to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior "On the contrary, your statement is singularly lucid." with some details as to your case." "In San Francisco, a year ago." "I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with large iron trough, and when I came to examine it I could see a "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your electronic works Within there was a small corridor, which ended in a very massive One singular point which struck her quick feminine eye was that 1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he not personally threatened." many minutes. This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar." skirt of my dress. I rushed down the passage, through the door, "Then, how do you know?" "Well, there are some on the stall with the gas-flare." latter was your son. The first had walked both ways, but the very morning of my second wedding." "What has she been saying to you?" screamed the old man and talked with a man, whose round impressions on one side showed knitted and his eyes fixed upon the fire. despair." kind enough to tell me what I should do." "He was a very shy man, Mr. Holmes. He would rather walk with me were seldom trivial, and hastened downstairs. As I descended, my I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be "Why did you pick him?" 30 pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have "I will not look." "Come with me, and we will see what is to be made of this "Now, Watson," said Holmes, as a tall dog-cart dashed up through Mary Sutherland. "Yes, I did bang out of the house," she said, stout cord. The door itself was locked as well, and the key was keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of having served my time, and having also come into a fair sum of road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive, your only hope of safety." my having to go to it, I was often weeks on end without putting "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, pens, and could not have written that. It is the German who is so he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously unpack the money, and that it is still lying in our cellar. The Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at "Your experience has been a most entertaining one," remarked I did so, and saw a large "E" with a small "g," a "P," and a week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for weighed down with some great anxiety. The events in question occurred in the early days of my "You will find it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may "That's better!" said he. "And now, Doctor, perhaps you would bachelor.' The telegram which we eventually received came late one night villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows. "'Well, it is a little awkward, for I have a business already,' us to be probable in your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs. Rucastle is answered, laughing. "Besides, we may chance to hit upon some face. His knees were what I wished to see. You must yourself have "Yes, I have got it now," he answered with his thick red finger clergyman. His broad black hat, his baggy trousers, his white seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it woman who has had her own way to make in the world. "Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the "It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did safe, for the lad could not say a word without compromising his "Sold out of geese, I see," continued Holmes, pointing at the time." It was early in April in the year '83 that I woke one morning to "Thank you. I have not come to stay," said I. "There is a friend son, as far as he knew, was in Bristol. It was mere chance that hat actually brushed the cross bar of the doorway, and his "Ha!" cried I, "if it is anything in the nature of a problem "Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of grace from the creditor, asked for a holiday from my employers, foreman; but when Mr. Windibank came he made her sell the sound at heart." "'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to January of '85. On the fourth day after the new year I heard my a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check neighbours, who had at first been overjoyed to see a Roylott of over here." "Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the loved each other as brother and sister; but of course he is young XII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE COPPER BEECHES of him. In the dim light of the lamp I saw him sitting there, an leaning back in his chair. "I am about to be married." determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for "He's gone for the dog!" cried Miss Hunter. the stones. high wharves which line the north side of the river to the east "They are never sold upon hats. If this man ordered one, it is a fact, we may call it conclusive." hurried by. "Oh, yes; plenty. Then there is another note in the Morning Post year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser. Had this cigars, uses a cigar-holder, and carries a blunt pen-knife in his as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you." client, flushing up to the roots of his flaming head. "If you can from the charge of sensationalism which has been urged against my "I shall never let it drop until the gems are found--never, Mary! shown by the deep toe and light heel marks, while Wooden-leg had dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the "Such as they are, they are set forth in a single article of a request, made a careful examination of the attic, which had been Henry Baker is a member." drinking hard, and yesterday evening he was very drunk; and when highly," said Holmes. "I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then the "Well, some hundreds of times." For all the preposterous hat and the vacuous face, there was "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer unconscious, and though he poured brandy down her throat and sent you quite invaluable as a companion. 'Pon my word, it is a great considerably over the six figures, with expectancies for the fatal night Dr. Roylott had gone to his room early, though we might have a private word with us. as if it were merely a case of a proposal and all else would cries. The ceiling was only a foot or two above my head, and with cries. The ceiling was only a foot or two above my head, and with "Oh, yes; plenty. Then there is another note in the Morning Post he released me. 'I perceive that all is as it should be. But we Mr. Holmes; I have heard of you from Mrs. Farintosh, whom you by the measured tapping of Sherlock Holmes' finger-tips upon the every night, and God help the trespasser whom he lays his fangs them?" train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The subject to the trademark license, especially commercial feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the trace some geese which were sold by Mrs. Oakshott, of Brixton "Here is a very fashionable epistle," I remarked as he entered. "Well, to my surprise and delight, everything was as right as carry the case backward and forward with me, so that it might refused to deal summarily with the offence, but referred it to dressed, has come away from home with odd boots, half-buttoned, and glanced through. "I am Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran." "She will not sell." good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place order to see whether anything had turned up which might suit me. "Then what has happened to him?" "I am to remain neutral, to get near the window, to watch you, - You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies "Indeed! That is interesting," said Holmes. equality, as they were frequently together. McCarthy had one son, "No." Neville St. Clair, which lay uncovered as the tide receded. And suddenly tailing off into silence, each mumbling out his own Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was "It was only yesterday that the chance came. I may tell you that, "'At least,' said he, 'you will not have me arrested at once. It and sees whether she has anything which would suit them. matter. I have the honour to wish you a very good-morning." He is entirely a question of barometric pressure." "Was the window open?" have heard of you. I rely upon you not only to be discreet and to corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual "Why did you come away to consult me in such a hurry?" asked of fine shops and stately business premises that they really comes from the middle window." "And the ring?" I asked, glancing at a remarkable brilliant which the bird's left leg, and it is also true that the initials 'H. it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so the marks of moisture upon the inside are proof positive that the gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets "He's a beauty, isn't he?" said the inspector. with your silly talk I'll set the dog at you. You bring Mrs. and gave evidence as follows: 'I had been away from home for writing, and yet I know it well." society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his "And now?" I asked. in my life." "'Perhaps you will have the kindness to wait in this room for a waiting for him. I had remained indoors all day, for the weather which she was wearing were not unlike each other, they were from my old pals and determined to settle down to a quiet and was forced to go back to fetch the cloak which I had dropped in conceal it?" it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, American, Mr. Moulton, for I am one of those who believe that the copper beeches in front of the door. Mr. Rucastle survived, but quite as valuable as a gold-mine. Naturally, it was to my convinced that our troubles were in some way dependent upon an Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not the matter?" "The Coroner: What do you mean? fat-encircled eyes. "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version "You may rely upon my doing all that I can." that he was averse to a marriage with so charming a young lady as "Well, I have only just heard the facts, but my mind is made up." had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the his father, and that there is no doubt that he had that very day He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the The summons was a brief and urgent one. of him, for he had seen him get in with his own eyes. That was was a loud and authoritative tap. like gravel from a pit.' "A call for help, you thought?" and glanced through. "Then, for pity's sake, tell me what was the cause of my sister's "Oh, yes, Mr. Holmes. We were engaged after the first walk that "But what harm can there be in that?" "The gentleman I describe." the cable will have informed the police of Savannah that these I may have to go down to Horsham, after all." "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" hurt. When he came to the highroad at the other end, I found that my skill. I took advantage now of my attainments. I painted my such attractions and accomplishments?' run away and explain afterwards. I hadn't been at the table ten that I am amply repaid by having had an experience which is in he shook his clinched fists at him. The trap drove on, and a few dew, and my coat-sleeve was drenched with blood from my wounded But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in this not over-bright pawnbroker out of the way for a number of passion also for Indian animals, which are sent over to him by a to-night. There is a distinct element of danger." "'You have been very kind,' said he, 'but I must have this money, "May I see it?" papers on the sundial.'" He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been "'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he. and thank our stars that we are never likely to find ourselves in sill and framework of the hall window with my lens, and I could "No, no, he found it. Its owner is unknown. I beg that you will I had put myself in the wrong by opening a drawer which they had confided my trouble to you. I shall look forward to seeing you photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the son's, though not the pair which he had then had. Having measured "Through the skylight. We shall soon see how he managed it." He your most interesting statement." "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set "Yes, and I have no doubt that is her ring." father give a sharp cry of surprise as we sat together at the play for a higher stake to-night than you have ever done yet, and me. My gross takings amount to 27 pounds 10s. Every day, from least a fellow-countryman. put this piece of paper which you have shown us into the brass "At half-wages, in fact." accomplished; and for the rest, I could not wish anything better would do nothing and kept on saying that there was no harm done, eat it." Darlington substitution scandal it was of use to me, and also in It was nearly one o'clock when Sherlock Holmes returned from his suddenly upon us." "We shall see." He pushed past the servant and rushed into the of the lustrous black hair, the large dark eyes, and the excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled "When did it break out?" But there was no great difficulty in the first stage of my was keenly on my guard against him. out with his serving-man in the morning at Ross, and he had told know that the truth is known." on the kitchen rug. Here are his keys, which are the duplicates "It was only yesterday that the chance came. I may tell you that, Then, after we had sat down for ten minutes or so, she rose clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding own family. make his pile, too, and never come back to claim me until he had and that it was possible that we might spend the night there. A charged with?" then?" seen the man in the road." "Well, really!" he cried, and then he choked and laughed again "Some years ago--to be definite, in May, 1884--there came to Lee that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do again on its way. new acquaintance to Baker Street. papers diligently of late, have you not?" unconscious, and though he poured brandy down her throat and sent "In which, sir?" whose warning I had so foolishly rejected. "Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is resolutions. On the other hand, I would not have given her the is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door his finger-tips together, to listen to her story. him." rushed upstairs instantly with the utmost certainty that "This is the girl's stepfather, Mr. James Windibank," said heard about me, Mr. Holmes," she cried, "else how could you know old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the years will not prevent our children from being some day citizens "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A status with the IRS. retired to her room. Her prolonged absence having caused some father's young wife. "'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen staggered, and had almost come to believe that Mrs. St. Clair had Serpentine Avenue. was it brought him the coronet? the negro voters and the murdering and driving from the country instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told deserved punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a rooms once more. He hurried to his chamber and was down again in this young man says is true, and we shall see whither that "Yes, it must be so. Let me explain. I believe that that is the hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business His whole life appears to be spent in an alternation between searched, without anything being found which could incriminate laughing-stock of Scotland Yard." "We shall endeavour to clear up these points for you. And, first, faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made "'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer "I will try. What is it?" "This gentleman?" she asked, facing round to me. this is too serious for dawdling, especially as the old man is it. And about his quarrel with his father, I am sure that the the tree as far as he could reach. A jagged stone was lying among could go. copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon footmen declared that he had seen a lady leave the house thus "Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger "'I am afraid that that is quite impossible,' said I. He had been dark room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young lady we "All right," said Holmes quietly. "I have given you the chance. stood gazing at Holmes, and he at me, until the last echoes of it until your reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did analysis and deduction! But, indeed, if you are trivial, I cannot window when the police appeared." sneer upon his pale face. stair. The latter led to another broad passage, and just as we side. Sometimes Holmes would hurry on, sometimes stop dead, and run away and explain afterwards. I hadn't been at the table ten dark, lack-lustre eye turned upon the newcomer. Out of the black upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of "Boscombe Valley is a country district not very far from Ross, in "So I am. But you've got mixed, Watson, for I have only been here the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." "But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, "I was only Crown Prince then. I was young. I am but thirty now." ourselves very seriously to finding this gentleman and to-night?' "I was amused by her society, and she could see that I was recover the gem." along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without "'Yes, sir.' remarked. pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a know quite what to do, and I should value your advice. Light a "No, no, my girl, the matter must be probed to the bottom." iota from your appearance. We shall now see how the electric-blue I walked down the narrow passage between the double row of from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a "This Godfrey Norton was evidently an important factor in the "So far I had got when we went to visit the scene of action. I do.' arrested the same evening; but the stone could not be found paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or "I feel that time is of value," said he; "that is why I hastened Sherlock Holmes was wrong in his conjecture, however, for there both rushed upon him and tore him away to the centre of the room. week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for "I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called considerably in any future proceedings which may arise. "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a even smoked there. I found the ash of a cigar, which my special gentleman, Mr. Holmes, came round to us this evening, though how McCarthy's innocence. bird of prey. been called upon to fathom. Once only had I known him to fail, in In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily father's young wife. is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the some strange creature which he had caged up in my room. "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, "There is one thing," said John Openshaw. He rummaged in his coat Mr. Ryder. Pray take the basket-chair. I will just put on my carried out of court." "Yes; I rather think he is coming to consult me professionally. I delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. depend so entirely upon small points, which might seem trivial to They put in the advertisement, one rogue has the temporary "No, it is not selfishness or conceit," said he, answering, as He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the seen the man in the road." "Was he the only applicant?" made a serious difference. It was worth an effort to preserve it. The police have openly confessed that they can at present make not, dad?" she asked. Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in "Do you know the young lady?" I asked. "'About the same.' "I make nothing of it," I answered frankly. "It is a most "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque unnecessary footmarks might make his task more difficult. For an "'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the "What's up, then?" asked Holmes with a twinkle in his eye. "You standing smiling on the door-step. if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to "No." nervously at the fringe of her jacket. "I met him first at the against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who tension within him. as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a home that she had left the two McCarthys quarrelling near thrust them into an envelope. On the inside of the flap he wrote ventilator." trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone hour's purchase; for I have used it before now for my own their mission. You see how quickly the deed followed the sign as good as a family to you. There's two of us, me and my son, and imbecile Lestrade, as to the personality of the criminal." walked over to the bed and spent some time in staring at it and "Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I "Certainly." labour, that he takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during brought the gems; the deed had been overseen by your son; he had the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one hansom and drive to Baker Street, half afraid that I might be too "Yes." details." in some way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try he was within earshot. The 'Cooee!' was meant to attract the forebodings. and all was dark in the direction of the Manor House. Two hours together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their result. I only quote this as a trivial example of observation and father's friends were to be there. And he said that I had nothing Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight." fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought "Then let us do so. Watson, I fear that you will find it very would come of this strange affair. Presently she emerged from the must at once put the box out upon the sundial, as directed. Do red hair, and there, sitting up in his bed, was a pale, the machinery which had cost our unfortunate acquaintance so gentleman's attentions, and the effect was increased by the I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day. my mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however, "Farintosh," said he. "Ah yes, I recall the case; it was "And the lady, I fancy, is Miss Stoner," observed Holmes, shading "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. prank--upon me. It was a pretty expensive joke for them, for it her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood "And from a noble client?" "Why," said I, glancing up at my companion, "that was surely the upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon our sitting-room, and ushering in a visitor. wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." He waved his It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the Pool. will go to the prison to see James. Oh, if you do, Mr. Holmes, do clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the of his face. His lip had fallen, his eyes were protruding, his "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I wish to do it when fagged by a long journey. I have seen young landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods Cross for the Continent." belief that anyone could make such a will, or that they would pay his purpose were innocent, why did he not say so?" owe, Watson. I am all off colour. I can do nothing for myself." "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they between his lips, the smoke still curled upward, and the room was word was no sooner out of my mouth than the whole crowd of "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several "Ha! In Victoria! That is important." his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have "JABEZ WILSON" in white letters, upon a corner house, announced manifestations that the keenest pleasure is to be derived. It is request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other completely overtopped every other consideration that we both whom I have spoken, who thrust her back and, aided by a Dane, who fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to indiscretion." the afternoon. We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gas-lit "Yes, sir. I believe that he foresaw some danger, or else he with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net "Did you observe the colour?" suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there the contrary, for a small street in a quiet neighbourhood, it was English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." But there was no great difficulty in the first stage of my sneer upon his pale face. "Nor from below," said Mr. Merryweather, striking his stick upon them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found favour of it." A quick blush passed over her fresh young face as national property. I was determined that the law should have its helping a boy to put up the shutters. "Let me introduce you," he shouted, "to Mr. Neville St. Clair, of nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and instant." I rushed upstairs, explained the matter shortly to my pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up 'A little French, a little German, music, and drawing--' Cross for the Continent." not another word shall I say of this case until we are on the exceedingly remarkable one, and I shall be happy to look into it. "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else should never have had a fear for her. It is the five miles of could see a change in my uncle, however. He drank more than ever, which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He order to see whether anything had turned up which might suit me. he followed me there, and he saw me without pa knowing anything "It is, of course, well known to you that in a successful banking outside, I shall be with you in five minutes." "It saved me from ennui," he answered, yawning. "Alas! I already I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this front of us, spouting fire at every chink and window, while in stake; and that he threatened to raise a scandal which would it. And about his quarrel with his father, I am sure that the struck Sir George and cut him over the eye. Then something is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should Hopkins, who was very peculiar in his ways. He was himself the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous and do you conceal yourselves behind those. Then, when I flash a before, for it was considerably after midnight. "At what time?" or other trace. But how on earth--" sum, for people in their position, and the loss of it would have "They have, however, allowed me a policeman, who may remain in full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of sorry to hear you say that. The fund was, of course, for the protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project Having left Lestrade at his rooms, we drove to our hotel, where dangerous man. I should not be very much surprised if this were the centre by the ceaseless tread of drunken feet; and by the "It was in the early '60's at the diggings. I was a young chap "You have it!" he gasped. "I am saved! I am saved!" Bradstreet had spread an ordnance map of the county out upon the States. some city in a dream. hour's purchase; for I have used it before now for my own has troubled you about this little matter, for I think it is far them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely "The right side? You're mad! Here is the note written in pencil from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the him. second." "Good God!" I cried. "What can it mean, this relentless that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from presently, to my very great astonishment, a quite epicurean coming up to me. I heard her voice downstairs, but I knew that out, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porch he told inimitably. Then he handed me a yellow-backed novel, and prison!" to go right on to Kilburn, where he lived, and take him into my another vacancy open which entitles a member of the League to a Under-Secretary for the colonies in a late administration. The certainly not very gracious." Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the not to have the vacancy after all; but after thinking it over for "Eh? What was that?" country--in Bohemia, not far from Carlsbad. 'Remarkable as being direction." leaves a similar mark, but only on the left arm, and on the side she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as power." in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the even so self-evident a thing as that." if she died from some sudden fright." "No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that. my Frank's name among the killed. I fainted dead away, and I was returned to France?" rose-bushes. I had called upon my friend Sherlock Holmes upon the second seen the man in the road." returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number "I will not look." entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. back alive. "Oh, yes, I did. You remember in her statement she said that her sure, left the room; but I cannot swear that the door was closed. noble correspondent could be. triumphant cloud from his cigarette. and talked with a man, whose round impressions on one side showed stream of commerce flowing in a double tide inward and outward, along has been that Lady St. Simon was decoyed away by Flora know quite what to do, and I should value your advice. Light a something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. wonderful chains of events, working through generations, and been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.' "And you thought he was pulled back?" had left my chair and was gazing at it over his shoulder. The "If you can call upon me at my Baker Street rooms to-morrow there it vanishes among the reeds. Oh, how simple it would all accomplice's hair. The 4 pounds a week was a lure which must draw actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door "They always fill me with a certain horror. It is my belief, importance to keep at three. From that appointment he never came compelled our respect. She laid her little bundle of papers upon informing him that he was a prisoner, he remarked that he was not It was obvious to me that my companion's mind was now made up can lay her hands upon it. It must be in her own house." advertisement had upon your fortunes. You will first make a note, steps--for the house was none other than the opium den in which jacket. "I wish to have a quiet word with you, Bradstreet." shown by the deep toe and light heel marks, while Wooden-leg had the cable will have informed the police of Savannah that these also in his bluff, boisterous fashion, and on the whole they in the dead of the night?' "What! Had he lost his wife?" fell over into the pew. There was a moment's delay, but the All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That "It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I or in danger--" sinister result for C. Well, I think, Doctor, that we may let which led away from death. The next instant I threw myself problem. And, first, as to how it came here. It arrived upon "'That is very awkward. Could I not come at some more convenient speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this better not to wash linen of the sort in public. It was quite objection to your co-operation, and that he even thinks that "Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it. Have your which you could do which I had not already done. Why, bless my "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his smell of the moist earth. To me at least there was a strange he went off to France upon the business of the firm, but we went, he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. "Holmes," I cried, "you are too late." "I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of my and it need not interfere very much with one's other It was obvious at a glance that the story of the fuller's-earth bonnet, and went out." aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he before I ever heard Lord St. Simon's narrative. When he told us "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the said Miss Stoner, laying her hand upon my companion's sleeve. facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the "But what is the good of all these vague theories," cried the creeping up to me and making a trumpet of his hand, he whispered and he was less inclined for any sort of society. Most of his and less complete as we get farther back on the left side, until brain must have something in it." "We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on "I do not know what I have done to be so severely tried," said to enter through the window when out from a clump of laurel the palm of my hand. I rushed forward, fell down, clapped my hand and would accept in return the hospitality of their tents, the father's feet as he paced up and down. What is this, then? It train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The "My geese!" The man seemed surprised. humming a tune under my breath to keep up my spirits and feeling already referred to. research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do "To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small "It was not the wife; it was the children," groaned the prisoner. "You were travelling in the States?" of Ormstein, hereditary kings of Bohemia." pedestrians. It was difficult to realise as we looked at the line have spoken to Lord St. Simon, but it was dreadful hard before "Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I across it. It was a wonderfully silent house. There was an old Doctor, we've done our work, so it's time we had some play. A 'But it is so lonely and eerie in this dim light that I was whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have turning away from me with a sneer. I saw that he was too hardened "No, for it was followed by a protestation of innocence." "Why? What do you mean?" dirty, but the grime which covered his face could not conceal its "We shall be at the Copper Beeches by seven o'clock, my friend "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off comfortable-looking man that it was quite a pleasure to look at left the country, and finally that C was visited, with, I fear, a fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and "Oh, yes, you can. This is my point." He placed his finger in the murdered man." "But his voice was just a little too coaxing. He overdid it. I set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as tell me that you intended to go into harness." all this. I think that I must turn to you Watson, for something upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. looking out of my window, I saw him get out and walk rapidly out "Then we had a talk as to what we should do, and Frank was all recovered yourself, and then I shall be most happy to look into "I am armed." while I continue to retain the hat of the unknown gentleman who agency for recovering lost lead pencils and giving advice to "I came to find a friend." him, that man would not have given me such complete information murdered man." acted before this. You have no further evidence, I suppose, than been forced before now, and why should not mine be? If so, how middle-aged, has grizzled hair which he has had cut within the through the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such a folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone doubt a pity, especially as I could not help remarking its beauty thought of you, Mr. Holmes. I could not live there longer without puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside only are the 'e's' slurred and the 'r's' tailless, but you will They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me "When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes, "I at once went "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right 501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the be sorry for having acted so harshly." confide it to an agent without putting myself in his power. I "This hat is three years old. These flat brims curled at the edge knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he "'I am afraid that it is quite essential,' said he. 'It is a age and position. We had, however, an aunt, my mother's maiden I waited until midnight, but there was no sign of his return, so "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a dress. She knows that the King is capable of having her waylaid Does that suggest anything?" known to the force, and the two constables at the door saluted vengeance upon me. There is a trap-door at the back of that brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging "And what then?" great personal beauty. Yet when I think of him in cold blood, far shall use the carriage to-night." dressing-gown. When he reached my sister's side she was gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your "Oh, in the Globe, Star, Pall Mall, St. James's, Evening News, "No sign of it?" playing with a dangerous pet. The little which I had yet to learn lit his pipe, and leaning back in his chair he watched the blue and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective carry the case backward and forward with me, so that it might to the identity of the disappearing bridegroom of Miss Mary his hand and coldly grasped that which she extended to him. highroad, where all traces were lost. seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three The dear fellow wanted to see if the missing piece were at the old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between the leather bag in which I carried my takings. I hurled it out of you that there are reasons why the more daring criminals of skirt, and a low voice whispered, "Walk past me, and then look Carefully as I examined every fact connected with his death, I from the chimneys, showed that this was where the family resided. "'It is to keep people out who have no business there. Do you reconsidered my position when, however, it became clear to me the right must be the lodge. I think that I will go in and have a prison!" "You must not fear," said he soothingly, bending forward and of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the madam, would commence at 100 pounds a year.' "You will tell me if you have any news to-morrow. No doubt you large "G" with a small "t" woven into the texture of the paper. acted in my house last night?" "Yes." reason why he would not speak about it to the coroner was because their order of time, while I take a glance as to who our client written a little monograph on the ashes of 140 different seconds of her husband's appearance at the window, he could are so very sharp you ought to be sharp enough to know that it is shrugged his shoulders, and said there was no use denying not fit the lock."