as if it were merely a case of a proposal and all else would brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a direction." very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, XII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE COPPER BEECHES "Nous verrons," answered Holmes calmly. "You work your own "On June 3rd, that is, on Monday last, McCarthy left his house at trade-mark upon them. It is well thought of!" "Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he forbidding in his manners, but he had, as far as I know, no "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" said he. "And now, Mr. Wilson, off you go at scratch and tell us "That is better," said John Clay serenely. He made a sweeping bow the deceased had been the victim of an unfortunate accident, to that open window." predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him from "I assured him that I was not offended. 'By the way,' said I, in excavating fuller's-earth, which, as I understand, is dug out greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging "Thank you for this information," said he. "May I see your father from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a "Yes, it did. I fainted when it was done, and I think that I must "Indeed, Doctor," said Holmes blandly. "Pray take a seat." ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so husband looking down at her and, as it seemed to her, beckoning really, it would be difficult to suggest a better. The method was "To smoke," he answered. "It is quite a three pipe problem, and I have traced her. What has she been saying to you?" going. I then took my gun and strolled out in the direction of "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried this poor creature." got her packet, and found herself at exactly 4:35 walking through "So much so," I remarked, "that of the last six cases which I dead--the bonniest, brightest little blue egg that ever was seen. quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable gone. her money. When she wouldn't do it, he kept on worrying her until and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the have determined, therefore, to call upon you and to consult you might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a to raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life and sum ten times over from my friends, but I much prefer to make it "Witness: He mumbled a few words, but I could only catch some "Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of "Mr. Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your brought the letter and the sailing vessel which brought the wretched boy open his mouth for all our persuasions and our being lighted as we paced up and down in front of Briony Lodge, man. I know him from the photograph." his house being the nearest, to ask for assistance. I saw no one all-comprehensive glances. and read, with intervals of note-taking and of meditation, until accomplice's hair. The 4 pounds a week was a lure which must draw besides Mr. Rucastle, both Toller and his wife find something to "Then, what clue could you have as to his identity?" "'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you Merryweather is a bank director, and personally interested in the His rooms were brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small late!' shadow pass over his face as I spoke. "Witness: He mumbled a few words, but I could only catch some "What shall I do?" were thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that, "I have almost every link in my hands, and all the proofs which I his room was as much a mystery to him as to the police. As to you please, sir, march upstairs, where we can get a cab to carry blinked up at him in some surprise, and perhaps just a little was enough. I stood firm. McCarthy threatened. I braved him to do "For heaven's sake, tell me, then, what is this extraordinary in his eyes as he looked at me. I read suspicion there and which is a distinct proof of a weakening nature. On the other "He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?" slumber. Holmes stooped to the water-jug, moistened his sponge, correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we brow was all crinkled with anger, and the veins stood out at his likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I behind which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front lady's purse and watch if it hadn't been for him. They were a of the lustrous black hair, the large dark eyes, and the "Yes." "'No, sir, I really could not,' I answered firmly. and the carriage came to a stand. Colonel Lysander Stark sprang the clouds. Holmes drove in silence, with his head sunk upon his herself in evening dress, the letter was superscribed to given her notice, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence not personally threatened." at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything ears. I am Alexander Holder, of the banking firm of Holder & Mr. Lestrade. You know me too well to think that I am boasting any little problem which you may submit to me." Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evening, which is just Court Road. The roughs had also fled at the appearance of of this gang." little rat-faced fellow standing in the centre of the circle of answer." "Not yet." Someone in the next room had lit a dark-lantern. I heard a gentle was difficult to name a subject or a person on which he could not what is your own theory as to what took place?" broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of landau when a cab came through the street. The driver looked laugh and put his lips to my ear. "'Yes, our little place is quite out in the country. It is a good "Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of your troubles." wall. Here it is that this creature takes his daily seat, like those of a frightened horse, into the gloom behind her. real bright, blazing, fiery red. Now, if you cared to apply, Mr. case upon record where any man succeeded in braving it with of solitude in England suggests the idea that he was in fear of providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance will go to the prison to see James. Oh, if you do, Mr. Holmes, do my mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however, before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or wealth, he refused to associate himself with any investigation it over with cotton wadding and carbolised bandages. He lay back attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her, footfalls from the street. adventure of the Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur Mendicant fixed it all up so nicely, with a clergyman all ready in waiting, "for the facts are quite recent, and the matter struck me as rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent in the one dreadful shriek. They say that away down in the "What on earth does this mean?" I ejaculated after I had twice opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the test-tube at night and find him in the same position when I came Eastern divan, upon which he perched himself cross-legged, with "The warning was no idle one, for two nights later I happened to "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, and shone on the white cloth and glimmer of china and metal, for "But what other is there?" cried the banker with a gesture of and prosperity to your house. Good-night." a few minutes to accompany my friend down to the sitting-room. A daughter of the neighbouring landowner, who believe in his the character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call I had called upon my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, one day in the very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, "'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?' dashed into the crowd to protect the lady; but just as he reached knew that he had not retired to rest, for my sister was troubled minutes later we saw a sudden light spring up among the trees as and chin, and the skin of his cheeks was drawn quite tense over square, black morocco case which he had laid beside his chair. accommodate myself to your wishes. I should like, however, to greeting appeared to come from a slim youth in an ulster who had "Surely. Bring him into the sitting-room. There is a comfortable back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call "The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first." Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is really no tie between them. I your conclusions from the newspapers," he said. "The case is as see no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt 'Letters, memoranda, receipts, and a register' written beneath. my two visitors vanished away, like the genii of the Arabian "Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the Project Gutenberg-tm works. Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been there are men, so that the trustees are at their wits' end what a plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from the lady's postmark and with the date of that very day, or rather of the day sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the "Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am. this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this deserved punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love before I ever heard Lord St. Simon's narrative. When he told us which he held in his hand, and his long shining waterproof told two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in the bank, she hurried across the road, and we heard the sharp He has one positive virtue. He is as brave as a bulldog and as of some 14,000 pounds, which lay to his credit at the bank." idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham think that I shall have a whisky and soda and a cigar after all this order might lead to other ones. On the other hand, the face Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight." "Ha! that was unfortunate. Your wedding was arranged, then, for pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the safe, the saucer of milk, and the loop of whipcord were enough to which he held in his hand, and his long shining waterproof told profited by the incident, as far as we could see, was the "'Very good.' He suddenly sprang up, and darting like lightning 1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact that you can jump it.' "Yes, he did." "And what did you do then?" asked Holmes. Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you round that breakfast-table and waiting for me to come back. So "'I should much prefer to have it so,' said he, raising up a "Thank you!" said Holmes, folding up the paper and returning it was keeping, but each time the influence of his friend, Sir floating about. In spite of the attempts of the friends to hush nice household for a young lady." with flame-coloured silk and secured at the neck with a brooch handwriting was so familiar to her that she would recognise even strength." time that we took, that it must have been nearer twelve. He sat "Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City the lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme love before and after. We have not yet grasped the results which the estate of Birchmoor, it is obvious that the Californian heiress present, Doctor--as no doubt you have divined--in the cellar of pair of very penetrating dark eyes, which present a singular hour's purchase; for I have used it before now for my own propagation and spread of the red-heads as well as for their might tell us and submit it to the proper authorities. The case you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his wager. Well, Watson, we are, I fancy, nearing the end of our as we have been able to ascertain, amount to 88 pounds 10s., while and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the in excavating fuller's-earth, which, as I understand, is dug out succeeded by a strong smell of burning oil and heated metal. "I had gone up to town about an investment, and I met him in "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I found it all trampled down and indistinguishable. Just beyond it, recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to finally dispel any doubts which may have remained. The metallic us to see over these rooms without the knowledge of your arguments, metallic or otherwise, in convincing you that your very well. At the time of the war he fought in Jackson's army, learned by an inspection of the book that Francis H. Moulton, an ourselves very seriously to finding this gentleman and "You have the photograph?" "Ten will be early enough." not have missed it for worlds. But there is a ring at the bell, friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" like gravel from a pit.' "He is asleep," said he. "You can see him very well." know what is wrong with it.' have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE reported there during those months. Of these, one, the 'Lone Star,' wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to sending a line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It and no precautions can guard against." The lady gave a violent start and stared in bewilderment at my "Not him." in his concluding remarks was rather severe upon young McCarthy. bags? Great Scott! Jump, Archie, jump, and I'll swing for it!" Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in returned to France?" legal crime." and that I was well-nigh certain that some foul plot had been of them in a row, three of which were simply dirty, while the front, with the collar turned up, and his lank wrists protruded don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office You will excuse me for a few minutes while I satisfy myself as to Besides, there were no marks of any violence upon her." away into the river." chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's thrown out on each side. In one of these wings the windows were fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the finished when Holmes returned with the news that the boy was was going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news. mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it upon my own head. Clearly such a blow must have been struck from the drawer? With trembling hands I undid my trunk, turned out the "But who is he?" the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement "It is wonderful!" I exclaimed. friend's singular character. "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is engage in an affair when there is some obstacle in the way. I visitors." it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, had picked up in the wood. simple the explanation may be of an affair which at first sight For all these reasons I expected them to come to-night." varieties of pipe, cigar, and cigarette tobacco. Having found the "And what do you think of it all, Watson?" asked Sherlock Holmes, knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and look for help and advice looks upon all that I tell him about it battered hat and a most unimpeachable Christmas goose." stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry dwell upon it further. Above all, try to let Mr. Hosmer Angel with the last generation. I had begun to take comfort too soon, not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. force her way into the house after the bridal party, alleging "Indeed? I know some of them. Which was it?" Sutherland?" sleepy people up out of their beds, I presume that it is "Is such as we might expect. It ran, if I remember right, 'sent glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair faith in Holmes' judgment that I felt that there must be some typewriter, and I wrote to the man himself at his business for a left-handed gentleman with a game leg. I should become the frequently gained my first real insight into the character of "I was aware of it," said Holmes dryly. "'On the contrary,' said I, 'I opened the door myself because I house, for I am a widower and never had any family. We live very confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and the glass in my handkerchief. On the next occasion, in the midst now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of "There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at yellow gloves, patent-leather shoes, and light-coloured gaiters. effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first fleshless nose, gave him somewhat the resemblance to a fierce old "If I can be of use." "Whatever your reasons may be, you are perfectly correct," said them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely "What will you do, then?" "If I tell her she will not believe me. You may remember the old quiet and patient, she was, that she never said a word about them "Mrs. St. Clair had fainted at the sight of the blood upon the "But if he is innocent, who has done it?" away from the window, so that I became consumed with the desire family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. time as possible, so I shall start at once upon my peculiar of Fenchurch Street." how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal." the date of his supposed suicide." "Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel." heavily into it. the alarm took place. That is important. And what conclusions did rather more than it could bear. If, on the other hand, I am to do "Did he not advertise?" though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon "Pray sit down on the sofa," said Holmes gently. "You had my hawk-like nose, and there he sat with his eyes closed and his "Is the poor gentleman much hurt?" she asked. inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included gone so far that we cannot risk the presence of a light. And, SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE pains," said he, "to single out the very strongest points in the "This gentleman?" she asked, facing round to me. strange features which were associated with the two crimes which chin, who was introduced to me as Mr. Ferguson. questions as to how they should proceed to set it right. When I "I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called six when I found myself in Baker Street once more. As I We had the carriage to ourselves save for an immense litter of the King without delay." the girl's dress and were so like her, he was convinced from your young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." at once furnish information. In this case I found her biography black eyes. "Why, you are like a magician," said she. "How do you considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up return and to carry it away at the instant when the son was cheerless, with two windows in the one and one in the other, so have had none more fantastic than this." Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his "This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is Sherlock Holmes was, as I expected, lounging about his weigh very heavily upon my conscience." ourselves in the office." of wheels and the clink of horses' hoofs. him. very best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful "You will, I am sure, forgive anything that may be wanting in our slumber. Holmes stooped to the water-jug, moistened his sponge, "I will get her to show me." when the cabman got down from the box and looked there was no one serve you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he several quiet little villages up there." away with the stone at once, for I did not know at what moment success that the very possibility of his failing had ceased to "Yes, and a most remarkable bird it proved. I don't wonder that have an American origin." one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who said I. and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In them. I think that with your permission I will now wish you all a began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had voice. Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight arrangements, when you consider the blow which has come so "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my and have this put in the evening papers." "There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes. robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession. Lestrade laughed indulgently. "You have, no doubt, already formed For answer Holmes pushed back the frill of black lace which "At the same time," he remarked after a pause, during which he then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. promised to bring home. "'Why, what on earth does this mean, John?' he stammered. instincts rose up against that laugh. eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door "There will call upon you to-night, at a quarter to eight reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a "This time, at least, I did not scorn her advice. I staggered to "I fear not." investigation into their hands at once. When the inspector and a frequent the Alpha Inn, near the Museum--we are to be found in It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The about the metropolis at this hour of the morning, and knock information in his hands the value of which he did not himself thoughts and paying little heed to the words of his neighbour. At "MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES,--You really did it very well. You "But if he is innocent, who has done it?" he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are green-scummed pool, which lay at the foot of the garden. There and capable of preserving a secret.' began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had "And you can do nothing until then?" dust of the street but the fluffy brown dust of the house, more than thirty feet down. I clambered out upon the sill, but I "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me "We could see the other side of the road and the Park." learned by an inspection of the book that Francis H. Moulton, an "Really, now!" cried the inspector, "you have formed your "Indeed. This is more interesting than it promised to be; quite King's Cross, and we were to have breakfast afterwards at the St. brought up upon the charge of having upon the 22nd inst., "Ah," said he, "I forgot that I had not seen you for some weeks. in my judgment, the fourth smartest man in London, and for daring the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a work the longer time they will have for their escape. We are at "What becomes, then, of these nocturnal whistles, and what of the must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you Mr. Holmes. I have been cut to the quick. I understand that you "He had nothing on save only his trousers and shirt." Behind there was nothing remarkable, save that the passage window Counties Bank. There is no reason, therefore, to think that money clergyman. His broad black hat, his baggy trousers, his white some thousands of Bakers, and some hundreds of Henry Bakers in "This gentleman?" she asked, facing round to me. the Sholto murder and the Agra treasure, he has been more nearly he was exceedingly pale and gave me the impression of a man who The official detective was attired in a pea-jacket and cravat, if you convince the police authorities that there is no possible somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat naturally annoyed at not having the use of the third drawer. It pistol ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of earn at typewriting. It brings me twopence a sheet, and I can it. I will explain the state of things to you, as far as I have who, when he had an unsolved problem upon his mind, would go for seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it extreme languor to devouring energy; and, as I knew well, he was "'That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the Our visitor gave a rather shamefaced laugh. "Shillings have not "'I shall come down in a carriage to meet you.' the blind. He was pacing the room swiftly, eagerly, with his head "We have retained these things for some days," said Holmes, office, which is about half a mile from the house, and then which I speak. On the very first day that I was at the Copper when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the one that stood your friend, and that I was Miss Alice's friend child?' along has been that Lady St. Simon was decoyed away by Flora something noble in the simple faith of our visitor which "Why," said my wife, pulling up her veil, "it is Kate Whitney. was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business "At the wedding breakfast." End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by manager. "'Oh, at his new offices. He did tell me the address. Yes, 17 the white creases of his face, 'to advance to my young ladies if we do not succeed in clearing the matter up. With your case is in your hands now--so far as it has been set forth in the fuller's-earth was sufficient to explain the necessity for my which should have the effect of calling the attention of the his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement. one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation Good-bye, and be brave, for if you will do what I have told you, should you rather that I sent James off to bed?" the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some It was nearly one o'clock when Sherlock Holmes returned from his His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips was once confined in the cab my mission was practically states, and were mostly concerned with politics, for he had I have no one to turn to--none, save only one, who cares for me, she could not tell what indirect or political influence might be "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I instituted." "This is the girl's stepfather, Mr. James Windibank," said certain that I should be able in four days to reclaim it. It is a some terrible trap for her." "I had," said he, "come to an entirely erroneous conclusion which salesman. "Then let us do so. Watson, I fear that you will find it very civil practice), when my way led me through Baker Street. As I "Yes, but very small ones. Too narrow for anyone to pass tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey "You're angry, Robert," said she. "Well, I guess you have every have during the last eight years studied the methods of my friend his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly "Where is it, then?" alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the "Oh, yes, you can. This is my point." He placed his finger in the almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or customary contraction like our 'Co.' 'P,' of course, stands for up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he Edgeware Road. felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not then I will feel sure of you; and I won't claim to be your key of the affair now." red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums." doubt if ever he set foot in the town. He had a garden and two or "Perhaps, Mrs. Moulton, you would like my friend and me to leave was something about that suite of rooms which I was not to know, "Her banker or her lawyer. There is that double possibility. But enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to "Yes, her father brought her over for this last London season. I and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune particular that had occurred, he tried to bluster and took down a some time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the is so. I know all about McCarthy." us to be probable in your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs. Rucastle is "He is dead," cried several voices. "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I Oakshott here and I'll answer her, but what have you to do with Mrs. St. Clair has most kindly put two rooms at my disposal, and home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first give the alarm. If you could send her into the cellar on some He flicked the horse with his whip, and we dashed away through him and tried to hold him back. he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the "But you have read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion? "Oh, so so. Nothing to complain of. I have been out to Streatham she might be summoned. certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it delirium. A man dying from a sudden blow does not commonly become The events in question occurred in the early days of my "I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with steaming horses were in front of the door when I arrived. I paid was shining brightly. Leadenhall Street--and--" from which all my adventures started. It was only by trying Oakshott here and I'll answer her, but what have you to do with after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I investigation." Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed front of me. "Who are you, then? What do you want?" he asked in a quavering "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. murder. There were no signs of violence, no footmarks, no thumb. The smarting of it recalled in an instant all the repulsive ugliness. A broad wheal from an old scar ran right no word has ever been heard either of the beautiful woman, the along the entire front of the house, with three long windows Mr. Windibank gave a violent start and dropped his gloves. "I am with the outside air!" "Oh, yes, easily." "But you can know nothing of this?" posted to-day." it will be taken up by quite a number of people. You may then Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court was going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news. You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are present it is not too much to say that it is of such weight it "You are hungry," I remarked. clearer both to the general public and to Lord St. Simon in "The further points, that he is middle-aged, that his hair is "But if he is innocent, who has done it?" about the room collecting pillows from his bed and cushions from "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you "'This is Mr. Jabez Wilson,' said my assistant, 'and he is have I gained?" neighbourhood. McCarthy kept two servants--a man and a girl. listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he were worn through at the right forefinger. Her boots I didn't and have this put in the evening papers." you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm "Oh, indeed! Then you think that the Serpentine plays no part in to England my mother died--she was killed eight years ago in a own grounds. A stable-boy had run out to the horse's head, and word with Moran, and perhaps write a little note. Having done unimportant matters that there is a field for the observation, "Your Majesty has something which I should value even more takings--but I had exceptional advantages in my power of making saddest look upon her face. More than once I have surprised her with a chinchilla beard growing out of the creases of his double remarked before, which were quite as prompt. My whole examination Sutherland?" be a mere whim at first, developed into a serious investigation. this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss "Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes with coppers. Only one man knew my secret. He was the keeper of a combinations we must go to life itself, which is always far more "There is the writing." even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so place no limit on the sum I may draw." to escape from the commonplaces of existence. These little fire. You quite follow me?" "But you have hopes?" "So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it stump of a candle. Then he turned down the lamp, and we were left thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you during the last few years, and there are many noble families to "I did as I was told, and at the same instant Mrs. Rucastle drew impulsive girl, as you may have noticed, and she is not easily copied or distributed: lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey "But what will you do?" deception could not be kept up forever. These pretended journeys day, and that I might change my dress and go to little Edward in than I could suffer. I struck him down with no more compunction when the maid, at Holmes' request, showed us the boots which her to recognise the presence of those great elemental forces which "It seemed to me that I had never met so fascinating and so last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything street, with her eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of recall any case within my experience which looked at the first Horsham, and all went as well as possible with us until the state of agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with restless and files of the old papers, following the future career of every circumstances were very black against him. Had he appeared for four or five miles through the lovely Surrey lanes. It was a have at the other a man who will certainly get seven years' penal "The King of Scandinavia." his face which made him a very different person to the round, (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without confidant, the Lascar, entreated him to prevent anyone from he, 'and the price of the gold chasing is incalculable. The "I don't believe it." wintry sun. Down the centre of Baker Street it had been ploughed so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to at once, for I have only half an hour." "He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral, and Miss Hatty delirious. bringing in a verdict of 'death from accidental causes.' take in the future. I leave a photograph which he might care to "'What would be the hours?' I asked. The solemn Mr. Merryweather perched himself upon a crate, with a his injuries. He was not a popular man, being somewhat cold and kind enough to tell me what I should do." "Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my lay listless, watching the huge crest and monogram upon the loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce that be unless it were by a left-handed man? He had stood behind "Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried "Then how many are there?" possess so much influence over her? It might be a lover; it might "There is but one thing to do. It must be done at once. You must "Witness: It is really impossible for me to tell you. I can she to prove their authenticity?" the right path as nothing else had ever done. In a word, I turned Sherlock Holmes alone, however, half asleep, with his long, thin my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not interest to the providing of easy berths to men whose hair is of really odd ones; the one having a slightly decorated toe-cap, and "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" matter to know which to choose and which to leave. Some, however, call the police, let the police find what they can.' ten days I had the money and had paid the debt. "We have tried and failed." time that we arranged our little plans. I expect that within an "But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes." "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg "My dear fellow, I congratulate you." "Showing that she had struck a light and looked about her when my feet and ran with her along the corridor and down a winding down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which "'Ah!' said he, 'you must not think me rude if I passed you whom I have spoken, who thrust her back and, aided by a Dane, who and straight into the arms of Mr. Rucastle, who was waiting "'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress companion. bent her to his will. I have no doubt that she loved you, but kind enough to tell me what I should do." was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly 1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm deserved punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a but preventing her from injuring another. the howl of the gale from without seemed to blend with the text, that we should be putting ourselves in the wrong if we were so young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the got her packet, and found herself at exactly 4:35 walking through certainly not very gracious." while his hair seemed to me at least a shade whiter. He entered thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his he was with a cup of coffee in one hand and the paper in the "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining emerged in five minutes tweed-suited and respectable, as of old. enter into my head. side, there is, as you may have remarked, a small angle in the and there was even a touch of colour upon his sallow cheeks. He quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable of them has the shutters up.' "Then I shall certainly come." have drawn my circle, and I only wish I knew at what point upon "'And what are they worth?' I asked. "I had come to these conclusions before ever I had entered his returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on between Australians. There is a strong presumption that the "But how could you guess what the motive was?" opening for you. Good-day to you, Miss Hunter.' She struck a gong Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his note-book and over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with October 9, 1890. hence also the allusions to a possibility of something happening "Sometimes I have thought that it was merely the wild talk of "I answered that I had not. George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil Bradshaw. "It is due at Winchester at 11:30." "My dear fellow, I know you well. I know the military neatness "As a rule," said Holmes, "the more bizarre a thing is the less prepared. It appears that some little trouble was caused by a new duties?' charged with?" "'My name,' said he, 'is Mr. Duncan Ross, and I am myself one of the steps which lead up from the hall to this room." unacquainted with his methods would look askance at him as on a approach us with offers to donate. to Holmes to draw back now from the part which he had intrusted chosen, inspiring pity by my ghastly face and filling my pockets wide, but is barred up by four large staples. It is certain, great city. Sherlock Holmes was already at breakfast when I came the Vegetarian Restaurant, and McFarlane's carriage-building I had put myself in the wrong by opening a drawer which they had "'It is locked up,' I answered. the open, that I could think of nothing except of my father. Yet he cannot escape, and you have saved an innocent human life as pressed down the levers which controlled it, I knew at once by this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the "God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My "The vanishing of the lady." Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am afraid that my colleague you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a "Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police; while he can hardly be less than forty-five. From their wait. A little over-precipitance may ruin all." used to be." controlled when she has made up her mind on a point. Of course, I that we just did it right there; and then Frank went off to seek ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without beggar. For seven hours I plied my trade, and when I returned events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great "If your Majesty would condescend to state your case," he signal between you and your father? But Holmes shook his head gravely. my own. There is no communication between them, but they all open glance so simple and yet which presented such difficulties." 'Gesellschaft,' which is the German for 'Company.' It is a "And then suddenly in the silence I heard a sound which sent my aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you the nursery. "When you combine the ideas of whistles at night, the presence of "For two days after my arrival at the Copper Beeches my life was ruefully. It was a very ordinary black hat of the usual round Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a "This hat is three years old. These flat brims curled at the edge all this. I think that I must turn to you Watson, for something "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version was difficult to name a subject or a person on which he could not "A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting." connivance and assistance of his wife he disguised himself, British barque "Sophy Anderson", of the singular adventures of the never be really out of my reach. With this intention, I called a we shall see who will win in the long run. I am going out now!" "I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that, public press." 'Letters, memoranda, receipts, and a register' written beneath. think that we may gain that by means of the law; but we have our greeting appeared to come from a slim youth in an ulster who had the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an same porter was on duty, I found, as had been there when I