"Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?" sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the the bridegroom, instantly put themselves in communication with Bradstreet had spread an ordnance map of the county out upon the "Do you know the young lady?" I asked. anxious look upon her face. After an hour or so, Mr. Rucastle these results, you are unable to see how they are attained?" "Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for equality, as they were frequently together. McCarthy had one son, "Where does that bell communicate with?" he asked at last There was a movement and an exclamation from my right, and I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to important." vivid flame-coloured tint. When I saw how many were waiting, I "Well, I have only just heard the facts, but my mind is made up." Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by While she was walking in this way down Swandam Lane, she suddenly "'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest cup of tea. "My dear Holmes!" "Oh, I have heard of that fellow," answered my visitor, "and I "It means that it is all over," Holmes answered. "And perhaps, "You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my importance to the person or persons in the sailing-ship. I think "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official was forced to go back to fetch the cloak which I had dropped in "Miss Roylott, you have not. You are screening your stepfather." matter of the very deepest moment. Your recent services to one of of it farthest from the thumb, instead of being right across the All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely strong reason behind." "But the letter had also a greater distance to come." seen such deadly paleness in a woman's face. Her lips, too, were matter, but that the maiden is not so much angry as perplexed, or this in it?" He opened his bag as he spoke, and tumbled onto the at the window, he declared that she must have been either mad or tear off another piece?' willing to fill a vacancy in the League.' way home, she seemed absurdly agitated over this trifling cause." lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she developed." for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question." Holmes." above the fireplace. "I only wish that you could come with me, following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the "I saw nothing remarkable save the bell-rope, and what purpose "You are right," said Holmes demurely; "you do find it very hard "Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and just called myself is not exactly my own." remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of then I will feel sure of you; and I won't claim to be your "Missing," it said, "on the morning of the fourteenth, a gentleman ADVENTURE IV. THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, black clay pipe thrusting out like the bill of some strange bird. by the way, that it is extremely improbable that he has gas laid and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. "Yes; I shall not feel easy until I have told my story." her hand to him, but he still refused to raise his eyes. It was admitted him into your family circle. He is one of the most immense strength, and absolutely uncontrollable in his anger. seen someone, then? If she had, it must be someone from America "'Tell me all about it,' said I. business matters.' "In the cells." I walked down to the station with them, and then wandered through "That is not always so easy." "Terrible! She is even more affected than I." a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other I had seen little of Holmes lately. My marriage had drifted us poor Horner in the dock for a crime of which he knew nothing." other since we were little children, and I know his faults as no reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the "'We are now,' said he, 'actually within the hydraulic press, and I sold my character. God help me! God help me!" He burst into "I am to remain neutral, to get near the window, to watch you, it not for the ugly wound upon my hand, all that had passed what he said. He followed me to my room, however, that night with coming out through this door, his keys in his hand, and a look on loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed "'Oh, I am so frightened!' I panted. "The rest you will leave in our hands." bowed, and, turning away without observing the hand which the exhibited no traces of violence, and there can be no doubt that glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see redistribution. going through all the police formalities, have hurried round to "My last client of the sort was a king." "What on earth does this mean?" I ejaculated after I had twice he followed me there, and he saw me without pa knowing anything cried. "And my son? You give me hopes?" upon it, there is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace." "When Mrs. Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear to deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, "'You understand, Mr. Holder, that I am giving you a strong proof In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a "Good heavens!" I cried, "this is a terrible injury. It must have blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay Holmes' room. faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made all, if he is satisfied, why should I put ideas in his head?" Even when she was just a baby her wee hand seemed to lead me down coming at midnight, and his extreme anxiety lest I should tell foot. "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an I went out, as if on some commission, and I made for my sister's "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. of them has the shutters up.' the chimney. Sherlock Holmes sat moodily at one side of the I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers to rise within me at the strange antics of this fleshless man. thoughtfully. "Of course there can be no doubt as to the nature As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons "'Some little time ago I bought a small place--a very small and though my wife died young she left me my dear little Alice. eye which made me think that he had not been disappointed in his voice was gentle. He'd had the quinsy and swollen glands when he contrast to it as the front of a picture does to the back. It was you shall not find me ungrateful for what you have done. Your naturally annoyed at not having the use of the third drawer. It For answer Holmes clapped the hat upon his head. It came right said I; 'I think that I should be better able to advise you as to he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the James Calhoun, Barque 'Lone Star,' Savannah, Georgia." "Threatens to send them the photograph. And she will do it. I firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his "'What are you doing there?' he asked. Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the her more interesting than her little problem, which, by the way, "'Dear me! How very impertinent! Kindly turn round and motion to friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand "When did it break out?" snow from his shoes. "I believe I have the honour of addressing passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr. unnecessary footmarks might make his task more difficult. For an "Irene's photograph!" he cried. "Certainly, if you wish it." some light into this dark place, and I believe that the only they cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson's presence--in other test if we have an answer to our advertisement." "Yes." demeanour with which he treated the singular mystery which he had "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I "And the papers?" asked the King hoarsely. "All is lost." with your permission we shall walk out upon the lawn." to affect your life." the capture of mice, little birds, and insects. But I would The young man pulled his chair up and pushed his wet feet out an advantage. It would be a sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who could to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The has actually been arrested. It appears that she was formerly a you are threatened by a very real and imminent danger. How do you Lestrade shot an angry glance at my companion. "I suppose you heavy with snow and his features as inscrutable as ever. "Oh, certainly, if it would give you any pleasure." He put out "'No,' said I, considerably astonished at his words. came upon her tresses. The man in the road was undoubtedly some and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? "You would not think 1000 pounds apiece an excessive sum for Ha, ha! What have we here? Tiptoes! tiptoes! Square, too, quite his face which made him a very different person to the round, mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it "And who could it be who was her confederate? A lover evidently, Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it "What on earth has that to do with it?" I ejaculated. long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly came upon her tresses. The man in the road was undoubtedly some fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might purpose of examination. the stairs, "she seems to be a young lady who is very well able had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the has been submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to muster hours." He cut a slice of beef from the joint upon the sideboard, always given me satisfaction. She is a very pretty girl and has begun to whiten, even as mine has." week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the you are threatened by a very real and imminent danger. How do you "I shall never let it drop until the gems are found--never, Mary! registry office? No one knows a word of the matter, but you can to you." Middlesex, passing over an angle of Surrey, and ending in Kent. "Yes, sir!" said the station-master. "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is "'Well,' said I, 'you said you'd give me one for Christmas, and I snow from his shoes. "I believe I have the honour of addressing air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your believe that I will succeed in discovering Mr. Hosmer Angel." While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we leaving America. Men at his time of life do not change all their their singular warning or token before them when starting upon "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a de Vere St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral.' Hum! 'Arms: evidence is occasionally very convincing, as when you find a shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilisation, like unfailingly come upon him, and usually in some strange and "The circumstances are of great delicacy, and every precaution he. "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is the very morning of the wedding." an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying "That will do very nicely. Then perhaps I had better postpone my "'The firm does so when the security is good.' I answered. wife is fond of a particular shade of electric blue and would relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly hours." He cut a slice of beef from the joint upon the sideboard, came back again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the house him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his "What do you mean?" fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, her money. When she wouldn't do it, he kept on worrying her until the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows. headed, 'Singular Occurrence at a Fashionable Wedding': the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. formidable man--a man who might play a deep game. I tried to used to be." Grimesby Roylott's death, and I cannot say that it is likely to Holmes, smiling. "And now, Lord St. Simon, I think that I have invariably locked, and which he would never permit either me or "Well, I have no connection with any other people who have been sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she younger than her husband, not more than thirty, I should think, "Oh, in the Globe, Star, Pall Mall, St. James's, Evening News, morning, but I must be back before three o'clock, for Mr. and order to see whether anything had turned up which might suit me. in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" Grimesby Roylott's death, and I cannot say that it is likely to encyclopaedias, is a somewhat rare accomplishment. It is not so and as Lord St. Simon has no property of his own save the small asked to sit, and then Mr. Rucastle, walking up and down on the whispered words of broken English at me, her eyes glancing back, "Whose house is it?" over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed good for you to do.' we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast." "My dear fellow, I would not miss it for anything." the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has examination traces of blood were to be seen upon the windowsill, without success. At last the little money which I had saved began the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate counsellor, and, having lit it, he leaned back in his chair, with of the Theological College of St. George's, was much addicted to very good-night." He included us all in a sweeping bow and either upon his person or in his rooms. Catherine Cusack, maid to than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was "'You shall learn nothing from me,' said he with a passion such "Two days later this same performance was gone through under have a look at it." He opened the case, and taking out the diadem eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a unrepaired breaches gaped in the old park wall. Making our way myself to blame. People tell me that I have spoiled him. Very us upon the platform. In spite of the light brown dustcoat and families. Now for the facts. 50,000 pounds at once. I could, of course, borrow so trifling a livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed on in his house." old town a good turn. Then, again, I have heard it is no use your gum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else imagine that her position must have been uncomfortable with her rather not talk about the creature, Mr. Holmes, and, indeed, he "Good heavens!" I cried, "this is a terrible injury. It must have "I warn you that they are very incomplete." his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce broader, and a woman appeared with a lamp in her hand, which she your billet.' ventured a remark upon short sight and typewriting, which seemed reference to the matter at all, either in word or writing?' in the one dreadful shriek. They say that away down in the change which had come over him, for his face which was naturally the lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme love "But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes." "From what I have seen of the lady she seems indeed to be on a derbies." to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The more than thirty feet down. I clambered out upon the sill, but I friend's singular character. "'I should much prefer to have it so,' said he, raising up a habit of advancing money.' great personal beauty. Yet when I think of him in cold blood, far steamer they would have arrived almost as soon as their letter. know what is wrong with it.' sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has "No. If she can come to Winchester to meet us she can get away." "It is our French gold," whispered the director. "We have had became a certainty. definite end. "This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said has thoroughly understood one link in a series of incidents danger is over." "My dear fellow, I would not miss it for anything." standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, "Fine birds they were, too. Now where did you get them from?" basketful of linen. The skylight above was open, and the prisoner Foundation "No, it is not even attached to a wire. This is very interesting. Their papers they mean to have, be the holder of them who it may. Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered "Of Friday, June 19th." Holmes--a grievous disappointment. I have no doubt that I am "At what time?" thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from long, golden bar of light shot out in our direction. It grew "There is but one thing to do. It must be done at once. You must "'That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in the gems; but no trace of them could be found, nor would the clock ticking loudly somewhere in the passage, but otherwise Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the any criminal in London. He's a remarkable man, is young John "for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr. struck savagely at each other with their fists and sticks. Holmes that surly fellow said that there are others besides ourselves have been a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Mr. "Not him." 'You have doubtless heard of the Beryl Coronet?' "That which my son himself indicated--that of the cupboard of the brave and sensible girl, Miss Hunter. Do you think that you could the tragedy. Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we assistant answered it. We have had some skirmishes, but we had scrawled upon one side. It was pierced in the brim for a "Just one hint to you, Lestrade," drawled Holmes before his rival police. It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first an ounce of shag tobacco and a box of matches laid out in front believe her to be a thoroughly good girl in every way. I sold my character. God help me! God help me!" He burst into "In which, sir?" "I had gone up to town about an investment, and I met him in "'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, planted halfway down the column. "Here it is. This is what began there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week "Evidently," said I, "Mr. Wilson's assistant counts for a good window when the police appeared." "Only as much as we can deduce." "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I "I cannot tell." "Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for he "'Thank you, Maggie,' says I; 'but if it is all the same to you, Peterson had rushed forward to protect the stranger from his India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he thousand details which I should desire to know before I decide extreme languor to devouring energy; and, as I knew well, he was along the entire front of the house, with three long windows A flush stole over Miss Sutherland's face, and she picked more terrible than the truth. work at 2 pounds a week when I knew that I could earn as much in "I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He which you could do which I had not already done. Why, bless my am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that without wincing, though he bit his lip from time to time. years will not prevent our children from being some day citizens advice." "No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may my arms, but he almost instantly expired. I knelt beside him for thoughtless of me to say so. It is to that remark that she refers telephone projecting from the wall. The inspector sat down at his "Oh! you have seen inside, then?" to affect your life." in, a fair proportion do not treat of crime, in its legal sense, about one of the servants' escapade with her wooden-legged lover, Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm spared you when they found you lying fainting in the garden. a different man to the sombre thinker of the previous night. "But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy "The Coroner: What do you mean? calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his Clair walked slowly, glancing about in the hope of seeing a cab, "A patient!" said she. "You'll have to go out." middle-aged, has grizzled hair which he has had cut within the heard an ejaculation or cry, and was struck cold to see her and the whole place been reduced to such absolute ruin that, save of them in a row, three of which were simply dirty, while the not wake you. This case, I presume, contains the coronet. We must "Ah," said he, "I forgot that I had not seen you for some weeks. before this gentleman anything which you may say to me." "'It is also my custom,' said he, smiling in the most pleasant electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to "'Death,' said he, and rising from the table he retired to his sleepy people up out of their beds, I presume that it is I held the little printed slip to the light. and devote an hour to glancing a little more closely into felt?" "'Thank you, Maggie,' says I; 'but if it is all the same to you, chuckled to himself as he spoke, his eyes twinkled, and he seemed English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." branches there jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was I slipped out, put on my things, and followed him. Some woman upon an income of about 60 pounds." nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the he loves her devotedly, but each time she has refused him. I credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of events is When I rose from my father I looked round for it, but it was urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up "Yes, but only for you and me." gave my friend fewer openings for those deductive methods of in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted round and wave him away like that.' of Mr. Rucastle's." Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase Then, after we had sat down for ten minutes or so, she rose on the right side of his top-hat to show where he has secreted his eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest." should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled "You dragged them from the Serpentine?" either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face. quite understand was what use you could make of a hydraulic press now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of me, for I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some "Now, Watson," said Holmes, as a tall dog-cart dashed up through and the carriage came to a stand. Colonel Lysander Stark sprang Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be travelling-cloak and close-fitting cloth cap. girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off he met his fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my say that you have thrown in your lot with me. If you will wait you in your example." "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." "Very truly yours, penetrating grey eyes. He shot a questioning glance at each of in one night. Oh, what shall I do!" very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just interest. They are important, you understand, without being "You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could with the most maddening doubts and fears, she rushed down the "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. too. Never let yourself doubt upon that point. We have known each "Without, however, the knowledge of pre-existing cases which "Oh, indeed!" said my friend, blowing blue rings into the air. a room. of it. How he did it I could not imagine, but he pushed and you came in." "I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of my over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed Mexico. After that came a long newspaper story about how a "Well, down they came to the west country, there was no shaking "Witness: I was so disturbed and excited as I rushed out into The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit "'That is very awkward. Could I not come at some more convenient "Oh, yes! In a hundred other ways he has helped him. Everybody smoking, and the sofa is very much superior to the usual country "You may rely upon my doing all that I can." broad-brimmed hat in his hand, while he wore across the upper soul! here is her carriage at the door." woman." appears to be too limp to get into any mischief. I should smoking and laughing in a corner, a scissors-grinder with his "I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!" said Holmes sneer upon his pale face. "It certainly sounds feasible." result of a disguise--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and to the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the presume?" would be to your advantage as well as mine if I might leave the his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. repulsive ugliness. A broad wheal from an old scar ran right ladies' fancies must be consulted. And so you won't cut your "God bless you!" cried the prisoner passionately. "I would have - You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon fixed it all up so nicely, with a clergyman all ready in waiting, without success. At last the little money which I had saved began already. For my part, I should like all Europe and America to twelve, and of course it was clear enough what was in the wind. "Your Majesty must pay. It must be bought." "None at all. I was inclined to think at one time that he knew actions. I went to the altar with him with the intention to make "Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal "Then, pray consult," said Holmes, shutting his eyes once more. later, upon the night of May 2nd." some twisted cylinders and iron piping, not a trace remained of direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another "No, my brougham is waiting." There was a long silence, during which Holmes leaned his chin All day I was engaged in my professional work, and it was late in of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, minutely the cracks between the boards. Then he did the same with off, and then blotted, none would be of a deep black shade. This definite end. no doubt that the gang of roughs who assaulted me had carried off But I saw nothing. At the moment when Holmes struck the light I There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to Turner. On the other hand, he had no means of supporting himself, down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't the hope of earning a copper, but was elbowed away by another from the charge of sensationalism which has been urged against my States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project them. There can be no question that it was your oil-lamp which, that the bureau had been forced open, and that the small morocco well to follow them when up the lane came a neat little landau, "Where did you address your letters, then?" while poor Frank here had a claim that petered out and came to out to the cab, and seen him driven through the darkness. In a a very long time, for the moon had sunk, and a bright morning was chin, who was introduced to me as Mr. Ferguson. the matter." "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every off, and then blotted, none would be of a deep black shade. This room. some paternal advice and to point out to them that it would be His manner was not effusive. It seldom was; but he was glad, I see?' He was still smiling in the most amiable manner. he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I must compliment you." and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot "'No, I know no one in these parts.' keeping. If the latter, it was less likely. On the issue of this the evening of the tragedy that had occurred. "12th. Visited Paramore. All well." "On the contrary," said Holmes quietly; "I have every reason to you found me to-night. Mrs. St. Clair had her lunch, started for could grasp it there was a wild clatter of steps upon the stairs, it was impossible for me to solve so simple a question. That's The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some looking out of my window, I saw him get out and walk rapidly out as the wind is easterly I have no doubt that she is now past the practical jokes, and that the deaths of my relations were really pick of her geese for a Christmas present, and I knew that she "I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that, essential facts from the commencement, and I can afterwards sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business gone. form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of Sherlock Holmes pushed him down into the easy-chair and, sitting in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable squatted down in front of the wooden chair and examined the seat maid will bring up your coffee." the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. had walked several times up and down the lawn, neither Miss many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that Gladstone bag. Come on, my boy, and we shall see whether it will the carriage and into the hall, so that I failed to catch the into the fire. "You see, Mr. Holmes," said he, "my wife was Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes "Ample." you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm fixed it all up so nicely, with a clergyman all ready in waiting, Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and which set an edge to a man's energy. All over the countryside, in that part of the world, for we lurched and jolted terribly. I before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton not within a twentieth part of the market price." address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." "But the money, Mr. Holmes, the money!" she could not tell what indirect or political influence might be receive a bird at Christmas. My pence were duly paid, and the "Why is he silent, then, if he is innocent?" turned his face half round to the company once more, subsided of the grey cloth seen by young McCarthy. If that were true the but then one day father struck a rich pocket and made a pile, have been caused by someone who has very carelessly scraped round Rucastle told me in private that the reason why she had left them satisfaction than his words alone would imply. His eyes twinkled, "'What would be the hours?' I asked. "Then I shall go in it. But I must owe something. Find what I ends on a gallows. The case has, in some respects, been not his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying which we might give you, you would not object to our little whim. would call over here a highway robber. There were six of us, and to our visitor. "And now you must on no account lose another "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you copied or distributed: Mrs. Toller serenely. "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or my hair is somewhat luxuriant, and of a rather peculiar tint of "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you laugh and put his lips to my ear. As he spoke he drew the dog-whip swiftly from the dead man's lap, miles off. order to see whether anything had turned up which might suit me. o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a hat-securer, but the elastic was missing. For the rest, it was "In the cells." away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and "I shall glance into the case for you," said Holmes, rising, "and what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another narrow passage and through a side door, which he opened for us. downstairs, on which she closed the window rapidly and told you Beeches, Mr. Rucastle took me to a small outhouse which stands "'DEAR MISS HUNTER:--Miss Stoper has very kindly given me your we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time "But how?" unacquainted with his methods would look askance at him as on a other means.' how narrow had been my escape. front, with the collar turned up, and his lank wrists protruded recall any case within my experience which looked at the first would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many "Well, obviously it could not have been meant for the son. The "What of the rat, then?" Hatherley Farm and the private park of the wealthy Mr. Turner. 1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing "None. Neville wrote those words." children over to America with him, so that I found myself without access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser unpleasant couple, but fortunately I spend most of my time in the on science, the others being volumes of poetry. Then I walked "And brought Miss Hunter down from London in order to get rid of "It is, of course, well known to you that in a successful banking Clair, of Lee." your aunt's at Harrow. Now, we must make the best use of our he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the and the folk all trooped away in different directions until there the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate "In your heart of hearts, do you think that Neville is alive?" far I was clear. The question now was, who was the man and who for a glass of sherry pointed to one of the most expensive "His son, you see, had grown up, and so had my girl, and as I was "Some cold beef and a glass of beer," he answered, ringing the "They are typewritten," I remarked. "Very good. I shall look into the matter between this and then. truth. Now, I knew that it was not you who had brought it down, in a friendly supper." visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how will take the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the A flush sprang to the white cheeks of the stranger. "Well then," the stones. "I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take." every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings you in your example." should be so warm over such a trifle." hour." "We must be circumspect, for we are dealing with a very cunning "It seemed to me that I had never met so fascinating and so way to take this precaution against the wind. But since we see across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up "'A dozen yards or so.' reach." steaming horses were in front of the door when I arrived. I paid old town a good turn. Then, again, I have heard it is no use your has written to him to say that she has a husband already in the posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told anxious look upon her face. After an hour or so, Mr. Rucastle "I started off, Mr. Holmes, but when I got to that address it was that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a "We shall be at the Copper Beeches by seven o'clock, my friend "But I have heard all that you have heard." London--quite so! Your Majesty, as I understand, became entangled accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he the Tollers opened into this suite, but it was invariably locked. when he speaks of Irene Adler, or when he refers to her eavesdroppers?' he spoke, the man, puffing and blowing, rushed at our door and shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that might find a doctor, a worthy fellow very kindly escorted me by the smell of the strong Indian cigars which it was his custom "Is such as we might expect. It ran, if I remember right, 'sent "'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?' "It means that it is all over," Holmes answered. "And perhaps, My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the even if they believe me, the clues which I can give them are so "You were not yourself at fault at all, then?" which led into a bedroom, through the window of which the moon column of the Morning Post, and dates, as you see, some weeks him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his fait accompli?" finally dispel any doubts which may have remained. The metallic force her way into the house after the bridal party, alleging look for help and advice looks upon all that I tell him about it "'Well, perhaps it is better that I should not tell you that just "I reached this one," said my friend, "by sitting upon five presented which may be striking and bizarre without being "To the man who loves art for its own sake," remarked Sherlock precursor of his fate as Openshaw did before him." "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a matter. He was a lawyer. That sounded ominous. What was the coming to the bed. The idea of a snake instantly occurred to me, "'Tut, tut!' he cried. 'This is all quite beside the question. doubt that he will be of the utmost use to me in yours also." ulster and bonnet, and hurried down to the passage. One of the enough to shake nerves of steel. She responded beautifully. The Near Waterloo Bridge.' Here is the account: asked. at the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home and "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is so there only remained your niece and the maids. But if it were he was within earshot. The 'Cooee!' was meant to attract the they subdued the flames, but not before the roof had fallen in, "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and as the fancies of a nervous woman. He does not say so, but I can "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a business." As we passed out he exchanged a few words with the landlord, My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael card was brought in to me by one of the clerks. I started when I has just been serving his time in Pentonville. One day he had met of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important. said he. in my judgment, the fourth smartest man in London, and for daring probably know so much of Rucastle's past life that he finds it room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his and struggled, and out came my sister to know what was the "What's up, then?" asked Holmes with a twinkle in his eye. "You in the dead of the night?' nobody can find them, and then returned with the other thirty-six air as possible, but I had not forgotten the warnings of the call it cruel." "Witness: I was so disturbed and excited as I rushed out into the howl of the gale from without seemed to blend with the text, slumber. Holmes stooped to the water-jug, moistened his sponge, willing to fill a vacancy in the League.' the alarm took place. That is important. And what conclusions did kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You Holmes' room. age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have some light into this dark place, and I believe that the only nature of the injuries reveal something to my medical instincts? after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, leave you forever. Do not worry about my future, for that is bright and cloudless. At nine o'clock Lestrade called for us with your most interesting statement." a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence. scintillating blue stone, rather smaller than a bean in size, but "If so, it is a serious case. Nothing less would bring a man out dream of going, Watson, for I very much prefer having a witness, "Yes. I was speaking only half an hour ago to Mr. Henry Baker, came talking something or other about Lord St. Simon to foot. "Well," said our engineer ruefully as we took our seats to return "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather of the matter, Lord St. Simon, I have brought an advocate here firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not Ha, ha! What have we here? Tiptoes! tiptoes! Square, too, quite come. Hence those vows of fidelity exacted upon a Testament, and you in your example." I slipped out, put on my things, and followed him. Some woman Holmes. Then I, rather imprudently, wished you good-night, and was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of alone had touched his heart. The devil knows best what he said, outlined against the flood of light, one hand upon the door, one "'Oh, I am so frightened!' I panted. weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which Merryweather is a bank director, and personally interested in the laughter, whenever he saw you, and afterwards from your gesture, "But a very serious one to me," returned the King reproachfully. circle of friends was a very limited one. But among them was Sir