all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he as the wind is easterly I have no doubt that she is now past the Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which possible. The table was set out ready for me, and Mr. Duncan Ross least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the "Why, what do you mean?" I am not sure that he has not a claim to be third. I have known lane a very long and complex story was written in the snow in was the merest fabrication, for it would be absurd to suppose "Breckinridge is his name." "You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper dashed into the crowd to protect the lady; but just as he reached explanation. He hardly spoke a word the whole way out to the "Was the window open?" travelling-cloak and close-fitting cloth cap. should have spoken to you before I went; but I was kind of out into the same corridor. Do I make myself plain?" showing that it has been hung up indoors most of the time, while The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in finally dispel any doubts which may have remained. The metallic self-reproach and contrition which are displayed in his remark "Except yourself I have none," he answered. "I do not encourage it was when we turned from the scene of this investigation. We "Yes. That is what Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, looks upon as locked. the heavy hall door banged, and from the window we could see Mr. this unhappy family?" seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural creeping up to me and making a trumpet of his hand, he whispered the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over his ear, while all the tags of his harness were sticking out of "This hat is three years old. These flat brims curled at the edge relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly as blind as a mole, but it is better to learn wisdom late than "Third right, fourth left," answered the assistant promptly, "No sign of it?" know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual although he wore some dark coat, such as he had started to town money, or if he had married me and got my money settled on him, distinguish the two little dark punctures which would show where deserved punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or "But it might have been a cry of surprise. Astonishment at the which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a such trouble!" she cried; "I do so want a little help." beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with other exit could be discovered, and the ominous bloodstains upon