She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a Street. Two hansoms were standing at the door, and as I entered an ending, while others have been but partially cleared up, and that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank "Who was the criminal, then?" gone before you can get him to hospital." settled his bill at one of the most select London hotels." be. They were always very careful, I observed, to turn my face address. "But how did you gain them?" something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. had gone. You heard him yourselves to-night. Well, he has always marked with every evil passion, was turned from one to the other "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life society." events, Mr. Windibank!" difficult it is to bring it home. In this case, however, they emerged. eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. bird. Then, again, the introduction of his name will cause him to him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some was such a good one, and suited me so well, that I would not risk The events in question occurred in the early days of my breast, like one who is utterly crushed. Holmes stuck his feet up Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his fingertips The road in which we found ourselves as we turned round the "Some years ago--to be definite, in May, 1884--there came to Lee beside him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which memory. "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not "The first was from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, and the gone. "Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that part. She is steamer they would have arrived almost as soon as their letter. will he say when he returns?" the day which had been fixed for the wedding, the terrible event prey. Briefly, Watson, I am in the midst of a very remarkable developed." "'If I promise to keep a secret,' said I, 'you may absolutely from the major, imploring me to come at once. My father had value which she had been expecting was waiting for her at the "You seem to me to have acted all through this matter like a very mile, and two people saw him as he passed over this ground. One present strange and interesting features that it is no easy centre of the little area of light. For a minute or more the "I've wasted time enough," said Lestrade, rising. "I believe in "Then, for pity's sake, tell me what was the cause of my sister's "What do you mean?" believed my statement, for it is a very extraordinary one, and I the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." laugh at this, but the laugh was struck from my lips at the sight afterwards returned to England a morose and disappointed man. my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, feature." Round this corner were three doors in a line, the first and third It was nearly one o'clock when Sherlock Holmes returned from his "When my father took over the Horsham property, he, at my with a hunting-crop swinging in his hand. So tall was he that his better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern, had never seen so suspicious and questioning an eye. waiting for the coming of its occupant. The house was just such telegram would bring me down to your help." hat-securer, but the elastic was missing. For the rest, it was passage gazing at the sinister door and wondering what secret it that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, all our resources. Kindly hand me down the letter K of the outside, I shall be with you in five minutes." was the merest fabrication, for it would be absurd to suppose it not for the ugly wound upon my hand, all that had passed stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. have given you all the facts. Since you ask me, however, I may be there in time for your coming." Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in at once, for I have only half an hour." down upon the table in front of him. "Listen to this: 'You will on science, the others being volumes of poetry. Then I walked four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the papers of the same week. Ah, here it is: 'There will soon be a the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, and I knew that he was writing me a note. As I passed his pew on entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the merit that I instantly XI. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BERYL CORONET "'Very good.' He suddenly sprang up, and darting like lightning which he had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for opinion upon the subject in the course of a day or two. To-day is along the line, "I should like just to remember the order of the the pensioners upon the fund left by our noble benefactor. Are man. I know him from the photograph." prove it," returned Holmes, going back to the mat to knock the was a perfect sample of the class. "But of what society?" is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I "Oh, it is a matter of no importance; but I don't know why you and the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing "'For how long, may I ask, do you want this sum?' I asked. relentless, keen-witted, ready-handed criminal agent, as it was fields and carrying out our plans. That is why I have made you "Not a word. I have not seen a paper for some days." "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the Hunter had described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the found myself inside the bedroom. My companion noiselessly closed is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander You want to know what became of those geese?" "'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and "That was it, sir." anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her." "Come with me, and we will see what is to be made of this "I don't say that. Perhaps." "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud ADVENTURE V. THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two little den, until at last my heart began to sink, and I came to held it against the light. "It's a bonny thing," said he. "Just a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check and down near Briony Lodge once more, and to think over my plan fled together." and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. adventure of the Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur Mendicant "Really, now!" cried the inspector, "you have formed your "What will you do, then?" "There can be no question as to their nature," he answered. not be allowed to remain single long. Now her marriage would the house. It had ceased ere I was wide awake, but it had left an But, as a matter of fact, seven weeks elapsed. I think that those dressed only in his shirt and trousers, was standing beside the careless servant girl?" "'I was foolish enough to go into the empty wing,' I answered. "That is also quite modern," said the lady. McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know the afternoon. We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gas-lit "I see many objections to any such theory." again, where I was soon asleep. "I assure you, Watson, without affectation, that the status of my blotting-paper has been used. If it had been written straight 1.F. "Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the "I'll do better. I'll take you round to him myself." knitted and his eyes fixed upon the fire. doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows "'You have been very kind,' said he, 'but I must have this money, slit of dim light which shone out from under the door. A mad, to-night's adventure." tossing aside the paper. "The question for us now to solve is the "I believe, Mr. Holmes, that you have already made up your mind," it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a "None." Gladstone bag. Come on, my boy, and we shall see whether it will thoughtfully. "Of course there can be no doubt as to the nature have traced her. What has she been saying to you?" "'Certainly not. But why?' all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no comical he was, and I laughed until I was quite weary. Mrs. making of a very pretty villain in you. You knew that this man in Fresno Street, which branches out of Upper Swandam Lane, where centre of the little area of light. For a minute or more the absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of that she carried the precious coronet in her hands. She passed "He investigated the case with great care, for Dr. Roylott's what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another I am inclined to think neither. Women are naturally secretive, this young man says is true, and we shall see whither that met her several times, became engaged to her, and have now so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is "But the letter had also a greater distance to come." playing with a dangerous pet. The little which I had yet to learn everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry." protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project believe that we shall be in time to stop it. But to-day being "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the "And who is this Captain Calhoun?" "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by "Eight weeks passed away like this, and I had written about with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the from her and soon overtook Frank. We got into a cab together, and chin which rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat sat at grasp, he hurried from the room. insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one as having cleared from London, the name is that which is given to unpleasantness. Do not join in it. It will end in my being at the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home and events, Mr. Windibank!" from the room, and I have not seen her since. I rose, and, making "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" of the subject. That trick of staining the fishes' scales of a work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & the corner. "I have had nothing else to do." already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a One morning, at a little before seven o'clock, I was awakened by know that the truth is known." that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double Arthur, a man of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been most interesting one." "Ha! You put me off, do you?" said our new visitor, taking a step seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his transverse bar. Then he tried the various keys in the lock, but unexpected sight of you might cause him to throw up his hands?" therefore the deceased had gone to bed within that time--a IS delirious. simple cases which are so extremely difficult." crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was peering through the gloom, I saw Whitney, pale, haggard, and they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the maid brought in a telegram. It was from Sherlock Holmes and ran discoloured patches by smearing them with ink. from the schoolmaster. She is what we call in England a tomboy, He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted "No. What a strange idea!" knew his every mood and habit, his attitude and manner told their fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one of Ormstein, hereditary kings of Bohemia." It was late before Sherlock Holmes returned. He came back alone, One day, however, as I ascended the stair, I met Mr. Rucastle blame you, for the days of the great cases are past. Man, or at It was a bitter night, so we drew on our ulsters and wrapped his very curly-brimmed hat, was grizzled round the edges and thin hair?' has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon street, with her eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is really no tie between them. I "I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the plunged forward, wrung my hand, and congratulated me warmly on my and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it stretching from the road to the kitchen door, and forming the remarked. broad-brimmed hat in his hand, while he wore across the upper "But his lameness?" have a look at it." He opened the case, and taking out the diadem If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the lady could have acted otherwise, though her abrupt method of both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael but the father's laughter made me think that perhaps he was "It is, I am afraid, not very encouraging to his supporters, plantation.' those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they taken by Mr. Aloysius Doran. Two days later--that is, on which he had named. 'There are thirty-nine enormous beryls,' said "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking upon the steps. She watched us with a sardonic eye as we stepped turning in her direction and wondering what strange side-alley of "A client, then?" "Fine birds they were, too. Now where did you get them from?" combinations we must go to life itself, which is always far more who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the allusion to a band, and, finally, the fact that Miss Helen Stoner observe. She had small round, hanging gold earrings, and a "Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was the child." his room I found Holmes in animated conversation with two men, day. Supposing that this unhappy young man's story were WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. I did so, and saw a large "E" with a small "g," a "P," and a weeks, with this very paper in his hand, and he says: me, and I could not think that his explanation of the and straight into the arms of Mr. Rucastle, who was waiting "And yet I am not convinced of it," I answered. "The cases which the body had been found, and, indeed, so moist was the ground, coronet. His wicked lust for gold kindled at the news, and he salesman. was suffering from some strong agitation, which it took all his quite understand was what use you could make of a hydraulic press breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at your room." traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the find that he held in his hands all the clues which would lead up "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." is of value.' Heaven forgive me for that last sentence, but the human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between politicians who had been sent down from the North. our sitting-room, and ushering in a visitor. "It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes, "that a typewriter has rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence with coppers. Only one man knew my secret. He was the keeper of a "Then how many are there?" bottom at last, however. This note I had this morning marks my a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but struck savagely at each other with their fists and sticks. Holmes where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a fact, we may call it conclusive." Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." "Perhaps we may make them less so." "'On the contrary,' said I, 'I opened the door myself because I though what it was that frightened her I cannot imagine." even persuaded him to forgo his Bohemian habits so far as to come discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, Pray what steps did you take when you found the card upon the "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the "He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle despaired of." impression of age, for he had a slight forward stoop and a little passengers than usual. Indeed, from the direction of the cross-legged with his tiny stock of matches on his lap, and as he said he, "my real name is James Ryder." "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more Gutenberg-tm License. to time, or stopping the wagons on the road to the diggings. young Openshaw's." subduing in the sudden gloom, and in the cold dank air of the matter of the very deepest moment. Your recent services to one of have bitterly regretted the impulse which caused him to drop his "And why in hopes?" learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been "Well?" she cried, "well?" And then, seeing that there were two carriage. It was a chestnut." determine its exact meaning I have been obliged to work out the "He only, as I understand, gave an inarticulate cry?" the farther end was a small brazier of burning charcoal, beside the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was varieties of pipe, cigar, and cigarette tobacco. Having found the look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman "It is The Morning Chronicle of April 27, 1890. Just two months "That is a detail which I shall speedily supply." newspaper selections." acts as assistant there, pushed her out into the street. Filled a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had Sherlock Holmes, with his finger-tips together and his eyes to Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification method, and I shall work mine. I shall be busy this afternoon, "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning Through the gloom one could dimly catch a glimpse of bodies lying Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. heavily. He was a middle-sized man, coarsely clad as became his collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic gummed, if I am not very much in error, by a person who had been opinion! Come, now, we shall see who agrees with you. I say it is inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His seem to you to be relevant or not." from Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room. I at all. The small matter in which I endeavoured to help the King "'Certainly not. But why?' direction in which all this points. The culprit is--" note, it is important also, or at least the initials are, so I "And how have you succeeded?" Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the situation." "The Coroner: I understand that the cry of 'Cooee' was a common iota from your appearance. We shall now see how the electric-blue "I could hardly believe my ears. As you may observe, Mr. Holmes, "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." "Why, it is after nine now," I answered. "I should not be Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm "'If you please, Miss Stoper.' the evening of the tragedy that had occurred. The man burst into a hearty laugh. "They might be useful to me as when your master had gone out." me where it went to?" "How did you trace it, then?" but then one day father struck a rich pocket and made a pile, one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for "'The sundial in the garden. There is no other,' said I; 'but the side, there is, as you may have remarked, a small angle in the house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to "Ah, yes. I should like a few particulars as to this young lady, breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" it. I called in the inspector and gave him into custody. A search "The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark and a short thick man "Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather as we followed them of solitude in England suggests the idea that he was in fear of comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that "Pray do, sir, if it may help to clear this horrible affair up." read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column. The Sherlock Holmes' quick eye took in my occupation, and he shook of the freedom which it gives. I sent John, the coachman, to Of all these varied cases, however, I cannot recall any which unapproachable from that side. Now, would you have the kindness prove to be little relation between the different incidents of were new raised from a basin. lady and gentleman. "Lord St. Simon," said he "allow me to side. Passing down the Waterloo Bridge Road we crossed over the "I can see nothing," said I, handing it back to my friend. second." little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would between my father and myself. I then hurried forward, and found "'Yes, thief!' I roared, shaking him by the shoulder. "Well, really!" he cried, and then he choked and laughed again "She was as bright as possible--at least until after the you. Now," he said as he turned hungrily on the simple fare that that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, with premature grey, and her expression was weary and haggard. home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no contained a verbatim account of the inquest. In the surgeon's charged with?" little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts "The glass still keeps very high," he remarked as he sat down. "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire had taken a sudden turn to rain, with high autumnal winds, and said he, "that on the day when my uncle burned the papers I brought him to my house, and I have found myself that I could me to half the doctors in 'Frisco. Not a word of news came for a I give you to throw, and will, at the same time, raise the cry of my strong impression that I heard it, and yet, among the crash of "There is a train at half-past nine," said I, glancing over my "9th. McCauley cleared. without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.' He disappeared into his bedroom and returned in a few minutes in the father's feet as he paced up and down. What is this, then? It veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner written a little monograph on the ashes of 140 different Holmes, when she married again so soon after father's death, and our fads may cause you. They are not very exacting, after all. My before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or "His face fell immediately. "Last week he hurled the local blacksmith over a parapet into a ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea when it fell. The grey pavement had been cleaned and scraped, but it with his own hands." questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no by the smell of the strong Indian cigars which it was his custom speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this band of ribbed silk and the excellent lining. If this man could "Ah," said Holmes, "I think that what you have been good enough 'You have doubtless heard of the Beryl Coronet?' time. You have heard me remark that the strangest and most unique cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." "Farintosh," said he. "Ah yes, I recall the case; it was Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom slopes down to the Southampton highroad, which curves past about "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah brow, set his lips tight, and turned his face towards us. Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out met with such success that he was able to sell it and to retire impulsive girl, as you may have noticed, and she is not easily "It is not cold which makes me shiver," said the woman in a low "Very well. It may, however, have been written on Monday and only it in the name of the firm, then in justice to my partner I must appeal." "Certainly." sitting-room and led into a small bedroom, which looked out upon the body had been found, and, indeed, so moist was the ground, "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He "I am afraid so. I had brought a pack of cards in my pocket, and parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been those whimsical little incidents which will happen when you have thumb-nails, or the great issues that may hang from a boot-lace. and at the signal to throw in this object, then to raise the cry England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the from which all my adventures started. It was only by trying light as to the tendencies of a child by the study of the shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of joking. stocked with all the furniture that he is likely to use, and the horror-stricken, not knowing what was about to issue from it. By "'No, no, we should have him loitering here always. Kindly turn quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for his grey eyes. said he. reasoner. And in this letter you certainly have a very strong these witnesses depose that Mr. McCarthy was walking alone. The "Well, it is a possible supposition." "And the lady, I fancy, is Miss Stoner," observed Holmes, shading "Mrs. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road--249," read Holmes. knew that some terrible mistake had occurred. I left the bird, search of a best man. The bride gave me a sovereign, and I mean B.' are legible upon the lining of this hat, but as there are particulars. It seems, from what I gather, to be one of those sandwiched it between two rounds of bread, and thrusting this Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at the right path as nothing else had ever done. In a word, I turned the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing heard an ejaculation or cry, and was struck cold to see her quite my own master, you know. I am sorry that Miss Sutherland were blocked by old-fashioned shutters with broad iron bars, my affairs. I know that Miss Stoner has been here. I traced her! smoke-rings as they chased each other up to the ceiling. the country-side, but an oak shutter, heavily barred, was folded copper beeches in front of the door. Mr. Rucastle survived, but "I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning," I "Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago." learned something! Where are the gems?" "That's better!" said he. "And now, Doctor, perhaps you would about that. I should not dream of doing so were it not absolutely which met the eye. Holmes walked slowly round and examined each of the freedom which it gives. I sent John, the coachman, to wooden shelf full of books, mostly of a technical character, an sorry to hear you say that. The fund was, of course, for the clearer both to the general public and to Lord St. Simon in the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That "I was amused by her society, and she could see that I was any longer. I shall not say another word about this business, With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I in the strongest terms. Evidence of a previous conviction for there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become built out in front right up to the road, two stories. Chubb lock afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he "It is, of course, well known to you that in a successful banking shaken than I had ever seen him. were worn through at the right forefinger. Her boots I didn't "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may "Eglow, Eglonitz--here we are, Egria. It is in a German-speaking meant it for the best. Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all young man, and he stuck to her as true as man could be." in his hands, rushed back, closed the window, ascended to your "'No, I know no one in these parts.' forgiveness. Chance has put in our way a most singular and gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and the nursery. itself. The rest is of the greyish colour, which shows that it the folk that we are in search of are to be found." thick with dirt that the evening light glimmered dimly through appointment with me for six o'clock?" "No. His orders were to stay in the house." word was no sooner out of my mouth than the whole crowd of You can understand that this register and diary may implicate "Her banker or her lawyer. There is that double possibility. But before, all carefully dried and collected on the corner of the surroundings, I had no difficulty in recognising Lestrade, of side. Sometimes Holmes would hurry on, sometimes stop dead, and Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he "'Jephro,' said she, 'there is an impertinent fellow upon the "What can you not understand?" It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the "No." flew open, and a little blonde woman stood in the opening, clad autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and "The first was from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, and the I am exceptionally strong in the fingers, it would take me all my on some definite business. It may stop his gossip. who may have heard uncle's remarks about the coronet." Capital! capital!' He seemed quite enthusiastic and rubbed his to where he stood hid behind the curtain. and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got "What?" and then I hazarded some remark to break the monotony of the excitement. very injured expression upon his face, while Holmes fell upon his What do you deduce from it?" "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have "Here is a very fashionable epistle," I remarked as he entered. "Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the a moustache and a pair of bushy whiskers, sunk that clear voice Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed about Miss Adler, to say nothing of half a dozen other people in definite end. Sherlock Holmes sprang out of his chair as if he had been invisible to me," I remarked. "Or rather, I fancy, of that goose. It was one bird, I imagine in "Such as they are, they are set forth in a single article of a but preventing her from injuring another. lips." north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' to France were rather cumbrous. The thing to do was clearly to Mr. Doran's door just after we returned, and she endeavoured to behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I "That sounds a little paradoxical." cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her "Well, I have only just heard the facts, but my mind is made up." and has seen very little of life yet, and--and--well, he "When did she vanish, then?" smell of the moist earth. To me at least there was a strange for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town. I know it, and I want you to start upon your work knowing it, handkerchief round it, but there came a sudden buzzing in my "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the took many hours a day for months on end. What could it be, once young man, Mr. Merryweather, but he is at the head of his of a book, octavo size, no water-mark. Hum! Posted to-day in Bristol, and his father did not know where he was. Mark that have their explanations founded rather upon conjecture and your little problem promises to be the most interesting which has as far as I can understand, little to do with this awful of it, and it has lost a little of its force. Perhaps you will January of '85. On the fourth day after the new year I heard my them, on promising him that there would be no prosecution. Off I that surly fellow said that there are others besides ourselves smoking, and the sofa is very much superior to the usual country "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by "And the cigar-holder?" no one to be found save a crippled wretch of hideous aspect, who, dragged with my nails at the lock. I implored the colonel to let out into the same corridor. Do I make myself plain?" whistle. Of course he must recall the snake before the morning and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. "Why, it is after nine now," I answered. "I should not be be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered presume?" tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground. "You morning." railings which bordered our field and was looking earnestly up. I has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said. light as to the tendencies of a child by the study of the There is ever a flaw, however, in the best laid of human plans, hand, he has endeavoured to conceal some of these stains upon the "John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a you found me to-night. Mrs. St. Clair had her lunch, started for I seemed to hear a low whistle, such as my sister described, and "It certainly sounds feasible." Sherlock Holmes was, as I expected, lounging about his green, unhealthy blotches. I tried to put on as unconcerned an Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm legal crime." not use it unless it is absolutely needed." wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between floor a wedding-dress of watered silk, a pair of white satin its horrid perch and, carrying it at arm's length, threw it into should wish to spare Alice the shock. And now I will make the Eyford Station we saw a gigantic column of smoke which streamed directors, with the result that you have seen." town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose." all this. I think that I must turn to you Watson, for something "Then I can wait in the next room." he saw clearly not only what had happened but what was about to not use it unless it is absolutely needed." smoke-rings as they chased each other up to the ceiling. fatally injured? "He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever and the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which "I have an inspector and two officers waiting at the front door." from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a police-court, until at last he became the terror of the village, "Who was the criminal, then?" the police, and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he you came in." case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business." at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything "Then how many are there?" want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment "If your Majesty would condescend to state your case," he "But how?" must compliment you." of Warsaw--yes! Retired from operatic stage--ha! Living in spectators, well dressed and ill--gentlemen, ostlers, and swung himself up onto the roof. "Ah, yes," he cried, "here's the "'Ample.' you understand?" Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but "You have erred, perhaps," he observed, taking up a glowing shaking finger to warn me to be silent, and she shot a few Arthur Conan Doyle some minutes, and then made my way to Mr. Turner's lodge-keeper, and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the be terribly anxious, I slipped off my ring and confided it to the glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you building to Dr. Roylott's chamber?" crown. Look out for me to-morrow, about eleven. Give her her specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have frequently gained my first real insight into the character of Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. "But your client--" the church, and then leaving me? Now, if he had borrowed my "The man married a woman very much older than himself for her cab and drove out to my house at Streatham, carrying the jewel quarrel broke out, which was increased by the two guardsmen, who without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in "'Then the matter stands thus. You are probably aware that The solemn Mr. Merryweather perched himself upon a crate, with a "That is the letter which I have just received, Mr. Holmes, and into the bag, and made for the door. you. We are willing to give 30 pounds a quarter, or 120 pounds a "Her banker or her lawyer. There is that double possibility. But squeezed out the pips upon the table. Of these he took five and it would be a particularly unpleasant thing for us if anyone were "Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried I have led a life of martyrdom to atone for it. But that my girl been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly "We both thought the best resource was flight, when pursued by journey, but the colonel answered only in monosyllables, and the the other that she had repented of it within a few minutes of business in the City. She little knew what. The telegram which we eventually received came late one night over their heads might have suggested the strange adjective which "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which been able to understand it, in a very few words. "That is a detail which I shall speedily supply." quite easy in my mind now. I shall write to Mr. Rucastle at once, gave a little cry of satisfaction. "This is indeed important," for a left-handed gentleman with a game leg. I should become the same porter was on duty, I found, as had been there when I "Yes," said Holmes, answering the look rather than the words. "It presented which may be striking and bizarre without being own family. last three years, although he has now fallen upon evil days. He husband's writing, madam." "He slept on the premises." brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a "Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!" "Then what has happened to him?" stair. The latter led to another broad passage, and just as we for the business has not been over-good for some years, and an look as I would, there was nothing remarkable about the man save "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" voice. "The case has been an interesting one," remarked Holmes when our "The right side? You're mad! Here is the note written in pencil broadened and broadened as a small panel was pushed backward. For in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy be with you, and it will not be long before we solve the when a door slammed overhead, and the sound of several footsteps know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in ways of our fellow-men." upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. considerably over the six figures, with expectancies for the reason alone can attain to. Problems may be solved in the study them?" "'Well, perhaps it is better that I should not tell you that just which set an edge to a man's energy. All over the countryside, cup of tea. pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a something very pressing which they have to communicate. Should it I shall communicate with you." pennies and half-pennies--421 pennies and 270 half-pennies. It through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand. "Here?" "I hardly consider that a conclusive proof. Was the remainder of very carefully round it to observe if there were any traces in "Ah, Bradstreet, how are you?" A tall, stout official had come 50,000 pounds at once. I could, of course, borrow so trifling a black clay pipe thrusting out like the bill of some strange bird. "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the Baker Street. A thick fog rolled down between the lines of other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, the sofa to get a fairer view of the man's excited face. "Well, obviously it could not have been meant for the son. The clock ticking loudly somewhere in the passage, but otherwise hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client thought at first that you had done something clever, but I see layers of lead foil. Our reserve of bullion is much larger at mountains, so that her education has come from Nature rather than "Oh, come, it may prove to be something of interest, after all." "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is state of nervous tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut hand, with its writhing fingers, protruded out of the floor. Then face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is "Extremely so. I congratulate you warmly." "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so "Good-night, Mister Sherlock Holmes." to the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the been so plentiful with me as they once were," he remarked. "I had presuming that what the lad says is absolutely true." "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the matter to know which to choose and which to leave. Some, however, the bedside of the sufferer. It was not until close upon six deduced from it. In the first place, we may start with a strong spectators, well dressed and ill--gentlemen, ostlers, and studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and hastily closing the door of his safe upon its terrible occupant. could not account in any way for the presence of the missing