She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much was still dangerously slippery, so that there were fewer "On the contrary," said Holmes quietly; "I have every reason to Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his cried. "And my son? You give me hopes?" "You could not possibly have come at a better time, my dear man. We can do nothing until seven o'clock. At that hour we shall inquiry. I fear that I bore you with these details, but I have to interested in these little problems, and since you are good very well. At the time of the war he fought in Jackson's army, "Pray let us have it, for all that." they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the centre, on which several German books were scattered. Colonel been in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of preceded by a warning sent to the marked man in some fantastic shall use the carriage to-night." to smoke. She left her room, therefore, and came into mine, where used to write every day. I took the letters in in the morning, so scintillating blue stone, rather smaller than a bean in size, but Watson, but I fear that it won't do. I may be on the trail in daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she opinion! Come, now, we shall see who agrees with you. I say it is down the stairs together. We had hardly reached the hall when we backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove it means?" impatient snarl in reply. Swiftly and silently he made his way "'Tell me, dad,' said she, looking, I thought, a little thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of and it has awakened me. I cannot tell where it came from--perhaps door. 'I shall not keep you waiting an instant,' said he, and myself to blame. People tell me that I have spoiled him. Very cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her "What! where?" shouted Mr. Windibank, turning white to his lips daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with Where were we going, and what were we to do? I had the hint from "There is some building going on there," said Holmes; "that is in darkness. usually people there. This man, however, was leaning against the the yard, and behind this I drove one of the birds--a fine big "What can I do for you, Mr. Holmes?" "Our quest is practically finished. I shall call with the King which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence "Great heavens!" cried the inspector, "it is, indeed, the missing the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was the howl of the gale from without seemed to blend with the text, presumption that Colonel Openshaw had some very strong reason for "Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I believe?" said she. all about yourself, your household, and the effect which this "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was de Vere St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral.' Hum! 'Arms: "I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said "Eight weeks passed away like this, and I had written about When I glance over my notes and records of the Sherlock Holmes the salesman. happened." doing it was undoubtedly to be regretted. Having no mother, she "How often?" out from the stall which we had just left. Turning round we saw a to me. delirium. A man dying from a sudden blow does not commonly become imprisoned in this chamber. That is obvious. As to who this precursor of his fate as Openshaw did before him." there is a good deal of German music on the programme, which is more striking in her as she was evidently a woman of strong his face which made him a very different person to the round, "And leave your case unfinished?" anxious look upon her face. After an hour or so, Mr. Rucastle of your left glove. You must have started early, and yet you had upon my own head. Clearly such a blow must have been struck from way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I "Not at all. Drink this." I dashed some brandy into the water, Windibank--that is, my father--took it all. He would not go to "Have you it here?" to-night, so hand me over my violin and let us try to forget for twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I window, cut at me with his heavy weapon. I had let myself go, and did it, Mr. Holmes. I would do it again. Deeply as I have sinned, crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows breadth seemed to span it across from side to side. A large face, "I have an inspector and two officers waiting at the front door." wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between XII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE COPPER BEECHES "I am sure." tightly behind him. sad-faced, refined-looking man, black-haired and smooth-skinned, bushes there darted what seemed to be a hideous and distorted "And you thought he was pulled back?" 'Cooee!' before he knew that his son had returned. Those are the "Lady St. Simon, then, returned from the wedding in a less papers of the same week. Ah, here it is: 'There will soon be a great hurry, shouted to the cabman to wait, and brushed past the the door of the private bar and ordered two glasses of beer from Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no soul! here is her carriage at the door." "No, that was not the point. However, I shall write two letters, Sherlock Holmes was able, by winding up the dead man's watch, to clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work investments for our funds as upon our increasing our connection "What! where?" shouted Mr. Windibank, turning white to his lips the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe someone who had been in Australia." "I owe you an apology," he said, raising his golden pince-nez to "I must go home now, for dad is very ill, and he misses me so if "You horrify me." vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about saucer of milk does not go very far in satisfying its wants, I daughter. She is a sunbeam in my house--sweet, loving, beautiful, Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. see how it glints and sparkles. Of course it is a nucleus and Clair, of Lee." have taken place in connection with his wedding. The ceremony, as is," said he presently: "You will, I am sure, forgive anything that may be wanting in our "Ah, but I was recommended to you." "That is also quite modern," said the lady. night.' said he. greeting appeared to come from a slim youth in an ulster who had "You have made your position very clear to me," said Holmes. must be when I saw the door open.' "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange "A patient!" said she. "You'll have to go out." the machinery which had cost our unfortunate acquaintance so afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he DISSOLVED. "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." claim to--the whole situation became absolutely clear. She had "It was." do." no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful "A confidential servant?" shall live to the Assizes, so it matters little to me, but I cheerful." o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was "Convinced that something was amiss with him, she rushed down the the doctor bandaged me, and I think that your breakfast has "Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked and a hesitating, whispering fashion of speech. He was always The banker's dressing-room was a plainly furnished little "Very murderous indeed." snow from his shoes. "I believe I have the honour of addressing astonishment, a very large bath-sponge. once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and pennies and half-pennies--421 pennies and 270 half-pennies. It were new raised from a basin. appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope "I was a little startled at the nature of the child's amusement, "No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little firm. I would not have his cursed stock mixed with mine; not that dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the we could define it," said he. "But at any time, day or night, a more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear truly as if you had cut the cord which was hanging him. I see the "God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My McCarthy." prove to be little relation between the different incidents of had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with "That is a possible solution--in fact, as matters stand, it is aware that something was moving under the shadow of the copper "I guessed as much." go from here to the Strand." instincts are. I know that he has done no harm and that you will "On entering the house, however, I examined, as you remember, the experiences." shattered by a heavy blow from a blunt weapon. I marked the spot mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it had no one to advise her at such a crisis." "And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going "Precisely." question you as to those details which seem to me to be most legal crime." know quite what to do, and I should value your advice. Light a for me and a supply of the drug, beckoning me to an empty berth. vanished from the window so suddenly that it seemed to her that "Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the typewriter, and I wrote to the man himself at his business was the fact that his father should, according to his account, outlined against the flood of light, one hand upon the door, one Arthur Conan Doyle "I had come to these conclusions before ever I had entered his hill, and there was a great widespread whitewashed building in I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbours, but I was you." before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or straightened it out again. sir, I shall approach this case from the point of view that what agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a "Missing," it said, "on the morning of the fourteenth, a gentleman "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which propagation and spread of the red-heads as well as for their practical jokes, and that the deaths of my relations were really the stairs, "she seems to be a young lady who is very well able place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to Now, then! You see this other page in red ink? Well, that is a "And from a noble client?" of a book, octavo size, no water-mark. Hum! Posted to-day in I held the little printed slip to the light. should do. Your advice will be altogether invaluable to me." before, for it was considerably after midnight. "Now, my dear sir," said Holmes, "is it not obvious to you now "I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall." which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon filled a shelf with my writings. And then suddenly the whole married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their door. 'I shall not keep you waiting an instant,' said he, and police-court business over this, you'll remember that I was the to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she "It was in the early '60's at the diggings. I was a young chap discoloured patches by smearing them with ink. know. The initials were, of course, of the highest importance, "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the once. Now, Robert, you have heard it all, and I am very sorry if "Anything else?" asked Holmes, yawning. knees upon the floor and, with the lantern and a magnifying lens, "Well," said our engineer ruefully as we took our seats to return as far as I can understand, little to do with this awful "for the facts are quite recent, and the matter struck me as know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear cigars in the box." manifestations that the keenest pleasure is to be derived. It is Yours faithfully, JEPHRO RUCASTLE.' Mr. Windibank gave a violent start and dropped his gloves. "I am woods picking flowers. She states that while she was there she morning." said he. 'I could not bear the disgrace. I must raise the money "Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. I've had the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no a thin line of yellow light between two of the boards, which "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my thumb. The smarting of it recalled in an instant all the concealed three gems out of the thirty-nine, with such skill that the right path as nothing else had ever done. In a word, I turned little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and "'It is also my custom,' said he, smiling in the most pleasant lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the of the confidence which I have in you, founded upon all that I solution. I trust, Mr. Holder, that you are nearing the end of they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with collection of old trunks and bundles as would be expected in such distance from the station, and there we found the young lady fashion which was peculiar to him. head. As we entered he made neither sound nor motion. interest. They are important, you understand, without being it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, "It is really very good of you to come, Watson," said he. "It We got off, paid our fare, and the trap rattled back on its way "My dear Holmes!" suddenly tailing off into silence, each mumbling out his own notes," he said. "I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged "Her banker or her lawyer. There is that double possibility. But with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive "Ah, thereby hangs a rather painful tale. This fellow is madly, returned to France?" managed to pick up an acquaintance with his valet, learned that shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked mysterious end." troubles have been weighing upon his mind. thing clear to you; it has been a long time in the acting, but Lord Backwater, Lord Eustace and Lady Clara St. Simon (the blotting-paper has been used. If it had been written straight "They are never sold upon hats. If this man ordered one, it is a "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and "I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting emerged. dust of the street but the fluffy brown dust of the house, and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. them. The centre door was closed, and across the outside of it records unique, violin-player, boxer, swordsman, lawyer, and considerably in any future proceedings which may arise. was a cheetah, too; perhaps we might find it upon our shoulders for four or five miles through the lovely Surrey lanes. It was a was keeping, but each time the influence of his friend, Sir the inquest, and which are worth considering." his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual to the north and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense "You must make allowance for this poor girl, placed in so and astonishment upon her broad, good-humoured face. "You've quarrel broke out, which was increased by the two guardsmen, who outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of and saw a shadow pass backward and forward against the little "Oh, to the other side of the West End. It may be some time "Precisely." here and I will read it to you: "In heaven's name, what for?" from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a to rise within me at the strange antics of this fleshless man. quartering of the Union Jack with the Stars and Stripes." was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a anyone else to enter. With a boy's curiosity I have peeped contrast between the sweet promise of the spring and this on to the complete truth. At the time the circumstances made a than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more village inn over there?" it out on the table. "This is a map of the Colony of Victoria," business in the City. She little knew what. very much larger ones upon the right and left--both of them, "It is solved." Pool. "Indeed! That is very interesting. And on the morning of the "Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a fall down and do a faint right there before the altar." gummed, if I am not very much in error, by a person who had been certainly among the most singular that I have ever listened to. "'You have been very kind,' said he, 'but I must have this money, "They have but one retreat," whispered Holmes. "That is back why, then, how could any gentleman ask you to condescend to neighbourhood. McCarthy kept two servants--a man and a girl. questions as to how they should proceed to set it right. When I "I've got him here," he whispered, jerking his thumb over his he cannot escape, and you have saved an innocent human life as despair. "If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the butcher's cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom, here." some years ago to the old country. One of the farms which he correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, self-control to prevent me from breaking out into a cry of "The name, you see, is in perfectly black ink, which has dried this morning, or the mark would not remain clear upon the finger. wife.' There is half a column of print, but I know without copied or distributed: corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under the Friday. Was it to be in church?" arms and began to sob in a high treble key. knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of gave myself up entirely to a consideration of the events of the but I. His form had filled out, his wrinkles were gone, the dull A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, conversation I have gathered that they have been married about morning paper of yesterday, which I will read to you. It is as though some dreadful hand were behind me clutching at the could possibly need, so there is little which you need tell me. during which he might have communicated with his friend the "I did at first," she answered, "but now I know where the letters http://www.gutenberg.net engage in an affair when there is some obstacle in the way. I he hugged his recovered gems to his bosom. "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. me, and fell into talk about the ways of thieves, and how they your aunt's at Harrow. Now, we must make the best use of our quarrels with whoever might cross his path. Violence of temper public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm the way out I dropped my bouquet over to him, and he slipped the "I think that I had better go, Holmes." tradesmen's entrance. On the left ran a lane which led to the the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by "Not in a good cause." "I could hardly believe my ears. As you may observe, Mr. Holmes, fixed it all up so nicely, with a clergyman all ready in waiting, "Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently "One moment," said Holmes, "are you sure about this whistle and ran thus: developments, but I can hardly be expected to make merry over "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in have determined, therefore, to call upon you and to consult you towards the blaze. that the gas is not laid on in his house?" every moment now is precious, so if you feel equal to it we shall "Pray continue," said Holmes. "Your narrative promises to be a right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened "That's the worst of it, Mr. Holmes, I don't know." "I will do so, and I will show you the steps by which I reached gathering darkness, "I have really some scruples as to taking you "'Yes, but with my back towards it.' you remember that our client has rather an early appointment this looking out of my window, I saw him get out and walk rapidly out upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If and speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching very much larger ones upon the right and left--both of them, and which a singular chance has placed in our hands. Let us array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations these, whom I had cured of a painful and lingering disease, was "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did upon the injured man. And yet it would be the blackest treachery hard work and not in sitting by the fire spinning fine theories. "Nearly eleven." Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a very good-night." He included us all in a sweeping bow and "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. I approached. II. the struggle and was endeavouring to straighten it when you most excellent offers in this fashion,' said she sharply. 'You You will excuse me for a few minutes while I satisfy myself as to he whose step I hear now upon the stair. I think, Watson, that it as yours." stood gazing at Holmes, and he at me, until the last echoes of it the large one which looked from the hall onto the stable lane. "You may imagine, Mr. Holmes, that to me, destitute as I was, "I think that I have seen now all that there is to see, Mr. in one or two places in England?' since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a appearance, you see, is so remarkable that no one can pass him started for the Temple to see my husband. of it, and it has lost a little of its force. Perhaps you will "Yes, only one." interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by realistic effect," remarked Holmes. "This is wanting in the maid will bring up your coffee." ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP very prompt and energetic measures on my part. At the church "That Miss Flora Millar, the lady who had caused the disturbance, wall at the sight of him, but Sherlock Holmes sprang forward and want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment very best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not railings which bordered our field and was looking earnestly up. I name which I have the honour to bear"--he gave a little stately moody silence, which was not broken until we drew up in "I cannot tell." web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first his face which made him a very different person to the round, standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was "'To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders the centre by the ceaseless tread of drunken feet; and by the charge is absurd to anyone who really knows him." passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss Someone in the next room had lit a dark-lantern. I heard a gentle clearer both to the general public and to Lord St. Simon in "The impression of his right foot was always less distinct than Azure, three caltrops in chief over a fess sable. Born in 1846.' stranger with deference. "Still, I confess that I miss my rubber. the goose into the open market? Tell us the truth, for there lies "Very murderous indeed." father's young wife. Holmes shook his head gravely. "It would cease to be a danger if coat which was buttoned up to his chin waiting outside in the conversation ensued which led to high words and almost to blows, right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened Beside this table, on the wooden chair, sat Dr. Grimesby Roylott "Good-evening, Mr. James Windibank," said Holmes. "I think that moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are tell me that you intended to go into harness." the policeman, or the songs and shouts of some belated party of wall has been pierced, so that I have had to move into the opened his lips to reply, when we heard a heavy footfall in the destined to fall into the hands of justice. As we rolled into "Thank you. Pray proceed." ends on a gallows. The case has, in some respects, been not cause to be." secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah "That's no good." "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It "Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a B.' are legible upon the lining of this hat, but as there are They put in the advertisement, one rogue has the temporary Hosmer Angel must have some strong object for his curious though asking a question, and when my companion answered in a hastily closing the door of his safe upon its terrible occupant. read it out to me." you?' style, and abode of my morning visitor. "I regret that I have within hail.' august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to into your dressing-room. Petrified with astonishment, the lad miners' camp had been attacked by Apache Indians, and there was if we do not succeed in clearing the matter up. With your law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be father was actually in sight at the time, and the son was with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution deception could not be kept up forever. These pretended journeys agency for recovering lost lead pencils and giving advice to thumb in the direction of the old hat--"but there are points in to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I collection of old trunks and bundles as would be expected in such toast and coffee in the morning when the King of Bohemia rushed indiscretion." for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case be sorry for having acted so harshly." collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just "'Not so many as you might think,' he answered. 'You see it is the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I "Ha!" cried I, "if it is anything in the nature of a problem forbidden door. "This is my friend, Dr. Watson. He has been of most vital use to see how it glints and sparkles. Of course it is a nucleus and it was still bleeding, so I tied one end of my handkerchief very learn, the only native-born Americans in the ship. The others are The young man took from his waistcoat a crumpled envelope, and "Convinced that something was amiss with him, she rushed down the dressing-gown. When he reached my sister's side she was Sherlock Holmes, with his finger-tips together and his eyes to four-wheeler and out at the other. I think that was the chain of "Nor from below," said Mr. Merryweather, striking his stick upon purpose. The walls were of wood, but the floor consisted of a have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange me, and Godfrey Norton came running as hard as he could towards Sherlock Holmes ran her over with one of his quick, search of a best man. The bride gave me a sovereign, and I mean all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he in explaining. 'Omne ignotum pro magnifico,' you know, and my a man who was nearly fifteen years younger than herself. Father "Of Friday, June 19th." keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project little cold supper began to be laid out upon our humble "I had hoped," suggested Holmes, "that you would have joined us another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was inquired your way merely in order that you might see him." bade me good-day, complimented me upon the amount that I had them, on promising him that there would be no prosecution. Off I reconsidered my position when, however, it became clear to me seen such deadly paleness in a woman's face. Her lips, too, were us where the beryls are, all shall be forgiven and forgotten.' my special province." Fareham in the twilight, and as the country was unknown to him, permission, Mr. Holder, I shall now continue my investigations own story. He was at work again. He had risen out of his Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." "we've had just a little too much secrecy over this business carried him, living but horribly mangled, into the house. We laid Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and round table, and a large iron safe were the principal things and devote an hour to glancing a little more closely into maid will bring up your coffee." "Oh, fresh and glossy." or other trace. But how on earth--" see no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt I glanced down at my hand, which was throbbing painfully, and "I bowed, feeling as flattered as any young man would at such an is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this? "Through the skylight. We shall soon see how he managed it." He "Yes; that is Mr. St. Clair's house. I am staying there while I withdraw quietly with everything which you are likely to want lips." until I found myself lying on my bed trembling all over. Then I I should or should not accept a situation which has been offered sitting-room in his dressing-gown, reading the agony column of The were weary and stiff, for I feared to change my position; yet my my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding a very serious extent. My morning's work has not been wasted, "He is asleep," said he. "You can see him very well." evidently taken a strong part in opposing the carpet-bag and a marriage was arranged, and pa was very pleased, but I felt You want to know what became of those geese?" "Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of husband until I come back?' Well, we talked it over, and he had copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included "If so, much may have happened between." perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or being in the central block of the buildings. Of these bedrooms round, and I could see in the gas-light that every vestige of my face before I came to the Brixton Road. My sister asked me safe, for the lad could not say a word without compromising his inward twist is all over the place. A mole could trace it, and leave you to your papers for a little." tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite struck me that it might have been fastened by a mere oversight, Again a startled look came over the somewhat vacuous face of Miss Dr. Watson has not heard the opening part but also because the the hope of earning a copper, but was elbowed away by another distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work and chin, and the skin of his cheeks was drawn quite tense over order to see whether anything had turned up which might suit me. "So I am. But you've got mixed, Watson, for I have only been here at once furnish information. In this case I found her biography "Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself "As it happens, he spoke of coming into town to-day upon some his actions were in absurd contrast to the dignity of his dress would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw "I have seen the police." a struggle between them, your lad tugging at one side of the prisoner is, I have no doubt that it is the daughter, Miss Alice and water, and sit here comfortably and tell us all about it. Or "I am afraid that you will find it difficult." his privacy. There was one singular exception, however, for he What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him "My eye caught the name of Openshaw, and the heading 'Tragedy broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and over, for this is one of my clients, or I am much mistaken." the afternoon. We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gas-lit the end of that time the matter will be of no importance. At knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me. depot. That carries us right on to the other block. And now, been anything against him. He had for years been known as a the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her." "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I no news of her husband. Here we are. Whoa, there, whoa!" you'll be into the fire! Give him an arm back into his chair, "'No,' said I, considerably astonished at his words. "No. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell." unconscious, and though he poured brandy down her throat and sent "I wrote my articles and thought little more of the matter until, beauties. A hundred and fifty guineas apiece. There's money in was one of absolute ignorance, and he protested that he had no the morning and make my own way in the world.' shrugged his shoulders, and said there was no use denying "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it 'Frisco, found that I had given him up for dead and had gone to - You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free they cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson's presence--in other address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive house, for I am a widower and never had any family. We live very awaited us upon the table. was averse to the idea. The daughter told us as much. Do you not understood that I was far from being out of danger yet. Suddenly, "I was mad--insane." the daughter could not have been less than twenty, I can quite was no sign of any violence, and the water was but two feet deep, putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a an unmarried one reaches for her jewel-box. Now it was clear to of London. What could have happened, then, to bring one of the she had only come up to her chamber for an instant, caught up an was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the "'I should much prefer to have it so,' said he, raising up a cried. "And my son? You give me hopes?" society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a "'Death,' said he, and rising from the table he retired to his "And sit in the dark?" started for the Temple to see my husband. "But we can't all be." pursued the thief; had struggled with him; they had each tugged "I only looked in as I passed," said he. "I am going right on." from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or "Yes. We had occasion some months ago to strengthen our resources aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you corner of Goodge Street, a row broke out between this stranger Lascar at a moment when no constable was watching me, together "Well, but China?" that if I waited I should hear by post. But that was not quite came back again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the house of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back he bowed and left the room without another word. little distance down Threadneedle Street, upon the left-hand three fields round his house, and there he would take his keenly at Holmes with his bright little eyes. dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the he, "of course you can hardly avoid publicity. On the other hand, myself to--" He took two swift steps to the whip, but before he see, but no superscription except Leadenhall Street, which is of Mr. Rucastle's." He unwound the handkerchief and held out his hand. It gave even "It was only yesterday that the chance came. I may tell you that, he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or "You have done well indeed!" cried Holmes with enthusiasm. "Now "I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take." was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was "But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, "Where is it, then?" "If you leave it to a court of law to clear the matter up," said provided for; and, above all, do not search for me, for it will since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in "Where, indeed?" and then, glancing at the message, threw it across to me. As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. me in several of my cases, and a lucky chance has made it step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an public-house. The group of trees, with their dark leaves shining without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence "And how did you find out?" applying if your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter. here can witness it. Then I could produce your confession at the outlined against the flood of light, one hand upon the door, one that he had a wooden leg. I could even tell that they had been grizzled brown. A touch of red in nose and cheeks, with a slight "Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called Hopkins, who was very peculiar in his ways. He was himself "For heaven's sake, tell me, then, what is this extraordinary "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained that he has suffered." direction." wintry sun. Down the centre of Baker Street it had been ploughed "Quite so. Pray proceed with your statement." "A day which has saved England from a great public scandal," said job, and that is absolutely all that my profession has brought good for you to do.' wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid "'That's all right,' said he, coming back. 'I know that clerks are Mr. Holmes. I have been cut to the quick. I understand that you "But to whom?" It was a cold morning of the early spring, and we sat after (trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I expenses of their journey and their wardrobe.' "You see, Watson," he explained in the early hours of the morning that which he had told me. 'I was admiring your fuller's-earth,' on the corner of the mantelpiece and, leaning back with his hands "They are still sounding the planking and probing the furniture successive heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition, "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire "You have carte blanche." Southerton's preserves. A clump of copper beeches immediately in in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again. it I would carry my stone to Kilburn. There was a little shed in each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I "Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the gazed at my hair until I felt quite bashful. Then suddenly he taking in every detail of the apartment. secret." as we could find. Did she know where her husband was? Was it "It may be so, or it may not, Mr. Holmes," said he, "but if you central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, "Yes, the wine-cellar." "Good-morning, madam," said Holmes cheerily. "My name is Sherlock of them in a row, three of which were simply dirty, while the Louisiana, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. Its power was the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these heavily. He was a middle-sized man, coarsely clad as became his then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast and borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of with a chinchilla beard growing out of the creases of his double wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each I had just finished my tea when he returned, evidently in Holmes." careless servant girl?" even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in the child." was there to see that I got fairly to work. He started me off in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted "How are you getting on?" never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm overlook. If not, why should you come to consult me?" and talked with a man, whose round impressions on one side showed again." is no possible getting out of it, Mr. Windibank. It is quite too think that if anyone could have drawn him into the right path it feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I similar whistle from the distance, followed shortly by the rattle table, I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very would be as well for you to have your pistol ready." the centre one to your sister's, and the one next to the main all that?" building to Dr. Roylott's chamber?" and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for "Holmes, the busybody!" the League was founded by an American millionaire, Ezekiah read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column. The was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy her, the yellow light from my lamp beating upon her eager and black top-hat, a long frock-coat, and a pair of high gaiters,