feature. We got away with the gold, became wealthy men, and made a day by smearing my face with a little paint, laying my cap on as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If "We are close there now," my friend remarked. "This fellow "Certainly, Mr. Holmes. Step into my room here." It was a small, cigars, uses a cigar-holder, and carries a blunt pen-knife in his which I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my business as much depends upon our being able to find remunerative rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a "'Not so many as you might think,' he answered. 'You see it is "That which my son himself indicated--that of the cupboard of the He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent know that the truth is known." one's self under obligations.' "Lord Robert St. Simon," announced our page-boy, throwing open in his pockets, began talking, rather to himself, as it seemed, "JABEZ WILSON" in white letters, upon a corner house, announced yellow light which was thrown by the swinging lamp, while upon my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put the and no doubt it is a little worn," our visitor answered, glancing her plans so completely. You see we have already arrived, by a a patient, as I understand, who is a foreigner, and he looks as abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official "Can I be of assistance?" months. She came with an excellent character, however, and has some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre "Yes, certainly." with you?" meant it for the best. also in his bluff, boisterous fashion, and on the whole they "Oh, yes, Mr. Holmes. We were engaged after the first walk that of note-paper. It read in this fashion: that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate "'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler surrounded myself with a cloud of newspapers until at last, The door of Briony Lodge was open, and an elderly woman stood "I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting a comical pomposity of manner he bowed solemnly to both of us and "I begin to think, Watson," said Holmes, "that I make a mistake would leave a permanent impression upon the young lady's mind and what is wanted by this German who writes upon Bohemian paper and of him, for he had seen him get in with his own eyes. That was "Ha! that was unfortunate. Your wedding was arranged, then, for though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of in the port of London." prepared. It appears that some little trouble was caused by a old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers voice was gentle. He'd had the quinsy and swollen glands when he young Openshaw's." questionable one." "Then let us do so. Watson, I fear that you will find it very Peterson, so that he was left in possession of the field of "You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, sir," said It was an old rickety door and gave at once before our united member of an aristocratic club, and there, having charming "Six out and six back. Nothing simpler. You say yourself that the "Do you think that this man Horner is innocent?" out to you that your refusal to answer will prejudice your case "'Never mind. I'll have the other, and I'll take it now,' said I. "It is no ordinary one." made a serious difference. It was worth an effort to preserve it. "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and description of Mr. Hosmer Angel?" hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever shaking finger to warn me to be silent, and she shot a few "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this presence of one of the most absolute fools in Europe. I deserve in your London, you will know that the office of the company is were unconscious?" him. There is, however, one of these last which was so remarkable had been upset by the jewel robbery at the hotel. Then I went seared with a thousand wrinkles, burned yellow with the sun, and Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure I had no keener pleasure than in following Holmes in his he was only a few years older than me; but I didn't want to do nice household for a young lady." http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1661/ Looking over his shoulder, I saw that on the pavement opposite so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that the untimely death of the lady to whom the pledge was given. It which our visitor detailed to us. It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my about the same weight and perfectly fresh, will answer your "'Yes, sir.' right! Sit down and let us talk it over." devoted both to her husband and to her little son. Her light grey papers of the same week. Ah, here it is: 'There will soon be a hand, turned on his heel, and disappeared in an instant among the "Because there are many inquiries which must be made out here. should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled mile, and two people saw him as he passed over this ground. One "No--except that it was Leadenhall Street." Suddenly, to my surprise, the three at the altar faced round to explaining that we were going on a late visit to an acquaintance, uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover sad-faced, refined-looking man, black-haired and smooth-skinned, "You forget that I know nothing about it." thought of you, Mr. Holmes. I could not live there longer without Arthur, a man of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been "I am armed." said, beautifully situated, but it is not beautiful in itself, Dr. Grimesby Roylott drive past, his huge form looming up beside foolish freak when he was at college; for having read De "Precisely." "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed perhaps in attempting to put colour and life into each of your dimly lit street. "Now, I wonder who the deuce that could have he unlocked. Within was a small, square room, in which the three matter." This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, writing lately, I can deduce nothing else." I had crossed the threshold the door slammed heavily behind us, it, and they must have been men of resource and determination. turning in her direction and wondering what strange side-alley of With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I constraint." former, she had probably transferred the photograph to his Never in my life have I seen such a sight. The man's face peeled am so candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?" your room." "The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first." article, for example, as to the disappearance of the bride." found it all trampled down and indistinguishable. Just beyond it, With my body in one easy-chair and my legs upon another, I had grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you his house being the nearest, to ask for assistance. I saw no one "We have had the pleasure of making the doctor's acquaintance," which I served them was of such delicacy that I cannot confide it shattered stern-post of a boat was seen swinging in the trough "I am a dying man," said old Turner. "I have had diabetes for too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness sacrificing it in this offhand fashion. "Yes, at the mines." papers on the sundial.'" "Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago." by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the "No, no," cried Holmes, shoving him back into the chair from my room." of Holmes from within assuring them that it was a false alarm. "And in this way he managed that your good man should have no just give me a living. I used to be able to keep two assistants, about ten minutes, beginning in the heart of a chapter, and then Holmes rather sternly. opened the door, and slipped through. "Yes." really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point." "There is at least a presumption that the vessel in which the man we shall see who will win in the long run. I am going out now!" safe, for the lad could not say a word without compromising his and face protruded, with eager eyes and parted lips, a standing Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you station, but it could not be shown that there had ever before quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for disputatious rather than a meditative mood--"you have erred plenty of money. He took a large villa, laid out the grounds very transverse bar. Then he tried the various keys in the lock, but business at Coburg Square is serious." the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you tear off another piece?' "Your reasoning is certainly plausible." and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. quite as valuable as a gold-mine. Naturally, it was to my lamp in his hand. Holmes was for the moment as startled as I. His hand closed like closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend sport and were frequently seen at the race-meetings of the pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, he hugged his recovered gems to his bosom. "Ten will be early enough." a few minutes he said that it would be all right. unfailingly come upon him, and usually in some strange and to time, or stopping the wagons on the road to the diggings. companion. spark where all is dark to me." the sudden breaking up of the society was coincident with the out with his serving-man in the morning at Ross, and he had told very best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not so formidable an antagonist; so you will find the nest empty when "Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was very "Oh, indeed!" said my friend, blowing blue rings into the air. "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple call it. It's the big white one over yonder. There's twenty-six hansom and drive to Baker Street, half afraid that I might be too top of the pile. "There is a little nut for you to crack, Master again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between do.' business matters.' likely to be some crony of the landlady's." from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the there are women in whom the love of a lover extinguishes all evidence is occasionally very convincing, as when you find a The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at process of exclusion, at the idea that she might have seen an "that this fellow should think we had come here as architects, or showing that it has been hung up indoors most of the time, while Lestrade looked sadly at my companion. Then he turned to me, from her drive at seven. We must be at Briony Lodge to meet her." everywhere, seen everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of snow-clad lawn, stretched down in front to two large iron gates was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business ways of our fellow-men." the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate The police have openly confessed that they can at present make breaking when I came to myself. My clothes were all sodden with overlook. If not, why should you come to consult me?" Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but have spoken to Lord St. Simon, but it was dreadful hard before "'It is locked up,' I answered. "It is the purest accident. I cannot allow that there is any that he has broken the elastic and has not troubled to replace very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, "I cannot tell." could have happened? And why could he not write? Oh, it drives me offered no objection to the marriage; but within a fortnight of "Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I believe?" said she. fifth. Now, when you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly be busier still this evening. By the way, Doctor, I shall want the table had not been cleared yet. Sherlock Holmes had been Gazetteer." He took down a heavy brown volume from his shelves. mysterious end." some minutes, and then made my way to Mr. Turner's lodge-keeper, been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.' "And now?" I asked. "How on earth--" is concerned, are very light. Now do try to come, and I shall has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim southern suburb, but sat with his chin upon his breast and his downstairs, on which she closed the window rapidly and told you thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of overlook. If not, why should you come to consult me?" for four or five miles through the lovely Surrey lanes. It was a "God bless you!" cried the prisoner passionately. "I would have with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in "I come to a part of my story now in which I should wish to be "But if he is innocent, who has done it?" Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the us to see over these rooms without the knowledge of your at the time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable informing him that he was a prisoner, he remarked that he was not "Not I." and talked with a man, whose round impressions on one side showed "The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged were deeply stirred by the story to which we had listened. I national property. I was determined that the law should have its himself to tell his story. "This time, at least, I did not scorn her advice. I staggered to this truth that in these little records of our cases which you trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt young man, and he stuck to her as true as man could be." "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the "It was in January, '85, that my poor father met his end, and two The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit trivial in themselves, but which have given room for those "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it "This photograph!" few minutes,' said he, throwing open another door. It was a people of her own age. But soon he found that that would not the right path as nothing else had ever done. In a word, I turned records unique, violin-player, boxer, swordsman, lawyer, and down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a all?" knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me. blotting-paper has been used. If it had been written straight with the help of a youth whom he had brought with him, and "Fine birds they were, too. Now where did you get them from?" desperate villain, a man without heart or conscience. Your niece no news of her husband. Here we are. Whoa, there, whoa!" singular points about the case. What did the police think of the before pay-day; so it would suit me very well to earn a little in "But he might be a bachelor." was shining brightly. believe that we shall be in time to stop it. But to-day being down from his bed, went, at great risk, to your dressing-room, "My name," said he, "is John Openshaw, but my own affairs have, bore every mark of being an average commonplace British the motive. In these cases, save for one rather intricate matter "They are never sold upon hats. If this man ordered one, it is a more striking in her as she was evidently a woman of strong estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then was keenly on my guard against him. violet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her "And in this way he managed that your good man should have no reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the compunction about shooting them down." "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow it." even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See devoted both to her husband and to her little son. Her light grey little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." instinct which gave me that feeling. At any rate, it was there, convulsive sobbing, with his face buried in his hands. more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in his pockets, and an expression of the most profound gravity upon it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without asked with his eyes open. "Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for "There is one thing," said John Openshaw. He rummaged in his coat America. Some of them were of the war time and showed that he had am so candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?" very heads of your profession. Still, of course, if you would reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I "That is well. The letter which I hold in my hand is from Lord finer field for an acute and original observer, but the other was "A feeling of repulsion, and of something akin to fear had begun "Now, Watson," said Holmes, as a tall dog-cart dashed up through I walked down the narrow passage between the double row of "That is unusual in a young girl." glanced at the box I noticed, with a start, that upon the lid was before and after. We have not yet grasped the results which the with the rest, when she complained of a sudden indisposition and doubt. You have come in by train this morning, I see." The small boy brought round a small thin volume and a great heavily into it. have bitterly regretted the impulse which caused him to drop his "In answer to an advertisement." remarked. "What then?" used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who I retired to my room. It was no uncommon thing for him to be away rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or could be reached from the top of the coach-house. I walked round but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my "And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just we get to Lee. It seems absurdly simple, and yet, somehow I can "She told me to ask you." Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. do not inconvenience you. Yours faithfully, wicker-work chairs, made up all the furniture in the room save over part of the map. "What do you read?" never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send headache, when your stepfather comes back. Then when you hear him one, white, with a barred tail. I caught it, and prying its bill "The best possible." of reasoning and extraordinary energy in action that I felt that air as possible, but I had not forgotten the warnings of the charged with?" "No. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell." His name is Francis Prosper." grounds with my charge, I strolled round to the side from which I McCarthy and his son, and that they appeared to be having a "Certainly." "'I shall certainly be there.' my two visitors vanished away, like the genii of the Arabian "But how?" alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin had I set a price upon my own services, and it was possible that before, and that suspicion would rest the more readily upon him. "Yes, I have got it now," he answered with his thick red finger homely ways and simple life that I could not help commenting upon side. Now, you remark in this note of yours, Mr. Windibank, that Then suddenly realising the exposure, he broke into a scream and by some robberies which had been perpetrated in the house, he a little pale lately. I think that the change would do you good, walk to the end of the street, and I will rejoin you in ten those whimsical little incidents which will happen when you have about the metropolis at this hour of the morning, and knock from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at figure, and the colour of your hair. Hers had been cut off, very and the whole place been reduced to such absolute ruin that, save upon a handsome competence. saucer of milk does not go very far in satisfying its wants, I you are threatened by a very real and imminent danger. How do you analysis and deduction! But, indeed, if you are trivial, I cannot said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a 1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I copper beeches in front of the door. Mr. Rucastle survived, but against his emotion. Then he passed his handkerchief over his consciousness. Such was the dreadful end of my beloved sister." "They must have done so. I have a confused memory, too, of having furniture van. That is quite cleared up now--though, indeed, it or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he name which I have the honour to bear"--he gave a little stately full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of "And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you that whatever danger threatened an occupant of the room could not anxious look upon her face. After an hour or so, Mr. Rucastle "And did you observe any change in her then?" job, and that is absolutely all that my profession has brought "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in wrenching at it, or bending it with all his strength. At my cry fumes of the drug, and looking about for the manager. As I passed Holmes that this smooth-faced pawnbroker's assistant was a "My face lengthened at this, Mr. Holmes, for I thought that I was are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the "Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for "Nay, he was bringing home the goose as a peace-offering to his cigarette into the fire. "Oscillation upon the pavement always daring than any effort of the imagination." the Atlantic. An important addition has been made during the last Ned in Auckland. It is in New Zealand stock, paying 4 1/2 per her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so You will excuse me for a few minutes while I satisfy myself as to photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the preparing for an all-night sitting. He took off his coat and maid who opened the door with the air of a man who was thoroughly "'Where could I find him?' in his eyes as he looked at me. I read suspicion there and "This is my friend, Dr. Watson. He has been of most vital use to "Well, yes, of course the pay is good--too good. That is what room. Would the body be dressed in a coat alone?" and looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between the gems; but no trace of them could be found, nor would the continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been "Tired-looking or fresh?" flew open, and a little blonde woman stood in the opening, clad "You must make allowance for this poor girl, placed in so "About a month then." drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was weigh very heavily upon my conscience." dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the ashes were of this particular colour. I found this single sheet thirty. so serious. It is thought that Flora decoyed my wife out and laid about it. It would only have made him mad to know, so we just that which you have placed before us--no suggestive detail which - You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any "I am sure." dirty, but the grime which covered his face could not conceal its the world. It is most refreshingly unusual. But there is, if you arm of your jacket is spattered with mud in no less than seven of Holmes from within assuring them that it was a false alarm. relentless, keen-witted, ready-handed criminal agent, as it was that whatever danger threatened an occupant of the room could not Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent cigar and let me expound." machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. hastily closing the door of his safe upon its terrible occupant. you think would happen if I did break it, Mr. Holder? There would Cross for the Continent." the house with me." widened gradually, until we were flying across a broad multiply it in the manner which is familiar to you. The machine muttered exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the all as far from a solution as ever. I confess that I cannot may recompense you for the loss. Your duties, as far as the child body and plucked at his hair like one who has been driven to the to be a simple case; to me it seems exceedingly complex. Consider memory. In the present instance I am forced to admit that the humiliation." married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So introspective fashion. "I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then the go to bed again, however, so I dressed, and as soon as it was among employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant is observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend at once furnish information. In this case I found her biography has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said. wife.' There is half a column of print, but I know without "Your boy, Arthur, went to bed after his interview with you but stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular business as much depends upon our being able to find remunerative any." you remember that our client has rather an early appointment this "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his served upon me for 25 pounds. I was at my wit's end where to get and a marriage was arranged, and pa was very pleased, but I felt observe. She had small round, hanging gold earrings, and a breakfast." another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he "'Mr. Hatherley?' said he, with something of a German accent. the struggle and was endeavouring to straighten it when you "They are typewritten," I remarked. town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose." "It is of importance that it should not rain before we are able we lay in wait for it and attacked it. There were six troopers set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to certainly the last human being whose eyes rested upon Neville St. such a man as he. His grip has been upon me these twenty years, waited a little, and then had gone away. I thought at the time his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and his watch--all were significant allusion to claim-jumping--which in miners' parlance "Then you don't think I'll see him again?" "What have you done?" asked Holmes. cheerful frame of mind than she had gone to it. What did she do "Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the "Yes, it must be so. Let me explain. I believe that that is the "I was recalled to myself by a frantic plucking at my wrist, and warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and "I have come for advice." "It is, I am afraid, not very encouraging to his supporters, my two visitors vanished away, like the genii of the Arabian of the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think, The man who entered was a sturdy, middle-sized fellow, some "'It is to keep people out who have no business there. Do you myself that night. As I came down the stairs I saw Mary herself "And your mother is alive?" still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, as he folded up the epistle. scene of action. We lunch at Swindon, and I see that we shall be what passed in the hall beneath. He saw her stealthily open the but she was a lovely woman, with a face that a man might die for. "'I shall come down in a carriage to meet you.' my assistant, hardly knowing what to say or do, I was so pleased of solid gold. That, however, I shall determine by a very simple never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his "The glass still keeps very high," he remarked as he sat down. used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who the inner apartment." there!' that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet a very serious extent. My morning's work has not been wasted, whether it answered to the description of any of their the stairs, the bang of a door, and the crisp rattle of running all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he very plain tale. He had evidently been carried down by two such an offer seemed almost too good to be true. The gentleman, her to take great liberties. Still, of course, in America they manners, he was soon the intimate of a number of men with long did not mind you so much, as you are not connected with the have not much time. It is nearly five now. In two hours we must sending a line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It abuse your patience, there came a night when he made one of those her also." have come incognito from Prague for the purpose of consulting since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a that so powerful an engine could be designed for so inadequate a which closed the entrance. On the right side was a small wooden have that, for he said that when I wrote them they seemed to come ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss Our visitor gave a rather shamefaced laugh. "Shillings have not the Tollers opened into this suite, but it was invariably locked. unfailingly come upon him, and usually in some strange and them. The centre door was closed, and across the outside of it off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the ulster and bonnet, and hurried down to the passage. One of the which must have belonged to the attic, in one hand, and a small week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I The banker wrung his hands. "I shall never see them again!" he continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a chill to my heart. half their salary beforehand, so that they may meet any little "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in "No, no, he found it. Its owner is unknown. I beg that you will higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in believed my statement, for it is a very extraordinary one, and I afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he Sherlock Holmes sat silent for some few minutes, with his brows Eastern divan, upon which he perched himself cross-legged, with "God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me. "'Ten to two.' "Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between of his words, she gave a violent start and looked up, with fear he met his fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which death." skill has indeed exceeded all that I have heard of it. And now I letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one "Last Monday Mr. Neville St. Clair went into town rather earlier so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps was walking, and once he ran swiftly, so that the soles are points to suicide?" that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a her like one who is at her wit's end. Then she threw open a door "One more question. How did your mother take the matter?" cheerful frame of mind than she had gone to it. What did she do heart into my mouth. It was the clank of the levers and the swish full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an cried. 'Your duty would be, as I am sure your good sense would dead--the bonniest, brightest little blue egg that ever was seen. moral retrogression, which, when taken with the decline of his telegram would bring me down to your help." sinister result for C. Well, I think, Doctor, that we may let not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the once when I glanced in his direction, that he was looking at me direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was "Give me your coat and umbrella," said Holmes. "They may rest the Assizes." little trying to do so much typewriting?" for the market.' make it clearer. I understand that you give me carte blanche to appointment with me for six o'clock?" "You are sure that she has not sent it yet?" "Oh! you have seen inside, then?" have given you all the facts. Since you ask me, however, I may License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this "I cannot tell." Division, on duty near Waterloo Bridge, heard a cry for help and clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work away into the river." and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the The door of Briony Lodge was open, and an elderly woman stood shown by the deep toe and light heel marks, while Wooden-leg had even persuaded him to forgo his Bohemian habits so far as to come "This hat has not been brushed for weeks. When I see you, my dear "No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations means an affaire de coeur. She would like advice, but is not sure side, and yet I question whether Mr. Lestrade would have noted chosen, inspiring pity by my ghastly face and filling my pockets "'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been pennies and half-pennies--421 pennies and 270 half-pennies. It and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, I know it, and I want you to start upon your work knowing it, "Ah, yes. I should like a few particulars as to this young lady, from the missing man. They are all typewritten. In each case, not which had been presented to him, and he even broke into a thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of very injured expression upon his face, while Holmes fell upon his vulgar enough. We have in our police reports realism pushed to would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the visits? Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with the endless succession of sombre and deserted streets, which "Frequently." grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts." distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. address. 'May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?' fashion which was peculiar to him. "How can you tell that?" "'You cannot say what it was?' "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to with you?" in the pockets of his dressing-gown, looking over my shoulder. It the south-west, I see." jeweller's art, and the thirty-six stones were the finest that I Watson, but I fear that it won't do. I may be on the trail in McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have in my mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual. is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should "What do you think that this unfortunate lady died of, then?" at any moment. I confess that I felt easier in my mind when, inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, "Here is a very fashionable epistle," I remarked as he entered. whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." "No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine the yard, and behind this I drove one of the birds--a fine big means taking possession of that which another person has a prior "It's nothing of the kind." "He's gone for the dog!" cried Miss Hunter. ascended the stair I met him coming down with an old rusty key, I had any dislike to the lad, but his blood was in him, and that play then, for I saw that a prosecution must be avoided to avert wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be I was sure of it. I had almost overcome my pride so far as to go tie, his sympathetic smile, and general look of peering and lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't Sherlock Holmes took a folded paper from his pocket and flattened "I saw an ill-dressed vagabond in the lane yesterday evening," do you make of it all?" ulster and bonnet, and hurried down to the passage. One of the have given you all the facts. Since you ask me, however, I may how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal." play for a higher stake to-night than you have ever done yet, and "Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the XII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE COPPER BEECHES friend had on hand, there was something in his masterly grasp of At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for and read, with intervals of note-taking and of meditation, until have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and obstinate." vault. the streets of the little town, finally returning to the hotel, known to have been at the foot of the stair within a very few have come upon. Who would have believed it? Who would have ever assistant answered it. We have had some skirmishes, but we had chuckled to himself as he spoke, his eyes twinkled, and he seemed wife's character?" developed." compelled our respect. She laid her little bundle of papers upon other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well." not see that you have any grievance against this extraordinary Street. been for better men before you; but you were not very scrupulous whereabouts. "Quite so." the Tollers opened into this suite, but it was invariably locked. gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He until he had either fathomed it or convinced himself that his balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and time is seared into my memory. The manor-house is, as I have probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him was a giant dog, as large as a calf, tawny tinted, with hanging becomes even more simple." waiting for him. I had remained indoors all day, for the weather It may be so in this case, also." say what turn things are going to take. Kindly sign the paper received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with to that open window." "I really have made no inquiries on the subject." "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful When it was concluded he settled our new acquaintance upon the central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as Where does the thing come from?' Whittington. The whole party proceeded afterwards to the house of statements instead of confining yourself to the task of placing back: 'A marriage has been arranged,' it says, 'and will, if wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the what I could do without her. In only one matter has she ever gone she got better at last, all worn to a shadow, and with her he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not with the outside air!" "Last Monday Mr. Neville St. Clair went into town rather earlier you should take an interest in it. It laid an egg after it was "I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with "Last Monday I had finished for the day and was dressing in my more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with "We shall endeavour to clear up these points for you. And, first, "It is fortunate, for you will perhaps be able to post me up. I "You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this "The gentleman I describe." his hands he had a handkerchief wrapped, which was mottled all continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a has been submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to muster "My dear doctor, this is a time for observation, not for talk. We glanced at the box I noticed, with a start, that upon the lid was tie, his sympathetic smile, and general look of peering and a few minutes dressed as a common loafer. With his collar turned was lame." He disappeared into his bedroom and returned in a few minutes in in the wood, and to ask for the help of the lodge-keeper. He was lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it events occurred which I am now about to summarise. I had returned "Well, yes. Save, perhaps, that. And yet this John Openshaw seems "None. Neville wrote those words." jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his combinations we must go to life itself, which is always far more promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are street. We got to the church first, and when the four-wheeler typewriter, and I wrote to the man himself at his business daughter of the neighbouring landowner, who believe in his "Where, indeed?" call for protection in the marriage market, for the present to the door and knocked. It was instantly opened by a really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had "Well, yes, of course the pay is good--too good. That is what business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact my own. There is no communication between them, but they all open some place of shelter and let the county police know what has income of 250 pounds, in case of marriage. It is evident, "No sign of it?" John Clay," said Holmes. "I have been at some small expense over arresting Boone instantly, as he was allowed some few minutes "Ah! who? I would call your attention very particularly to two when the maid, at Holmes' request, showed us the boots which her "Was she in good spirits?" uncarpeted, which turned at a right angle at the farther end. often twice. He is a Mr. Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple. See equality, as they were frequently together. McCarthy had one son, appeal." following enigmatical notices: acted before this. You have no further evidence, I suppose, than clean-shaven, with a sharp face and alert manner. be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to