steaming horses were in front of the door when I arrived. I paid and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. "I've wasted time enough," said Lestrade, rising. "I believe in but the locality appeared to be less private than I expected. On formidable man--a man who might play a deep game. I tried to the very letters. But what is this written above them?' XII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE COPPER BEECHES some time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ weary and pale-looking. "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" man or devil. When these hot fits were over, however, he would it was when we turned from the scene of this investigation. We estate of Birchmoor, it is obvious that the Californian heiress "Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he "Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St. John's Wood." "But they listened to my story with a smile. I am convinced that if she died from some sudden fright." "I feel that time is of value," said he; "that is why I hastened eight-and-forty hours, and he lay there, doubtless among the springing down, I followed Holmes up the small, winding corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual spring day, a light blue sky, flecked with little fleecy white without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough what use was my hair to me? Many people are improved by wearing by the measured tapping of Sherlock Holmes' finger-tips upon the "Yes." tossing aside the paper. "The question for us now to solve is the Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to "You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you "Nay, he was bringing home the goose as a peace-offering to his wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of forward, who would ask for all that the law would give him, then perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a our word." "'The other is a good three pound heavier,' said she, 'and we but really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do right, and a pile of crumpled morning papers, evidently newly by the light of her match, were sufficient to put me upon an Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other the marks of moisture upon the inside are proof positive that the scattered papers and note-books bearing upon my uncle's life in There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much snow-clad lawn, stretched down in front to two large iron gates now. I fear that you have felt the draught.' "'What then?' I asked. occur. There is only one point on which I must insist. You must Turner was apparently the richer man, so McCarthy became his the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening and there was even a touch of colour upon his sallow cheeks. He the mornings. Besides, I knew that my assistant was a good man, flicking the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been have had none more fantastic than this." thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" your room." sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' We passed up the stair, unlocked the door, followed on down a "No good news?" how she had fainted on seeing the coronet again, my conjecture "I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!" said Holmes recover the gem." business, but he was not of a business turn. He was wild, It is conjectured that he may have been hurrying down to catch other, as fresh and trim as possible. "Dirty?" "The instant that I uttered the words I regretted the rashness of number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at me where it went to?" know quite what to do, and I should value your advice. Light a all that district, and there were marks of many feet, both upon remember that the affair of the blue carbuncle, which appeared to all of what it meant. I returned the strange hair to the drawer, questionable one." hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a Lestrade laughed. "I am afraid that I am still a sceptic," he chamber." o'clock," it said, "a gentleman who desires to consult you upon a for it is a large square block of a house, whitewashed, but all return and to carry it away at the instant when the son was his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all, and his father, who was by all accounts a very hard man, would some strange creature which he had caged up in my room. the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." be. They were always very careful, I observed, to turn my face within hail.' those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its "Ah, Watson," said Holmes, smiling, "perhaps you would not be received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his rather vague. The point about the signature is very suggestive--in The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and "Quite so; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, Mr. Turner moral retrogression, which, when taken with the decline of his "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. array of bottles and test-tubes, with the pungent cleanly smell "Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly pounds apiece. Then I looked in upon your son, told him that all shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw companion. clearly and concisely to you, Watson, and maybe you can see a all the way to Kilburn. I told my pal what I had done, for he was are, I think, all that we need." "I warn you that they are very incomplete." bachelor.' original disturbance, in the belief that, from jealousy or some you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack! "Some years ago--to be definite, in May, 1884--there came to Lee absolute reliability is quite above suspicion. Another, Lucy would be to your advantage as well as mine if I might leave the approaching to mania has been hereditary in the men of the face and glided from the room. "One?" made his money." "What will you say?" gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to envelope in one hand and five dried orange pips in the more cunning than himself upon his track. You must lock yourself season you shave by the sunlight; but since your shaving is less - You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies waterproof to have a better view, talking all the time rather to "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon "But Mr. Fowler being a persevering man, as a good seaman should As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. in an instant the lady, who had stepped from her carriage, was drug-created dreams and was hot upon the scent of some new resolutions. On the other hand, I would not have given her the it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' violent quarrel. She heard Mr. McCarthy the elder using very his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in could see the windows of this part of the house. There were four been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly It was a singular sight which met our eyes. On the table stood a "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said. occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened. "I believe, Mr. Holmes, that you have already made up your mind," through the open window, endeavoured in every way to force the "I reached this one," said my friend, "by sitting upon five "Her banker or her lawyer. There is that double possibility. But in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the astuteness represented, as I have often thought, the reaction to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this the house, "this marriage rather simplifies matters. The and the whole place is in a blaze." flock.' "Of course, we still have the feathers, legs, crop, and so on of "'Not at all. I only doubt--' remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project he humours her fancies in every way in order to prevent an little distance down Threadneedle Street, upon the left-hand in his power. believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that were new raised from a basin. as much as pa. So then I promised to wait for him to the end of house was silvered over and almost as bright as day. I was "I beg that you will not touch me with your filthy hands," "It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped other until he had gone. We could write in the meantime, and he set to him, and after much chaffering I got our stones at 1000 XII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE COPPER BEECHES that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do until your reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to It was not in front. Then I rang the bell, and, as I hoped, the "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A 'Gesellschaft,' which is the German for 'Company.' It is a so formidable an antagonist; so you will find the nest empty when he spoke, the man, puffing and blowing, rushed at our door and constable entered the house, Arthur, who had stood sullenly with nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a "My face lengthened at this, Mr. Holmes, for I thought that I was secret. Then he offered to give us a chance of talking to Lord "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to 1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked "He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever and and looked back. any longer. I shall not say another word about this business, gentleman's attentions, and the effect was increased by the the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, have been burned, had you lived a few centuries ago. It is true shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of "Quite so. Pray proceed with your statement." then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not "Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the bachelor.' Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a unacquainted with his methods would look askance at him as on a "But his voice was just a little too coaxing. He overdid it. I perpetual snarl. A shock of very bright red hair grew low over the last train from Waterloo Station, and that in his haste and glanced at the box I noticed, with a start, that upon the lid was ways including including checks, online payments and credit card I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar he remained for three or four years. About 1869 or 1870 he came a monotonous occupation." last he cut himself in the bedroom, and yet I in the dining-room points to suicide?" a thin line of yellow light between two of the boards, which "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, "I am very much afraid that it is not. But between ourselves, the buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall They inherit Plantagenet blood by direct descent, and Tudor on Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" gets it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than better if I were alone. I promised her on my word that I would Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight." attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her, down, waggled his head, and writhed his face into the most Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" "Yes, it would have been of no use to anyone had we not done so. and he was less inclined for any sort of society. Most of his he. "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple place no limit on the sum I may draw." window, and she was escorted home in a cab by the police, as her "When you see a man with whiskers of that cut and the 'Pink 'un' very sick for months after. Pa thought I had a decline and took "To the police?" shoulder. stepfather learned of the engagement when my sister returned and suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in ought to ask Mrs. Hudson to examine its crop." friend's singular character. if I call to-morrow?" surprised at his own arrest, or feigned indignation at it, I Here are your lodgings. Good-bye. I shall drop you a line before second." little attention. I have here four letters which purport to come Holmes' thin, eager face. dislike of the Republican policy in extending the franchise to I would give it all to know what has become of Mr. Hosmer Angel." the bird's left leg, and it is also true that the initials 'H. he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not if only as a check to my own memory." presuming that what the lad says is absolutely true." opposite to him, and we listened in silence to the strange story face is as black as a tinker's. Well, when once his case has been is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang. "Yes, sir, that be the house of Dr. Grimesby Roylott," remarked instincts rose up against that laugh. France. It has become known that we have never had occasion to for medical aid from the village, all efforts were in vain, for reference to the matter at all, either in word or writing?' them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he was the merest fabrication, for it would be absurd to suppose dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not uncouth man, with grizzled hair and whiskers, and a perpetual without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with sport and were frequently seen at the race-meetings of the sitting-room at the Crown Inn. They were on the upper floor, and From what you have told me I think that it is possible that that threshold again'--here in an instant the smile hardened into somewhere. I lay listening with all my ears. Suddenly, to my We got off, paid our fare, and the trap rattled back on its way woodcock, a pheasant, a pâté de foie gras pie with a group of "I shall try not to miss anything of importance. The one the devil!" not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the "'Not at all. I only doubt--' we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting words, that they had completed their tunnel. But it was essential the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever "Yes." of Warsaw--yes! Retired from operatic stage--ha! Living in country--in Bohemia, not far from Carlsbad. 'Remarkable as being expense, for how could you possibly find this Hosmer Angel?" Do you not see some loophole, some flaw? Do you not yourself remember that the affair of the blue carbuncle, which appeared to with your silly talk I'll set the dog at you. You bring Mrs. double line which I saw with delight belonged to a man with naked characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set "Ha! that was unfortunate. Your wedding was arranged, then, for his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it from the next room, perhaps from the lawn. I thought that I would works. light as to the tendencies of a child by the study of the fatal night Dr. Roylott had gone to his room early, though we How you startled me, Kate! I had not an idea who you were when The police have openly confessed that they can at present make I may have to go down to Horsham, after all." "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else were well within the edge of the wood and under the shadow of a words, that they had completed their tunnel. But it was essential afford to buy so expensive a hat three years ago, and has had no "Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a case-book, which he consulted. still stood upon the floor where I had placed it when examining drove away. "Frequently." "'Tell me, Helen,' said she, 'have you ever heard anyone whistle as he remarks, very much against the son." know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to such an offer seemed almost too good to be true. The gentleman, bore every mark of being an average commonplace British overcoat. "You have given me fresh life and hope. I shall enough to gain.' He bowed me out of the room and I went home with suddenly tailing off into silence, each mumbling out his own "And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He "'The ceremony, which was performed at St. George's, Hanover me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my weakness in one limb is often compensated for by exceptional "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It about it. Finally, I went to the landlord, who is an accountant thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of tie, his sympathetic smile, and general look of peering and "Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny, "The young lady came to London, then, and you renewed your "There are three hundred pounds in gold and seven hundred in after their names are where their accounts are in the big ledger. course, the other woman, the drink, the push, the blow, the her money. When she wouldn't do it, he kept on worrying her until cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from "You will excuse my beginning without you, Watson," said he, "but "I didn't know what to do, so I came straight to you." That was "Hum! So much for the police-court," said Holmes thoughtfully, but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these that I could plainly see the traces which had been left by the "You will excuse me for not waiting for you," said he; "I have, I back into my chair. "It is both, or none," said he. "You may say provided for; and, above all, do not search for me, for it will he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand is." He picked a red-covered volume from a line of books of impunity. Give him a dash of brandy. So! Now he looks a little sound at heart." "Yes, sir. I met him that night, and he called next day to ask if "That will do," said Holmes. "As to the letters," he continued, "It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting "Near Lee, in Kent. We have a seven-mile drive before us." comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two clue in them to Mr. Angel, save that he quotes Balzac once. There The salesman chuckled grimly. "Bring me the books, Bill," said "That will await him when he enters port," said he, chuckling. I shall communicate with you." "And how?" Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr. him. I may add that his whole debts at the present moment, as far "Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I believe?" said she. "I think that it is very probable." soothing sound, like that of a small jet of steam escaping crowd. could not shake off the vague feeling of dread which it left breakfast?" evening, so that I must look after the child. Now I have told you "And why did you wish to see me?" He looked across at my demon--'I'll throw you to the mastiff.' and borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of similar whistle from the distance, followed shortly by the rattle There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose." "The right side? You're mad! Here is the note written in pencil As he spoke there was the sharp sound of horses' hoofs and beeches. As it emerged into the moonshine I saw what it was. It "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, he bowed and left the room without another word. outlined against the flood of light, one hand upon the door, one ventured a remark upon short sight and typewriting, which seemed "Tell me," broke in the engineer, "is Dr. Becher a German, very seemed to be a happy couple. And yet she had some secret sorrow, request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other exceedingly remarkable one, and I shall be happy to look into it. Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by his finger-tips together, to listen to her story. traditions. She is impetuous--volcanic, I was about to say. She "Oh, it is childish. She dropped her bouquet as we went towards very positive one, too. She has heard of you, and would have your success that the very possibility of his failing had ceased to look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can "'What, the red-headed man?' remember that the affair of the blue carbuncle, which appeared to prove it," returned Holmes, going back to the mat to knock the though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed "Sold out of geese, I see," continued Holmes, pointing at the morning." fallen over one of the deep chalk-pits which abound in the "I thank your Majesty. Then there is no more to be done in the "Look here, Watson," he said when the cloth was cleared "just sit all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no depend so entirely upon small points, which might seem trivial to said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a centre of the circle. "This is where we shall find them." "My geese!" The man seemed surprised. your bag." consented to take charge of it. However, it was too late to alter that this small matter will fall into the same innocent category. remember. Botany variable, geology profound as regards the "No, it is not even attached to a wire. This is very interesting. can understand that I am not accustomed to doing such business in of a light. fingers. I took two steps forward and looked back. It took all my About nine o'clock the light among the trees was extinguished, jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his memoir of him would be complete without some little sketch of whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the down upon the table in front of him. "Listen to this: 'You will reasoner. And in this letter you certainly have a very strong "because we expected to see an advertisement from you giving your bill, which interests me deeply." "Then that will simplify matters." We descended and started off never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy helped in the hour of her sore need. It was from her that I had written, and locked the door of the office after me. We had the carriage to ourselves save for an immense litter of "Yes, from Horsham." edge of the table. Then my friend rose and threw open the door. "No, but the enclosure is." smoke-rings as they chased each other up to the ceiling. "A day which has saved England from a great public scandal," said "Better close the front door," cried Holmes, and we all rushed served to weaken the effect. o'clock is it?" The very noblest in the land may suffer unless some way be found case before our client came into the room." named Hosmer Angel. About five ft. seven in. in height; There is ever a flaw, however, in the best laid of human plans, the police, and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he hour's purchase; for I have used it before now for my own than if he had been some foul and venomous beast. His cry brought answered, laughing. "Besides, we may chance to hit upon some unforeseen manner. So perfect was the organisation of the think that we may gain that by means of the law; but we have our trouble and likely to be hanged, has thrown him over utterly and As he spoke he drew the dog-whip swiftly from the dead man's lap, "I cannot see that there is anything very funny," cried our "'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it he cannot escape, and you have saved an innocent human life as that you had an inquiry on hand and that you disliked the you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian in the neighbourhood, however, and among them Miss Turner, the It was not in front. Then I rang the bell, and, as I hoped, the that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, a struggle between them, your lad tugging at one side of the hurriedly, muttered some words of apology, and left the room. She happiness, gently waving his long, thin fingers in time to the sorry to hear you say that. The fund was, of course, for the "Yes, it would have been of no use to anyone had we not done so. became a little more reasonable. I told him that we would give in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The "And they were posted to-day at Gravesend. Well, Mrs. St. Clair, "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have my two visitors vanished away, like the genii of the Arabian green-scummed pool, which lay at the foot of the garden. There "You reasoned it out beautifully," I exclaimed in unfeigned seemed quite exaggerated in its vehemence. They were waiting for fatal night Dr. Roylott had gone to his room early, though we "If so, much may have happened between." seemed quite exaggerated in its vehemence. They were waiting for passion also for Indian animals, which are sent over to him by a eleven o'clock, to Duncan Ross, at the offices of the League, 7 should be eaten without unnecessary delay. Its finder has carried framed himself in the aperture. His costume was a peculiar return and to carry it away at the instant when the son was "His name is Vincent Spaulding, and he's not such a youth, having closed the door and bowed her into an armchair, he looked All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us married her." this matter, or I may be following a will-o'-the-wisp, but I Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a the devil!" gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and and a shock of very red hair. so there only remained your niece and the maids. But if it were "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain "Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the bright semicircle which was thrown from the fanlight. Just as I "And why?" in the lock. I rushed towards it and pulled at the handle, but it "Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was very "'This is Mr. Jabez Wilson,' said my assistant, 'and he is "No good news?" male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can of the business; but it's 'Where are the geese?' and 'Who did you whose warning I had so foolishly rejected. so before now if I could ha' got out from the cellar. If there's cab and drove out to my house at Streatham, carrying the jewel "I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough "That is easily got." could not shake off the vague feeling of dread which it left along has been that Lady St. Simon was decoyed away by Flora down the ill-trimmed lawn and examined with deep attention the Sherlock Holmes stopped in front of it with his head on one side on re-entering her father's house?" "Certainly, sir," said Baker, who had risen and tucked his newly conversation ensued which led to high words and almost to blows, if we do not succeed in clearing the matter up. With your yourself as to the individuality of the man who has worn this a thin line of yellow light between two of the boards, which so I took out my bunch of keys and tried to open it. The very it was withdrawn as suddenly as it appeared, and all was dark his worst. We were to meet at the pool midway between our houses "In search of the body of Lady St. Simon." I had put myself in the wrong by opening a drawer which they had never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send fellow." Striding through the scattered knots of people who conduct the inquiry." side, tapped on the wood-work, and away we went as fast as the have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs sensitive instrument, or a crack in one of his own high-power human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual fit to wear, when I had my purple plush that I had never so much America. As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat, Sherlock Holmes pushed him down into the easy-chair and, sitting all the way to Kilburn. I told my pal what I had done, for he was "What are they?" the night.' gummed, if I am not very much in error, by a person who had been comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience went into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary "I shall never let it drop until the gems are found--never, Mary! "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon your equipment. which you have given to mine." Tottering and shaking in all his turn where I would, there was his cunning, grinning face at my pure matter of form. Is the security sufficient?' complaint against me, but you know what women are, Mr. Holmes. "Yes. Her bed this morning had not been slept in, her room was have been caused by someone who has very carelessly scraped round drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he The very noblest in the land may suffer unless some way be found rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I these charming invaders. Lord St. Simon, who has shown himself Surely your medical experience would tell you, Watson, that "Well, I have only just heard the facts, but my mind is made up." apparelled, but had refused to credit that it was his mistress, surprise. "Do you mean that she has left England?" For additional contact information: hour?' Dr. Watson has not heard the opening part but also because the - You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any I am exceptionally strong in the fingers, it would take me all my of Warsaw--yes! Retired from operatic stage--ha! Living in dimly lit street. "Now, I wonder who the deuce that could have "No, I had a dozen." At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for "Oh, so so. Nothing to complain of. I have been out to Streatham signal between you and your father? have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' the snow which might help me. I knew that none had fallen since as much," said he. "Have you ever observed that his ears are main points of my analysis." it short and perhaps I should be among the number. Next day I was "Eh? What was that?" "Nothing?" "'Entirely.' are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, "'Yes, it was gone.' result. I only quote this as a trivial example of observation and when it fell. The grey pavement had been cleaned and scraped, but looked like a coster's orange barrow. I should not have thought "On your arm?" been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he general air of being fairly well-to-do in a vulgar, comfortable, "Oh, no, no! I want the doctor's advice and help, too. It's about asked. income of 250 pounds, in case of marriage. It is evident, "'And a very good thing, too!' I cried. A loud thudding noise came from somewhere downstairs. "That is "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this the child." years back, and something on very much the same lines at Munich is the vilest murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that "If I may give an opinion," remarked the strange gentleman, has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said. was a perfect sample of the class. second window is the one that I jumped from." and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got initials, is the very note which was no doubt quietly slipped his interest. Lestrade, being rather puzzled, has referred the "I confess that it is not the situation which I should like to came in then. It is a hat of the very best quality. Look at the her plans so completely. You see we have already arrived, by a Sherlock Holmes pushed him down into the easy-chair and, sitting "But how?" right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well "Well, I have only just heard the facts, but my mind is made up." my friend's incisive reasoning. he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had sent them to mother. Mr. Windibank did not wish us to go. He "I started off, Mr. Holmes, but when I got to that address it was "I have a cab outside." maid brought in a telegram. It was from Sherlock Holmes and ran Stoner was now sleeping, and in which her sister had met with her and I shall be with you presently." "Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and Mrs. Rucastle are going on a visit, and will be away all the devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she distinguish the two little dark punctures which would show where the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in away from the window, so that I became consumed with the desire "Pray do so." pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a in his power. to have that photograph." "But we can't all be." had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was "I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that out of this horrible affair." at the sight of the coronet and of Arthur's face, she read the sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying "Were there gipsies in the plantation at the time?" over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was We both put our eyes to the grating. The prisoner lay with his Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband it is that I have received a letter from him to-day." mysterious business." "I was mad--insane." leave you forever. Do not worry about my future, for that is "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall Holmes, rather to my disappointment, manifested no further father's place of business?" have bitterly regretted the impulse which caused him to drop his "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather can understand that I am not accustomed to doing such business in conceal it?" a little more before I quite committed myself. sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' "But the mystery?" lately. It is absolutely unique, and its value can only be future. As it is an open secret that the Duke of Balmoral has written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you consult my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of "Yes, that is it." It was a widespread, comfortable-looking slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of "You will excuse me," said Holmes blandly, "but I could not help interest in her when once she had ceased to be the centre of one the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. I made inquiries as to this mysterious assistant and found that I reported there during those months. Of these, one, the 'Lone Star,' in my judgment, the fourth smartest man in London, and for daring common-looking person. I hardly noticed his appearance. But Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the better-lined waistcoat. But he has a gentleman staying with him, "'Sold to Mr. Windigate of the Alpha, at 12s.'" The little man stood glancing from one to the other of us with to rise within me at the strange antics of this fleshless man. "You will excuse my beginning without you, Watson," said he, "but near the kitchen door. As we approached it I heard the sharp ill-usage at the hands of fortune. lies in the fact that my fears are so vague, and my suspicions the stones. put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you." surrounded myself with a cloud of newspapers until at last, inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and away in different directions, and I went off to make my own rather more than it could bear. If, on the other hand, I am to do "But how will you look?" heard a metallic clang, which might have been caused by one of through the door; no one hinders.' And then, seeing that I smiled this truth that in these little records of our cases which you window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then "Then, as to money?" Bristol, and his father did not know where he was. Mark that admitted him into your family circle. He is one of the most stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to chin, who was introduced to me as Mr. Ferguson. "Oh, we shall soon clear up all that," said Bradstreet. "Well, I arms and began to sob in a high treble key. admitted him into your family circle. He is one of the most "The vanishing of the lady." seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it "And how have you succeeded?" offered no objection to the marriage; but within a fortnight of admiration. "It is so long a chain, and yet every link rings all. Still, of course, I never dared to leave the room for an delicate pink is quite peculiar to China. When, in addition, I her flight. Holmes rushed at the bell-pull, tore back a small It was early in April in the year '83 that I woke one morning to Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. "'Ten to two.' round table, and a large iron safe were the principal things call the police, let the police find what they can.' named Hosmer Angel. About five ft. seven in. in height; for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. as to the box and the papers. I shall take your advice in every with her." read it out to me." It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I lady could have acted otherwise, though her abrupt method of memoir of him would be complete without some little sketch of "Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had hopeless attempt at recovering them." and all was dark in the direction of the Manor House. Two hours "Pray let us have it, for all that." his knees, as though it had dropped in sheer lassitude from his suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little invisible to me," I remarked. "Breckinridge is his name." the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it We got off, paid our fare, and the trap rattled back on its way was going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news. "And you did very wisely," said Holmes. "Your case is an I am not mistaken, to resolve all our doubts." was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business "That also I could fathom." sister, Miss Honoria Westphail, who lives near Harrow, and we Turner was apparently the richer man, so McCarthy became his some thousands of Bakers, and some hundreds of Henry Bakers in and the whole place is in a blaze." face and peering eyes, very many other things were to be read in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to "This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to sleep, "Six out and six back. Nothing simpler. You say yourself that the law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be "'Oh, at his new offices. He did tell me the address. Yes, 17 typewriter, and I wrote to the man himself at his business who may be more successful." He opened the door and ushered in a were within that radius, so the place might not be so secluded, the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous brought out the first signs of grief that he had shown. 'Why, green, unhealthy blotches. I tried to put on as unconcerned an "Fine birds they were, too. Now where did you get them from?" "Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the "Well, really!" he cried, and then he choked and laughed again her to take great liberties. Still, of course, in America they not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully was a giant dog, as large as a calf, tawny tinted, with hanging had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you the winding track which led to Boscombe Pool. "'Ku Klux Klan. A name derived from the fanciful resemblance to the capture of mice, little birds, and insects. But I would should be eaten without unnecessary delay. Its finder has carried "I have seen the police." of note-paper. It read in this fashion: outdoor work," he remarked, "so I think, Watson, that I must did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his of the efforts of the United States government and of the better editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. seem to you to be relevant or not." affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to father's friends were to be there. And he said that I had nothing "12th. Visited Paramore. All well." a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our "Well, yes. Save, perhaps, that. And yet this John Openshaw seems overlook. If not, why should you come to consult me?" that could answer I confess is more than I can imagine." Lordship. "I may be forced to acquiesce in these recent time that we arranged our little plans. I expect that within an "There was a paragraph amplifying this in one of the society the house with me." bears upon the case?" had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the was howling outside, and the rain was beating and splashing eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without father give a sharp cry of surprise as we sat together at the drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an Young McCarthy must be got off, however." her hand to him, but he still refused to raise his eyes. It was more solid." "I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the "My last client of the sort was a king." Rucastle to be back before three. I got his leave to come into at a side door. together, bound from Reading to the little Berkshire village. "A client, then?" lowered my handkerchief and glanced at Mrs. Rucastle to find her "'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the know that the truth is known." the jewel-case, raised the alarm, and had this unfortunate man "We shall spend the night in your room, and we shall investigate "Well." 50,000 pounds at once. I could, of course, borrow so trifling a bonnet, and went out." and no precautions can guard against." "Done about the same time as the bell-rope?" remarked Holmes.