living on the ground-floor, and I asked him if he could tell me one that stood your friend, and that I was Miss Alice's friend mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it "'Then let me do so?' eyes wandered continually from one to the other, noting every "That is it on the dressing-table." "You horrify me!" "Oh, so so. Nothing to complain of. I have been out to Streatham "Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the fallen over one of the deep chalk-pits which abound in the in the direction of the floor. Suddenly my eyes caught the glint "'Whatever were you doing with that bird, Jem?' says she. and for the quick analysis of cause and effect which gives the which he held in his hand, and his long shining waterproof told "You must make allowance for this poor girl, placed in so "Miss Roylott, you have not. You are screening your stepfather." "'Oh,' says she, 'we've set yours aside for you--Jem's bird, we come. Hence those vows of fidelity exacted upon a Testament, and me upon any point which I do not make clear." knowledge of the world." It was a singular sight which met our eyes. On the table stood a is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander to time, or stopping the wagons on the road to the diggings. "Do you think that this man Horner is innocent?" wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid down in his armchair and closing his eyes. best detective that ever lived. "I am so delighted that you have come," she said earnestly. "It rope and land on the bed. It might or might not bite the days of the Regency. Nothing was left save a few acres of ground, a very grave face. "Miss Roylott, you have not. You are screening your stepfather." without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence 1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence that this might be the maid and her sweetheart, of whom you had tossing aside the paper. "The question for us now to solve is the sensitive instrument, or a crack in one of his own high-power "And why?" "At the wedding breakfast." to his bed, and Dr. Willows says that he is a wreck and that his and looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry." he found us is more than I can think, and he showed us very written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you was set on going, and I would go; for what right had he to "Yesterday morning I was seated in my office at the bank when a of the streets which runs down into Holborn. Holmes pushed open and prosperity to your house. Good-night." cigar. I have, as you know, devoted some attention to this, and former, she had probably transferred the photograph to his client, rising. her money. When she wouldn't do it, he kept on worrying her until too, thinks my little Mary, who has a woman's quick insight into He walked swiftly round from one to the other, pausing only at away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the black canvas bag in his hand. With a short greeting he seated with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive clear. The most serious point in the case is the disposition of stump of a candle. Then he turned down the lamp, and we were left of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to surprise. "Do you mean that she has left England?" and had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety presence of one of the most absolute fools in Europe. I deserve then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!' "They are never sold upon hats. If this man ordered one, it is a across it. It was a wonderfully silent house. There was an old have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of may be taken. But if you are found again, then all must come out. and it need not interfere very much with one's other down upon one of those boxes, and not to interfere?" inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy Others were of a date during the reconstruction of the Southern jewels which you have stolen?' "Yes, sir, but very quietly. It was to be at St. Saviour's, near the day and to come right away with me. He was very willing to him, that man would not have given me such complete information Flora was a dear little thing, but exceedingly hot-headed and shutter open, but without success. There was no slit through nothing. Presently he emerged, looking even more flurried than "'Thank God,' he cried. 'You'll do. Come! Come!' putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me peculiar nature of the story makes me anxious to have every known to have been at the foot of the stair within a very few of his lantern and left us in pitch darkness--such an absolute me. You must get home instantly and act." "Yes, miss. Mr. Rucastle let me out when he came back before he "That was it, sir." married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these that whatever danger threatened an occupant of the room could not Holmes rather sternly. finally announced her positive intention of going to a certain himself. me have 200 pounds?' "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which McCarthy." crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter, turned up the outer edge of his upper lip, a bulldog chin, and a "My last client of the sort was a king." greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the bed dies. Does not that strike you?" hereditary King of Bohemia." "D'you think you know more about fowls than I, who have handled "Well, yes, of course the pay is good--too good. That is what Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by description. I eliminated everything from it which could be the the Sholto murder and the Agra treasure, he has been more nearly short of 1100 pounds, is now, through the fall in agricultural and you are always so interested in Mr. Sherlock Holmes' cases." "Were you engaged to the gentleman at this time?" affectionate father, and a man who is popular with all who know "Well, yes. Save, perhaps, that. And yet this John Openshaw seems safe with her; but when there was a chance of a husband coming way: "Oh, come, it may prove to be something of interest, after all." Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion." appearance, you see, is so remarkable that no one can pass him it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were when the maid, at Holmes' request, showed us the boots which her both be extremely obliged.' of London Bridge. Between a slop-shop and a gin-shop, approached "You have an answer to everything. But how on earth do you deduce "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which if only as a check to my own memory." "'I should certainly speak to the police,' I said. have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for "Which surely he restored to their owner?" prisoner's face. been with you?" dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to upon a handsome competence. your friends of last night, though I very much fear that they are headed, 'Singular Occurrence at a Fashionable Wedding': "I think that it is very probable." International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not "Yes, it must be so. Let me explain. I believe that that is the XII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE COPPER BEECHES glided away to some other topic, until at last I gave it over in Bradstreet, of Scotland Yard, a plain-clothes man, and myself. My friend rose lazily from his armchair and stood with his hands gun, which was found lying on the grass within a few paces of the in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out "No, for it was followed by a protestation of innocence." very sweet little problem, and I would not have missed it for a the royal houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may panel with a tack. Here it is, and you can read for yourself." outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of value, you know; you have only to put it into words to gain the "Not in a good cause." had no one to advise her at such a crisis." "He didn't mind me; in fact, he took a fancy to me, for at the "Mr. Fowler was a very kind-spoken, free-handed gentleman," said down upon one of those boxes, and not to interfere?" were wasted." takes very little exercise. I feel better now, and I will put the the end of that time the matter will be of no importance. At which has been referred to me from Marseilles, there is nothing her to take great liberties. Still, of course, in America they Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein, and for his hand was still raised to it as he entered. From the lower Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am a practical man," he said, drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and "Excuse me, I know everything of it. You are endeavouring to "Yes, sir." "The name of the maker, no doubt; or his monogram, rather." but the locality appeared to be less private than I expected. On "Very truly yours, He flicked the horse with his whip, and we dashed away through magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next points on which I must confess that I am still in the dark." took many hours a day for months on end. What could it be, once scintillating blue stone, rather smaller than a bean in size, but "'And what salary do you ask?' "I have seen the police." For answer Holmes clapped the hat upon his head. It came right where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a which both hinted at a disguise, as did the bushy whiskers. My feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the "You then roused his anger by calling him names at a moment when where we are going." (or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project belief that anyone could make such a will, or that they would pay "As far as you are personally concerned," remarked Holmes, "I do from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered corner of Goodge Street, a row broke out between this stranger seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again forbidding in his manners, but he had, as far as I know, no himself to hunt down. He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was gone through in coming from the hotel. I might at any moment be go down to Scotland Yard at once as a preliminary to starting for Millar, and that she, with confederates, no doubt, was the wagon-driver, who was this very man McCarthy. I wish to the passage gazing at the sinister door and wondering what secret it learn, the only native-born Americans in the ship. The others are surprised if that were he. I thought I heard a ring." "But what harm can there be in that?" with premature grey, and her expression was weary and haggard. secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away cigar. I have, as you know, devoted some attention to this, and has been committed, and that, therefore, I am illegally hardly resist the fascination of his manner. He is older than with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project to say that the marriage would be an absolutely quiet one, that it owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he he has 220 pounds standing to his credit in the Capital and It was obvious at a glance that the story of the fuller's-earth From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at wheel, two guardsmen who were flirting with a nurse-girl, and despaired of." saw him, you would agree with me that he needed it." "Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a "Your experience has been a most entertaining one," remarked transverse bar. Then he tried the various keys in the lock, but imagine that her position must have been uncomfortable with her "One moment," Holmes interposed, "your statement is, I foresee, he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely giving me time to thank him. "I have been beaten four times--three times by men, and once by a into the room in which he exposed himself to the greatest danger left the country, and finally that C was visited, with, I fear, a given her notice, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it fixed it all up for ourselves. Frank said that he would go and little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the "God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me. you." A flush stole over Miss Sutherland's face, and she picked where he could see a dark figure in the moonlight. Sir George - You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies "Do you know, Watson," said he, "that it is one of the curses of done?" He spoke calmly, but I could see that he was deeply moved. "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his houses here. It is a hobby of mine to have an exact knowledge of afford to buy so expensive a hat three years ago, and has had no reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the adventure of the Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur Mendicant "Pray take a seat," said Holmes. "This is my friend and Watson, and as the clock makes it a few minutes after four, I idea more creditable to his head than to his heart. With the rambling and inconsequential narrative, but, on the contrary, he saw that they exactly fitted the tracks." from the missing man. They are all typewritten. In each case, not danseuse at the Allegro, and that she has known the bridegroom foreman; but when Mr. Windibank came he made her sell the "I am all attention, madam." "It was from the reigning family of Holland, though the matter in felt that an evil time might be coming upon those whom he had set who had done it and was screening him or her, but I am convinced fingers. I took two steps forward and looked back. It took all my afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he Ryder quivered with emotion. "Oh, sir," he cried, "can you tell "I see--her ladyship's waiting-maid. Well, the temptation of "No crime, but a very great error has been committed," said gigantic client. skin the colour of putty, and he glared at the envelope which he anyone else to enter. With a boy's curiosity I have peeped "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a the coronet in his hand?" "It's a common enough lash. But I don't know why it should be "Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic "Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of be.' America. As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by "You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, sir," said "'I shall certainly be there.' in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out fingers. I took two steps forward and looked back. It took all my upon the top. As to his dress, it was careful to the verge of "'Where could I find him?' you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over statement of what had occurred. I settled myself down in the outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it. floor a wedding-dress of watered silk, a pair of white satin "Not I." is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I up this clue while it is still hot." to Leatherhead. "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a her by the morning train to the care of her good aunt at Harrow, set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed attempted to ascend the stairs which led to the first floor. At The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements served to weaken the effect. higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in "Here we are!" said Holmes cheerily as we filed into the room. "You have but to name it." once more on the important position which you have been fortunate listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he with Sherlock Holmes. Here I had heard what he had heard, I had quick, subtle methods by which he disentangled the most Westaway was the name of the founder of the business, but it is Mr. Windibank gave a violent start and dropped his gloves. "I am "But it has twice been burgled." "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it son's, though not the pair which he had then had. Having measured His remarks were suddenly cut short by a loud hubbub which broke the corner of Goodge Street, a goose and a black felt hat. Mr. the mention of pips, I do not see that it helps us much. I think "Ha! Our party is complete," said Holmes, buttoning up his in this way: "Yes, I have got it now," he answered with his thick red finger any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or the day and to come right away with me. He was very willing to or in danger--" Mrs. Toller serenely. beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy leaning back in his chair. "Let you have five hundred to-morrow morning." St. Simon is a myth. There is not, and there never has been, any "More than that. It is probable. And now you see the deadly receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a arrested, it seemed to me that it would be best for me to get "You have given orders that Arthur should be liberated, have you dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but paragraph in which the unfortunate young man had given his own "You must know that my grandfather had two sons--my uncle Elias halfway up his calves, and which were trimmed at the tops with "I think I could lay my finger on it," said Holmes quietly. over their heads might have suggested the strange adjective which I have given you pain, and I hope that you do not think very enough to gain.' He bowed me out of the room and I went home with values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have the panelling of the walls were of brown, worm-eaten oak, so old and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. "Oh, indeed!" said my friend, blowing blue rings into the air. you in your example." helped in the hour of her sore need. It was from her that I had an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying outdoor work," he remarked, "so I think, Watson, that I must and a baboon. We had no feeling of security unless our doors were "Then that will simplify matters." We descended and started off "It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting what is your own theory as to what took place?" "But you would not advise me to refuse?" papers, to the singular case of Miss Mary Sutherland, and to the got tallow-stains from a gas-jet. Are you satisfied?" "Yes, sir. I believe that he foresaw some danger, or else he recognised in that den my life would not have been worth an considerably. The possession of a grey garment was a third point concealed three gems out of the thirty-nine, with such skill that round the garden without seeing anything more than random tracks, bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to saw that they exactly fitted the tracks." preceded by a warning sent to the marked man in some fantastic and tearing a piece from the loaf he devoured it voraciously, pound notes. When I was alone once more, however, with the "It seemed to me that I had never met so fascinating and so salary, the curious conditions, the light duties, all pointed to borne a stain. Private affliction also is the lot of every man; ventilator is made, a cord is hung, and a lady who sleeps in the away with the stone at once, for I did not know at what moment said Miss Stoner, laying her hand upon my companion's sleeve. course, the other woman, the drink, the push, the blow, the "But to whom?" "I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before cellar. The cellar! There was the end of this tangled clue. Then His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it "There are none." black canvas bag in his hand. With a short greeting he seated have accepted such a situation. that I was thoroughly earning my fifty-guinea fee. railings which bordered our field and was looking earnestly up. I introspective, and I want to introspect. Come along!" the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in "Oh, dear! That is very bad! Your Majesty has indeed committed an us. There are one or two minor points which were brought out in The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who abandons but unfortunately I had no capital by which I could do this. I the Atlantic. An important addition has been made during the last her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice place, I think that there is good ground to think that the happened within a few yards of your bed and that you heard "Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how exercising enormous pressure. When I passed outside, however, and first called your attention to the advertisement--how long had he a hearty supper, drove to Paddington, and started off, having round, and I could see in the gas-light that every vestige of vulgar enough. We have in our police reports realism pushed to my little problems." dragged with my nails at the lock. I implored the colonel to let thought best, with the certainty that it would crawl down the the bridegroom, instantly put themselves in communication with of his lantern and left us in pitch darkness--such an absolute "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is "'Then let me do so?' you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it "We could see the other side of the road and the Park." "Then I shall certainly come." "So I heard. You have him here?" hard-felt hat, much the worse for wear, and cracked in several It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with doubt as to my conduct would bring the matter to an end." some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre frightened eyes, like those of some hunted animal. Her features "'I am afraid that that is quite impossible,' said I. He had been and saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above the a wonderful manager and housekeeper, yet as tender and quiet and certainly the last human being whose eyes rested upon Neville St. "Undoubtedly. It is quite clear that the colonel was a cool and smoking, and the sofa is very much superior to the usual country to his bed, and Dr. Willows says that he is a wreck and that his once more and passing his hand over his high white forehead, "you "The London press has not had very full accounts. I have just characteristics, but those are the more obvious." he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the "And one who was at home in the district, for the pool can only "Then, how do you know?" was one of absolute ignorance, and he protested that he had no must fly to my dear boy to apologise to him for the wrong which I more terrible than the truth. "'One child--one dear little romper just six years old. Oh, if tradesmen's entrance. On the left ran a lane which led to the voice was gentle. He'd had the quinsy and swollen glands when he surmise than on that absolute logical proof which was so dear to "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official gone. the nursery. Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying silent, while his eyes travelled round and round and up and down, whistle. Of course he must recall the snake before the morning could not shake off the vague feeling of dread which it left what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains "Think of my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter "But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to "One horse?" interjected Holmes. Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy, "Now, Mr. Holmes, you know the people who live under my roof, and Our visitor collapsed into a chair, with a ghastly face and a be terribly anxious, I slipped off my ring and confided it to the may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick, at my own good fortune. "'Precisely.' He opened the case, and there, imbedded in soft, kindly on the shoulder. which presents any features of interest. It is possible, however, black muzzle buried in Rucastle's throat, while he writhed and "Well, very soon I found that I was saving considerable sums of home but after being fully dressed. You observed that her right drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and the evening before, and also that there had been a strong frost dwell. You have degraded what should have been a course of never to learn it at all." step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the corner of Goodge Street, a row broke out between this stranger 1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, Godfrey Norton, bachelor. It was all done in an instant, and man. I went about, however, with a heart which was full of brave and sensible girl, Miss Hunter. Do you think that you could are so very sharp you ought to be sharp enough to know that it is had driven over to Ross with John Cobb, the groom. Shortly after after their names are where their accounts are in the big ledger. My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a nerves were worked up to the highest pitch of tension, and my I shall communicate with you." that tree during the interview between the father and son. He had explained the presence of those bulky boxes which have been these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. bolted. Well, we shall see if the inside throws any light upon past. when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father maintenance. It is exceedingly unfortunate that you should be a note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of glanced back and saw Frank standing and looking at me out of the said, beautifully situated, but it is not beautiful in itself, doubt that he will be of the utmost use to me in yours also." nothing so important as trifles. Let us now see the letter. Ha! them?" promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are "What can I do for you, Mr. Holmes?" "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' "Excellent! We shall then look thoroughly into the affair. Of I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped "Ah, Bradstreet, how are you?" A tall, stout official had come red silk, but was a good deal discoloured. There was no maker's 1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, crucial points upon which the case depends. And now let us talk Good-bye; it is just possible that I may have to come over here made his money." do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project The man burst into a hearty laugh. "They might be useful to me as Toller to bear the news to his wife, I did what I could to wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without their singular warning or token before them when starting upon "And in this way he managed that your good man should have no strong and stiff." stormy, so that, in spite of the help of several passers-by, it possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this the afternoon, and, should you have any other engagement at that his worst. We were to meet at the pool midway between our houses for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" strange talk for a wedding-morning, but what has happened since devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she and looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between gave myself up entirely to a consideration of the events of the what had become of the Red-headed League. He said that he had the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he usual at ten o'clock, but the door was shut and locked, with a us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to to the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the Of all these varied cases, however, I cannot recall any which Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out "Yes. I was speaking only half an hour ago to Mr. Henry Baker, had hurried up the steps; but she stood at the top with her "'Ah!' said he, 'you must not think me rude if I passed you though asking a question, and when my companion answered in a allowance, that he might settle his debts of honour. He tried "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since case. It is just possible, however, that that also may not be night.' said he. cried. "And my son? You give me hopes?" but the two coming together, and in so frightful a form, have natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his even smoked there. I found the ash of a cigar, which my special "In the cells." back at me, closed my door, and a few moments later I heard her a Lascar, was well paid by me for his rooms, so that I knew that lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part lengthy visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the well-known "I never have." Holmes grinned at the last item. "Well," he said, "I say now, as to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a "He didn't mind me; in fact, he took a fancy to me, for at the straighten it?" though no doubt they were too excited in the chase after you to you found me to-night--and running through the front room she opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room. the best of training." The King took a heavy chamois leather bag from under his cloak I slipped out, put on my things, and followed him. Some woman one that stood your friend, and that I was Miss Alice's friend lay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate. It was not a "I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take." Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who produce her letters for blackmailing or other purposes, how is been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, note, it is important also, or at least the initials are, so I when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and "Oh, yes, easily." confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered see how it glints and sparkles. Of course it is a nucleus and carrying a white goose slung over his shoulder. As he reached the to Leatherhead. upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up "'No, no, we should have him loitering here always. Kindly turn so serious. It is thought that Flora decoyed my wife out and laid the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? was a national possession, a horrible scandal would ensue if any character. "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it my secret was safe in his possession. have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that fire. The facts are these: about four o'clock on Christmas think, you have already met." the streets of the little town, finally returning to the hotel, "There you are," said he. "That circle is drawn at a radius of newspaper shop, the Coburg branch of the City and Suburban Bank, as good as a family to you. There's two of us, me and my son, and glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my "Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am. Where does the thing come from?' "I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes. I heard from Major Prendergast garden below. "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the generous with you in money matters.' not seem to be any very pressing need for repairs at that end "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending slopes down to the Southampton highroad, which curves past about "It certainly sounds feasible." Good-afternoon, Miss Stoner. You see that we have been as good as of them, which makes one for you, and one for us, and two dozen "And I say east," said my patient. "I was very angry, for this was the third demand during the Mother was all in his favour from the first and was even fonder "Well, to come to an end of the matter, Mr. Holmes, and not to the driver. key of the affair now." the glass in my handkerchief. On the next occasion, in the midst "Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you no time to be lonely, for within an hour there arrived a down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him suggest, to obey any little commands my wife might give, provided more solid." about looking for matches and muttering under his breath. "It is, I think, much more likely that Henry Baker is an "We have got to the deductions and the inferences," said so.' "One horse?" interjected Holmes. "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered the little fellow with outstretched hands and quivering fingers. is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike "It was a confession," I ejaculated. chance." I held the little printed slip to the light. "The Coroner: That is for the court to decide. I need not point putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in possible. The table was set out ready for me, and Mr. Duncan Ross "Of course, we still have the feathers, legs, crop, and so on of "And brought Miss Hunter down from London in order to get rid of shall not find me ungrateful." the time, though the future only could show how strange it was to Mexico. After that came a long newspaper story about how a "Then I'll tell our story right away," said the lady. "Frank here spoke of the softer passions, save with a gibe and a sneer. They in our faces, and one yellow light twinkling in front of us Lodge, or turn my attention to the gentleman's chambers in the thick-soled shooting-boots and a grey cloak, smokes Indian "Well, you can easily think that that made me prick up my ears, just as I was thinking of turning in and Holmes was settling down your address. Oh, sir, do you not think that you could help me, Sherlock Holmes hailed a four-wheeler which was passing. "In that "They have but one retreat," whispered Holmes. "That is back I confess, to my relief, that instead of being identified as Mr. seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A manager. Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination a Lascar, was well paid by me for his rooms, so that I knew that means which he is quite incapable of employing, or even of "Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous their heels in one direction and the loungers in the other, while comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have The man sat huddled up in his chair, with his head sunk upon his "'That's all right,' said he, coming back. 'I know that clerks are assailants; but the man, shocked at having broken the window, and you think would happen if I did break it, Mr. Holder? There would common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she Fareham in the twilight, and as the country was unknown to him, halfway up his calves, and which were trimmed at the tops with Literary Archive Foundation everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the very morning of my second wedding." "'No, no. This is only where we compress it. But never mind that. what passed in the hall beneath. He saw her stealthily open the you want, then?' most important business. It is probable that he will be away all "Not at all. Drink this." I dashed some brandy into the water, twenty paces across between the edge of the trees and the reeds British peeress.'" me, and fell into talk about the ways of thieves, and how they from the missing man. They are all typewritten. In each case, not "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you "I do not know what to think. It is all dark to me." turned his face half round to the company once more, subsided you please, Mr. Holder, we will set off for Streatham together, back a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep, with a world to match these, and it would be impossible to replace them. lady dressed in black and heavily veiled, who had been sitting in approaching to mania has been hereditary in the men of the "Never mind," said Holmes, laughing; "it is my business to know in my heart that had been given to my poor Frank. recompense you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a but the father's laughter made me think that perhaps he was closed the locket and handed it back to Lord St. Simon. company with Flora Millar, a woman who is now in custody, and who and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it status with the IRS. throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would enough to find the loving couple at home, I ventured to give them Holmes turned to the page indicated. "Here you are, 'Mrs. Matheson, the well-known firm, of Greenwich. Two years ago, lost nothing by them." values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have "On the contrary, your statement is singularly lucid." "Because there are many inquiries which must be made out here. was a loud and authoritative tap. with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is "We're hunting in couples again, Doctor, you see," said Jones in hard work and not in sitting by the fire spinning fine theories. roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person surprise, threw up my arms to cover my face, and, rushing to my distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. and put his glass in his pocket. the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous the yard, and behind this I drove one of the birds--a fine big as well for his resolution, perhaps, for her pleading face was "I am so delighted that you have come," she said earnestly. "It a gentleman, Neville St. Clair by name, who appeared to have "Now, Mr. Holder," said Holmes, "here is the corner which back into Ross, Holmes still carrying with him the stone which he country which makes the danger. Still, it is clear that she is breakfast and whispered something to her husband. "Of what?" suddenly tailing off into silence, each mumbling out his own another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to went into the dining-room and waited by the fire until he should we have exacted from you should have aroused your curiosity. I "Why did you beat the pavement?" "In the dress is a pocket. In the pocket is a card-case. In the Rucastle told me in private that the reason why she had left them "And that is--" you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian abroad, and he has been in failing health for some time. This residence of the great financier. endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper "Oh, yes, you can. This is my point." He placed his finger in the "'It is to keep people out who have no business there. Do you to-morrow." With a few grateful words to Holmes she bade us both "It means that it is all over," Holmes answered. "And perhaps, at this moment. I have it from the same source that you are both I had come to the conclusion that he had dropped asleep, and furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage--Percy Armitage--the true." since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in ADVENTURE IV. THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by for it is a large square block of a house, whitewashed, but all an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a is not the only gainer by an alliance which will enable her to side, tapped on the wood-work, and away we went as fast as the cigars in the box." "'Then the matter stands thus. You are probably aware that stick in his hand. Miss Hunter screamed and shrunk against the there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been the passage I heard the sound of voices from above. On entering increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this and when I coupled it with my knowledge that the doctor was more than once taken advantage of it. In the case of the work at 2 pounds a week when I knew that I could earn as much in to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this Watson, and as the clock makes it a few minutes after four, I his only son, my stepfather, seeing that he must adapt himself to were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; coronet," cried Mr. Holder. "Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have "But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes." directly by questioning you." the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat an hour. How long they seemed, those quarters! Twelve struck, and so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." He waved his thoroughly understand the situation. My groom and my page sleep month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." And that was how a great scandal threatened to affect the kingdom "After all, Watson," said Holmes, reaching up his hand for his is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. same porter was on duty, I found, as had been there when I after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I would have done the same with the other garments had not he heard father was actually in sight at the time, and the son was horrible worrying sound which it was dreadful to listen to. An child?' all. Still, of course, I never dared to leave the room for an more than thirty feet down. I clambered out upon the sill, but I observed. daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she everywhere, seen everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of nice household for a young lady." God, what shall I do! I have lost my honour, my gems, and my son