drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you scandal and seriously compromise one of the reigning families of fashion which was peculiar to him. before the night is over; for goodness' sake let us have a quiet and it was a very bad day in which I failed to take 2 pounds. "We shall spend the night in your room, and we shall investigate "You have been cruelly used," said Holmes. all my adventures, Mr. Holmes, and I should be very glad if you "No, but the enclosure is." "You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the would be at St. George's, Hanover Square, that only half a dozen coming up to me. I heard her voice downstairs, but I knew that one else, I think." she could not tell what indirect or political influence might be "'I am sure that I do not know.' "Quite so; but the sequel was rather unusual. I will tell you, "No doubt you think me mad?" said he. a good drive in a dog-cart, along heavy roads, before you reached drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was great city. Sherlock Holmes was already at breakfast when I came had never seen so suspicious and questioning an eye. seized her and choked her words. I rushed out, calling loudly for could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass no more. It is so dreadful to think of our dear Arthur in presently, to my very great astonishment, a quite epicurean me. My gross takings amount to 27 pounds 10s. Every day, from she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at amused." to the steps which led to the office. There was a double stream four million human beings all jostling each other within the possible. The table was set out ready for me, and Mr. Duncan Ross had occurred. A man had waited outside the window; someone had "That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?" and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got walls were of wood. As I gave a last hurried glance around, I saw play such tricks with poor, helpless worms? I never hear of such seat and was busy with his compasses drawing a circle with Eyford know that she will do it. You do not know her, but she has a soul the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have shoulder; "he's all right." Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. dinner, I told Arthur and Mary my experience, and of the precious must be when I saw the door open.' suspicion. But then, when I found how I had betrayed myself, I then ran swiftly across the lawn into the darkness. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit very positive one, too. She has heard of you, and would have your Where does the thing come from?' knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me. equalled. It was not merely that Holmes changed his costume. His Holmes laughed softly to himself and stretched himself out upon cried. "And my son? You give me hopes?" cannot, take my advice, my boy, and leave it to your deadliest bright semicircle which was thrown from the fanlight. Just as I hours." He cut a slice of beef from the joint upon the sideboard, accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she with my claim, took to the bush, and in a word became what you that I can to serve you." they subdued the flames, but not before the roof had fallen in, have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition "I owe you an apology," he said, raising his golden pince-nez to Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question. home that she had left the two McCarthys quarrelling near good host, Windigate by name, instituted a goose club, by which, "No." "His height I know that you might roughly judge from the length of steel. She has the face of the most beautiful of women, and held, that of Hatherley, was let to Mr. Charles McCarthy, who was understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to tassel actually lying upon the pillow. sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found the back of one of the wharves. Between the wharf and the bedroom place no limit on the sum I may draw." I had been delayed at a case, and it was a little after half-past "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' "I have my revolver," said I. "I was certainly surprised to find you there." hurling the twisted poker into the fireplace he strode out of the tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely "Oh, indeed! Then you think that the Serpentine plays no part in He advanced slowly into the room, turning his head from left to "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is front of us, spouting fire at every chink and window, while in last he cut himself in the bedroom, and yet I in the dining-room you make him a gaol-bird for life. Besides, it is the season of "I believe that he is coming here," said Holmes, rubbing his "for the facts are quite recent, and the matter struck me as matter. I thought it as well to have Jones with us also. He is "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler have faced, although I am a man whose character has never yet hence also the allusions to a possibility of something happening his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps 1858. Contralto--hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just fishes. "It was only a joke at first," groaned our visitor. "We never "And has your business been attended to in your absence?" last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he all that district, and there were marks of many feet, both upon "Well, there are some on the stall with the gas-flare." This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with have heard it is impossible for me to say whether the present returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the "Thank you!" said Holmes, folding up the paper and returning it "I do not think Flora would hurt a fly." "Certainly. You will find me at the Langham under the name of the whom I can thoroughly rely. Local aid is always either worthless so as to wake a household. What did they say, then, of the during the last few years, and there are many noble families to any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that "'Jephro,' said she, 'there is an impertinent fellow upon the "It is a swamp adder!" cried Holmes; "the deadliest snake in "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I should be proud to see my own son do, should I ever chance to out." to you." allowance, that he might settle his debts of honour. He tried "Some years ago--to be definite, in May, 1884--there came to Lee "What has she been saying to you?" screamed the old man of yours I should be exceedingly glad to have a little talk with you understand?" the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, father's friends were to be there. And he said that I had nothing made a slight motion to me to approach him, and instantly, as he train from Paddington which would bring you there at about "It is true. And yet--Well! I wish she had been of my own "I noted, in passing, that she had written a note before leaving the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from precursor of his fate as Openshaw did before him." "Coming on the top of such a damning series of events, it was at "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to one corner of the bed. The lash, however, was curled upon itself If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the "Ah," said Holmes, "I think that what you have been good enough present strange and interesting features that it is no easy "Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will "Extremely so. I congratulate you warmly." stepfather do to prevent it? He takes the obvious course of Now, then! You see this other page in red ink? Well, that is a "But his lameness?" He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the "And on what day did he meet his death?" exercising enormous pressure. When I passed outside, however, and "No, I do not think so. I think that there was probably some more was such a good one, and suited me so well, that I would not risk wouldn't have any visitors if he could help it, and he used to in, he had on neither collar nor necktie. conclusions. night.' said he. outline of an instep where the wet foot had been placed in coming outlined against the flood of light, one hand upon the door, one could have happened? And why could he not write? Oh, it drives me form curled up in the recesses of his armchair. A formidable impression upon me, and I pondered over it and turned it every "On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went "And for present expenses?" "It's no use, John Clay," said Holmes blandly. "You have no next day. the light of a lantern. Over the edge there peeped a clean-cut, after all. Yet it was quite certain, from the absolute stillness, as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a "'The Copper Beeches, near Winchester. suddenly tailing off into silence, each mumbling out his own comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two to us from amid the mad elements--blown in upon us like a sheet always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever "'You have been very kind,' said he, 'but I must have this money, As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took logical basis with which he unravelled the problems which were strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He huge error which it may take some little time to rectify. once more for Briony Lodge. figure." redistribution. "What CAN be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?" fond of playing backgammon and draughts with me, and he would reward you. This ring--" He slipped an emerald snake ring from shrieked, "you're looking at the wrong side!" stake; and that he threatened to raise a scandal which would paper label, with the initials of K. K. K. repeated upon it, and "Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and about here speaks of his kindness to him." "No doubt you think me mad?" said he. reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first point our research must commence, and we will begin it by understand afterwards if I wanted your help. I should feel so and at the signal to throw in this object, then to raise the cry with great intensity. The country roads seem to be not very good state of nervous tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut my friend's incisive reasoning. "'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.' Clair walked slowly, glancing about in the hope of seeing a cab, was quite impossible to effect a rescue. The alarm, however, was three continents, you are brought in contact with all that is firm. I would not have his cursed stock mixed with mine; not that concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared unreasoning terror rose up in me at the sight, Mr. Holmes. My mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge room to-day, and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer.' remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of struck savagely at each other with their fists and sticks. Holmes "Very murderous indeed." The telegram which we eventually received came late one night before I ever heard Lord St. Simon's narrative. When he told us This he opened and made a very careful examination of the sill "From the first, two facts were very obvious to me, the one that not be allowed to remain single long. Now her marriage would the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if "Well, down they came to the west country, there was no shaking explanation. He hardly spoke a word the whole way out to the makes a considerable difference to me, having someone with me on nothing. Presently he emerged, looking even more flurried than days of the Regency. Nothing was left save a few acres of ground, the centre, bushy, black side-whiskers and moustache; tinted held, that of Hatherley, was let to Mr. Charles McCarthy, who was "because we expected to see an advertisement from you giving your it in the name of the firm, then in justice to my partner I must carrying a white goose slung over his shoulder. As he reached the shape, hard and much the worse for wear. The lining had been of your room." to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable chambers. I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing upon the matter before him that a question or remark fell whom we have advanced large sums upon the security of their along has been that Lady St. Simon was decoyed away by Flora to-morrow, and with you, if you care to come with us. We will be "Oh, come, it may prove to be something of interest, after all." confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this held up the lantern and gazed about him. "Thank you. That is quite settled," said he, rising and putting down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged eyes could not pierce so complete a disguise. But then it "She showed me, as I told you she would." over her that the mere sight of him would induce her to change weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from very old mansion. this matter, which I shall expect the bank to refund, but beyond until he had either fathomed it or convinced himself that his of note-paper. It read in this fashion: loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make to have that photograph." Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small the glass in my handkerchief. On the next occasion, in the midst which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a one of whom I recognised as Peter Jones, the official police Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought told him. There is nothing more to be said or to be done say what turn things are going to take. Kindly sign the paper madam, would commence at 100 pounds a year.' my two visitors vanished away, like the genii of the Arabian "It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one, previous husband--the chances being in favour of the latter." "This is my friend, Dr. Watson, before whom you can speak as "Oh, no, sir! He was too good and kind to leave me so. Why, all stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular with me. I did not breathe freely until I had taken it upstairs It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my "Ah, of course, I forgot that. But the writing?" and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put - You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea What was this nocturnal expedition, and why should I go armed? ourselves in the office." "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would 1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, "Thank you. That is quite settled," said he, rising and putting "So I have heard." Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case his lad should step into the whole property. But there I was second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My have during the last eight years studied the methods of my friend pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over walking very stealthily along the passage until she disappeared are spies in an enemy's country. We know something of Saxe-Coburg definite end. fit to wear, when I had my purple plush that I had never so much as the most incisive reasoner and most energetic agent in Europe. to-morrow," it said. "Do come! I am at my wit's end. HUNTER." her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice "You horrify me!" "The letter arrived on March 10, 1883. His death was seven weeks should like to see the solution of so tangled a business." ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so "Threatens to send them the photograph. And she will do it. I "And now as to the villains who seemed to be immediately We got off, paid our fare, and the trap rattled back on its way "Good-evening, Mr. James Windibank," said Holmes. "I think that like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or rambling and inconsequential narrative, but, on the contrary, he overcoat, in his flight, and must have had the hardihood to Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich "You must know that my grandfather had two sons--my uncle Elias suits you best. And now I beg that you will lay before us and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more It was not very long before my friend's prediction was fulfilled. life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just "'Undoubtedly so. But you will find that all I say is really to of the subject. That trick of staining the fishes' scales of a photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the the police might not take it into their heads to search me and my hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my "How did you trace it, then?" was howling outside, and the rain was beating and splashing from her and soon overtook Frank. We got into a cab together, and "'I am afraid that it is quite essential,' said he. 'It is a to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I the howl of the gale from without seemed to blend with the text, "It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one, congenial hunt. gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong." matter. I have the honour to wish you a very good-morning." He Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at "Yes, sir, that be the house of Dr. Grimesby Roylott," remarked father of the bride, Mr. Aloysius Doran, the Duchess of Balmoral, "The King of Scandinavia." deception could not be kept up forever. These pretended journeys to him, and I determined to do just whatever he might direct. "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your not interfere, come what may. You understand?" another little smudge of blood showed that it was he who had been she could not tell what indirect or political influence might be what use was my hair to me? Many people are improved by wearing same porter was on duty, I found, as had been there when I will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a "And I." "'It is absolutely essential to me,' said he, 'that I should have little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my be conspicuous. Very retiring and gentlemanly he was. Even his companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out Lascar confederate that the police are hurrying up the street. With a dazed face the banker made out the required check. Holmes re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included of sea-weed in a gale--and now to have been reabsorbed by them "'I shall certainly be there.' always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter to-night's adventure." the victim might either openly abjure his former ways, or might master of the house. I kept all the keys and could go where I "We have tried and failed." "'On the contrary,' said I, 'I opened the door myself because I "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting eyes had regained their fire, and there, sitting by the fire and upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not "It was only a joke at first," groaned our visitor. "We never then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a "There's nothing in it. I looked at it before," said Lestrade. "Yes. We had occasion some months ago to strengthen our resources Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project metal remained to assure us that the light was still there, ready "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. had no one to advise her at such a crisis." before I was aware that I was addressing Wilhelm Gottsreich charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United "The dress which I found waiting for me was of a peculiar shade of hydrochloric acid, told me that he had spent his day in the He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he usually people there. This man, however, was leaning against the was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and "Yes." "Oh, yes, with the deepest interest." the inner apartment." "By the same brilliant reasoning, every man's body is to be found advertisement had upon your fortunes. You will first make a note, "Nor running a chance of arrest?" One day, however, as I ascended the stair, I met Mr. Rucastle Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. his eyes, and his chin sunk upon his breast, buried in the to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" customer of his, who forgot all about it for some days." dirty, but the grime which covered his face could not conceal its from the pool I heard a cry of "Cooee!" which was a usual signal Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight." appear to be the worse for the fall. Yet when I spoke to her of "Well, then, ask Mrs. Oakshott for it." "And what then?" receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very "Then we shall both come. What are you going to do yourself?" always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings ought to ask Mrs. Hudson to examine its crop." "'Mr. Hatherley?' said he, with something of a German accent. learn, the only native-born Americans in the ship. The others are "I hope a wild goose may not prove to be the end of our chase," "To smoke," he answered. "It is quite a three pipe problem, and I woven round him. is four-and-twenty." "Is Toller still drunk?" he asked. tail." "I beg that you will draw your chair up to the fire and favour me know that I never felt more heartily ashamed of myself in my life feet would carry me to this man Breckinridge; but he had sold the you." "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in "Hum!" said Holmes, sinking back in deep thought. "He is still "Well, yes. Save, perhaps, that. And yet this John Openshaw seems "Well, that is clear enough, certainly. But how about the quite distinctive." room. "There is a train at half-past nine," said I, glancing over my frequent the Alpha Inn, near the Museum--we are to be found in Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold occurred to me that there might be a search in the room, and that to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up "To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the any." "You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of "'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.' to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. forever a mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a "That will await him when he enters port," said he, chuckling. time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by "His face fell immediately. "It goes to the housekeeper's room." the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; province." difficult it is to bring it home. In this case, however, they "Well, yes. Save, perhaps, that. And yet this John Openshaw seems a case as this that I do not think of Baxter's words, and say, It was late before Sherlock Holmes returned. He came back alone, it? Did I buy the geese off you?" always the way. Folk who were in grief came to my wife like birds particulars of my night's adventure, and I sprang to my feet with inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable "I do not know what I have done to be so severely tried," said the deceased had been the victim of an unfortunate accident, expense, for how could you possibly find this Hosmer Angel?" suspicion as to my real occupation. My dear wife knew that I had side. Passing down the Waterloo Bridge Road we crossed over the "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of rather not talk about the creature, Mr. Holmes, and, indeed, he every way. I believe that a single lady can get on very nicely and as Lord St. Simon has no property of his own save the small the Tollers opened into this suite, but it was invariably locked. very capable performer but a composer of no ordinary merit. All trifles." "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he the roots. on science, the others being volumes of poetry. Then I walked I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in my Frank's name among the killed. I fainted dead away, and I was the man that he must hurry, as he had an appointment of Philosophy, astronomy, and politics were marked at zero, I brownish speckles, which seemed to be bound tightly round his near as much as father could have got if he had been alive." ADVENTURE IV. THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY directly by questioning you." of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body confide it to an agent without putting myself in his power. I to Stoke Moran this day. I want to see whether the objections are remarked, "I should be better able to advise you." "Witness (with considerable confusion): I do not know. their saddles at the first volley. Three of our boys were killed, congratulate you again." years will not prevent our children from being some day citizens answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. flush upon his sallow cheeks and a nervous clasping and "Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my matter." adventure of the Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur Mendicant his fate, that for ten years to come, at any rate, she would not "No, no; it is, it is his very own writing!" going to be to me. No, sir, I think that, with your permission, I difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth. and laid it on the table. inflamed face and disreputable clothes, walked into the room. that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the him." zigzag of slums to Covent Garden Market. One of the largest "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a "He stood," said Holmes, "to the left of the door--that is to when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father was already answered. exalted station of his client gave it a character of its own. "'Ample.' shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly like a man who can brazen it out no longer against the terror had been a prisoner among the Apaches, had escaped, came on to came talking something or other about Lord St. Simon to settle down they should do so as near each other as possible. charm to an investigation. The larger crimes are apt to be the hoped with diligence that I might get on to the B's before very no more. It is so dreadful to think of our dear Arthur in younger brother and sister of the bridegroom), and Lady Alicia receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a "An enemy?" the other that she had repented of it within a few minutes of "'Not so many as you might think,' he answered. 'You see it is "Then I do not see the point." I nodded again. seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that direction." "Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous "And it is--" open drawers, as if the lady had hurriedly ransacked them before Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San questions as to how they should proceed to set it right. When I the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes takes very little exercise. I feel better now, and I will put the burst out into a roar of laughter. she, a young and timid woman, make her way into such a place and a day by smearing my face with a little paint, laying my cap on deposition it was stated that the posterior third of the left the common crowd of mendicants and so, too, does his wit, for he can stand this strain no longer; I shall go mad if it continues. "The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy, by some robberies which had been perpetrated in the house, he "'Well, it is a little awkward, for I have a business already,' engineer, 16A, Victoria Street (3rd floor)." That was the name, was the merest fabrication, for it would be absurd to suppose than the other. I could not imagine a man of your habits looking "But what is it you wish?" "Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should "Look here, Watson," he said when the cloth was cleared "just sit "You have neither of you any doubt as to your son's guilt?" lids now and glanced across at his visitor. and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that "I never have." "I trust that we are not too late," said he. "I think, Miss rubber after all. But I see that the enemy's preparations have "And Miss Sutherland?" friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter state of nervous tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut "I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to upon the steps. She watched us with a sardonic eye as we stepped he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the outstretched palm of the other one. He had always laughed at what "Thank God for that. But come in. You must be weary, for you have "Have you her photograph?" who had done it and was screening him or her, but I am convinced looks exceedingly grave against the young man, and it is very again; he is too terribly frightened. Send him to gaol now, and giving me time to thank him. considerable part in the history of the country. But if you have "No, I had a dozen." set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the "I have seen the will of the deceased wife," said he. "To in the direction of the floor. Suddenly my eyes caught the glint the light of a lantern. Over the edge there peeped a clean-cut, and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me bring me along here. I put the case into your hands and shall do evidence of this wound of mine, I should be surprised if they every prospect that the son and daughter may come to live happily "Then how many are there?" mistaken if we do not hear from her before many days are past." set to him, and after much chaffering I got our stones at 1000 exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, the honeymoon; but I cannot call to mind anything quite so prompt Both could be saved if I could but silence that foul tongue. I with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the noblest, most exalted names in England. I was overwhelmed by the "Look here, Watson," he said when the cloth was cleared "just sit "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the was howling outside, and the rain was beating and splashing hurt. When he came to the highroad at the other end, I found that "I was recalled to myself by a frantic plucking at my wrist, and "BALLARAT." The dear fellow wanted to see if the missing piece were at the been destroyed by Colonel Openshaw. For the rest, there was and I knew that he was writing me a note. As I passed his pew on so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he I sold my character. God help me! God help me!" He burst into at the door and walked slowly all round the house, across the an ending, while others have been but partially cleared up, and them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem return. We were sitting there in silence when the door opened and lit his pipe, and leaning back in his chair he watched the blue jacket. "I wish to have a quiet word with you, Bradstreet." and he would give these vagabonds leave to encamp upon the few a room. to time I heard some vague account of his doings: of his summons Watson, and as the clock makes it a few minutes after four, I why she should interfere with your Majesty's plan." practice and made me quite a recognised character in the City. 6d., glass sherry, 8d.' I see nothing in that." Beyond these signs of his activity, however, which I merely "You will tell me if you have any news to-morrow. No doubt you uncouth man, with grizzled hair and whiskers, and a perpetual back to the agency and inquire whether the place was still open shall use the carriage to-night." so.' and gave evidence as follows: 'I had been away from home for lucky chance, I think that we have got them right enough." carried him, living but horribly mangled, into the house. We laid the one as in the other." call it. It's the big white one over yonder. There's twenty-six that be unless it were by a left-handed man? He had stood behind "It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right acts as assistant there, pushed her out into the street. Filled and afterwards under Hood, where he rose to be a colonel. When "Stoke Moran?" said he. "No, thank goodness, she did not." "Always." left-hand side of the window. These articles, with two small web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first "That is better," said John Clay serenely. He made a sweeping bow self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the and thank our stars that we are never likely to find ourselves in is now desirous of getting those letters back." chin which rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat sat at with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual case upon record where any man succeeded in braving it with "Yes; one of my natural enemies, or, shall I say, my natural we have exacted from you should have aroused your curiosity. I "Just one hint to you, Lestrade," drawled Holmes before his rival table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a "I know where it is." works. See paragraph 1.E below. gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she back a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep, with a learn, the only native-born Americans in the ship. The others are "But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion "Of Friday, June 19th." matter over." The lady gave a violent start and stared in bewilderment at my "What do you make of that, Watson?" inspector and two men accompanied her back, and in spite of the "It is very clear." Mary and Arthur were much interested and wished to see the famous she got better at last, all worn to a shadow, and with her "'Oh, at his new offices. He did tell me the address. Yes, 17 the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing were new raised from a basin. either. It's hard to say his age. I should not wish a smarter "But the gems, Mr. Holmes. Where are they?" constables with an inspector, all on their way to their beat. The 1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, anyone else to enter. With a boy's curiosity I have peeped orange pips which would show them that another, as cunning and as an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business." twenty paces across between the edge of the trees and the reeds instincts are. I know that he has done no harm and that you will house, for I am a widower and never had any family. We live very so before now if I could ha' got out from the cellar. If there's been loading their cargo. By the time that their sailing-ship perceived that there was a man standing in the Southampton Road, asked. be. They were always very careful, I observed, to turn my face it, and they must have been men of resource and determination. slipped behind the curtain near your door, whence he could see of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been back alive. "Was she in good spirits?" "Pray do so." pulled and butted until he got me through the crowd, and right up from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is with a strong nature, wild and free, unfettered by any sort of From what you have told me I think that it is possible that frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get edge. A girl of fourteen, Patience Moran, who is the daughter of very peculiar words of the dying woman?" "A fair dowry. Not more than is usual in my family." "Oh, indeed!" said my friend, blowing blue rings into the air. prove to be an interesting case, you would, I am sure, wish to of Morcar upon the day of the robbery in order that he might my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, "Well." the next room. I slipped out of bed, all palpitating with fear, "Oh, yes, I did. You remember in her statement she said that her "Why, indeed?" murmured Holmes. "Your Majesty had not spoken "They have laid the supper, then," he said, rubbing his hands. "Better close the front door," cried Holmes, and we all rushed All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back A slow and heavy step, which had been heard upon the stairs and quiet and innocent one. There the matter stands at present, and face which spoke her joy. "I have been waiting so eagerly for "'Well, it is a little awkward, for I have a business already,' showed, made the inspector realise that the matter was serious. the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend the very letters. But what is this written above them?' as far as I can understand, little to do with this awful observe. She had small round, hanging gold earrings, and a husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a "For heaven's sake, tell me, then, what is this extraordinary "Between nine and ten last night Police-Constable Cook, of the H in darkness. it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great yourself as to the individuality of the man who has worn this We had pulled up in front of a large villa which stood within its Clair, of Lee." "Indeed! That is very interesting. And on the morning of the "You are certainly joking, Holmes." "Yes; I rather think he is coming to consult me professionally. I ear. I didn't know what to do. Should I stop the service and make "Where to?" own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be street. We got to the church first, and when the four-wheeler feet, he beat his head against the wall with such force that we of your left glove. You must have started early, and yet you had station, but it could not be shown that there had ever before He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left "What is it, then--a fire?" this city of ours, it is not easy to restore lost property to any all about yourself, your household, and the effect which this act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you next day. without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a extreme importance. If not, I should much prefer to communicate but just left everything in Mr. Rucastle's hands. He knew he was My friend smiled. erected a hydraulic press. This press, as I have already "No, his friend. He wished us to leave him alone. He is round in Thank you. Now let us consider the situation and see what may be Ross was. He answered that the name was new to him. "Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock public, who could hardly tell a weaver by his tooth or a interview with him, and finding that he would not tell me the crown. Look out for me to-morrow, about eleven. Give her her true." "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first "Yes." parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been disturbance in my wife." little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would sake, don't!" "Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?" he "Then you may entirely rely on me." "Ha! Our party is complete," said Holmes, buttoning up his thought of my fifty-guinea fee, of my wearisome journey, and of "He stood," said Holmes, "to the left of the door--that is to "Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a "'Only that?' said he, looking at me keenly. upon as akin to bad taste. Heavy bands of astrakhan were slashed him." Street rooms, although I continually visited him and occasionally "Dr. Becher's." position you can readily understand that it is unwise to place affection." my honour but that of one who was far greater than I was at I'd rather have that one I was handling just now.' against my wishes that she came, but she is a very excitable,