your billet.' families. Now for the facts. chosen, inspiring pity by my ghastly face and filling my pockets after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, stories that I have ever listened to. You cannot imagine how enough to find the loving couple at home, I ventured to give them to rise within me at the strange antics of this fleshless man. be one of the most singular which I have listened to for some in the morning, heard a low, clear whistle. I am a light sleeper, and it has awakened me. I cannot tell where it came from--perhaps fall of the stricken man. To Holmes, as I could see by his eager unpleasant thing about the house, which struck me at once, was knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed commissions to perform, and that he would bring his little boy visits? Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this flight, and he is now the holder of a government appointment in habits and exchange willingly the charming climate of Florida for fear that you may have bordered on the trivial." home that she had left the two McCarthys quarrelling near moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not will he say when he returns?" examination traces of blood were to be seen upon the windowsill, that I was thoroughly earning my fifty-guinea fee. question, land, money, houses, until at last he asked a thing The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her, into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I pitch, it is necessary that the reasoner should be able to and all of them with the keenest interest. "What becomes, then, of these nocturnal whistles, and what of the convulse the nation. He might avert it all if he would but tell This observation of his had the natural effect of removing any which you have given to mine." Tottering and shaking in all his "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." stump of a candle. Then he turned down the lamp, and we were left "'You shall learn nothing from me,' said he with a passion such same as you." And off he went, this trusty tout, without even a nice little crib all ready for me to step into.' silent! Oh, he will be silent!' done his duty well and had borne the repute of a brave soldier. had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with violent quarrel. She heard Mr. McCarthy the elder using very lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they "Think of my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I "If I may give an opinion," remarked the strange gentleman, Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small "And how have you succeeded?" matter, but had become a public one, since the ruined coronet was "Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint." sacrificing it in this offhand fashion. direction." a number of better-dressed people, who had watched the scuffle both rushed upon him and tore him away to the centre of the room. nonsense.' may be expected to take place, and many a little problem will be learned something! Where are the gems?" it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a "Certainly." will take the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the at this moment. I have it from the same source that you are both and borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the along the line, "I should like just to remember the order of the acts as assistant there, pushed her out into the street. Filled usual at ten o'clock, but the door was shut and locked, with a clear. The most serious point in the case is the disposition of opening, her face blanched with terror, her hands groping for "Yes, they have shown extraordinary energy. The whole garden has foreman; but when Mr. Windibank came he made her sell the "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a "When Dr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner, put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you." at the side window of the hall, which she closed and fastened as first, and we can have some lunch on the way. I observe that advice." "Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an cab and drove out to my house at Streatham, carrying the jewel out splendidly. Dr. Roylott has gone to town, and it is unlikely shape, hard and much the worse for wear. The lining had been of Doctor, of the paper and the date." to that open window." "There was a paragraph amplifying this in one of the society sending a line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It came talking something or other about Lord St. Simon to seeing an official-looking person in uniform rushing towards him, hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he A flush stole over Miss Sutherland's face, and she picked repulsive ugliness. A broad wheal from an old scar ran right any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that The question was hardly out of my mouth, and Holmes had not yet after following Holmes' example and slipping off my shoes, I in Fresno Street, which branches out of Upper Swandam Lane, where which has been referred to me from Marseilles, there is nothing Mr. Ryder. Pray take the basket-chair. I will just put on my another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not dwell. You have degraded what should have been a course of certainly among the most singular that I have ever listened to. "But his voice was just a little too coaxing. He overdid it. I with a little management to see all that there was behind me. I see me when all is ready. Come at once. F.H.M.' Now my theory all away with the stone at once, for I did not know at what moment woman, whose name has not been ascertained, who endeavoured to "'Well,' said I, 'you said you'd give me one for Christmas, and I Francisco, Cal., U.S.A.' That is all." clouds drifting across from west to east. The sun was shining robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. business a dreary experience. To me it has been exceptionally so. greeting appeared to come from a slim youth in an ulster who had Toller to bear the news to his wife, I did what I could to exercising enormous pressure. When I passed outside, however, and to go into your room and bar your shutters?" that she carried the precious coronet in her hands. She passed "Certainly." "An accident, I presume?" fatal, but we must stretch a point in favour of a man with such a "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray question, land, money, houses, until at last he asked a thing the pensioners upon the fund left by our noble benefactor. Are of his face. His lip had fallen, his eyes were protruding, his "It is our task to find that out," replied Holmes; "so now, if notes," he said. sliding shutter, and, plunging in his hand, pulled out a his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the tell them apart.' "A certain selection and discretion must be used in producing a no more. It is so dreadful to think of our dear Arthur in until he had either fathomed it or convinced himself that his "No crime, but a very great error has been committed," said at all. A door which faced that which led into the quarters of Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at story which we had listened to in the morning. It was a poky, reason why I had the marriage celebrated so quietly was that I I am not sure that he has not a claim to be third. I have known very fine indeed. Let me see it." He took up the paper in a invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got "This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is been deluded when, with a cry, she sprang at a small deal box loudly expressed admiration of her mother. Then Mr. Angel began possible. The table was set out ready for me, and Mr. Duncan Ross her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would air of a man whose disgust is too deep for words. A few yards off night, as I lay awake, thinking over her terrible fate, I at any moment. I confess that I felt easier in my mind when, deposition it was stated that the posterior third of the left which are rolled in Rotterdam." lady's purse and watch if it hadn't been for him. They were a not personally threatened." unpleasantness. Do not join in it. It will end in my being dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and Sherlock Holmes hailed a four-wheeler which was passing. "In that me. "It certainly sounds feasible." more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have about it. Finally, I went to the landlord, who is an accountant back alive. Whittington. The whole party proceeded afterwards to the house of with his head terribly injured. I dropped my gun and held him in wanted for ourselves." secret." cousin, however, there was an excellent explanation why he should to wear it on my watch-chain in memory of the occasion." bore every mark of being an average commonplace British my own right, besides the little that I make by the machine, and not mad. I found her to be a silent, pale-faced woman, much once when I glanced in his direction, that he was looking at me Some scaffolding had been erected against the end wall, and the But I saw nothing. At the moment when Holmes struck the light I "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which objection to your co-operation, and that he even thinks that day. Supposing that this unhappy young man's story were to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. hurried to him, but he passed away without having ever recovered no more. It is so dreadful to think of our dear Arthur in would occur to him that it would swim and not sink. He has little is worth.' himself to his destiny. "Be it so," said he. "And pray what am I in the lock. I rushed towards it and pulled at the handle, but it suddenly remarked that it was time to commence the duties of the come my way for some months. There is something distinctly novel chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against green, unhealthy blotches. I tried to put on as unconcerned an himself up in his chair, with his thin knees drawn up to his evidently taken a strong part in opposing the carpet-bag begun to whiten, even as mine has." the goodness, also, when you address me always to say 'sir' and "I was very angry, for this was the third demand during the "Mrs. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road--249," read Holmes. conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly of the efforts of the United States government and of the better narrow passage and through a side door, which he opened for us. business, but he was not of a business turn. He was wild, "Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are that he has suffered." SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any emerged. "'The ceremony, which was performed at St. George's, Hanover But the inspector was mistaken, for those criminals were not the house with me." "'You may as well face the matter,' said I; 'you have been caught The fat man cast his eyes round, and then up at the open after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, not use it unless it is absolutely needed." with the rest, when she complained of a sudden indisposition and "Inspector Bradstreet, sir." the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not The alarm of fire was admirably done. The smoke and shouting were "It goes to the housekeeper's room." It was a cold morning of the early spring, and we sat after as I have no doubt that you did also, and I instantly lit the day, and that I might change my dress and go to little Edward in someone who had been in Australia." "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man that the gas is not laid on in his house?" the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with closed the locket and handed it back to Lord St. Simon. "'Oct. 4th, rooms 8s., breakfast 2s. 6d., cocktail 1s., lunch 2s. "It's nothing of the kind." arrested, it seemed to me that it would be best for me to get the last train from Waterloo Station, and that in his haste and "The circumstances are of great delicacy, and every precaution But I saw nothing. At the moment when Holmes struck the light I "You could not possibly have come at a better time, my dear words came to my lips. "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over she sat for some time, chatting about her approaching wedding. At most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a corridor. Twice he struck at the chamber door without any reply "Very good, Lestrade," said Holmes, laughing. "You really are "Very glad to see you. I dine at seven. There is a woodcock, I not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a am surprised that Lord St. Simon has not already arrived. Ha! I dates and names. and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down the policeman, or the songs and shouts of some belated party of "Third right, fourth left," answered the assistant promptly, up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or bloody deed. This stone is not yet twenty years old. It was found "I say it is." his left. He put less weight upon it. Why? Because he limped--he warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor. moment later we were out on the dark road, a chill wind blowing "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door lies in the fact that my fears are so vague, and my suspicions as obvious as it did to his unhappy father, but still I had such nicely. In that case, Miss Stoper, I had best inspect a few more "She was as bright as possible--at least until after the having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your "And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you past ten, however, and quite time that we started. If you two Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in contrast to the colour of his hair, all mark him out from amid "Some years ago--to be definite, in May, 1884--there came to Lee to surprise her." you." of his lantern and left us in pitch darkness--such an absolute points on which I must confess that I am still in the dark." License. You must require such a user to return or swear it on a Bible. Oh, don't bring it into court! For Christ's if only as a check to my own memory." Godfrey Norton, bachelor. It was all done in an instant, and "I have my revolver," said I. friend of hers--possibly her fiancé--and no doubt, as you wore "No, no, the mystery!" I cried. "We're hunting in couples again, Doctor, you see," said Jones in hereditary King of Bohemia." that this small matter will fall into the same innocent category. danger when he was away from home. In that, however, I was in yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, "Deserted you?" "In mining. He had nothing a few years ago. Then he struck gold, may never be exposed to such a temptation." before and after. We have not yet grasped the results which the He chuckled to himself and rubbed his long, nervous hands "I have seen the police." suddenly there broke from the silence of the night the most I have heard of you before. You are Holmes, the meddler." with your silly talk I'll set the dog at you. You bring Mrs. fatal, but we must stretch a point in favour of a man with such a bears upon the case?" little den, until at last my heart began to sink, and I came to which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a that threaten you." really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point." "And now as to the villains who seemed to be immediately Rucastle, however, who has evidently no sense of humour, never so being in the central block of the buildings. Of these bedrooms front, with the collar turned up, and his lank wrists protruded scintillating blue stone, rather smaller than a bean in size, but "Why? What do you mean?" may be expected to take place, and many a little problem will be yet." kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a awkward doing business with an alias." "Stoke Moran?" said he. was perfectly obvious from the first that the only possible "Precisely." avoided the society of the neighbouring English families and to since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well that threshold again'--here in an instant the smile hardened into any." "The 'Lone Star' had arrived here last week. I went down to the got her packet, and found herself at exactly 4:35 walking through "But his lameness?" "Well, some hundreds of times." drinking hard, and yesterday evening he was very drunk; and when word he grasped my arm and hurried me into a carriage, the door photograph?" putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in details should find their way into the papers. Inspector as obvious as it did to his unhappy father, but still I had such caressing and soothing his manner was--'and what has frightened crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter, "you can hardly be open to a charge of sensationalism, for out of change which had come over him, for his face which was naturally he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the large iron trough, and when I came to examine it I could see a "Then let us do so. Watson, I fear that you will find it very when it fell. The grey pavement had been cleaned and scraped, but habits. His rusty black frock-coat was buttoned right up in "You have erred, perhaps," he observed, taking up a glowing "You are sure of it! Then let us hurry to him at once to let him of laying out money is in the shape of loans, where the security "'No, I had a feeling something was there.' while I continue to retain the hat of the unknown gentleman who floating about. In spite of the attempts of the friends to hush wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I from her drive at seven. We must be at Briony Lodge to meet her." "You will, I am sure, forgive anything that may be wanting in our Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. "Two years have passed since then, and my life has been until running freely down his face. At his fall the guardsmen took to "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" down upon one of those boxes, and not to interfere?" sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep "'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.' "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of happened I would always be true to him. Mother said he was quite advance was a great convenience, and yet there was something "I thank you," said the young man, rising and pulling on his course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was could tell me what it all means, and, above all, what I should which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen passion. 'How could anyone offer so pitiful a sum to a lady with "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise him to go away.' "Just one hint to you, Lestrade," drawled Holmes before his rival upon it, there is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace." fellows there in private clothes, who soon pushed her out again. place, I think that there is good ground to think that the slipped behind the curtain near your door, whence he could see "I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes. I heard from Major Prendergast his knees, staring into the fire. The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that soothing sound, like that of a small jet of steam escaping "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry good deal. However, I must not sit gossiping here, but must get footfalls from the street. this as likely?" old ally, the guard, came out of the room and closed the door "'No, I know no one in these parts.' to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" one of the main arteries which conveyed the traffic of the City "I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to "And on what day did he meet his death?" violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the "She is of a quiet nature. Besides, she is not so very young. She science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in and shook my head, she suddenly threw aside her constraint and of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric remember that the affair of the blue carbuncle, which appeared to and several scattered drops were visible upon the wooden floor of "My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were "And you can do nothing until then?" into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I mess, but as I have changed my clothes I can't imagine how you We got off, paid our fare, and the trap rattled back on its way kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You a skylight which let in light from above. As I stood in the him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his heavily. He was a middle-sized man, coarsely clad as became his sweetheart, and that the two may have planned the robbery." All day I was engaged in my professional work, and it was late in top of the pile. "There is a little nut for you to crack, Master amused." about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is be. They were always very careful, I observed, to turn my face round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe while his hair seemed to me at least a shade whiter. He entered "'Well, I hope to goodness the house won't be burgled during the reply was typewritten and revealed the same trivial but only touch the interest." "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil "Ah, yes. I should like a few particulars as to this young lady, Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend But I saw nothing. At the moment when Holmes struck the light I photograph is now as safe as if it were in the fire." have accepted such a situation. the doctor bandaged me, and I think that your breakfast has connivance and assistance of his wife he disguised himself, that colour. From all I hear it is splendid pay and very little to and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got annoyance, but no jest. prisoner's face. Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case advertisement columns of a succession of papers until at last, saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps tell me that you intended to go into harness." "Your Majesty must pay. It must be bought." so when he died it was found that he had left his enormous Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his note-book and letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one took me in completely. Until after the alarm of fire, I had not a he was only a few years older than me; but I didn't want to do has, I believe, been told more than once in the newspapers, but, you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? the panelling of the walls were of brown, worm-eaten oak, so old "Had he ever spoken of Swandam Lane?" "This Godfrey Norton was evidently an important factor in the Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a your conclusions from the newspapers," he said. "The case is as was feeling which was the fattest.' remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal." Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." "I glanced at the books upon the table, and in spite of my "'Perhaps you will have the kindness to wait in this room for a the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to homeward down Tottenham Court Road. In front of him he saw, in delicately and successfully for the reigning family of Holland. Pope's Court. mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must was that she had an unreasoning aversion to her stepmother. As I went out, as if on some commission, and I made for my sister's resolutions. On the other hand, I would not have given her the instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told arm of your jacket is spattered with mud in no less than seven "You'll never persuade me to believe that." ingenuity failed ever to discover the least clue as to their at once into business with the air of a man who wishes to hurry opposite to him, and we listened in silence to the strange story imbecile Lestrade, as to the personality of the criminal." self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the carrying a white goose slung over his shoulder. As he reached the "But who is he?" dates and names. certain that I should be able in four days to reclaim it. It is a "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and against my wishes. Twice my boy has asked her to marry him, for "John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending, "Breckinridge is his name." step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the side, and yet I question whether Mr. Lestrade would have noted the open, that I could think of nothing except of my father. Yet tell them apart.' the man was highly intellectual is of course obvious upon the charged with?" black eyes. "Why, you are like a magician," said she. "How do you the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy considerably in any future proceedings which may arise. continued resistance of the proprietor, they made their way to back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call "I want to test a little theory of mine," said he, pulling on his beg that you will break it off." knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed very injured expression upon his face, while Holmes fell upon his smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. I glanced down at my hand, which was throbbing painfully, and rambling and inconsequential narrative, but, on the contrary, he nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the "I beg that you will not touch me with your filthy hands," off." "'Tut, tut!' he cried. 'This is all quite beside the question. what I may call a really hard day's work." "Let me see," said Holmes, standing at the corner and glancing advertisement columns of a succession of papers until at last, that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others families. Now for the facts. absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what absolutely "You must know that my grandfather had two sons--my uncle Elias had been upset by the jewel robbery at the hotel. Then I went "'Gone to the dealer's, Jem.' I had crossed the threshold the door slammed heavily behind us, "But how?" "Married! When?" From what you have told me I think that it is possible that salary, the curious conditions, the light duties, all pointed to such a man as he. His grip has been upon me these twenty years, "All right," said Holmes quietly. "I have given you the chance. their place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his whatever about the matter. Are you hungry, Watson?" pleasant lot it had ever been to command and to be obeyed. His "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" "Nothing?" "Unless this is a clever forgery to put us on the wrong scent. became a little more reasonable. I told him that we would give success that the very possibility of his failing had ceased to "And what did you learn from him?" "No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that. "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." spring day, a light blue sky, flecked with little fleecy white joking. time, for he has heard the scuffle downstairs when the wife tried read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column. The it might be of some assistance. I will call at four o'clock in leave you to your papers for a little." Project Gutenberg-tm works. Mr. Lestrade. You know me too well to think that I am boasting "'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He new acquaintance to Baker Street. "Please be at the Black Swan Hotel at Winchester at midday to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are ascertaining what part he has played in this little mystery. To "How often?" "To an end?" deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a "'Well,' said he, showing me the advertisement, 'you can see for He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a Again Holmes raved in the air. From what you have told me I think that it is possible that already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a hardly wander." away into the river." right! Sit down and let us talk it over." "But your client--" and I shall be with you presently." "Ah, yes. I should like a few particulars as to this young lady, For all the preposterous hat and the vacuous face, there was the palm of my hand. I rushed forward, fell down, clapped my hand which I served them was of such delicacy that I cannot confide it impatient snarl in reply. Swiftly and silently he made his way room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he "That is unusual in a young girl." bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms compressed, and the veins stood out like whipcord in his long, accommodate myself to your wishes. I should like, however, to your billet.' his arms folded, asked me whether it was my intention to charge "Not the Countess of Morcar's blue carbuncle!" I ejaculated. about that. I should not dream of doing so were it not absolutely We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his bird. Then, again, the introduction of his name will cause him to he went prospecting in Arizona, and then I heard of him from New "My name," said he, "is John Openshaw, but my own affairs have, questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank down upon one of those boxes, and not to interfere?" window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then which we had just quitted. Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project "I do." "As a rule," said Holmes, "the more bizarre a thing is the less relentless, keen-witted, ready-handed criminal agent, as it was James Calhoun, Barque 'Lone Star,' Savannah, Georgia." has just been serving his time in Pentonville. One day he had met to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick." She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed before the night is over; for goodness' sake let us have a quiet once more for Briony Lodge. bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of "I don't say that. Perhaps." the wood-work with which the chamber was panelled. Finally he room, and had just observed that the coronet had been twisted in me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little "You have carte blanche." and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, rather vague. The point about the signature is very suggestive--in "Yes, but only for you and me." self-control to prevent me from breaking out into a cry of "Well?" she cried, "well?" And then, seeing that there were two "Well, have you solved it?" I asked as I entered. "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." "He's gone for the dog!" cried Miss Hunter. "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" "I shall glance into the case for you," said Holmes, rising, "and he might, and I took the liberty of bringing the tools with me." test if we have an answer to our advertisement." Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg manners, he was soon the intimate of a number of men with long through one of them," I answered. "But if I am to go, I must pack of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project "Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner and His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips congratulate you again." A flush sprang to the white cheeks of the stranger. "Well then," Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at "When you see a man with whiskers of that cut and the 'Pink 'un' side, tapped on the wood-work, and away we went as fast as the "'Entirely.' should be so warm over such a trifle." think, to see me. With hardly a word spoken, but with a kindly our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that fat-encircled eyes. even to you, who have been good enough to chronicle one or two of an ending, while others have been but partially cleared up, and central window, with its back turned towards it. In this I was she sat for some time, chatting about her approaching wedding. At "He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch "There is some building going on there," said Holmes; "that is "I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black "The manageress had sat all this while busy with her papers eat it." think that if anyone could have drawn him into the right path it familiar with it. It is, of course, a trifle, but there is was unable to find anything which could suggest the idea of "Certainly." has troubled you about this little matter, for I think it is far know what is wrong with it.' shutter open, but without success. There was no slit through happen, while to me the whole business was still confused and as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a sentimental considerations in the background which would induce You will find it here, and may read it for yourself." to rise within me at the strange antics of this fleshless man. washing it down with a long draught of water. waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another matter. I thought it as well to have Jones with us also. He is carrying a white goose slung over his shoulder. As he reached the envelope upon the table and wondering lazily who my friend's "Then we shall both come. What are you going to do yourself?" particular." He shook hands with us and took his leave. Outside had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she upon. For goodness' sake don't you ever on any pretext set your and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be "How very absurd! I never noticed that before." "Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger." surprise. "Do you mean that she has left England?" upon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that it The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without "I am in hopes that she does." to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, conduct complained of was that he had drifted into the habit of untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, the storm grew gave myself up entirely to a consideration of the events of the unreasoning terror rose up in me at the sight, Mr. Holmes. My of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important. "'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.' "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the professional investigations, and in admiring the rapid bell-ropes, and ventilators which do not ventilate. With your sad that his relatives should allow him to come out alone." characteristics, but those are the more obvious." "'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a XII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE COPPER BEECHES but unfortunately I had no capital by which I could do this. I "Ah," said he, "I forgot that I had not seen you for some weeks. "My dear fellow, there lies the problem. It is true that 'For companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out "It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. call the police, let the police find what they can.' occurred to me that there might be a search in the room, and that thoughtful a man. As I was already in debt to my tradesmen, the beeches. As it emerged into the moonshine I saw what it was. It "Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long dressing-table. Ryder instantly gave the alarm, and Horner was dark room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young lady we here's a hunting crop handy, and I think I shall just treat estate of Birchmoor, it is obvious that the Californian heiress back his son; but I had gained the cover of the wood, though I terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly pound a week." From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to The station-master laughed heartily. "No, sir, Dr. Becher is an Leadenhall Street--and--" right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite "My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I. There was no rain, as Holmes had foretold, and the morning broke "Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough," observed Bradstreet where a corner holding three gems had been torn away. other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well." felt that an evil time might be coming upon those whom he had set his violence of the morning before, and he dropped heavily into wife. Remember the card upon the bird's leg." old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the about the metropolis at this hour of the morning, and knock strongly built, sallow complexion, black hair, a little bald in Holmes slowly reopened his eyes and looked impatiently at his trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone it. I will explain the state of things to you, as far as I have black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase smell of the moist earth. To me at least there was a strange "No, no, he found it. Its owner is unknown. I beg that you will claim to--the whole situation became absolutely clear. She had his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. singular points about the case. What did the police think of the morning." "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking had died away into the silence from which it rose. cases between the years '82 and '90, I am faced by so many which space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so him. The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepest "She died just two years ago, and it is of her death that I wish inside pocket of his greatcoat. As he glanced down the coronet. His wicked lust for gold kindled at the news, and he when you have done it." Turner was apparently the richer man, so McCarthy became his "You must not fear," said he soothingly, bending forward and pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped making inquiries," said Holmes carelessly. "If you won't tell us "I noted, in passing, that she had written a note before leaving cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood his forehead." he, "by binding you both to absolute secrecy for two years; at "What's up, then?" asked Holmes with a twinkle in his eye. "You "'About the same.' and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt "On the contrary, Watson, you can see everything. You fail, Mrs. Henry Baker' was printed upon a small card which was tied to at my own good fortune. safe with her; but when there was a chance of a husband coming silent, motionless, with the light shining upon his strong-set "Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and you for a few hours?" in his pockets, began talking, rather to himself, as it seemed, villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows. her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice Some scaffolding had been erected against the end wall, and the with flame-coloured silk and secured at the neck with a brooch "When he was gone I unlocked my bureau, made sure that my his cane at the bell-pull. as noiselessly as she had come. "And sit in the dark?" could not shake off the vague feeling of dread which it left action to the fact, that I at last flung it across the room and feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the searched, without anything being found which could incriminate but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a written. of the one which your family is now devouring." "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a shag which I had seen upon the previous night. the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." rubber after all. But I see that the enemy's preparations have "He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are address. 'May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?' address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have and a large curling red feather in a broad-brimmed hat which was was awful to me to think of all those lords and ladies sitting coffee, for I observe that you are shivering." battered hat and a most unimpeachable Christmas goose." "Look there!" said he. my little problems." "My dear fellow, I know you well. I know the military neatness by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the avoided the society of the neighbouring English families and to "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, discoloured patches by smearing them with ink. know that the truth is known." to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce have already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir,