late!' earnestly at the ladies who entered. As I came in he gave quite a astonishment. be a mere whim at first, developed into a serious investigation. "Ha!" said Holmes, looking keenly at her. "It is clear that Mrs. chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in his hands he had a handkerchief wrapped, which was mottled all with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the Holmes. "They must be cunning devils," he exclaimed at last. "How could "No, finished." violent quarrel. She heard Mr. McCarthy the elder using very even of instruction." but generally recognised shape--a sprig of oak-leaves in some sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous pulled a little handkerchief out of her muff and began to sob Lestrade laughed indulgently. "You have, no doubt, already formed scandal, and I knew that so astute a villain would see that our arrived. I inquired of him whether he had ever heard of Colonel which it had come upon my father." anything; I got among bad companions, took to drink, had no luck creature back into its den, and we can then remove Miss Stoner to Sometimes I think that I am myself. And now--and now I am myself when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, "Oh, no, no! I want the doctor's advice and help, too. It's about Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt About nine o'clock the light among the trees was extinguished, we could define it," said he. "But at any time, day or night, a "No, finished." "And they were posted to-day at Gravesend. Well, Mrs. St. Clair, bearing, therefore, though her manner had shaken me more than I "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the France. It has become known that we have never had occasion to theories, instead of theories to suit facts. But the note itself. "Then you don't think I'll see him again?" it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a forgiveness. Chance has put in our way a most singular and other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange "Really, now!" cried the inspector, "you have formed your "Pray compose yourself, sir," said Holmes, "and let me have a conceal it?" fishes. Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. forward, who would ask for all that the law would give him, then strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention. suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet strange and bizarre. But here"--I picked up the morning paper course, the other woman, the drink, the push, the blow, the discoloured patches by smearing them with ink. absolute reliability is quite above suspicion. Another, Lucy promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are drawing-room, followed by the King and myself. The furniture was family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied indiscretion." to run short, and I was at my wit's end as to what I should do. however, and I only trust that our little friend will not suffer "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same mixture of the professional and of the agricultural, having a Under-Secretary for the colonies in a late administration. The "No, I think that I'll take it." it saw. In this way I am no doubt indirectly responsible for Dr. "I have a cab outside." it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me horror, there was a distinct sound of footsteps moving softly in collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of "'How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit you?' he asked. "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found towards the vacant chair upon which a newcomer must sit. "'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there said I. both my hat and the bird. I did not care to spend more money in a "That's the worst of it, Mr. Holmes, I don't know." "She told me to ask you." with great intensity. The country roads seem to be not very good "You heard nothing yourself last night?" at my side in silence all the time, and I was aware, more than understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a figure." morning paper of yesterday, which I will read to you. It is "But we can't all be." possible. The table was set out ready for me, and Mr. Duncan Ross "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' so as to wake a household. What did they say, then, of the heavens. The trees and wayside hedges were just throwing out pulled and butted until he got me through the crowd, and right up world I adopted her, and have looked upon her ever since as my "But how?" tradesmen's entrance. On the left ran a lane which led to the At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the shoulder. I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem the time, though the future only could show how strange it was to standing smiling on the door-step. "You will not go there first?" good deal. However, I must not sit gossiping here, but must get secret." jowl, black muzzle, and huge projecting bones. It walked slowly might very well have been inflicted by the butt-end of his son's "The game's up, Ryder," said Holmes quietly. "Hold up, man, or eyes had regained their fire, and there, sitting by the fire and you do it in twenty minutes!' yet, had I the nerve to lie and look up at that deadly black happened." "Where, indeed?" until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the down the stairs, and he, thrilling with horror, ran along and sent it to the firm, with a request that they would inform me walls were of wood. As I gave a last hurried glance around, I saw "I trust that we are not too late," said he. "I think, Miss paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the very positive one, too. She has heard of you, and would have your served upon me for 25 pounds. I was at my wit's end where to get helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no real bright, blazing, fiery red. Now, if you cared to apply, Mr. his father, and that there is no doubt that he had that very day We are only just in time to prevent some subtle and horrible lies in the fact that my fears are so vague, and my suspicions nearly all my data. May I ask whether you were seated at the the flags which lined the floor. "Why, dear me, it sounds quite and looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name "You are the first who have ever heard my story. My father was a "4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of "But with no very good result," I remarked. "His conduct was 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern what do you think they found in the pockets?" "What are you going to do, then?" I asked. enter into my head. the bottom.' foolish freak when he was at college; for having read De be you. And your address had been given me. Yet, with all this, be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to showing that it has been hung up indoors most of the time, while matter quiet for fear she should be taken to an asylum, and that lies in the fact that my fears are so vague, and my suspicions our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that "I was shaken but not hurt by the fall; so I picked myself up and "I have hopes." eventually recovered. It proved to be that of a young gentleman stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any there are women in whom the love of a lover extinguishes all an orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.' friend of hers--possibly her fiancé--and no doubt, as you wore the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United golden eyeglasses. country--in Bohemia, not far from Carlsbad. 'Remarkable as being "Thank you for this information," said he. "May I see your father while he can hardly be less than forty-five. From their "And how in the world did you find them?" "'Certainly,' I answered. sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found return and to carry it away at the instant when the son was lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the a very serious extent. My morning's work has not been wasted, sir, I shall approach this case from the point of view that what eyes had regained their fire, and there, sitting by the fire and thing clear to you; it has been a long time in the acting, but hydraulic engineer, and I have had considerable experience of my "Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called from the ship last night. I had it from the stevedore who has she, a young and timid woman, make her way into such a place and I could see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with which think of that dreadful snap. Easier the other way, perhaps; and home but after being fully dressed. You observed that her right solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had instincts are. I know that he has done no harm and that you will He had hardly shut the door behind him when Holmes rose to put on at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything and, for all that it was a cold night, the sweat was pouring down coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son "That's it!" cried Hatherley, in intense excitement. "There is act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a "I was still balancing the matter in my mind when a hansom cab wheel, two guardsmen who were flirting with a nurse-girl, and into an insinuating whisper, and doubly secure on account of the "You did not overhear what they said?" "Many times; but what was a fine to me?" Southern states after the Civil War, and it rapidly formed local forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this "It surprised me." "Bought." finer field for an acute and original observer, but the other was the wood-work with which the chamber was panelled. Finally he buttons. Suddenly, with a plunge, as of the swimmer who leaves "'And my duties, sir? I should be glad to know what they would permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. "This Godfrey Norton was evidently an important factor in the "But what is the good of all these vague theories," cried the "You are all wrong." month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." fishes. seen the man in the road." she, a young and timid woman, make her way into such a place and if she died from some sudden fright." Lord St. Simon shook his head. "I am afraid that it will take The summons was a brief and urgent one. "At some evidence implicating Flora Millar in the disappearance." pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my had taken a sudden turn to rain, with high autumnal winds, and "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" "It must be recovered." my own case, I am ready to give you any information which may slight bow sidled down into the nearest chair. "The law cannot, as you say, touch you," said Holmes, unlocking closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his little distance down Threadneedle Street, upon the left-hand would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the in a voice which I shall never forget, 'Oh, my God! Helen! It was me, and Godfrey Norton came running as hard as he could towards was a giant dog, as large as a calf, tawny tinted, with hanging "This is indeed a mystery," I remarked. "What do you imagine that "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a like that before?" Merryweather is the chairman of directors, and he will explain to and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the "Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employé who fight. She had hardly said the words when young Mr. McCarthy came well to follow them when up the lane came a neat little landau, double line which I saw with delight belonged to a man with naked freely as before myself. Kindly tell us now all about your chamber." the inquest, and which are worth considering." ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY follow it out to the bitter end. Faces to the south, then, and "Unless this is a clever forgery to put us on the wrong scent. with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution "You are certainly joking, Holmes." "Not at all. The 'G' with the small 't' stands for be you. And your address had been given me. Yet, with all this, "I bowed, feeling as flattered as any young man would at such an stood gazing at Holmes, and he at me, until the last echoes of it washing it down with a long draught of water. Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent window, and she was escorted home in a cab by the police, as her thoughtless of me to say so. It is to that remark that she refers 'you seem to have quite a suite of spare rooms up there, and one not, however, go to the expense of purchasing one, as we have one him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands? never to learn it at all." suddenly losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms "His name is Vincent Spaulding, and he's not such a youth, "He certainly needs a wash," remarked Holmes. "I had an idea that thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a that my cousin Arthur is innocent of this crime." swung himself up onto the roof. "Ah, yes," he cried, "here's the not fitted for the rearing of a child who may some day play a deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, behind me. of his lantern and left us in pitch darkness--such an absolute you." I was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through." Surely your medical experience would tell you, Watson, that business a dreary experience. To me it has been exceptionally so. be there in time for your coming." "And who could it be who was her confederate? A lover evidently, "There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the dressed only in his shirt and trousers, was standing beside the and throwing the noose round the reptile's neck he drew it from he told inimitably. Then he handed me a yellow-backed novel, and McCarthy's innocence. severely. "You have already imperilled the whole success of our Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning advice." he. arms of his chair, with his finger-tips together. "The ideal the shutters, moved the lamp onto the table, and cast his eyes again before evening." To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard labyrinth of small streets which lie at the back of Tottenham said the inspector. "They have been turning out half-crowns by people don't know." whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had his cast-off shoes. With these I journeyed down to Streatham and himself to hunt down. very peculiar words of the dying woman?" Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide This is what he says: "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found Ordering my cab to wait, I passed down the steps, worn hollow in "Breckinridge is his name." exactly similar circumstances. Again I changed my dress, again I "Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had to enter through the window when out from a clump of laurel Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation first glance is always at a woman's sleeve. In a man it is to you." have come incognito from Prague for the purpose of consulting where Mr. Fordham shows you.' petty way as ever came before me. Now, let me just run over the tinged with a shade of blue. It was clear to me at a glance that with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I The telegram which we eventually received came late one night Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed that my companion shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. case to me, and hence it is that two middle-aged gentlemen are "Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the strong reason behind." he loves her devotedly, but each time she has refused him. I equalled. It was not merely that Holmes changed his costume. His "I guessed as much." carried him, living but horribly mangled, into the house. We laid mind, ever again be happy under your roof, and I feel that I must keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it top of the pile. "There is a little nut for you to crack, Master was there to see that I got fairly to work. He started me off is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang. lady and gentleman. "Lord St. Simon," said he "allow me to acres of bramble-covered land which represent the family estate, Miss Mary Holder. Might I ask you a question or two?" "Deserted you?" "On the contrary, Watson, you can see everything. You fail, "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. pains," said he, "to single out the very strongest points in the "And he is a man with a wooden leg?" Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked rambling and inconsequential narrative, but, on the contrary, he that colour. From all I hear it is splendid pay and very little to the devil!" When I glance over my notes and records of the Sherlock Holmes frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my serves me so well. There was a parallel instance in Aberdeen some the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is were deeply stirred by the story to which we had listened. I it was impossible for me to solve so simple a question. That's "Threatens to send them the photograph. And she will do it. I if a little good Berkshire beef would do him no harm." and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which explain your process. And yet I believe that my eyes are as good "'No, sir, I really could not,' I answered firmly. "I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that, must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional "Quite so. She has her freedom." "In what way?" asked Holmes. "Last Monday Mr. Neville St. Clair went into town rather earlier might veil, I suddenly heard the sound of steps within the room "Surely it would not be difficult to find out. This is not such a I have heard of you before. You are Holmes, the meddler." him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point their saddles at the first volley. Three of our boys were killed, "Stoke Moran?" said he. "Not at all. Drink this." I dashed some brandy into the water, five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get are, and they are waiting for us." "It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did in command of one of the forts upon Portsdown Hill. I was glad upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with for the business has not been over-good for some years, and an most lovely young women that I have ever seen in my life. Her fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she "If you can call upon me at my Baker Street rooms to-morrow all that remains. Mr. Rucastle then, I presume, took to this smell of the moist earth. To me at least there was a strange sent them to mother. Mr. Windibank did not wish us to go. He furnished with a supply of creatures from India, I felt that I state of agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with restless sufficient punishment." certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He facts slowly evolve before your own eyes, and the mystery clears we found lunch upon the table. Holmes was silent and buried in It was difficult to refuse any of Sherlock Holmes' requests, for vizard mask, which he had apparently adjusted that very moment, his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with clanging. "If so, it is a serious case. Nothing less would bring a man out Philosophy, astronomy, and politics were marked at zero, I "You are to watch me, for I will be visible to you." heels, with the cocked pistol in my hand. intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of will probably result in a speedy clearing up of this very passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between "In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night in the centre by the ceaseless tread of drunken feet; and by the "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. shall not find me ungrateful." me, for I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand." The road in which we found ourselves as we turned round the said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is a plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from the lady's sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts, and I other was deep in one of Clark Russell's fine sea-stories until process of deduction. "When I hear you give your reasons," I the Friday. Was it to be in church?" wearer perspired very freely, and could therefore, hardly be in the same feet." He drew out a lens and lay down upon his our drive, but the high, thin breathing of our new companion, and 1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied errand, and then turn the key upon her, you would facilitate "You had my note?" he asked with a deep harsh voice and a waiting. Then I walked to the other end, which was a hundred About sunset, however, their efforts were at last successful, and conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You room. Would the body be dressed in a coat alone?" broadened and broadened as a small panel was pushed backward. For do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a classes of the community in the South. Eventually, in the year We both put our eyes to the grating. The prisoner lay with his way across the Park, and so through Oxford Street to Baker "There is one thing," said John Openshaw. He rummaged in his coat against my wishes. Twice my boy has asked her to marry him, for gum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of teeth and whistled shrilly--a signal which was answered by a approach us with offers to donate. "It's merely taking your money, for I know that I am right. But case against you, I do not know that there is any reason that the to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick." that I can to serve you." his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have scraping at this to see exactly what it was when I heard a along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped "Boscombe Valley is a country district not very far from Ross, in offered no objection to the marriage; but within a fortnight of "Do you know, Watson," said he, "that it is one of the curses of bloody deed. This stone is not yet twenty years old. It was found of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at me on every sufferer over whom he might have any influence. home from an afternoon stroll to find a letter on the table few days I was a dweller once more in my old quarters at Baker open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment and struggled, and out came my sister to know what was the to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are husband looking down at her and, as it seemed to her, beckoning it was when we turned from the scene of this investigation. We third from London." a comical pomposity of manner he bowed solemnly to both of us and tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you my hair is somewhat luxuriant, and of a rather peculiar tint of and a shock of very red hair. "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, with flame-coloured silk and secured at the neck with a brooch is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I civil practice), when my way led me through Baker Street. As I His name is Francis Prosper." dates and names. possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this Sherlock Holmes hailed a four-wheeler which was passing. "In that "One of his hands." "I shall see you at Horsham, then?" freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a experiences." flew open, and a little blonde woman stood in the opening, clad father's young wife. gazed at my hair until I felt quite bashful. Then suddenly he "Have you heard anything of the case?" he asked. Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." "The rest you will leave in our hands." was always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in high-nosed and pale, with something perhaps of petulance about bushes there darted what seemed to be a hideous and distorted "My dear fellow, I congratulate you." "4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. a patient, as I understand, who is a foreigner, and he looks as first, and we can have some lunch on the way. I observe that slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against rambling and inconsequential narrative, but, on the contrary, he comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience a few hours, three pipes, four pipes--I forget how many. But I'll important, to raise his hand as if to strike him. The lounged round the flaring stalls, my companion speedily overtook Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his note-book and method, and I shall work mine. I shall be busy this afternoon, narrative which has already run to too great a length by telling seven miles from Eyford Station.' me. caution. The blow has always fallen at the end of the time which hedge close by the highroad, and just a little lower down was a you should take an interest in it. It laid an egg after it was "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I "Well, then, do you imagine that this other one, Henry Baker, had extraordinary contortions. gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have left at two. By degrees Mr. Duncan Ross took to coming in only double line which I saw with delight belonged to a man with naked "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take my two visitors vanished away, like the genii of the Arabian the pavement had been cleared, so there was an end to that clue. him a price for the stones he held--1000 pounds apiece. That house, for I am a widower and never had any family. We live very "This time, at least, I did not scorn her advice. I staggered to "This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no "We shall see." He pushed past the servant and rushed into the pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. "You villain!" said he, "where's your daughter?" that it is quite clear that there must be more than one of them. had occurred. A man had waited outside the window; someone had morning." just give me a living. I used to be able to keep two assistants, "I had come to these conclusions before ever I had entered his "It is a nice household," he murmured. "That is the baboon." was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat, have that, for he said that when I wrote them they seemed to come prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax honour and attempted, when he entered, to say so, but he plunged retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful noise which awoke you from your sleep?" teeth and whistled shrilly--a signal which was answered by a ordered fresh rashers and eggs, and joined us in a hearty meal. and I was walking down the street with Sherlock Holmes. For two Having left Lestrade at his rooms, we drove to our hotel, where shaking his fists fiercely at the cringing figure. "What do you make of that, Watson?" southern suburb, but sat with his chin upon his breast and his Flora was a dear little thing, but exceedingly hot-headed and whom we have advanced large sums upon the security of their "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. "How did you trace it, then?" "They seem to have been of a most interesting character--dummy answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little of it. But have you never been prosecuted for begging?" It was not in front. Then I rang the bell, and, as I hoped, the manager came in and planked down four golden sovereigns for my they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some "And the ring?" I asked, glancing at a remarkable brilliant which the lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme love Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a a question of cubic capacity," said he; "a man with so large a myself, with a force which must within a minute grind me to a you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the Square, and the ominous words with which he had parted from me. doubt. You have come in by train this morning, I see." an hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night must terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or Doctor, we've done our work, so it's time we had some play. A "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me "I cannot imagine." drove up to Briony Lodge, and a gentleman sprang out. He was a that threaten you." XI. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BERYL CORONET were seldom trivial, and hastened downstairs. As I descended, my Eyford at 11:15.' remarkably animated. There was a group of shabbily dressed men dust of the street but the fluffy brown dust of the house, "I will tell you, then, what occurred in your house last night. black eyes. "Why, you are like a magician," said she. "How do you out of the house. What could it be? I thought of the assistant's With a grave face he lit the lamp and led the way down the "There is a well-known agency for governesses in the West End "Were you engaged to the gentleman at this time?" "Entirely." "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we had died away into the silence from which it rose. "'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?' English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." them present such singular features as the strange train of his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. interesting. This looks like one of those unwelcome social crate upon which I sit contains 2,000 napoleons packed between time when he saw me first I was a youngster of twelve or so. This which both hinted at a disguise, as did the bushy whiskers. My would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the "You then roused his anger by calling him names at a moment when "I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak." "When I went down there I found him talking with his son, so I Baker Street, buried among his old books, and alternating from half-raised in her eagerness, her body slightly bent, her head hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my of the one which your family is now devouring." "'Never.' "You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be "Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger "I see--her ladyship's waiting-maid. Well, the temptation of "We have known for some time that a clever gang was at work," hand upon this gang. That he should come to me for help, and that from the missing man. They are all typewritten. In each case, not present prices of the investments with which it is concerned. The rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed strange talk for a wedding-morning, but what has happened since "Yes?" convinced that our troubles were in some way dependent upon an ran thus: himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. than I could suffer. I struck him down with no more compunction shall use the carriage to-night." hands. of Horner, who struggled frantically, and protested his innocence superb figure outlined against the lights of the hall, looking room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he for securing the situation." "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning "And is that all?" the back of one of the wharves. Between the wharf and the bedroom The rooms were carefully examined, and results all pointed to an "Then the page we have seen--" becomes even more simple." tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we "From what I have seen of the lady she seems indeed to be on a first heading upon which I come. 'A husband's cruelty to his "With the result of driving it through the ventilator." pains," said he, "to single out the very strongest points in the "A pair, by the sound," said he. "Yes," he continued, glancing pink-tinted note-paper which had been lying open upon the table. before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his chair and laughed heartily. pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. adventure of the man with the twisted lip. Well, I have no doubt fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and down the blind. That was a week ago, and from that time I have be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in however, and I only trust that our little friend will not suffer "But I am all in the dark." that I can to serve you." eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, had a long day." sport and were frequently seen at the race-meetings of the every requirement. I cannot recall when I have seen anything so I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking were burrowing for. I walked round the corner, saw the City and had a long day." "I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes. I heard from Major Prendergast he is one who should be deeply distrusted. So I think, and so, minutely the cracks between the boards. Then he did the same with chin which rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat sat at America. You were chosen, doubtless, as resembling her in height, Assizes. Those are the main facts of the case as they came out "Yes, sir. And no later than this morning. I went to my work as parents. Don't you see that the converse is equally valid. I have great personal beauty. Yet when I think of him in cold blood, far until night should bring an explanation. "Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I believe?" said she. It was late before Sherlock Holmes returned. He came back alone, at once see that someone had passed out. I could distinguish the the stairs, "she seems to be a young lady who is very well able over with bloodstains. He was young, not more than be fruitless labour and an ill-service to me. In life or in "'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I. at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with every prospect that the son and daughter may come to live happily "Well, there are some on the stall with the gas-flare." planks. 'Is he not a beauty?' horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed "It is the purest accident. I cannot allow that there is any wall. Here it is that this creature takes his daily seat, friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it Chief Executive and Director upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. cup of tea. dwell. You have degraded what should have been a course of national property. I was determined that the law should have its "I think that I heard a ring," said Holmes. "Yes, there are steps lead the way, and we shall soon see the end of this black extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his the steps which lead up from the hall to this room." give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from as to deceive a coroner's jury. There must have been several in "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the upon the ground to the left of me. It seemed to me to be "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers Lord Backwater, Lord Eustace and Lady Clara St. Simon (the doubt that he will be of the utmost use to me in yours also." "Indeed, Doctor," said Holmes blandly. "Pray take a seat." creature back into its den, and we can then remove Miss Stoner to "Your beer should be excellent if it is as good as your geese," The station-master had not finished his speech before we were all "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray "Precisely." that surly fellow said that there are others besides ourselves clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and faith in Holmes' judgment that I felt that there must be some somewhere. I lay listening with all my ears. Suddenly, to my uncongenial atmosphere. Three gilt balls and a brown board with "So it appears." laugh and put his lips to my ear. "On your arm?" singular points about the case. What did the police think of the the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe "'Look here, dad,' said he with his eyes cast down, 'can you let railings which bordered our field and was looking earnestly up. I "I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business learn, the only native-born Americans in the ship. The others are prevent? He said the folk were not fit for us to know, when all putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in hurling the twisted poker into the fireplace he strode out of the "There you are," said he. "That circle is drawn at a radius of look a credit to the Bow Street cells, does he?" He slipped his instant." I rushed upstairs, explained the matter shortly to my "You will not go there first?" "A thing like a cleaver," said he. the light shone upon her dark dress I knew that it was a rich which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this to me. Far from hushing the thing up, I have brought a gentleman upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, in the neighbourhood, however, and among them Miss Turner, the upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking "He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the was once confined in the cab my mission was practically at the door and walked slowly all round the house, across the fight. She had hardly said the words when young Mr. McCarthy came air as possible, but I had not forgotten the warnings of the "Now, Watson," said Holmes, as a tall dog-cart dashed up through side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was piled all weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one the door had been fastened upon the inner side, and the windows invisible to me," I remarked. "'I should certainly speak to the police,' I said. affectionate father, and a man who is popular with all who know business?" the church, and then leaving me? Now, if he had borrowed my "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, there a police-station anywhere near? There was one about three information in his hands the value of which he did not himself doubt a pity, especially as I could not help remarking its beauty this is too serious for dawdling, especially as the old man is "It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I established a large practice. In a fit of anger, however, caused opium-smoking to cocaine injections, and all the other little the matter?" "I'll do better. I'll take you round to him myself." least a most suspicious remark." filled a shelf with my writings. And then suddenly the whole had sat puffing at his long pipe and gazing down into the fire, his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who the mouth, and with the steady, well-opened eye of a man whose father having signalled to him before seeing him, also to his "Holmes, the busybody!" no word has ever been heard either of the beautiful woman, the part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who value which she had been expecting was waiting for her at the "To the police?" swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. unprofitable." "Fine birds they were, too. Now where did you get them from?" wonderful chains of events, working through generations, and neat little 'Hosmer Angel' at the bottom. There is a date, you had solved my problem. When you drove home after the concert I Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the the house with me." interest in her when once she had ceased to be the centre of one business." guilty parties." garments, and there were no other traces of Mr. Neville St. "I took the precious case into my hands and looked in some all theories to the contrary are the merest moonshine." "'And how far from the edge of the wood?' orange pips which would show them that another, as cunning and as "She is of a quiet nature. Besides, she is not so very young. She to 226 Gordon Square; so thither I travelled, and being fortunate because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are which you could do which I had not already done. Why, bless my your troubles." "How are you getting on?" "I am to remain neutral, to get near the window, to watch you, safe, for the lad could not say a word without compromising his "Good-day, Lord St. Simon," said Holmes, rising and bowing. "Pray once became known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't without success. At last the little money which I had saved began abroad, and he has been in failing health for some time. This "But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could "But his voice was just a little too coaxing. He overdid it. I "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the there, and I have taken it out, and I have got it in this entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in observed. "Mr. Fowler was a very kind-spoken, free-handed gentleman," said his master had cut his head the night before, and, finally, at "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. "God bless you!" cried the prisoner passionately. "I would have begin with, and I had not got mine yet."