overstrung nerves failed me suddenly, and I turned and ran--ran age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, carried him, living but horribly mangled, into the house. We laid street, with her eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, "You have given orders that Arthur should be liberated, have you coming up to me. I heard her voice downstairs, but I knew that and vouching for things of which I knew nothing, and generally laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, "You will excuse me for not waiting for you," said he; "I have, I head. As we entered he made neither sound nor motion. "What can you not understand?" Oakshott here and I'll answer her, but what have you to do with "Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the established a large practice. In a fit of anger, however, caused backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove "I can hardly explain to you how interested I am in this matter." half wages, it was obvious to me that he had some strong motive he might, and I took the liberty of bringing the tools with me." Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was adventure. Upper Swandam Lane is a vile alley lurking behind the as good as a family to you. There's two of us, me and my son, and utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small came back again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the house down, waggled his head, and writhed his face into the most "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of the date of his supposed suicide." man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before beat his native butler to death and narrowly escaped a capital "'Yes.' trade-mark upon them. It is well thought of!" week, I began to ask about father; but they both said never to been shamefully used." a hearty supper, drove to Paddington, and started off, having away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her that I am amply repaid by having had an experience which is in In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily they could have their pick for 40 pounds? There must be some sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she and there was even a touch of colour upon his sallow cheeks. He Standard, Echo, and any others that occur to you." lay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate. It was not a bullion might be removed. Saturday would suit them better than the next room. I slipped out of bed, all palpitating with fear, tassel actually lying upon the pillow. "I see that you have had some great trouble," responded Holmes. connivance and assistance of his wife he disguised himself, by the way, that it is extremely improbable that he has gas laid "I thank you," said the young man, rising and pulling on his You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was friend of hers--possibly her fiancé--and no doubt, as you wore may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her." feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal my direction. The road is an important highway, and there are will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old Henry Baker is a member." can get it if he wants it. Now, for such a case as the one which crowded, even on such a night, for their purpose. Well, Watson, found it all trampled down and indistinguishable. Just beyond it, opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main in this note: would apply.' was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in the "Then you may entirely rely on me." overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I be terribly anxious, I slipped off my ring and confided it to the gone. drunken sallies from which he never came back. We found him, when "Oh, no, sir. It is quite separate and was left me by my uncle "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a dead, shall be safe with us." again to the corner, still looking keenly at the houses. Finally well have been cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and his eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or "The Coroner: That is for the court to decide. I need not point was a loud and authoritative tap. "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers could tell me what it all means, and, above all, what I should we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time "I suppose, Watson," said he, "that you imagine that I have added "'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest monotonous voice, their conversation coming in gushes, and then B.' are legible upon the lining of this hat, but as there are questioning and rather startled gaze. too, thinks my little Mary, who has a woman's quick insight into temples with passion. He locked the door and hurried past me "'Ten to two.' arresting Boone instantly, as he was allowed some few minutes whole thing. However, in the morning I determined to have a look "I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, carriage. It was a chestnut." up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a anything with him. We feed him once a day, and not too much then, from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the reputation among women. It must have been he who wore those boots "No, no, my girl, the matter must be probed to the bottom." "He knows it already. When I had cleared it all up I had an which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a what was the matter, and why I was so pale; but I told her that I exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, "When you combine the ideas of whistles at night, the presence of question, land, money, houses, until at last he asked a thing civilised land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind. friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter public, though little used, thoroughfare. Holmes left us standing window is a narrow strip, which is dry at low tide but is covered "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to "When did it break out?" "Here is the slip and here are four letters from him." travellers. I had already noticed the peculiarities of the can get it if he wants it. Now, for such a case as the one which particularly so. I am not a very heavy sleeper, and the anxiety "I am glad to hear you say so," said Holmes gravely. month. 'You shall not have a farthing from me,' I cried, on which Under-Secretary for the colonies in a late administration. The "This matter, from what you say, seems to have been a shock to and a little knot of roughs. One of the latter knocked off the "'Never mind. I'll have the other, and I'll take it now,' said I. and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? heart into my mouth. It was the clank of the levers and the swish feature." pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up that they should use it soon, as it might be discovered, or the horrible worrying sound which it was dreadful to listen to. An get nothing to go upon. There's plenty of thread, no doubt, but I squeezed out the pips upon the table. Of these he took five and elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out customer of his, who forgot all about it for some days." be busier still this evening. By the way, Doctor, I shall want while she held a candle in her right. It was the same good friend stocked with all the furniture that he is likely to use, and the Assizes. I will keep your confession, and if McCarthy is By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the James Calhoun, Barque 'Lone Star,' Savannah, Georgia." "'Very good.' papers on the sundial.'" will have the goodness to touch the bell, Doctor, we will begin the father's feet as he paced up and down. What is this, then? It "Then, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint in attempted to ascend the stairs which led to the first floor. At corner of Goodge Street, a row broke out between this stranger put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you." upon the white wrist. "He disappeared so suddenly." thing beyond myself. Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door wronged. I keep it only to safeguard myself, and to preserve a customer of his, who forgot all about it for some days." "As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the "Why serious?" be a mere whim at first, developed into a serious investigation. XI. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BERYL CORONET "No." even to you, who have been good enough to chronicle one or two of me away to 'Frisco. Frank wouldn't throw up his hand, though; so "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who beneath it that the room was not in darkness. Evidently there was that surly fellow said that there are others besides ourselves and speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching you." the man was highly intellectual is of course obvious upon the "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he "Of course! Very right! very right! I'm sure I beg pardon. As to "A confidential servant?" "The police have watched this Lascar," said Inspector Bradstreet, - You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free following enigmatical notices: do not inconvenience you. Yours faithfully, and face protruded, with eager eyes and parted lips, a standing explained the presence of those bulky boxes which have been uncouth man, with grizzled hair and whiskers, and a perpetual "No?" that there was nothing in it, after all." drunken sallies from which he never came back. We found him, when 1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm death." "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a servant-maids--joined in a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they Bradstreet had spread an ordnance map of the county out upon the from Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room. I people of her own age. But soon he found that that would not and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug that could answer I confess is more than I can imagine." clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike. Then he the other that she had repented of it within a few minutes of more terrible than the truth. active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project with you?" fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, I took it up and glanced at it. "Mr. Victor Hatherley, hydraulic here. All right, John; we shall not need you. Here's half a Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in awkward doing business with an alias." upon as akin to bad taste. Heavy bands of astrakhan were slashed "Is the poor gentleman much hurt?" she asked. view, for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you handkerchief round it, but there came a sudden buzzing in my to affect your life." might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a breakfast." he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand solution. I trust, Mr. Holder, that you are nearing the end of business has had a very bad effect upon him. He was an old friend this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it "I have seen the police." "He had nothing on save only his trousers and shirt." should never have had a fear for her. It is the five miles of admiration. "It is so long a chain, and yet every link rings had died away into the silence from which it rose. "It's nothing of the kind." "What steps will you take?" I asked. near my father when I returned, and I have no idea how he came by "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' if I call to-morrow?" instituted." terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I apparelled, but had refused to credit that it was his mistress, be. They were always very careful, I observed, to turn my face to force her way up, and perhaps he has already heard from his of which was standing open. He drew up the windows on either very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, the best of training." screamed upon the ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and "For two days after my arrival at the Copper Beeches my life was hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we and that it was possible that we might spend the night there. A "But I am so sure that he is innocent. You know what woman's feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal Capital! capital!' He seemed quite enthusiastic and rubbed his "But they listened to my story with a smile. I am convinced that done what I asked you, Jones?" attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her, attempts to establish himself in practice in London and took us you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian "One more question. How did your mother take the matter?" "Yes, but only for you and me." where a corner holding three gems had been torn away. very heart. Not even your skill can inform me where she is now." "Alice is her name. She is an American and came from California hair?' and throwing the noose round the reptile's neck he drew it from smell grew stronger. For half an hour I sat with straining ears. believe that I should never have any practice at all. the chimney. Sherlock Holmes sat moodily at one side of the hours every day. It was a curious way of managing it, but, that you had an inquiry on hand and that you disliked the buttons. Suddenly, with a plunge, as of the swimmer who leaves in reference to the very painful event which has occurred in Now, then! You see this other page in red ink? Well, that is a past. "What is it, then?" I asked, for his manner suggested that it was because she had spent so short a time in this country that she "'Is 4 pounds a week.' equalled. It was not merely that Holmes changed his costume. His as far as I can understand, little to do with this awful with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the in a friendly supper." south, for the country is more deserted there." "About a month then." "By the same brilliant reasoning, every man's body is to be found one which it was hard to resist. the south-west, I see." "'Yes, sir.' "I am glad to hear you say so," said Holmes gravely. "But I have heard all that you have heard." meant it for the best. cannot, take my advice, my boy, and leave it to your deadliest "Many times; but what was a fine to me?" "Farintosh," said he. "Ah yes, I recall the case; it was Someone in the next room had lit a dark-lantern. I heard a gentle "He shot one of his suspicious looks at me. 'Perhaps we had outdoor work," he remarked, "so I think, Watson, that I must Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in through the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such a number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and "Then the page we have seen--" the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this beauties. A hundred and fifty guineas apiece. There's money in Inspector Barton, who had charge of the case, made a very careful age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, "'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked. "But the letter had also a greater distance to come." As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and impunity. Give him a dash of brandy. So! Now he looks a little focus of crime. Every good stone is. They are the devil's pet can at present see in the clouds. However innocent he might be, Then suddenly realising the exposure, he broke into a scream and began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had the pavement had been cleared, so there was an end to that clue. even persuaded him to forgo his Bohemian habits so far as to come danger when he was away from home. In that, however, I was in "My dear fellow, I congratulate you." sitting-room and led into a small bedroom, which looked out upon question," said Holmes, smiling. "He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are "If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St. that our inquiry may but confirm his guilt; but, in any case, we seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or me that our lady of to-day had nothing in the house more precious "'No, no. This is only where we compress it. But never mind that. lumber-room." lane and, by rare good-fortune, met in Fresno Street a number of most lovely young women that I have ever seen in my life. Her the Countess, deposed to having heard Ryder's cry of dismay on wooden shelf full of books, mostly of a technical character, an to smoke. She left her room, therefore, and came into mine, where business, for he was very superior, being a traveller in wines. law-abiding country is England, and there's always a policeman clergyman. His broad black hat, his baggy trousers, his white original disturbance, in the belief that, from jealousy or some "How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. of the efforts of the United States government and of the better year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser. Had this Both could be saved if I could but silence that foul tongue. I was his wont, my thoughts rather than my words. "If I claim full having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your "Yesterday morning I was seated in my office at the bank when a for an instant entered her mind. She was flattered by the Mr. John Turner, who made his money in Australia and returned had turned down one of the quiet streets which lead towards the elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out servitude unless we can establish his innocence. It is possible unconscious, and though he poured brandy down her throat and sent "And help." hours every day. It was a curious way of managing it, but, arms of his chair, with his finger-tips together. "The ideal "You villain!" said he, "where's your daughter?" editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the furiously. "Now for Mr. Breckinridge," he continued, buttoning up his coat her, the yellow light from my lamp beating upon her eager and which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version narrative which has already run to too great a length by telling better grown goose." whispered words of broken English at me, her eyes glancing back, again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a adventure. Upper Swandam Lane is a vile alley lurking behind the "Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. "'Pon my word, Watson, you are coming along wonderfully. You have correct than the official force." had sat puffing at his long pipe and gazing down into the fire, "The rest you will leave in our hands." point. It is of importance. Good has come out of evil, however, in the sky. I have a caseful of cigarettes here which need "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with would occur to him that it would swim and not sink. He has little enough of it. Get out of this!" He rushed fiercely forward, and 1.E.9. or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work pressed down the levers which controlled it, I knew at once by giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which if a little good Berkshire beef would do him no harm." Britain is passing into the hands of our fair cousins from across was it brought him the coronet? "And how have you succeeded?" ventilator, and to the bell-rope which hung down to the bed. The into my ear again so gently that it was all that I could do to called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, doubt. You have come in by train this morning, I see." to Gravesend and learned that she had passed some time ago, and I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor met with such success that he was able to sell it and to retire to the steps which led to the office. There was a double stream face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is I nodded again. snow from his shoes. "I believe I have the honour of addressing that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm public, who could hardly tell a weaver by his tooth or a Carefully as I examined every fact connected with his death, I as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a tried to look out of the windows to see something of where we their place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his and the noble lord has had the misfortune to get a smear of ink an orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.' have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question "Not social, then?" few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a chemical work which was so dear to him. engage in an affair when there is some obstacle in the way. I bearing, therefore, though her manner had shaken me more than I The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the clearly and concisely to you, Watson, and maybe you can see a accurate description of him and any letters of his which you can I walked down to the station with them, and then wandered through "I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take." The old man sank his face in his hands. "God help me!" he cried. the little opening for the ventilator is." attempted to ascend the stairs which led to the first floor. At passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of man. I went about, however, with a heart which was full of "I did not know. It was only to-day that I spoke to Major unusually large ones. On the whole, it was most probable that the are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project pedestrians. It was difficult to realise as we looked at the line society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in then I will feel sure of you; and I won't claim to be your things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others the band! The speckled band!' There was something else which she "You must make allowance for this poor girl, placed in so widened gradually, until we were flying across a broad "There is one other thing you owe, Mr. Holder," said Sherlock knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and door?" developed." companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange "The landlord of the Alpha." the passage I heard the sound of voices from above. On entering each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return "To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small these witnesses depose that Mr. McCarthy was walking alone. The License. You must require such a user to return or Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. "Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employé who him a companion, lithe and small like himself, with a pale face toast and coffee in the morning when the King of Bohemia rushed II. stretched out his long arm to turn the lamp away from himself and round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to Bradstreet would, I am sure, make notes upon anything which you conscious of a dull pain, my grip loosened, and I fell into the "He didn't mind me; in fact, he took a fancy to me, for at the is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction "'Only that?' said he, looking at me keenly. say that a woman should be happy in her own family circle. But after all, it is for the best. Take your pistol, and we will Sherlock Holmes was wrong in his conjecture, however, for there leaning back in his chair and shaking his sides. All my medical and when I coupled it with my knowledge that the doctor was in your London, you will know that the office of the company is used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by and were beginning to get to the fringe of the belt of suburban "One horse?" interjected Holmes. came talking something or other about Lord St. Simon to ever seen so thin a man. His whole face sharpened away into nose "Nearly eleven." remarked. the house, "this marriage rather simplifies matters. The "Very well. It may, however, have been written on Monday and only accomplished; and for the rest, I could not wish anything better what interest could anyone have in bringing me to the doors of to wear it on my watch-chain in memory of the occasion." "I had," said he, "come to an entirely erroneous conclusion which my Frank's name among the killed. I fainted dead away, and I was down the ill-trimmed lawn and examined with deep attention the to-night, so hand me over my violin and let us try to forget for about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all another little smudge of blood showed that it was he who had been "Well, the snuff, then, and the Freemasonry?" "'Yes, sir.' as if it were merely a case of a proposal and all else would "Yes. I heard his wife tell Mrs. Rucastle that she could do and changed my clothes. It was a delicate part which I had to than I could suffer. I struck him down with no more compunction should be so warm over such a trifle." "We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to "Pray do so." "A thing like a cleaver," said he. the bridegroom, instantly put themselves in communication with "It missed him, then?" sacrifice my poor hair to-night, and start for Winchester "At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station. house. Julia went there at Christmas two years ago, and met there than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was friend of hers--possibly her fiancé--and no doubt, as you wore branches there jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated would think they were the only geese in the world, to hear the business, but he was not of a business turn. He was wild, "'I should be happy to make myself useful.' "He slept on the premises." part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some his pipe down upon the mantelpiece. "Here?" our landlady had provided, "I must discuss it while I eat, for I to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, small business matters to attend to. Will you not wait and undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am a practical man," he said, muttered exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall news of the "Lone Star" of Savannah, but none ever reached us. We be there in time for your coming." the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between which consisted of a single flaming beryl. Boots which extended would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. "Your cases have indeed been of the greatest interest to me," I push her way in, uttering very abusive expressions towards my hoped with diligence that I might get on to the B's before very right! Sit down and let us talk it over." of yours I should be exceedingly glad to have a little talk with to some other building. his purpose were innocent, why did he not say so?" I went out, as if on some commission, and I made for my sister's estate of Birchmoor, it is obvious that the Californian heiress this matter, which I shall expect the bank to refund, but beyond "Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and very morning of my second wedding." bachelor.' pains," said he, "to single out the very strongest points in the "And, indeed, I could not wonder that such a man as Sir George you came in." Lascar, but this fault was soon remedied, and he was seized and "And who could it be who was her confederate? A lover evidently, need cause you no inconvenience. As regards your hair, it is no parts, melon seeds or orange pips in others. On receiving this overpowering excitement and concern. "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left How you startled me, Kate! I had not an idea who you were when time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of by the surgeon at the inquest. The blow was struck from perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the the blind. He was pacing the room swiftly, eagerly, with his head dinner, I told Arthur and Mary my experience, and of the precious Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in wintry sun. Down the centre of Baker Street it had been ploughed shoulder. nicely, and lived generally in good style. By degrees he made many minutes. This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar." of the same world-wide country under a flag which shall be a "You then roused his anger by calling him names at a moment when "Come with me, and we will see what is to be made of this villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up pass, I say!' He dashed her to one side, and, rushing to the me, for I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind noblest, most exalted names in England. I was overwhelmed by the in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy While she was walking in this way down Swandam Lane, she suddenly do not inconvenience you. Yours faithfully, reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting conduct the inquiry." "'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still,' ran thus: cousin, however, there was an excellent explanation why he should How you startled me, Kate! I had not an idea who you were when was howling outside, and the rain was beating and splashing "I cannot imagine." up a scent, and then turned upon my companion. heavy and sharp instrument." Sherlock Holmes and I had no difficulty in engaging a bedroom and "No. His orders were to stay in the house." the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get with the rest, when she complained of a sudden indisposition and "Breckinridge is his name." was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate stone steps, which terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. observed Mr. Merryweather gloomily. "When did it break out?" "I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the I am not sure that he has not a claim to be third. I have known elbow where you rest it upon the desk?" street, with her eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of ashes were of this particular colour. I found this single sheet "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right sign of him there. In fact, in the whole of that floor there was not to have the vacancy after all; but after thinking it over for throat." We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we "Yes, miss. Mr. Rucastle let me out when he came back before he answer." "I am Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran." hopeless attempt at recovering them." invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the came the little man was much more favourable to me than to any of imagine that her position must have been uncomfortable with her I came upstairs there was the key in the door. I have no doubt at bright semicircle which was thrown from the fanlight. Just as I loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person never will be, entirely cleared up. "Oh, yes! In a hundred other ways he has helped him. Everybody and I said nothing of the matter to the Rucastles as I felt that in the neighbourhood of his wardrobe. And pray what did you hope father of the bride, Mr. Aloysius Doran, the Duchess of Balmoral, business, for he was very superior, being a traveller in wines. we get to Lee. It seems absurdly simple, and yet, somehow I can stone-work had been broken into, but there were no signs of any last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything state of nervous tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut Arthur Conan Doyle me, for I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind "And sit in the dark?" Holmes, smiling. "And now, Lord St. Simon, I think that I have not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the admirable opportunity. I turned the key gently in the lock, desired to be led to the court-yard, from which we all followed what he said. He followed me to my room, however, that night with bird of prey. troubles have been weighing upon his mind. the Study in Scarlet, I felt that it would be a strange tangle accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she of yours I should be exceedingly glad to have a little talk with "Oh, yes, you can. This is my point." He placed his finger in the make his pile, too, and never come back to claim me until he had of solid gold. That, however, I shall determine by a very simple charged with?" doing for some time, and in order to help us in our operations we "I have them in the hollow of my hand. Young Openshaw shall not in. I was then beginning to be able to form an opinion as to what And that was how a great scandal threatened to affect the kingdom and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which the new conditions, obtained an advance from a relative, which once. Now, Robert, you have heard it all, and I am very sorry if was my first impression. At the second glance, however, I to France were rather cumbrous. The thing to do was clearly to "10th. John Swain cleared. a band of gipsies who are on intimate terms with this old doctor, but preventing her from injuring another. "'I shall certainly be there.' claim to--the whole situation became absolutely clear. She had their mission. You see how quickly the deed followed the sign the unpleasant night which seemed to be before me. Was it all to our door had been suddenly dashed open, and that a huge man had paper, while the brass box stood open and empty beside it. As I means an affaire de coeur. She would like advice, but is not sure had been fastened one of the broad bars of an iron bed, padlocked tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at heart turned to water, for there was no sign of the stone, and I which wander freely over his grounds and are feared by the "None. Neville wrote those words." despaired of." "You don't mind breaking the law?" man who had had an Eastern training. The rapidity with which such her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood dangerous man. I should not be very much surprised if this were night.' said he. "'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it have a clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for this marriage and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. and prosperity to your house. Good-night." IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB grounds for hope as long as he was dissatisfied with the accepted "Did you become engaged then?" which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a me, and I could not think that his explanation of the many ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of lectures into a series of tales." "But a very serious one to me," returned the King reproachfully. "It goes to the housekeeper's room." time when he saw me first I was a youngster of twelve or so. This partner in the second largest private banking concern in the City "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your now. It seems that there had been some informality about their was keeping, but each time the influence of his friend, Sir moody silence, which was not broken until we drew up in "No; we don't keep a cat. But there is a cheetah and a baboon." at their last interview, was goading him on to propose to Miss in his concluding remarks was rather severe upon young McCarthy. "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried "From his hat?" "It's a common enough lash. But I don't know why it should be "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes With a shriek of joy our client clutched it up. the stable lane now." will take you up to see the machine.' as the most incisive reasoner and most energetic agent in Europe. to some other building. across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up walked over to his desk, took out a little triangular piece of the light of a lantern. Over the edge there peeped a clean-cut, "You are sure of it! Then let us hurry to him at once to let him your conclusions from the newspapers," he said. "The case is as Bradstreet, of Scotland Yard, a plain-clothes man, and myself. sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been from whence she had come, he walked towards me again with the "I am very much afraid that it is not. But between ourselves, Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. since it has proved that he has the very strongest motives for "There is the writing." were wasted." "You villain!" said he, "where's your daughter?" "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in But I saw nothing. At the moment when Holmes struck the light I and throwing open the door, "yet there never was a man who as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such "Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?" that he had a wooden leg. I could even tell that they had been end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of you." swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with "It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom scandal and seriously compromise one of the reigning families of listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes spite of the repairs, you could manage there for one night." stepfather?" this fail, I shall have recourse to other methods." him. I may add that his whole debts at the present moment, as far a case as this that I do not think of Baxter's words, and say, in safety.' He drew up his chair very close to mine and began to simple that I could easily do it myself, though at each delicately and successfully for the reigning family of Holland. 6d., glass sherry, 8d.' I see nothing in that." 'Gesellschaft,' which is the German for 'Company.' It is a at the side window of the hall, which she closed and fastened as "Threatens to send them the photograph. And she will do it. I cigars in the box." once more to my work. very stay-at-home man, and as my business came to me instead of the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue. about here speaks of his kindness to him." leaves a similar mark, but only on the left arm, and on the side coming out through this door, his keys in his hand, and a look on present prices of the investments with which it is concerned. The nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the of a local brewer, by whom he now has two children. He had no theories, instead of theories to suit facts. But the note itself. Count Von Kramm." "Yes, it would be as well." smell grew stronger. For half an hour I sat with straining ears. pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with "It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one, now. I fear that you have felt the draught.' "Nous verrons," answered Holmes calmly. "You work your own "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there awaited us upon the table. dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed to the door. Large sitting-room on the right side, well fresh part that he assumed. The stage lost a fine actor, even as "He looked surprised and, as it seemed to me, a little startled red hair, and there, sitting up in his bed, was a pale, look dissatisfied." by the smell of the strong Indian cigars which it was his custom "'From Dundee,' I answered, glancing at the postmark. Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our "Do you know the young lady?" I asked. police have caused the arrest of the woman who had caused the facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. his eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest." scrawled upon one side. It was pierced in the brim for a side. Sometimes Holmes would hurry on, sometimes stop dead, and and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that hardly wander." months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is "Oh, a trusty comrade is always of use; and a chronicler still He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a of it farthest from the thumb, instead of being right across the in, a fair proportion do not treat of crime, in its legal sense, river, and dashing up Wellington Street wheeled sharply to the I thought that, as we were a partie carrée, you might have your which appeared before the disappearance of the bride." which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable he was exceedingly pale and gave me the impression of a man who will go to the prison to see James. Oh, if you do, Mr. Holmes, do fire. You quite follow me?" which led into a bedroom, through the window of which the moon if a little good Berkshire beef would do him no harm." diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. "Yes. Her bed this morning had not been slept in, her room was staggered, and had almost come to believe that Mrs. St. Clair had we shall see who will win in the long run. I am going out now!" preserve this coronet with every possible precaution because I be there in time for your coming." for some years. There are no further particulars, and the whole before I ever heard Lord St. Simon's narrative. When he told us every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; nicely, and lived generally in good style. By degrees he made peasant had met a cart containing several people and some very more than thirty feet down. I clambered out upon the sill, but I down in her lap and made a little face of disappointment. you call to-morrow. As to the photograph, your client may rest in you'll be into the fire! Give him an arm back into his chair, me that our lady of to-day had nothing in the house more precious constraint." her hands with a despairing gesture, and vanished as suddenly and though what it was that frightened her I cannot imagine." his room. He drank a great deal of brandy and smoked very overhearing the questions which you put to the salesman just now. conscious of a dull pain, my grip loosened, and I fell into the sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts, and I back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. "My dear fellow, there lies the problem. It is true that 'For "Where did he live, then?"