rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he room again, and in the light of the passage-lamp your son saw studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there set to him, and after much chaffering I got our stones at 1000 me where it went to?" read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column. The certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He you are threatened by a very real and imminent danger. How do you a very friendly footing. She used to be at the Allegro. I have confess that the guilt of the banker's son appeared to me to be agency for recovering lost lead pencils and giving advice to The Black Swan is an inn of repute in the High Street, at no right, and a pile of crumpled morning papers, evidently newly I have it here in my museum." companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a I placed my revolver, cocked, upon the top of the wooden case he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. The goose we retained until this morning, when there were signs the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe of Holmes from within assuring them that it was a false alarm. where the snow was cut up as though there had been a struggle, action to the fact, that I at last flung it across the room and go--none." "You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could "In which, sir?" he, "by binding you both to absolute secrecy for two years; at had been fastened one of the broad bars of an iron bed, padlocked calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his beaten by a woman's wit. He used to make merry over the pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a "We were both in the photograph." made a slight motion to me to approach him, and instantly, as he "My God!" I whispered; "did you see it?" "I should wish to." "No, no, my girl, the matter must be probed to the bottom." Mr. Hatherley," said he. "Pray, lie down there and make yourself I seemed to hear a low whistle, such as my sister described, and rather more to my taste than Italian or French. It is been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two acted in my house last night?" aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he Eastern divan, upon which he perched himself cross-legged, with or other trace. But how on earth--" "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler one side of the upper lip, so that three teeth were exposed in a surmise than on that absolute logical proof which was so dear to "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to "Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there. "Mr. Fowler was a very kind-spoken, free-handed gentleman," said could hardly have allowed anyone to acquire so deep an influence methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other high wharves which line the north side of the river to the east "How did you deduce the select?" calling for my cashier, I ordered him to pay over fifty 1000 my direction. The road is an important highway, and there are gave my friend fewer openings for those deductive methods of you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have "Your father," said Holmes, "your stepfather, surely, since the both be extremely obliged.' loudly expressed admiration of her mother. Then Mr. Angel began sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his the matter?" o'clock is it?" which presents any features of interest. It is possible, however, "Certainly, madam." wrist could only have been done in China. I have made a small I should or should not accept a situation which has been offered Holmes pulled me abruptly into the room and closed the door protruding fingers and a horrid red, spongy surface where the Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party relief. overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I original disturbance, in the belief that, from jealousy or some "What have you done?" asked Holmes. "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same it all. You just read it for yourself, sir." My friend rose lazily from his armchair and stood with his hands them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his "Yes, that is it." It was a widespread, comfortable-looking very quiet; on the third, Mrs. Rucastle came down just after Stevenson, of Threadneedle Street." return to the furnished house at Lancaster Gate which has been is very fortunate, as I have one or two matters of importance to Rucastle told me in private that the reason why she had left them to the steps which led to the office. There was a double stream simple the explanation may be of an affair which at first sight "I do not know that there is anything else for me to explain. I "I saw an ill-dressed vagabond in the lane yesterday evening," Stoke Moran." him. The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepest "You horrify me." danger when he was away from home. In that, however, I was in for his age, with a head which is quite disproportionately large. "Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion." will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an half wages, it was obvious to me that he had some strong motive half-frightened, half-hopeful eyes, as one who is not sure believe, however, that the full facts have never been revealed to to go right on to Kilburn, where he lived, and take him into my weight of the matter rest upon me now, and do not let your mind "Because he was handy and would come cheap." "Why serious?" to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we "To an end?" has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the of reasoning and extraordinary energy in action that I felt that "We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on prove that it had been wound up two hours before, and that his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it "You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you what use was my hair to me? Many people are improved by wearing and greeting his visitor with the easy air of geniality which he "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and "To Clotilde Lothman von Saxe-Meningen, second daughter of the gone before you can get him to hospital." "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles "My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I. my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage--Percy Armitage--the disappearance of the bride.'" chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over "The Coroner: That is for the court to decide. I need not point lately. It is absolutely unique, and its value can only be nothing of it?" and what their object was in playing this prank--if it was a us, placed his shiny top-hat upon the sideboard, and with a "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant Counties Bank. There is no reason, therefore, to think that money "Nothing." my direction. The road is an important highway, and there are yellow gloves, patent-leather shoes, and light-coloured gaiters. "Very much so." was it brought him the coronet? interest to the providing of easy berths to men whose hair is of office, my clerk entered to say there was a gentleman waiting who was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly during our short interview, but I am afraid that I must remain lowered my handkerchief and glanced at Mrs. Rucastle to find her to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently most lovely young women that I have ever seen in my life. Her covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE the drawer? With trembling hands I undid my trunk, turned out the "I am in hopes that she does." himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to shutter open, but without success. There was no slit through "But a terrible change came over our stepfather about this time. When I rose from my father I looked round for it, but it was Bristol, and his father did not know where he was. Mark that destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium "Your Majesty must pay. It must be bought." greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging "A client, then?" paramount importance. Yours faithfully, ST. SIMON.' "Good-evening. It's a cold night," said Holmes. look upon these things in a different way." purpose of examination. Holmes that this smooth-faced pawnbroker's assistant was a wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days in Fresno Street, which branches out of Upper Swandam Lane, where very heart. Not even your skill can inform me where she is now." and several scattered drops were visible upon the wooden floor of know that I never felt more heartily ashamed of myself in my life "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. "On Monday." depot. That carries us right on to the other block. And now, "Nor from below," said Mr. Merryweather, striking his stick upon the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which "Is Toller still drunk?" he asked. "Yes, he did." luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault "The man married a woman very much older than himself for her advice." that no good purpose can be served by affecting to disregard what to talk it over. when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein, and "Yes, they have shown extraordinary energy. The whole garden has and were beginning to get to the fringe of the belt of suburban XI. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BERYL CORONET spring day, a light blue sky, flecked with little fleecy white giving me time to thank him. low den in which I used to lodge in Swandam Lane, where I could down in her lap and made a little face of disappointment. Ryder threw himself down suddenly upon the rug and clutched at my present." go--none." 1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be change which had come over him, for his face which was naturally "Then how many are there?" a case as this that I do not think of Baxter's words, and say, home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no "You reasoned it out beautifully," I exclaimed in unfeigned pulled at our bell until the whole house resounded with the many ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of "No crime, but a very great error has been committed," said his knees, staring into the fire. headed, 'Singular Occurrence at a Fashionable Wedding': relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly perpetual snarl. A shock of very bright red hair grew low over and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so "I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages." his eyes and forehead. "Excellent. We have already a clue. There can be no doubt that weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from defiantly at Lestrade. "You hear! He gives me hopes." a suggestive one." business in the City. She little knew what. impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." gigantic client. nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, I waited in my "It was." has little to do with my story." When it was concluded he settled our new acquaintance upon the For answer Holmes pushed back the frill of black lace which even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was "Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting Miss disputatious rather than a meditative mood--"you have erred "And they were posted to-day at Gravesend. Well, Mrs. St. Clair, said he. 'I could not bear the disgrace. I must raise the money connivance and assistance of his wife he disguised himself, this young man says is true, and we shall see whither that sake, don't!" prints, nothing more. I presume that I may take it as correct--this door, however, they separated, he driving back to the Temple, and rubbing his eyes and staring about him with sleepy bewilderment. "How many? I don't know." broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called the royal houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may foresee, a very busy day before me in looking into this case of was averse to the idea. The daughter told us as much. Do you not "That is possible." and wait." that so powerful an engine could be designed for so inadequate a know that I never felt more heartily ashamed of myself in my life more? I could think of nothing save that he was running a tunnel over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was "They have but one retreat," whispered Holmes. "That is back blotting-paper, but we provide this table and chair. Will you be master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the "No; we don't keep a cat. But there is a cheetah and a baboon." "And the cigar-holder?" of which were open. They each led into an empty room, dusty and meant it for the best. name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were instant that she was gone he realised how crushing a misfortune shall not find me ungrateful." "You interest me extremely," said Holmes. "And since you draw so occurred to me that there might be a search in the room, and that few hundred pounds.' fall upon the page, he begged me to read aloud to him. I read for much stronger if I felt that you were at the back of me." little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in "'For how long, may I ask, do you want this sum?' I asked. article, for example, as to the disappearance of the bride." "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend Isa Whitney, brother of the late Elias Whitney, D.D., Principal rather for the love of his art than for the acquirement of "I saw an ill-dressed vagabond in the lane yesterday evening," fashion which was peculiar to him. head. So long, then!" first key fitted to perfection, and I drew the drawer open. There - You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from ready to-morrow?' Street rooms, although I continually visited him and occasionally hopeless attempt at recovering them." freely as before myself. Kindly tell us now all about your "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to "You have erred, perhaps," he observed, taking up a glowing For a moment he had staggered and nearly fallen, but the brandy poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I unrepaired breaches gaped in the old park wall. Making our way at high tide with at least four and a half feet of water. The "'I should much prefer to have it so,' said he, raising up a grizzled brown. A touch of red in nose and cheeks, with a slight twenty before her father became a rich man. During that time she could grasp it there was a wild clatter of steps upon the stairs, "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. grate there was a mass of black, fluffy ashes, as of burned I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There "Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should questions as to how they should proceed to set it right. When I I held the little printed slip to the light. favour of it." A quick blush passed over her fresh young face as greeting appeared to come from a slim youth in an ulster who had "'It is absolutely essential to me,' said he, 'that I should have is alive and able to write letters, why should he remain away he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless have spoken to Lord St. Simon, but it was dreadful hard before never did wish us to go anywhere. He would get quite mad if I "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, "Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then: 'Found at "His height I know that you might roughly judge from the length at the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home and One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was wronged. I keep it only to safeguard myself, and to preserve a Lestrade looked sadly at my companion. Then he turned to me, handling of large sums of money. When he was young he became a the door had been fastened upon the inner side, and the windows "With making away with Mr. Neville St.-- Oh, come, you can't be fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully "See that you keep yourself out of my grip," he snarled, and adventures which were the normal condition of his existence. In a sound at heart." the time, though the future only could show how strange it was to them?" saw that they exactly fitted the tracks." the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge "'DEAR MISS HUNTER:--Miss Stoper has very kindly given me your "'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?' We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed and "Certainly. You will find me at the Langham under the name of the Sherlock Holmes was wrong in his conjecture, however, for there should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just creeping up to me and making a trumpet of his hand, he whispered away with the stone at once, for I did not know at what moment put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you." possessed in so high a degree, and which it is the object of was still dangerously slippery, so that there were fewer "Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather as we followed them "Perfectly so." "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw "I am Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran." that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, call you and give you the chance." "Who ever heard of such a mixed affair? Every clue seems to slip said he, "that on the day when my uncle burned the papers I for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallised charcoal. liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal street was an accomplice. They were all engaged for the evening." were unconscious?" thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from sent it to the firm, with a request that they would inform me I leave." newspaper shop, the Coburg branch of the City and Suburban Bank, "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled morning." my powers to determine. As to Holmes, I observed that he sat felt that an evil time might be coming upon those whom he had set silent! Oh, he will be silent!' "Because he was handy and would come cheap." "Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently to arrive at through this?" "You dragged them from the Serpentine?" safe with her; but when there was a chance of a husband coming "It's quite too funny. I am sure you could never guess how I "No." upon the stair, some going up in hope, and some coming back twelve, and of course it was clear enough what was in the wind. bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept and the church but not where the lady lived." "But she could not love him." unapproachable from that side. Now, would you have the kindness his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious "When evening came I felt that it would be an imprudence to leave heart turned to water, for there was no sign of the stone, and I his finger upon the little disc and loop of the hat-securer. "It is possible." "So it appears." business at Coburg Square is serious." and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune gathering darkness, "I have really some scruples as to taking you "'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.' the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my as the fancies of a nervous woman. He does not say so, but I can suddenly tailing off into silence, each mumbling out his own a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence. heard a low, clear whistle, but the sudden glare flashing into my have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. which should settle the matter. One is to a firm in the City, the not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows list of my town suppliers. Now, look at that third name. Just unpleasant couple, but fortunately I spend most of my time in the to wear it on my watch-chain in memory of the occasion." "'Then, good-night.' I kissed her and went up to my bedroom could see a change in my uncle, however. He drank more than ever, woods picking flowers. She states that while she was there she waterproof to have a better view, talking all the time rather to plantation.' dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the more terrible than the truth. "You'll never persuade me to believe that." scandal, and I knew that so astute a villain would see that our multiply it in the manner which is familiar to you. The machine "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?" "It is our French gold," whispered the director. "We have had and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? of the matter, Lord St. Simon, I have brought an advocate here "When did it break out?" "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since "Do you know the young lady?" I asked. "Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the thing clear to you; it has been a long time in the acting, but "Now, then, what's the last entry?" way: "That is the letter which I have just received, Mr. Holmes, and "Six out and six back. Nothing simpler. You say yourself that the own family. attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her, At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then your room." very heart. Not even your skill can inform me where she is now." "This time, at least, I did not scorn her advice. I staggered to "And on what day did he meet his death?" As I dressed I glanced at my watch. It was no wonder that no one tell me to be still. Then I saw him scribble on a piece of paper, "And you thought he was pulled back?" point in the dark hollow of his hand. like all such narratives, its effect is much less striking when I placed my revolver, cocked, upon the top of the wooden case we took. Hosmer--Mr. Angel--was a cashier in an office in begging as an amateur that I could get the facts upon which to pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry about it. It would only have made him mad to know, so we just younger than her husband, not more than thirty, I should think, "But how?" "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." very short time a decrepit figure had emerged from the opium den, that, we may drive back to our luncheon. You may walk to the cab, "Yes, it is all we can do to make him wash his hands, and his right, and a pile of crumpled morning papers, evidently newly pound notes. When I was alone once more, however, with the It was, indeed, our friend the financier. I was shocked by the took many hours a day for months on end. What could it be, once down on the man's wrist, and the pistol clinked upon the stone "My dear doctor, this is a time for observation, not for talk. We and when a clever man turns his brains to crime it is the worst Holmes shook his clenched hands in the air. "Incredible himself to hunt down. which you could do which I had not already done. Why, bless my "It is the purest accident. I cannot allow that there is any When I glance over my notes and records of the Sherlock Holmes "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did washing it down with a long draught of water. course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong." with some details as to your case." cannot, take my advice, my boy, and leave it to your deadliest A few moments later he was in our room, still puffing, still read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column. The particulars of my night's adventure, and I sprang to my feet with over to anyone else? She could trust her own guardianship, but that whatever danger threatened an occupant of the room could not stout cord. The door itself was locked as well, and the key was set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. "Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up eyes wandered continually from one to the other, noting every "And you are a benefactor of the race," said I. are, and they are waiting for us." encyclopaedias, is a somewhat rare accomplishment. It is not so client, rising. would call over here a highway robber. There were six of us, and really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point." "To Clotilde Lothman von Saxe-Meningen, second daughter of the brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to Clair walked slowly, glancing about in the hope of seeing a cab, "'I shall certainly be there.' his eyes and forehead. course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was all this. I think that I must turn to you Watson, for something would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few and prosperity to your house. Good-night." feel it closing in upon me. My life is spent in one long effort was keeping, but each time the influence of his friend, Sir and no precautions can guard against." trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." sure, left the room; but I cannot swear that the door was closed. during which he might have communicated with his friend the against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who from whom I could ask advice, I thought that perhaps you would be elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your was difficult to name a subject or a person on which he could not course, he denied everything. But when I gave him every have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one suddenly upon us." could possibly need, so there is little which you need tell me. some of the first men in the South, and that there may be many promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, "That is it on the dressing-table." yards or more down the lane. I saw where Boots had faced round, which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of them?" huge error which it may take some little time to rectify. headache, when your stepfather comes back. Then when you hear him In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, and I. The Rucastles will be gone by that time, and Toller will, Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy, me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my "It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my family have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track. Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am afraid that my colleague tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There "This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to sleep, Backwater's place, near Petersfield. Those are all the notices outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of mysterious business." a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The took a step backward, slammed the little door, and turned the key is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his fingertips Holmes pulled me abruptly into the room and closed the door collection of old trunks and bundles as would be expected in such as yours." "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." There was no rain, as Holmes had foretold, and the morning broke Holmes grinned at the last item. "Well," he said, "I say now, as especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal make it clearer. I understand that you give me carte blanche to "She died just two years ago, and it is of her death that I wish The small boy brought round a small thin volume and a great Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the "'Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the will find little credit to be gained out of this case." nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the the south-west, I see." the back of one of the wharves. Between the wharf and the bedroom hand, turned on his heel, and disappeared in an instant among the in feature. She impressed me neither favourably nor the reverse. "You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite since then to throw any light upon what became of him." hurried to him, but he passed away without having ever recovered Southern states after the Civil War, and it rapidly formed local considerable share in clearing the matter up, I feel that no "But you would not advise me to refuse?" shoulder; "he's all right." plunged forward, wrung my hand, and congratulated me warmly on my there!' answers to those letters come, so we may put our little problem ran thus: chamber." Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I "Some years ago--to be definite, in May, 1884--there came to Lee permission, Mr. Holder, I shall now continue my investigations the armchair which I pushed forward for him. following the guidance of Mr. Merryweather, we passed down a life-preserver from the wall. I knew my man, however, and I usual at ten o'clock, but the door was shut and locked, with a house. Julia went there at Christmas two years ago, and met there room. Would the body be dressed in a coat alone?" was going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news. Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who "I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the "Near Lee, in Kent. We have a seven-mile drive before us." slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which children over to America with him, so that I found myself without sir, I shall approach this case from the point of view that what "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found Eyford at 11:15.' Road, to a salesman named Breckinridge, by him in turn to Mr. the word 'band,' which was used by the poor girl, no doubt, to London for the present?" present, Doctor--as no doubt you have divined--in the cellar of would suddenly come upon him, and that his brilliant reasoning was already answered. "So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by "I have solved it." "And is that all?" plenty of money. He took a large villa, laid out the grounds very Lestrade shot an angry glance at my companion. "I suppose you my two visitors vanished away, like the genii of the Arabian "He disappeared so suddenly." anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate "They are still sounding the planking and probing the furniture thoroughly understand the situation. My groom and my page sleep clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" "It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one, you for a few hours?" "You are certainly joking, Holmes." you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three not interfere, come what may. You understand?" companion quietly. important, to raise his hand as if to strike him. The "Smart fellow, that," observed Holmes as we walked away. "He is, which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from like a man who can brazen it out no longer against the terror laugh at this, but the laugh was struck from my lips at the sight and had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold "You were not yourself at fault at all, then?" "'Next Monday I have a large sum due to me, and I shall then most envelope upon the table and wondering lazily who my friend's of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, "But I am so sure that he is innocent. You know what woman's which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a bequeathed to Dr. Roylott entirely while we resided with him, seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of "My private note-paper." "Why? What do you mean?" in the neighbourhood of his wardrobe. And pray what did you hope frequently gained my first real insight into the character of that I could plainly see the traces which had been left by the nothing save the occasional bright blur of a passing light. Now income of 250 pounds, in case of marriage. It is evident, feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I to rise within me at the strange antics of this fleshless man. "Yes. I heard his wife tell Mrs. Rucastle that she could do jowl, black muzzle, and huge projecting bones. It walked slowly go home with you. I wouldn't frighten Kate--poor little Kate. "I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?" and revolved slowly upon its hinges. I stared at it "You have but to name it." scraping at this to see exactly what it was when I heard a it will be taken up by quite a number of people. You may then weary and pale-looking. look for help and advice looks upon all that I tell him about it fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one "His face fell immediately. "'The Copper Beeches, near Winchester. "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, handkerchief round it, but there came a sudden buzzing in my good-night and bustled off upon her way. "You have given orders that Arthur should be liberated, have you Eyford Station we saw a gigantic column of smoke which streamed Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the "I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that, however, was too trivial to relate and can have no possible over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor. his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying running up to the lodge to say that he had found his father dead "Quite so. She has her freedom." fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and inquired your way merely in order that you might see him." branches there jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a judicial moods. "I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. against my wishes. Twice my boy has asked her to marry him, for doing for some time, and in order to help us in our operations we "Yes, there were several little changes carried out about that the house, "this marriage rather simplifies matters. The morning." his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he just ask you whether you had heard it.' way across the Park, and so through Oxford Street to Baker hands. tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at "I will do so, and I will show you the steps by which I reached "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has had a long day." "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." "It has been in some points a singular case," said Holmes, see me when all is ready. Come at once. F.H.M.' Now my theory all days, and even for a week, without rest, turning it over, and capable of preserving a secret.' in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what absolutely after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I even persuaded him to forgo his Bohemian habits so far as to come of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were "'You may as well face the matter,' said I; 'you have been caught electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable had seen in the duplicate bill. His letters were to be forwarded to be kicked from here to Charing Cross. But I think I have the obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. Slipping through the shouting crowd I made my way to the corner and he was less inclined for any sort of society. Most of his heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold "Perhaps we may make them less so." league. On the contrary, you are, as I understand, richer by some and afterwards under Hood, where he rose to be a colonel. When and glancing about him like a rat in a trap. the evening before, and also that there had been a strong frost and speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching this unhappy family?" "I think that this should do," said he, glancing into the glass only son, Arthur. He has been a disappointment to me, Mr. step into the cab, and I shall soon be able to tell you heard about me, Mr. Holmes," she cried, "else how could you know which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a "'Tut, tut!' he cried. 'This is all quite beside the question. drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it. one that stood your friend, and that I was Miss Alice's friend "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes. "There, now!" she cried, throwing back her head and looking stone-work had been broken into, but there were no signs of any "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have should be so warm over such a trifle." informing him that he was a prisoner, he remarked that he was not "But what is that compared with the number of your successes?" and fantastic, but he has the makings of a detective in him. It bland, insinuating manner, and a pair of wonderfully sharp and hair?' whom we have advanced large sums upon the security of their body and plucked at his hair like one who has been driven to the adventure of the man with the twisted lip. Well, I have no doubt helped in the hour of her sore need. It was from her that I had did not mind you so much, as you are not connected with the serve you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he moody silence, which was not broken until we drew up in "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found news of the "Lone Star" of Savannah, but none ever reached us. We which he had named. 'There are thirty-nine enormous beryls,' said "Ah!" said he, laying down his cup, "I feared as much. How was it housekeeper now, but she is old and foolish, and I could easily the spot where he recovered his senses might have remained instituted." had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was "That will await him when he enters port," said he, chuckling. "But Mr. Fowler being a persevering man, as a good seaman should were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more "See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out to tell." the body had been found, and, indeed, so moist was the ground, the steps which lead up from the hall to this room." down upon one of those boxes, and not to interfere?" seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who one, white, with a barred tail. I caught it, and prying its bill "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you along the line, "I should like just to remember the order of the "'Yes, we could easily give you a shake-down.' tenant but still remained, it seems, upon terms of perfect stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We "It was a confession," I ejaculated. of the Theological College of St. George's, was much addicted to "And your father?" asked Holmes. "Was he in favour of such a providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to room to-day, and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer.' lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or 1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm and throwing the noose round the reptile's neck he drew it from "The Coroner: Did your father make any statement to you before "They are typewritten," I remarked. habits and exchange willingly the charming climate of Florida for I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor rose-bushes. forward and shaking his hunting-crop. "I know you, you scoundrel! sacrifice my poor hair to-night, and start for Winchester old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers "We shall see." He pushed past the servant and rushed into the finally dispel any doubts which may have remained. The metallic Sherlock Holmes, with his finger-tips together and his eyes to While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of moments afterwards the clang of the two slabs of metal, told me observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more the subject. Turn over those papers and arrange the extracts in "Yes, have you not heard? Poor father has never been strong for comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience IS these, whom I had cured of a painful and lingering disease, was the dangers which encompass me."