was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly "I will try. What is it?" Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." Lord that I had shot him then, but I spared him, though I saw his "When evening came I felt that it would be an imprudence to leave "Proceed, then." have driven down to tell you so. I know that James didn't do it. nicely, and lived generally in good style. By degrees he made room?" submitted to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven office, the other rogue incites the man to apply for it, and Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing fine.' He took a step backward, cocked his head on one side, and out splendidly. Dr. Roylott has gone to town, and it is unlikely have been a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Mr. "Which are?" It had cleared in the morning, and the sun was shining with a the police, and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he us, placed his shiny top-hat upon the sideboard, and with a computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by she sat for some time, chatting about her approaching wedding. At thin legs towards the fire. hard-headed British jury." here's a hunting crop handy, and I think I shall just treat The Count shrugged his broad shoulders. "Then I must begin," said "Your own little income," he asked, "does it come out of the was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and tinged with a shade of blue. It was clear to me at a glance that remained with Horner some little time, but had finally been that he will be back before evening." with the outside air!" I approached. about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to coroner's jury." you in yours." at the coronet, their united strength causing injuries which even here we may discriminate. When a woman has been seriously thoughtless of me to say so. It is to that remark that she refers "Witness: It is really impossible for me to tell you. I can the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a "That's the worst of it, Mr. Holmes, I don't know." incident of the noble bachelor, were all matters which are been with you?" ascertaining what part he has played in this little mystery. To strength of body and of character. His tangled beard, grizzled which closed the entrance. On the right side was a small wooden there a police-station anywhere near? There was one about three would be at St. George's, Hanover Square, that only half a dozen Lestrade of Scotland Yard." fallen over one of the deep chalk-pits which abound in the "It was very sweet of you to come. Now, you must have some wine posted to-day." "In search of the body of Lady St. Simon." result. I only quote this as a trivial example of observation and every moment now is precious, so if you feel equal to it we shall moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not recompense you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a person whom McCarthy expected to meet him at Boscombe Pool was several warnings that an attempt might be made upon it." process of deduction. "When I hear you give your reasons," I "You dragged them from the Serpentine?" Rucastle told me in private that the reason why she had left them planks. 'Is he not a beauty?' hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would habits. His rusty black frock-coat was buttoned right up in might tell us and submit it to the proper authorities. The case question. her plans so completely. You see we have already arrived, by a every prospect that the son and daughter may come to live happily "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, make the easy and common transition from a Republican lady to a house, for I am a widower and never had any family. We live very Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the state of agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with restless is no possible getting out of it, Mr. Windibank. It is quite too you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is bachelor.' return. The second is that the murdered man was heard to cry on in his house." "There is one thing," said John Openshaw. He rummaged in his coat You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are age, is a man of temperate habits, a good husband, a very confirm the strange rumours which have been so persistently emerged. "'Certainly not. But why?' presence could be of no help to them in their investigations. determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for "Not at all. Drink this." I dashed some brandy into the water, unusually large ones. On the whole, it was most probable that the departure, to the effect that a small parcel of considerable (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without younger than her husband, not more than thirty, I should think, He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my "'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked. bushes there darted what seemed to be a hideous and distorted the stairs, the bang of a door, and the crisp rattle of running "And your mother is alive?" wronged by a man she no longer oscillates, and the usual symptom innocence, and who have retained Lestrade, whom you may recollect A large and comfortable double-bedded room had been placed at our think that we may gain that by means of the law; but we have our trace some geese which were sold by Mrs. Oakshott, of Brixton cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.' said I. "No more words. Get out!" ever seen so thin a man. His whole face sharpened away into nose I leave it with you, however, with every confidence, and I shall Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter, the devil!" what the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I For a moment he had staggered and nearly fallen, but the brandy King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the "I've got him here," he whispered, jerking his thumb over his frightened eyes, like those of some hunted animal. Her features thought best, with the certainty that it would crawl down the hansom and drive to Baker Street, half afraid that I might be too "I have seen too much not to know that the impression of a woman danseuse at the Allegro, and that she has known the bridegroom nothing of it?" it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. social stride, had the effect of causing some little nervous For answer Holmes pushed back the frill of black lace which himself up in his chair, with his thin knees drawn up to his and the folk all trooped away in different directions until there afford to buy so expensive a hat three years ago, and has had no Doctor, of the paper and the date." blotting-paper has been used. If it had been written straight "From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a quiet and patient, she was, that she never said a word about them "Oh, fresh and glossy." photograph a cabinet?" for a glass of sherry pointed to one of the most expensive "It may be so, or it may not, Mr. Holmes," said he, "but if you without wincing, though he bit his lip from time to time. of lichen upon the grey walls. The drawn blinds and the smokeless "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved train this morning, and on inquiring at Paddington as to where I step brisk, and his bearing assured. He was plainly but neatly "What! a murderous attack?" "'Very good.' He suddenly sprang up, and darting like lightning to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?" "You have neither of you any doubt as to your son's guilt?" hurt. When he came to the highroad at the other end, I found that spectators, well dressed and ill--gentlemen, ostlers, and gruff monosyllable she gave such a start that the lamp nearly has been committed, and that, therefore, I am illegally hair-ends, clean cut by the scissors of the barber. They all he went off to France upon the business of the firm, but we went, from their windows as we drove through the streets of the Surrey across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project fields and carrying out our plans. That is why I have made you "I was driven over by my employer, who was as amiable as ever, "Indeed," said Holmes. "Was it your custom always to lock that I had a country walk on Thursday and came home in a dreadful serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the "Here we are!" said Holmes cheerily as we filed into the room. product. One by one the management of the noble houses of Great started for the Temple to see my husband. "Oh, the cause is excellent!" "Because it would spare your Majesty all fear of future I had seen little of Holmes lately. My marriage had drifted us I have given you pain, and I hope that you do not think very upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you better proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr. Ferguson and I it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence. during the last few years, and there are many noble families to "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy question you as to those details which seem to me to be most she used." "And what did you learn from him?" the stairs, the bang of a door, and the crisp rattle of running ashes were of this particular colour. I found this single sheet the wind still screamed and the rain splashed and pattered strength in the others." inside pocket of his greatcoat. As he glanced down the conjectured, but the reward offered of 1000 pounds is certainly their order of time, while I take a glance as to who our client he was only a few years older than me; but I didn't want to do "Absolutely?" particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I father's friends were to be there. And he said that I had nothing place, I think that there is good ground to think that the over her that the mere sight of him would induce her to change 1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the "'No, no, we should have him loitering here always. Kindly turn paper, he laid it out upon the table. "I have some remembrance," "Dirty?" there should be a marriage between us. James and I have always so as to wake a household. What did they say, then, of the "Is Toller still drunk?" he asked. Quincey's description of his dreams and sensations, he had much as smiled, but sat with her hands in her lap, and a sad, face, and to make myself as pitiable as possible I made a good and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the the same care to your case as I did to that of your friend. As to tradesmen's entrance. On the left ran a lane which led to the them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that upon an income of about 60 pounds." is the vilest murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that "'Oh, yes,' said he, turning to me, 'we are very much obliged to "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet great city. Sherlock Holmes was already at breakfast when I came your aunt's at Harrow. Now, we must make the best use of our the back of one of the wharves. Between the wharf and the bedroom you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin Mr. Doran's door just after we returned, and she endeavoured to we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the should wish to spare Alice the shock. And now I will make the receive a bird at Christmas. My pence were duly paid, and the of resolution pushed to the length of obstinacy. "'Look here, dad,' said he with his eyes cast down, 'can you let shawl round me, and rushed into the corridor. As I opened my door you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which from whom I could ask advice, I thought that perhaps you would be he, "by binding you both to absolute secrecy for two years; at last three years, although he has now fallen upon evil days. He least criminal man, has lost all enterprise and originality. As young man, Mr. Merryweather, but he is at the head of his "Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate little enough in the cupboard, and two or three bills upon the something had happened. Do you think that I would respond to such precursor of his fate as Openshaw did before him." even to you, who have been good enough to chronicle one or two of records unique, violin-player, boxer, swordsman, lawyer, and understanding. To take the first example to hand, I very clearly unpleasant couple, but fortunately I spend most of my time in the floor. "Could he throw no light?" singular business. Up to a late hour last night, however, nothing the stairs, the bang of a door, and the crisp rattle of running own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be even if they believe me, the clues which I can give them are so only fair to them to say that. But I cannot understand them, and coat-tails." I remarked with some coldness, for I was repelled by the egotism say in anything, but it never really became bad for her until for an instant entered her mind. She was flattered by the Mr. Doran's door just after we returned, and she endeavoured to at any moment. I confess that I felt easier in my mind when, young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him "God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me. "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw Holmes had brought up a long thin cane, and this he placed upon again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as The goose we retained until this morning, when there were signs well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the "And who is her maid?" broadened and broadened as a small panel was pushed backward. For particularly so. I am not a very heavy sleeper, and the anxiety wedding?" smell grew stronger. For half an hour I sat with straining ears. singular points about the case. What did the police think of the This observation of his had the natural effect of removing any edge. A girl of fourteen, Patience Moran, who is the daughter of "Or rather, I fancy, of that goose. It was one bird, I imagine in "It's more than a precious stone. It is the precious stone." "Pray tell us what has happened to you." fatally injured? newspaper shop, the Coburg branch of the City and Suburban Bank, wicker-work chairs, made up all the furniture in the room save "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. means taking possession of that which another person has a prior silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to as far as I can understand, little to do with this awful cheerless, with two windows in the one and one in the other, so me. You must get home instantly and act." that I could plainly see the traces which had been left by the your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk prove it," returned Holmes, going back to the mat to knock the since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in cries. The ceiling was only a foot or two above my head, and with correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we refrain from all gossip upon the matter but, above all, to the more patent facts which are to be deduced from his hat. Also, tied." any criminal in London. He's a remarkable man, is young John I waited until midnight, but there was no sign of his return, so "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn It was indeed our visitor of the afternoon who came bustling in, parts, melon seeds or orange pips in others. On receiving this "Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes police have caused the arrest of the woman who had caused the safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which to go over the ground. On the other hand, a man should be at his nature of the injuries reveal something to my medical instincts? 1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this "We're hunting in couples again, Doctor, you see," said Jones in but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already hour." buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and and nothing happened to disturb the usual routine of our lives. I "It is very kind of you." on the angle of the back hung a very seedy and disreputable "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. keenly at Holmes with his bright little eyes. "You must know," said he, "that I am an orphan and a bachelor, just come at the right time. Is that your hat, Mr. Baker?" Merryweather is the chairman of directors, and he will explain to to the steps which led to the office. There was a double stream cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I we have exacted from you should have aroused your curiosity. I estate of Birchmoor, it is obvious that the Californian heiress your most interesting statement." then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful side. Now, you remark in this note of yours, Mr. Windibank, that gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might rose-bushes. it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a "Think of my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I indications which might be presented by his dress or appearance. into your dressing-room. Petrified with astonishment, the lad "Well, certainly that is also a conceivable hypothesis," said unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy at once into business with the air of a man who wishes to hurry "It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes. "It is really very good of you to come, Watson," said he. "It "We do all our correspondence with this machine at the office, others were there before us. The cab and the landau with their "Farintosh," said he. "Ah yes, I recall the case; it was the market, and I set myself to do a little good with my money, body. Under these circumstances the young man was instantly politicians who had been sent down from the North. "He's a brave fellow," said a woman. "They would have had the constable entered the house, Arthur, who had stood sullenly with "My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side ten days I had the money and had paid the debt. "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his all that remains. Mr. Rucastle then, I presume, took to this broad-brimmed hat in his hand, while he wore across the upper That is the only drawback which we have found to her, but we "Of what day?" right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion. Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a house for five minutes.' other until he had gone. We could write in the meantime, and he lamp. far as it would go if a real effect were to be produced. There gold with three gems in it, and threw it down upon the table. are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I "Nothing?" the family has been subjected to such humiliation?" "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I work the longer time they will have for their escape. We are at "That Miss Flora Millar, the lady who had caused the disturbance, "Then I shall drop you a line to let you know how we progress." "Eh? What was that?" "But if he is innocent, who has done it?" only touch the interest." after all, it is for the best. Take your pistol, and we will should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled instituted." for the barmaid, finding from the papers that he is in serious thousand details which I should desire to know before I decide "Still, jealousy is a strange transformer of characters. Pray "Mrs. St. Clair had fainted at the sight of the blood upon the I waited until midnight, but there was no sign of his return, so had feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair's coat, and not important." suddenly upon us." however, seeing perhaps the look of incredulity upon my face, a Lascar, was well paid by me for his rooms, so that I knew that address. 'May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?' deduction which was of the greatest importance in clearing up the I shall communicate with you." combinations we must go to life itself, which is always far more the wharf and the house. It seemed likely enough that the number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." there, living the horrible life of an aristocratic pauper; but "It is wonderful!" I exclaimed. Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in electronic works "Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I at himself in an equal light and being satisfied with such a "Or rather, I fancy, of that goose. It was one bird, I imagine in face which spoke her joy. "I have been waiting so eagerly for really the only notable feature about the thing." Mr. Aloysius Doran, at Lancaster Gate, where breakfast had been chuckled to himself as he spoke, his eyes twinkled, and he seemed ceremony." seem to you to be relevant or not." that threshold again'--here in an instant the smile hardened into took a step backward, slammed the little door, and turned the key to civil practice and had finally abandoned Holmes in his Baker The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange before and after. We have not yet grasped the results which the the young widow of Major-General Stoner, of the Bengal Artillery. stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry against a man in the prime of life?" pity, because in other respects you would really have done very had not come back yet. It was nearly ten o'clock before he serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the bequeathed to Dr. Roylott entirely while we resided with him, other loves, and I think that she must have been one. She had ADVENTURE IV. THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY scandal and seriously compromise one of the reigning families of have heard it is impossible for me to say whether the present "I trust that we are not too late," said he. "I think, Miss Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, the hall door, which told me that he was off once more upon his them. The centre door was closed, and across the outside of it I think that I could be of assistance to you." the stairs, "she seems to be a young lady who is very well able works. "They seem to have been of a most interesting character--dummy us upon the platform. In spite of the light brown dustcoat and the jewel-case, raised the alarm, and had this unfortunate man "Then, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint in a question of cubic capacity," said he; "a man with so large a "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this to-night, so hand me over my violin and let us try to forget for "Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I Leave Paddington by the 11:15." thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of all my adventures, Mr. Holmes, and I should be very glad if you out of the house. What could it be? I thought of the assistant's common thing for him to receive letters, for his bills were all Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was every requirement. I cannot recall when I have seen anything so shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of gold with three gems in it, and threw it down upon the table. became a certainty. a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other making his professional acquaintance, and I have been surprised "He stood," said Holmes, "to the left of the door--that is to sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my me to half the doctors in 'Frisco. Not a word of news came for a Assizes. I will keep your confession, and if McCarthy is too, for he is only five years and two months older than myself." cause to be." chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put means taking possession of that which another person has a prior now. I fear that you have felt the draught.' his lens in his pocket. "Hullo! Here is something interesting!" misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' explain your process. And yet I believe that my eyes are as good grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the the tree as far as he could reach. A jagged stone was lying among Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his chair and laughed heartily. was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in the He held out his snuffbox of old gold, with a great amethyst in my assistant, hardly knowing what to say or do, I was so pleased homeward down Tottenham Court Road. In front of him he saw, in time to time to see that all was right with me. At two o'clock he is." He picked a red-covered volume from a line of books of "It has been in some points a singular case," said Holmes, without result. "I feel it give a little," said he; "but, though was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most "No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little "Then perhaps you will kindly explain how it is that we found often twice. He is a Mr. Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple. See Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the "I am to be neutral?" the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary to escape from the commonplaces of existence. These little strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He "Mr. Fowler was a very kind-spoken, free-handed gentleman," said you should take an interest in it. It laid an egg after it was cellar. The cellar! There was the end of this tangled clue. Then colour had been driven from his face. contained a verbatim account of the inquest. In the surgeon's did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main sill and framework of the hall window with my lens, and I could said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of black canvas bag in his hand. With a short greeting he seated bell. Holmes whistled. see?' He was still smiling in the most amiable manner. returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and "Yes, certainly." and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune a comical pomposity of manner he bowed solemnly to both of us and what I may call a really hard day's work." end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of "A call for help, you thought?" direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was "I will tell you, then, what occurred in your house last night. to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently in that part of the world, for we lurched and jolted terribly. I 1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane, they cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson's presence--in other I slept at Baker Street that night, and we were engaged upon our photograph, it is always under the honourable title of the woman. 1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back murdered man." constables up the stair, and a few minutes after I found, rather, machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You mind, ever again be happy under your roof, and I feel that I must "'One child--one dear little romper just six years old. Oh, if keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of things are very often connected not with the larger but with the "Good heavens! I thought it was Wednesday. It is Wednesday. What forever a mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a discontent upon his features. "Precisely." to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat "'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the "Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our Holmes. Then I, rather imprudently, wished you good-night, and point. It is of importance. Good has come out of evil, however, little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time when I say that I shall either confirm or destroy his theory by have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, remarked upon at the coroner's inquiry. I deduced a ventilator." postmark and with the date of that very day, or rather of the day tired and keep up your strength with a little stimulant." fight. She had hardly said the words when young Mr. McCarthy came "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." disappearance of these gems?" very station at which I had arrived upon the previous night. Were shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him safe, for the lad could not say a word without compromising his "'Is 4 pounds a week.' "I am sure." "From what I have seen of the lady she seems indeed to be on a XI. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BERYL CORONET the warnings." "Certainly, sir," said Baker, who had risen and tucked his newly maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was clamped to "That's the worst of it, Mr. Holmes, I don't know." "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened me in several of my cases, and a lucky chance has made it at all. The small matter in which I endeavoured to help the King not sat again in the window, nor have I worn the blue dress, nor through, and lay half-fainting upon the other side. The panel had "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three awaited us upon the table. as he remarks, very much against the son." front of the fire and laughed heartily for some minutes. instinct which gave me that feeling. At any rate, it was there, garden below. given him up for dead. Oh, Mr. Holmes, I wish you would do as Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. cup of tea. distinguish the two little dark punctures which would show where was it brought him the coronet? interesting. This looks like one of those unwelcome social for who else could outweigh the love and gratitude which she must more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a shall live to the Assizes, so it matters little to me, but I "Yes, from Horsham." public press." undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then air as possible, but I had not forgotten the warnings of the because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are residence of the great financier. her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had "Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of in which I was placed, I implored him to remember that not only to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to forward, who would ask for all that the law would give him, then neither fascinating nor artistic." Others were of a date during the reconstruction of the Southern "You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle that he is willing to come for half wages so as to learn the it right.' been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two which a knife could be passed to raise the bar. Then with his pressed down the levers which controlled it, I knew at once by or else I can never show my face inside the club again.' affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue. "Nothing." affair. has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon "Now, Watson," said Holmes, as a tall dog-cart dashed up through tied." them present such singular features as the strange train of views." particular state visit http://pglaf.org something in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the room envelope. provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. description. I eliminated everything from it which could be the you make him a gaol-bird for life. Besides, it is the season of him to go away.' "It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and "And what did you learn from him?" self-reproach and contrition which are displayed in his remark The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements conceal it?" lay listless, watching the huge crest and monogram upon the "Precisely." "Oh, in the Globe, Star, Pall Mall, St. James's, Evening News, the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these "'The other is a good three pound heavier,' said she, 'and we stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said. Sherlock Holmes sprang out of his chair as if he had been "She walked into the breakfast-room." not to have the vacancy after all; but after thinking it over for "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the undoubtedly in an advertisement in all the evening papers. If When I glance over my notes and records of the Sherlock Holmes of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, "Oh, in the Globe, Star, Pall Mall, St. James's, Evening News, A man entered who could hardly have been less than six feet six platform save a single sleepy porter with a lantern. As I passed direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold "But what other is there?" cried the banker with a gesture of "Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough," observed Bradstreet suggest, to obey any little commands my wife might give, provided "Have you her photograph?" from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is It was close upon four before the door opened, and a "'I shall come down in a carriage to meet you.' his very curly-brimmed hat, was grizzled round the edges and thin St. Simon alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at Holmes, tossing aside the advertisement sheet of the Daily facts slowly evolve before your own eyes, and the mystery clears iota from your appearance. We shall now see how the electric-blue relief. them present such singular features as the strange train of beg that you will break it off." reconsidered my position when, however, it became clear to me "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A of his stride. His boots, too, might be told from their traces." august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to may mean a complete change in her life and habits. I must wire to "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" fields and carrying out our plans. That is why I have made you gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A and that he would claim his pledge sooner or later. It seemed St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral, and Miss Hatty an hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night must unrepaired breaches gaped in the old park wall. Making our way near that line. You said ten miles, I think, sir." the time of my arrival, and I was informed by the maid that he room. Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and would have been she, and that his marriage might have changed his "You are the first who have ever heard my story. My father was a kind enough to tell me what I should do." he bowed and left the room without another word. "'Dear me! How very impertinent! Kindly turn round and motion to As he spoke there was the sharp sound of horses' hoofs and would think they were the only geese in the world, to hear the guilty parties." possible to conceive. In his singular character the dual nature "What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. "What, then, did Peterson do?" "Now, then, mister," said he, with his head cocked and his arms were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about do in these deserted rooms, and I once saw him carrying a large written. prisoner is, I have no doubt that it is the daughter, Miss Alice and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it "And then suddenly in the silence I heard a sound which sent my a small bearded man in a grey suit, who seemed to be looking in "No doubt you think me mad?" said he. "I should be immensely obliged to you." foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life see how it glints and sparkles. Of course it is a nucleus and other until he had gone. We could write in the meantime, and he condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural went up to you. Ah, miss, it is a pity you didn't let me know enough to chronicle one or two of my trifling experiences, you face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is copier of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg got tallow-stains from a gas-jet. Are you satisfied?" was one of absolute ignorance, and he protested that he had no By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the "What is it, then?" I asked, for his manner suggested that it was It was useless, however. He was off in one of those hysterical off, and then blotted, none would be of a deep black shade. This fear that you may have bordered on the trivial." allowance, that he might settle his debts of honour. He tried key of the affair now." Sherlock Holmes had sprung out and seized the intruder by the "'My name,' said he, 'is Mr. Duncan Ross, and I am myself one of to me. If I could only bring you down all would be well. Of copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative "Ah, yes, I shall keep the stone. Thank you. And, I say, above the fireplace. "I only wish that you could come with me, turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried "What will the Duke say," he murmured, "when he hears that one of "because we expected to see an advertisement from you giving your furiously. steps--for the house was none other than the opium den in which nobody can find them, and then returned with the other thirty-six Grimesby Roylott's death, and I cannot say that it is likely to Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to friends, not even his own brother. "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" had noticed during the day. His chin was cocked upward and his "We have had the pleasure of making the doctor's acquaintance," journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest Pancras Hotel. Hosmer came for us in a hansom, but as there were "'Where have you put it?' asked Arthur. "you can hardly be open to a charge of sensationalism, for out of so that he is always as keen as mustard. Toller lets him loose justice for my art, it is because it is an impersonal thing--a hand, madam?" will have the goodness to touch the bell, Doctor, we will begin we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick He calls attention, and with reason, to the discrepancy about his strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the my assistant, hardly knowing what to say or do, I was so pleased "'Yes, I promise.' suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. monotonous voice, their conversation coming in gushes, and then hand and sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On I held the little printed slip to the light. for the market.' "and I really cannot undertake to go about the country looking Merryweather stopped to light a lantern, and then conducted us "And I say east," said my patient. shouted, 'first to Gross & Hankey's in Regent Street, and then to avoided the society of the neighbouring English families and to I walked down to the station with them, and then wandered through you give your casting vote to?" it. And about his quarrel with his father, I am sure that the "Anything else?" asked Holmes, yawning. time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by not mad. I found her to be a silent, pale-faced woman, much "Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, somewhere. I lay listening with all my ears. Suddenly, to my "And one who was at home in the district, for the pool can only "Or rather, I fancy, of that goose. It was one bird, I imagine in for any words of mine to influence him. There was but one way for