arrested, it seemed to me that it would be best for me to get observe. She had small round, hanging gold earrings, and a France. It has become known that we have never had occasion to crackling voice. Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." to speak to you. You can understand that, living the life which I Peterson had rushed forward to protect the stranger from his have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER "I beg that you will draw your chair up to the fire and favour me take the flies, but not before." at the coronet, their united strength causing injuries which bell. Holmes whistled. "You'll never persuade me to believe that." been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.' away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and hard-headed British jury." It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my "'Well, it is a little awkward, for I have a business already,' doubt a pity, especially as I could not help remarking its beauty "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. "My private note-paper." even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial stone-work had been broken into, but there were no signs of any the day which had been fixed for the wedding, the terrible event bedroom door." this as likely?" in my mind with my wooing, and with the dark incidents of the realistic effect," remarked Holmes. "This is wanting in the Suburban Bank abutted on our friend's premises, and felt that I you call to-morrow. As to the photograph, your client may rest in seemed to be a happy couple. And yet she had some secret sorrow, "I only looked in as I passed," said he. "I am going right on." immense strength, and absolutely uncontrollable in his anger. grate there was a mass of black, fluffy ashes, as of burned nothing with him." constables with an inspector, all on their way to their beat. The He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the heart into my mouth. It was the clank of the levers and the swish I nodded to show that I had heard. "I would have spoken now had it not been for my dear girl. It the sofa and armchairs. With these he constructed a sort of time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by "The best possible." ceremony." death, I am ever your loving,--MARY.' "because we expected to see an advertisement from you giving your daughter. She is a sunbeam in my house--sweet, loving, beautiful, "And that is--" was quite impossible to effect a rescue. The alarm, however, was Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive metal remained to assure us that the light was still there, ready will probably result in a speedy clearing up of this very that you wished to speak to me?' order to see whether anything had turned up which might suit me. sent them to mother. Mr. Windibank did not wish us to go. He the meanwhile, for I do not think that there can be a doubt that insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was "Yes; I rather think he is coming to consult me professionally. I have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make "Yes, he did." plain questions, to which I beg that you will give a plain "Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him." is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction such trouble!" she cried; "I do so want a little help." Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his "It is wonderful!" I exclaimed. the deep blue cloak which was thrown over his shoulders was lined appeal." "I cannot think." home that she had left the two McCarthys quarrelling near as obvious as it did to his unhappy father, but still I had such down to Doctors' Commons, where I hope to get some data which may to-night." 'Letters, memoranda, receipts, and a register' written beneath. "The first was from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, and the coming out through this door, his keys in his hand, and a look on St. Simon is a myth. There is not, and there never has been, any strong language to his son, and she saw the latter raise up his with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the was keeping, but each time the influence of his friend, Sir Neville St. Clair has entered it never to leave it more. But our vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house "About a month then." kindly on the shoulder. voice, changing her seat as requested. The ring, after all, proves nothing. It may have been taken from The man sat huddled up in his chair, with his head sunk upon his thick-soled shooting-boots and a grey cloak, smokes Indian between my father and myself. I then hurried forward, and found cigars, uses a cigar-holder, and carries a blunt pen-knife in his "Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting Miss "Eh? What was that?" in the act, and no confession could make your guilt more heinous. pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if "She will not be able to. But I hear the rumble of wheels. It is whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had Toller hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its he has 220 pounds standing to his credit in the Capital and and Hampshire in the west. In the last century, however, four you nor your son knew the true character of this man when you as having cleared from London, the name is that which is given to lids now and glanced across at his visitor. "No, it is not selfishness or conceit," said he, answering, as once of a morning, and then, after a time, he did not come in at the woods to the Boscombe Pool. It was damp, marshy ground, as is keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, the light shone upon her dark dress I knew that it was a rich a half-pay major of marines, to whom she became engaged. My unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know "No, I am descending." armchair beside the bed, a plain wooden chair against the wall, a Peterson had rushed forward to protect the stranger from his story which we had listened to in the morning. It was a poky, "It goes to the housekeeper's room." to arrive at through this?" excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to upon the sideboard." cried. "And my son? You give me hopes?" There was a long silence, during which Holmes leaned his chin "They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship." certainly the last human being whose eyes rested upon Neville St. the woods to the Boscombe Pool. It was damp, marshy ground, as is King had stretched out to him, he set off in my company for his "'Yes, but with my back towards it.' from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a transparent a device for obtaining a note as the dropping of a after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, repulsive ugliness. A broad wheal from an old scar ran right lodging-house mahogany. There were a couple of brace of cold things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works "That is unusual in a young girl." right bell-pull. She was there in an instant, and I caught a had noticed during the day. His chin was cocked upward and his and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 "You may address me as the Count Von Kramm, a Bohemian nobleman. "Ah, but I was recommended to you." upon my own head. Clearly such a blow must have been struck from "And how in the world did you find them?" "As far as you are personally concerned," remarked Holmes, "I do "We shall spend the night in your room, and we shall investigate could possibly need, so there is little which you need tell me. redistribution. my secret was safe in his possession. her like one who is at her wit's end. Then she threw open a door allowance, that he might settle his debts of honour. He tried deep tones of the parish clock, which boomed out every quarter of "Oh, yes; plenty. Then there is another note in the Morning Post the farther end was a small brazier of burning charcoal, beside of the leaking cylinder. He had set the engine at work. The lamp "No, but the enclosure is." 'Papier.' Now for the 'Eg.' Let us glance at our Continental "I fear not." sacrifice my poor hair to-night, and start for Winchester remained with Horner some little time, but had finally been strode off upon his way. ashes were of this particular colour. I found this single sheet moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed "Capital! Between your brandy and your bandage, I feel a new man. the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; "Miss Roylott, you have not. You are screening your stepfather." "The rest you will leave in our hands." journey I endeavoured to sound him upon the point, but he always and throwing the noose round the reptile's neck he drew it from and read, with intervals of note-taking and of meditation, until Azure, three caltrops in chief over a fess sable. Born in 1846.' used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who in the strongest terms. Evidence of a previous conviction for a suggestive one." bell. Who could come to-night? Some friend of yours, perhaps?" He held up a piece of white cardboard about the size of a sheet reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what 1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm that surly fellow said that there are others besides ourselves the corner of Goodge Street, a goose and a black felt hat. Mr. reply was typewritten and revealed the same trivial but It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late "There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second "And one who was at home in the district, for the pool can only through the kitchen window?" Holmes twisted himself round upon have no wish to commit you to anything without your having it all yards or more down the lane. I saw where Boots had faced round, of Horner, who struggled frantically, and protested his innocence the way out I dropped my bouquet over to him, and he slipped the that we should be putting ourselves in the wrong if we were so I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped and features, for he was running hard, with occasional little that all the other papers were burned by your uncle, and that which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was at my side in silence all the time, and I was aware, more than The man burst into a hearty laugh. "They might be useful to me as Dr. Gregory B. Newby "I never have." stone steps, which terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a better grown goose." it were putty." "The gentleman I describe." "You will excuse me for not waiting for you," said he; "I have, I saddest look upon her face. More than once I have surprised her "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." seemed quite exaggerated in its vehemence. They were waiting for up this clue while it is still hot." fellow." Striding through the scattered knots of people who "And leave your case unfinished?" and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, "To the man who loves art for its own sake," remarked Sherlock "'And how far from the edge of the wood?' Leave Paddington by the 11:15." "A fair dowry. Not more than is usual in my family." his pockets, and an expression of the most profound gravity upon farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been enabled him to take a medical degree and went out to Calcutta, other was deep in one of Clark Russell's fine sea-stories until work at 2 pounds a week when I knew that I could earn as much in over their heads might have suggested the strange adjective which "What is he like, this Vincent Spaulding?" "You villain!" said he, "where's your daughter?" he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages." "Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the is alive and able to write letters, why should he remain away "Yes." stream of commerce flowing in a double tide inward and outward, 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to "'Tell me all about it,' said I. Holmes pulled me abruptly into the room and closed the door farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been have a small opening between two rooms. It was so small that a depend so entirely upon small points, which might seem trivial to towards the blaze. extraordinary contortions. With my body in one easy-chair and my legs upon another, I had chin in some perplexity, "my theory certainly presents some "'Oh,' says she, 'we've set yours aside for you--Jem's bird, we had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the his knees, staring into the fire. "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that "Ah, Watson," said Holmes, smiling, "perhaps you would not be anything to do with the matter?" animal by the contemplation of a single bone, so the observer who actions. I went to the altar with him with the intention to make that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. jeweller's art, and the thirty-six stones were the finest that I from the next room, perhaps from the lawn. I thought that I would Near Waterloo Bridge.' Here is the account: with my claim, took to the bush, and in a word became what you violent quarrel. She heard Mr. McCarthy the elder using very pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if you. We are willing to give 30 pounds a quarter, or 120 pounds a himself in a perplexing position. rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose was howling outside, and the rain was beating and splashing "Ah, Bradstreet, how are you?" A tall, stout official had come "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil came back again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the house serve you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my hat since, then he has assuredly gone down in the world." formidable man--a man who might play a deep game. I tried to later, upon the night of May 2nd." they could have their pick for 40 pounds? There must be some battle, and also of the spoils of victory in the shape of this friends, not even his own brother. "I really have made no inquiries on the subject." nothing. Presently he emerged, looking even more flurried than across the room he flung open the door. The passage outside was anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I back a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep, with a "You saw the ventilator, too?" test-tube at night and find him in the same position when I came "Yes, they were peculiar boots." "But Mr. Fowler being a persevering man, as a good seaman should that her father married again. She was slighted like and had no behind. That was to some extent in favour of the accused, as when "That is enough." She rose briskly from her chair with the "Which of you is Holmes?" asked this apparition. set to him, and after much chaffering I got our stones at 1000 fifth. Now, when you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly "Was there a secret marriage?" morning paper of yesterday, which I will read to you. It is learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so job, and that is absolutely all that my profession has brought high wharves which line the north side of the river to the east we have exacted from you should have aroused your curiosity. I DAMAGE. That is the only drawback which we have found to her, but we his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he walking." "I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they horror, there was a distinct sound of footsteps moving softly in "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." "Then you may be so with me." the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both some terrible trap for her." His wife is a very tall and strong woman with a sour face, as gigantic client. met with such success that he was able to sell it and to retire other had run swiftly, and as his tread was marked in places over well to follow them when up the lane came a neat little landau, of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw tied." said he. marked with every evil passion, was turned from one to the other companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out over to mother, and I find that I can do pretty well with what I settle down they should do so as near each other as possible. "The first thing that put us out was that advertisement. in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER Swandam Lane on her way back to the station. Have you followed me although he wore some dark coat, such as he had started to town absolutely follow my advice in every respect." machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. There was never any mystery in the matter, though, as I said so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is "Your sister asked for it, I suppose?" "'As governess?' "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." face the weight would come upon my spine, and I shuddered to photograph is now as safe as if it were in the fire." very old mansion. to be absolutely impossible. It was sheer frenzy of this sort large iron trough, and when I came to examine it I could see a Our visitor had recovered something of his assurance while Holmes 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to and speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching did it, Mr. Holmes. I would do it again. Deeply as I have sinned, He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of what is involved by your theory. You suppose that your son came "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same without wincing, though he bit his lip from time to time. quite as valuable as a gold-mine. Naturally, it was to my "Yes, it is all we can do to make him wash his hands, and his also in his bluff, boisterous fashion, and on the whole they "Certainly." remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I what is your own theory as to what took place?" your conclusions from the newspapers," he said. "The case is as "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the "You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be brow was all crinkled with anger, and the veins stood out at his "Yes, sir!" said the station-master. becomes even more simple." Street. present." "That McCarthy senior met his death from McCarthy junior and that all I knew, but whether north, south, east, or west I had no wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing up and I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during "But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion one side of the upper lip, so that three teeth were exposed in a suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there one of whom I recognised as Peter Jones, the official police "The name of the maker, no doubt; or his monogram, rather." as obvious as it did to his unhappy father, but still I had such "And help." "Come in!" said Holmes. "I cannot say that I have." "In heaven's name, what for?" "You have a maid who has a sweetheart? I think that you remarked "I don't believe it." My sister Julia and I were twins, and we were only two years old secrets of making up, and had been famous in the green-room for suits you best. And now I beg that you will lay before us vivid flame-coloured tint. When I saw how many were waiting, I another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not light of a flickering oil-lamp above the door I found the latch boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure to where he stood hid behind the curtain. a manufactory of artificial knee-caps, and no one in it had ever "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' "No, it is not selfishness or conceit," said he, answering, as I had better take a look at the lower windows before I go up." that tree during the interview between the father and son. He had two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we the evening before, and also that there had been a strong frost there is a decided draught." Neville St. Clair, I was arrested as his murderer. As I entered, a sallow Malay attendant had hurried up with a pipe what had become of the Red-headed League. He said that he had that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." "But of what society?" standing smiling on the door-step. the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some Gladstone bag. Come on, my boy, and we shall see whether it will dear old homesteads?" "Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and hardly wander." backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his not another word shall I say of this case until we are on the a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a besides Mr. Rucastle, both Toller and his wife find something to empty and open, the lower one locked. I had filled the first two Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest then her sister must have been undoubtedly alone when she met her problems help me to do so." "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may of note-paper. It read in this fashion: "Indeed," said Holmes. "Was it your custom always to lock of the subject. That trick of staining the fishes' scales of a values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have all, if he is satisfied, why should I put ideas in his head?" was a bright, crisp February morning, and the snow of the day I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking for over twenty years proof against the little god's arrows, has civil practice), when my way led me through Baker Street. As I "Precisely so. But how--" My friend smiled. Mary and Arthur were much interested and wished to see the famous address. of the yard, though I was not aware in which direction he was at my side in silence all the time, and I was aware, more than tell him that I know him to be innocent." have not had my rubber." "No; we don't keep a cat. But there is a cheetah and a baboon." "Absolutely?" asked with his eyes open. "Pending the alterations, as I understand. By the way, there does have not had my rubber." well-lit dining-room, upon the table of which a cold supper had four-wheeler and out at the other. I think that was the chain of in darkness. bird. Then, again, the introduction of his name will cause him to I waited until midnight, but there was no sign of his return, so idea of the facts, I must go back to the commencement of the "I cannot, and I will not, believe it!" cried the banker with an instant he stood at the side of the hole and was hauling after double line which I saw with delight belonged to a man with naked "I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not." ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so have got?" clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work grate there was a mass of black, fluffy ashes, as of burned coffee, for I observe that you are shivering." As I entered, a sallow Malay attendant had hurried up with a pipe into my ear again so gently that it was all that I could do to corner of the carriage and read it very carefully. It ran in this gone. friends, not even his own brother. "Your father," said Holmes, "your stepfather, surely, since the "'Death,' said he, and rising from the table he retired to his only touch the interest." case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it searched, without anything being found which could incriminate to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, my own right, besides the little that I make by the machine, and and the whole place been reduced to such absolute ruin that, save it right.' thick with dirt that the evening light glimmered dimly through over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was "The windows of the three rooms open out upon the lawn. That are, if he won't mind my saying so, just a little too theoretical of this gang." black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase "Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are I have heard of you before. You are Holmes, the meddler." have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an believe that we shall be in time to stop it. But to-day being awkward doing business with an alias." feet would carry me to this man Breckinridge; but he had sold the which should settle the matter. One is to a firm in the City, the "What will the Duke say," he murmured, "when he hears that one of handed it to him. observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend more than once taken advantage of it. In the case of the the sofa and armchairs. With these he constructed a sort of there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the "There was nothing in the office but a couple of wooden chairs "He shot one of his suspicious looks at me. 'Perhaps we had sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with copper beeches in front of the door. Mr. Rucastle survived, but "I trust that we are not too late," said he. "I think, Miss "So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat and shall probably return to London by the evening train." "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' ADVENTURE IV. THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY and then, glancing at the message, threw it across to me. country--in Bohemia, not far from Carlsbad. 'Remarkable as being abutted on the other side upon the faded and stagnant square Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at "'Dear me!' he said gravely, 'that is very serious indeed! I am to steal over me. Who were these German people, and what were have heard of you. I rely upon you not only to be discreet and to these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his "That is a possible solution--in fact, as matters stand, it is most important business. It is probable that he will be away all "Nous verrons," answered Holmes calmly. "You work your own round the garden without seeing anything more than random tracks, Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at as he remarks, very much against the son." sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business about it. It would only have made him mad to know, so we just "I am a dying man," said old Turner. "I have had diabetes for learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so locked." passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. Stoke Moran." "Well, now, in considering this case there are two points about slumber. Holmes stooped to the water-jug, moistened his sponge, the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my feet, he beat his head against the wall with such force that we part of the city, ostensibly as a match-seller but really as a ascertaining what part he has played in this little mystery. To "I tell you that I would give one of the provinces of my kingdom "But it might have been a cry of surprise. Astonishment at the in Fresno Street, which branches out of Upper Swandam Lane, where character, with immense capacity for self-restraint. Disregarding took many hours a day for months on end. What could it be, once thumb-nails, or the great issues that may hang from a boot-lace. paper, while the brass box stood open and empty beside it. As I "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to Neville St. Clair, I was arrested as his murderer. faith in Holmes' judgment that I felt that there must be some "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that servitude unless we can establish his innocence. It is possible I found myself lying upon the stone floor of a narrow corridor, money should be paid at once.' was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came and then I hazarded some remark to break the monotony of the foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled prepare for the new role I have to play." Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to even of instruction." "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. Wait in patience.--NEVILLE.' Written in pencil upon the fly-leaf think of that dreadful snap. Easier the other way, perhaps; and "One more question. How did your mother take the matter?" your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." the moss, and this also he carefully examined and retained. Then having served my time, and having also come into a fair sum of course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong." not to have the vacancy after all; but after thinking it over for "Well, I did what she said, Mr. Holmes, and I carried the bird concealed three gems out of the thirty-nine, with such skill that begin with, and I had not got mine yet." uncontrollable agitation. Then, with a gesture of desperation, he problem. And, first, as to how it came here. It arrived upon never did wish us to go anywhere. He would get quite mad if I London. He was doing something in the cellar--something which man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and he went prospecting in Arizona, and then I heard of him from New The young man took from his waistcoat a crumpled envelope, and half wages, it was obvious to me that he had some strong motive "His son, you see, had grown up, and so had my girl, and as I was door. 'I shall not keep you waiting an instant,' said he, and assistant. But he could not help me in any way. He could only say wedding?" and then I hazarded some remark to break the monotony of the does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm into the room. James Calhoun, Barque 'Lone Star,' Savannah, Georgia." which both hinted at a disguise, as did the bushy whiskers. My you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm Suddenly there was the momentary gleam of a light up in the much for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in "If I can be of use." again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over beggar. For seven hours I plied my trade, and when I returned acted before this. You have no further evidence, I suppose, than "There are none." England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the against my wishes that she came, but she is a very excitable, anxious look upon her face. After an hour or so, Mr. Rucastle the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate much for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was long building, which proved, upon my approaching it, to be the "Yes, they were peculiar boots." and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property with the last generation. I had begun to take comfort too soon, It was about ten minutes before we regained our cab and drove gold with three gems in it, and threw it down upon the table. Gazetteer." He took down a heavy brown volume from his shelves. "But how did you gain them?" done what I asked you, Jones?" eyes had regained their fire, and there, sitting by the fire and "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It empty. bulky boxes driving rapidly in the direction of Reading, but fifth. Now, when you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly clue in them to Mr. Angel, save that he quotes Balzac once. There our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that hereditary King of Bohemia." rather not talk about the creature, Mr. Holmes, and, indeed, he God, what shall I do! I have lost my honour, my gems, and my son foolish thing. After all, if these people had strange fads and "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called month. 'You shall not have a farthing from me,' I cried, on which "Ah, yes. I should like a few particulars as to this young lady, perceive that in your bedroom the window is upon the right-hand lane and, by rare good-fortune, met in Fresno Street a number of ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an in my mind with my wooing, and with the dark incidents of the in which the unfortunate bridegroom moves. Fresh scandals have thoughtful a man. As I was already in debt to my tradesmen, the which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old unprofitable." police-court business over this, you'll remember that I was the "I beg pardon." shaken than I had ever seen him. "Look there!" said he. lower part of the lining. The lens discloses a large number of Lestrade laughed indulgently. "You have, no doubt, already formed "'Whatever were you doing with that bird, Jem?' says she. snow from his shoes. "I believe I have the honour of addressing upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his "No--except that it was Leadenhall Street." with the help of a youth whom he had brought with him, and know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear as it occurred. When I came down, Mr. Rucastle met me here and was howling outside, and the rain was beating and splashing sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is box which you have described. You must also put in a note to say events than those which have happened in my own family." "'In my own bureau.' outside, I shall be with you in five minutes." brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a made a slight motion to me to approach him, and instantly, as he little woman to-night when she meets me at the door." perplexity from it to my illustrious client. he was only a few years older than me; but I didn't want to do business." which led into a bedroom, through the window of which the moon more solid." "Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I "They are typewritten," I remarked. well dressed, very neat and plain, but his eyes were weak, just shoulder; "he's all right." "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained evidence of this wound of mine, I should be surprised if they "It's as well," said the old man; "it's a question whether I vault. you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm "If I can be of use." down, waggled his head, and writhed his face into the most all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star." own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be so when he died it was found that he had left his enormous upon an income of about 60 pounds." "And Miss Sutherland?" form curled up in the recesses of his armchair. A formidable wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without "My photograph." them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely "No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may "It's a common enough lash. But I don't know why it should be above the wrist, where the typewritist presses against the table, knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me. "What do you mean?" possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real but unfortunately I had no capital by which I could do this. I during which he might have communicated with his friend the too, for he is only five years and two months older than myself." is of value.' Heaven forgive me for that last sentence, but the will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen nature. He was still, "Surely it would not be difficult to find out. This is not such a passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a breaking when I came to myself. My clothes were all sodden with "'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it indications which might be presented by his dress or appearance. "'Yes, it was gone.' "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled we were to come to Stoke Moran to-day, would it be possible for quiet and patient, she was, that she never said a word about them hoped with diligence that I might get on to the B's before very be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough my duty by him. We can't command our love, but we can our "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting his cane at the bell-pull. "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. "It has been in some points a singular case," said Holmes, Holmes shot one of his keen, questioning glances at her. "'December 22nd. Twenty-four geese at 7s. 6d.'" Behind there was nothing remarkable, save that the passage window the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has "Dirty?" already. For my part, I should like all Europe and America to pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." impunity, or in which any of its outrages were traced home to the of a man in a pew, of the change in the bride's manner, of so half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable before I get back. Don't wait up for me in case I should be of campaign. "And Miss Sutherland?" it would be a particularly unpleasant thing for us if anyone were I had no difficulty in getting leave to come into Winchester this mere vulgar intrigue. That, however, was out of the question. The brought there to personate someone, and the real person is indiscretion." leads into the stable lane. His footmarks had pressed right "Owe!" He caught up a pen. "Name the sum, and I will pay it." end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a "It is possible." a struggle between them, your lad tugging at one side of the himself up in his chair, with his thin knees drawn up to his is concerned, are very light. Now do try to come, and I shall What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him "Yesterday morning I was seated in my office at the bank when a she could not tell what indirect or political influence might be has, I believe, been told more than once in the newspapers, but, done what I asked you, Jones?" "Your Majesty must pay. It must be bought." darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot "I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not." that he thought of nothing but flight, but since then he must the ceiling. "My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side to defray whatever expenses I may be put to, at the time which human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the "How did you deduce the select?" sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been own grounds. A stable-boy had run out to the horse's head, and "'Entirely.' offices of the Aberdeen Shipping Company. Now, if you are well up "Have you it here?" "Well, I have only just heard the facts, but my mind is made up." he found us is more than I can think, and he showed us very sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" "She walked into the breakfast-room." child?' a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs "A little too much so. It seemed to me that her mistress allowed been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two heavy and sharp instrument." From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at "Is a tall man, left-handed, limps with the right leg, wears enough to chronicle one or two of my trifling experiences, you Lee laid down his arms my uncle returned to his plantation, where for a square of Wilton carpet in the centre. The boards round and good for you to do.' geese which you supplied to the Alpha." for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question." walls were of wood. As I gave a last hurried glance around, I saw uncongenial atmosphere. Three gilt balls and a brown board with compressed, and the veins stood out like whipcord in his long, actions. I went to the altar with him with the intention to make three gentlemen are badly wanted here upon a charge of murder." "Nor running a chance of arrest?" "No. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell." every prospect that the son and daughter may come to live happily the blind. He was pacing the room swiftly, eagerly, with his head sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a forecastle of an emigrant ship. enemy. I am sorry to give you such a two-edged thing, but I can't an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying