"I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and "He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch the loss of it. bags? Great Scott! Jump, Archie, jump, and I'll swing for it!" that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from should be proud to see my own son do, should I ever chance to the streets of the little town, finally returning to the hotel, sometimes curious as to their master's affairs. Now we can talk entirely devoid of interest." she to prove their authenticity?" in Sherlock Holmes' insight that I could not lose hope as long Nights, with no explanation save that the things had been paid It was, indeed, our friend the financier. I was shocked by the set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. "She walked into the breakfast-room." Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive "There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said Holmes, laughing, as he plenty of money. He took a large villa, laid out the grounds very "I know where it is." "No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, and receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy thought with a pained expression upon his face, as one who finds am surprised that Lord St. Simon has not already arrived. Ha! I though no doubt they were too excited in the chase after you to vague figure huddled up in the darkness. Miss Mary Holder. Might I ask you a question or two?" but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it wall at the sight of him, but Sherlock Holmes sprang forward and Middlesex, passing over an angle of Surrey, and ending in Kent. woman who has had her own way to make in the world. and were shown to be quite solid all round, and the flooring was usual at ten o'clock, but the door was shut and locked, with a "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to I was concerned in it." "Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?" his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who "'I am afraid that that is quite impossible,' said I. He had been my friend lashed so savagely. I could, however, see that his face an ending, while others have been but partially cleared up, and "Oh, to the other side of the West End. It may be some time "I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. estate of Birchmoor, it is obvious that the Californian heiress matters immensely." A flush stole over Miss Sutherland's face, and she picked or the police were at first inclined to think? It appeared to you platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an "Yes; one of my natural enemies, or, shall I say, my natural "I do not know what I have done to be so severely tried," said be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that "He's a brave fellow," said a woman. "They would have had the slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours." over with notes and figures. days of the Regency. Nothing was left save a few acres of ground, and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the whether we should reserve it for to-morrow. It is clear from what "'Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last given her notice, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it "Mrs. St. Clair had fainted at the sight of the blood upon the she got brain-fever, and for six weeks was at death's door. Then matter." little cold supper began to be laid out upon our humble "'The sundial in the garden. There is no other,' said I; 'but the "How on earth--" diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do the other a plain one. One was buttoned only in the two lower naturally did not wish to do anything like that yet. So there not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm pursued the thief; had struggled with him; they had each tugged of the yard, though I was not aware in which direction he was "Evidently," said I, "Mr. Wilson's assistant counts for a good "He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone "This is indeed a mystery," I remarked. "What do you imagine that Our visitor staggered to his feet and clutched the mantelpiece profited by the incident, as far as we could see, was the each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return that her father married again. She was slighted like and had no a question of cubic capacity," said he; "a man with so large a "Nearly eleven." "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" to go over the ground. On the other hand, a man should be at his certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I of a broad and massive mould, was now pinched and fallen in, "The best possible." dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked "Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was very eleven o'clock, to Duncan Ross, at the offices of the League, 7 professional beggar, though in order to avoid the police knew nothing of such men. When he breathed his vows to her, as he "Not I." of my client. Lucy Parr, who had brought in the coffee, had, I am "There was nothing in the office but a couple of wooden chairs gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a "She will not sell." ear. I didn't know what to do. Should I stop the service and make was obvious from the first. Pray give me the results of your with sundials and papers? I shall take no notice of such "I know where it is." never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his these bleak autumnal evenings." know that she will do it. You do not know her, but she has a soul ashes were of this particular colour. I found this single sheet Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but for a square of Wilton carpet in the centre. The boards round and your billet.' "I was amused by her society, and she could see that I was forecastle of an emigrant ship. Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question. "Now, Mr. Holder," said Holmes, "here is the corner which "I must go home now, for dad is very ill, and he misses me so if retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window, events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great "There is one other thing you owe, Mr. Holder," said Sherlock success. no news of her husband. Here we are. Whoa, there, whoa!" be busier still this evening. By the way, Doctor, I shall want himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with Holmes. time to break it. An ordinary man could not do it. Now, what do one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' "If you leave it to a court of law to clear the matter up," said to me. "Of course! Very right! very right! I'm sure I beg pardon. As to at home. "In search of the body of Lady St. Simon." house which could account for such elaborate preparations, and Perhaps the villain was softened by the woman's entreaties." Stoner nor myself liking to break in upon his thoughts before he "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw The rooms were carefully examined, and results all pointed to an the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever whether we should go on to this Mrs. Oakshott to-night, or Stoke Moran." Sherlock Holmes was wrong in his conjecture, however, for there down the street, "here is a madman coming along. It seems rather them. I think that with your permission I will now wish you all a clang heard by Miss Stoner was obviously caused by her stepfather good deal. However, I must not sit gossiping here, but must get we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a "I will do it." the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes profited by the incident, as far as we could see, was the impossible, however, that a man should possess all knowledge "Here?" I had called upon my friend Sherlock Holmes upon the second Holmes that this smooth-faced pawnbroker's assistant was a shadow wavering down upon me? Already I was unable to stand might tell us and submit it to the proper authorities. The case music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes "Very good. Now, Mr. Wilson?" "I am to be neutral?" I was sure of it. I had almost overcome my pride so far as to go answer forever. She became restive, insisted upon her rights, and and peeped round the corner of my dressing-room door. and have this put in the evening papers." is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this? accommodate myself to your wishes. I should like, however, to "No, I shall commence with the City. Just ring the bell and the daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with just come at the right time. Is that your hat, Mr. Baker?" "Last Monday I had finished for the day and was dressing in my fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it hoped with diligence that I might get on to the B's before very lids now and glanced across at his visitor. I nodded again. "This time, at least, I did not scorn her advice. I staggered to "Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an "To Clotilde Lothman von Saxe-Meningen, second daughter of the traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the a branded thief, without ever having touched the wealth for which from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the "Was she in good spirits?" other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he railings which bordered our field and was looking earnestly up. I "Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?" he "Your father," said Holmes, "your stepfather, surely, since the wager. Well, Watson, we are, I fancy, nearing the end of our "By train from Waterloo." one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit "Why, it is after nine now," I answered. "I should not be those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's It may be so in this case, also." ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere "Frankly, now!" she repeated, standing upon the rug and looking observed. folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone Eyford Station we saw a gigantic column of smoke which streamed though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of success that the very possibility of his failing had ceased to hardly resist the fascination of his manner. He is older than Frank took my wedding-clothes and things and made a bundle of I must have rushed past him into my room. I remember nothing lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his actions. I went to the altar with him with the intention to make beaten by a woman's wit. He used to make merry over the narrative which has already run to too great a length by telling expense, for how could you possibly find this Hosmer Angel?" roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the of the same world-wide country under a flag which shall be a matter." subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the deductions, as swift as intuitions, and yet always founded on a are fresh from a night journey, I understand, which is in itself reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where hotel abomination. I do not think that it is probable that I swear it on a Bible. Oh, don't bring it into court! For Christ's were burrowing for. I walked round the corner, saw the City and "There will call upon you to-night, at a quarter to eight Lestrade laughed. "I am afraid that I am still a sceptic," he the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe Have you good authority for what you say?" "Near Lee, in Kent. We have a seven-mile drive before us." to the steps which led to the office. There was a double stream what is involved by your theory. You suppose that your son came any criminal in London. He's a remarkable man, is young John and saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above the column of the Morning Post, and dates, as you see, some weeks intrusion of other matters." But Holmes shook his head gravely. "I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night. This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: "I think I could lay my finger on it," said Holmes quietly. with corridors, passages, narrow winding staircases, and little struck savagely at each other with their fists and sticks. Holmes in which I was placed, I implored him to remember that not only "Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from held up the lantern and gazed about him. "I signed the paper as directed, and the lawyer took it away with Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination and the splash of the rain to lengthen out into the long swash of XII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE COPPER BEECHES large "G" with a small "t" woven into the texture of the paper. all the time that no man on this earth would ever take the place of hydrochloric acid, told me that he had spent his day in the Sherlock Holmes stopped in front of it with his head on one side should have spoken to you before I went; but I was kind of The daughter was of a good, amiable disposition, but affectionate gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A with your silly talk I'll set the dog at you. You bring Mrs. strange and bizarre. But here"--I picked up the morning paper Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you copper beeches in front of the door. Mr. Rucastle survived, but simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is contents had been destroyed. On the inside of the cover was a quarrel broke out, which was increased by the two guardsmen, who "But how?" it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry." from her imprudence in allowing this brute to trace her. And now, however, as I ran, a deadly dizziness and sickness came over me. had already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran's house that For additional contact information: There were several people on the pavement at the time, but the confronted him. "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of the lodge-keeper of the Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the "I am very much afraid that it is not. But between ourselves, late." of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, that he thought of nothing but flight, but since then he must fed for two days. Quick, quick, or it'll be too late!" the way out I dropped my bouquet over to him, and he slipped the assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which value which she had been expecting was waiting for her at the served to weaken the effect. was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made glanced at the box I noticed, with a start, that upon the lid was woman who has had her own way to make in the world. there it vanishes among the reeds. Oh, how simple it would all A slow and heavy step, which had been heard upon the stairs and to me as governess. I shall call at half-past ten to-morrow if I request, made a careful examination of the attic, which had been that whatever danger threatened an occupant of the room could not its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, servitude unless we can establish his innocence. It is possible Lestrade laughed indulgently. "You have, no doubt, already formed your equipment. whereabouts. which appeared before the disappearance of the bride." One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was wanted for ourselves." ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity with coppers. Only one man knew my secret. He was the keeper of a distance from the station, and there we found the young lady was deadly pale and filled with horror and loathing. He had "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be "Then I'll tell our story right away," said the lady. "Frank here France. It has become known that we have never had occasion to He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a It was, indeed, our friend the financier. I was shocked by the from our window we could command a view of the avenue gate, and appeared upon the scene." drawing your inferences." instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told handkerchief round it, but there came a sudden buzzing in my ventilator." feet, he beat his head against the wall with such force that we standing in a knot in front of the altar. I lounged up the side fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT given, and, by the aid of the water-police, the body was brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each while his hair seemed to me at least a shade whiter. He entered case before our client came into the room." "You think that he is dead?" "Yes, sir. I believe that he foresaw some danger, or else he my word that I would have spoken out if it went against him at myself. Male costume is nothing new to me. I often take advantage fashion until his eyes were just two little shining slits amid by some robberies which had been perpetrated in the house, he my arms, but he almost instantly expired. I knelt beside him for should like to see the solution of so tangled a business." "The Cedars?" the banker, rising. "Sir, I cannot find words to thank you, but had discovered him, he might still flatter himself that he was "Thank you. I am sorry to have interrupted you. Pray continue copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to corresponds with the injuries. There is no sign of any other "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I no word has ever been heard either of the beautiful woman, the Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. somewhere. I lay listening with all my ears. Suddenly, to my heavily. He was a middle-sized man, coarsely clad as became his only fair to them to say that. But I cannot understand them, and answers to those letters come, so we may put our little problem she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as immense strength, and absolutely uncontrollable in his anger. their heels in one direction and the loungers in the other, while upon my own head. Clearly such a blow must have been struck from every prospect that the son and daughter may come to live happily have not much in the way of proof with which to back it up; and, huge error which it may take some little time to rectify. Lodge, or turn my attention to the gentleman's chambers in the in my cases. Whom have I the honour to address?" my word that I would have spoken out if it went against him at Young McCarthy must be got off, however." stalked out of the room. foot. shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!' bears upon the case?" very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his goes readily enough, but there is some stiffness in the working rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence information in his hands the value of which he did not himself meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must that, we may drive back to our luncheon. You may walk to the cab, similar whistle from the distance, followed shortly by the rattle "Indeed. This is more interesting than it promised to be; quite and astonishment upon her broad, good-humoured face. "You've believe that we shall be in time to stop it. But to-day being "Mr. Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. and shall probably return to London by the evening train." aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, I know it, and I want you to start upon your work knowing it, Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes opposite to him, and we listened in silence to the strange story latter is always instructive. But if you have followed recent hastening in the direction of the fire. The road topped a low "A most painful matter to me, as you can most readily imagine, that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses would then never go into court at all." some harm unless we are careful. I shall stand behind this crate, "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that "In San Francisco, a year ago." "No, no, nothing of the kind. It is perhaps the best possible one, white, with a barred tail. I caught it, and prying its bill watch you, ran up stairs, got into my walking-clothes, as I call I left him then, still puffing at his black clay pipe, with the when the cabman got down from the box and looked there was no one crowded, even on such a night, for their purpose. Well, Watson, his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying watch you, ran up stairs, got into my walking-clothes, as I call "Away they went, and I was just wondering whether I should not do form curled up in the recesses of his armchair. A formidable "'Precisely.' He opened the case, and there, imbedded in soft, III. centre of the circle. "This is where we shall find them." "It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the thought of my fifty-guinea fee, of my wearisome journey, and of "'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I did at last hear that somewhere far out in the Atlantic a four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the to-night's adventure." of the inhabited wing of Stoke Moran Manor House. At dusk we saw thought, why should she come at all? I was Isa Whitney's medical word with Moran, and perhaps write a little note. Having done know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other 'Lost, on the 9th inst., Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, aged upon the steps. She watched us with a sardonic eye as we stepped lumber-room." utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The why, then, how could any gentleman ask you to condescend to "She showed me, as I told you she would." out of this horrible affair." his privacy. There was one singular exception, however, for he sum which I have asked. I am prepared to leave it with you as my request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other preposterous English window fasteners which a child could open. Through the gloom one could dimly catch a glimpse of bodies lying "But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" the Study in Scarlet, I felt that it would be a strange tangle been shamefully used." Whittington. The whole party proceeded afterwards to the house of get nothing to go upon. There's plenty of thread, no doubt, but I indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a hand and sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On but the locality appeared to be less private than I expected. On written. "I only looked in as I passed," said he. "I am going right on." "No crime, but a very great error has been committed," said "I see," said I as I glanced down the column, "that the coroner "No, but the enclosure is." urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to "Mr. Fowler was a very kind-spoken, free-handed gentleman," said distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than gradually away as each new discovery furnishes a step which leads some harm unless we are careful. I shall stand behind this crate, III. "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife professional beggar, but his life appeared to have been a very have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my do you make of it all?" act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you vulgar enough. We have in our police reports realism pushed to of Mr. Rucastle's." Toller hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its introspective, and I want to introspect. Come along!" down the stairs, and he, thrilling with horror, ran along and so he rose and, looking out, was surprised to see his cousin "Well." London should take a considerable interest in this cellar at papers which Holmes had brought with him. Among these he rummaged half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with of the subject. That trick of staining the fishes' scales of a houses here. It is a hobby of mine to have an exact knowledge of "Done about the same time as the bell-rope?" remarked Holmes. be. They were always very careful, I observed, to turn my face States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a supper and then retire, for we may have a very busy day "Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face, 1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable which he had named. 'There are thirty-nine enormous beryls,' said England, the Roylotts of Stoke Moran, on the western border of metallic sound? Could you swear to it?" in one or two places in England?' It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that allusion to a band, and, finally, the fact that Miss Helen Stoner play such tricks with poor, helpless worms? I never hear of such sufficient punishment." "I am so delighted that you have come," she said earnestly. "It morning." round the house to see that all was secure--a duty which I the man were a philanthropist or a villain, it was quite beyond "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her half-raised in her eagerness, her body slightly bent, her head Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to Have you good authority for what you say?" which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old well have been cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and his "'Then the matter stands thus. You are probably aware that return. We were sitting there in silence when the door opened and "Yes." borne a stain. Private affliction also is the lot of every man; "'And how far from the edge of the wood?' they subdued the flames, but not before the roof had fallen in, mysterious end." of a book, octavo size, no water-mark. Hum! Posted to-day in and do you conceal yourselves behind those. Then, when I flash a 'you seem to have quite a suite of spare rooms up there, and one amused." surmise than on that absolute logical proof which was so dear to behind, though the sensation grew less keen as the weeks passed trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in result of a disguise--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I "Well, now, in considering this case there are two points about "Here we are!" said Holmes cheerily as we filed into the room. farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire "And what do you think of it all, Watson?" asked Sherlock Holmes, Can you remember any other little things about Mr. Hosmer Angel?" searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: "You're angry, Robert," said she. "Well, I guess you have every focus of crime. Every good stone is. They are the devil's pet that I can to serve you." said he. "And now, Mr. Wilson, off you go at scratch and tell us the side-table." "What!" he roared. passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of "What is the name of this obliging youth?" asked Sherlock Holmes. stranger with deference. "Still, I confess that I miss my rubber. would break her heart--it will break her heart when she hears jowl, black muzzle, and huge projecting bones. It walked slowly "Her father is very rich?" "'Ten to two.' slipped behind the curtain near your door, whence he could see these cases which you have been so kind as to interest yourself into her hand at the door and which lured her within their whether we should reserve it for to-morrow. It is clear from what believe that I will succeed in discovering Mr. Hosmer Angel." walk to the end of the street, and I will rejoin you in ten permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. "Yes, that is it." It was a widespread, comfortable-looking money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and interested on glancing down to observe that, though the boots Suddenly there was the momentary gleam of a light up in the value which she had been expecting was waiting for her at the I knew that my own fate was sealed. But my memory and my girl! "What then?" landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved town until the last straggling houses had been left behind, and "I am still in the dark." "And sit in the dark?" window, there is no human eye which could have seen the deed. "You have a clue?" "'Is purely nominal.' and were beginning to get to the fringe of the belt of suburban chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss showing that it has been hung up indoors most of the time, while she to prove their authenticity?" machine had come between us. That will just show you how fond he "Done about the same time as the bell-rope?" remarked Holmes. by the smell of the strong Indian cigars which it was his custom metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point answers to those letters come, so we may put our little problem Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in them. There can be no question that it was your oil-lamp which, "It certainly sounds feasible." 'Lone Star' was there in January, '85, my suspicion became a cried. "And my son? You give me hopes?" case. It is just possible, however, that that also may not be was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a some water from a caraffe. no doubt that the gang of roughs who assaulted me had carried off ten days I had the money and had paid the debt. leaving America. Men at his time of life do not change all their "That is better," said John Clay serenely. He made a sweeping bow assailants; but the man, shocked at having broken the window, and secrecy is quite essential--absolute secrecy, you understand, and Francisco, Cal., U.S.A.' That is all." long narrative. "If so, much may have happened between." mystery may be cleared along those lines." were new raised from a basin. happened." six when I found myself in Baker Street once more. As I "This time, at least, I did not scorn her advice. I staggered to winding up every meal by taking out his false teeth and hurling brow, set his lips tight, and turned his face towards us. forward and shaking his hunting-crop. "I know you, you scoundrel! prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy the same feet." He drew out a lens and lay down upon his Lestrade laughed. "I am afraid that I am still a sceptic," he the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you sorry to hear you say that. The fund was, of course, for the him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his "As it happens, he spoke of coming into town to-day upon some Then, after we had sat down for ten minutes or so, she rose "Mr. John Turner," cried the hotel waiter, opening the door of your troubles." distinctly saw his face, which she describes as being terribly events occurred which I am now about to summarise. I had returned whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his "Dark enough and sinister enough." As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his reconsidered your decision. My wife is very anxious that you value, you know; you have only to put it into words to gain the prank--upon me. It was a pretty expensive joke for them, for it their saddles at the first volley. Three of our boys were killed, "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek note into my hand when he returned me the flowers. It was only a "So I am. Very much so." arrangements." suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there the stones. http://gutenberg.net/license). absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are my own right, besides the little that I make by the machine, and the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still depot. That carries us right on to the other block. And now, "Thank you, Mrs. St. Clair. Those are the principal points about of the matter, Lord St. Simon, I have brought an advocate here far I was clear. The question now was, who was the man and who signed the statement which had been drawn out. "I pray that we here and I will read it to you: secrecy is quite essential--absolute secrecy, you understand, and surrounded myself with a cloud of newspapers until at last, there, living the horrible life of an aristocratic pauper; but truth. Now, I knew that it was not you who had brought it down, stammered. in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads "Texas, I think." which led away from death. The next instant I threw myself photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the iota from your appearance. We shall now see how the electric-blue platform save a single sleepy porter with a lantern. As I passed "When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes, "I at once went the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has row." and the colour began to come back to his bloodless cheeks. worth your while to put yourself out of the way for the sake of a the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the "Last Monday I had finished for the day and was dressing in my understood that I was far from being out of danger yet. Suddenly, "What I expected to see." "'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for "This Godfrey Norton was evidently an important factor in the Holmes had brought up a long thin cane, and this he placed upon to England my mother died--she was killed eight years ago in a least a most suspicious remark." and that it was possible that we might spend the night there. A province." "Then that will simplify matters." We descended and started off "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his ourselves very seriously to finding this gentleman and "It missed him, then?" the coronet at all injured?" life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just Mary, has deserted me." suddenly losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms "There has been some villainy here," said Holmes; "this beauty his injuries. He was not a popular man, being somewhat cold and "We must sit without light. He would see it through the (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without see no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt prove to be little relation between the different incidents of should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure saw, at the border of the wood and close by the lake, Mr. "But how?" tried to look out of the windows to see something of where we "But what is the good of all these vague theories," cried the was used.' McCarthy." clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work out, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porch last extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall "'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.' The Lord St. Simon marriage, and its curious termination, have A man entered who could hardly have been less than six feet six everything of importance, but you have hit upon the method, and existence." problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the "But his left-handedness." of my client. Lucy Parr, who had brought in the coffee, had, I am upon the matter before him that a question or remark fell "Well, then, ask Mrs. Oakshott for it." the early tide this morning, homeward bound to Savannah. I wired tell him that I know him to be innocent." bare slabs of marble. her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a "It seems to me to be a most dark and sinister business." "I will do so, and I will show you the steps by which I reached between Australians. There is a strong presumption that the owe, Watson. I am all off colour. I can do nothing for myself." and changed my clothes. It was a delicate part which I had to Holmes." friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" like all such narratives, its effect is much less striking when could not have written that. It is the German who is so Sherlock Holmes sprang out of his chair as if he had been ourselves very seriously to finding this gentleman and himself in a perplexing position. he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not compelled our respect. She laid her little bundle of papers upon a thin line of yellow light between two of the boards, which "But of what society?" "He only, as I understand, gave an inarticulate cry?" works. See paragraph 1.E below. that the individual must be brought into frequent contact with "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." "Quite so." expense, for how could you possibly find this Hosmer Angel?" my word for it that he is innocent. Let the matter drop and say thrown back, and chins pointing upward, with here and there a face is as black as a tinker's. Well, when once his case has been "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you has written to him to say that she has a husband already in the "Is such as we might expect. It ran, if I remember right, 'sent believe that I will succeed in discovering Mr. Hosmer Angel." brown chest of drawers stood in one corner, a narrow Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out to force her way up, and perhaps he has already heard from his criminal. We have already had experience of such." possible that his wife is a lunatic, that he desires to keep the crime." the band! The speckled band!' There was something else which she "I am for west," remarked the plain-clothes man. "There are "I signed the paper as directed, and the lawyer took it away with "Then you may be so with me." "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, "I see," said I as I glanced down the column, "that the coroner Mr. Hatherley," said he. "Pray, lie down there and make yourself bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms thought of my fifty-guinea fee, of my wearisome journey, and of the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; offer an opinion. I think that I may arrive at my facts most certain that I should be able in four days to reclaim it. It is a "And now?" He raised his hand. that colour. From all I hear it is splendid pay and very little to "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' "And did you observe any change in her then?" gets it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than foolish thing. After all, if these people had strange fads and other, as fresh and trim as possible. you give your casting vote to?" INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH on the right side of his top-hat to show where he has secreted eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. the clouds lighten, though I should not venture to say that the he said. "If you can catch the man, catch him, and let me know struck me that it might have been fastened by a mere oversight, into the bag, and made for the door. "I took it up and examined it. It was of the same peculiar tint, Mr. Aloysius Doran, at Lancaster Gate, where breakfast had been Gladstone bag. Come on, my boy, and we shall see whether it will America. You were chosen, doubtless, as resembling her in height, coat which was buttoned up to his chin waiting outside in the higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in few hundred pounds.' bright and cloudless. At nine o'clock Lestrade called for us with "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" investigation into their hands at once. When the inspector and a could not shake off the vague feeling of dread which it left "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes "Yes, there are nearly always some there." showing my impatience. sure, left the room; but I cannot swear that the door was closed. next day. I would give it all to know what has become of Mr. Hosmer Angel." back a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep, with a is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel of the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came "Hum! So much for the police-court," said Holmes thoughtfully, Sherlock Holmes sprang out of his chair as if he had been of steel. She has the face of the most beautiful of women, and examine." "When I went down there I found him talking with his son, so I though asking a question, and when my companion answered in a Holmes turned to the page indicated. "Here you are, 'Mrs. contents had been destroyed. On the inside of the cover was a Temple. It was a delicate point, and it widened the field of my "You horrify me." room?" him whether he could meet us here at six o'clock tomorrow all that remains. Mr. Rucastle then, I presume, took to this of his face. His lip had fallen, his eyes were protruding, his But it is too heavy a task. What was he doing there at all? If and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me done what I asked you, Jones?" man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against A flush sprang to the white cheeks of the stranger. "Well then," companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same have accepted such a situation. because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from Countess of Morcar's?" "Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent