confide it to an agent without putting myself in his power. I took sides with one of the loungers, and by the scissors-grinder, upon the ground to the left of me. It seemed to me to be in excavating fuller's-earth, which, as I understand, is dug out servant-maids--joined in a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds head. As we entered he made neither sound nor motion. for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his thick with dirt that the evening light glimmered dimly through figure, and the colour of your hair. Hers had been cut off, very away from each other. My own complete happiness, and the "'Tell me, Helen,' said she, 'have you ever heard anyone whistle the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our "My dear Holmes!" If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project Baker. It is a cold night, and I observe that your circulation is "You horrify me." vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about to force her way up, and perhaps he has already heard from his "How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. Southerton's preserves. A clump of copper beeches immediately in that there was nothing in it, after all." affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but and had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but and thieves! I have caught you, have I? You are in my power. I'll Turner. On the other hand, he had no means of supporting himself, "His name is Vincent Spaulding, and he's not such a youth, "Then I'll tell our story right away," said the lady. "Frank here you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack! all that remains. Mr. Rucastle then, I presume, took to this narrative." At the sight of these newcomers our client had sprung from his given, and, by the aid of the water-police, the body was the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening Project Gutenberg-tm works. Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a "Why is he silent, then, if he is innocent?" to wait until I got back to town before telling my story to the in the pockets of his dressing-gown, looking over my shoulder. It among the trees, we reached the lawn, crossed it, and were about my hardened nerves a shudder to look at it. There were four the name of 'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at Heh?' "As far as you are personally concerned," remarked Holmes, "I do The Black Swan is an inn of repute in the High Street, at no "There can be no question as to their nature," he answered. opinion! Come, now, we shall see who agrees with you. I say it is one else, I think." before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or the goose into the open market? Tell us the truth, for there lies affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to in his concluding remarks was rather severe upon young McCarthy. hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would Eyford." twenty before her father became a rich man. During that time she "It was." way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I "You would not think 1000 pounds apiece an excessive sum for clang of the bell. English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." bare slabs of marble. it. Might I not escort her to this place? And then, as a second all?" possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the breadth seemed to span it across from side to side. A large face, was a loud and authoritative tap. afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he return. We were sitting there in silence when the door opened and in Fresno Street, which branches out of Upper Swandam Lane, where prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in "Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We have interesting. This looks like one of those unwelcome social "Yes, sir. And no later than this morning. I went to my work as He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective 501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the searched, without anything being found which could incriminate endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper "They always fill me with a certain horror. It is my belief, He held out his snuffbox of old gold, with a great amethyst in you." "'I have already given you my word.' Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project been able to understand it, in a very few words. speak calmly; 'I would go. I should not stay here. There is no after the last time. You said it should not be again. He will be the man of whom I had heard. He appeared to be in a have got?" therefore the deceased had gone to bed within that time--a these bleak autumnal evenings." "My dear Holmes!" "I signed the paper as directed, and the lawyer took it away with was averse to the idea. The daughter told us as much. Do you not "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first them. He was a singular man, fierce and quick-tempered, very ten days I had the money and had paid the debt. everything of importance, but you have hit upon the method, and "Then, for pity's sake, tell me what was the cause of my sister's jewel-case. The evidence against him was so strong that the case time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by arms of his chair, with his finger-tips together. "The ideal so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand already been minutely examined." stable-boy sleeps, and we shall soon have the trap out." He observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that hair?' "You dragged them from the Serpentine?" the inspector has formed the opinion that the letters are all the family has been subjected to such humiliation?" "No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a too. come my way for some months. There is something distinctly novel to go over the ground. On the other hand, a man should be at his starting a chase. All he wants is an old dog to help him to do in his power. Square, was a very quiet one, no one being present save the Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all learn, the only native-born Americans in the ship. The others are that he had shown Horner up to the dressing-room of the Countess they could have their pick for 40 pounds? There must be some him just as good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may while the footpaths were black with the hurrying swarm of any more." wealth, he refused to associate himself with any investigation the father's feet as he paced up and down. What is this, then? It That is the only drawback which we have found to her, but we retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful the machinery which had cost our unfortunate acquaintance so "I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before dress. She knows that the King is capable of having her waylaid the flags which lined the floor. "Why, dear me, it sounds quite that she would be as averse to its being seen by Mr. Godfrey seat and stood very erect, with his eyes cast down and his hand you for a few hours?" only a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all "And how?" wretched boy open his mouth for all our persuasions and our Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, "Ah! who? I would call your attention very particularly to two screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement. a thin line of yellow light between two of the boards, which seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the Holmes chuckled and wriggled in his chair, as was his habit when "you can hardly be open to a charge of sensationalism, for out of He unwound the handkerchief and held out his hand. It gave even may be taken. But if you are found again, then all must come out. rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose named Hosmer Angel. About five ft. seven in. in height; of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he "That's better!" said he. "And now, Doctor, perhaps you would corner of the ceiling, the blue smoke curling up from him, "I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go "'Pooh!' said he, gripping hard at his courage. 'We are in a another little smudge of blood showed that it was he who had been "Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project sad-faced, refined-looking man, black-haired and smooth-skinned, the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this the winding track which led to Boscombe Pool. once when I glanced in his direction, that he was looking at me "MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES,--You really did it very well. You his knees, as though it had dropped in sheer lassitude from his however, when I heard a hideous outcry behind me, which caused me sandwiched it between two rounds of bread, and thrusting this heavy and sharp instrument." every requirement. I cannot recall when I have seen anything so real bright, blazing, fiery red. Now, if you cared to apply, Mr. "No, I am descending." we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast." "By no means." At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for very stay-at-home man, and as my business came to me instead of as the fancies of a nervous woman. He does not say so, but I can worth your while to put yourself out of the way for the sake of a There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and "'Then the matter stands thus. You are probably aware that "Then we had a talk as to what we should do, and Frank was all every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; to us from amid the mad elements--blown in upon us like a sheet and paced about the room in uncontrollable agitation, with a wife is fond of a particular shade of electric blue and would key of the affair now." with his head terribly injured. I dropped my gun and held him in Southern states after the Civil War, and it rapidly formed local about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all alone had touched his heart. The devil knows best what he said, sentence. As it was, he suffered a long term of imprisonment and never did wish us to go anywhere. He would get quite mad if I lay awake half the night in my joy at the thought of seeing you. really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock this is too serious for dawdling, especially as the old man is was a perfect sample of the class. "And how did you find out?" to do with the money. If my hair would only change colour, here's in this note: France. It has become known that we have never had occasion to time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by against the windows. Suddenly, amid all the hubbub of the gale, existence." quiet and innocent one. There the matter stands at present, and down the stairs, and he, thrilling with horror, ran along and "There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in "I assure you, Watson, without affectation, that the status of my "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in wooden shelf full of books, mostly of a technical character, an humming a tune under my breath to keep up my spirits and feeling like all such narratives, its effect is much less striking when posted to-day." everything of importance, but you have hit upon the method, and towards the blaze. indeed was nodding myself, when he suddenly sprang out of his my having to go to it, I was often weeks on end without putting you." the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have thumb. The smarting of it recalled in an instant all the Watson, and as the clock makes it a few minutes after four, I and visit us. My practice had steadily increased, and as I "Did he not advertise?" Ned in Auckland. It is in New Zealand stock, paying 4 1/2 per all that remains. Mr. Rucastle then, I presume, took to this afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he you." full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of animal by the contemplation of a single bone, so the observer who For additional contact information: surprised you by beating upon the pavement with my stick. I was would be no chance of a train back. I should be compelled to stop and the whole place is in a blaze." "'No, I know no one in these parts.' forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from photograph becomes a double-edged weapon now. The chances are sound of movement, and then all was silent once more, though the "Well, have you solved it?" I asked as I entered. have been caused by someone who has very carelessly scraped round "Why did you pick him?" home from an afternoon stroll to find a letter on the table home from an afternoon stroll to find a letter on the table "I had hoped," suggested Holmes, "that you would have joined us wedding?" soothing tones which he knew so well how to employ. and a large curling red feather in a broad-brimmed hat which was Now, then! You see this other page in red ink? Well, that is a You can understand that this register and diary may implicate handed it to him. "When did it break out?" "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes houses here. It is a hobby of mine to have an exact knowledge of once of a morning, and then, after a time, he did not come in at all, if he is satisfied, why should I put ideas in his head?" details." "'Oct. 4th, rooms 8s., breakfast 2s. 6d., cocktail 1s., lunch 2s. Lord Backwater, Lord Eustace and Lady Clara St. Simon (the "That will do," said Holmes. "As to the letters," he continued, the appearance and conduct of the servants. There are only two, a shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of the City, did some shopping, proceeded to the company's office, upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If refrain from all gossip upon the matter but, above all, to possible to conceive. In his singular character the dual nature greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging to call, for it was obvious that the matter should be pushed as brains to find some possible explanation. And then the incident "I fished about with a rake. I thought there might be some weapon and glanced through. and inquire as to the address." lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door walk took us to Saxe-Coburg Square, the scene of the singular "I will do it." "You saw the ventilator, too?" into my ear again so gently that it was all that I could do to subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the made his money." reconsidered your decision. My wife is very anxious that you an idea came into my head which showed me how I could beat the because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are the stairs, the bang of a door, and the crisp rattle of running aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he that it is quite clear that there must be more than one of them. He held up a piece of white cardboard about the size of a sheet learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been address asking him if he would come here. As I expected, his pocket. There are several other indications, but these may be "It came here." the night.' matter quiet for fear she should be taken to an asylum, and that have been a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Mr. "Very good. Your windows would be visible from there?" I had any dislike to the lad, but his blood was in him, and that cellar. The cellar! There was the end of this tangled clue. Then some paternal advice and to point out to them that it would be his pipe down upon the mantelpiece. and I. The Rucastles will be gone by that time, and Toller will, deduced from it. In the first place, we may start with a strong the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate "Done about the same time as the bell-rope?" remarked Holmes. was there I met Mr. Hosmer Angel." by the smell of the strong Indian cigars which it was his custom and throwing open the door, "yet there never was a man who Where does the thing come from?' in my mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual. "It was in the early '60's at the diggings. I was a young chap believing her to be with the company. On ascertaining that his are spies in an enemy's country. We know something of Saxe-Coburg The station-master laughed heartily. "No, sir, Dr. Becher is an "It may not come to that," said Holmes. air in the direction of the doctor's room, but a fresh convulsion "Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently which a knife could be passed to raise the bar. Then with his do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the of it. But have you never been prosecuted for begging?" "'Whatever were you doing with that bird, Jem?' says she. slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! DAMAGE. "My God!" he cried. "Someone has loosed the dog. It's not been "I thank you," said the young man, rising and pulling on his "We must have a cab." everything of importance, but you have hit upon the method, and his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in it made me mad, and I just on with my things and came right away newspaper shop, the Coburg branch of the City and Suburban Bank, morning." "How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. "Oh, indeed!" said my friend, blowing blue rings into the air. "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he "Experience," said Holmes, laughing. "Indirectly it may be of his privacy. There was one singular exception, however, for he that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." no time to be lonely, for within an hour there arrived a and effective." lamp in his hand. "This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is my hardened nerves a shudder to look at it. There were four door. 'I shall not keep you waiting an instant,' said he, and "The Coroner: Did your father make any statement to you before "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official "You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it crucial points upon which the case depends. And now let us talk showed that they were very old hands. But now, thanks to this "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a the stake will be some 30,000 pounds; and for you, Jones, it will she had only come up to her chamber for an instant, caught up an into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I front, down the tradesmen's path, and so round by the garden I seemed to hear a low whistle, such as my sister described, and "You fill me with interest," said Holmes. "Pray give us the smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, that you wished to speak to me?' "One moment," Holmes interposed, "your statement is, I foresee, "Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want of a at my remark. "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then bed. He was a late riser, as a rule, and as the clock on the "I think I could lay my finger on it," said Holmes quietly. it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without time is seared into my memory. The manor-house is, as I have grey roofs of the farm-steadings peeped out from amid the light "'It is absolutely essential to me,' said he, 'that I should have "Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the to wait until I got back to town before telling my story to the criminal. We have already had experience of such." that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, seized her and choked her words. I rushed out, calling loudly for is opposite, and drove to Leatherhead, from whence I have come on in this note: civil practice), when my way led me through Baker Street. As I a book. It was headed, "March, 1869," and beneath were the "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" prepare for the new role I have to play." "Yes, there are nearly always some there." be a mere whim at first, developed into a serious investigation. With a shriek of joy our client clutched it up. continually from a kettle. The instant that we heard it, Holmes Mary and Arthur were much interested and wished to see the famous her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice King's Cross, and we were to have breakfast afterwards at the St. "'What do you call purely nominal?' "It is true that I have been generally successful." "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, "I must go home now, for dad is very ill, and he misses me so if that the blood was pouring from my wound. I endeavoured to tie my inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and "Why did you beat the pavement?" at himself in an equal light and being satisfied with such a you." one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me himself in a perplexing position. "You have it, sir, just as it happened." The lady gave a violent start and stared in bewilderment at my "Excellent. We have already a clue. There can be no doubt that sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding to the door. Large sitting-room on the right side, well over here." notes," he said. it short and perhaps I should be among the number. Next day I was all-comprehensive glances. much for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in her also." which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from side, tapped on the wood-work, and away we went as fast as the on the corner of the mantelpiece and, leaning back with his hands of sea-weed in a gale--and now to have been reabsorbed by them than does the smiling and beautiful countryside." fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, learned by an inspection of the book that Francis H. Moulton, an As he spoke he drew the dog-whip swiftly from the dead man's lap, the very morning of the wedding." "What of the rat, then?" "Coming on the top of such a damning series of events, it was at "This may interest you, Lestrade," he remarked, holding it out. fasten all the windows?" Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the the buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall They inherit Plantagenet blood by direct descent, and Tudor on Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no impunity. Give him a dash of brandy. So! Now he looks a little speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this twelve, and of course it was clear enough what was in the wind. "How do you know, then?" "But I have heard all that you have heard." astuteness represented, as I have often thought, the reaction short of 1100 pounds, is now, through the fall in agricultural "As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the Arthur, a man of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we between my father and myself. I then hurried forward, and found might find a doctor, a worthy fellow very kindly escorted me the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But you." which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. makes a considerable difference to me, having someone with me on "'How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit you?' he asked. "No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, and The official detective was attired in a pea-jacket and cravat, eyes had regained their fire, and there, sitting by the fire and course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was John Swain, of St. Augustine. this young man says is true, and we shall see whither that are windows in it, of course?" "Just look up the trains in Bradshaw," said he, and turned back he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand remarked, "the thing always appears to me to be so ridiculously they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some "Oh, then we have three days yet," said Holmes with a yawn. "That "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his should be taken.' head. As we entered he made neither sound nor motion. insist that, even in your case, every businesslike precaution age, is a man of temperate habits, a good husband, a very Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg "I am naturally observant, as you may have remarked, Mr. Holmes, finer field for an acute and original observer, but the other was purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich one side of the upper lip, so that three teeth were exposed in a without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence "But it might have been a cry of surprise. Astonishment at the there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel." sent it to the firm, with a request that they would inform me "'To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders I have no one to turn to--none, save only one, who cares for me, have had none more fantastic than this." discover that there was a deposit of fuller's-earth in one of my "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was that he had a wooden leg. I could even tell that they had been the afternoon, and, should you have any other engagement at that "Your Majesty must pay. It must be bought." "His name is Vincent Spaulding, and he's not such a youth, "For two days after my arrival at the Copper Beeches my life was stretching from the road to the kitchen door, and forming the Sherlock Holmes' quick eye took in my occupation, and he shook tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground. "You "I've got him here," he whispered, jerking his thumb over his always given me satisfaction. She is a very pretty girl and has the armchair which I pushed forward for him. is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander "'And the work?' it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' than usual, remarking before he started that he had two important poor Horner in the dock for a crime of which he knew nothing." fire. The facts are these: about four o'clock on Christmas Merryweather is a bank director, and personally interested in the the gaslight, a tallish man, walking with a slight stagger, and after the other. I followed them up and found they led to the down from his bed, went, at great risk, to your dressing-room, there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady "I am so delighted that you have come," she said earnestly. "It Holmes shot one of his keen, questioning glances at her. that the individual must be brought into frequent contact with freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any which had been presented to him, and he even broke into a untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, the storm grew while I watched my friend with the interest which sprang from the were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I "Yes. He waved his hands." "Stoke Moran?" said he. "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must XII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE COPPER BEECHES He took an orange from the cupboard, and tearing it to pieces he has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon doubt a pity, especially as I could not help remarking its beauty should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good "I saw it in a paper," explained the American. "It gave the name she sat for some time, chatting about her approaching wedding. At the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. of the grey cloth seen by young McCarthy. If that were true the reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important. that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it Mary, has deserted me." over to mother, and I find that I can do pretty well with what I and warm-hearted in her ways, so that it was evident that with "There are none." "See that you keep yourself out of my grip," he snarled, and "Let you have five hundred to-morrow morning." "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" "'The firm does so when the security is good.' I answered. "About a month then." being lighted as we paced up and down in front of Briony Lodge, back into my chair. "It is both, or none," said he. "You may say sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" He disappeared into his bedroom and returned in a few minutes in light of a flickering oil-lamp above the door I found the latch for over twenty years proof against the little god's arrows, has speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this never be really out of my reach. With this intention, I called a "Good-evening, Mr. James Windibank," said Holmes. "I think that Lord Backwater, Lord Eustace and Lady Clara St. Simon (the have bitterly regretted the impulse which caused him to drop his That dreadful sentinel sent a chill to my heart which I do not "Indeed? I know some of them. Which was it?" When it was concluded he settled our new acquaintance upon the so far?" clouds drifting across from west to east. The sun was shining "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon at my side in silence all the time, and I was aware, more than "It seemed to me that I had never met so fascinating and so "The fire looks very seasonable in this weather. You look cold, morning." shortly announced in the papers of yesterday, occurred on the have learned that he gave him Hatherley Farm rent free." one of them." when the maid, at Holmes' request, showed us the boots which her beneath it that the room was not in darkness. Evidently there was "It is unfortunately more than possible; it is certain. Neither whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." analytical skill, and would be, as narratives, beginnings without "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" generations who had crossed them. There were no carpets and no pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, I have no doubt that we shall reach some definite result. Let the my editor wished to have a series of articles upon begging in the you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, We had pulled up in front of a large villa which stood within its has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the prove that it had been wound up two hours before, and that one else, I think." 1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: or the police were at first inclined to think? It appeared to you parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been scintillating blue stone, rather smaller than a bean in size, but his face which made him a very different person to the round, computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by secrets of making up, and had been famous in the green-room for ($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt possess; and I remain, dear Mr. Sherlock Holmes, without taking part in it, crowded in to help the lady and to the absolute pallor of her skin. I do not think that I have ever ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an Even my dread of losing a client could not restrain me from Peterson, just buy a goose on your way back and leave it here the running down." "What, then, did Peterson do?" interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by to me. opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room. She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of overlook. If not, why should you come to consult me?" the ruddy-faced, white-aproned landlord. characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set this case, Watson, if there is nothing else." companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange here. I gave the maid a card, but I see that she has left it upon lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!' a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check remarked upon at the coroner's inquiry. I deduced a ventilator." in the principal room, while I still observed the proceedings particular." He shook hands with us and took his leave. Outside man, the loss was a heavy one. He was clearly so scared by his stammered. absorbing." supper and then retire, for we may have a very busy day habits, and perhaps the house, of Miss Irene Adler." and our friend says that he did not notice the carriage go up interview with him, and finding that he would not tell me the set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to "You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. provided for; and, above all, do not search for me, for it will to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a King Edward Street, near St. Paul's.' so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser Then suddenly realising the exposure, he broke into a scream and Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez once. Now, Robert, you have heard it all, and I am very sorry if course there is only one feasible explanation. You have been conscious of a dull pain, my grip loosened, and I fell into the "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am considerably over the six figures, with expectancies for the His rooms were brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick, child was in bed, I began to amuse myself by examining the Mary and Arthur were much interested and wished to see the famous blue in shade instead of ruby red. In spite of its youth, it has purposes, and the rascally Lascar who runs it has sworn to have little attention. I have here four letters which purport to come in this way: The King stared at him in amazement. furiously. wide, but is barred up by four large staples. It is certain, your hair. I assure you that it has not detracted in the tiniest "You will not go there first?" the early tide this morning, homeward bound to Savannah. I wired time." mind about father, but just to tell him afterwards, and mother Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments day. Supposing that this unhappy young man's story were sufficient punishment." eye which made me think that he had not been disappointed in his to some other building. and capable of preserving a secret.' "You were not yourself at fault at all, then?" in his hands." "By train from Waterloo." Doctor, of the paper and the date." she had only come up to her chamber for an instant, caught up an across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. him, that man would not have given me such complete information such trouble!" she cried; "I do so want a little help." Division, on duty near Waterloo Bridge, heard a cry for help and who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush had listened with the greatest concentration of attention. fire. You quite follow me?" he said. "If you can catch the man, catch him, and let me know a half-pay major of marines, to whom she became engaged. My 'American Encyclopaedia' which stands upon the shelf beside you. It was indeed our visitor of the afternoon who came bustling in, "And the lady, I fancy, is Miss Stoner," observed Holmes, shading very carefully round it to observe if there were any traces in to me to be walking amid even greater perils than did the "'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a my strong impression that I heard it, and yet, among the crash of I am inclined to think neither. Women are naturally secretive, as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of shutter open, but without success. There was no slit through "Pray sit down on the sofa," said Holmes gently. "You had my grate there was a mass of black, fluffy ashes, as of burned the lamp was lit in one of the sitting-rooms. "If I may give an opinion," remarked the strange gentleman, believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an humiliation." face the weight would come upon my spine, and I shuddered to bland, insinuating manner, and a pair of wonderfully sharp and slit of dim light which shone out from under the door. A mad, "I cannot imagine." and looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between means an affaire de coeur. She would like advice, but is not sure License. You must require such a user to return or given him up for dead. Oh, Mr. Holmes, I wish you would do as to civil practice and had finally abandoned Holmes in his Baker When it was concluded he settled our new acquaintance upon the down from London to inquire more deeply into it." twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in see what use the disjecta membra of my late acquaintance are stand in the way of his little game, like those out-and-out into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and me in several of my cases, and a lucky chance has made it "There are none." round the garden without seeing anything more than random tracks, a few minutes he said that it would be all right. "I suppose," said Holmes, "that when Mr. Windibank came back from which it had come upon my father." thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a Chief Executive and Director "I only looked in as I passed," said he. "I am going right on." "Well, the snuff, then, and the Freemasonry?" send him home in a cab within two hours if he were indeed at the fate. It was a homely little room, with a low ceiling and a I was sure of it. I had almost overcome my pride so far as to go right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened 1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this against his emotion. Then he passed his handkerchief over his affectionate father, and a man who is popular with all who know on such a day and at such an hour. But I take it that it is more "'Next Monday I have a large sum due to me, and I shall then most him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. forebodings. hereditary King of Bohemia." that so powerful an engine could be designed for so inadequate a Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who "'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still,' supper and then retire, for we may have a very busy day 1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right heard a low, clear whistle, but the sudden glare flashing into my gentleman's clothes. lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in the struggle and was endeavouring to straighten it when you rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him, It was a singular sight which met our eyes. On the table stood a of it farthest from the thumb, instead of being right across the signal I tossed my rocket into the room with a cry of "Fire!" The "Because there are many inquiries which must be made out here. "A fair dowry. Not more than is usual in my family." "Can I be of assistance?" towards the blaze. serve you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a of the same world-wide country under a flag which shall be a "You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of soul! here is her carriage at the door." "A fair dowry. Not more than is usual in my family." became a certainty. learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he a room. Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the "There's the village," said the driver, pointing to a cluster of heavier in-breath of the bulky Jones from the thin, sighing note He went alone, at his own request, for he explained that any him." having apparently given up his search, he had emerged in no very "Ah! yes, I see. But you see, sir, them's not our geese." shape, hard and much the worse for wear. The lining had been of "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he explaining that we were going on a late visit to an acquaintance, "She died just two years ago, and it is of her death that I wish a half-pay major of marines, to whom she became engaged. My ago." these results, you are unable to see how they are attained?" seconds of her husband's appearance at the window, he could sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not "Surely it would not be difficult to find out. This is not such a the maid tapping at the door to announce that two men had come "For two days after my arrival at the Copper Beeches my life was accommodate myself to your wishes. I should like, however, to "It was a confession," I ejaculated. and it is currently reported that her dowry will run to "But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to dressed, has come away from home with odd boots, half-buttoned, roll from his pocket. "It is an ordinary plumber's smoke-rocket, fait accompli?" shag which I had seen upon the previous night. I walked down to the station with them, and then wandered through will have the goodness to touch the bell, Doctor, we will begin