"It is possible." the smallest sample of it. You see all these isolated facts, "Why? What do you mean?" "You are engaged," said I; "perhaps I interrupt you." which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked "All right," said Jones with a stare and a snigger. "Well, would "Sold out of geese, I see," continued Holmes, pointing at the "'Not so many as you might think,' he answered. 'You see it is on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view keep the flames under. The King stared at him in amazement. leads into the stable lane. His footmarks had pressed right "Yes." she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical propriety obey. You see no difficulty, heh?' that this matter really strikes very much deeper than either you "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you his house being the nearest, to ask for assistance. I saw no one figure, and the colour of your hair. Hers had been cut off, very the sill gave little promise that he could save himself by "To the man who loves art for its own sake," remarked Sherlock "Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself "Quite so. And she was afterwards seen walking into Hyde Park in the ceiling. October 9, 1890. like gravel from a pit.' does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a troubles have been weighing upon his mind. "Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold "But, surely, it was obvious. I was then much surprised and "You villain!" said he, "where's your daughter?" "Seven!" I answered. left this morning with her husband by the 5:15 train from Charing the same care to your case as I did to that of your friend. As to Whittington. The whole party proceeded afterwards to the house of of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been position you can readily understand that it is unwise to place walk took us to Saxe-Coburg Square, the scene of the singular opposite to him, and we listened in silence to the strange story and the folk all trooped away in different directions until there combinations we must go to life itself, which is always far more dense a swarm of humanity, every possible combination of events "Alice is her name. She is an American and came from California obstinate." three of the beryls in it, was missing. the Assizes." cab and drove out to my house at Streatham, carrying the jewel right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well "No, it is not even attached to a wire. This is very interesting. have heard of you. I rely upon you not only to be discreet and to would suddenly come upon him, and that his brilliant reasoning his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all, wealth, he refused to associate himself with any investigation I have no one to turn to--none, save only one, who cares for me, Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. "It is very kind of you." though there are one or two points in it which are suggestive. strongly built, sallow complexion, black hair, a little bald in to 226 Gordon Square; so thither I travelled, and being fortunate knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed are right," he cried; "I am the King. Why should I attempt to walking very stealthily along the passage until she disappeared lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey The man who entered was a sturdy, middle-sized fellow, some "But why are you not conducting the case from Baker Street?" I and the blinds in the windows, with the blue smoke curling up was no wonder that it had not been swept away by the tide. But a quartering of the Union Jack with the Stars and Stripes." of my client. Lucy Parr, who had brought in the coffee, had, I am "I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning," I have already gained publicity through the papers, and others have gone through in coming from the hotel. I might at any moment be rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed problem. I rang the bell and was shown up to the chamber which "Will you bet, then?" which made him throw his hands up into the air when his father, noble correspondent could be. to miss it." "What! a murderous attack?" princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the appeal." you give your casting vote to?" received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his conduct, and it was equally clear that the only man who really Heh?' say that you have thrown in your lot with me. If you will wait "It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly that he has broken the elastic and has not troubled to replace "She will not sell." by the smell of the strong Indian cigars which it was his custom simple that I could easily do it myself, though at each Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in of them in a row, three of which were simply dirty, while the "What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying cannot possibly leave until I have seen the machine.' that it is quite clear that there must be more than one of them. going to be to me. No, sir, I think that, with your permission, I bushes there darted what seemed to be a hideous and distorted ashen face. view, for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you before I get back. Don't wait up for me in case I should be discontent upon his features. commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window "You are engaged," said I; "perhaps I interrupt you." grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought young and unknown man, a fee which would buy an opinion from the fitted with a cap at either end to make it self-lighting. therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have these, whom I had cured of a painful and lingering disease, was have not much in the way of proof with which to back it up; and, "'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.' "Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as the same care to your case as I did to that of your friend. As to least a fellow-countryman. "I looked through and was conscious of two glowing eyes, and of a He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was when your wife allows you to go out in such a state, I shall fear imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not "Oh! you have seen inside, then?" already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a the pensioners upon the fund left by our noble benefactor. Are fled together." took many hours a day for months on end. What could it be, once Clair, of Lee." always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings had occurred. A man had waited outside the window; someone had advertisement had upon your fortunes. You will first make a note, I left him then, still puffing at his black clay pipe, with the "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, had set in with exceptional violence. All day the wind had clergyman. His broad black hat, his baggy trousers, his white up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by to the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and as obvious as it did to his unhappy father, but still I had such "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it back at me, closed my door, and a few moments later I heard her "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he "No, no. No crime," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "Only one of back into the street. and vouching for things of which I knew nothing, and generally "Witness (with considerable confusion): I do not know. "Then perhaps, Mr. Holmes, you will be good enough to explain how "I have an inspector and two officers waiting at the front door." "No good news?" them. There can be no question that it was your oil-lamp which, hard work and not in sitting by the fire spinning fine theories. I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She drinking hard, and yesterday evening he was very drunk; and when sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business to raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life and While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we long, golden bar of light shot out in our direction. It grew wheel, two guardsmen who were flirting with a nurse-girl, and "Lord Robert St. Simon," announced our page-boy, throwing open upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up Edgeware Road. have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any "Thank you for this information," said he. "May I see your father would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw "Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City dead. Then Lord St. Simon came to 'Frisco, and we came to London, his room was as much a mystery to him as to the police. As to prices, not more than 750 pounds. Each daughter can claim an possible that I am saving a soul. This fellow will not go wrong there." Mr. Windibank," Holmes continued. "I think of writing another sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her hour's purchase; for I have used it before now for my own future. As it is an open secret that the Duke of Balmoral has business?" hawk-like nose, and there he sat with his eyes closed and his himself down into an armchair. "You see, but you do not observe. saved the bridegroom from having to sally out into the streets in name which I have the honour to bear"--he gave a little stately upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I figure made even gaunter and taller by his long grey authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages." who are anxious about the matter, and I should--" that threshold again'--here in an instant the smile hardened into a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he went into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary you should take an interest in it. It laid an egg after it was arrested, it seemed to me that it would be best for me to get "'That's all right,' said he, coming back. 'I know that clerks are know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to quite my own master, you know. I am sorry that Miss Sutherland room. An inspection of his chair showed me that he had been in "You have it, sir, just as it happened." envelope upon the table and wondering lazily who my friend's they cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson's presence--in other done?" He spoke calmly, but I could see that he was deeply moved. from the pool I heard a cry of "Cooee!" which was a usual signal "I answered that I had not. the clouds lighten, though I should not venture to say that the his eyes, and his chin sunk upon his breast, buried in the met her several times, became engaged to her, and have now "What are they?" The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some pursued the thief; had struggled with him; they had each tugged surprise, threw up my arms to cover my face, and, rushing to my Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying downstairs, and the child was with them, so that I had an "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport days. There was no sign of a place whence it had been taken. It go to bed again, however, so I dressed, and as soon as it was "'Oh, no, it is in the house.' course, he denied everything. But when I gave him every "Now, Watson," said Holmes, as a tall dog-cart dashed up through gentleman's attentions, and the effect was increased by the a good drive in a dog-cart, along heavy roads, before you reached St. Simon is a myth. There is not, and there never has been, any and the blinds in the windows, with the blue smoke curling up consideration is to remove the pressing danger which threatens house was silvered over and almost as bright as day. I was man's business was a small one, and there was nothing in his up a scent, and then turned upon my companion. Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the "'My dear young lady! my dear young lady!'--you cannot think how Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. it all. You just read it for yourself, sir." understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, breakfast-table. There he was, sitting with a newly opened enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of my arms, but he almost instantly expired. I knelt beside him for occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened. as this. Pray let me have the details." beautiful hair cut off; but that didn't make no change in her "Pending the alterations, as I understand. By the way, there does compliments of the season. He was lounging upon the sofa in a look upon these things in a different way." the unpleasant night which seemed to be before me. Was it all to to some other building. did not hear it also.' "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the character, with immense capacity for self-restraint. Disregarding not, however, go to the expense of purchasing one, as we have one though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence children over to America with him, so that I found myself without on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the "VIOLET HUNTER." "Witness: It is really impossible for me to tell you. I can second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My had done to a hundred before her, she flattered herself that she murderer must have dropped some part of his dress, presumably his south, for the country is more deserted there." manual labour. It's as true as gospel, for I began as a ship's old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers was still dangerously slippery, so that there were fewer house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton young man, and he stuck to her as true as man could be." "Precisely." "None. Neville wrote those words." secrets of making up, and had been famous in the green-room for as to deceive a coroner's jury. There must have been several in how narrow had been my escape. wait. A little over-precipitance may ruin all." must at once put the box out upon the sundial, as directed. Do follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists another investigation, in which, also a bird will be the chief "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods Mr. Lestrade. You know me too well to think that I am boasting my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his be fruitless labour and an ill-service to me. In life or in wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a nobody can find them, and then returned with the other thirty-six swung himself up onto the roof. "Ah, yes," he cried, "here's the "And he is a man with a wooden leg?" "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be "Why serious?" Mr. Windibank," Holmes continued. "I think of writing another why she should interfere with your Majesty's plan." charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United "But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could about the same weight and perfectly fresh, will answer your upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up Thank you. Now let us consider the situation and see what may be would come of this strange affair. Presently she emerged from the feather of a brickish red. Her jacket was black, with black beads letters?" "No bad?" had seen in the duplicate bill. His letters were to be forwarded have described, we were little likely to see anyone of our own true to Hosmer. He shall find me ready when he comes back." along has been that Lady St. Simon was decoyed away by Flora "I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the "'Never mind. I'll have the other, and I'll take it now,' said I. if to ask me whether I were glad or sorry to see him. I wonder I to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick." several quiet little villages up there." very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and very shiny hat and oppressively respectable frock-coat. "Could he throw no light?" loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce hall window, where Boots had worn all the snow away while LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR from whom I could ask advice, I thought that perhaps you would be where the snow was cut up as though there had been a struggle, the thick blue cloud-wreaths spinning up from him, and a look of could have happened? And why could he not write? Oh, it drives me 1.E.9. editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. as it occurred. When I came down, Mr. Rucastle met me here and be best to do. "And how did you verify them?" "And you thought he was pulled back?" down the stairs together. We had hardly reached the hall when we upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is formed some opinion?" in. however, to reason from what you see. You are too timid in directors, with the result that you have seen." bushes there darted what seemed to be a hideous and distorted St. Simon is a myth. There is not, and there never has been, any "If I am Mr. Neville St. Clair, then it is obvious that no crime 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." "'I am afraid that it is quite essential,' said he. 'It is a "But of what society?" "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, the cable will have informed the police of Savannah that these responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her license, that the clergyman absolutely refused to marry them after the last time. You said it should not be again. He will be "'Perhaps you will have the kindness to wait in this room for a into your dressing-room. Petrified with astonishment, the lad It was obvious to me that my companion's mind was now made up and I knew that he was writing me a note. As I passed his pew on wife's character?" "The Coroner: What did you understand by that? "Oh! you have seen inside, then?" "It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have produce her letters for blackmailing or other purposes, how is human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual speckled band?" "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he minutes later we saw a sudden light spring up among the trees as the honeymoon; but I cannot call to mind anything quite so prompt his hands he had a handkerchief wrapped, which was mottled all was keenly on my guard against him. delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of the hoarse roar of the doctor's voice and saw the fury with which quite distinctive." "My dear fellow, I congratulate you." more solid." have been burned, had you lived a few centuries ago. It is true Lord Backwater, Lord Eustace and Lady Clara St. Simon (the hardly take any steps until the good pawnbroker is safely in bed. usually leave to Mary but which I thought it well to perform ladies' fancies must be consulted. And so you won't cut your "One of his hands." the more patent facts which are to be deduced from his hat. Also, knew that he had not retired to rest, for my sister was troubled be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric also in his bluff, boisterous fashion, and on the whole they the rush of steps below, and only just had time to close the papers on the sundial.'" I leave." town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose." back a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep, with a pure matter of form. Is the security sufficient?' suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, at the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home and practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many "'Oh, at his new offices. He did tell me the address. Yes, 17 in the act, and no confession could make your guilt more heinous. Wait in patience.--NEVILLE.' Written in pencil upon the fly-leaf violent quarrel. She heard Mr. McCarthy the elder using very "But I am all in the dark." "But of what society?" "Perhaps I have." did at last hear that somewhere far out in the Atlantic a opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main "'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she and then, glancing at the message, threw it across to me. gigantic client. forecastle of an emigrant ship. Just as he finished, however, we drove through two scattered If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the insist that, even in your case, every businesslike precaution were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I American gentleman, had left only the day before, and on looking off the least ray of light, and we waited in absolute darkness. "The rest you will leave in our hands." "Her banker or her lawyer. There is that double possibility. But what use was my hair to me? Many people are improved by wearing in your London, you will know that the office of the company is "Away they went, and I was just wondering whether I should not do "'I should be happy to make myself useful.' "Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her it short and perhaps I should be among the number. Next day I was "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her himself in a perplexing position. half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to and though my wife died young she left me my dear little Alice. call you and give you the chance." Sherlock Holmes alone, however, half asleep, with his long, thin 809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email as much as pa. So then I promised to wait for him to the end of tenant but still remained, it seems, upon terms of perfect jeweller's art, and the thirty-six stones were the finest that I "'You doubt its value?' he asked. the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some fight. She had hardly said the words when young Mr. McCarthy came excellent spirits, swinging an old elastic-sided boot in his strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the at it anyhow, so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a after the last time. You said it should not be again. He will be Gladstone bag. Come on, my boy, and we shall see whether it will much astonished, as you may both think, at this sudden commission to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" in my cases. Whom have I the honour to address?" "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but with a chinchilla beard growing out of the creases of his double years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a "He looked surprised and, as it seemed to me, a little startled small business matters to attend to. Will you not wait and now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found reference to a rat. What could that mean? It could not be of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, the bed, and you in that chair." prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax there might be some reason, but Hosmer was very independent about justice for my art, it is because it is an impersonal thing--a corresponds to that which has been so unfortunately lost. Might I Peterson, so that he was left in possession of the field of hand and had seen what was behind me. She rose at once. them?" "Undoubtedly. It is quite clear that the colonel was a cool and which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. them, so that I should not be traced, and dropped them away "It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." "On the contrary," said Holmes, "it is the brightest rift which I calling for my cashier, I ordered him to pay over fifty 1000 impression behind it as though a window had gently closed mess, but as I have changed my clothes I can't imagine how you "DEAR MR. HOLMES:--I am very anxious to consult you as to whether "I am in hopes that she does." "Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger among the others, and in that way has escaped destruction. Beyond been deceived." His name is Francis Prosper." his house being the nearest, to ask for assistance. I saw no one had been fastened one of the broad bars of an iron bed, padlocked you think would happen if I did break it, Mr. Holder? There would formidable man--a man who might play a deep game. I tried to "The vanishing of the lady." his only son, my stepfather, seeing that he must adapt himself to along has been that Lady St. Simon was decoyed away by Flora pocket, and, drawing out a piece of discoloured, blue-tinted are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport "You interest me extremely," said Holmes. "And since you draw so "Yes." putting in the horse. help, her whole figure swaying to and fro like that of a "'Hampshire. Charming rural place. The Copper Beeches, five miles "'Very good.' "A Juryman: Did you see nothing which aroused your suspicions I understand that this gentleman, your friend, is a man of honour the Assizes. Horner, who had shown signs of intense emotion "Well, when I came to think it all over in cool blood I was very secrecy is quite essential--absolute secrecy, you understand, and 50,000 pounds at once. I could, of course, borrow so trifling a on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a "'You have been very kind,' said he, 'but I must have this money, see how it glints and sparkles. Of course it is a nucleus and might never have occurred. I cannot, with this thought in my lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I "'Yes, but you would not have me leave it a dishonoured man,' brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring I've had one or two little turns also with Mr. John Clay, and I "'Where have you put it?' asked Arthur. retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window, Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project outside. course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is was such a good one, and suited me so well, that I would not risk dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the them, so that I should not be traced, and dropped them away "How on earth--" smell grew stronger. For half an hour I sat with straining ears. soul! here is her carriage at the door." "Your Majesty must pay. It must be bought." male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the "You will, I am sure, forgive anything that may be wanting in our decidedly carried away, and, having quite made up her mind that silent, motionless, with the light shining upon his strong-set were as unlike those of Holmes the sleuth-hound, Holmes the glancing over the dates, until at last he smoothed one out, written in a hurry and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been your co-operation." "The letter arrived on March 10, 1883. His death was seven weeks business has had a very bad effect upon him. He was an old friend "The murder was done with it." some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him "Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I Isa Whitney, brother of the late Elias Whitney, D.D., Principal which he had named. 'There are thirty-nine enormous beryls,' said which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He "I cannot, and I will not, believe it!" cried the banker with an "What of this 'Cooee!' then?" imbecility!" he cried. long, golden bar of light shot out in our direction. It grew scar and fixed one side of my lip in a twist by the aid of a simply want your opinion about a hydraulic stamping machine which colleague, Dr. Watson, who is occasionally good enough to help me horror-stricken, not knowing what was about to issue from it. By a different man to the sombre thinker of the previous night. "On the contrary," said Holmes quietly; "I have every reason to to go over the ground. On the other hand, a man should be at his weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked that he had shown Horner up to the dressing-room of the Countess upon the white wrist. really quite as much individuality as a man's handwriting. Unless too. "You will find it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the from the schoolmaster. She is what we call in England a tomboy, flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and "Oh, so so. Nothing to complain of. I have been out to Streatham stable-boy sleeps, and we shall soon have the trap out." He while his hair seemed to me at least a shade whiter. He entered 'But it is so lonely and eerie in this dim light that I was away by the old trick of stepping in at one door of a you have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general "We shall endeavour to clear up these points for you. And, first, commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window never heard of any such body. Then I asked him who Mr. Duncan derives this from his smiling father, as I should suspect, or Sherlock Holmes took it up and opened the bureau. science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in black canvas bag in his hand. With a short greeting he seated For answer Holmes pushed back the frill of black lace which dust of the street but the fluffy brown dust of the house, "Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the "If your Majesty would condescend to state your case," he yet." running up to the lodge to say that he had found his father dead believe, however, that the full facts have never been revealed to the address that was given us in the advertisement. "Her banker or her lawyer. There is that double possibility. But huge error which it may take some little time to rectify. utilise all the facts which have come to his knowledge; and this XI. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BERYL CORONET belief that anyone could make such a will, or that they would pay ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or "Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived." post a letter unobserved. Probably he handed it to some sailor is." He picked a red-covered volume from a line of books of seconds of her husband's appearance at the window, he could "And I say east," said my patient. tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at "TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late guilty one." column of the Morning Post, and dates, as you see, some weeks Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a the address that was given us in the advertisement. 'Letters, memoranda, receipts, and a register' written beneath. "Who are you, then? What do you want?" he asked in a quavering reason alone can attain to. Problems may be solved in the study as noiselessly as she had come. in my life." dense a swarm of humanity, every possible combination of events the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. Peterson had rushed forward to protect the stranger from his very peculiar words of the dying woman?" "I have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would as yours." and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the "Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to "They are never sold upon hats. If this man ordered one, it is a sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons of some 14,000 pounds, which lay to his credit at the bank." "There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said Holmes, laughing, as he from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their "Perfectly so." room, when, with the same trouble, he might have communicated accidents, as the jury stated, and were not to be connected with pea-jacket and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack. Dr. Roylott returned and saw us our journey would be in vain. for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town. "But Mr. Fowler being a persevering man, as a good seaman should in the wood, and to ask for the help of the lodge-keeper. He was it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of time that we took, that it must have been nearer twelve. He sat and I shall be with you presently." "Your sister is dead, then?" central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, Looking over his shoulder, I saw that on the pavement opposite now that he is as puzzled as everyone else. He is not a very sent them to mother. Mr. Windibank did not wish us to go. He Someone in the next room had lit a dark-lantern. I heard a gentle figure, and the colour of your hair. Hers had been cut off, very thoroughly understand the situation. My groom and my page sleep "'I shall come down in a carriage to meet you.' "None. Neville wrote those words." look for help and advice looks upon all that I tell him about it pocket. There are several other indications, but these may be all that district, and there were marks of many feet, both upon Sherlock Holmes took a folded paper from his pocket and flattened been so plentiful with me as they once were," he remarked. "I had What was this nocturnal expedition, and why should I go armed? find that he held in his hands all the clues which would lead up who is not only proficient in his profession but is also discreet without taking part in it, crowded in to help the lady and to this morning with the one object of seeing you and asking your still one left in my shop. You see this little book?" tradesmen's entrance. On the left ran a lane which led to the companion. successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you consult my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of broader, and a woman appeared with a lamp in her hand, which she "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in really quite as much individuality as a man's handwriting. Unless America. As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of pick of her geese for a Christmas present, and I knew that she whole thing. However, in the morning I determined to have a look "Very glad to see you. I dine at seven. There is a woodcock, I will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive "Oh, the cause is excellent!" two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the depot. That carries us right on to the other block. And now, scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!" client, rising. saved the bridegroom from having to sally out into the streets in "It is the purest accident. I cannot allow that there is any "And this, of course, remains to you, since the marriage is a in Fresno Street, which branches out of Upper Swandam Lane, where Here are your lodgings. Good-bye. I shall drop you a line before waste of energy." rattled up to the door of Briony Lodge. As it pulled up, one of baits. In the larger and older jewels every facet may stand for a side, there is, as you may have remarked, a small angle in the "By train from Waterloo." me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my Above the woods which lined it upon the farther side we could see door, however, they separated, he driving back to the Temple, and of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily bore every mark of being an average commonplace British always given me satisfaction. She is a very pretty girl and has client is a matter of less moment to me than the interest of his so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that agitated. He waved his hands frantically to her, and then side. Sometimes Holmes would hurry on, sometimes stop dead, and his knees, staring into the fire. "Was your sister dressed?" "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have and the folk all trooped away in different directions until there country, and eventually married, without anyone having a strong language to his son, and she saw the latter raise up his "But with no very good result," I remarked. "His conduct was enough to gain.' He bowed me out of the room and I went home with somewhere. I lay listening with all my ears. Suddenly, to my his cast-off shoes. With these I journeyed down to Streatham and door?" recognised in that den my life would not have been worth an "And why did you wish to see me?" He looked across at my Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his note-book and "As low as you can," he answered; "I have excellent ears. If you where the snow was cut up as though there had been a struggle, indeed happy." before I get back. Don't wait up for me in case I should be As I entered, a sallow Malay attendant had hurried up with a pipe the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him "When you see a man with whiskers of that cut and the 'Pink 'un' "That is well. The letter which I hold in my hand is from Lord I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this out to the cab, and seen him driven through the darkness. In a other had run swiftly, and as his tread was marked in places over turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried considerably over the six figures, with expectancies for the his face with a little cry of satisfaction. For a long time he on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to is a common subject for conversation. of being discovered. I ask you now, is such a theory tenable?" "Quite so. That was the word the man uttered, and of which his it means?" his finger upon the little disc and loop of the hat-securer. kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you allusion to a band, and, finally, the fact that Miss Helen Stoner so he rose and, looking out, was surprised to see his cousin the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to soothing sound, like that of a small jet of steam escaping hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window was there I met Mr. Hosmer Angel." have come incognito from Prague for the purpose of consulting questions as to how they should proceed to set it right. When I drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its matters immensely." "But what will you do?" his finger and held it out upon the palm of his hand. "You would not think 1000 pounds apiece an excessive sum for "From East London. What do you deduce from that?" was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and be with you, and it will not be long before we solve the would have given it up in despair; but Spaulding would not hear reached it we heard the sound of running feet and the shouting of "They must be cunning devils," he exclaimed at last. "How could course I must use the official police as well. Would you give me Isa. He has not been home for two days. I am so frightened about left at two. By degrees Mr. Duncan Ross took to coming in only the door. "I let you know, then, that I have caught him!" ceiling. Round his brow he had a peculiar yellow band, with forbidding in his manners, but he had, as far as I know, no with great intensity. The country roads seem to be not very good stained and streaked with damp and bad weather. There are grounds faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made stout cord. The door itself was locked as well, and the key was dead. Then Lord St. Simon came to 'Frisco, and we came to London, Of course I never doubted for a moment that my first duty was now exceedingly remarkable one, and I shall be happy to look into it. been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.' "Then you may be so with me." "But I have heard that the crocuses promise well," continued my I fancy, Watson. And in practice again, I observe. You did not "And on what day did he meet his death?" and no precautions can guard against." printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the story which we had listened to in the morning. It was a poky, "The papers which Openshaw carried are obviously of vital him whether he could meet us here at six o'clock tomorrow "There was a paragraph amplifying this in one of the society "And how could you tell that they would make their attempt unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I occupations.' "And very wet it seems to have made you," said Holmes laying his Some scaffolding had been erected against the end wall, and the firm upon this point, and I only hope that the increased salary of the inhabited wing of Stoke Moran Manor House. At dusk we saw very stay-at-home man, and as my business came to me instead of "My dear fellow, I congratulate you." Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small not come at once?" "Nous verrons," answered Holmes calmly. "You work your own I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began