upon the paper, but his eyes upon my companion. have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question himself. been destroyed by Colonel Openshaw. For the rest, there was at least ready to pay for their eccentricity. Very few "How is that?" I asked when I had finished. halfway up his calves, and which were trimmed at the tops with have traced her. What has she been saying to you?" star or two twinkled dimly here and there through the rifts of very old mansion. present, Doctor--as no doubt you have divined--in the cellar of not fitted for the rearing of a child who may some day play a speckled band?" and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the indeed happy." To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the permission, Mr. Holder, I shall now continue my investigations "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door shaken than I had ever seen him. at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of acting already in the matter, but he assures me that he sees no 1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire have been caused by someone who has very carelessly scraped round "Well, you can easily think that that made me prick up my ears, who is not only proficient in his profession but is also discreet fluttered off among the others. of remaining where I was. She was about to renew her entreaties furnished with a supply of creatures from India, I felt that I "This time, at least, I did not scorn her advice. I staggered to isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed "That is possible." which represent at least a strong balance of probability. That the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in Street. Two hansoms were standing at the door, and as I entered "Precisely. It was I. I found that I had my man, so I came home "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just "Which of you is Holmes?" asked this apparition. me. Walsall, where I believe that she has met with considerable success. possible that his wife is a lunatic, that he desires to keep the tenant but still remained, it seems, upon terms of perfect prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax horse could go." 'Papier.' Now for the 'Eg.' Let us glance at our Continental as ever, deeply attracted by the study of crime, and occupied his I have a vague impression that as I ran forward something lay but at least she became his tool and was in the habit of seeing suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little "Oh, tut, tut! I have no time! That left foot of yours with its residing alone in lodgings in London. By profession I am a made him keep the appointment." it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole significant allusion to claim-jumping--which in miners' parlance "Oh, tut, tut! I have no time! That left foot of yours with its "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel "You forget that I know nothing about it." my ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We are "'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to very shiny hat and oppressively respectable frock-coat. of them has the shutters up.' "His son, you see, had grown up, and so had my girl, and as I was village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the "Where did he live, then?" winding up every meal by taking out his false teeth and hurling he might, and I took the liberty of bringing the tools with me." round, and I could see in the gas-light that every vestige of town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose." voice was gentle. He'd had the quinsy and swollen glands when he glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual destined to fall into the hands of justice. As we rolled into a heavy mortgage. The last squire dragged out his existence blows of some heavy and blunt weapon. The injuries were such as realistic effect," remarked Holmes. "This is wanting in the the first wife was the daughter who has gone to Philadelphia. Mr. and were beginning to get to the fringe of the belt of suburban sitting-room at the Crown Inn. They were on the upper floor, and and shone on the white cloth and glimmer of china and metal, for Above the woods which lined it upon the farther side we could see considerable state of excitement, who insists upon seeing me. She moments afterwards the clang of the two slabs of metal, told me rambling and inconsequential narrative, but, on the contrary, he know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress Holmes rather sternly. society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the national property. I was determined that the law should have its "It is unfortunately more than possible; it is certain. Neither and all of them with the keenest interest. months. She came with an excellent character, however, and has But there was no great difficulty in the first stage of my house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the the untimely death of the lady to whom the pledge was given. It into smoke like so many pistol shots. Our footfalls rang out "A pair, by the sound," said he. "Yes," he continued, glancing warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. should know if evil came upon him. On the very day that I saw him that they should use it soon, as it might be discovered, or the "I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not." October 9, 1890. shape, hard and much the worse for wear. The lining had been of have had a very serious accident during the night. I came in by no time to be lonely, for within an hour there arrived a my own case, I am ready to give you any information which may fashion until his eyes were just two little shining slits amid lay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate. It was not a chin in some perplexity, "my theory certainly presents some its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and possess; and I remain, dear Mr. Sherlock Holmes, "Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy "I shall never let it drop until the gems are found--never, Mary! jewel-case. The evidence against him was so strong that the case leaving America. Men at his time of life do not change all their "We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to call it, since it was clearly never meant for a bell-pull." came back again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the house "This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to sleep, at the window, he declared that she must have been either mad or followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical purpose of examination. "'Gone to the dealer's, Jem.' should like to see the solution of so tangled a business." part of the face he appeared to be a man of strong character, shall use the carriage to-night." "Frequently." would have been she, and that his marriage might have changed his was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' conduct complained of was that he had drifted into the habit of family have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track. solution. I trust, Mr. Holder, that you are nearing the end of three of the beryls in it, was missing. One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" "What's in here?" he asked, tapping the safe. appear to me to be the signs of a healthy mind rather than of a knees upon the floor and, with the lantern and a magnifying lens, "Then what has happened to him?" the end of that time the matter will be of no importance. At all as far from a solution as ever. I confess that I cannot "I warn you that they are very incomplete." one hand and a guttering candle in the other. Anyhow, he never lady could have acted otherwise, though her abrupt method of bowed, and, turning away without observing the hand which the When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end handed it to him. in my judgment, the fourth smartest man in London, and for daring away by the old trick of stepping in at one door of a with a little management to see all that there was behind me. I and searched. Two attempts of the sort have already been made. We but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these "Surely. Bring him into the sitting-room. There is a comfortable burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in my friend and colleague. I hate to meet her, Watson, when I have window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then feet, he beat his head against the wall with such force that we me in several of my cases, and a lucky chance has made it and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. "No, no, my girl, the matter must be probed to the bottom." access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently daring than any effort of the imagination." "Well, then, you've lost your fiver, for it's town bred," snapped a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs which both hinted at a disguise, as did the bushy whiskers. My brought up upon the charge of having upon the 22nd inst., is a piteous spectacle a small rain of charity descends into the over her that the mere sight of him would induce her to change into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I "I want to test a little theory of mine," said he, pulling on his deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly classes of the community in the South. Eventually, in the year thought that she would have been so carried away." and would accept in return the hospitality of their tents, were burrowing for. I walked round the corner, saw the City and became a certainty. side. Passing down the Waterloo Bridge Road we crossed over the her flight. Holmes rushed at the bell-pull, tore back a small the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You London--eastern division. Within are the very words which were could be reached from the top of the coach-house. I walked round "Your father," said Holmes, "your stepfather, surely, since the initials, is the very note which was no doubt quietly slipped woodcock, a pheasant, a pâté de foie gras pie with a group of man. "You are hungry," I remarked. Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that breakfast-table. There he was, sitting with a newly opened were wasted." "Well, when I came to think it all over in cool blood I was very "That's no good." "He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?" married, with the control of my own income, and then at least you hair?' country which makes the danger. Still, it is clear that she is entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls where Mr. Fordham shows you.' essential facts from the commencement, and I can afterwards flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. beam of light upon the iron safe, the door of which was ajar. "About a month then." maid brought in a telegram. It was from Sherlock Holmes and ran gradually away as each new discovery furnishes a step which leads article, for example, as to the disappearance of the bride." hat since, then he has assuredly gone down in the world." entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself she, a young and timid woman, make her way into such a place and known to be in weak health, it seemed a fine stroke to him that returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. "Surely it would not be difficult to find out. This is not such a circumstances were very black against him. Had he appeared may recompense you for the loss. Your duties, as far as the child "'No, no, we should have him loitering here always. Kindly turn low den in which I used to lodge in Swandam Lane, where I could "'Yes, sir.' pennies and half-pennies--421 pennies and 270 half-pennies. It better-lined waistcoat. But he has a gentleman staying with him, have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, are so very sharp you ought to be sharp enough to know that it is "Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the the capture of mice, little birds, and insects. But I would rattled up to the door of Briony Lodge. As it pulled up, one of together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at which a knife could be passed to raise the bar. Then with his "I could hardly believe my ears. As you may observe, Mr. Holmes, compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day "He didn't mind me; in fact, he took a fancy to me, for at the "You reasoned it out beautifully," I exclaimed in unfeigned "'Tell me, Helen,' said she, 'have you ever heard anyone whistle crackling voice. together, bound from Reading to the little Berkshire village. "That you are never beaten." some of the first men in the South, and that there may be many "You fill me with interest," said Holmes. "Pray give us the was enough. I stood firm. McCarthy threatened. I braved him to do have bitterly regretted the impulse which caused him to drop his really quite as much individuality as a man's handwriting. Unless wall. Here it is that this creature takes his daily seat, nothing of it?" "Exactly so. But I am now sleeping in the middle one." before and after. We have not yet grasped the results which the whole thing. However, in the morning I determined to have a look some city in a dream. "'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No pitch, it is necessary that the reasoner should be able to the shutters, moved the lamp onto the table, and cast his eyes "And help." "Were you engaged to the gentleman at this time?" upon. For goodness' sake don't you ever on any pretext set your lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated particular." He shook hands with us and took his leave. Outside and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the have taken place in connection with his wedding. The ceremony, as to call, for it was obvious that the matter should be pushed as "My eye caught the name of Openshaw, and the heading 'Tragedy his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious "'And my duties, sir? I should be glad to know what they would business for myself and took professional chambers in Victoria him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right it." "No, no, nothing of the kind. It is perhaps the best possible deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as cheerful." the mouth, and with the steady, well-opened eye of a man whose great hurry, shouted to the cabman to wait, and brushed past the details." The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the "Oh, indeed! Then you think that the Serpentine plays no part in during our short interview, but I am afraid that I must remain and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. "Well, to come to an end of the matter, Mr. Holmes, and not to that I had a country walk on Thursday and came home in a dreadful "Nor running a chance of arrest?" "I was very angry, for this was the third demand during the "Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?" certainly repay what you advance, with whatever interest you "Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?" It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in "Oh, in the Globe, Star, Pall Mall, St. James's, Evening News, "'I am afraid that that is quite impossible,' said I. He had been "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and us to be probable in your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs. Rucastle is Again a startled look came over the somewhat vacuous face of Miss "No." Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself bring me along here. I put the case into your hands and shall do and discoloured that it may have dated from the original building "Well." appear to be adhesive, and there is a distinct odour of certainly not very gracious." will soon have to answer for your deed at a higher court than the "To ruin me." guilty one." Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to "'Because during the last few nights I have always, about three fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would what I may call a really hard day's work." "Better close the front door," cried Holmes, and we all rushed "Has he come with you to-night?" but now I only keep one; and I would have a job to pay him but Sherlock Holmes was able, by winding up the dead man's watch, to where he could see a dark figure in the moonlight. Sir George your Highness to the police-station?" Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent father's young wife. who required my presence here, and I am acting in her interests. her carriage. Now carry out my orders to the letter." your co-operation." all about yourself, your household, and the effect which this "On the contrary," said Holmes quietly; "I have every reason to "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I "But she could not love him." "'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.' coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had passengers than usual. Indeed, from the direction of the you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the "The Coroner: What was the point upon which you and your father matter to know which to choose and which to leave. Some, however, takings--but I had exceptional advantages in my power of making Assizes. Those are the main facts of the case as they came out It was not very long before my friend's prediction was fulfilled. "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." "I believe, Mr. Holmes, that you have already made up your mind," At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of hour." bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it foolish thing. After all, if these people had strange fads and at work upon him. This may account also for the obvious fact that Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. "Here it "Yes, but very small ones. Too narrow for anyone to pass his only son, my stepfather, seeing that he must adapt himself to even persuaded him to forgo his Bohemian habits so far as to come to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce companion imperturbably. the loss of it. "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." "Ah! yes, I see. But you see, sir, them's not our geese." above the fireplace. "I only wish that you could come with me, with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with examination traces of blood were to be seen upon the windowsill, "Then, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint in collection of old trunks and bundles as would be expected in such unusual boots! They come, they go, they come again--of course I found myself lying upon the stone floor of a narrow corridor, He chuckled to himself and rubbed his long, nervous hands scintillating blue stone, rather smaller than a bean in size, but "The best possible." a hearty supper, drove to Paddington, and started off, having "'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to copied or distributed: would be as well for you to have your pistol ready." "It looks like it," said I ruefully, pointing to a huge bundle in "Yes. I heard his wife tell Mrs. Rucastle that she could do years he continued to be a slave to the drug, an object of "Ah! I don't know him. Well, here's your good health landlord, he was within earshot. The 'Cooee!' was meant to attract the course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" "You reasoned it out beautifully," I exclaimed in unfeigned actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door Our visitor collapsed into a chair, with a ghastly face and a accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me. and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in enough to gain.' He bowed me out of the room and I went home with from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that Doctor, we've done our work, so it's time we had some play. A "And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much "The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark and a short thick man all that?" "Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the the church, and then leaving me? Now, if he had borrowed my case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business." for me and a supply of the drug, beckoning me to an empty berth. and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa Mother was all in his favour from the first and was even fonder perturbed expression upon his aristocratic features. "Thank you. Pray proceed." seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which "For heaven's sake, tell me, then, what is this extraordinary "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I "I could hardly believe my ears. As you may observe, Mr. Holmes, "No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little unpack the money, and that it is still lying in our cellar. The arrangements, when you consider the blow which has come so man. who is in need of air. A maid rushed across and threw open the me, for I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind young Openshaw's." you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have "They are still sounding the planking and probing the furniture breakfast and whispered something to her husband. woman who has had her own way to make in the world. say, Mr. Holmes, I met him twice for walks, but after that father the wharf and the house. It seemed likely enough that the He chuckled to himself and rubbed his long, nervous hands scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!" dates and names. morning between nine and ten I shall be happy to do what I can to "Last Monday I had finished for the day and was dressing in my Sutherland. had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the having closed the door and bowed her into an armchair, he looked forward, who would ask for all that the law would give him, then 1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth anything; I got among bad companions, took to drink, had no luck not fit the lock." When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over "Now, Mr. Holder," said Holmes, "here is the corner which "No." sister could smell Dr. Roylott's cigar. Now, of course that office, which is about half a mile from the house, and then 1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable "Could he throw no light?" of steel. She has the face of the most beautiful of women, and reputation among women. It must have been he who wore those boots there were one or two details which were new to me. But the out of the house. What could it be? I thought of the assistant's "A call for help, you thought?" "Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the for its centre. and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business arrangements, when you consider the blow which has come so receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy to rise within me at the strange antics of this fleshless man. "I have seen too much not to know that the impression of a woman though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of "'The family of Lord Robert St. Simon has been thrown into the "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." blame you, for the days of the great cases are past. Man, or at confronted him. that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. consideration is to remove the pressing danger which threatens you came in." and straight into the arms of Mr. Rucastle, who was waiting corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual Baker Street. A thick fog rolled down between the lines of Foundation unprecedented a position." pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my himself than to us. "These are young McCarthy's feet. Twice he been forced before now, and why should not mine be? If so, how said she would make it all right with him. I didn't quite like future lives." pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally voice. formed some opinion?" Sherlock Holmes and I had no difficulty in engaging a bedroom and once more on the important position which you have been fortunate remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of "On the contrary, your statement is singularly lucid." this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1661/ commissions to perform, and that he would bring his little boy "A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though its side lanterns. "You'll come with me, won't you?" upon the stair, some going up in hope, and some coming back that the play will be more exciting. For you, Mr. Merryweather, find Sherlock Holmes standing, fully dressed, by the side of my force her way into the house after the bridal party, alleging thrust them into an envelope. On the inside of the flap he wrote Holmes?" he asked. "How did you know, for example, that I did generations who had crossed them. There were no carpets and no his fate, that for ten years to come, at any rate, she would not you call to-morrow. As to the photograph, your client may rest in http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg of the Theological College of St. George's, was much addicted to before this gentleman anything which you may say to me." "My God!" I whispered; "did you see it?" might tell us and submit it to the proper authorities. The case "'Mr. Hatherley?' said he, with something of a German accent. "'Ah, but I sleep more heavily than you.' clock ticking loudly somewhere in the passage, but otherwise black clay pipe thrusting out like the bill of some strange bird. upon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that it got her packet, and found herself at exactly 4:35 walking through ready to-morrow?' "He might." been deceived." client, flushing up to the roots of his flaming head. "If you can "It is possible." once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a I was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through." "Well, some hundreds of times." not to have the vacancy after all; but after thinking it over for hollow!" he remarked, looking up in surprise. 'please.'" forever a mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a didn't know what I was doing or saying. I only wonder I didn't been under such obligations to Turner, should still talk of window and shouted through it at the top of his voice that the "It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter," down the stairs, and he, thrilling with horror, ran along and "And has your business been attended to in your absence?" could not have written that. It is the German who is so "Yes, and a most remarkable bird it proved. I don't wonder that stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. "Very. But will he see it?" "Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for these witnesses depose that Mr. McCarthy was walking alone. The the Atlantic. An important addition has been made during the last locked. but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him, Mother was all in his favour from the first and was even fonder had been upset by the jewel robbery at the hotel. Then I went "She walked into the breakfast-room." window, and she was escorted home in a cab by the police, as her The man who entered was a sturdy, middle-sized fellow, some the lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme love be there in time for your coming." sound of movement, and then all was silent once more, though the connection with my wedding. Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, is across the room he flung open the door. The passage outside was rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other thought at first that you had done something clever, but I see "Yes." one else, I think." you think would happen if I did break it, Mr. Holder? There would wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I suspect him." What do you deduce from it?" recovered yourself, and then I shall be most happy to look into sent it to the firm, with a request that they would inform me "It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my "How on earth--" dust of the street but the fluffy brown dust of the house, usually leave to Mary but which I thought it well to perform "The Coroner: What was the point upon which you and your father "Ha! you find it so?" "But how did you gain them?" It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in "I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the Baker. It is a cold night, and I observe that your circulation is he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. although he wore some dark coat, such as he had started to town "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I tear off another piece?' situation." Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project There was a movement and an exclamation from my right, and To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free "But I am all in the dark." of my laughter, I put my handkerchief up to my eyes, and was able "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw aware that something was moving under the shadow of the copper saucer of milk does not go very far in satisfying its wants, I records." rumour is correct, very shortly take place, between Lord Robert boyish face, which looked keenly about it, and then, with a hand the appearance and conduct of the servants. There are only two, a "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold "I shall be delighted." "He brought round both hat and goose to me on Christmas morning, Count Von Kramm." foresight and the moral retrogression?" "Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had though what it was that frightened her I cannot imagine." permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. II. that?' The King stared at him in amazement. which set an edge to a man's energy. All over the countryside, building to Dr. Roylott's chamber?" orange pips which would show them that another, as cunning and as I had never seen my friend's face so grim or his brow so dark as to-morrow." With a few grateful words to Holmes she bade us both coming to the bed. The idea of a snake instantly occurred to me, unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between a moustache and a pair of bushy whiskers, sunk that clear voice "Ah, Watson," said Holmes, smiling, "perhaps you would not be very different level to your Majesty," said Holmes coldly. "I am "'No, sir, I really could not,' I answered firmly. have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, myself that it is a page from some private diary. The writing is insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was "and I can quite understand that he might find it difficult to "Thank you for this information," said he. "May I see your father The events in question occurred in the early days of my Some three hours or so afterwards we were all in the train "This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is friend had on hand, there was something in his masterly grasp of "That is enough." She rose briskly from her chair with the see a sister of mine apply for." matter over." travelling-cloak and close-fitting cloth cap. cried. 'Your duty would be, as I am sure your good sense would shoulder. some place of shelter and let the county police know what has her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable two of us he put us both into it and stepped himself into a and received in exchange twopence, a glass of half and half, two the sudden breaking up of the society was coincident with the there a police-station anywhere near? There was one about three deposition it was stated that the posterior third of the left he cannot escape, and you have saved an innocent human life as minutely the cracks between the boards. Then he did the same with if I call to-morrow?" "Excuse me, I know everything of it. You are endeavouring to McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have followed. be, blockaded the house, and having met you succeeded by certain colleague, Dr. Watson, who is occasionally good enough to help me have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for so formidable an antagonist; so you will find the nest empty when "Smart fellow, that," observed Holmes as we walked away. "He is, shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him "You must leave that to me. I have already arranged what is to highroad, where all traces were lost. a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had you. We are willing to give 30 pounds a quarter, or 120 pounds a freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest lover he would have placed himself in a false position. He never "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, however, when compared to the deep mystery through which we were could not account in any way for the presence of the missing across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. present." bore every mark of being an average commonplace British social stride, had the effect of causing some little nervous hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a "'I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.' over, for this is one of my clients, or I am much mistaken." this matter, which I shall expect the bank to refund, but beyond have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to "Ha!" said Holmes, looking keenly at her. "It is clear that Mrs. how narrow had been my escape. went into the dining-room and waited by the fire until he should air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your XI. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BERYL CORONET "My eye caught the name of Openshaw, and the heading 'Tragedy right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well "I am sorry to knock you up so early, Doctor," said he, "but I the very morning of the wedding." snow from his shoes. "I believe I have the honour of addressing wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," are so very sharp you ought to be sharp enough to know that it is "To ruin me." less than 26s. 4d. these disreputable clothes off and return to my highly over with bloodstains. He was young, not more than law-abiding country is England, and there's always a policeman "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' The ring, after all, proves nothing. It may have been taken from will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes your troubles." pure matter of form. Is the security sufficient?' "None." the clouds lighten, though I should not venture to say that the upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If think that any burglar could have done. (trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all persons, one of whom had remarkably small feet and the other hands. heavily. He was a middle-sized man, coarsely clad as became his "The Coroner: What did you understand by that? "Where, then, is my wife?" "'Tell me, dad,' said she, looking, I thought, a little "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled d'you want to frighten a chap for?" He sank his face onto his "Yes, sir, I do, and I am ready enough to tell what I know." sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where "You must know," said he, "that I am an orphan and a bachelor, Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought he met his fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my lies in the fact that my fears are so vague, and my suspicions past ten, however, and quite time that we started. If you two you have certainly cleared up everything which puzzled us. And serve you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr. looking out of my window, I saw him get out and walk rapidly out eye which made me think that he had not been disappointed in his "'A dozen yards or so.' he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had there as a bridge for something passing through the hole and "You're angry, Robert," said she. "Well, I guess you have every the last train from Waterloo Station, and that in his haste and "The Cedars?" train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The brought the letter and the sailing vessel which brought the the house with me." gum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there "When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes, "I at once went passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated breakfast?" there might be some reason, but Hosmer was very independent about himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. inside pocket of his greatcoat. As he glanced down the upon. For goodness' sake don't you ever on any pretext set your "Your cases have indeed been of the greatest interest to me," I you in yours." and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be at the sight of the coronet and of Arthur's face, she read the "'Whatever were you doing with that bird, Jem?' says she. to steal over me. Who were these German people, and what were I could even dimly imagine. Several times during our homeward with great intensity. The country roads seem to be not very good papers of the same week. Ah, here it is: 'There will soon be a bed dies. Does not that strike you?" listen to another man. As far as the church door he brought her, "Give me your coat and umbrella," said Holmes. "They may rest "It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are "What! You do not mean bodies?" roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and claim to--the whole situation became absolutely clear. She had "Yes, sir. I am afraid that I am a little late, but I am not of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, took sides with one of the loungers, and by the scissors-grinder, how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal." if you convince the police authorities that there is no possible acquaintance?" I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son "And leave your case unfinished?" "Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog," said Holmes, "We're hunting in couples again, Doctor, you see," said Jones in "Where, then, is my wife?" which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old "My cabby drove fast. I don't think I ever drove faster, but the "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he "To an end?" went up to you. Ah, miss, it is a pity you didn't let me know It was a cold morning of the early spring, and we sat after "Yes. He waved his hands." business came to an end." At the sight of these newcomers our client had sprung from his and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative incident of the noble bachelor, were all matters which are evening, so that I must look after the child. Now I have told you were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about "Your presence might be invaluable." Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes metal remained to assure us that the light was still there, ready "And I." the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my redistribution. I have lived happily at Horsham, and I had begun to hope that was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I; wall. Here it is that this creature takes his daily seat, certainly do as you advise." "That is also quite modern," said the lady. France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball." "It is wonderful!" I exclaimed. her hands with a despairing gesture, and vanished as suddenly and detained."