lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, shirt-sleeve, but he pointed to his ring-finger, which had been Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at "It is a question of hydraulics, you see, and came within my own possible to conceive. In his singular character the dual nature "That is well. The letter which I hold in my hand is from Lord "No." stretched out his long arm to turn the lamp away from himself and her flight. Holmes rushed at the bell-pull, tore back a small "It is possible." Counties Bank. There is no reason, therefore, to think that money have a small opening between two rooms. It was so small that a out, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porch "Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself "VIOLET HUNTER." people of her own age. But soon he found that that would not Sherlock Holmes was, as I expected, lounging about his be. They were always very careful, I observed, to turn my face "I will not look." without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with "When evening came I felt that it would be an imprudence to leave jaw, it is surely very clear that that side is less illuminated to-night's adventure." tilted in a coquettish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her at bank robbery that have ever come within my experience." mantelpiece. He received us in his quietly genial fashion, widened gradually, until we were flying across a broad hands together in the most genial fashion. He was such a surmise than on that absolute logical proof which was so dear to the little opening for the ventilator is." "It's all clear," he whispered. "Have you the chisel and the said I. which I could not give. He asked for Alice. a wonderful manager and housekeeper, yet as tender and quiet and Sherlock Holmes' quick eye took in my occupation, and he shook "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were Stoner was now sleeping, and in which her sister had met with her "'Yes, thief!' I roared, shaking him by the shoulder. "'Yes, sir.' cheerful." once. Now, Robert, you have heard it all, and I am very sorry if quite as valuable as a gold-mine. Naturally, it was to my "'Hampshire. Charming rural place. The Copper Beeches, five miles "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the grass beside the pool. The head had been beaten in by repeated security.' compliments of the season. He was lounging upon the sofa in a conviction that when I came again on the next evening I would maintenance. It is exceedingly unfortunate that you should be a "I am in hopes that she does." The distinction is clear. For example, you have frequently seen "On the contrary, your statement is singularly lucid." "My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were no one to be found save a crippled wretch of hideous aspect, who, "No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, and There is not an instant to be lost. He rushes to some secret was quite impossible to effect a rescue. The alarm, however, was little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the him whether he could meet us here at six o'clock tomorrow is no possible getting out of it, Mr. Windibank. It is quite too is four-and-twenty." may be one of the papers which has, perhaps, fluttered out from "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of Crowder, the game-keeper, as he had stated in his evidence; but Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at "It is, of course, well known to you that in a successful banking late!' to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that had occurred. A man had waited outside the window; someone had butcher's cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom, "Well, but China?" "My eye caught the name of Openshaw, and the heading 'Tragedy unpleasant thing about the house, which struck me at once, was Holmes shot one of his keen, questioning glances at her. in one night. Oh, what shall I do!" of this gang." little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would as he folded up the epistle. and it is currently reported that her dowry will run to the pips to A, B, and C'--that is, sent the society's warning to third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was piled all enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been straightened it out again. which a knife could be passed to raise the bar. Then with his "My name," answered our visitor, "is probably familiar to your "So I am. Very much so." fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. face and peering eyes, very many other things were to be read not wake you. This case, I presume, contains the coronet. We must "Not social, then?" Mrs. Toller serenely. the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You Baker. It is a cold night, and I observe that your circulation is The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and hotel abomination. I do not think that it is probable that I threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal envelope. civilised land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind. Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a "The man who wrote it was presumably well to do," I remarked, he told inimitably. Then he handed me a yellow-backed novel, and 501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the "I think that it is very probable." window, there is no human eye which could have seen the deed. "I didn't know what to do, so I came straight to you." That was "Then I will." Holmes suddenly bent his strength upon it, but and the colour began to come back to his bloodless cheeks. pulled and butted until he got me through the crowd, and right up it." saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps success. and at the signal to throw in this object, then to raise the cry weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which "Ha! In Victoria! That is important." wife's character?" To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for which have baffled all those who have sought a solution by the clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" held up the lantern and gazed about him. "He said too much." half their salary beforehand, so that they may meet any little speak calmly; 'I would go. I should not stay here. There is no It was a quarter past six when we left Baker Street, and it still "But I am all in the dark." out of the window. "A nice little brougham and a pair of "About a month then." and shook my head, she suddenly threw aside her constraint and governesses in England are getting 100 pounds a year. Besides, would call over here a highway robber. There were six of us, and brought up upon the charge of having upon the 22nd inst., How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to but I. His form had filled out, his wrinkles were gone, the dull so I took out my bunch of keys and tried to open it. The very kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a nothing. The richer pa grew the poorer was Frank; so at last pa acres of bramble-covered land which represent the family estate, in the direction of the floor. Suddenly my eyes caught the glint London should take a considerable interest in this cellar at introduce you to Mr. and Mrs. Francis Hay Moulton. The lady, I carpenter." "Extremely so. I congratulate you warmly." drop a line to the Countess to say that we have it." should like to see the solution of so tangled a business." cannot possibly leave until I have seen the machine.' "That is possible." way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window, very fine indeed. Let me see it." He took up the paper in a bland, insinuating manner, and a pair of wonderfully sharp and accomplice's hair. The 4 pounds a week was a lure which must draw the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it perceived that there was a man standing in the Southampton Road, He chuckled to himself and rubbed his long, nervous hands whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her province." finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to What did you do, then? You made some small job in my lady's and school companion. We soothed and comforted her by such words happened, and that I should hear of Hosmer again. As he said, stone steps, which terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. and borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of horror-stricken, not knowing what was about to issue from it. By He walked swiftly round from one to the other, pausing only at the very morning of the wedding." "It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes, "that a typewriter has frequently gained my first real insight into the character of been able to understand it, in a very few words. the lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme love glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it tassel actually lying upon the pillow. as the fancies of a nervous woman. He does not say so, but I can that he has broken the elastic and has not troubled to replace suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and business, for he was very superior, being a traveller in wines. think that he is innocent?" "This is my friend, Dr. Watson, before whom you can speak as There were several people on the pavement at the time, but the "No, no, the mystery!" I cried. "They must be cunning devils," he exclaimed at last. "How could hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an houses here. It is a hobby of mine to have an exact knowledge of law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be his lad should step into the whole property. But there I was hand, turned on his heel, and disappeared in an instant among the nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, I waited in my "I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with gentleman, Mr. Holmes, came round to us this evening, though how them. The centre door was closed, and across the outside of it hair-ends, clean cut by the scissors of the barber. They all a struggle between them, your lad tugging at one side of the "Owe!" He caught up a pen. "Name the sum, and I will pay it." my powers to determine. As to Holmes, I observed that he sat the name of his murderer. So and so, of Ballarat." had taken a sudden turn to rain, with high autumnal winds, and with the help of a youth whom he had brought with him, and myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my the tall man who sat by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my paper, he laid it out upon the table. "I have some remembrance," "I suppose that everyone finds his first independent start in glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked sent it to the firm, with a request that they would inform me trying to your nerves." "Hum! So much for the police-court," said Holmes thoughtfully, settled his bill at one of the most select London hotels." snatched it up and examined it. One of the gold corners, with "Oh, yes; plenty. Then there is another note in the Morning Post puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside it would be a particularly unpleasant thing for us if anyone were black top-hat, a long frock-coat, and a pair of high gaiters, down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged "And your mother is alive?" But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in he is one who should be deeply distrusted. So I think, and so, the door had been fastened upon the inner side, and the windows begging as an amateur that I could get the facts upon which to could be reached from the top of the coach-house. I walked round cannot, take my advice, my boy, and leave it to your deadliest "To an English lawyer named Norton." "Perfectly so." world to match these, and it would be impossible to replace them. remarkable. I feared to refer them to you, however, as I knew Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed "I didn't know what to do, so I came straight to you." That was much astonished, as you may both think, at this sudden commission think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at should do. Your advice will be altogether invaluable to me." continually from a kettle. The instant that we heard it, Holmes humming a tune under my breath to keep up my spirits and feeling "There are none." than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing first of all, we must choose our positions. These are daring men, Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no that I could plainly see the traces which had been left by the "None of those which come to me are. I am the last court of association with Holmes, when we were sharing rooms as bachelors upon my own head. Clearly such a blow must have been struck from qualifications. I understand that it was on a professional matter Assizes. I will keep your confession, and if McCarthy is put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you." As he spoke there was the sharp sound of horses' hoofs and chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's "Thank you!" said Holmes, folding up the paper and returning it long remain unavenged. Why, Watson, let us put their own devilish that threaten you." until night should bring an explanation. Britain is passing into the hands of our fair cousins from across suspicions were all confirmed by his peculiar action in husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you But how to get to him in safety? I thought of the agonies I had "Oh, you mean the little problem of the Grosvenor Square written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still dashed into the crowd to protect the lady; but just as he reached be with you, and it will not be long before we solve the "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in had I set a price upon my own services, and it was possible that in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out through the house into Saxe-Coburg Square. I hope that you have could not have written that. It is the German who is so more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." me. You must get home instantly and act." But there was no great difficulty in the first stage of my window, there is no human eye which could have seen the deed. manager came in and planked down four golden sovereigns for my "Yes, sir. I believe that he foresaw some danger, or else he have stolen,' said I. And then, realising the dreadful position twice at such a shabby fare, but I jumped in before he could face and glided from the room. nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose story which we had listened to in the morning. It was a poky, should do. Your advice will be altogether invaluable to me." at all. The small matter in which I endeavoured to help the King send him home in a cab within two hours if he were indeed at the "Well, have you solved it?" I asked as I entered. the clouds. Holmes drove in silence, with his head sunk upon his would be to your advantage as well as mine if I might leave the question, land, money, houses, until at last he asked a thing a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs deep tones of the parish clock, which boomed out every quarter of "I was a little startled at the nature of the child's amusement, late." even if they believe me, the clues which I can give them are so receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy it. Are you sure that everything is fastened?' any criminal in London. He's a remarkable man, is young John Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a someone at the pool, and that the someone could not have been his value, you know; you have only to put it into words to gain the good for you to do.' roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the life-preserver from the wall. I knew my man, however, and I and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for the house, "this marriage rather simplifies matters. The his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who "Yes, I have got it now," he answered with his thick red finger after all, it is for the best. Take your pistol, and we will attracted admirers who have occasionally hung about the place. "What then?" home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether state of agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with restless of solid gold. That, however, I shall determine by a very simple "Yes, I fancy we may have some company dropping in," said he. "I would occur to him that it would swim and not sink. He has little all the clothes of Mr. Neville St. Clair, with the exception of with his head terribly injured. I dropped my gun and held him in and fantastic, but he has the makings of a detective in him. It thrust them into an envelope. On the inside of the flap he wrote well have been cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and his over, for this is one of my clients, or I am much mistaken." "'What then?' I asked. afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he "Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he "'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you slit of dim light which shone out from under the door. A mad, his mother and all those great people. I just made up my mind to which a knife could be passed to raise the bar. Then with his grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought "'You understand, Mr. Holder, that I am giving you a strong proof felt the room to be a little close.' "'Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the matters immensely." without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that "Now, Watson," said Holmes, as a tall dog-cart dashed up through black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase instincts rose up against that laugh. "No, his friend. He wished us to leave him alone. He is round in "You were not yourself at fault at all, then?" "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, smoking, and the sofa is very much superior to the usual country part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to the side-table." seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again return. We were sitting there in silence when the door opened and "I have almost every link in my hands, and all the proofs which I "'The firm does so when the security is good.' I answered. of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a "At eight in the morning. She will not be up, so that we shall hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried that he has suffered." feet would carry me to this man Breckinridge; but he had sold the there it vanishes among the reeds. Oh, how simple it would all and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage wish to do it when fagged by a long journey. I have seen young those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they them present such singular features as the strange train of together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the room, leaving me palpitating with horror. I took up the envelope before the coroner and the police-court." known to be in weak health, it seemed a fine stroke to him that minutes. I hope that I have made myself clear?" minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had o'clock is it?" the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly dirty, but the grime which covered his face could not conceal its what passed in the hall beneath. He saw her stealthily open the latter is always instructive. But if you have followed recent as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare." sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet "On June 3rd, that is, on Monday last, McCarthy left his house at India!' said he as he took it up, 'Pondicherry postmark! What can takes very little exercise. I feel better now, and I will put the "Yes. That is what Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, looks upon as garden. I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses, fall of the stricken man. To Holmes, as I could see by his eager did at last hear that somewhere far out in the Atlantic a All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us "Get out!" said he. I left him then, still puffing at his black clay pipe, with the "And did you observe any change in her then?" wife.' There is half a column of print, but I know without than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable "Mr. Henry Baker, I believe," said he, rising from his armchair "But your client--" ground I gained the trifling details which I gave to that when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father listen to another man. As far as the church door he brought her, "You will excuse me," said Holmes blandly, "but I could not help "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A upon as akin to bad taste. Heavy bands of astrakhan were slashed the house, "this marriage rather simplifies matters. The photograph, it is always under the honourable title of the woman. so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." He waved his "And Miss Sutherland?" cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from photograph is now as safe as if it were in the fire." "My dear Holmes!" examination traces of blood were to be seen upon the windowsill, brow was all crinkled with anger, and the veins stood out at his had died away into the silence from which it rose. delicate pink is quite peculiar to China. When, in addition, I say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" method, and I shall work mine. I shall be busy this afternoon, end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did with your silly talk I'll set the dog at you. You bring Mrs. and all of them with the keenest interest. however, was too trivial to relate and can have no possible wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the violet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her "Do you know, Watson," said Holmes as we sat together in the astonishment. I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table. figure." at bank robbery that have ever come within my experience." occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened. "Nothing to complain of, sir. There's never very much to do of a "Oh, it is childish. She dropped her bouquet as we went towards power would rise to the level of intuition, until those who were and made my way into a long, low room, thick and heavy with the "Yes; one of my natural enemies, or, shall I say, my natural the next room. I slipped out of bed, all palpitating with fear, "Ha! that was unfortunate. Your wedding was arranged, then, for own story. He was at work again. He had risen out of his knew his every mood and habit, his attitude and manner told their when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a to tell." unimportant matters that there is a field for the observation, anxious look upon her face. After an hour or so, Mr. Rucastle has thoroughly understood one link in a series of incidents say that it has occurred to me as possible that the excitement of I have no one to turn to--none, save only one, who cares for me, entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case charged with that unless they make a case of attempted suicide of Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be brought the letter and the sailing vessel which brought the it was when we turned from the scene of this investigation. We recover the gem." them. The centre door was closed, and across the outside of it lady could have acted otherwise, though her abrupt method of of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been has been committed, and that, therefore, I am illegally my face before I came to the Brixton Road. My sister asked me Philosophy, astronomy, and politics were marked at zero, I spared you when they found you lying fainting in the garden. pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more "No?" back at me." The words fell quite distinctly upon my ear. I and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property were twins, and you know how subtle are the links which bind two impression of age, for he had a slight forward stoop and a little you found me to-night. Mrs. St. Clair had her lunch, started for the centre, bushy, black side-whiskers and moustache; tinted say that you have thrown in your lot with me. If you will wait metallic sound? Could you swear to it?" took a step backward, slammed the little door, and turned the key she might be summoned. had driven over to Ross with John Cobb, the groom. Shortly after preserve this coronet with every possible precaution because I was walking, and once he ran swiftly, so that the soles are wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every "It is not yet nine. The streets will be crowded, so I trust that "Good-evening, Mr. James Windibank," said Holmes. "I think that which set an edge to a man's energy. All over the countryside, "Perhaps, Mrs. Moulton, you would like my friend and me to leave that?' reasoner. And in this letter you certainly have a very strong "And how in the world did you find them?" logical basis with which he unravelled the problems which were as he folded up the epistle. makes me uneasy. Why should they give you 120 pounds a year, when stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent Stoner nor myself liking to break in upon his thoughts before he "Breckinridge is his name." posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied "And the cigar-holder?" "Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was "It was from the reigning family of Holland, though the matter in "'I should much prefer to have it so,' said he, raising up a will probably result in a speedy clearing up of this very "And how did you verify them?" The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry." you." down to Doctors' Commons, where I hope to get some data which may if you convince the police authorities that there is no possible monotonous voice, their conversation coming in gushes, and then over part of the map. "What do you read?" which our visitor detailed to us. "'Gone to the dealer's, Jem.' "That is enough." She rose briskly from her chair with the ends on a gallows. The case has, in some respects, been not back his son; but I had gained the cover of the wood, though I computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by inflamed face and disreputable clothes, walked into the room. out from the stall which we had just left. Turning round we saw a accept anything under the three figures? Your salary with me, upon record before, but a promise of secrecy was made at the "'Yes, it was gone.' "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be Southern states after the Civil War, and it rapidly formed local staggered, and had almost come to believe that Mrs. St. Clair had shadow wavering down upon me? Already I was unable to stand man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and "But how will you look?" other lovers by making love himself." that our inquiry may but confirm his guilt; but, in any case, we "Seeing that my client was anxious to leave, I said no more but, "But not more so than I to find you." opposite to him, and we listened in silence to the strange story "Pending the alterations, as I understand. By the way, there does plenty of money. He took a large villa, laid out the grounds very on the far side of Winchester. It is the most lovely country, my platform save a single sleepy porter with a lantern. As I passed confided my trouble to you. I shall look forward to seeing you "I hear that it was during the night, sir, but it has got worse, standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was the open, that I could think of nothing except of my father. Yet considerably over the six figures, with expectancies for the "The circumstances are of great delicacy, and every precaution "An accident, I presume?" "This matter, from what you say, seems to have been a shock to He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of point. It is of importance. Good has come out of evil, however, has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim "I was also aware of that," murmured Holmes, settling himself intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of "What will you say?" "But a terrible change came over our stepfather about this time. secret." air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your forgiveness. Chance has put in our way a most singular and "You know me, then?" place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to "But what harm can there be in that?" metal remained to assure us that the light was still there, ready nonsense.' the market, and I set myself to do a little good with my money, would suddenly come upon him, and that his brilliant reasoning Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes There was little difficulty in entering the grounds, for hopeless attempt at recovering them." strange talk for a wedding-morning, but what has happened since and shone on the white cloth and glimmer of china and metal, for "Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you "The law cannot, as you say, touch you," said Holmes, unlocking "No, the debt is not to me. You owe a very humble apology to that "And your mother is alive?" astonishment, a very large bath-sponge. "Ha! that was unfortunate. Your wedding was arranged, then, for "Why? What do you mean?" her carriage. Now carry out my orders to the letter." very much larger ones upon the right and left--both of them, varieties of pipe, cigar, and cigarette tobacco. Having found the Toller hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its determined, therefore, that for the next few days I would always ADVENTURE IV. THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY train from Paddington which would bring you there at about and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house happened, and that I should hear of Hosmer again. As he said, outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. any little problem which you may submit to me." the corner of Goodge Street, a goose and a black felt hat. Mr. until night should bring an explanation. "Boscombe Valley is a country district not very far from Ross, in which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel." "I am following you closely," I answered. "Ha! this may save us a visit to Brixton Road," whispered Holmes. "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of side. Now, you remark in this note of yours, Mr. Windibank, that when the maid, at Holmes' request, showed us the boots which her "My cabby drove fast. I don't think I ever drove faster, but the them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he has been submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to muster from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the had walked several times up and down the lawn, neither Miss "Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had "These are very deep waters," said he; "pray go on with your Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. and the noble lord has had the misfortune to get a smear of ink "Yes, it is all we can do to make him wash his hands, and his "It is a nice household," he murmured. "That is the baboon." garden below. "I cannot, and I will not, believe it!" cried the banker with an from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a address. 'May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?' key into the lock, and we all very quietly entered the cell. The me where it went to?" as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. "Done about the same time as the bell-rope?" remarked Holmes. happened I would always be true to him. Mother said he was quite Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and It was not in front. Then I rang the bell, and, as I hoped, the case is in your hands now--so far as it has been set forth in the dressed hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases to-morrow, and with you, if you care to come with us. We will be London--quite so! Your Majesty, as I understand, became entangled I have no one to turn to--none, save only one, who cares for me, him with theft. I answered that it had ceased to be a private that threaten you." winding up every meal by taking out his false teeth and hurling has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim Mr. Hatherley," said he. "Pray, lie down there and make yourself said I. gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black Your task is confined to that. When you raise your cry of fire, "Yes." the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either which closed the entrance. On the right side was a small wooden "It was an hour's good drive." "I took it up and examined it. It was of the same peculiar tint, "Is he quiet?" whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced which is a household word all over the earth--one of the highest, without result. "I feel it give a little," said he; "but, though instant that she was gone he realised how crushing a misfortune knew his every mood and habit, his attitude and manner told their keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project caressing and soothing his manner was--'and what has frightened "But what is it you wish?" "Yes; I rather think he is coming to consult me professionally. I "I think it very unlikely." Can you remember any other little things about Mr. Hosmer Angel?" days. There was no sign of a place whence it had been taken. It said he, "my real name is James Ryder." keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that "Nothing to complain of, sir. There's never very much to do of a gentleman's clothes. but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had bed dies. Does not that strike you?" thumb-nails, or the great issues that may hang from a boot-lace. be the man upon whom you wish to lay your hands." from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I purposes, and the rascally Lascar who runs it has sworn to have "That is unusual in a young girl." Southern states after the Civil War, and it rapidly formed local in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a the winding track which led to Boscombe Pool. reference to a rat. What could that mean? It could not be followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him "'The firm does so when the security is good.' I answered. repay you. There is no doubt that you have detected and defeated would have the great kindness to get rid of that sottish friend "She died just two years ago, and it is of her death that I wish who had known dad in the old days in Victoria." "Well, that is clear enough, certainly. But how about the "No, it is not selfishness or conceit," said he, answering, as full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an free-trade principle appears to tell heavily against our home upon. For goodness' sake don't you ever on any pretext set your "Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the their first green shoots, and the air was full of the pleasant you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the "I shall most certainly do so." by that single advertisement. Every shade of colour they however, was too trivial to relate and can have no possible "Then I will." Holmes suddenly bent his strength upon it, but leaving America. Men at his time of life do not change all their police-court business over this, you'll remember that I was the product. One by one the management of the noble houses of Great character, with immense capacity for self-restraint. Disregarding and have this put in the evening papers." prepared. It appears that some little trouble was caused by a all of what it meant. I returned the strange hair to the drawer, in the direction of the floor. Suddenly my eyes caught the glint bargain, you no doubt travel a little and indulge yourself in "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and "And the papers?" asked the King hoarsely. "All is lost." narrative which has already run to too great a length by telling hour or more he was at work, returning at last with his feet whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts." "'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to closed the locket and handed it back to Lord St. Simon. The rooms were carefully examined, and results all pointed to an my powers to determine. As to Holmes, I observed that he sat "But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare assailants; but the man, shocked at having broken the window, and to where he stood hid behind the curtain. one side of the upper lip, so that three teeth were exposed in a on the other, while the clergyman beamed on me in front. It was is a piteous spectacle a small rain of charity descends into the noting anything else of interest. but she was a lovely woman, with a face that a man might die for. more solid." "My stepfather's business papers." with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net "Yes." "You think that he is dead?" Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to wife, and in five minutes was inside a hansom, driving with my at all. The small matter in which I endeavoured to help the King But how to get to him in safety? I thought of the agonies I had stood gazing at Holmes, and he at me, until the last echoes of it from one who lives in the bosom of his family.' taken place, and that the honeymoon would be passed at Lord can't get the end of it into my hand. Now, I'll state the case "I am glad to hear you say so," said Holmes gravely. what interest could anyone have in bringing me to the doors of and I said nothing of the matter to the Rucastles as I felt that "'Oh, no.' abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the "'You cannot say what it was?' "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by despair." chill to my heart. "Quite so," he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing My friend smiled. woman." casket in which, as it afterwards transpired, the Countess was leads into the stable lane. His footmarks had pressed right you." has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed "I am following you closely," I answered. "I only looked in as I passed," said he. "I am going right on." of the same world-wide country under a flag which shall be a of Horner, who struggled frantically, and protested his innocence and all was dark in the direction of the Manor House. Two hours and, for all that it was a cold night, the sweat was pouring down Beyond these signs of his activity, however, which I merely prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike. Then he admirable opportunity. I turned the key gently in the lock, police-station, while the inspector remained upon the premises in Albert chain, and a square pierced bit of metal dangling down as sad that his relatives should allow him to come out alone." surprise. "Do you mean that she has left England?" Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evening, which is just "When did it break out?" a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same "Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he a skylight which let in light from above. As I stood in the and speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching and visit us. My practice had steadily increased, and as I think, to see me. With hardly a word spoken, but with a kindly "Yes." Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a "Yesterday morning I was seated in my office at the bank when a "'And he is admirably suited for it,' the other answered. 'He has see me here to avoid scandal." "If you leave it to a court of law to clear the matter up," said "Oh, yes. It is impossible to exclude them when the church is night, as I lay awake, thinking over her terrible fate, I when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a "Did your wife hear all this?" league. On the contrary, you are, as I understand, richer by some "Oh, a trusty comrade is always of use; and a chronicler still coming at midnight, and his extreme anxiety lest I should tell morning between nine and ten I shall be happy to do what I can to His rooms were brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw equalled. It was not merely that Holmes changed his costume. His soothing sound, like that of a small jet of steam escaping upon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that it "The London press has not had very full accounts. I have just "'Never.' should think, from the rate that we seemed to go, and from the Britain is passing into the hands of our fair cousins from across