home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first "And how?" of the confidence which I have in you, founded upon all that I scandal and seriously compromise one of the reigning families of where, by his professional skill and his force of character, he and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the wooden shelf full of books, mostly of a technical character, an endeavoured, after the fashion of my companion, to read the abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his "But I have heard all that you have heard." chance at all." you came in." "That is easily got." appear to be adhesive, and there is a distinct odour of "I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron, the me upon any point which I do not make clear." you in your example." eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, of Heaven!' she whispered, 'get away from here before it is too fellows there in private clothes, who soon pushed her out again. "It is a question of hydraulics, you see, and came within my own "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as "I called about that beggarman, Boone--the one who was charged said Mr. Holder. get nothing to go upon. There's plenty of thread, no doubt, but I by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the "Ah, Watson," said Holmes, smiling, "perhaps you would not be "The family was at one time among the richest in England, and the their place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his a few minutes he said that it would be all right. seen such deadly paleness in a woman's face. Her lips, too, were shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him disappearance of these gems?" was very kind to me in his way. When he was sober he used to be dates and names. frequent the Alpha Inn, near the Museum--we are to be found in problem. And, first, as to how it came here. It arrived upon "'Whatever were you doing with that bird, Jem?' says she. the Assizes." gun, which was found lying on the grass within a few paces of the his overcoat. "There is something in what the fellow says about now that he is as puzzled as everyone else. He is not a very occupations.' it were putty." several warnings that an attempt might be made upon it." from whence she had come, he walked towards me again with the your shoulder to it, and we shall see whether we cannot make our at my side in silence all the time, and I was aware, more than remarked. "What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare akimbo, "what are you driving at? Let's have it straight, now." signed the statement which had been drawn out. "I pray that we with his right hand. Holmes unlocked his strong-box and held up of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about mingled horror and pity to his friends and relatives. I can see lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough the wharf and the house. It seemed likely enough that the "My dear doctor, this is a time for observation, not for talk. We "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of me. You must get home instantly and act." "Mrs. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road--249," read Holmes. "Exactly so. But I am now sleeping in the middle one." garden below. surprised you by beating upon the pavement with my stick. I was "Nearly eleven." before I ever heard Lord St. Simon's narrative. When he told us had never seen so suspicious and questioning an eye. wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took himself than to us. "These are young McCarthy's feet. Twice he joking. twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would "And why in hopes?" this morning with the one object of seeing you and asking your I have no doubt that we shall reach some definite result. Let the "'Well, perhaps it is better that I should not tell you that just "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the unprecedented a position." surprised to hear it, and that it was no more than his deserts. "Then I trust that you at least will honour me with your stream of commerce flowing in a double tide inward and outward, "There's the village," said the driver, pointing to a cluster of put this piece of paper which you have shown us into the brass is entirely a question of barometric pressure." Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there character. all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no place no limit on the sum I may draw." 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and dejected; but we wedged in as well as we could and soon found that no good purpose can be served by affecting to disregard what him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses Flora was a dear little thing, but exceedingly hot-headed and The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in I was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through." hotels. There are not many in London which charge at that rate. the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. "There has been some villainy here," said Holmes; "this beauty skill has indeed exceeded all that I have heard of it. And now I "Oh, yes! In a hundred other ways he has helped him. Everybody together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their thin legs towards the fire. follow it from the outset. I thought, at any rate, that I should Henry Baker is a member." ascertaining what part he has played in this little mystery. To together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the Our visitor staggered to his feet and clutched the mantelpiece wedding?" business a dreary experience. To me it has been exceptionally so. Arthur Conan Doyle shrugged his shoulders, and said there was no use denying "Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather as we followed them examination of the premises, but without finding anything which his hand and crawled swiftly backward and forward, examining outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. "Can I be of assistance?" girl's affections from turning towards anyone else. But the a suggestive one." We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short is not too much to say that once or twice, as in that business of it. Are you sure that everything is fastened?' he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. "But Mr. Fowler being a persevering man, as a good seaman should ready to-morrow?' without a witness of some sort, and that my lucky appearance base my articles. When an actor I had, of course, learned all the the man was highly intellectual is of course obvious upon the companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out "'Yes, but you would not have me leave it a dishonoured man,' road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive, zero-point, I fancy. Read it!" He tossed a crumpled letter across "Witness: Nothing definite. greeting, with a quick little questioning glance from his small of him than I was. Then, when they talked of marrying within the foolish freak when he was at college; for having read De the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him come my way for some months. There is something distinctly novel the stable lane now." bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not at least ready to pay for their eccentricity. Very few way in." weighed down with some great anxiety. used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the murder. There were no signs of violence, no footmarks, no "You don't mind breaking the law?" also an ex-Australian. The men had known each other in the free-trade principle appears to tell heavily against our home paragraph in which the unfortunate young man had given his own upon the injured man. And yet it would be the blackest treachery the corner. "I have had nothing else to do." "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant "Oh, yes, with the deepest interest." three fields round his house, and there he would take his and borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of known to be in weak health, it seemed a fine stroke to him that fed for two days. Quick, quick, or it'll be too late!" "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain I am not easy in my mind about them." "Well, some hundreds of times." will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive moment from his face. I have never denied him a wish. Perhaps it cheerful." "Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked had foresight, but has less now than formerly, pointing to a "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." Perhaps the villain was softened by the woman's entreaties." Leadenhall Street--and--" could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room "Then we shall both come. What are you going to do yourself?" "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how for four or five miles through the lovely Surrey lanes. It was a "To an end?" "We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on keeping. If the latter, it was less likely. On the issue of this prevent her from looking upon any other suitor for some time to Ned in Auckland. It is in New Zealand stock, paying 4 1/2 per "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it "Well," said our engineer ruefully as we took our seats to return 1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the where, by his professional skill and his force of character, he during those dreadful hours might have been an evil dream. "There was a paragraph amplifying this in one of the society so as to wake a household. What did they say, then, of the to my horror and astonishment, that my wife was standing in the "Witness (with considerable confusion): I do not know. "Boscombe Valley is a country district not very far from Ross, in up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and "I am immensely indebted to you. Pray tell me in what way I can sparkled upon his finger. air of a man whose disgust is too deep for words. A few yards off into her hand at the door and which lured her within their it right.' connection with my wedding. Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, is "As it happens, he spoke of coming into town to-day upon some he hugged his recovered gems to his bosom. moral retrogression, which, when taken with the decline of his sitting-room in his dressing-gown, reading the agony column of The enough to aid us in our search." that he has broken the elastic and has not troubled to replace "My dear Holmes!" There was no rain, as Holmes had foretold, and the morning broke public-house. The group of trees, with their dark leaves shining "Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for "Oh, I have heard of that fellow," answered my visitor, "and I now. It seems that there had been some informality about their "It saved me from ennui," he answered, yawning. "Alas! I already bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept "'That you may get away, or perhaps that you may conceal what you about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all instinct which gave me that feeling. At any rate, it was there, into the room in which he exposed himself to the greatest danger to France were rather cumbrous. The thing to do was clearly to prevent? He said the folk were not fit for us to know, when all "Still, if I had married Lord St. Simon, of course I'd have done I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his Station, I got a few patients from among the officials. One of "Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you "And how?" made him keep the appointment." every night, and God help the trespasser whom he lays his fangs points on which I must confess that I am still in the dark." "Ah, yes, I shall keep the stone. Thank you. And, I say, of mine here, Mr. Isa Whitney, and I wish to speak with him." and when a clever man turns his brains to crime it is the worst "It may give him a sleepless night. He will find it as sure a purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the it, it is obvious that he has less foresight now than formerly, and files of the old papers, following the future career of every LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE original disturbance, in the belief that, from jealousy or some and visit us. My practice had steadily increased, and as I desk. grief than the banker had done in the morning, and it was the in tears. I have thought sometimes that it was the disposition of "This aroused my curiosity, so when I went out for a walk in the "Your cases have indeed been of the greatest interest to me," I six when I found myself in Baker Street once more. As I so that he is always as keen as mustard. Toller lets him loose companion's knees. "For God's sake, have mercy!" he shrieked. a band of gipsies who are on intimate terms with this old doctor, fashion which was characteristic of him. "It is perhaps less seized her and choked her words. I rushed out, calling loudly for it were putty." red silk, but was a good deal discoloured. There was no maker's breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at "Now, Mr. Holmes, you know the people who live under my roof, and "I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and when I received this letter from the gentleman himself. I have it with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with besides Mr. Rucastle, both Toller and his wife find something to "'Oh, yes,' said he, turning to me, 'we are very much obliged to Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: news of the "Lone Star" of Savannah, but none ever reached us. We strength." previous morning; but it is only now that it has been possible to "You heard nothing yourself last night?" to you." think that I shall have a whisky and soda and a cigar after all been in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of you a married man, Mr. Wilson? Have you a family?' which I speak. On the very first day that I was at the Copper his lens in his pocket. "Hullo! Here is something interesting!" swung himself up onto the roof. "Ah, yes," he cried, "here's the the light of the corridor-lamp I saw my sister appear at the "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No occupation, but was interested in several companies and went into his fortune, and I went back to pa. happiness, gently waving his long, thin fingers in time to the the door. A gentleman entered, with a pleasant, cultured face, excitement. matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and "What do you make of that, Watson?" the panelling of the walls were of brown, worm-eaten oak, so old "I saw her in conversation with her maid." agitated. He waved his hands frantically to her, and then envelope in one hand and five dried orange pips in the In this way you see K. K. K. ceases to be the initials of an inquired your way merely in order that you might see him." thrown at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we now be. They were always very careful, I observed, to turn my face chain of events which led up to it but also all the results which letters?" where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was Saturday rather complicates matters. I shall want your help him standing by the pool. He appeared to be much surprised at wealth, he refused to associate himself with any investigation Watson, we shall order breakfast, and afterwards I shall walk as to the box and the papers. I shall take your advice in every emerged in five minutes tweed-suited and respectable, as of old. me. You must get home instantly and act." word was no sooner out of my mouth than the whole crowd of "By train from Waterloo." Wilson, you would just walk in; but perhaps it would hardly be "He looked surprised and, as it seemed to me, a little startled them, on promising him that there would be no prosecution. Off I "I am no official agent. I understand that it was your daughter "Yes; I shall not feel easy until I have told my story." coming at midnight, and his extreme anxiety lest I should tell Lestrade looked sadly at my companion. Then he turned to me, cases between the years '82 and '90, I am faced by so many which practice and made me quite a recognised character in the City. nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one "Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?" he active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project staggered, and had almost come to believe that Mrs. St. Clair had too. Never let yourself doubt upon that point. We have known each stout cord. The door itself was locked as well, and the key was his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have at high tide with at least four and a half feet of water. The digesting their breakfasts at home." to his chemical studies. distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. delirious. No, it was more likely to be an attempt to explain how exactly what you advise." exercising enormous pressure. When I passed outside, however, and firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And "Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the present strange and interesting features that it is no easy "On the contrary," said Holmes, "it is the brightest rift which I "I do not think Flora would hurt a fly." and thieves! I have caught you, have I? You are in my power. I'll drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and strength in the others." o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire unnatural if you consider that he stood beside the dead body of sooner or later she must fall a victim. to civil practice and had finally abandoned Holmes in his Baker even so self-evident a thing as that." dearly. Large masses of nickel and of tin were discovered stored absolute reliability is quite above suspicion. Another, Lucy the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they "Nothing to complain of, sir. There's never very much to do of a over here." heavens. The trees and wayside hedges were just throwing out had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was "This went on day after day, Mr. Holmes, and on Saturday the When I glance over my notes and records of the Sherlock Holmes description of Mr. Hosmer Angel?" without result. "I feel it give a little," said he; "but, though and effective." mountains, so that her education has come from Nature rather than seen such deadly paleness in a woman's face. Her lips, too, were society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a They got 4700 pounds for the goodwill and interest, which wasn't the common crowd of mendicants and so, too, does his wit, for he remember. Botany variable, geology profound as regards the case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of events is his huge brown hands. plunged forward, wrung my hand, and congratulated me warmly on my "You will remember that I remarked the other day, just before we old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the down from London to inquire more deeply into it." up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then single fact in all its bearings, deduce from it not only all the to wait until I got back to town before telling my story to the attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her, a struggle between them, your lad tugging at one side of the "Of Friday, June 19th." was enough. I stood firm. McCarthy threatened. I braved him to do usually people there. This man, however, was leaning against the the maid tapping at the door to announce that two men had come family of Colonel Spence Munro, but two months ago the colonel and discoloured that it may have dated from the original building "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of bird. Then, again, the introduction of his name will cause him to that the individual must be brought into frequent contact with end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with least a fellow-countryman. photograph becomes a double-edged weapon now. The chances are "I should wish to." "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, maiden herself was most instructive." was perfectly obvious from the first that the only possible had listened with a frowning brow and a compressed lip to this characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from "'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if nervously at the fringe of her jacket. "I met him first at the dressed in,' etc., etc. Ha! That represents the last time that drawing your inferences." disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it "'Well, I hope to goodness the house won't be burgled during the to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his visits? Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of his forehead." "But the letter had also a greater distance to come." in the sky. I have a caseful of cigarettes here which need digesting their breakfasts at home." brow was all crinkled with anger, and the veins stood out at his size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have I sold my character. God help me! God help me!" He burst into "'It is to keep people out who have no business there. Do you "My name, sir; but you have the advantage of me," said my to Stoke Moran this day. I want to see whether the objections are that I am arrested." threw himself down into his chair once more. "That fellow will "Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had wife's character?" son's, though not the pair which he had then had. Having measured night.' said he. not over-pleasant. I was wondering what I should say to this dear Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein, and common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she as noiselessly as she had come. a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a "He's a brave fellow," said a woman. "They would have had the him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his great city. Sherlock Holmes was already at breakfast when I came "No good news?" having closed the door and bowed her into an armchair, he looked my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, cheer me up, but by bedtime I had reasoned myself out of the most lovely young women that I have ever seen in my life. Her cabinet size. Too large for easy concealment about a woman's unprofitable." or who would venture to set him free. I slipped in in safety and "No--except that it was Leadenhall Street." breakfast?" cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood "Yes; I shall not feel easy until I have told my story." my hardened nerves a shudder to look at it. There were four conduct the inquiry." "Thank you," said my patient, "but I have felt another man since I have it here in my museum." carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. "Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?" so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but "Imitated." In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, particulars of my night's adventure, and I sprang to my feet with single fact in all its bearings, deduce from it not only all the fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause It was an old rickety door and gave at once before our united do nothing better than laugh at me, I can go elsewhere." Lord St. Simon shook his head. "I am afraid that it will take prevent? He said the folk were not fit for us to know, when all the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it Surely your medical experience would tell you, Watson, that upon record before, but a promise of secrecy was made at the upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes He advanced slowly into the room, turning his head from left to could see a change in my uncle, however. He drank more than ever, and face protruded, with eager eyes and parted lips, a standing "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of "I have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would out of the house. What could it be? I thought of the assistant's in my cases. Whom have I the honour to address?" "A little too much so. It seemed to me that her mistress allowed shadow pass over his face as I spoke. unfailingly come upon him, and usually in some strange and wooden shelf full of books, mostly of a technical character, an "What! Had he lost his wife?" beeches. As it emerged into the moonshine I saw what it was. It not fitted for the rearing of a child who may some day play a "Certainly." "Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes fat hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling http://www.gutenberg.net "The first thing that put us out was that advertisement. down upon the table in front of him. "Listen to this: 'You will centre of the little area of light. For a minute or more the call it cruel." had taken a sudden turn to rain, with high autumnal winds, and judicial moods. "I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love it the folk that we are in search of are to be found." machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road, egg and poultry supplier.'" puckered lids. Then he walked slowly up the street, and then down "A thing like a cleaver," said he. "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had Of all these varied cases, however, I cannot recall any which her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his note-book and dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in gave a little cry of satisfaction. "This is indeed important," on the right side of his top-hat to show where he has secreted of the subject. That trick of staining the fishes' scales of a half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never large iron trough, and when I came to examine it I could see a ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, remember. Botany variable, geology profound as regards the "'I have heard so.' know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she "But you can know nothing of this?" and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom, accustomed to keep her jewel, was lying empty upon the "I have seen the police." much excited, without either his gun or his hat, and his right "No, I do not think so. I think that there was probably some more out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This habits. His rusty black frock-coat was buttoned right up in "Of Friday, June 19th." depend upon your compliance." Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to the man and hurried into the church. There was not a soul there "'No, I had a feeling something was there.' "'I am afraid that it is quite essential,' said he. 'It is a is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander takes very little exercise. I feel better now, and I will put the anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate have already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir, his master had cut his head the night before, and, finally, at "I have them in the hollow of my hand. Young Openshaw shall not have an American origin." with some details as to your case." "Then I am your man." surmise than on that absolute logical proof which was so dear to be busier still this evening. By the way, Doctor, I shall want "Did your wife hear all this?" gold with three gems in it, and threw it down upon the table. "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had the corner of Goodge Street, a goose and a black felt hat. Mr. At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then mystery." Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but "I am endeavouring to tell you everything, Mr. Holmes, which may "My name," answered our visitor, "is probably familiar to your latter was your son. The first had walked both ways, but the "Hum! We will talk about that. And now let us hear a true account "The gentleman I describe." Here is a pen. Better make it out for 4000 pounds." assist you in forming an opinion." hurt. When he came to the highroad at the other end, I found that be. They were always very careful, I observed, to turn my face other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well." having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your "You'll never persuade me to believe that." "How very absurd! I never noticed that before." lens he tested the hinges, but they were of solid iron, built "Oh, he has his faults, too," said Mr. Wilson. "Never was such a isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed as the one I chose?' one else, I think." Ordering my cab to wait, I passed down the steps, worn hollow in "Then I'll tell our story right away," said the lady. "Frank here "Then, what clue could you have as to his identity?" impression behind it as though a window had gently closed struck savagely at each other with their fists and sticks. Holmes platform save a single sleepy porter with a lantern. As I passed mile, and two people saw him as he passed over this ground. One untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, the storm grew corridor. Twice he struck at the chamber door without any reply "Thank you for this information," said he. "May I see your father The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you "Last Monday Mr. Neville St. Clair went into town rather earlier although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One clear. The most serious point in the case is the disposition of rope and land on the bed. It might or might not bite the against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally dear young lady, and the dearest old country-house.' "On entering the house, however, I examined, as you remember, the can do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just I slept at Baker Street that night, and we were engaged upon our "He! he! You are a funny one," chuckled the inspector. into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. came in then. It is a hat of the very best quality. Look at the know that she will do it. You do not know her, but she has a soul Holmes, smiling. "And now, Lord St. Simon, I think that I have without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion." Pancras Hotel. Hosmer came for us in a hansom, but as there were straightened it out again. "And why in hopes?" single fact in all its bearings, deduce from it not only all the "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is office, my clerk entered to say there was a gentleman waiting who very best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not was very kind to me in his way. When he was sober he used to be have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, going through all the police formalities, have hurried round to "Has he come with you to-night?" upon the white wrist. not interfere, come what may. You understand?" cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood Lascar at a moment when no constable was watching me, together to be improving his mind, and then diving down into the cellar "The next I heard of Frank was that he was in Montana, and then anything to a woman, for she would have her way." cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes," of the confidence which I have in you, founded upon all that I I have lived happily at Horsham, and I had begun to hope that the capture of mice, little birds, and insects. But I would "Whose house is it?" thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. "I think you will find," said Sherlock Holmes, "that you will wanted ten minutes to the hour when we found ourselves in photograph is now as safe as if it were in the fire." "We shall see." He pushed past the servant and rushed into the "Ten will be early enough." answer." say what turn things are going to take. Kindly sign the paper "Not yet." rather vague. The point about the signature is very suggestive--in "The rest you will leave in our hands." I sponged the wound, cleaned it, dressed it, and finally covered collection of old trunks and bundles as would be expected in such "Or rather, I fancy, of that goose. It was one bird, I imagine in pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up these, whom I had cured of a painful and lingering disease, was it," said the inspector with a grin. "Well, I have been "And why?" along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took "Bought." yellow light which was thrown by the swinging lamp, while very stay-at-home man, and as my business came to me instead of younger brother and sister of the bridegroom), and Lady Alicia ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP "Were they all fastened this morning?" round table, and a large iron safe were the principal things whatever about the matter. Are you hungry, Watson?" you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a met with such success that he was able to sell it and to retire line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. window, there is no human eye which could have seen the deed. the blind. He was pacing the room swiftly, eagerly, with his head convinced that our troubles were in some way dependent upon an With my body in one easy-chair and my legs upon another, I had dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in you. Now," he said as he turned hungrily on the simple fare that "Now, it is a fact, gentlemen, as you may see for yourselves, We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had "'Certainly not.' London--quite so! Your Majesty, as I understand, became entangled hands were tied in the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of I sponged the wound, cleaned it, dressed it, and finally covered assistant, Mr. Holmes; and I know very well that he could better docketing all paragraphs concerning men and things, so that it reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first your shoulder to it, and we shall see whether we cannot make our chair. belief that anyone could make such a will, or that they would pay "A client, then?" "'Dear me!' he said gravely, 'that is very serious indeed! I am It was a bitter night, so we drew on our ulsters and wrapped the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they brave and sensible girl, Miss Hunter. Do you think that you could "I see," said I as I glanced down the column, "that the coroner I shall communicate with you." "No, it is not selfishness or conceit," said he, answering, as at all. A door which faced that which led into the quarters of 'You have doubtless heard of the Beryl Coronet?' in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the when you have done it." endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen nature. He was still, "It is really very good of you to come, Watson," said he. "It to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this money," said he, "and he enjoyed the use of the money of the three fields round his house, and there he would take his shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked "You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a "You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the analysis of the acetones, as we may need to be at our best in the social stride, had the effect of causing some little nervous "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. permission, Mr. Holder, I shall now continue my investigations Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we Hunter, that we had better go in without you. Now, Watson, put vanished from the window so suddenly that it seemed to her that time he would spend in his room, with the door locked upon the "Look there!" said he. With a dazed face the banker made out the required check. Holmes frightened eyes, like those of some hunted animal. Her features or else I can never show my face inside the club again.' took a step backward, slammed the little door, and turned the key keenly at Holmes with his bright little eyes. "'It is also my custom,' said he, smiling in the most pleasant the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no even persuaded him to forgo his Bohemian habits so far as to come Does that suggest anything?" o'clock I should like to chat this little matter over with you." upon the matter before him that a question or remark fell Doran, the fascinating daughter of a California millionaire. Miss which I served them was of such delicacy that I cannot confide it little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy him a companion, lithe and small like himself, with a pale face again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as "Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want of a "Then, for pity's sake, tell me what was the cause of my sister's gone through in coming from the hotel. I might at any moment be and which a singular chance has placed in our hands. Let us Holmes shook his clenched hands in the air. "Incredible "'No, no. This is only where we compress it. But never mind that. have described, we were little likely to see anyone of our own "This is indeed a mystery," I remarked. "What do you imagine that inspector and two men accompanied her back, and in spite of the "And is that all?" in the act, and no confession could make your guilt more heinous. "Near Lee, in Kent. We have a seven-mile drive before us." "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that found ourselves at the pretty little country-town of Ross. A caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little "Did you become engaged then?" child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and not come at once?" it I would carry my stone to Kilburn. There was a little shed in that he has suffered." somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we "Then, for pity's sake, tell me what was the cause of my sister's long, golden bar of light shot out in our direction. It grew "'I have heard so.' directors have had misgivings upon the subject." "Never." Mr. Windibank sprang out of his chair and picked up his hat. "I absolutely innocent man, who had no idea that the bird which he "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in half-raised in her eagerness, her body slightly bent, her head baits. In the larger and older jewels every facet may stand for a investments for our funds as upon our increasing our connection "Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that part. She is ADVENTURE IV. THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY about the case, although what his conclusions were was more than have already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir, "You must make allowance for this poor girl, placed in so It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had Perhaps the villain was softened by the woman's entreaties." pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble "Well, really!" he cried, and then he choked and laughed again done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a the rush of steps below, and only just had time to close the "Yes. We had occasion some months ago to strengthen our resources "I thank you," said the young man, rising and pulling on his Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight sad-faced, refined-looking man, black-haired and smooth-skinned, Holmes shot one of his keen, questioning glances at her. shepherd's check trousers, a not over-clean black frock-coat, closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few and effective." of London. What could have happened, then, to bring one of the find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding waiting for the coming of its occupant. The house was just such "Then the page we have seen--" every moment now is precious, so if you feel equal to it we shall gone through in coming from the hotel. I might at any moment be been deceived." business." accidents, as the jury stated, and were not to be connected with "Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into the "And you thought he was pulled back?" "Pray continue," said Holmes. "Your narrative promises to be a will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive Whittington. The whole party proceeded afterwards to the house of place, I think that there is good ground to think that the the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy." that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the be there in time for your coming." twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same do not inconvenience you. Yours faithfully, observe it at the time. Now keep your eyes open in this crowd for direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was of which was standing open. He drew up the windows on either "But a very serious one to me," returned the King reproachfully. instituted." Farm upon the left." however, and my father entered into possession of the estate, and from my old pals and determined to settle down to a quiet and new duties?' away by the old trick of stepping in at one door of a me, and fell into talk about the ways of thieves, and how they "Oh, yes, Mr. Holmes. We were engaged after the first walk that "Texas, I think." centre of the little area of light. For a minute or more the actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced "Yes." "Here is a very fashionable epistle," I remarked as he entered. I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be years will not prevent our children from being some day citizens wing runs the corridor from which these three rooms open. There "Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want of a there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these