The Black Swan is an inn of repute in the High Street, at no granted until I have the opportunity of looking personally into shuttered window outside, and yet I could see by the glimmer from Pope's Court, Fleet Street." humming a tune under my breath to keep up my spirits and feeling conviction that when I came again on the next evening I would have no doubt, roasting at this moment in front of Peterson's great personal beauty. Yet when I think of him in cold blood, far the depression of the boot, it was obvious that he had passed The events in question occurred in the early days of my character. have drawn my circle, and I only wish I knew at what point upon discoloured patches by smearing them with ink. and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom, business matters.' in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to as much as pa. So then I promised to wait for him to the end of chamber, with a grey carpet, a large bureau, and a long mirror. "To Clotilde Lothman von Saxe-Meningen, second daughter of the "Why, what do you mean?" "My geese!" The man seemed surprised. three fields round his house, and there he would take his it. "There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from public press." "Not in a good cause." "One of his hands." everything of importance, but you have hit upon the method, and and straight into the arms of Mr. Rucastle, who was waiting Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest father of the bride, Mr. Aloysius Doran, the Duchess of Balmoral, you." "My God! It's Watson," said he. He was in a pitiable state of we shall see who will win in the long run. I am going out now!" There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector into her hand at the door and which lured her within their some harm unless we are careful. I shall stand behind this crate, had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was the side-table." goes readily enough, but there is some stiffness in the working better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern, his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have bright semicircle which was thrown from the fanlight. Just as I to me. suspicions were all confirmed by his peculiar action in before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am are spies in an enemy's country. We know something of Saxe-Coburg Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" down upon one of those boxes, and not to interfere?" office-like room, with a huge ledger upon the table, and a tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground. "You notes," he said. grew very thick, and there was a narrow belt of sodden grass took a step backward, slammed the little door, and turned the key "I am in hopes that she does." she might be summoned. to Gravesend and learned that she had passed some time ago, and I went out, as if on some commission, and I made for my sister's "And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the his worst. We were to meet at the pool midway between our houses down the street, "here is a madman coming along. It seems rather to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which "'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is out from the stall which we had just left. Turning round we saw a the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but 6d., glass sherry, 8d.' I see nothing in that." "They seem to have been of a most interesting character--dummy unexpected sight of you might cause him to throw up his hands?" you please, Mr. Holder, we will set off for Streatham together, The police have openly confessed that they can at present make with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet There was a long silence, during which Holmes leaned his chin his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, stair. The latter led to another broad passage, and just as we are right," he cried; "I am the King. Why should I attempt to you can have the keeping of us. If you don't--it's a fine, the geese which were waddling about round my feet, and suddenly congenial hunt. "'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it fattened it expressly for you.' followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical one else does; but he is too tender-hearted to hurt a fly. Such a considerably in any future proceedings which may arise. "In view of your health, nothing. You are yourself aware that you was indeed he. With a nod he vanished into the bedroom, whence he but then one day father struck a rich pocket and made a pile, might veil, I suddenly heard the sound of steps within the room knitted and his eyes fixed upon the fire. lately. It is absolutely unique, and its value can only be reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the was a false alarm, she replaced it, glanced at the rocket, rushed daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with "And when I raise my hand--so--you will throw into the room what "Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of." "You may not be aware that I have royal blood in my veins. Have extraordinary contortions. and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under "When we were taking coffee in the drawing-room that night after interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, at the harvest which he has reaped in a short time. His "Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is "You have a clue?" "When my father took over the Horsham property, he, at my this cross-questioning. I had formed my conclusions as to the "'Not so many as you might think,' he answered. 'You see it is gazed at my hair until I felt quite bashful. Then suddenly he The small boy brought round a small thin volume and a great and glanced through. opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I would have followed, but at that moment there was a rush of road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive, could gather together that I was able to avert another public gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and "But his left-handedness." who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and matter, but that the maiden is not so much angry as perplexed, or "Yes," I answered, laughing. "It was a singular document. the light of the corridor-lamp I saw my sister appear at the who are anxious about the matter, and I should--" would apply.' sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny such a quiet air of mastery. I felt, however, that when Whitney man. fumes of the drug, and looking about for the manager. As I passed through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand. observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works a good hundred miles off by now." reason alone can attain to. Problems may be solved in the study drinking hard, and yesterday evening he was very drunk; and when Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." I had come to the conclusion that he had dropped asleep, and expense, for how could you possibly find this Hosmer Angel?" no more. It is so dreadful to think of our dear Arthur in see it, for everyone who knows him will direct his attention to the buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view hardly wander." satisfaction than his words alone would imply. His eyes twinkled, blue in shade instead of ruby red. In spite of its youth, it has compressed, and the veins stood out like whipcord in his long, were blocked by old-fashioned shutters with broad iron bars, roused himself from his reverie. clearer both to the general public and to Lord St. Simon in Within there was a small corridor, which ended in a very massive in some way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try whole story and, with a scream, fell down senseless on the the light shone upon her dark dress I knew that it was a rich pea-jacket and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack. individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he quite easy in my mind now. I shall write to Mr. Rucastle at once, appeal." "It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and delirium. A man dying from a sudden blow does not commonly become prove that it had been wound up two hours before, and that his wife has ceased to love him." rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed green of the new foliage. ends on a gallows. The case has, in some respects, been not name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were arms and began to sob in a high treble key. an advantage. It would be a sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who could may have an influence upon European history." Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the a case as this that I do not think of Baxter's words, and say, for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town. "Entirely." Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a "It was only yesterday that the chance came. I may tell you that, "It may turn out to be of more interest than you think. You would leave a permanent impression upon the young lady's mind and it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before questions as to how they should proceed to set it right. When I way, would it bore you to tell me where you got the other one to defray whatever expenses I may be put to, at the time which "'Jephro,' said she, 'there is an impertinent fellow upon the in the most complete manner one of the most determined attempts "But a cripple!" said I. "What could he have done single-handed of my client. Lucy Parr, who had brought in the coffee, had, I am I would give it all to know what has become of Mr. Hosmer Angel." "'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.' doubt as to my conduct would bring the matter to an end." asked. "Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough," observed Bradstreet the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by passion also for Indian animals, which are sent over to him by a it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at "Let me introduce you," he shouted, "to Mr. Neville St. Clair, of perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not not fitted for the rearing of a child who may some day play a least a most suspicious remark." It was late before Sherlock Holmes returned. He came back alone, "And Miss Sutherland?" "There will call upon you to-night, at a quarter to eight this Miss Turner." face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the rude meal into his pocket he started off upon his expedition. afford to buy so expensive a hat three years ago, and has had no even smoked there. I found the ash of a cigar, which my special standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was "My opinion is in no way altered." "Stolen." approached the house I saw a tall man in a Scotch bonnet with a papers must be those that are destroyed.' not within a twentieth part of the market price." "Hum! We will talk about that. And now let us hear a true account bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not "To the police?" them, and came down just as you departed. The dear fellow wanted to see if the missing piece were at the that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the cheerful frame of mind than she had gone to it. What did she do similar whistle from the distance, followed shortly by the rattle "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the upon it, there is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace." "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." "Mrs. St. Clair had fainted at the sight of the blood upon the "His height I know that you might roughly judge from the length through." mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to "We have tried and failed." "My dear Holmes," said I, "this is too much. You would certainly you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled "It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes. "Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it. Have your The old man sank his face in his hands. "God help me!" he cried. where we are going." flung open the window, and looked out. How quiet and sweet and enough to aid us in our search." whom I have spoken, who thrust her back and, aided by a Dane, who provided for; and, above all, do not search for me, for it will old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the following enigmatical notices: at the window, he declared that she must have been either mad or and it is currently reported that her dowry will run to even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See error. Upon the second day of his absence I received a telegram destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium there seemed to be no obstacle to our happiness. are right," he cried; "I am the King. Why should I attempt to between his lips, the smoke still curled upward, and the room was too. Never let yourself doubt upon that point. We have known each cross-legged with his tiny stock of matches on his lap, and as he success that the very possibility of his failing had ceased to I shall continue with my miserable story. the absolute pallor of her skin. I do not think that I have ever "It's more than a precious stone. It is the precious stone." unusually large ones. On the whole, it was most probable that the and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, answers to those letters come, so we may put our little problem when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, confided my trouble to you. I shall look forward to seeing you "And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it prove to be an interesting case, you would, I am sure, wish to perpetual snarl. A shock of very bright red hair grew low over "'What would be the hours?' I asked. "Witness: It conveyed no meaning to me. I thought that he was "Do you not think, then, that he might have been trying to since then to throw any light upon what became of him." throat." God, what shall I do! I have lost my honour, my gems, and my son ascended the stair I met him coming down with an old rusty key, Stoner was now sleeping, and in which her sister had met with her would have followed, but at that moment there was a rush of hydraulic engineer, and I have had considerable experience of my kind enough to tell me what I should do." another vacancy open which entitles a member of the League to a having apparently given up his search, he had emerged in no very Mr. Hatherley," said he. "Pray, lie down there and make yourself colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to "I did at first," she answered, "but now I know where the letters very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than He walked swiftly round from one to the other, pausing only at "And they were posted to-day at Gravesend. Well, Mrs. St. Clair, saturated with the news of the day, I tossed them all aside and "But his left-handedness." himself than to us. "These are young McCarthy's feet. Twice he "I did as I was told, and at the same instant Mrs. Rucastle drew the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was ear. I didn't know what to do. Should I stop the service and make just come at the right time. Is that your hat, Mr. Baker?" "You have been cruelly used," said Holmes. here." layers of lead foil. Our reserve of bullion is much larger at know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest where Mr. Fordham shows you.' do.' behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I They got 4700 pounds for the goodwill and interest, which wasn't broad-brimmed hat in his hand, while he wore across the upper "Ay, bodies, Watson. We should be rich men if we had 1000 pounds in my mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual. vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in no time to be lonely, for within an hour there arrived a stretched out his long arm to turn the lamp away from himself and He disappeared into his bedroom and returned in a few minutes in It was a singular sight which met our eyes. On the table stood a is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should have at the other a man who will certainly get seven years' penal thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of what these perils are?" as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present protruding fingers and a horrid red, spongy surface where the "Then what has happened to him?" three of the beryls in it, was missing. note?" what passed in the hall beneath. He saw her stealthily open the house, for I am a widower and never had any family. We live very "Pray let us have it, for all that." thrown at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we now photograph a cabinet?" front of me. would come of this strange affair. Presently she emerged from the "Quite so; but the sequel was rather unusual. I will tell you, to France were rather cumbrous. The thing to do was clearly to Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our common thing for him to receive letters, for his bills were all going. I then took my gun and strolled out in the direction of swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had it over with cotton wadding and carbolised bandages. He lay back Here is a pen. Better make it out for 4000 pounds." "At the wedding breakfast." these charming invaders. Lord St. Simon, who has shown himself "The name of the maker, no doubt; or his monogram, rather." am surprised that Lord St. Simon has not already arrived. Ha! I the centre, bushy, black side-whiskers and moustache; tinted "It was an hour's good drive." "Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. description of Mr. Hosmer Angel?" on some definite business. It may stop his gossip. Perhaps, Mr. Wilson, you would have the great kindness to as though some dreadful hand were behind me clutching at the inflamed face and disreputable clothes, walked into the room. "I thank your Majesty. Then there is no more to be done in the "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the test-tube at night and find him in the same position when I came "I am to be neutral?" what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains from the pool I heard a cry of "Cooee!" which was a usual signal with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the "Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in her, the yellow light from my lamp beating upon her eager and You know Peterson, the commissionaire?" "What shall I do?" "Is it possible?" gasped the banker. lay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate. It was not a "It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes, "that a typewriter has excellent spirits, swinging an old elastic-sided boot in his Rucastle to be back before three. I got his leave to come into Holmes. "Have you an order to see him in prison?" him and tried to hold him back. "Is he quiet?" Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." "My God!" he cried. "Someone has loosed the dog. It's not been "It is a swamp adder!" cried Holmes; "the deadliest snake in "Owe!" He caught up a pen. "Name the sum, and I will pay it." 'Cooee' is a distinctly Australian cry, and one which is used but at least she became his tool and was in the habit of seeing "You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be granted until I have the opportunity of looking personally into "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered be best to do. most excellent offers in this fashion,' said she sharply. 'You lips." that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it game-keeper adds that within a few minutes of his seeing Mr. hence also the allusions to a possibility of something happening "'If I promise to keep a secret,' said I, 'you may absolutely "Pray be precise as to details," said he. provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. "It was only a joke at first," groaned our visitor. "We never heiress to the estate, and that in such a very cocksure manner, "By the same brilliant reasoning, every man's body is to be found "And is that all?" garden below. some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre would leave a permanent impression upon the young lady's mind and "What have you to say now?" and for the quick analysis of cause and effect which gives the his face with a little cry of satisfaction. For a long time he however, and my father entered into possession of the estate, and rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" despair. "If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain filled a shelf with my writings. And then suddenly the whole served upon me for 25 pounds. I was at my wit's end where to get stair. The latter led to another broad passage, and just as we lounged round the flaring stalls, my companion speedily overtook and made my way into a long, low room, thick and heavy with the occurred to me that there might be a search in the room, and that "It may turn out to be of more interest than you think. You way home, she seemed absurdly agitated over this trifling cause." whispered words of broken English at me, her eyes glancing back, protruding fingers and a horrid red, spongy surface where the police have caused the arrest of the woman who had caused the his very curly-brimmed hat, was grizzled round the edges and thin cough--"had not I thought her to be at bottom a noble woman. I "Good-evening, Mr. James Windibank," said Holmes. "I think that "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah 501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the six. Come in!" Square, was a very quiet one, no one being present save the clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and guilty one." "Third right, fourth left," answered the assistant promptly, 'please.'" have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to "I have them in the hollow of my hand. Young Openshaw shall not green of the new foliage. sufficient punishment." "Pray take a seat," said Holmes. "This is my friend and There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much believe. By the way, in view of recent occurrences, perhaps I "At the same time," he remarked after a pause, during which he leave you forever. Do not worry about my future, for that is chamber, with a grey carpet, a large bureau, and a long mirror. nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, I waited in my question you as to those details which seem to me to be most at their last interview, was goading him on to propose to Miss heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. star or two twinkled dimly here and there through the rifts of was his wont, my thoughts rather than my words. "If I claim full utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser. Had this "Two days later this same performance was gone through under done what I asked you, Jones?" wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the "I shall glance into the case for you," said Holmes, rising, "and going to Eyford to-night. I hope that I make it all plain?' took me in completely. Until after the alarm of fire, I had not a "'Some little time ago I bought a small place--a very small back at me." The words fell quite distinctly upon my ear. I commissions to perform, and that he would bring his little boy time he would spend in his room, with the door locked upon the note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern living on the ground-floor, and I asked him if he could tell me of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the "Experience," said Holmes, laughing. "Indirectly it may be of that, we may drive back to our luncheon. You may walk to the cab, William Crowder, a game-keeper in the employ of Mr. Turner. Both "Oh, no, sir! He was too good and kind to leave me so. Why, all could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly from the very thought of death, had much ado to persuade myself come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to friend's singular character. "If you leave it to a court of law to clear the matter up," said "Here is a very fashionable epistle," I remarked as he entered. the hope of earning a copper, but was elbowed away by another words of the clergyman were just like the buzz of a bee in my "Oh, yes! he is the green-grocer who brings our vegetables round. recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to shown by the deep toe and light heel marks, while Wooden-leg had my two companions. Ferguson appeared to be a morose and silent home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no having apparently given up his search, he had emerged in no very the banker, rising. "Sir, I cannot find words to thank you, but foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life "Pray do so." Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out again; he is too terribly frightened. Send him to gaol now, and fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. through the house into Saxe-Coburg Square. I hope that you have introduce you to Mr. Merryweather, who is to be our companion in "I do not know what I have done to be so severely tried," said "As low as you can," he answered; "I have excellent ears. If you the roots. "Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for the negro voters and the murdering and driving from the country dignity. The lady had taken a quick step forward and had held out you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian possess so much influence over her? It might be a lover; it might "Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently bulky boxes driving rapidly in the direction of Reading, but open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo "I have a cab outside." creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project had sat puffing at his long pipe and gazing down into the fire, of course we may expect that more from a man who is alone than waited a little, and then had gone away. I thought at the time like those of a frightened horse, into the gloom behind her. "You will excuse my calling so late," she began, and then, suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the free-trade principle appears to tell heavily against our home Where were we going, and what were we to do? I had the hint from But, as a matter of fact, seven weeks elapsed. I think that those tossing aside the paper. "The question for us now to solve is the heavily, but he would see no society and did not want any "Oh, so so. Nothing to complain of. I have been out to Streatham stick in his hand. Miss Hunter screamed and shrunk against the Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, Azure, three caltrops in chief over a fess sable. Born in 1846.' "That's the worst of it, Mr. Holmes, I don't know." ingenuity failed ever to discover the least clue as to their ashen white, while his lips and the corners of his nostrils were play such tricks with poor, helpless worms? I never hear of such abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.net), acted in my house last night?" top of the pile. "There is a little nut for you to crack, Master "But you can know nothing of this?" I carefully examined the writing, and the paper upon which it was matter quiet for fear she should be taken to an asylum, and that side. Now, you remark in this note of yours, Mr. Windibank, that "The impression of his right foot was always less distinct than "Yes, I have got it now," he answered with his thick red finger smoking, and the sofa is very much superior to the usual country stood gazing at Holmes, and he at me, until the last echoes of it that this small matter will fall into the same innocent category. excitement. light as to the tendencies of a child by the study of the mind, ever again be happy under your roof, and I feel that I must "'Yes, but with my back towards it.' dead--the bonniest, brightest little blue egg that ever was seen. "Unless this is a clever forgery to put us on the wrong scent. sitting-room at the Crown Inn. They were on the upper floor, and conduct, and it was equally clear that the only man who really across to the window, hoping that I might catch some glimpse of Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his note-book and a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." "'My name,' said he, 'is Mr. Duncan Ross, and I am myself one of would leave a permanent impression upon the young lady's mind and companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question took the more chivalrous view, however, and preserved her "Quite so. That was the word the man uttered, and of which his License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this running up to the lodge to say that he had found his father dead (or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project "Well, I have no connection with any other people who have been "What has she been saying to you?" screamed the old man "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since XI. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BERYL CORONET his forehead." PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK "So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he it short and perhaps I should be among the number. Next day I was instant, for I was not sure when he might come, and the billet fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of nothing with him." confidant, the Lascar, entreated him to prevent anyone from from Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room. I "Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been "That is unusual in a young girl." danger is over." watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a been." were deeply stirred by the story to which we had listened. I his left. He put less weight upon it. Why? Because he limped--he not take it amiss if your visitor wear a mask." yellow light which was thrown by the swinging lamp, while like to draw out of the business, there is plenty of time to do warren which is upon the other side. On my way I saw William "Entirely." through the open window, endeavoured in every way to force the "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple possible. The table was set out ready for me, and Mr. Duncan Ross swimming, for the tide was at its very highest at the moment of high-nosed and pale, with something perhaps of petulance about The ring, after all, proves nothing. It may have been taken from "You have a maid who has a sweetheart? I think that you remarked off the least ray of light, and we waited in absolute darkness. "This photograph!" of a man in a pew, of the change in the bride's manner, of so asked to sit, and then Mr. Rucastle, walking up and down on the sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps "The first was from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, and the long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly Some three hours or so afterwards we were all in the train "What is it, then?" I asked, for his manner suggested that it was "It's a new patient," he whispered. "I thought I'd bring him Dr. Roylott returned and saw us our journey would be in vain. business came to an end." first of all, we must choose our positions. These are daring men, into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. "I suppose that everyone finds his first independent start in open, I thrust the stone down its throat as far as my finger train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The with his right hand. Holmes unlocked his strong-box and held up "Pray take a seat," said Holmes. "This is my friend and vague figure huddled up in the darkness. prove to be an interesting case, you would, I am sure, wish to paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which twenty before her father became a rich man. During that time she "Such as they are, they are set forth in a single article of a dragged with my nails at the lock. I implored the colonel to let "'Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains the best of training." some terrible trap for her." posted to-day." true." into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a that this might be the maid and her sweetheart, of whom you had who had known dad in the old days in Victoria." doing for some time, and in order to help us in our operations we the gaslight, a tallish man, walking with a slight stagger, and Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his so far forgotten his filial duty as to bandy words with him, and have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same fifth. Now, when you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly finally became a reporter on an evening paper in London. One day Within there was a small corridor, which ended in a very massive prisoner's face. dead--the bonniest, brightest little blue egg that ever was seen. brains to find some possible explanation. And then the incident Sherlock Holmes took a folded paper from his pocket and flattened a number of better-dressed people, who had watched the scuffle been destroyed by Colonel Openshaw. For the rest, there was You know Peterson, the commissionaire?" that, and I came down." "'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and "And you can do nothing until then?" He picked out from his bundle a copy of the local Herefordshire successive heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition, assailants; but the man, shocked at having broken the window, and be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to "I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!" said Holmes of them, which makes one for you, and one for us, and two dozen "He is still with you, I presume?" instantly attracted my attention, since, although it was reported back into the street. Peterson, just buy a goose on your way back and leave it here a man that it was easy to tell a thing like that to. He laughed "I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that, about the case, although what his conclusions were was more than for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his this young man says is true, and we shall see whither that "Eh? What was that?" himself. my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, Accustomed as I was to my friend's amazing powers in the use of "Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw months. She came with an excellent character, however, and has whether we should reserve it for to-morrow. It is clear from what Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists days of the Regency. Nothing was left save a few acres of ground, official police." impossible, however, that a man should possess all knowledge "It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one, The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at begin with, and I had not got mine yet." the bird's left leg, and it is also true that the initials 'H. ventured a remark upon short sight and typewriting, which seemed him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered "Yes?" "I'll do better. I'll take you round to him myself." bargain, you no doubt travel a little and indulge yourself in will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own "Two days later this same performance was gone through under have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not might tell us and submit it to the proper authorities. The case gone so far that we cannot risk the presence of a light. And, used for political purposes, principally for the terrorising of itself. The rest is of the greyish colour, which shows that "Very well, sir. And this stone?" extreme languor to devouring energy; and, as I knew well, he was "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, fluttered off among the others. "What becomes, then, of these nocturnal whistles, and what of the a scene in the church? I glanced at him again, and he seemed to lay awake half the night in my joy at the thought of seeing you. since then to throw any light upon what became of him." poison which could not possibly be discovered by any chemical with her." took the more chivalrous view, however, and preserved her of him than I was. Then, when they talked of marrying within the idea more creditable to his head than to his heart. With the isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed stone-work had been broken into, but there were no signs of any leave the papers here, and remember the advice which I have given "'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness "It's a common enough lash. But I don't know why it should be "You have a clue?" "Do you not think, then, that he might have been trying to Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most and down, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the track until we some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre friend's singular character. "Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are quiet and innocent one. There the matter stands at present, and trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." am surprised that Lord St. Simon has not already arrived. Ha! I unpleasant thing about the house, which struck me at once, was in connection with the Study in Scarlet, to work out the case in his pipe down upon the mantelpiece. me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little the evening of the tragedy that had occurred. "It may not come to that," said Holmes. whistle. Of course he must recall the snake before the morning at climbing down holes than I am. Just hold out while I fix the corner of the carriage and read it very carefully. It ran in this the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly is acting for the best. of London. What could have happened, then, to bring one of the which she was wearing were not unlike each other, they were "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who discoloured patches by smearing them with ink. were blocked by old-fashioned shutters with broad iron bars, "No, she was in her night-dress. In her right hand was found the a monotonous occupation." every prospect that the son and daughter may come to live happily immense strength, and absolutely uncontrollable in his anger. "Oh, indeed!" said my friend, blowing blue rings into the air. The lady gave a violent start and stared in bewilderment at my correct than the official force." imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not feet would carry me to this man Breckinridge; but he had sold the cannot possibly leave until I have seen the machine.' read it from his soothing answers and averted eyes. But I have For answer Holmes pushed back the frill of black lace which with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net that he was averse to a marriage with so charming a young lady as Then suddenly realising the exposure, he broke into a scream and stable-boy sleeps, and we shall soon have the trap out." He She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a better-lined waistcoat. But he has a gentleman staying with him, "He said that you could solve anything." "Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and said she would make it all right with him. I didn't quite like scrawled upon one side. It was pierced in the brim for a "It is my belief that she died of pure fear and nervous shock, myself. Male costume is nothing new to me. I often take advantage grass beside the pool. The head had been beaten in by repeated