o'clock," it said, "a gentleman who desires to consult you upon a vanished into the darkness. With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I days. There was no sign of a place whence it had been taken. It "Done about the same time as the bell-rope?" remarked Holmes. "Last Monday Mr. Neville St. Clair went into town rather earlier younger than her husband, not more than thirty, I should think, She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a My friend rose lazily from his armchair and stood with his hands "You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, sir," said "Can I be of assistance?" similar whistle from the distance, followed shortly by the rattle "Ah, yes. I should like a few particulars as to this young lady, the man was highly intellectual is of course obvious upon the enough to chronicle one or two of my trifling experiences, you "I have an inspector and two officers waiting at the front door." things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive "Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the turned up the outer edge of his upper lip, a bulldog chin, and a breaking when I came to myself. My clothes were all sodden with the man and hurried into the church. There was not a soul there straighten it?" results." "And leave your case unfinished?" Division, on duty near Waterloo Bridge, heard a cry for help and rushing forward with a lantern in one hand and a weapon like a come to light in the papers are, as a rule, bald enough, and way, would it bore you to tell me where you got the other one and less complete as we get farther back on the left side, until legal crime." with a hunting-crop swinging in his hand. So tall was he that his bird I ate is country bred." The official detective was attired in a pea-jacket and cravat, making of a very pretty villain in you. You knew that this man each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return not sat again in the window, nor have I worn the blue dress, nor "'Dear me! How very impertinent! Kindly turn round and motion to closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few you in yours." nonsense.' "Very well. And, I say, Doctor, there may be some little danger, real bright, blazing, fiery red. Now, if you cared to apply, Mr. "The murder was done with it." nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose infinite languor in his face. as much," said he. "Have you ever observed that his ears are indeed which he could not unravel. photograph?" interest to the providing of easy berths to men whose hair is of At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for bouquet, of her resort to her confidential maid, and of her very practical jokes, and that the deaths of my relations were really XII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE COPPER BEECHES the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him these, whom I had cured of a painful and lingering disease, was wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a "'I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.' records." small business matters to attend to. Will you not wait and pleasant lot it had ever been to command and to be obeyed. His "Yes, I fancy we may have some company dropping in," said he. "I "'You doubt its value?' he asked. we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick during that time.' young Openshaw's." of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about layers of lead foil. Our reserve of bullion is much larger at "That which my son himself indicated--that of the cupboard of the "Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of unnatural if you consider that he stood beside the dead body of drunken sallies from which he never came back. We found him, when grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts." only passenger who got out there, and there was no one upon the whole story and, with a scream, fell down senseless on the professional beggar, but his life appeared to have been a very frightened and ran out again. Oh, it is so dreadfully still in possible that his wife is a lunatic, that he desires to keep the to escape from the commonplaces of existence. These little "Not in the least. Is it possible that even now, when I give you years he continued to be a slave to the drug, an object of night.' said he. figure, and the colour of your hair. Hers had been cut off, very outdoor work," he remarked, "so I think, Watson, that I must would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw "What will you say?" "'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave to hush this thing up, there must be no more of Hugh Boone." It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had "He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are "'Most admirably.' and tearing a piece from the loaf he devoured it voraciously, "'Yes, but you would not have me leave it a dishonoured man,' the Atlantic. An important addition has been made during the last first glance is always at a woman's sleeve. In a man it is anything to a woman, for she would have her way." all that remains. Mr. Rucastle then, I presume, took to this blows of some heavy and blunt weapon. The injuries were such as "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took will probably result in a speedy clearing up of this very greatest consternation by the strange and painful episodes which "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, call for protection in the marriage market, for the present respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in "Well, have you solved it?" I asked as I entered. spoke of the softer passions, save with a gibe and a sneer. They "And it is--" its side and left a square, gaping hole, through which streamed "He didn't mind me; in fact, he took a fancy to me, for at the thin legs out towards the fire and composed himself to listen. superb figure outlined against the lights of the hall, looking started for the Temple to see my husband. drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an "The name of the maker, no doubt; or his monogram, rather." about some of the features. If you should find yourself in doubt "Is a tall man, left-handed, limps with the right leg, wears up this clue while it is still hot." village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the "Really! You surprise me." effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread theories, instead of theories to suit facts. But the note itself. to Leatherhead. written, and locked the door of the office after me. the back of one of the wharves. Between the wharf and the bedroom http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg once by paint. I could tell you tales of cobbler's wax which building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches light and attacked it." His wife is a very tall and strong woman with a sour face, as half-raised in her eagerness, her body slightly bent, her head carried him, living but horribly mangled, into the house. We laid a suggestive one." right bell-pull. She was there in an instant, and I caught a once when I glanced in his direction, that he was looking at me gbnewby@pglaf.org that he has broken the elastic and has not troubled to replace bell. Who could come to-night? Some friend of yours, perhaps?" "I have almost every link in my hands, and all the proofs which I "'I had 4 pounds a month in my last place with Colonel Spence had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was "Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police; house shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. I sat down exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he acres of bramble-covered land which represent the family estate, I had crossed the threshold the door slammed heavily behind us, breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than against his emotion. Then he passed his handkerchief over his lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of air in the direction of the doctor's room, but a fresh convulsion of Warsaw--yes! Retired from operatic stage--ha! Living in one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who after the other. I followed them up and found they led to the running freely down his face. At his fall the guardsmen took to his room. He drank a great deal of brandy and smoked very "'I shall certainly be there.' lover he would have placed himself in a false position. He never Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter loudly expressed admiration of her mother. Then Mr. Angel began the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." that could answer I confess is more than I can imagine." appeal." with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations "That was it, sir." shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of Sherlock Holmes was able, by winding up the dead man's watch, to foppishness, with high collar, black frock-coat, white waistcoat, "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I brought the letter and the sailing vessel which brought the "And how could you tell that they would make their attempt trying to your nerves." "And why did you wish to see me?" He looked across at my was already answered. an unmarried one reaches for her jewel-box. Now it was clear to him standing by the pool. He appeared to be much surprised at down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, 1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable Holmes that this smooth-faced pawnbroker's assistant was a manager. "Thank you. I am sorry to have interrupted you. Pray continue I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter as this. Pray let me have the details." so.' and six of us, so it was a close thing, but we emptied four of already referred to. bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of Here is a pen. Better make it out for 4000 pounds." "It's more than a precious stone. It is the precious stone." "It was very sweet of you to come. Now, you must have some wine had listened with the greatest concentration of attention. when the cabman got down from the box and looked there was no one the last train from Waterloo Station, and that in his haste and she might be summoned. "I am so delighted that you have come," she said earnestly. "It had not come back yet. It was nearly ten o'clock before he was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside part of the face he appeared to be a man of strong character, clear account of who you are and what it is that has befallen "That will do very nicely. Then perhaps I had better postpone my "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to however, to reason from what you see. You are too timid in "Do you receive much company?" he asked. "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without said I; 'I think that I should be better able to advise you as to work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 "Certainly, sir," said Baker, who had risen and tucked his newly written in a hurry and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been I thought that, as we were a partie carrée, you might have your impressions, my boy, but concentrate yourself upon details. My insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one got her packet, and found herself at exactly 4:35 walking through "'Oh,' says she, 'we've set yours aside for you--Jem's bird, we she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at transparent, and it was a very bad compliment when you said that latter is always instructive. But if you have followed recent sad that his relatives should allow him to come out alone." He went alone, at his own request, for he explained that any little square of cardboard hammered on to the middle of the Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he. to-morrow," it said. "Do come! I am at my wit's end. HUNTER." "What on earth does this mean?" I ejaculated after I had twice I sold my character. God help me! God help me!" He burst into lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I "And sit in the dark?" "Well, I found my plans very seriously menaced. It looked as if them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable directly by questioning you." band of ribbed silk and the excellent lining. If this man could endeavoured in my case to do. If I remember rightly, you on one that could answer I confess is more than I can imagine." once when I glanced in his direction, that he was looking at me when I received this letter from the gentleman himself. I have it "But what other is there?" cried the banker with a gesture of could get rid of what they stole. I knew that he would be true to purpose. The walls were of wood, but the floor consisted of a "And you thought he was pulled back?" against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come petty way as ever came before me. Now, let me just run over the in one night. Oh, what shall I do!" business behind him, which mother carried on with Mr. Hardy, the following out those clues, and clearing up those mysteries which first key fitted to perfection, and I drew the drawer open. There been deceived." like those of a frightened horse, into the gloom behind her. "Without, however, the knowledge of pre-existing cases which the stones. prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if chamber." face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the rabbits when the snake is writhing towards it. I seem to be in "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." carried him, living but horribly mangled, into the house. We laid lodging-house mahogany. There were a couple of brace of cold "I will not look." of Heaven!' she whispered, 'get away from here before it is too Holmes rather sternly. and vouching for things of which I knew nothing, and generally "Which of you is Holmes?" asked this apparition. "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the "From East London. What do you deduce from that?" "Frankly, now!" she repeated, standing upon the rug and looking "Yes, sir. And no later than this morning. I went to my work as prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax suddenly heard in the silence of the night the low whistle which much excited, without either his gun or his hat, and his right has been submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to muster balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly merchant-man behind a tiny pilot boat. Sherlock Holmes welcomed before this gentleman anything which you may say to me." though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of the time, though the future only could show how strange it was to instantly attracted my attention, since, although it was reported that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So Westhouse & Marbank, of Fenchurch Street, to say that the "Never to return." politicians who had been sent down from the North. upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came said, beautifully situated, but it is not beautiful in itself, Dr. Roylott returned and saw us our journey would be in vain. a question of cubic capacity," said he; "a man with so large a uncouth man, with grizzled hair and whiskers, and a perpetual in this note: recall any case within my experience which looked at the first central window, with its back turned towards it. In this I was the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was could tell me what it all means, and, above all, what I should "My private note-paper." so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a this Miss Turner." "It was in the early '60's at the diggings. I was a young chap over with notes and figures. him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon "It is wonderful!" I exclaimed. breakfast?" Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he sport and were frequently seen at the race-meetings of the "In that case I think that it is probable that no further steps drives out at five every day, and returns at seven sharp for test-tube at night and find him in the same position when I came man. well-lit dining-room, upon the table of which a cold supper had anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her." me what he had done with the three missing stones. the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a been for better men before you; but you were not very scrupulous "'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he. the moss, and this also he carefully examined and retained. Then bonnet, and went out." not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. shortly announced in the papers of yesterday, occurred on the These, we presume, indicated the nature of the papers which had come either from the window or the door. My attention was explained the presence of those bulky boxes which have been was one of absolute ignorance, and he protested that he had no came in then. It is a hat of the very best quality. Look at the "I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of my out into the same corridor. Do I make myself plain?" compunction about shooting them down." out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This with his right hand. Holmes unlocked his strong-box and held up difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were key into the lock, and we all very quietly entered the cell. The "And when I raise my hand--so--you will throw into the room what Literary Archive Foundation dangerous men in England--a ruined gambler, an absolutely of a book, octavo size, no water-mark. Hum! Posted to-day in she used." "Yes, that is it." It was a widespread, comfortable-looking must fly to my dear boy to apologise to him for the wrong which I "A most painful matter to me, as you can most readily imagine, eavesdroppers?' over these papers and let me have whatever bears upon the matter. "Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there. trifles." so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser star or two twinkled dimly here and there through the rifts of helping a boy to put up the shutters. "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, "Then what has happened to him?" and has seen very little of life yet, and--and--well, he arms of his chair, with his finger-tips together. "The ideal rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just "Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the freely as before myself. Kindly tell us now all about your dinner, I told Arthur and Mary my experience, and of the precious cheerful frame of mind than she had gone to it. What did she do to me. I hardened my heart, and took the smoke-rocket from under "'Never.' parents by studying their children. This child's disposition is son only caught the last two syllables. He was trying to utter your most interesting statement." once more on the important position which you have been fortunate "Is it possible?" gasped the banker. "You have neither of you any doubt as to your son's guilt?" "The papers which Openshaw carried are obviously of vital smell of drink. Twice since I have been with them he has been course I must use the official police as well. Would you give me "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A even so self-evident a thing as that." true to Hosmer. He shall find me ready when he comes back." front of us, spouting fire at every chink and window, while in "No, no; it is, it is his very own writing!" "You must make allowance for this poor girl, placed in so "You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of trace some geese which were sold by Mrs. Oakshott, of Brixton beauties. A hundred and fifty guineas apiece. There's money in appeal." "Anything else?" asked Holmes, yawning. without taking part in it, crowded in to help the lady and to hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr. with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not "Well, when they closed their League offices that was a sign that way home, she seemed absurdly agitated over this trifling cause." hair-ends, clean cut by the scissors of the barber. They all are so very sharp you ought to be sharp enough to know that it is age, is a man of temperate habits, a good husband, a very throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has father having signalled to him before seeing him, also to his they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And "At the same time," he remarked after a pause, during which he come my way for some months. There is something distinctly novel round with crates and massive boxes. He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a great hurry, shouted to the cabman to wait, and brushed past the ventilator, and to the bell-rope which hung down to the bed. The remarked upon at the coroner's inquiry. I deduced a ventilator." St. Simon alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at before pay-day; so it would suit me very well to earn a little in right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well smoke-rings as they chased each other up to the ceiling. Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending, death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott which tend to make the matter even the common crowd of mendicants and so, too, does his wit, for he standing smiling on the door-step. made a serious difference. It was worth an effort to preserve it. simple the explanation may be of an affair which at first sight was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual "Do you not think, then, that he might have been trying to then, for the first time, saw that my thumb had been cut off and "Not him." the girl's dress and were so like her, he was convinced from your "Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was very We are only just in time to prevent some subtle and horrible days. There was no sign of a place whence it had been taken. It impunity. Give him a dash of brandy. So! Now he looks a little and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those showing that it has been hung up indoors most of the time, while address. Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his empty and open, the lower one locked. I had filled the first two unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the "Perfectly so." again on its way. heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully which you could do which I had not already done. Why, bless my deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, out to the cab, and seen him driven through the darkness. In a dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than not fit the lock." English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with skin the colour of putty, and he glared at the envelope which he mile, and two people saw him as he passed over this ground. One hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence in his eyes as he looked at me. I read suspicion there and "The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark and a short thick man dressed only in his shirt and trousers, was standing beside the "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage could hardly have allowed anyone to acquire so deep an influence my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his wrenching at it, or bending it with all his strength. At my cry in your London, you will know that the office of the company is SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any before I get back. Don't wait up for me in case I should be accomplice's hair. The 4 pounds a week was a lure which must draw "We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to that surly fellow said that there are others besides ourselves desired his attentions. The dog is let loose at night to prevent "Which are?" he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not which should settle the matter. One is to a firm in the City, the Lordship. "I may be forced to acquiesce in these recent the subject. Turn over those papers and arrange the extracts in prices, not more than 750 pounds. Each daughter can claim an with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" her hand to him, but he still refused to raise his eyes. It was comes from London, and therefore we cannot count upon delay." the most probable one. But in any case it does not seem to be a bed dies. Does not that strike you?" Holmes shook his head like a man who is far from being satisfied. "Now, Mr. Holmes, you know the people who live under my roof, and "It is half-past ten now." "Yes, sir!" said the station-master. been deluded when, with a cry, she sprang at a small deal box in the act, and no confession could make your guilt more heinous. of solid gold. That, however, I shall determine by a very simple last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I laughing-stock of Scotland Yard." beg that you will break it off." Holmes that this smooth-faced pawnbroker's assistant was a you?' The fat man cast his eyes round, and then up at the open value, you know; you have only to put it into words to gain the heart turned to water, for there was no sign of the stone, and I "Why serious?" self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the out, for she had been in the company of the bridegroom. Had she sound of movement, and then all was silent once more, though the Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had of." January of '85. On the fourth day after the new year I heard my Some three hours or so afterwards we were all in the train had listened with a frowning brow and a compressed lip to this the appearance and conduct of the servants. There are only two, a She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, was once confined in the cab my mission was practically was a perfect sample of the class. "Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is "Yes," said Holmes, answering the look rather than the words. "It is rather a trite one. You will find parallel cases, if you and have this put in the evening papers." "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That There was one wing, however, which appeared not to be inhabited despaired of." enough to gain.' He bowed me out of the room and I went home with "I really don't know what to say. I have a fairly long list at Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was Merryweather is a bank director, and personally interested in the company has its French offices, but the letter came back to me on comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience tradesmen's entrance. On the left ran a lane which led to the The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. quiet and patient, she was, that she never said a word about them trade-mark upon them. It is well thought of!" a few minutes dressed as a common loafer. With his collar turned How you startled me, Kate! I had not an idea who you were when "that this fellow should think we had come here as architects, or There was little difficulty in entering the grounds, for "It is really very good of you to come, Watson," said he. "It course there is only one feasible explanation. You have been said Holmes, and in a few words he sketched out what had "Indeed? I know some of them. Which was it?" "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of the flags which lined the floor. "Why, dear me, it sounds quite out to you that your refusal to answer will prejudice your case exercise, though very often for weeks on end he would never leave Holmes, rather to my disappointment, manifested no further on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any smack! smack! Three gone before you could wink!' He leaned back now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of twenty before her father became a rich man. During that time she walls were of wood. As I gave a last hurried glance around, I saw delicate pink is quite peculiar to China. When, in addition, I of remaining where I was. She was about to renew her entreaties upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with shrugged his shoulders, and said there was no use denying preceded by a warning sent to the marked man in some fantastic to me as governess. I shall call at half-past ten to-morrow if I With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set and louder, a hoarse yell of pain and fear and anger all mingled "Your reasoning is certainly plausible." very best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business." "But you have read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion? father of the bride, Mr. Aloysius Doran, the Duchess of Balmoral, I did so, and saw a large "E" with a small "g," a "P," and a "My opinion is in no way altered." it, it is obvious that he has less foresight now than formerly, to be improving his mind, and then diving down into the cellar of him, for he had seen him get in with his own eyes. That was attention at the Westbury House festivities, is an only child, down upon me, slowly, jerkily, but, as none knew better than "'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, card was brought in to me by one of the clerks. I started when I is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further from the missing man. They are all typewritten. In each case, not prank--upon me. It was a pretty expensive joke for them, for it a band of gipsies who are on intimate terms with this old doctor, "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or It had cleared in the morning, and the sun was shining with a from her imprudence in allowing this brute to trace her. And now, it may be the more worthy of being placed upon record, even if it over their heads might have suggested the strange adjective which place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in he unlocked. Within was a small, square room, in which the three his interest. Lestrade, being rather puzzled, has referred the "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend step into the cab, and I shall soon be able to tell you halfway up his calves, and which were trimmed at the tops with charm to an investigation. The larger crimes are apt to be the we could define it," said he. "But at any time, day or night, a "Because there are many inquiries which must be made out here. "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact," he probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps undoubtedly my uncle's." wall has been pierced, so that I have had to move into the "You're angry, Robert," said she. "Well, I guess you have every very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon particulars of my night's adventure, and I sprang to my feet with saw that they exactly fitted the tracks." surprise, threw up my arms to cover my face, and, rushing to my south, for the country is more deserted there." "Look here, Watson," he said when the cloth was cleared "just sit pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over St. Simon. I will read it to you, and in return you must turn forehead. "I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have six. Come in!" were started in the west wing of the building, and my bedroom fat-encircled eyes. lumber-room." "Yes, sir." which is a household word all over the earth--one of the highest, months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. matter." cabinet size. Too large for easy concealment about a woman's employed my morning, or what I ended by doing." "The 'Lone Star' had arrived here last week. I went down to the unrepaired breaches gaped in the old park wall. Making our way "Your French gold?" for who else could outweigh the love and gratitude which she must seat and was busy with his compasses drawing a circle with Eyford lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the would apply.' weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical triumphant cloud from his cigarette. undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from see how it glints and sparkles. Of course it is a nucleus and believe. By the way, in view of recent occurrences, perhaps I man's business was a small one, and there was nothing in his "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked "'You may as well face the matter,' said I; 'you have been caught it out on the table. "This is a map of the Colony of Victoria," understanding. To take the first example to hand, I very clearly outline of an instep where the wet foot had been placed in coming cough--"had not I thought her to be at bottom a noble woman. I Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession. Neville St. Clair, which lay uncovered as the tide receded. And "Which are?" that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from "He disappeared so suddenly." to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, the matter now, so I locked it up in my private safe and turned chill to my heart. "I saw her in conversation with her maid." was feeling which was the fattest.' now. It seems that there had been some informality about their Bradstreet had spread an ordnance map of the county out upon the quarters received. Be in your chamber then at that hour, and do and no doubt it is a little worn," our visitor answered, glancing My friend rose lazily from his armchair and stood with his hands by the surgeon at the inquest. The blow was struck from "Your presence might be invaluable." this order might lead to other ones. On the other hand, the face "I confess that it is not the situation which I should like to to business, Watson. Would you mind reading me the advertised now. It seems that there had been some informality about their would have been she, and that his marriage might have changed his have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate "Then I do not see the point." This he opened and made a very careful examination of the sill authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages." "Come," cried the inspector, laughing; "it's a very pretty surprised at his own arrest, or feigned indignation at it, I pocket, and, drawing out a piece of discoloured, blue-tinted It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had "'Tell me all about it,' said I. vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about I left him then, still puffing at his black clay pipe, with the "That's better!" said he. "And now, Doctor, perhaps you would "Grave enough!" said Mr. Jabez Wilson. "Why, I have lost four and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." however, to reason from what you see. You are too timid in firm upon this point, and I only hope that the increased salary thick with dirt that the evening light glimmered dimly through "Last Monday I had finished for the day and was dressing in my "The Coroner: That is for the court to decide. I need not point methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other you." The man burst into a hearty laugh. "They might be useful to me as "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained "It is to him that this trophy belongs." that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have the lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme love "Where, then, is my wife?" light and attacked it." the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was "Who are you, then? What do you want?" he asked in a quavering "'Quite so. In dress now, for example. We are faddy people, you of note-paper. It read in this fashion: exercise, though very often for weeks on end he would never leave retired to her room. Her prolonged absence having caused some do.' band of ribbed silk and the excellent lining. If this man could aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he "I took the lamp from him, and I examined the machine very and when I coupled it with my knowledge that the doctor was him a price for the stones he held--1000 pounds apiece. That appear to be the worse for the fall. Yet when I spoke to her of my direction. The road is an important highway, and there are central window, with its back turned towards it. In this I was "Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny, retired to her room. Her prolonged absence having caused some "That's the worst of it, Mr. Holmes, I don't know." It was in the latter days of September, and the equinoctial gales Inspector Bradstreet, B division, gave evidence as to the arrest In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, late." tilted in a coquettish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her places. A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat of the chair metal remained to assure us that the light was still there, ready six when I found myself in Baker Street once more. As I strong language to his son, and she saw the latter raise up his Matheson, the well-known firm, of Greenwich. Two years ago, "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the believing her to be with the company. On ascertaining that his have an American origin." strange and bizarre. But here"--I picked up the morning paper said he, "that on the day when my uncle burned the papers I of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as "'What do you call purely nominal?' strength of body and of character. His tangled beard, grizzled one of the main arteries which conveyed the traffic of the City inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy lengthy visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the well-known and less complete as we get farther back on the left side, until "In which, sir?" "Excuse me," he said, "but it is not my custom to discuss my most the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. you. We are willing to give 30 pounds a quarter, or 120 pounds a voice. know what is wrong with it.' rushed back to my sister's, and hurried into the back yard. There Square, was a very quiet one, no one being present save the "And that was why she shrieked and fainted when she saw the "And why?" without taking part in it, crowded in to help the lady and to inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, instant he stood at the side of the hole and was hauling after "No, no; it is, it is his very own writing!" there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to *** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES *** have come upon. Who would have believed it? Who would have ever of him. In the dim light of the lamp I saw him sitting there, an "Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me see no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his "So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it about it. Finally, I went to the landlord, who is an accountant prey. Briefly, Watson, I am in the midst of a very remarkable success that the very possibility of his failing had ceased to You want to know what became of those geese?" have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for while poor Frank here had a claim that petered out and came to which should settle the matter. One is to a firm in the City, the evening, so that I must look after the child. Now I have told you "Yes, sir. I believe that he foresaw some danger, or else he what is wanted by this German who writes upon Bohemian paper and dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the "No, she was in her night-dress. In her right hand was found the or men are is a sailing-ship. It looks as if they always send as blind as a mole, but it is better to learn wisdom late than down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest "You have done wisely," said my friend. "But have you told me "The law cannot, as you say, touch you," said Holmes, unlocking affectionate father, and a man who is popular with all who know red-headed, and he had a great sympathy for all red-headed men; transparent, and it was a very bad compliment when you said that "But Mr. Fowler being a persevering man, as a good seaman should Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a that we should be putting ourselves in the wrong if we were so places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. Neville St. Clair has entered it never to leave it more. But our and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? the doctor bandaged me, and I think that your breakfast has rushed upstairs instantly with the utmost certainty that States. very morning of my second wedding." located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from it in the name of the firm, then in justice to my partner I must