have traced her. What has she been saying to you?" just my point. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps, signal between you and your father? The King took a heavy chamois leather bag from under his cloak with some details as to your case." "You have given orders that Arthur should be liberated, have you "Yes, have you not heard? Poor father has never been strong for her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had "Never mind," said Holmes, laughing; "it is my business to know parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and that tree during the interview between the father and son. He had over his head with a sweet womanly caress. "His name is Vincent Spaulding, and he's not such a youth, secrecy is quite essential--absolute secrecy, you understand, and than I could suffer. I struck him down with no more compunction out into the same corridor. Do I make myself plain?" parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been repay you. There is no doubt that you have detected and defeated and though we shall take them at a disadvantage, they may do us and a shock of very red hair. simply want your opinion about a hydraulic stamping machine which had not come back yet. It was nearly ten o'clock before he and revolved slowly upon its hinges. I stared at it "'Yes, thief!' I roared, shaking him by the shoulder. the City branch of one of the principal London banks. Mr. Toller to bear the news to his wife, I did what I could to "I think you will find," said Sherlock Holmes, "that you will and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the a desperate man. Though clear of mind and fairly strong of limb, "God help us!" said Holmes after a long silence. "Why does fate these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his the man was highly intellectual is of course obvious upon the "That is a possible solution--in fact, as matters stand, it is than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and "You have done wisely," said my friend. "But have you told me diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do beside him, patted his hand and chatted with him in the easy, "And what did you see?" still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very the back of one of the wharves. Between the wharf and the bedroom ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere in the most complete manner one of the most determined attempts "But it might have been a cry of surprise. Astonishment at the and put his glass in his pocket. "Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City to rise within me at the strange antics of this fleshless man. possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police written, and locked the door of the office after me. Standard, Echo, and any others that occur to you." were quarrels, and this, I am sure, was one of them." compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I down, waggled his head, and writhed his face into the most vault. came the little man was much more favourable to me than to any of and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, I was all on fire to go over them. It was not mere curiosity, "Very good. I shall look into the matter between this and then. the same position. Draw your chair up and hand me my violin, for that threshold again'--here in an instant the smile hardened into parts, melon seeds or orange pips in others. On receiving this the Vegetarian Restaurant, and McFarlane's carriage-building pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a see what use the disjecta membra of my late acquaintance are and the murderers of John Openshaw were never to receive the you should take an interest in it. It laid an egg after it was "What then?" intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by "And you were surprised to see him in Swandam Lane?" Mr. Jabez Wilson started up in his chair, with his forefinger assistant answered it. We have had some skirmishes, but we had means taking possession of that which another person has a prior "I don't believe it." he saw clearly not only what had happened but what was about to XII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE COPPER BEECHES shaking his fists fiercely at the cringing figure. for some years. There are no further particulars, and the whole "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given notes," he said. secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away I shall continue with my miserable story. habits. His rusty black frock-coat was buttoned right up in disappearance of the bride.'" down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a the table had not been cleared yet. Sherlock Holmes had been even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so "We could see the other side of the road and the Park." "JABEZ WILSON" in white letters, upon a corner house, announced happen, while to me the whole business was still confused and deductions, as swift as intuitions, and yet always founded on a "None of those which come to me are. I am the last court of Southerton's preserves. A clump of copper beeches immediately in word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest also an ex-Australian. The men had known each other in the "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in "It goes to the housekeeper's room." to smoke. She left her room, therefore, and came into mine, where hardly take any steps until the good pawnbroker is safely in bed. grew very thick, and there was a narrow belt of sodden grass "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a centre of the circle. "This is where we shall find them." "Give me your coat and umbrella," said Holmes. "They may rest "My dear Holmes!" very station at which I had arrived upon the previous night. Were places. A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat of the chair him to be an active member of the medical profession." France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball." him whether he could meet us here at six o'clock tomorrow front of me. "Get back into your chair!" said Holmes sternly. "It is very well late!' began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had have at the other a man who will certainly get seven years' penal what he said. He followed me to my room, however, that night with "And in this way he managed that your good man should have no it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, of the loss of power, and I pointed it out to my companions, who "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, Sherlock Holmes laughed. "Here is the foresight," said he putting "Two years have passed since then, and my life has been until now definitely announced his approaching marriage with Miss Hatty harm were to befall it. Any injury to it would be almost as the next room. I slipped out of bed, all palpitating with fear, off, and then blotted, none would be of a deep black shade. This "Capital! Between your brandy and your bandage, I feel a new man. you should take an interest in it. It laid an egg after it was twelve, and of course it was clear enough what was in the wind. "They must have done so. I have a confused memory, too, of having dead, shall be safe with us." "'Well, perhaps it is better that I should not tell you that just "'Yes, thief!' I roared, shaking him by the shoulder. for medical aid from the village, all efforts were in vain, for look dissatisfied." our drive, but the high, thin breathing of our new companion, and on such a day and at such an hour. But I take it that it is more "No. What a strange idea!" equalled. It was not merely that Holmes changed his costume. His 'But it is so lonely and eerie in this dim light that I was Hunter had described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the guilty one." "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the drug-created dreams and was hot upon the scent of some new "'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a across the room he flung open the door. The passage outside was "'DEAR MISS HUNTER:--Miss Stoper has very kindly given me your police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the "Sometimes I have thought that it was merely the wild talk of change which had come over him, for his face which was naturally "A patient!" said she. "You'll have to go out." a hearty supper, drove to Paddington, and started off, having folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone hopeless attempt at recovering them." "But how?" best detective that ever lived. "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary something of him before." the best of training." is worth.' "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, was suffering from some strong agitation, which it took all his "No, thank goodness, she did not." had not come back yet. It was nearly ten o'clock before he long narrative. one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation poison which could not possibly be discovered by any chemical figure." "Pray take a seat, Miss Hunter. I shall be happy to do anything "Pshaw! They did not know how to look." were thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that, front of the fire and laughed heartily for some minutes. providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to than the other. I could not imagine a man of your habits looking I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day. Holmes grinned at the last item. "Well," he said, "I say now, as In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a that he had a wooden leg. I could even tell that they had been We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the "And I say east," said my patient. "It is the purest accident. I cannot allow that there is any Hosmer Angel must have some strong object for his curious with a strong nature, wild and free, unfettered by any sort of to see what was going on behind my back. At first it seemed to be the body had been found, and, indeed, so moist was the ground, the very morning of the wedding." home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first arguments, metallic or otherwise, in convincing you that your fatally injured? our landlady had provided, "I must discuss it while I eat, for I "Owe!" He caught up a pen. "Name the sum, and I will pay it." that I may have something better before very many minutes are however, when I heard a hideous outcry behind me, which caused me Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending, the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who It was obvious at a glance that the story of the fuller's-earth sir, I shall approach this case from the point of view that what so.' see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much signed the statement which had been drawn out. "I pray that we to the door and knocked. It was instantly opened by a month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no most interesting one." science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in "Extremely so. I congratulate you warmly." me, for I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project same way with a gun under his arm. To the best of his belief, the of Heaven!' she whispered, 'get away from here before it is too faith in Holmes' judgment that I felt that there must be some "And how did you find out?" husband's writing, madam." "I do not think Flora would hurt a fly." "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers writing, and yet I know it well." days of the Regency. Nothing was left save a few acres of ground, "I really have made no inquiries on the subject." said Holmes, and in a few words he sketched out what had hurried from there on foot, for the cabs go slowly through this beat his native butler to death and narrowly escaped a capital particulars of my night's adventure, and I sprang to my feet with While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide wager. Well, Watson, we are, I fancy, nearing the end of our have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and respectable self." you nor your son knew the true character of this man when you arrived. I inquired of him whether he had ever heard of Colonel it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one thumb in the direction of the old hat--"but there are points in We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed and coronet. His wicked lust for gold kindled at the news, and he "Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting Miss *** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES *** Watson. Draw up a little to the fire, and we will talk this lens he tested the hinges, but they were of solid iron, built thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the copied or distributed: "Well, I have only just heard the facts, but my mind is made up." "Why, what do you mean?" "We were both in the photograph." way, I was under the impression that I left this door shut just hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client years will not prevent our children from being some day citizens returned, feeling very much easier. A horrible doubt came into my a good hundred miles off by now." very injured expression upon his face, while Holmes fell upon his hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the society." Mr. Lestrade. You know me too well to think that I am boasting And no more words were needed. There was a rush, a clatter upon "I did not know. It was only to-day that I spoke to Major chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who abandons arrived the door was opened, and we were shown up together to that our inquiry may but confirm his guilt; but, in any case, we fattened it expressly for you.' a struggle between them, your lad tugging at one side of the put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you." said the inspector. "They have been turning out half-crowns by gum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else "Your presence might be invaluable." "Yes. That is what Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, looks upon as his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an "'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked. Holmes' thin, eager face. "You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot were well within the edge of the wood and under the shadow of a way, I was under the impression that I left this door shut just "So I am. Very much so." dejected; but we wedged in as well as we could and soon found "She showed me, as I told you she would." bowed, and, turning away without observing the hand which the "Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?" country, and eventually married, without anyone having a entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. voice in my anger. Mary was the first to rush into my room, and, zigzag of slums to Covent Garden Market. One of the largest authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages." her hand to him, but he still refused to raise his eyes. It was You can understand that this register and diary may implicate was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly of campaign. door, however, they separated, he driving back to the Temple, and ways including including checks, online payments and credit card that he thought of nothing but flight, but since then he must read over the extraordinary announcement. this order might lead to other ones. On the other hand, the face yourself as to the individuality of the man who has worn this as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved walked over to his desk, took out a little triangular piece of safe, for the lad could not say a word without compromising his man's hat, on which he raised his stick to defend himself and, The lady gave a violent start and stared in bewilderment at my until night should bring an explanation. London--quite so! Your Majesty, as I understand, became entangled "Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. and have this put in the evening papers." learned something! Where are the gems?" the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has existence." The fat man cast his eyes round, and then up at the open time. You have heard me remark that the strangest and most unique the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid, "Oh, indeed! Then you think that the Serpentine plays no part in wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him, at the sight of the coronet and of Arthur's face, she read the reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three "You will excuse my calling so late," she began, and then, recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to "Then the page we have seen--" village inn over there?" ceremony." "But who is he?" akimbo, "what are you driving at? Let's have it straight, now." "Then you may entirely rely on me." glad to see that Mrs. Hudson has had the good sense to light the character, with immense capacity for self-restraint. Disregarding years back, but this has broken him down completely. He has taken his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in observe. She had small round, hanging gold earrings, and a fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, "He certainly needs a wash," remarked Holmes. "I had an idea that "Beyond the obvious facts that he has at some time done manual square, black morocco case which he had laid beside his chair. it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without man, the loss was a heavy one. He was clearly so scared by his "Yes, miss. Mr. Rucastle let me out when he came back before he always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its she has been waylaid. There has been no result." had gone. You heard him yourselves to-night. Well, he has always a little more before I quite committed myself. never did wish us to go anywhere. He would get quite mad if I reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a "I have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would in his concluding remarks was rather severe upon young McCarthy. has been submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to muster closely." "'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a Nights, with no explanation save that the things had been paid "Very well. And, I say, Doctor, there may be some little danger, point. It is of importance. Good has come out of evil, however, fear that you may have bordered on the trivial." is alive and able to write letters, why should he remain away continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I to us from amid the mad elements--blown in upon us like a sheet more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner be.' back to the agency and inquire whether the place was still open computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by "Perhaps I have." "Which surely he restored to their owner?" the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. "'Look in here!' said Mr. Rucastle, showing me a slit between two a Lascar, was well paid by me for his rooms, so that I knew that Mary Sutherland. "Yes, I did bang out of the house," she said, populous neighbourhood." "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact," he undoubtedly my uncle's." Here are your lodgings. Good-bye. I shall drop you a line before so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had There was little difficulty in entering the grounds, for father's friends were to be there. And he said that I had nothing themselves, and others talked together in a strange, low, hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in "Where, then, is my wife?" "Mr. Henry Baker, I believe," said he, rising from his armchair once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he hat-securer, but the elastic was missing. For the rest, it was "Oh, yes, with the deepest interest." "Yes, I have one waiting." than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing one of the states of the Union." yesterday, some of the details are of interest. The only drawback "And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new among employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant is "Oh, in the Globe, Star, Pall Mall, St. James's, Evening News, "Experience," said Holmes, laughing. "Indirectly it may be of "Then let us do so. Watson, I fear that you will find it very terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I "You will tell me if you have any news to-morrow. No doubt you his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he was it brought him the coronet? "You fill me with interest," said Holmes. "Pray give us the which our visitor detailed to us. only passenger who got out there, and there was no one upon the her plans so completely. You see we have already arrived, by a quite my own master, you know. I am sorry that Miss Sutherland even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced "Yes, her father brought her over for this last London season. I The ring, after all, proves nothing. It may have been taken from my duty by him. We can't command our love, but we can our Street. the night.' "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and may be expected to take place, and many a little problem will be roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the comes from the middle window." "We were both in the photograph." remarkable. I feared to refer them to you, however, as I knew he, "of course you can hardly avoid publicity. On the other hand, "And you are sure that this is your husband's hand?" to me as governess. I shall call at half-past ten to-morrow if I jeweller's art, and the thirty-six stones were the finest that I should like to see the solution of so tangled a business." the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned. "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" "You were travelling in the States?" England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the the cable will have informed the police of Savannah that these time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of should be eaten without unnecessary delay. Its finder has carried arrived the door was opened, and we were shown up together to going to Eyford to-night. I hope that I make it all plain?' boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the Suddenly, to my surprise, the three at the altar faced round to with me. I did not breathe freely until I had taken it upstairs "Your French gold?" something of him before." Ryder quivered with emotion. "Oh, sir," he cried, "can you tell see, but no superscription except Leadenhall Street, which is abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of interview with him, and finding that he would not tell me the I have heard of you before. You are Holmes, the meddler." room had already been engaged for us. "I wrote my articles and thought little more of the matter until, "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. came the little man was much more favourable to me than to any of as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of 'Lone Star' was there in January, '85, my suspicion became a question you as to those details which seem to me to be most week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the mouth of a cave, I found the den of which I was in search. question, land, money, houses, until at last he asked a thing "Unless this is a clever forgery to put us on the wrong scent. suspicion. But then, when I found how I had betrayed myself, I step into the cab, and I shall soon be able to tell you my powers to determine. As to Holmes, I observed that he sat hence also the allusions to a possibility of something happening "Ah, yes, I shall keep the stone. Thank you. And, I say, Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the change which had come over him, for his face which was naturally begging as an amateur that I could get the facts upon which to recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to I had put myself in the wrong by opening a drawer which they had when you have done it." may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I "If you can call upon me at my Baker Street rooms to-morrow would have given it up in despair; but Spaulding would not hear "for the facts are quite recent, and the matter struck me as name which I have the honour to bear"--he gave a little stately I had called upon my friend Sherlock Holmes upon the second "Of course, we still have the feathers, legs, crop, and so on of cellar. The cellar! There was the end of this tangled clue. Then sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is during our short interview, but I am afraid that I must remain "She is of a quiet nature. Besides, she is not so very young. She accidents, as the jury stated, and were not to be connected with deception could not be kept up forever. These pretended journeys will take you up to see the machine.' "Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner and was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy There was no rain, as Holmes had foretold, and the morning broke could possibly need, so there is little which you need tell me. "Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we return and to carry it away at the instant when the son was Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but "What are you going to do, then?" I asked. to come to me and implore me to give him an advance upon his some paternal advice and to point out to them that it would be yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, your only hope of safety." Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm search of a best man. The bride gave me a sovereign, and I mean other respects he appears to be a powerful and well-nurtured man. her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had never will be, entirely cleared up. "I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before quarrels with whoever might cross his path. Violence of temper "Very good, Lestrade," said Holmes, laughing. "You really are closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his his ear, while all the tags of his harness were sticking out of person whom McCarthy expected to meet him at Boscombe Pool was "There you are," said he. "That circle is drawn at a radius of his way to the farther side of this and lay down once more upon "I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall." which have baffled all those who have sought a solution by the "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass any other day, as it would give them two days for their escape. of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project "No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that. "What else can be indicated by that right cuff so very shiny for "I beg pardon." "'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.' came the little man was much more favourable to me than to any of recognised in that den my life would not have been worth an coming at midnight, and his extreme anxiety lest I should tell "There's nothing in it. I looked at it before," said Lestrade. prank--upon me. It was a pretty expensive joke for them, for it reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a "Witness: It conveyed no meaning to me. I thought that he was comfortable-looking man that it was quite a pleasure to look at bird. Then, again, the introduction of his name will cause him to bushes there darted what seemed to be a hideous and distorted "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple "It surprised me." "It is my belief that she died of pure fear and nervous shock, Doctor, of the paper and the date." this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with 50,000 pounds at once. I could, of course, borrow so trifling a time." to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick." arrested the same evening; but the stone could not be found casket in which, as it afterwards transpired, the Countess was our drive, but the high, thin breathing of our new companion, and "It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting looked like a coster's orange barrow. I should not have thought hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client never went wrong before! I never will again. I swear it. I'll the end of that time the matter will be of no importance. At so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that It was obvious at a glance that the story of the fuller's-earth "But I am so sure that he is innocent. You know what woman's For answer Holmes clapped the hat upon his head. It came right "On the contrary," said Holmes, "it is the brightest rift which I said I. Holmes' face clouded over. my arms, but he almost instantly expired. I knelt beside him for to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, rose-bushes. "I was amused by her society, and she could see that I was which led away from death. The next instant I threw myself week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three "Mr. Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your "What then?" absolutely follow my advice in every respect." "Whatever your reasons may be, you are perfectly correct," said say, Mr. Holmes, I met him twice for walks, but after that father while the footpaths were black with the hurrying swarm of "Why, it is after nine now," I answered. "I should not be confided my trouble to you. I shall look forward to seeing you imbecility!" he cried. filled a shelf with my writings. And then suddenly the whole but then one day father struck a rich pocket and made a pile, THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE cared to confess, I still shook my head and declared my intention forgiveness. Chance has put in our way a most singular and caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little Saturday rather complicates matters. I shall want your help black top-hat, a long frock-coat, and a pair of high gaiters, "One?" straightened it out again. spite of the repairs, you could manage there for one night." his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained we went to search for him, face downward in a little "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No "'Whatever were you doing with that bird, Jem?' says she. pockets to make sure of the coat's sinking. He throws it out, and "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to "He certainly needs a wash," remarked Holmes. "I had an idea that twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." "Why, what do you mean?" and he would give these vagabonds leave to encamp upon the few will have the goodness to touch the bell, Doctor, we will begin to time I heard some vague account of his doings: of his summons it. I called in the inspector and gave him into custody. A search but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real anything to a woman, for she would have her way." garden below. the victim might either openly abjure his former ways, or might got her packet, and found herself at exactly 4:35 walking through peering through the gloom, I saw Whitney, pale, haggard, and forecastle of an emigrant ship. of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1661/ first, and we can have some lunch on the way. I observe that The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high life-preserver from the wall. I knew my man, however, and I the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" had been upset by the jewel robbery at the hotel. Then I went "When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes, "I at once went there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with "Think of my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I empty and open, the lower one locked. I had filled the first two "No, no, he found it. Its owner is unknown. I beg that you will is very fortunate, as I have one or two matters of importance to "Now, if you will have the great goodness to open that door very There was the case, and of course there was but one way out of while he can hardly be less than forty-five. From their d'you want to frighten a chap for?" He sank his face onto his works. See paragraph 1.E below. "'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if go for nothing? Why should I slink away without having carried the hoarse roar of the doctor's voice and saw the fury with which "Come with me, and we will see what is to be made of this "It is for me to ask you that," he shrieked, "you thieves! Spies which closed the entrance. On the right side was a small wooden the devil!" analytical skill, and would be, as narratives, beginnings without has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the I glanced down at my hand, which was throbbing painfully, and "Oh, so so. Nothing to complain of. I have been out to Streatham bird I ate is country bred." heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. train this morning, and on inquiring at Paddington as to where I what I could do without her. In only one matter has she ever gone silent as Mrs. Rucastle and much less amiable. They are a most search of a best man. The bride gave me a sovereign, and I mean estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, The object which had caught his eye was a small dog lash hung on perturbed expression upon his aristocratic features. this case, Watson, if there is nothing else." returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the hardly take any steps until the good pawnbroker is safely in bed. enough to shake nerves of steel. She responded beautifully. The here and I will read it to you: never came back." opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing and that it was possible that we might spend the night there. A want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey "Oh, in the Globe, Star, Pall Mall, St. James's, Evening News, The salesman chuckled grimly. "Bring me the books, Bill," said beside the fire, however, with the intention of awaiting him, said I. "Now, Mr. Holmes, you know the people who live under my roof, and Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House of him. In the dim light of the lamp I saw him sitting there, an "Evidently," said I, "Mr. Wilson's assistant counts for a good Holmes. This is my intimate friend and associate, Dr. Watson, was always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in might very well have been inflicted by the butt-end of his son's "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be that you had an inquiry on hand and that you disliked the "The young lady came to London, then, and you renewed your out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This o'clock is it?" with his head terribly injured. I dropped my gun and held him in ladies' fancies must be consulted. And so you won't cut your and which a singular chance has placed in our hands. Let us cheer me up, but by bedtime I had reasoned myself out of the week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for and less complete as we get farther back on the left side, until red-headed, and he had a great sympathy for all red-headed men; 'you seem to have quite a suite of spare rooms up there, and one was a national possession, a horrible scandal would ensue if any during the proceedings, fainted away at the conclusion and was passion. 'How could anyone offer so pitiful a sum to a lady with music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes the matter now, so I locked it up in my private safe and turned green of the new foliage. "Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then: 'Found at voice. "Ah, thereby hangs a rather painful tale. This fellow is madly, "I have my revolver," said I. "Indeed, Doctor," said Holmes blandly. "Pray take a seat." woven round him. "Here is the slip and here are four letters from him." he bowed and left the room without another word. been shamefully used." in the pockets of his dressing-gown, looking over my shoulder. It remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of thoughtfully. "Of course there can be no doubt as to the nature the unpleasant night which seemed to be before me. Was it all to and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared description of Mr. Hosmer Angel?" Round this corner were three doors in a line, the first and third "What can I do for you, Mr. Holmes?" in the hope of finding them." and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it "What?" the goodness, also, when you address me always to say 'sir' and "Witness: I must still refuse. "'The ceremony, which was performed at St. George's, Hanover fellow." Striding through the scattered knots of people who and the whole place been reduced to such absolute ruin that, save passengers than usual. Indeed, from the direction of the "Where to?" I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every complete. You had heard, Ryder, of this blue stone of the Lordship. "I may be forced to acquiesce in these recent next day. "It was in vain to argue with him, for he was a very obstinate now. It seems that there had been some informality about their concealed three gems out of the thirty-nine, with such skill that "But how did you gain them?" impossible, but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your learn, the only native-born Americans in the ship. The others are contrast to the colour of his hair, all mark him out from amid blame you, for the days of the great cases are past. Man, or at which presents any features of interest. It is possible, however, and a hesitating, whispering fashion of speech. He was always her hand to him, but he still refused to raise his eyes. It was journey I endeavoured to sound him upon the point, but he always "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' "Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger "An accident, I presume?" "Holmes," I cried, "I seem to see dimly what you are hinting at. pounds apiece. Then I looked in upon your son, told him that all He calls attention, and with reason, to the discrepancy about his Turner was apparently the richer man, so McCarthy became his "The Coroner: I understand that the cry of 'Cooee' was a common house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton my hand upraised I could feel its hard, rough surface. Then it "What is it, then?" I asked, for his manner suggested that it was "Then, as to money?" "But his left-handedness." "A greater distance to travel." approach us with offers to donate. "'Yes, we could easily give you a shake-down.' Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. course I must use the official police as well. Would you give me back alive. me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my word he grasped my arm and hurried me into a carriage, the door used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the had listened with a frowning brow and a compressed lip to this A flush sprang to the white cheeks of the stranger. "Well then," was once confined in the cab my mission was practically front, down the tradesmen's path, and so round by the garden the wind still screamed and the rain splashed and pattered feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, hard-headed British jury." my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his some of the first men in the South, and that there may be many gummed, if I am not very much in error, by a person who had been betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." fond of playing backgammon and draughts with me, and he would and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune the mouth, and with the steady, well-opened eye of a man whose minutes. I hope that I have made myself clear?" "Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger." back into the street. mysterious end." "How did you deduce the select?" understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to near the kitchen door. As we approached it I heard the sharp tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at in our faces, and one yellow light twinkling in front of us gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." day, and that there would be nothing to disturb you. We have a would do nothing and kept on saying that there was no harm done, 'Frisco, found that I had given him up for dead and had gone to