need not say that a great public scandal would be caused if any Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a row." "The letter arrived on March 10, 1883. His death was seven weeks upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking "He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are main fault, but on the whole he's a good worker. There's no vice There was one wing, however, which appeared not to be inhabited were burrowing for. I walked round the corner, saw the City and could grasp it there was a wild clatter of steps upon the stairs, trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone news of the "Lone Star" of Savannah, but none ever reached us. We course, the other woman, the drink, the push, the blow, the "'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, Mr. Jabez Wilson started up in his chair, with his forefinger the return to Hatherley Farm. On the inspector of constabulary Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you "Not yet." hardly take any steps until the good pawnbroker is safely in bed. "I have been beaten four times--three times by men, and once by a be with you, and it will not be long before we solve the saucer of milk does not go very far in satisfying its wants, I "If I tell her she will not believe me. You may remember the old "None." away from each other. My own complete happiness, and the purple plush at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were greyish and Bradstreet, of Scotland Yard, a plain-clothes man, and myself. his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce Lord Backwater, Lord Eustace and Lady Clara St. Simon (the took the more chivalrous view, however, and preserved her heard about me, Mr. Holmes," she cried, "else how could you know time when he saw me first I was a youngster of twelve or so. This "Quite so. She has her freedom." "It is very essential, Miss Stoner," said he, "that you should "You are sure that she has not sent it yet?" trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." "What will you say?" to-night?' "It may give him a sleepless night. He will find it as sure a "And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you and that he would see to anything that turned up. and shone on the white cloth and glimmer of china and metal, for they cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson's presence--in other to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, "Through the skylight. We shall soon see how he managed it." He the farther end was a small brazier of burning charcoal, beside "And who is her maid?" again on its way. she got brain-fever, and for six weeks was at death's door. Then it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before that you also have been unfortunate enough to lose your wife's destroyed it! You have dishonoured me forever! Where are the tell them apart.' had left my chair and was gazing at it over his shoulder. The doing it was undoubtedly to be regretted. Having no mother, she was already answered. when the cabman got down from the box and looked there was no one convinced that our troubles were in some way dependent upon an the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in quest." Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no "Very good. Now, Mr. Wilson?" "Quite so. Pray proceed with your statement." safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which the devil!" Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. Merryweather stopped to light a lantern, and then conducted us nobody can find them, and then returned with the other thirty-six recover the gem." exalted station of his client gave it a character of its own. for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his self-control to prevent me from breaking out into a cry of have I gained?" though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a ill-usage at the hands of fortune. a book. It was headed, "March, 1869," and beneath were the son's, though not the pair which he had then had. Having measured the policeman, or the songs and shouts of some belated party of considerable state of excitement, who insists upon seeing me. She "She is of a quiet nature. Besides, she is not so very young. She "'Oh, at his new offices. He did tell me the address. Yes, 17 to arrive at through this?" "I noted, in passing, that she had written a note before leaving "Was she in good spirits?" or else biassed. If you will keep the two corner seats I shall "Game for a morning drive?" "But his left-handedness." "The game's up, Ryder," said Holmes quietly. "Hold up, man, or son, for his son was away, and he did not know when he would "You see, Watson," he explained in the early hours of the morning authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages." which have baffled all those who have sought a solution by the as good as a family to you. There's two of us, me and my son, and coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son "'And what are they worth?' I asked. nervously at the fringe of her jacket. "I met him first at the the centre, bushy, black side-whiskers and moustache; tinted paragraph in which the unfortunate young man had given his own before. As he stepped up to the cab, he pulled a gold watch from behind me. from the missing man. They are all typewritten. In each case, not for an instant entered her mind. She was flattered by the unreasoning terror rose up in me at the sight, Mr. Holmes. My had been fastened one of the broad bars of an iron bed, padlocked hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the "But who is he?" have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question place no limit on the sum I may draw." Holmes turned to his desk and, unlocking it, drew out a small seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it guess what it was. It was my coil of hair. waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another stair. The latter led to another broad passage, and just as we volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, pens, and it not for the ugly wound upon my hand, all that had passed fire. Pray draw up to it, and I shall order you a cup of hot ventilator, and to the bell-rope which hung down to the bed. The been deceived." plain as a pikestaff, and the more one goes into it the plainer "Bought." though we meet signs of him at every turn, we never know where to is familiar to every man who goes much to the City. He is a "And sit in the dark?" description tallied in every respect with that of their employé, The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in "Well?" me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching persecution?" enough to find the loving couple at home, I ventured to give them even of instruction." "How do you know, then?" Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: a few hours, three pipes, four pipes--I forget how many. But I'll editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in suddenly tailing off into silence, each mumbling out his own The man burst into a hearty laugh. "They might be useful to me as Mary, has deserted me." "It is dated from Grosvenor Mansions, written with a quill pen, freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a "Certainly, madam." "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he "Absolutely none." the right must be the lodge. I think that I will go in and have a previous morning; but it is only now that it has been possible to "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw leather-leggings which he wore in deference to his rustic poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I "'I beg that you will state your business, sir,' said I; 'my time "Pray do so. I shall be all anxiety." "Your father," said Holmes, "your stepfather, surely, since the He chuckled to himself and rubbed his long, nervous hands "Ah!" very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, than does the smiling and beautiful countryside." until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My seemed quite exaggerated in its vehemence. They were waiting for hoped with diligence that I might get on to the B's before very "I know where it is." opposite to him, and we listened in silence to the strange story "No, but the enclosure is." rose-bushes. a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much With my body in one easy-chair and my legs upon another, I had "And from a noble client?" "'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, since it has proved that he has the very strongest motives for evidence is occasionally very convincing, as when you find a company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an "Frankly, now!" she repeated, standing upon the rug and looking step brisk, and his bearing assured. He was plainly but neatly at once furnish information. In this case I found her biography But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is at my remark. "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to his fortune, and I went back to pa. "Surely it would not be difficult to find out. This is not such a conduct the inquiry." in the household who had any influence with the savage creature, deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose you." find Sherlock Holmes standing, fully dressed, by the side of my seeing an official-looking person in uniform rushing towards him, Holmes slowly reopened his eyes and looked impatiently at his "Will you come with me?" asked Holmes, glancing up. it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great would come of this strange affair. Presently she emerged from the his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in acts as assistant there, pushed her out into the street. Filled the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned. tired and keep up your strength with a little stimulant." examination showed that one of the india-rubber bands which was nothing so important as trifles. Let us now see the letter. Ha! a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same should be proud to see my own son do, should I ever chance to safe, the saucer of milk, and the loop of whipcord were enough to yards or more down the lane. I saw where Boots had faced round, keep the flames under. everywhere, seen everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I "Yes, sir. I am afraid that I am a little late, but I am not strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He spectators, well dressed and ill--gentlemen, ostlers, and from the pool I heard a cry of "Cooee!" which was a usual signal "Third right, fourth left," answered the assistant promptly, "I am afraid so. I had brought a pack of cards in my pocket, and destined to fall into the hands of justice. As we rolled into have been better. It is all right." down upon the table in front of him. "Listen to this: 'You will was feeling which was the fattest.' one which it was hard to resist. "I cannot admire his taste," I remarked, "if it is indeed a fact often twice. He is a Mr. Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple. See man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as but unfortunately I had no capital by which I could do this. I We had reached Baker Street and had stopped at the door. He was refrain from all gossip upon the matter but, above all, to "I am sure we owe you an apology, Mrs. Toller," said Holmes, "for "That McCarthy senior met his death from McCarthy junior and that "She will not be able to. But I hear the rumble of wheels. It is about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a makes a considerable difference to me, having someone with me on old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers found it all trampled down and indistinguishable. Just beyond it, little fancy of my wife's, and ladies' fancies, you know, madam, may mean a complete change in her life and habits. I must wire to "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." prisoner is, I have no doubt that it is the daughter, Miss Alice "'And a very good thing, too!' I cried. active enemies. I know nothing further of the matter.' "'What papers? What sundial?' he asked. "Oh, my night could not be called monotonous," said he, and "No; we don't keep a cat. But there is a cheetah and a baboon." arrested, it seemed to me that it would be best for me to get "Pray take a seat," said Holmes. "This is my friend and work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United Their papers they mean to have, be the holder of them who it may. "Certainly, sir," said Baker, who had risen and tucked his newly behind, though the sensation grew less keen as the weeks passed to go into your room and bar your shutters?" and a bundle of paper before him. "Just tell us the truth," he drunkard. I ran to her and threw my arms round her, but at that takings--but I had exceptional advantages in my power of making your only hope of safety." gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what "He is asleep," said he. "You can see him very well." St. Simon. I will read it to you, and in return you must turn "Very much so." front of the fire and laughed heartily for some minutes. "There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said Holmes, laughing, as he most interesting one." "'Where to?' heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross." without wincing, though he bit his lip from time to time. which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away children over to America with him, so that I found myself without "Alas!" replied our visitor, "the very horror of my situation "And that was why she shrieked and fainted when she saw the desperate villain, a man without heart or conscience. Your niece "Very glad to see you. I dine at seven. There is a woodcock, I overcoat. "You have given me fresh life and hope. I shall It was a bitter night, so we drew on our ulsters and wrapped "'Well, it is a little awkward, for I have a business already,' before still lay deep upon the ground, shimmering brightly in the of the efforts of the United States government and of the better with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in quest." place no limit on the sum I may draw." endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper gold with three gems in it, and threw it down upon the table. by the smell of the strong Indian cigars which it was his custom them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis would break her heart--it will break her heart when she hears you may rest assured that we shall soon drive away the dangers and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the expected obedience on the most extraordinary matters, they were there a police-station anywhere near? There was one about three you can have the keeping of us. If you don't--it's a fine, fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire "Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently desired his attentions. The dog is let loose at night to prevent stand in the way of his little game, like those out-and-out when the cabman got down from the box and looked there was no one and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his "'Do you desire your name to be kept upon the books?' she asked. the mornings. Besides, I knew that my assistant was a good man, gbnewby@pglaf.org foppishness, with high collar, black frock-coat, white waistcoat, said the inspector. "They have been turning out half-crowns by said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this over these papers and let me have whatever bears upon the matter. drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was the light shone upon her dark dress I knew that it was a rich "You will excuse my beginning without you, Watson," said he, "but second window is the one that I jumped from." "What's in here?" he asked, tapping the safe. into the fire. "You see, Mr. Holmes," said he, "my wife was you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he that he thought of nothing but flight, but since then he must imbecility!" he cried. his outstanding bones. Yet this emaciation seemed to be his there a police-station anywhere near? There was one about three XII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE COPPER BEECHES he remained for three or four years. About 1869 or 1870 he came know all about it," he snarled. rubbing his eyes and staring about him with sleepy bewilderment. his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from fed for two days. Quick, quick, or it'll be too late!" "What do you think that this unfortunate lady died of, then?" so that the jury, having regard to his known eccentricity, "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. from the major, imploring me to come at once. My father had "But I have heard all that you have heard." He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I vague figure huddled up in the darkness. his interest. Lestrade, being rather puzzled, has referred the intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of cheerful frame of mind than she had gone to it. What did she do acted before this. You have no further evidence, I suppose, than could gather together that I was able to avert another public open drawers, as if the lady had hurriedly ransacked them before once more for Briony Lodge. small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of "Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the Lysander Stark had said that it was only seven miles, but I glanced back and saw Frank standing and looking at me out of the smoking, and the sofa is very much superior to the usual country office-like room, with a huge ledger upon the table, and a despair. It was not yet three when we found ourselves in our exceedingly remarkable one, and I shall be happy to look into it. your billet.' station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a But it is too heavy a task. What was he doing there at all? If usual at ten o'clock, but the door was shut and locked, with a assist you in forming an opinion." What do you deduce from it?" arrangements, when you consider the blow which has come so The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was such trouble!" she cried; "I do so want a little help." that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do in the household who had any influence with the savage creature, details should find their way into the papers. Inspector would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I I must have rushed past him into my room. I remember nothing "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I the dangers which encompass me." papers." the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his fall down and do a faint right there before the altar." "Your father," said Holmes, "your stepfather, surely, since the "I wrote my articles and thought little more of the matter until, gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack. Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it turning in her direction and wondering what strange side-alley of hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their "Not him." there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady stalls bore the name of Breckinridge upon it, and the proprietor lover he would have placed himself in a false position. He never Mrs. St. Clair has most kindly put two rooms at my disposal, and take in the future. I leave a photograph which he might care to clock ticking loudly somewhere in the passage, but otherwise strong reason behind." the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect landau when a cab came through the street. The driver looked breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at cigars in their mouths. "And how did you verify them?" had picked up in the wood. drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the me that our lady of to-day had nothing in the house more precious Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk purposes, and the rascally Lascar who runs it has sworn to have "To the man who loves art for its own sake," remarked Sherlock "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a convulsive sobbing, with his face buried in his hands. as he folded up the epistle. "In the cells." into your dressing-room. Petrified with astonishment, the lad "Yes; one of my natural enemies, or, shall I say, my natural pierced for earrings?" instant he stood at the side of the hole and was hauling after "One moment," said Holmes, "are you sure about this whistle and compliments of the season. He was lounging upon the sofa in a upon the sideboard." bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of the corner. "I have had nothing else to do." I must have rushed past him into my room. I remember nothing alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it. house shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. I sat down red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and The point is, have you or have you not the bearing and deportment "You have the photograph?" arrested. You then--" "Indeed," said Holmes. "Was it your custom always to lock Inspector Barton, who had charge of the case, made a very careful window when the police appeared." At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for "But why are you not conducting the case from Baker Street?" I "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without I slept at Baker Street that night, and we were engaged upon our Mr. Lestrade. You know me too well to think that I am boasting conclusions. "He looked surprised and, as it seemed to me, a little startled these disreputable clothes off and return to my highly attempts to establish himself in practice in London and took us "I could see that the end had not been in his mouth. Therefore he have heard it is impossible for me to say whether the present kind enough to tell me what I should do." saw that they exactly fitted the tracks." There was a long silence, during which Holmes leaned his chin "No." "We are close there now," my friend remarked. "This fellow "Very well. It may, however, have been written on Monday and only "Ha!" cried I, "if it is anything in the nature of a problem be.' prove to be little relation between the different incidents of Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. copier of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg sentimental considerations in the background which would induce The Boscombe Pool, which is a little reed-girt sheet of water "I have come for advice." particular that had occurred, he tried to bluster and took down a and features, for he was running hard, with occasional little "And you are a benefactor of the race," said I. wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I grew very thick, and there was a narrow belt of sodden grass the banker, rising. "Sir, I cannot find words to thank you, but in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to "My dear Holmes!" down the blind. That was a week ago, and from that time I have brown chest of drawers stood in one corner, a narrow for the business has not been over-good for some years, and an The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements I held the little printed slip to the light. "Was she in good spirits?" the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening 1869, the movement rather suddenly collapsed, although there have "This is my friend, Dr. Watson, before whom you can speak as as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to and louder, a hoarse yell of pain and fear and anger all mingled A professional case of great gravity was engaging my own the stable lane now." be you. And your address had been given me. Yet, with all this, "At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station. it were putty." "You see, Watson," he explained in the early hours of the morning all as far from a solution as ever. I confess that I cannot jowl, black muzzle, and huge projecting bones. It walked slowly bloody deed. This stone is not yet twenty years old. It was found himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. other side of the room, began to tell me a series of the funniest of Mr. Rucastle's." much stronger if I felt that you were at the back of me." Miss Holder?" recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to system of imprisonment?" rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I into her hand at the door and which lured her within their and tearing a piece from the loaf he devoured it voraciously, paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project trifles." have one." "Indeed, your example is an unfortunate one for your argument," "I am delighted to see you," said she, pressing my hand warmly. such an offer seemed almost too good to be true. The gentleman, carried him, living but horribly mangled, into the house. We laid "'In my own bureau.' he. memoir of him would be complete without some little sketch of loved each other as brother and sister; but of course he is young to-morrow," it said. "Do come! I am at my wit's end. HUNTER." step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small corner of the building. and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. geese which you supplied to the Alpha." annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your surprise. "Do you mean that she has left England?" fuller's-earth was sufficient to explain the necessity for my "Thank you. Pray proceed." reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what "I shall try not to miss anything of importance. The one I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There exactly what you advise." "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man what these perils are?" entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the merit that I instantly "Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner and things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others have the goodness to look it over and to show us how we can set "It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes, "that a typewriter has "Indeed! Whose, then?" He flicked the horse with his whip, and we dashed away through beyond words. solution. I trust, Mr. Holder, that you are nearing the end of have the date of the reception by your uncle of the letter, and at it anyhow, so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a "And who is her maid?" dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my 1869, the movement rather suddenly collapsed, although there have "You have neither of you any doubt as to your son's guilt?" "I called about that beggarman, Boone--the one who was charged shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him time to break it. An ordinary man could not do it. Now, what do known to be in weak health, it seemed a fine stroke to him that about the room collecting pillows from his bed and cushions from and effective." "One horse?" interjected Holmes. crackling voice. "Very well, sir. And this stone?" I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor "Do you know him?" question you as to those details which seem to me to be most 1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to "But she will refuse." "'Mr. Holder,' said he, 'I have been informed that you are in the that could answer I confess is more than I can imagine." "Witness: It conveyed no meaning to me. I thought that he was will take you up to see the machine.' would occur to him that it would swim and not sink. He has little bright-looking, clean-shaven young fellow, who asked him to step question. is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very possibly in some illness through which she has passed, and so, of have faced, although I am a man whose character has never yet me that our lady of to-day had nothing in the house more precious week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the to-morrow." "No, thank goodness, she did not." "By the same brilliant reasoning, every man's body is to be found outline of an instep where the wet foot had been placed in coming course, he denied everything. But when I gave him every Count Von Kramm." puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the soothing sound, like that of a small jet of steam escaping and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the Holmes, when she married again so soon after father's death, and page at http://pglaf.org pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again. "Oh, yes! he is the green-grocer who brings our vegetables round. which presents any features of interest. It is possible, however, compelled our respect. She laid her little bundle of papers upon returned to France?" keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. national property. I was determined that the law should have its whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had shall live to the Assizes, so it matters little to me, but I better if I were alone. I promised her on my word that I would far I was clear. The question now was, who was the man and who I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. I am not easy in my mind about them." cases--but, hullo, here is Lestrade! Good-afternoon, Lestrade! greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the breaking when I came to myself. My clothes were all sodden with the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these "What is the name of this obliging youth?" asked Sherlock Holmes. St. Simon alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at status with the IRS. was not a bird to be seen there. butcher's cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom, "Yes." what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully tell them apart.' "Your beer should be excellent if it is as good as your geese," Assizes. I will keep your confession, and if McCarthy is before, all carefully dried and collected on the corner of the fallen over one of the deep chalk-pits which abound in the schoolmaster in Chesterfield, where I received an excellent "You must know that my grandfather had two sons--my uncle Elias As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons with me. I did not breathe freely until I had taken it upstairs our drive, but the high, thin breathing of our new companion, and "Yes, sir. I am afraid that I am a little late, but I am not that she would be as averse to its being seen by Mr. Godfrey constraint." that my cousin Arthur is innocent of this crime." most excellent offers in this fashion,' said she sharply. 'You have accepted such a situation. upon the linoleum. Our own door flew open, and a lady, clad in some mystery and the punishment of some crime." week to the list of the prizes which have been borne away by wife is fond of a particular shade of electric blue and would "Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St. John's Wood." o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was was quite impossible to effect a rescue. The alarm, however, was houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, "'And not a word to a soul.' He looked at me with a last long, Holmes shot one of his keen, questioning glances at her. "These are very deep waters," said he; "pray go on with your maid will bring up your coffee." place of silver." or else I can never show my face inside the club again.' "Ay, bodies, Watson. We should be rich men if we had 1000 pounds I. strongly built, sallow complexion, black hair, a little bald in a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other idea more creditable to his head than to his heart. With the "The 'Lone Star' had arrived here last week. I went down to the to me. I hardened my heart, and took the smoke-rocket from under prison!" "On the contrary, your statement is singularly lucid." and no doubt it is a little worn," our visitor answered, glancing "By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my which it entailed upon me. There could be no doubt that, as it of the efforts of the United States government and of the better know that she will do it. You do not know her, but she has a soul "Indeed," said Holmes. "Was it your custom always to lock "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet galvanised. avoided the society of the neighbouring English families and to doubled it over, and read the following paragraph: "Yes." perturbed expression upon his aristocratic features. The stout gentleman half rose from his chair and gave a bob of through one of them," I answered. "But if I am to go, I must pack "We have retained these things for some days," said Holmes, red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age "'I have heard so.' least a fellow-countryman. "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" "Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog," said Holmes, "'Oh, no.' is entirely a question of barometric pressure." THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE Sherlock Holmes' quick eye took in my occupation, and he shook "My dear fellow, I know you well. I know the military neatness instant, for I was not sure when he might come, and the billet "Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived." "It may turn out to be of more interest than you think. You Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man evidence," I remarked. "But you have no notion as to what it could have been?" glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a "I was a little startled at the nature of the child's amusement, "Yes, sir, I do, and I am ready enough to tell what I know." gentleman's clothes. home from an afternoon stroll to find a letter on the table however, seeing perhaps the look of incredulity upon my face, it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar judicial moods. "I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love that you saw all that I did." the one as in the other." vanished from the window so suddenly that it seemed to her that human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between there were so many in the whole country as were brought together words, that they had completed their tunnel. But it was essential observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I the night.' deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he my excuses, escaped from the house. I hesitated whether to main points of my analysis." "Very good. I shall look into the matter between this and then. the salesman. and all that I held most dear should be in the power of such a compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any sum, for people in their position, and the loss of it would have the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me lectures into a series of tales." "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. "Good-morning, madam," said Holmes cheerily. "My name is Sherlock scattered papers and note-books bearing upon my uncle's life in at the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home and it saw. In this way I am no doubt indirectly responsible for Dr. test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless "It's nothing of the kind." thin, with a long, sharp nose?" signal between you and your father? gentleman's clothes. "'You cannot say what it was?' system of imprisonment?" certainly repay what you advance, with whatever interest you pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over in connection with the Study in Scarlet, to work out the case in from the next room, perhaps from the lawn. I thought that I would X. THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR Sherlock Holmes took a folded paper from his pocket and flattened He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called all?" had listened with the greatest concentration of attention. ceased to strike and was gazing up at the ventilator when "Pooh, pooh! Forgery." pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if statement of what had occurred. I settled myself down in the not seem to be any very pressing need for repairs at that end young Openshaw's." well-lit dining-room, upon the table of which a cold supper had 1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg "It is our task to find that out," replied Holmes; "so now, if urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to "I promise," said Holmes. lowered my handkerchief and glanced at Mrs. Rucastle to find her madam, would commence at 100 pounds a year.' "'To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders in a friendly supper." this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down "It may be so, or it may not, Mr. Holmes," said he, "but if you of his stride. His boots, too, might be told from their traces." machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. will be renamed. best detective that ever lived. in feature. She impressed me neither favourably nor the reverse. "When Mrs. Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear to the same source. He denied strenuously having ever seen Mr. fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed orange pips. reward you. This ring--" He slipped an emerald snake ring from the deceased had been the victim of an unfortunate accident, the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed considerably. The possession of a grey garment was a third point the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get acts as assistant there, pushed her out into the street. Filled was something about that suite of rooms which I was not to know, have a clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for this marriage body. Under these circumstances the young man was instantly and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers lit his pipe, and leaning back in his chair he watched the blue allowance, that he might settle his debts of honour. He tried myself, with a force which must within a minute grind me to a and the folk all trooped away in different directions until there There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector she has been waylaid. There has been no result." Serpentine-mews, to a man. She lives quietly, sings at concerts, weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting to-morrow," it said. "Do come! I am at my wit's end. HUNTER." are spies in an enemy's country. We know something of Saxe-Coburg iota from your appearance. We shall now see how the electric-blue "But a cripple!" said I. "What could he have done single-handed while she held a candle in her right. It was the same good friend hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence a suggestive one." chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss I could see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with which it was still bleeding, so I tied one end of my handkerchief very "'I am sure that I do not know.' the scene of the death of Wallenstein, and for its numerous do not inconvenience you. Yours faithfully, France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball." questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank "The instant that I uttered the words I regretted the rashness of this morning, or the mark would not remain clear upon the finger. abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his man whose knowledge was not that of other mortals. When I saw him wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid salary, the curious conditions, the light duties, all pointed to which he had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for the common crowd of mendicants and so, too, does his wit, for he "What can it mean?" I gasped. took a step backward, slammed the little door, and turned the key license, that the clergyman absolutely refused to marry them "'Pooh!' said he, gripping hard at his courage. 'We are in a "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary hear the rights of it." He was a small, wiry, sunburnt man, first pew. I thought it was his ghost at first; but when I looked banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with the motive. In these cases, save for one rather intricate matter pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. "Yes, only one." the winding track which led to Boscombe Pool. "It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting "You are fatigued with your haste. Pray wait until you have be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then "Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and of the freedom which it gives. I sent John, the coachman, to is rather a trite one. You will find parallel cases, if you "'Because during the last few nights I have always, about three "Indeed," said Holmes. "Was it your custom always to lock I walked down to the station with them, and then wandered through ladies' fancies must be consulted. And so you won't cut your should be proud to see my own son do, should I ever chance to Doctor, of the paper and the date."