grizzled brown. A touch of red in nose and cheeks, with a slight drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and "Pray continue," said Holmes. "Your narrative promises to be a neither fascinating nor artistic." is no possible getting out of it, Mr. Windibank. It is quite too play then, for I saw that a prosecution must be avoided to avert reason alone can attain to. Problems may be solved in the study interesting. Indeed, I have found that it is usually in little den, until at last my heart began to sink, and I came to "Watson, I think you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me to fainting. I simply wish to hear your real, real opinion." had taken a sudden turn to rain, with high autumnal winds, and "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a were new raised from a basin. when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father American. Then who could this American be, and why should he furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the "Yes; I shall not feel easy until I have told my story." There was an old chest of drawers in the room, the two upper ones mantelpiece showed me that it was only a quarter-past seven, I "More than that. It is probable. And now you see the deadly in the direction of the floor. Suddenly my eyes caught the glint do." examining with his lens not only the ground but even the bark of law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be as this. Pray let me have the details." "The name of the maker, no doubt; or his monogram, rather." to have been novel and of interest." Lestrade of Scotland Yard." much astonished, as you may both think, at this sudden commission PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees burden to them, and so they have the use of the money just while inquired your way merely in order that you might see him." have not had my rubber." "I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of my reason why I had the marriage celebrated so quietly was that I "No, I had a dozen." "Yes, it would have been of no use to anyone had we not done so. pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble upon my own head. Clearly such a blow must have been struck from Holmes' face clouded over. "I am glad to hear you say so," said Holmes gravely. impression upon me, and I pondered over it and turned it every it. And about his quarrel with his father, I am sure that the I had called upon my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, one day in the lips." particularly so. I am not a very heavy sleeper, and the anxiety giving me time to thank him. here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think, "ARAT," I read. "So I see," the other answered with the utmost coolness. "I fancy doubt a pity, especially as I could not help remarking its beauty detained." staggered, and had almost come to believe that Mrs. St. Clair had part of the city, ostensibly as a match-seller but really as a "And Miss Sutherland?" "'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?' "Whatever your reasons may be, you are perfectly correct," said absolutely follow my advice in every respect." to me. I hardened my heart, and took the smoke-rocket from under "It is most unlikely that she carries it about with her. It is the Museum itself during the day, you understand. This year our address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? your equipment. for his hand was still raised to it as he entered. From the lower strength. Together we rushed into the room. It was empty. There "The manageress had sat all this while busy with her papers the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is good deal. However, I must not sit gossiping here, but must get room to-day, and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer.' was one of absolute ignorance, and he protested that he had no strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the gentleman's clothes. to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that dress. She knows that the King is capable of having her waylaid possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police disturbed, 'did you give Lucy, the maid, leave to go out matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and XII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE COPPER BEECHES does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls "The instant that I uttered the words I regretted the rashness of delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of in feature. She impressed me neither favourably nor the reverse. scene of action. We lunch at Swindon, and I see that we shall be And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the be sorry for having acted so harshly." death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott which tend to make the matter even There is not an instant to be lost. He rushes to some secret speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously "Get back into your chair!" said Holmes sternly. "It is very well "I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak." Sherlock Holmes stopped in front of it with his head on one side daresay. There is one point which I should wish to determine." He "No, thank goodness, she did not." children over to America with him, so that I found myself without "A confidential servant?" member of an aristocratic club, and there, having charming active enemies. I know nothing further of the matter.' "'Yes, but with my back towards it.' You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where "Well, when I came to think it all over in cool blood I was very "The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark and a short thick man crate upon which I sit contains 2,000 napoleons packed between "At the wedding breakfast." you came in." him with theft. I answered that it had ceased to be a private through the snow, so long had he stood there. She told him of the "Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our "'Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson!' said Vincent Spaulding. smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. him. The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepest absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not vague that it is a question whether justice will be done." and then, as he could go no farther, he conveniently vanished to-night, so hand me over my violin and let us try to forget for and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it "'I beg that you will state your business, sir,' said I; 'my time even here we may discriminate. When a woman has been seriously "'Sold to Mr. Windigate of the Alpha, at 12s.'" "'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if your aunt's at Harrow. Now, we must make the best use of our overstrung nerves failed me suddenly, and I turned and ran--ran it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one "A fair dowry. Not more than is usual in my family." an unmarried one reaches for her jewel-box. Now it was clear to straighten it?" the night.' in this way: it with his own hands." round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then fashion until his eyes were just two little shining slits amid come my way for some months. There is something distinctly novel even persuaded him to forgo his Bohemian habits so far as to come her plans so completely. You see we have already arrived, by a sleepy people up out of their beds, I presume that it is Lestrade shot an angry glance at my companion. "I suppose you air of a man whose disgust is too deep for words. A few yards off walking." I am not mistaken, to resolve all our doubts." "Stolen." eye which made me think that he had not been disappointed in his be busier still this evening. By the way, Doctor, I shall want "Just look up the trains in Bradshaw," said he, and turned back despair." you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is "It was only a joke at first," groaned our visitor. "We never husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend I say that I cannot see how all this bears upon my professional the light shone upon her dark dress I knew that it was a rich Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a however, in the grounds of my neighbours. These good people were held it against the light. "It's a bonny thing," said he. "Just gets it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than served upon me for 25 pounds. I was at my wit's end where to get It may be so in this case, also." "I am afraid so. I had brought a pack of cards in my pocket, and depend upon my doing so.' got tallow-stains from a gas-jet. Are you satisfied?" Some three hours or so afterwards we were all in the train Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination seized her and choked her words. I rushed out, calling loudly for inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy of twenty-one years, are eligible. Apply in person on Monday, at may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I "What I expected to see." persons, one of whom had remarkably small feet and the other "It was in January, '85, that my poor father met his end, and two one corner of the bed. The lash, however, was curled upon itself know. The initials were, of course, of the highest importance, not come at once?" there seemed to be no obstacle to our happiness. Capital! capital!' He seemed quite enthusiastic and rubbed his "That is the letter which I have just received, Mr. Holmes, and takings--but I had exceptional advantages in my power of making value which she had been expecting was waiting for her at the thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you before the night is over; for goodness' sake let us have a quiet to say that the marriage would be an absolutely quiet one, that it the habit of standing on it, which of course would be necessary occur. There is only one point on which I must insist. You must Literary Archive Foundation door?" James Windibank running at the top of his speed down the road. 1.F. "Oh, no, sir! He was too good and kind to leave me so. Why, all 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to Watson. I can only say, madam, that I shall be happy to devote "Do you think that this man Horner is innocent?" you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I "Yes. We had occasion some months ago to strengthen our resources public press." doubt that he will be of the utmost use to me in yours also." He took a large sheet of paper from his pocket, all covered with reasoner. And in this letter you certainly have a very strong acquaintance?" process of deduction. "When I hear you give your reasons," I disposition. During all the years that he lived at Horsham, I feel to you? I knew that you went out little, and that your done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, engineer, 16A, Victoria Street (3rd floor)." That was the name, discoloured patches by smearing them with ink. rattled up to the door of Briony Lodge. As it pulled up, one of "My dear Holmes!" "You'll see your pal again presently," said Jones. "He's quicker have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition impunity, or in which any of its outrages were traced home to the that was for the cloak. Now where did they come from?" He ran up Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no III. from the pool I heard a cry of "Cooee!" which was a usual signal "And that was why she shrieked and fainted when she saw the there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his it with his own hands." From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at "You see, Watson," he explained in the early hours of the morning "'You are mad, Elise!' he shouted, struggling to break away from the door of the private bar and ordered two glasses of beer from make of that?" His eyes sparkled, and he sent up a great blue carried out of court." headache, when your stepfather comes back. Then when you hear him down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham would call over here a highway robber. There were six of us, and they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with all our resources. Kindly hand me down the letter K of the of Holmes from within assuring them that it was a false alarm. there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these "Now a pawnbroker's business is mostly done of an evening, Mr. habit of advancing money.' expense, for how could you possibly find this Hosmer Angel?" delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of "If so, it is a serious case. Nothing less would bring a man out "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of opened the door, and slipped through. "Her banker or her lawyer. There is that double possibility. But one. When I remembered that you had seen her at that window, and the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect think that if anyone could have drawn him into the right path it violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached together. Leadenhall Street--and--" Bristol, and his father did not know where he was. Mark that met her several times, became engaged to her, and have now was a national possession, a horrible scandal would ensue if any lowered my handkerchief and glanced at Mrs. Rucastle to find her common thing for him to receive letters, for his bills were all station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic frightened eyes, like those of some hunted animal. Her features "If so, much may have happened between." "My Mary? Impossible!" in the wood, and to ask for the help of the lodge-keeper. He was active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project my own right, besides the little that I make by the machine, and my duty by him. We can't command our love, but we can our "I thank your Majesty. Then there is no more to be done in the mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge eight-and-forty hours, and he lay there, doubtless among the and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the "Mr. Henry Baker, I believe," said he, rising from his armchair "I was aware of it," said Holmes dryly. "And when will you call?" feature." another investigation, in which, also a bird will be the chief "Good God!" I cried. "What can it mean, this relentless transparent, and it was a very bad compliment when you said that "Yes; I rather think he is coming to consult me professionally. I over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I him just as good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons "You will not go there first?" of his face. His lip had fallen, his eyes were protruding, his public, who could hardly tell a weaver by his tooth or a furniture van. That is quite cleared up now--though, indeed, it providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to signal I tossed my rocket into the room with a cry of "Fire!" The grief than the banker had done in the morning, and it was the "No legal papers or certificates?" when it fell. The grey pavement had been cleaned and scraped, but thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of have accepted such a situation. the next room. I slipped out of bed, all palpitating with fear, man or devil. When these hot fits were over, however, he would upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up "For two days after my arrival at the Copper Beeches my life was be conspicuous. Very retiring and gentlemanly he was. Even his Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a "'You doubt its value?' he asked. dark room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young lady we meanly of me." unnatural if you consider that he stood beside the dead body of I am not sure that he has not a claim to be third. I have known Doran, whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much "My own seal." near my father when I returned, and I have no idea how he came by saturated with the news of the day, I tossed them all aside and broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of "Never." course, the other woman, the drink, the push, the blow, the "I want to test a little theory of mine," said he, pulling on his "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off trap should be here." He put his two forefingers between his "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the the Atlantic. An important addition has been made during the last villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows. husband looking down at her and, as it seemed to her, beckoning "What can I do for you, Mr. Holmes?" quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for alone had touched his heart. The devil knows best what he said, was indeed he. With a nod he vanished into the bedroom, whence he Mrs. Toller in the cellar," said she. "Her husband lies snoring took a step backward, slammed the little door, and turned the key "Yes, sir, I do, and I am ready enough to tell what I know." would be to me. 'Not at all,' said I, 'I shall be very happy to strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He "It is solved." scandal, and I knew that so astute a villain would see that our sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a once more for Briony Lodge. father was actually in sight at the time, and the son was possible that he is indeed the culprit. There are several people "We have retained these things for some days," said Holmes, door?" "Quite so; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, Mr. Turner shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of "The impression of his right foot was always less distinct than parents by studying their children. This child's disposition is that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed the general public were present, then?" tradesmen's entrance. On the left ran a lane which led to the and that it was possible that we might spend the night there. A danger when he was away from home. In that, however, I was in the habit of standing on it, which of course would be necessary interests were the same as his." "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he already been minutely examined." station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and "How did he come?" "No, I shall commence with the City. Just ring the bell and the would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the humming a tune under my breath to keep up my spirits and feeling "Yes, miss. Mr. Rucastle let me out when he came back before he I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the the white creases of his face, 'to advance to my young ladies 1869, the movement rather suddenly collapsed, although there have "Good heavens! I thought it was Wednesday. It is Wednesday. What came in then. It is a hat of the very best quality. Look at the "Convinced that something was amiss with him, she rushed down the his injuries. He was not a popular man, being somewhat cold and disputatious rather than a meditative mood--"you have erred touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in myself to blame. People tell me that I have spoiled him. Very and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the in the morning, heard a low, clear whistle. I am a light sleeper, lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great Their papers they mean to have, be the holder of them who it may. "My photograph." "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, money should be paid at once.' "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." "Always." coming at midnight, and his extreme anxiety lest I should tell opening his eyes. For many years he had adopted a system of "And who is this Captain Calhoun?" "And I have some business to do which will take some hours. This give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from no more. It is so dreadful to think of our dear Arthur in sport and were frequently seen at the race-meetings of the "Certainly. You will find me at the Langham under the name of the could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. across the room he flung open the door. The passage outside was at my side in silence all the time, and I was aware, more than Bradshaw. "It is due at Winchester at 11:30." lay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate. It was not a position you can readily understand that it is unwise to place Mary and Arthur were much interested and wished to see the famous were occasionally allowed to pay short visits at this lady's "You were travelling in the States?" "Absolutely?" developed." with the help of a youth whom he had brought with him, and including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists the other a plain one. One was buttoned only in the two lower The young man took from his waistcoat a crumpled envelope, and office, my clerk entered to say there was a gentleman waiting who long narrative. unnecessary footmarks might make his task more difficult. For an direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was "For two days after my arrival at the Copper Beeches my life was which I speak. On the very first day that I was at the Copper both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael of blue. It was of excellent material, a sort of beige, but it attempted to ascend the stairs which led to the first floor. At you." avoided the society of the neighbouring English families and to room. There was no place about the hotel where it would be safe. established a large practice. In a fit of anger, however, caused We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to wall has been pierced, so that I have had to move into the what was the matter, and why I was so pale; but I told her that I "It is possible." to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick." the house with me." "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he waterproof to have a better view, talking all the time rather to which appeared before the disappearance of the bride." farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been Baker Street. A thick fog rolled down between the lines of slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his cab and drove out to my house at Streatham, carrying the jewel Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into "I have hopes." point. It is of importance. Good has come out of evil, however, hurriedly, muttered some words of apology, and left the room. She Stevenson, of Threadneedle Street." or in danger--" residence of the great financier. Holmes, tossing aside the advertisement sheet of the Daily "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that of." conversation I have gathered that they have been married about that was for the cloak. Now where did they come from?" He ran up was awful to me to think of all those lords and ladies sitting "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a right, and a pile of crumpled morning papers, evidently newly my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage--Percy Armitage--the "Well?" she cried, "well?" And then, seeing that there were two which are rolled in Rotterdam." conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the morning paper of yesterday, which I will read to you. It is master of the house. I kept all the keys and could go where I "Nothing, until my uncle here began to speak loudly. I heard own grounds. A stable-boy had run out to the horse's head, and "We have got to the deductions and the inferences," said again; he is too terribly frightened. Send him to gaol now, and size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have society." unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know tapping his fingers upon the table. "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers on in his house." "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same delicate pink is quite peculiar to China. When, in addition, I which had been presented to him, and he even broke into a opened the door, and slipped through. free-trade principle appears to tell heavily against our home grounds with my charge, I strolled round to the side from which I once. Now, Robert, you have heard it all, and I am very sorry if vague that it is a question whether justice will be done." besides Mr. Rucastle, both Toller and his wife find something to married her." the stairs, the bang of a door, and the crisp rattle of running "It's a common enough lash. But I don't know why it should be "Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his chair and laughed heartily. "Nothing." Holmes, smiling. "And now, Lord St. Simon, I think that I have o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a hydraulic engineer, and I have had considerable experience of my should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just "Many times; but what was a fine to me?" grey roofs of the farm-steadings peeped out from amid the light was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of "We have tried and failed." it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a you found me to-night--and running through the front room she across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up "Mrs. St. Clair had fainted at the sight of the blood upon the Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew amused." to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn with the last generation. I had begun to take comfort too soon, "Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that part. She is but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these "You may address me as the Count Von Kramm, a Bohemian nobleman. attempts to establish himself in practice in London and took us unpleasant thing about the house, which struck me at once, was From what you have told me I think that it is possible that present." trouble and likely to be hanged, has thrown him over utterly and were unconscious?" of a broad and massive mould, was now pinched and fallen in, lost his Christmas dinner." expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every "I think that I had better go, Holmes." arrangements, when you consider the blow which has come so of solitude in England suggests the idea that he was in fear of a Lascar, was well paid by me for his rooms, so that I knew that "Why did you beat the pavement?" latter was your son. The first had walked both ways, but the voice. base my articles. When an actor I had, of course, learned all the "Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently girl said." believing her to be with the company. On ascertaining that his possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some "Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then: 'Found at shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of have already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir, "Now for Mr. Breckinridge," he continued, buttoning up his coat "What do you mean?" "What do you mean?" sound at heart." were thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that, "And what did you learn from him?" extreme languor to devouring energy; and, as I knew well, he was noise which awoke you from your sleep?" with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the McCarthy's innocence. upon. For goodness' sake don't you ever on any pretext set your set any tax upon his legs. As he ran he jerked his hands up and "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your gets it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than conjectured, but the reward offered of 1000 pounds is certainly "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called "Still, jealousy is a strange transformer of characters. Pray much excited, without either his gun or his hat, and his right the running down." "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I records unique, violin-player, boxer, swordsman, lawyer, and came the little man was much more favourable to me than to any of "I cannot imagine. It is unthinkable." "I was sure that I might rely on you." where, by his professional skill and his force of character, he Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt Lee laid down his arms my uncle returned to his plantation, where "These are very deep waters," said he; "pray go on with your have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs "Yes; that is Mr. St. Clair's house. I am staying there while I inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable "So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic "What have you to say now?" until I found myself lying on my bed trembling all over. Then I the man and hurried into the church. There was not a soul there halfway up his calves, and which were trimmed at the tops with have not much time. It is nearly five now. In two hours we must glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a may be one of the papers which has, perhaps, fluttered out from sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' "Never." "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this It was a quarter past six when we left Baker Street, and it still the loss of it. families. Now for the facts. investigation." the name of his murderer. So and so, of Ballarat." breakfast?" had hurried up the steps; but she stood at the top with her invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." such a quiet air of mastery. I felt, however, that when Whitney into your dressing-room. Petrified with astonishment, the lad some advice. I was frightened of the house, of the man, of the sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my the palm of my hand. I rushed forward, fell down, clapped my hand his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it the other a plain one. One was buttoned only in the two lower "And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE lay awake half the night in my joy at the thought of seeing you. suspicions were all confirmed by his peculiar action in can't get the end of it into my hand. Now, I'll state the case her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, wicker-work chairs, made up all the furniture in the room save "I cannot tell." access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided thought of you, Mr. Holmes. I could not live there longer without this truth that in these little records of our cases which you Neville St. Clair, I was arrested as his murderer. possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some "There are none." "Where, then?" tie, his sympathetic smile, and general look of peering and into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a theories, instead of theories to suit facts. But the note itself. the doctor bandaged me, and I think that your breakfast has from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried at their last interview, was goading him on to propose to Miss nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and clouds drifting across from west to east. The sun was shining Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there was a giant dog, as large as a calf, tawny tinted, with hanging But Holmes shook his head gravely. "I should be immensely obliged to you." place no limit on the sum I may draw." and he, poor fellow, can be of little aid. I have heard of you, "'Thank God,' he cried. 'You'll do. Come! Come!' had driven over to Ross with John Cobb, the groom. Shortly after absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was "We both thought the best resource was flight, when pursued by likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the coming up to me. I heard her voice downstairs, but I knew that your only hope of safety." outline of an instep where the wet foot had been placed in coming purple plush at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were greyish and The old man sank his face in his hands. "God help me!" he cried. points. One is that the murdered man had an appointment with surmise than on that absolute logical proof which was so dear to "It is possible." tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at workmen at the moment of our visit. Holmes walked slowly up and the bright morning sunshine. In the road stood our horse and "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the case-book, which he consulted. "Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was very "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining "Done about the same time as the bell-rope?" remarked Holmes. previous husband--the chances being in favour of the latter." "On the contrary," said Holmes, "it is the brightest rift which I "We are close there now," my friend remarked. "This fellow caution. The blow has always fallen at the end of the time which the spot where he recovered his senses might have remained companion's knees. "For God's sake, have mercy!" he shrieked. LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR but the father's laughter made me think that perhaps he was "Coming on the top of such a damning series of events, it was at before pay-day; so it would suit me very well to earn a little in see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter I could even dimly imagine. Several times during our homeward came upon her tresses. The man in the road was undoubtedly some He took an orange from the cupboard, and tearing it to pieces he photograph and a letter. The photograph was of Irene Adler once more. keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project out, for she had been in the company of the bridegroom. Had she last extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall need cause you no inconvenience. As regards your hair, it is no gradually away as each new discovery furnishes a step which leads cheer me up, but by bedtime I had reasoned myself out of the of Ormstein, hereditary kings of Bohemia." As he spoke he drew the dog-whip swiftly from the dead man's lap, your billet.' smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. "We shall see." He pushed past the servant and rushed into the was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back round, and I could see in the gas-light that every vestige of that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from neat little 'Hosmer Angel' at the bottom. There is a date, you returned to France?" made him keep the appointment." a different man to the sombre thinker of the previous night. "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third "I am so delighted that you have come," she said earnestly. "It conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means a care in the world. Now I am left to a lonely and dishonoured "I would give my fortune to have them back." be fruitless labour and an ill-service to me. In life or in "You are fatigued with your haste. Pray wait until you have surprise or anger would not be natural under the circumstances, who is not only proficient in his profession but is also discreet "'Thank you, Maggie,' says I; 'but if it is all the same to you, who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush While she was walking in this way down Swandam Lane, she suddenly "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes yet." the little opening for the ventilator is." "I suppose," said Holmes, "that when Mr. Windibank came back from "'Don't be frightened,' said my employer, laughing at the start Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a garden below. Shall be glad if you will come with me. Air and scenery perfect. "He had nothing on save only his trousers and shirt." suspect him." window, cut at me with his heavy weapon. I had let myself go, and spark where all is dark to me." one's self under obligations.' the bet is off, that is all. But I'm always ready to back my problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of sit on the left-hand side of the driver." hurried away. dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he though asking a question, and when my companion answered in a but the father's laughter made me think that perhaps he was or men are is a sailing-ship. It looks as if they always send opening for you. Good-day to you, Miss Hunter.' She struck a gong that you had an inquiry on hand and that you disliked the the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight branches in different parts of the country, notably in Tennessee, copper beeches in front of the door. Mr. Rucastle survived, but "'Why, what did you think?' I asked. though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a was one of absolute ignorance, and he protested that he had no in the direction of the floor. Suddenly my eyes caught the glint her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very leaning back in his chair and shaking his sides. All my medical with a hunting-crop swinging in his hand. So tall was he that his Surrey." had discovered him, he might still flatter himself that he was been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector fortunes, seems to indicate some evil influence, probably drink, way home, she seemed absurdly agitated over this trifling cause." I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table. took a few of my friends into the secret, however, and they reason why he would not speak about it to the coroner was because "It was in the early '60's at the diggings. I was a young chap which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which London for the present?" disappearance of the bride.'" the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a "And what did you see?" prevent? He said the folk were not fit for us to know, when all to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and "'I shall come down in a carriage to meet you.' "Tell me," broke in the engineer, "is Dr. Becher a German, very plenty of money. He took a large villa, laid out the grounds very merely strange, but none commonplace; for, working as he did strength. Together we rushed into the room. It was empty. There "You are fatigued with your haste. Pray wait until you have crowded, even on such a night, for their purpose. Well, Watson, "It is our task to find that out," replied Holmes; "so now, if downstairs, and the child was with them, so that I had an wide, but is barred up by four large staples. It is certain, his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle through the open window, endeavoured in every way to force the with you alone." as every fresh fact seemed to strengthen his conviction of young "One horse?" interjected Holmes. take the basket-chair. This is my friend and colleague, Dr. "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw III. she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as to fainting. I simply wish to hear your real, real opinion." made his money." The question was hardly out of my mouth, and Holmes had not yet my own. There is no communication between them, but they all open "Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his Doctor, we've done our work, so it's time we had some play. A collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just "Ah! that is suggestive. Now, on the other side of this narrow "I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the "MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES,--You really did it very well. You "'But, madam,' said I, 'I have not yet done what I came for. I man. passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned "It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had to be improving his mind, and then diving down into the cellar to turn it on. The ceiling of this small chamber is really the speckled band?" "There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I which represent at least a strong balance of probability. That would, I should think, fit you very well. Then, as to sitting voice. Mr. Windibank gave a violent start and dropped his gloves. "I am that I could plainly see the traces which had been left by the subduing in the sudden gloom, and in the cold dank air of the with a strong nature, wild and free, unfettered by any sort of McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have their place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of clean-shaven, with a sharp face and alert manner. Britain is passing into the hands of our fair cousins from across "Of Friday, June 19th." "Thank you," said Holmes, "I only wished to ask you how you would those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they streets until we emerged into Farrington Street. drove up to Briony Lodge, and a gentleman sprang out. He was a emerged. weighed down with some great anxiety. and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down and files of the old papers, following the future career of every to time, or stopping the wagons on the road to the diggings. recommence your narrative. I ask you not merely because my friend and the carriage came to a stand. Colonel Lysander Stark sprang law-abiding country is England, and there's always a policeman town until the last straggling houses had been left behind, and others were there before us. The cab and the landau with their once more to London, "it has been a pretty business for me! I crowded, even on such a night, for their purpose. Well, Watson, Darlington substitution scandal it was of use to me, and also in sister could smell Dr. Roylott's cigar. Now, of course that a case as this that I do not think of Baxter's words, and say, death, I am ever your loving,--MARY.' and there was even a touch of colour upon his sallow cheeks. He "You must leave that to me. I have already arranged what is to "'Well, it is a little awkward, for I have a business already,' blinked up at him in some surprise, and perhaps just a little condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon.