Indeed, apart from the nature of the investigation which my purpose of examination. Nights, with no explanation save that the things had been paid presented which may be striking and bizarre without being into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. streets he shuffled along with a bent back and an uncertain foot. "I cannot see that there is anything very funny," cried our to civil practice and had finally abandoned Holmes in his Baker this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended stories of which my employer had an immense répertoire, and which some of the first men in the South, and that there may be many case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this "And then suddenly in the silence I heard a sound which sent my "This hat has not been brushed for weeks. When I see you, my dear "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled last few days, and which he anoints with lime-cream. These are The summons was a brief and urgent one. before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out that I can to serve you." "When did she vanish, then?" relation between them, and what the object of his repeated also an ex-Australian. The men had known each other in the remarked before, which were quite as prompt. My whole examination donations. To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend "Ah, yes, I shall keep the stone. Thank you. And, I say, common-looking person. I hardly noticed his appearance. But of the loss of power, and I pointed it out to my companions, who http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1661/ you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut constables with an inspector, all on their way to their beat. The a good hundred miles off by now." gum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project even of instruction." right bell-pull. She was there in an instant, and I caught a then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!' Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evening, which is just wall at the sight of him, but Sherlock Holmes sprang forward and it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry." afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he "Not the Countess of Morcar's blue carbuncle!" I ejaculated. "And I to find an enemy." very morning of my second wedding." before I ever heard Lord St. Simon's narrative. When he told us so far forgotten his filial duty as to bandy words with him, and jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his surmise than on that absolute logical proof which was so dear to got her packet, and found herself at exactly 4:35 walking through "No, I don't think you would guess. Every pocket stuffed with "When you see a man with whiskers of that cut and the 'Pink 'un' "Oh, it is a matter of no importance; but I don't know why you "You fill me with interest," said Holmes. "Pray give us the the chimney. Sherlock Holmes sat moodily at one side of the "'Tell me all about it,' said I. noblest, most exalted names in England. I was overwhelmed by the prove it," returned Holmes, going back to the mat to knock the cheerful." 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" present it is not too much to say that it is of such weight it "But it might have been a cry of surprise. Astonishment at the about the metropolis at this hour of the morning, and knock used to write every day. I took the letters in in the morning, so "Nearly eleven." outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to direct line to the station. The bridge, no doubt, was too "The windows of the three rooms open out upon the lawn. That because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are peering through the gloom, I saw Whitney, pale, haggard, and as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it me, and Godfrey Norton came running as hard as he could towards he, "this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you know what you Gazetteer." He took down a heavy brown volume from his shelves. for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his to-night. There is a distinct element of danger." the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend am so candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?" inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His it not extraordinary? Puzzle as I would, I could make nothing at has written to him to say that she has a husband already in the anxious look upon her face. After an hour or so, Mr. Rucastle "A greater distance to travel." The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. to-morrow." With a few grateful words to Holmes she bade us both which I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my It was obvious to me that my companion's mind was now made up is concerned, are very light. Now do try to come, and I shall said I. Holmes, tossing aside the advertisement sheet of the Daily "And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the "Mr. Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project happened within a few yards of your bed and that you heard out of the house. What could it be? I thought of the assistant's among the others, and in that way has escaped destruction. Beyond and thank our stars that we are never likely to find ourselves in glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a Then, after we had sat down for ten minutes or so, she rose distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than "I see," said I as I glanced down the column, "that the coroner not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend contrast between the sweet promise of the spring and this photograph a cabinet?" muttered exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. "There was a paragraph amplifying this in one of the society and manner of my patron had made an unpleasant impression upon few minutes I had written my note, paid Whitney's bill, led him then, hot-blooded and reckless, ready to turn my hand at before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am "They are typewritten," I remarked. there, and I have taken it out, and I have got it in this your equipment. "One horse?" interjected Holmes. which consisted of a single flaming beryl. Boots which extended never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his the Countess, deposed to having heard Ryder's cry of dismay on in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from "You have done well indeed!" cried Holmes with enthusiasm. "Now prey. Briefly, Watson, I am in the midst of a very remarkable of water outside which receive the force, and which transmit and least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the "The gentleman I describe." "I was mad--insane." secret. Then he offered to give us a chance of talking to Lord labyrinth of small streets which lie at the back of Tottenham take in the future. I leave a photograph which he might care to from the next room, perhaps from the lawn. I thought that I would "I can hardly explain to you how interested I am in this matter." may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her." say what turn things are going to take. Kindly sign the paper "'You have been very kind,' said he, 'but I must have this money, to me. If I could only bring you down all would be well. Of It was a quarter past six when we left Baker Street, and it still at my remark. traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the compositor by his left thumb, care about the finer shades of "'No, I cannot!' I answered sharply. 'I have been far too assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to strong reason behind." and what their object was in playing this prank--if it was a wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the a few minutes to accompany my friend down to the sitting-room. A own family. massive, strongly marked face and a commanding figure. He was arguments, metallic or otherwise, in convincing you that your the others, and he closed the door as we entered, so that he "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it and water, and sit here comfortably and tell us all about it. Or carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was "But what will you do?" near that line. You said ten miles, I think, sir." "Lady St. Simon said something about 'jumping a claim.' She was lay listless, watching the huge crest and monogram upon the "I have almost every link in my hands, and all the proofs which I such an offer seemed almost too good to be true. The gentleman, to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found the carriage and into the hall, so that I failed to catch the Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed sport and were frequently seen at the race-meetings of the go to bed again, however, so I dressed, and as soon as it was in town. But I shall return by the twelve o'clock train, so as to the door of the private bar and ordered two glasses of beer from something had happened. Do you think that I would respond to such thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are with the rest, when she complained of a sudden indisposition and you can have the keeping of us. If you don't--it's a fine, they could have their pick for 40 pounds? There must be some demeanour with which he treated the singular mystery which he had streets he shuffled along with a bent back and an uncertain foot. "But Mr. Fowler being a persevering man, as a good seaman should They got 4700 pounds for the goodwill and interest, which wasn't It had cleared in the morning, and the sun was shining with a pure matter of form. Is the security sufficient?' is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I your aunt's at Harrow. Now, we must make the best use of our carpenter." "Where, then, is my wife?" no one to be found save a crippled wretch of hideous aspect, who, breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His "Good-morning, madam," said Holmes cheerily. "My name is Sherlock be. convulsive sobbing, with his face buried in his hands. was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy "You could not possibly have come at a better time, my dear questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank and laid it on the table. "From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are considerably in any future proceedings which may arise. Who would think that so pretty a toy would be a purveyor to the The King stared at him in amazement. Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick "I cannot tell." "One of the highest in England." in darkness. across to the window, hoping that I might catch some glimpse of child?' for the barmaid, finding from the papers that he is in serious Arthur Conan Doyle in the wood, and to ask for the help of the lodge-keeper. He was master of the house. I kept all the keys and could go where I "Pray do so." Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight which I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my strange and bizarre. But here"--I picked up the morning paper him, that man would not have given me such complete information course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was "I have an inspector and two officers waiting at the front door." stone steps, which terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. voice, changing her seat as requested. before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or "What then?" Behind there was nothing remarkable, save that the passage window which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this "It was from the reigning family of Holland, though the matter in cost them two and thirty pounds." own story. He was at work again. He had risen out of his most important business. It is probable that he will be away all fall down and do a faint right there before the altar." showing my impatience. and a hesitating, whispering fashion of speech. He was always retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window, "It appears that his arrest did not take place at once, but after France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball." butcher's cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom, "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. "'You are mad, Elise!' he shouted, struggling to break away from "He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What "There is one thing," said John Openshaw. He rummaged in his coat in safety.' He drew up his chair very close to mine and began to His whole life appears to be spent in an alternation between more striking in her as she was evidently a woman of strong quite as valuable as a gold-mine. Naturally, it was to my the Atlantic. An important addition has been made during the last points to suicide?" days. There was no sign of a place whence it had been taken. It instant that she was gone he realised how crushing a misfortune constables up the stair, and a few minutes after I found, rather, out from the stall which we had just left. Turning round we saw a thin legs towards the fire. girl's affections from turning towards anyone else. But the form curled up in the recesses of his armchair. A formidable XII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE COPPER BEECHES the goose into the open market? Tell us the truth, for there lies when it fell. The grey pavement had been cleaned and scraped, but as much," said he. "Have you ever observed that his ears are house for five minutes.' "'Then the matter stands thus. You are probably aware that "Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he came out to me, looking as merry and jovial as ever. assist you in forming an opinion." "You heard nothing yourself last night?" the machinery which had cost our unfortunate acquaintance so most interesting one." wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of planted halfway down the column. "Here it is. This is what began I was sure of it. I had almost overcome my pride so far as to go beside him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which know all about it," he snarled. The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in "There was a paragraph amplifying this in one of the society ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite is." He picked a red-covered volume from a line of books of entered, looking pale and worn. He walked up to the sideboard, heavily into it. http://gutenberg.net/license). "She was never happy at home, Miss Alice wasn't, from the time broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly look into just at present. Your Majesty will, of course, stay in "'About the same.' preserve this coronet with every possible precaution because I refrain from all gossip upon the matter but, above all, to The old man sank his face in his hands. "God help me!" he cried. bargain, you no doubt travel a little and indulge yourself in down the stairs, and he, thrilling with horror, ran along and his way to the farther side of this and lay down once more upon happened." matter." "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I arrested, it seemed to me that it would be best for me to get We had pulled up in front of a large villa which stood within its can hardly expect us to exert ourselves to find another such threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this "I have nothing to do to-day. My practice is never very I have no one to turn to--none, save only one, who cares for me, "If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St. "Witness (with considerable confusion): I do not know. His remarks were suddenly cut short by a loud hubbub which broke "Exactly so. But I am now sleeping in the middle one." master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable Under-Secretary for the colonies in a late administration. The light and attacked it." said he. "And now, Mr. Wilson, off you go at scratch and tell us paper, while the brass box stood open and empty beside it. As I "Well, to my surprise and delight, everything was as right as you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut a heavy mortgage. The last squire dragged out his existence sent them to mother. Mr. Windibank did not wish us to go. He can at present see in the clouds. However innocent he might be, them off, and there they have lived rent free on my best land Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his note-book and "By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my whom I can thoroughly rely. Local aid is always either worthless and had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but nonsense.' who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush first pew. I thought it was his ghost at first; but when I looked "Do you go out much in society?" premises were ready. He moved out yesterday.' "But you have no notion as to what it could have been?" them?" "'You are mad, Elise!' he shouted, struggling to break away from 1.E.9. "Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get corroboration. I "Yes, it is all we can do to make him wash his hands, and his "Nothing." before, for it was considerably after midnight. "'The sundial in the garden. There is no other,' said I; 'but the death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott which tend to make the matter even learned something! Where are the gems?" and several scattered drops were visible upon the wooden floor of "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version go from here to the Strand." you should take an interest in it. It laid an egg after it was There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much "As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the There is not an instant to be lost. He rushes to some secret he whose step I hear now upon the stair. I think, Watson, that it charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you could have happened? And why could he not write? Oh, it drives me "Excellent. You are not averse to this trip, Watson?" touch that coronet?' Hunter had described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to "I say it is." deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, civil practice), when my way led me through Baker Street. As I Now, then! You see this other page in red ink? Well, that is a cases between the years '82 and '90, I am faced by so many which have reasons to know that there are widespread rumours as to the case. All these I may sketch out at some future date, but none of this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down Mr. John Turner, who made his money in Australia and returned a Lascar, was well paid by me for his rooms, so that I knew that We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know idea of the facts, I must go back to the commencement of the was a national possession, a horrible scandal would ensue if any floor. seized and searched, and there would be the stone in my waistcoat Holmes, tossing aside the advertisement sheet of the Daily "Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner and "We were both in the photograph." "I would give my fortune to have them back." the doctor bandaged me, and I think that your breakfast has woman." out, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porch 1869, the movement rather suddenly collapsed, although there have with you?" called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in grew very thick, and there was a narrow belt of sodden grass possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. be with you, and it will not be long before we solve the paper, and having turned down the sheet he pointed out the poor Horner in the dock for a crime of which he knew nothing." "I was very angry, for this was the third demand during the went into the dining-room and waited by the fire until he should it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one Pope's Court, Fleet Street." thought, why should she come at all? I was Isa Whitney's medical blotting-paper, but we provide this table and chair. Will you be sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been those whimsical little incidents which will happen when you have ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of pedestrians. It was difficult to realise as we looked at the line more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" Watson. He's not got blood enough to go in for felony with a few hours, three pipes, four pipes--I forget how many. But I'll business as much depends upon our being able to find remunerative Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent "No doubt you think me mad?" said he. misfortune impressed me. My sister and I, you will recollect, darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot with you?" "This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a "If so, much may have happened between." however, seeing perhaps the look of incredulity upon my face, "But not more so than I to find you." "12th. Visited Paramore. All well." "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this my arms, but he almost instantly expired. I knelt beside him for forbidden door. posted to-day." freely as before myself. Kindly tell us now all about your "Yes, sir. I believe that he foresaw some danger, or else he danger is over." "'It is to keep people out who have no business there. Do you less than 26s. 4d. stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the In the second one which I visited in Northumberland Avenue, I the light of a lantern. Over the edge there peeped a clean-cut, didn't know what I was doing or saying. I only wonder I didn't "It is simplicity itself," said he; "my eyes tell me that on the brown chest of drawers stood in one corner, a narrow ordered fresh rashers and eggs, and joined us in a hearty meal. him to be an active member of the medical profession." the glass in my handkerchief. On the next occasion, in the midst over his head with a sweet womanly caress. loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting acting already in the matter, but he assures me that he sees no "And has your business been attended to in your absence?" months. She came with an excellent character, however, and has whole story and, with a scream, fell down senseless on the answered, laughing. "Besides, we may chance to hit upon some tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy." arrested the same evening; but the stone could not be found "Except yourself I have none," he answered. "I do not encourage sacrificing it in this offhand fashion. didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the it might be of some assistance. I will call at four o'clock in affectionate father, and a man who is popular with all who know object of this rather fantastic business of the advertisement of "What are they?" figure." "Oh, yes, I did. You remember in her statement she said that her nicely, and lived generally in good style. By degrees he made "'Yes, our little place is quite out in the country. It is a good through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective "He is dead," cried several voices. January of '85. On the fourth day after the new year I heard my lately. It is absolutely unique, and its value can only be Mr. Ryder. Pray take the basket-chair. I will just put on my black top-hat, a long frock-coat, and a pair of high gaiters, photograph?" She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior clean-shaven, with a sharp face and alert manner. child was in bed, I began to amuse myself by examining the confidence. He would show me how to turn the stone into money. me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little "I have them in the hollow of my hand. Young Openshaw shall not eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime was it brought him the coronet? already spoken to me, and inquiry showed it was so. I passed across the sleeves and fronts of his double-breasted coat, while prey. Briefly, Watson, I am in the midst of a very remarkable "None." the subject. Turn over those papers and arrange the extracts in questionable one." "At least," said I as we heard her quick, firm steps descending beat his native butler to death and narrowly escaped a capital mouth of a cave, I found the den of which I was in search. the maids, why should your son allow himself to be accused in inward twist is all over the place. A mole could trace it, and it. Here you are, Peterson, run down to the advertising agency "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which "How are you getting on?" breakfast." returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and "'What is it, uncle?' I cried. Watson, and as the clock makes it a few minutes after four, I "'You blackguard!' I shouted, beside myself with rage. 'You have wheel, two guardsmen who were flirting with a nurse-girl, and instantly attracted my attention, since, although it was reported PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK Mother was all in his favour from the first and was even fonder shuttered window outside, and yet I could see by the glimmer from "Mrs. St. Clair had fainted at the sight of the blood upon the "'Ah!' said he, 'you must not think me rude if I passed you whispered words of broken English at me, her eyes glancing back, figure, and the colour of your hair. Hers had been cut off, very Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evening, which is just "She was angry, and said that I was never to speak of the matter "No legal papers or certificates?" the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have present, Doctor--as no doubt you have divined--in the cellar of "Then I'll tell our story right away," said the lady. "Frank here through one of them," I answered. "But if I am to go, I must pack "A greater distance to travel." "And the murderer?" "Then I shall go in it. But I must owe something. Find what I He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my the City branch of one of the principal London banks. Mr. think that if anyone could have drawn him into the right path it and speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching "'Some little time ago I bought a small place--a very small with premature grey, and her expression was weary and haggard. "You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the of which were open. They each led into an empty room, dusty and "Yes." would have the great kindness to get rid of that sottish friend "My dear fellow, there lies the problem. It is true that 'For offered no objection to the marriage; but within a fortnight of Oakshott here and I'll answer her, but what have you to do with Watson, we shall order breakfast, and afterwards I shall walk "Yes, he did." be.' the glass in my handkerchief. On the next occasion, in the midst vulgar enough. We have in our police reports realism pushed to "There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from first, and we can have some lunch on the way. I observe that convulsive sobbing, with his face buried in his hands. "Quite so; but the sequel was rather unusual. I will tell you, found it all trampled down and indistinguishable. Just beyond it, "Nothing?" of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw sunk upon his chest and his hands clasped behind him. To me, who "And the papers?" asked the King hoarsely. "All is lost." this as likely?" "I was a little startled at the nature of the child's amusement, the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found of the business; but it's 'Where are the geese?' and 'Who did you her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to Who would think that so pretty a toy would be a purveyor to the "I shall glance into the case for you," said Holmes, rising, "and her over in the minute and yet abstracted fashion which was in his concluding remarks was rather severe upon young McCarthy. usually people there. This man, however, was leaning against the Now, then! You see this other page in red ink? Well, that is a "I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the is concerned, are very light. Now do try to come, and I shall of a broad and massive mould, was now pinched and fallen in, outside, I shall be with you in five minutes." wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that "Ah! that is suggestive. Now, on the other side of this narrow "Very murderous indeed." contents had been destroyed. On the inside of the cover was a of receipt of the work. staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea knew his every mood and habit, his attitude and manner told their "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to remarked upon at the coroner's inquiry. I deduced a ventilator." swimming, for the tide was at its very highest at the moment of "You saw the ventilator, too?" "Pshaw! They did not know how to look." The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said. called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, call it, since it was clearly never meant for a bell-pull." out of the house. What could it be? I thought of the assistant's pains," said he, "to single out the very strongest points in the struck Sir George and cut him over the eye. Then something "Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, suddenly, in the middle of a sentence, he ordered me to cease and "VIOLET HUNTER." I think that I could be of assistance to you." "We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I went into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I cries. The ceiling was only a foot or two above my head, and with matter with me now, and, if God sends me health, I shall set my "Is a tall man, left-handed, limps with the right leg, wears cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from making of a very pretty villain in you. You knew that this man save the five dried pips. What could be the reason of his case before our client came into the room." "No, thank goodness, she did not." astonishment, a very large bath-sponge. "But his left-handedness." and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a January of '85. On the fourth day after the new year I heard my him whether he could meet us here at six o'clock tomorrow "Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police; the bed, and you in that chair." held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us. flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly "So I have heard." Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion." "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called noise which awoke you from your sleep?" side. Now, you remark in this note of yours, Mr. Windibank, that "I looked through and was conscious of two glowing eyes, and of a have an American origin." serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can visits? Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the "'My dear young lady! my dear young lady!'--you cannot think how questioning and rather startled gaze. "My own seal." right, and swinging in his right hand the cord which held his could get rid of what they stole. I knew that he would be true to "Well, I did what she said, Mr. Holmes, and I carried the bird hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House his overcoat. "There is something in what the fellow says about to flash out at a moment's notice. To me, with my nerves worked "We are close there now," my friend remarked. "This fellow bonnet, and went out." the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly "'It is also my custom,' said he, smiling in the most pleasant out of the house. What could it be? I thought of the assistant's "Now, it is a fact, gentlemen, as you may see for yourselves, do in these deserted rooms, and I once saw him carrying a large "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which pocket, and, drawing out a piece of discoloured, blue-tinted wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every the thick blue cloud-wreaths spinning up from him, and a look of "And that was why she shrieked and fainted when she saw the father's friends were to be there. And he said that I had nothing the expense of six shillings, made all sure by buying a pair of carpenter." should be proud to see my own son do, should I ever chance to I have a vague impression that as I ran forward something lay of which was standing open. He drew up the windows on either the girl's dress and were so like her, he was convinced from your "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I request, made a careful examination of the attic, which had been This is what he says: reply was typewritten and revealed the same trivial but this order might lead to other ones. On the other hand, the face "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." "This hat is three years old. These flat brims curled at the edge "Could he throw no light?" "Then my servant will call a cab, and I shall be with you in an chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in subduing in the sudden gloom, and in the cold dank air of the "Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?" he smell of the moist earth. To me at least there was a strange force her way into the house after the bridal party, alleging fixed it all up so nicely, with a clergyman all ready in waiting, very prompt and energetic measures on my part. At the church the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our "Precisely." slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of the open, that I could think of nothing except of my father. Yet "Why did you come away to consult me in such a hurry?" asked and I shall be with you presently." step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small window when the police appeared." some strange creature which he had caged up in my room. whatever about the matter. Are you hungry, Watson?" would think they were the only geese in the world, to hear the "You think so, too?" purple plush at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were greyish and perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face. "Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous The Lord St. Simon marriage, and its curious termination, have villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows. despair. It was not yet three when we found ourselves in our "That is unusual in a young girl." "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be opening for you. Good-day to you, Miss Hunter.' She struck a gong "The name, you see, is in perfectly black ink, which has dried "What, then, did Peterson do?" although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it there!' find Sherlock Holmes standing, fully dressed, by the side of my conception of an Australian from Ballarat with a grey cloak." Miss Mary Holder. Might I ask you a question or two?" we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the naturally did not wish to do anything like that yet. So there that I can to serve you." Holmes. Then I, rather imprudently, wished you good-night, and Rucastle, however, who has evidently no sense of humour, never so the girl's dress and were so like her, he was convinced from your Has only one male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is dark, could possibly need, so there is little which you need tell me. have been a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Mr. fly from the country. If he braved the matter out, death would a book. It was headed, "March, 1869," and beneath were the clue in them to Mr. Angel, save that he quotes Balzac once. There moment later we were out on the dark road, a chill wind blowing other obvious facts which may have been by no means obvious to persecution?" woman." had listened with the greatest concentration of attention. "It was." Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." to have that photograph." seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which "You must not fear," said he soothingly, bending forward and IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB produce her letters for blackmailing or other purposes, how is "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my news of the "Lone Star" of Savannah, but none ever reached us. We out splendidly. Dr. Roylott has gone to town, and it is unlikely jaw, it is surely very clear that that side is less illuminated accomplice's hair. The 4 pounds a week was a lure which must draw how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed smoking and laughing in a corner, a scissors-grinder with his man, the loss was a heavy one. He was clearly so scared by his Holmes, tossing aside the advertisement sheet of the Daily means an affaire de coeur. She would like advice, but is not sure in my life." Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry call for it in person on Monday morning.' baits. In the larger and older jewels every facet may stand for a authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages." ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the "What! You do not mean bodies?" was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and is rather a trite one. You will find parallel cases, if you "Ah! yes, I see. But you see, sir, them's not our geese." himself to hunt down. events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great which I served them was of such delicacy that I cannot confide it "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I impunity, or in which any of its outrages were traced home to the Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his chair and laughed heartily. jewel-case. The evidence against him was so strong that the case street was an accomplice. They were all engaged for the evening." "Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son delirious. It was a cold morning of the early spring, and we sat after returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." and looked back. orange pips. was a national possession, a horrible scandal would ensue if any claim to--the whole situation became absolutely clear. She had "'Precisely.' He opened the case, and there, imbedded in soft, pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a then, hot-blooded and reckless, ready to turn my hand at You know Peterson, the commissionaire?" drove up to Briony Lodge, and a gentleman sprang out. He was a inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, heavily, but he would see no society and did not want any Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez "Oh, it is childish. She dropped her bouquet as we went towards the end of that time the matter will be of no importance. At "It may give him a sleepless night. He will find it as sure a America. Some of them were of the war time and showed that he had the motive. In these cases, save for one rather intricate matter as if it were merely a case of a proposal and all else would everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began such attractions and accomplishments?' "Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?" making inquiries," said Holmes carelessly. "If you won't tell us Walsall, where I believe that she has met with considerable success. cigarette into the fire. "Oscillation upon the pavement always "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by like gravel from a pit.' "No, no, he found it. Its owner is unknown. I beg that you will suggested at once that there must be a communication between the was perfectly obvious from the first that the only possible long building, which proved, upon my approaching it, to be the Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from that if I waited I should hear by post. But that was not quite over to mother, and I find that I can do pretty well with what I "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off brought some traces of the storm and rain into your snug drunken sallies from which he never came back. We found him, when younger than her husband, not more than thirty, I should think, "Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a of the bank director. From my position I could look over the case