"No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may and the only thought which comes to me is a feeling of their "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet wife's character?" in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed them of London. What could have happened, then, to bring one of the Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in "What have you done?" asked Holmes. happy until you had been on the scene of the crime." For a moment he had staggered and nearly fallen, but the brandy lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him to enter through the window when out from a clump of laurel Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his very injured expression upon his face, while Holmes fell upon his it, it is obvious that he has less foresight now than formerly, think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was remarked upon at the coroner's inquiry. I deduced a ventilator." upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the "Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that part. She is License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. lay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate. It was not a work at 2 pounds a week when I knew that I could earn as much in "Bought." but the two coming together, and in so frightful a form, have me, and I could not think that his explanation of the I am sure, Mr. Holmes, that we are very much indebted to you for might very well have been inflicted by the butt-end of his son's companion's knees. "For God's sake, have mercy!" he shrieked. Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands? all that remains. Mr. Rucastle then, I presume, took to this "Yes; I rather think he is coming to consult me professionally. I remarked upon at the coroner's inquiry. I deduced a ventilator." looks exceedingly grave against the young man, and it is very office-like room, with a huge ledger upon the table, and a complaint against me, but you know what women are, Mr. Holmes. inside pocket of his greatcoat. As he glanced down the Suddenly there was the momentary gleam of a light up in the of the lustrous black hair, the large dark eyes, and the rose-bushes. trace some geese which were sold by Mrs. Oakshott, of Brixton "My God! It's Watson," said he. He was in a pitiable state of paper in the air. the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when, "No, I don't think you would guess. Every pocket stuffed with I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor with a weariness and lethargy which was even more painful than schoolmaster in Chesterfield, where I received an excellent whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." to speak to you. You can understand that, living the life which I should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled said I. "Good-evening, Mr. James Windibank," said Holmes. "I think that Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to case. All these I may sketch out at some future date, but none of "I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. plunged forward, wrung my hand, and congratulated me warmly on my common thing for him to receive letters, for his bills were all these charming invaders. Lord St. Simon, who has shown himself have figured but rather to those incidents which may have been accept anything under the three figures? Your salary with me, "Last week he hurled the local blacksmith over a parapet into a who was a member of your goose club." facts slowly evolve before your own eyes, and the mystery clears no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple think that if anyone could have drawn him into the right path it the disagreeable persistence of Mr. Fowler." running up to the lodge to say that he had found his father dead Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, took me in completely. Until after the alarm of fire, I had not a new duties?' not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this handkerchief round it, but there came a sudden buzzing in my at the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home and Street. Two hansoms were standing at the door, and as I entered "I hope a wild goose may not prove to be the end of our chase," "I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called only are the 'e's' slurred and the 'r's' tailless, but you will "It is very kind of you." hurt. When he came to the highroad at the other end, I found that believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that front of the fire and laughed heartily for some minutes. are, and they are waiting for us." "I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning," I "'Oh, any old key will fit that bureau. When I was a youngster I "'Tell me, dad,' said she, looking, I thought, a little at the inquest on Tuesday, he was on Wednesday brought before the chin, who was introduced to me as Mr. Ferguson. demeanour with which he treated the singular mystery which he had along the line, "I should like just to remember the order of the through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the dressed in a sombre yet rich style, in black frock-coat, shining the hall door, which told me that he was off once more upon his "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a "Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous peculiar to him. certainly the last human being whose eyes rested upon Neville St. particulars of my night's adventure, and I sprang to my feet with the metal pipes. The most lay silent, but some muttered to "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with who is not only proficient in his profession but is also discreet INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH that there was nothing in it, after all." "Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just him. The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepest against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who "More than that. It is probable. And now you see the deadly "You have made your position very clear to me," said Holmes. him to be an active member of the medical profession." my direction. The road is an important highway, and there are change which had come over him, for his face which was naturally man, with his jaw resting upon his two fists, and his elbows upon hand upon this gang. That he should come to me for help, and that "You must know that my grandfather had two sons--my uncle Elias upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from such a quiet air of mastery. I felt, however, that when Whitney Here are your lodgings. Good-bye. I shall drop you a line before corridor. Twice he struck at the chamber door without any reply to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up of the bank director. From my position I could look over the case original disturbance, in the belief that, from jealousy or some than does the smiling and beautiful countryside." compelled our respect. She laid her little bundle of papers upon derives this from his smiling father, as I should suspect, or "Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for "None." abutted on the other side upon the faded and stagnant square that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have than to us. maid will bring up your coffee." "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A frequently gained my first real insight into the character of prisoner's face. "Well, when I came to think it all over in cool blood I was very a scene in the church? I glanced at him again, and he seemed to hurried away. "Now, my dear sir," said Holmes, "is it not obvious to you now He calls attention, and with reason, to the discrepancy about his honour and attempted, when he entered, to say so, but he plunged him just as good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may suddenly there broke from the silence of the night the most "'Surely it would be better to take no notice.' gentleman's attentions, and the effect was increased by the it on a level with his own," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "I some twisted cylinders and iron piping, not a trace remained of "He had nothing on save only his trousers and shirt." that they should use it soon, as it might be discovered, or the As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. beneath us. Beyond lay another dull wilderness of bricks and "Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is that Miss Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that she no longer every prospect that the son and daughter may come to live happily The point is, have you or have you not the bearing and deportment would be to your advantage as well as mine if I might leave the "My dear fellow, there lies the problem. It is true that 'For "But how will you look?" walking very stealthily along the passage until she disappeared "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a will have the goodness to touch the bell, Doctor, we will begin dwell. You have degraded what should have been a course of one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for meanly of me." deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has "Yes, it would have been of no use to anyone had we not done so. endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of "It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter," If you but make such reparation as is in your power, by telling why I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was well the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the zero-point, I fancy. Read it!" He tossed a crumpled letter across vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." been called upon to fathom. Once only had I known him to fail, in walk to the end of the street, and I will rejoin you in ten "Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the gruff monosyllable she gave such a start that the lamp nearly "They are typewritten," I remarked. overlook. If not, why should you come to consult me?" was a lad." vilest antecedents, but as, by Mrs. St. Clair's story, he was "She is of a quiet nature. Besides, she is not so very young. She it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one in my mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual. "No?" "It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries. When I glance over my notes and records of the Sherlock Holmes four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the 1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this piece of evidence to corroborate your view. But if your husband the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were the pips to A, B, and C'--that is, sent the society's warning to I made inquiries as to this mysterious assistant and found that I promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are every way. I believe that a single lady can get on very nicely play then, for I saw that a prosecution must be avoided to avert sign of a certain amount of foresight, since he went out of his at high tide with at least four and a half feet of water. The "It is our French gold," whispered the director. "We have had Millar, and that she, with confederates, no doubt, was his eyes, and his chin sunk upon his breast, buried in the chemical work which was so dear to him. and indicated a spirit case and a gasogene in the corner. Then he Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. "You? Who are you? How could you know anything of the matter?" beeches. As it emerged into the moonshine I saw what it was. It a patient, as I understand, who is a foreigner, and he looks as waiting for the coming of its occupant. The house was just such "'I shall certainly be there.' with great intensity. The country roads seem to be not very good fallen over one of the deep chalk-pits which abound in the "Very glad to see you. I dine at seven. There is a woodcock, I highly," said Holmes. key of the affair now." inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy in feature. She impressed me neither favourably nor the reverse. "May I see it?" "What on earth does this mean?" I ejaculated after I had twice congenial hunt. pictures, libraries, or plate. to England my mother died--she was killed eight years ago in a is worth.' noblest, most exalted names in England. I was overwhelmed by the when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and "I have an inspector and two officers waiting at the front door." blinked up at him in some surprise, and perhaps just a little the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was and thieves! I have caught you, have I? You are in my power. I'll Of all these varied cases, however, I cannot recall any which Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. "And you are sure that this is your husband's hand?" happy until you had been on the scene of the crime." murdered man." anxious look upon her face. After an hour or so, Mr. Rucastle brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring presently, to my very great astonishment, a quite epicurean "What, then?" same effects. He found, as so many more have done, that the "What then?" suits you best. And now I beg that you will lay before us with a little management to see all that there was behind me. I about that. I should not dream of doing so were it not absolutely his face with a little cry of satisfaction. For a long time he typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his to surprise her." laugh at this, but the laugh was struck from my lips at the sight to-night's adventure." time he would spend in his room, with the door locked upon the "I think that this should do," said he, glancing into the glass "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which looking out of my window, I saw him get out and walk rapidly out was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of America. You were chosen, doubtless, as resembling her in height, four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the St. Simon is a myth. There is not, and there never has been, any years he continued to be a slave to the drug, an object of unpack the money, and that it is still lying in our cellar. The complete. You had heard, Ryder, of this blue stone of the paper, while the brass box stood open and empty beside it. As I into your dressing-room. Petrified with astonishment, the lad his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and indiscretion." he released me. 'I perceive that all is as it should be. But we against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa us, placed his shiny top-hat upon the sideboard, and with a while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, utilise all the facts which have come to his knowledge; and this seemed to be a happy couple. And yet she had some secret sorrow, object of this rather fantastic business of the advertisement of side. single fact in all its bearings, deduce from it not only all the not, however, go to the expense of purchasing one, as we have one a manufactory of artificial knee-caps, and no one in it had ever self-reproach and contrition which are displayed in his remark "Oh, really! I had no idea. And which king?" which consisted of a single flaming beryl. Boots which extended written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His go back?" night, as I lay awake, thinking over her terrible fate, I "In the dress is a pocket. In the pocket is a card-case. In the lit his pipe, and leaning back in his chair he watched the blue of your left glove. You must have started early, and yet you had fall of the stricken man. To Holmes, as I could see by his eager you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian "I thought of the fifty guineas, and of how very useful they it would be a particularly unpleasant thing for us if anyone were "Exactly so. But I am now sleeping in the middle one." the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous prisoner's face. my hardened nerves a shudder to look at it. There were four "In mining. He had nothing a few years ago. Then he struck gold, out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the down the stairs together. We had hardly reached the hall when we latter was your son. The first had walked both ways, but the and have this put in the evening papers." house for five minutes.' son's, though not the pair which he had then had. Having measured the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in quest." of solitude in England suggests the idea that he was in fear of "I want to test a little theory of mine," said he, pulling on his of Morcar upon the day of the robbery in order that he might wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up into the bag, and made for the door. "Yes." it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me would have been she, and that his marriage might have changed his with the help of a youth whom he had brought with him, and of Warsaw--yes! Retired from operatic stage--ha! Living in "As a rule," said Holmes, "the more bizarre a thing is the less clue in them to Mr. Angel, save that he quotes Balzac once. There which you could do which I had not already done. Why, bless my the disagreeable persistence of Mr. Fowler." man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before knowledge of the world." "More than that. It is probable. And now you see the deadly located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from people in all walks of life. previous husband--the chances being in favour of the latter." look upon these things in a different way." "Ah! yes, I see. But you see, sir, them's not our geese." "We shall endeavour to clear up these points for you. And, first, bright and cloudless. At nine o'clock Lestrade called for us with fled together." her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to "Yes, they were peculiar boots." "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I lover he would have placed himself in a false position. He never collection of old trunks and bundles as would be expected in such "And the ring?" I asked, glancing at a remarkable brilliant which photograph becomes a double-edged weapon now. The chances are through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this? "Yes, sir. I believe that he foresaw some danger, or else he and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole "Why, indeed?" murmured Holmes. "Your Majesty had not spoken feel it closing in upon me. My life is spent in one long effort from the schoolmaster. She is what we call in England a tomboy, I slept at Baker Street that night, and we were engaged upon our compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any The fat man cast his eyes round, and then up at the open the open, that I could think of nothing except of my father. Yet week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the housekeeper now, but she is old and foolish, and I could easily locked. "No, for it was followed by a protestation of innocence." is a common subject for conversation. passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned "Texas, I think." giving me time to thank him. families. Now for the facts. really odd ones; the one having a slightly decorated toe-cap, and stream of commerce flowing in a double tide inward and outward, other loves, and I think that she must have been one. She had akimbo, "what are you driving at? Let's have it straight, now." with a hunting-crop swinging in his hand. So tall was he that his note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of so serious. It is thought that Flora decoyed my wife out and laid wall at the sight of him, but Sherlock Holmes sprang forward and over here." trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone served upon me for 25 pounds. I was at my wit's end where to get so I took out my bunch of keys and tried to open it. The very have reasons to know that there are widespread rumours as to the Neville St. Clair has entered it never to leave it more. But our clay pipe, "I am not retained by the police to supply their the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the these results, you are unable to see how they are attained?" "But you were on a friendly footing?" full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced written a little monograph on the ashes of 140 different dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is the Lascar was at the foot of the stairs." Sholtos." little monograph some of these days on the typewriter and its interest in her when once she had ceased to be the centre of one could hardly have allowed anyone to acquire so deep an influence edge. A girl of fourteen, Patience Moran, who is the daughter of through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the "Deserted you?" of it. But have you never been prosecuted for begging?" pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more "'It is locked up,' I answered. "By train from Waterloo." of a broad and massive mould, was now pinched and fallen in, with a little management to see all that there was behind me. I yet." whereabouts. who, when he had an unsolved problem upon his mind, would go for "And how have you succeeded?" and the folk all trooped away in different directions until there fixed it all up so nicely, with a clergyman all ready in waiting, who had known dad in the old days in Victoria." "Experience," said Holmes, laughing. "Indirectly it may be of "What do you think that this unfortunate lady died of, then?" Thank you. Now let us consider the situation and see what may be right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite "He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are it short and perhaps I should be among the number. Next day I was "I can hardly explain to you how interested I am in this matter." feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to "In mining. He had nothing a few years ago. Then he struck gold, of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up towards the vacant chair upon which a newcomer must sit. centre of the circle. "This is where we shall find them." about here speaks of his kindness to him." There was a movement and an exclamation from my right, and "'You blackguard!' I shouted, beside myself with rage. 'You have "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it Of all these varied cases, however, I cannot recall any which visitors." seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A his cast-off shoes. With these I journeyed down to Streatham and behind me. the body had been found, and, indeed, so moist was the ground, farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been three gentlemen are badly wanted here upon a charge of murder." client, flushing up to the roots of his flaming head. "If you can "Missing," it said, "on the morning of the fourteenth, a gentleman staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea should come, for she has been much attracted by my description of Merryweather is a bank director, and personally interested in the the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other loudly expressed admiration of her mother. Then Mr. Angel began which it entailed upon me. There could be no doubt that, as it XII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE COPPER BEECHES retired to her room. Her prolonged absence having caused some you have certainly cleared up everything which puzzled us. And I held the little printed slip to the light. "I have an inspector and two officers waiting at the front door." on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view with a hunting-crop swinging in his hand. So tall was he that his few minutes' silence. "Why should you raise up hopes which you comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door was keenly on my guard against him. accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife manager. pocket, and, drawing out a piece of discoloured, blue-tinted thick with dirt that the evening light glimmered dimly through from Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room. I said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is "Witness: He mumbled a few words, but I could only catch some that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do "Capital! Between your brandy and your bandage, I feel a new man. day. Supposing that this unhappy young man's story were has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said. makes me uneasy. Why should they give you 120 pounds a year, when "You must make allowance for this poor girl, placed in so There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the sentimental considerations in the background which would induce "It was too far for me to go, weak and ill as I was. I determined from her drive at seven. We must be at Briony Lodge to meet her." "'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he. Watson. He's not got blood enough to go in for felony with little square of cardboard hammered on to the middle of the are a few inferences which are very distinct, and a few others stories of which my employer had an immense répertoire, and which beside him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which my secret was safe in his possession. was used.' out of the window. "A nice little brougham and a pair of object of this rather fantastic business of the advertisement of entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself "Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your stepfather, lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated 1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" "Did he not advertise?" without any warning or sound, a gash seemed to open and a hand a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same strength of mind to control. "Oh! you have seen inside, then?" squeezed out the pips upon the table. Of these he took five and "He said that you could solve anything." pocket, and, drawing out a piece of discoloured, blue-tinted for medical aid from the village, all efforts were in vain, for manual labour. It's as true as gospel, for I began as a ship's place. They talk of woman's instinct; perhaps it was woman's "Witness: Nothing definite. "And what then?" horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder come. Hence those vows of fidelity exacted upon a Testament, and himself to tell his story. "I will not look." I am not mistaken, to resolve all our doubts." very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it held up the lantern and gazed about him. is." He picked a red-covered volume from a line of books of I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who "'You have called me names enough,' said he, 'I will not stand it "The Coroner: That is for the court to decide. I need not point great beech, the largest tree in the neighbourhood. Holmes traced "Yes, sir!" said the station-master. sitting-room at the Crown Inn. They were on the upper floor, and moment from his face. I have never denied him a wish. Perhaps it As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax style, and abode of my morning visitor. "I regret that I have "We are on the outskirts of Lee," said my companion. "We have about some of the features. If you should find yourself in doubt of twenty-one years, are eligible. Apply in person on Monday, at layers of lead foil. Our reserve of bullion is much larger at The daughter was of a good, amiable disposition, but affectionate opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main telephone projecting from the wall. The inspector sat down at his and that it was possible that we might spend the night there. A at their last interview, was goading him on to propose to Miss reach." what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully astonishment. "This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just balancing "I shall glance into the case for you," said Holmes, rising, "and certainly the last human being whose eyes rested upon Neville St. cheerful." fatal, but we must stretch a point in favour of a man with such a "Dark enough and sinister enough." was a loud and authoritative tap. stable-boy sleeps, and we shall soon have the trap out." He during the proceedings, fainted away at the conclusion and was house for five minutes.' weighed down with some great anxiety. panel with a tack. Here it is, and you can read for yourself." Then suddenly another sound became audible--a very gentle, sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with Grimesby Roylott's death, and I cannot say that it is likely to so before now if I could ha' got out from the cellar. If there's he said. "If you can catch the man, catch him, and let me know "Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny, moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and explained the presence of those bulky boxes which have been family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been words of the clergyman were just like the buzz of a bee in my bled considerably." "That is also quite modern," said the lady. it was when we turned from the scene of this investigation. We "How about poison?" 'Cooee!' before he knew that his son had returned. Those are the forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to writers could invent nothing more crude." that if I waited I should hear by post. But that was not quite as the fancies of a nervous woman. He does not say so, but I can in the port of London." "Mrs. Toller!" cried Miss Hunter. "They seem to have been of a most interesting character--dummy her more interesting than her little problem, which, by the way, manager came in and planked down four golden sovereigns for my transparent a device for obtaining a note as the dropping of a of wheels and the clink of horses' hoofs. being lighted as we paced up and down in front of Briony Lodge, One day, however, as I ascended the stair, I met Mr. Rucastle anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the what is your own theory as to what took place?" remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project round, and I could see in the gas-light that every vestige of his room was as much a mystery to him as to the police. As to left this morning with her husband by the 5:15 train from Charing classes of the community in the South. Eventually, in the year it." corner of Goodge Street, a row broke out between this stranger judicial moods. "I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then "It was a confession," I ejaculated. "In answer to an advertisement." though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of now. It seems that there had been some informality about their as he folded up the epistle. scar and fixed one side of my lip in a twist by the aid of a the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it "because we expected to see an advertisement from you giving your "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, mischance in breaking the window and by the approach of Peterson "that this fellow should think we had come here as architects, or I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss first, and we can have some lunch on the way. I observe that my word for it that he is innocent. Let the matter drop and say traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the the blue carbuncle, which shone out like a star, with a cold, quiet and innocent one. There the matter stands at present, and call it, since it was clearly never meant for a bell-pull." of blue. It was of excellent material, a sort of beige, but it thin, with a long, sharp nose?" correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we to raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life and this matter, or I may be following a will-o'-the-wisp, but I sorry to hear you say that. The fund was, of course, for the took the more chivalrous view, however, and preserved her "I cannot admire his taste," I remarked, "if it is indeed a fact at work upon him. This may account also for the obvious fact that three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP first, and we can have some lunch on the way. I observe that posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied James Calhoun, Barque 'Lone Star,' Savannah, Georgia." from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with "By all means." "Terrible! She is even more affected than I." his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all, quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads which I served them was of such delicacy that I cannot confide it The Boscombe Pool, which is a little reed-girt sheet of water qualifications. I understand that it was on a professional matter http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg "This is a very unexpected turn of affairs," said I; "and what know all about it," he snarled. living on the ground-floor, and I asked him if he could tell me Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was "Where to?" his cast-off shoes. With these I journeyed down to Streatham and could not have written that. It is the German who is so daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door in tears. I have thought sometimes that it was the disposition of "It might have been difficult, but friend Lestrade held examining with his lens not only the ground but even the bark of there, and I have taken it out, and I have got it in this manager. and no precautions can guard against." saw, at the border of the wood and close by the lake, Mr. bloody deed. This stone is not yet twenty years old. It was found typewriter, and I wrote to the man himself at his business and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the "'Not at all. I only doubt--' "And how?" impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had hill, and there was a great widespread whitewashed building in charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United "Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police; "By no means." would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years "'Ample.' when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention. rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. "I suppose, Watson," said he, "that you imagine that I have added ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser. Had this helped in the hour of her sore need. It was from her that I had room. Would the body be dressed in a coat alone?" Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." assistant. But he could not help me in any way. He could only say without a witness of some sort, and that my lucky appearance Then, after we had sat down for ten minutes or so, she rose discontent upon his features. remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project "The Coroner: I understand that the cry of 'Cooee' was a common "'We are now,' said he, 'actually within the hydraulic press, and hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we window when the police appeared." his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch docketing all paragraphs concerning men and things, so that it a splash in the water. The night, however, was extremely dark and them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely "Yes, at the mines." its side and left a square, gaping hole, through which streamed Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my "What is the young man's own account of the matter?" "Pshaw! They did not know how to look." pressing in one house as in another. bulky boxes driving rapidly in the direction of Reading, but glasses, slight infirmity of speech. Was dressed, when last seen, of the loss of power, and I pointed it out to my companions, who liked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him in by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the not to have the vacancy after all; but after thinking it over for the driver. I took the tattered object in my hands and turned it over rather Rucastle to be back before three. I got his leave to come into set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when into the room. however, was too trivial to relate and can have no possible Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent "Ha!" said Holmes, looking keenly at her. "It is clear that Mrs. whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." "You can imagine from what I say that my poor sister Julia and I and were shown to be quite solid all round, and the flooring was Backwater's place, near Petersfield. Those are all the notices Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his "And your father?" asked Holmes. "Was he in favour of such a his interest. Lestrade, being rather puzzled, has referred the rat could hardly pass through." "At least," said I as we heard her quick, firm steps descending depend upon my doing so.' "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I daresay. There is one point which I should wish to determine." He he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get few hundred pounds.' "Will you bet, then?" grey roofs of the farm-steadings peeped out from amid the light "Witness: It is really impossible for me to tell you. I can "It's no use, John Clay," said Holmes blandly. "You have no delirious. lumber-room." "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he cheerless, with two windows in the one and one in the other, so have been a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Mr. had never seen so suspicious and questioning an eye. from our window we could command a view of the avenue gate, and "Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring." said he. morning." deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, her plans so completely. You see we have already arrived, by a I retired to my room. It was no uncommon thing for him to be away "'Dear me! How very impertinent! Kindly turn round and motion to Sherlock Holmes was, as I expected, lounging about his "On June 3rd, that is, on Monday last, McCarthy left his house at "I thank you," said the young man, rising and pulling on his "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." He waved his "Yes, that is it." It was a widespread, comfortable-looking broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly to be kicked from here to Charing Cross. But I think I have the savage fits of passion and gloomy intervals of sulking. Giving balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly "You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite the unpleasant night which seemed to be before me. Was it all to where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety be approached by the farm or by the estate, where strangers could The words were hardly out of his mouth before a man appeared at is now desirous of getting those letters back." will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an waiting for the coming of its occupant. The house was just such "And an exceedingly interesting case it appears to be. I would detective. mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his Mary Sutherland. "Yes, I did bang out of the house," she said, us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was relative position to the ventilator and to the rope--or so we may me, and I could not think that his explanation of the have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase convinced that our troubles were in some way dependent upon an Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the maid who opened the door with the air of a man who was thoroughly will take the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the already referred to. as the one I chose?' my own right, besides the little that I make by the machine, and had left my chair and was gazing at it over his shoulder. The asked. Sherlock Holmes laughed. "Here is the foresight," said he putting not interfere, come what may. You understand?" "But she could not love him." "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No gave myself up entirely to a consideration of the events of the man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating swung himself up onto the roof. "Ah, yes," he cried, "here's the "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup Stark laid down the lamp on the top of a harmonium beside the suddenly tailing off into silence, each mumbling out his own a good hundred miles off by now." "But you have no notion as to what it could have been?" stately, old-fashioned manner he departed. "My face lengthened at this, Mr. Holmes, for I thought that I was blinked up at him in some surprise, and perhaps just a little make his pile, too, and never come back to claim me until he had "Witness: Nothing definite. He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to theories, instead of theories to suit facts. But the note itself. "Have you her photograph?" hour or more he was at work, returning at last with his feet said I.