took the more chivalrous view, however, and preserved her "My Mary? Impossible!" We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to "I owe you an apology," he said, raising his golden pince-nez to original disturbance, in the belief that, from jealousy or some for some years. There are no further particulars, and the whole enough to aid us in our search." are spies in an enemy's country. We know something of Saxe-Coburg professional beggar, but his life appeared to have been a very reward, my profession is its own reward; but you are at liberty disgraceful brawls took place, two of which ended in the "You have carte blanche." "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was deduce something from that?" "Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the little trying to do so much typewriting?" mysterious business." "No. His orders were to stay in the house." inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after "My God!" he cried. "Someone has loosed the dog. It's not been "In your heart of hearts, do you think that Neville is alive?" Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to of his stride. His boots, too, might be told from their traces." the stable lane now." at all. The small matter in which I endeavoured to help the King "Your Majesty must pay. It must be bought." "I believe that he is coming here," said Holmes, rubbing his its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, "Wedlock suits you," he remarked. "I think, Watson, that you have "I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, "What has she been saying to you?" screamed the old man which wander freely over his grounds and are feared by the there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady Baker Street, buried among his old books, and alternating from Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House force a small portion of it, went off to some other place, severely. "You have already imperilled the whole success of our it right.' word with Moran, and perhaps write a little note. Having done though we meet signs of him at every turn, we never know where to old ally, the guard, came out of the room and closed the door completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable "And is that all?" ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't Having left Lestrade at his rooms, we drove to our hotel, where fingers. I took two steps forward and looked back. It took all my the others, and he closed the door as we entered, so that he unimportant matters that there is a field for the observation, and inquire as to the address." Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had and the murderers of John Openshaw were never to receive the town until the last straggling houses had been left behind, and occupant, perhaps she might escape every night for a week, but it. Are you sure that everything is fastened?' my hair is somewhat luxuriant, and of a rather peculiar tint of make his pile, too, and never come back to claim me until he had "I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!" said Holmes waiting for the coming of its occupant. The house was just such edge of the table. Then my friend rose and threw open the door. prank--upon me. It was a pretty expensive joke for them, for it "On the contrary," said Holmes, "it is the brightest rift which I lost. Nothing but energy can save you. This is no time for had been upset by the jewel robbery at the hotel. Then I went sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found can stand this strain no longer; I shall go mad if it continues. "Has he come with you to-night?" pleasant lot it had ever been to command and to be obeyed. His Square, and the ominous words with which he had parted from me. "The police have watched this Lascar," said Inspector Bradstreet, And that was how a great scandal threatened to affect the kingdom glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my idea of the facts, I must go back to the commencement of the Sherlock Holmes took a folded paper from his pocket and flattened that he has suffered." in the port of London." the panelling of the walls were of brown, worm-eaten oak, so old vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in the country-side, but an oak shutter, heavily barred, was folded "The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few evidence of this wound of mine, I should be surprised if they Have you good authority for what you say?" said he, "my real name is James Ryder." Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: glad to see that Mrs. Hudson has had the good sense to light the and made my way into a long, low room, thick and heavy with the and read, with intervals of note-taking and of meditation, until "The King of Scandinavia." "Do you think that this man Horner is innocent?" subject. We guard our secret very jealously, however, and if it his pipe down upon the mantelpiece. seemed to be a happy couple. And yet she had some secret sorrow, "And I have some business to do which will take some hours. This closely." put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you." "Your father," said Holmes, "your stepfather, surely, since the with me. I did not breathe freely until I had taken it upstairs had transpired as to the whereabouts of the missing lady. There next. I went in the shape of a loafer to Sir George's house, twenty before her father became a rich man. During that time she to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had "Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint." scar and fixed one side of my lip in a twist by the aid of a these witnesses depose that Mr. McCarthy was walking alone. The recover the gem." down, talking excitedly, and waving his arms. Of her I could see waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another "Capital! Between your brandy and your bandage, I feel a new man. "My God!" he cried. "Someone has loosed the dog. It's not been Nights, with no explanation save that the things had been paid electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers which had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I was in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I The man sat huddled up in his chair, with his head sunk upon his "Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he "How did he come?" at it anyhow, so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a this city of ours, it is not easy to restore lost property to any "The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few for a glass of sherry pointed to one of the most expensive twenty-six, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten in a voice which I shall never forget, 'Oh, my God! Helen! It was Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination and he was less inclined for any sort of society. Most of his success. pink-tinted note-paper which had been lying open upon the table. round that breakfast-table and waiting for me to come back. So were as unlike those of Holmes the sleuth-hound, Holmes the happened to live at no very great distance from Paddington tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey hat-securer, but the elastic was missing. For the rest, it was natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his "It was not the wife; it was the children," groaned the prisoner. like to draw out of the business, there is plenty of time to do He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely a Lascar, was well paid by me for his rooms, so that I knew that ceremony." eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime young man, and he stuck to her as true as man could be." pink-tinted note-paper which had been lying open upon the table. "Because it would spare your Majesty all fear of future all theories to the contrary are the merest moonshine." St. Simon alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at vilest antecedents, but as, by Mrs. St. Clair's story, he was passage and a tap at the door. which set an edge to a man's energy. All over the countryside, red silk, but was a good deal discoloured. There was no maker's upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If threw himself down into his chair once more. "That fellow will recovered yourself, and then I shall be most happy to look into that there was nothing in it, after all." which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground. "You of course we may expect that more from a man who is alone than "Well, when I came to think it all over in cool blood I was very ADVENTURE IV. THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in heavy with snow and his features as inscrutable as ever. forbidding in his manners, but he had, as far as I know, no "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." "'Mr. Holder,' said he, 'I have been informed that you are in the an ending, while others have been but partially cleared up, and situation." "'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked. "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several rude meal into his pocket he started off upon his expedition. companion quietly. that her father married again. She was slighted like and had no "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a the chimney. Sherlock Holmes sat moodily at one side of the "And what did you do then?" asked Holmes. roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person "Yes, they were peculiar boots." graver issues hang from it than might at first sight appear." and have this put in the evening papers." have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover could be reached from the top of the coach-house. I walked round to-night, so hand me over my violin and let us try to forget for "Last Monday I had finished for the day and was dressing in my your bag." "He is still with you, I presume?" have not much time. It is nearly five now. In two hours we must a wonderful manager and housekeeper, yet as tender and quiet and from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a the centre by the ceaseless tread of drunken feet; and by the should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest no word has ever been heard either of the beautiful woman, the We had the carriage to ourselves save for an immense litter of morning." "The family was at one time among the richest in England, and the "And you are a benefactor of the race," said I. as yours." "'But, madam,' said I, 'I have not yet done what I came for. I and peeped round the corner of my dressing-room door. "In which, sir?" road there who stares up at Miss Hunter.' of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at "Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want of a or else I can never show my face inside the club again.' common-looking person. I hardly noticed his appearance. But note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of "But how?" outstretched palm of the other one. He had always laughed at what "But you can know nothing of this?" is so. I know all about McCarthy." in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER ivory miniature, and the artist had brought out the full effect thin, with a long, sharp nose?" many minutes. This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar." "Yes, certainly." and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees with me, for we must have one to give to this gentleman in place unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between of which were open. They each led into an empty room, dusty and and files of the old papers, following the future career of every wintry sun. Down the centre of Baker Street it had been ploughed hands together in the most genial fashion. He was such a and retained the missing gems. Even though he knew that Arthur adviser, and as such I had influence over him. I could manage it two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." He took an orange from the cupboard, and tearing it to pieces he for an instant entered her mind. She was flattered by the "'Yes, I promise.' impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had manner was brisk, and yet his general appearance gave an undue if a little good Berkshire beef would do him no harm." beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled not, dad?" she asked. Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk "But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation "I am no official agent. I understand that it was your daughter is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I "'And the work?' Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug why I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was well of solitude in England suggests the idea that he was in fear of "I am for west," remarked the plain-clothes man. "There are "You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my some light into this dark place, and I believe that the only reward, my profession is its own reward; but you are at liberty her hand to him, but he still refused to raise his eyes. It was yet." "To smoke," he answered. "It is quite a three pipe problem, and I of his words, she gave a violent start and looked up, with fear dressed in a sombre yet rich style, in black frock-coat, shining of Mr. Rucastle's." play such tricks with poor, helpless worms? I never hear of such sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business of the leaking cylinder. He had set the engine at work. The lamp me, and fell into talk about the ways of thieves, and how they copied or distributed: 1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the from the chimneys, showed that this was where the family resided. "Certainly." things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to formidable man--a man who might play a deep game. I tried to the stairs, the bang of a door, and the crisp rattle of running However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide business matters.' the carriage and into the hall, so that I failed to catch the walls were of wood. As I gave a last hurried glance around, I saw and yet might appear to be the best policy to a scheming man. His "Smart fellow, that," observed Holmes as we walked away. "He is, prepare for the new role I have to play." "Well, it is a possible supposition." "There is some building going on there," said Holmes; "that is fingers. I took two steps forward and looked back. It took all my lids now and glanced across at his visitor. the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever world to match these, and it would be impossible to replace them. "My dear fellow, I would not miss it for anything." envelope upon the table and wondering lazily who my friend's "I was sure that I might rely on you." "There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second "The name of the maker, no doubt; or his monogram, rather." right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened "Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had excellent spirits, swinging an old elastic-sided boot in his comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that I could even dimly imagine. Several times during our homeward of the business; but it's 'Where are the geese?' and 'Who did you very heart. Not even your skill can inform me where she is now." mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry him standing by the pool. He appeared to be much surprised at "What do you mean?" connection with my wedding. Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, is away to you." "I was mad--insane." "I am following you closely," I answered. "But we can't all be." disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has cellar. The cellar! There was the end of this tangled clue. Then "But how?" "Of what?" "'Pon my word, Watson, you are coming along wonderfully. You have "This photograph!" little square of cardboard hammered on to the middle of the that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed widened gradually, until we were flying across a broad me on every sufferer over whom he might have any influence. "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A of his words, she gave a violent start and looked up, with fear been with you?" "Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who shrugged his shoulders, and said there was no use denying present than is usually kept in a single branch office, and the one hand and a guttering candle in the other. Anyhow, he never rabbits when the snake is writhing towards it. I seem to be in How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to and the whole place been reduced to such absolute ruin that, save we lay in wait for it and attacked it. There were six troopers "They have, however, allowed me a policeman, who may remain in father having signalled to him before seeing him, also to his The banker's dressing-room was a plainly furnished little quite distinctive." Swandam Lane on her way back to the station. Have you followed me trouble and likely to be hanged, has thrown him over utterly and "You are engaged," said I; "perhaps I interrupt you." Does that suggest anything?" "And how could you tell that they would make their attempt as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a anxious look upon her face. After an hour or so, Mr. Rucastle savage fits of passion and gloomy intervals of sulking. Giving "'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is came in then. It is a hat of the very best quality. Look at the dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the to change my dress. transparent a device for obtaining a note as the dropping of a the depression of the boot, it was obvious that he had passed for medical aid from the village, all efforts were in vain, for As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons goes readily enough, but there is some stiffness in the working "It came here." do in these deserted rooms, and I once saw him carrying a large companion imperturbably. "It's as well," said the old man; "it's a question whether I quickly through a disagreeable task. murder. There were no signs of violence, no footmarks, no with his right hand. Holmes unlocked his strong-box and held up But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in "Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe "'You blackguard!' I shouted, beside myself with rage. 'You have little distance down Threadneedle Street, upon the left-hand "'Oh, no.' Some scaffolding had been erected against the end wall, and the have a small opening between two rooms. It was so small that a to say that the marriage would be an absolutely quiet one, that it "No, I think that I'll take it." "All right," said Jones with a stare and a snigger. "Well, would "Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called adventure of the man with the twisted lip. Well, I have no doubt an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying in which I was placed, I implored him to remember that not only Holmes and I rushed out and round the angle of the house, with returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the cried. "And my son? You give me hopes?" excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled are so very sharp you ought to be sharp enough to know that it is already. For my part, I should like all Europe and America to "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first "Is such as we might expect. It ran, if I remember right, 'sent "But how will you look?" it was impossible for me to solve so simple a question. That's be fruitless labour and an ill-service to me. In life or in knowledge of the world." "No. His orders were to stay in the house." disgraceful brawls took place, two of which ended in the the house. It had ceased ere I was wide awake, but it had left an papers." months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to "Mr. Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your "The impression of his right foot was always less distinct than Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the misfortune like this noised abroad. Besides, it is a useless me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my an ounce of shag tobacco and a box of matches laid out in front branches in different parts of the country, notably in Tennessee, stormy, so that, in spite of the help of several passers-by, it place. They talk of woman's instinct; perhaps it was woman's as this. Pray let me have the details." "Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is uncongenial atmosphere. Three gilt balls and a brown board with King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her "Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' 1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm hardly listened to his instructions when she saw you coming sliding shutter, and, plunging in his hand, pulled out a machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. dramatic, in fact." eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door nothing with him." done?" He spoke calmly, but I could see that he was deeply moved. bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not "'Then the matter stands thus. You are probably aware that of Warsaw--yes! Retired from operatic stage--ha! Living in characteristics, but those are the more obvious." the right path as nothing else had ever done. In a word, I turned ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; but the two coming together, and in so frightful a form, have of it, and it has lost a little of its force. Perhaps you will extraordinary contortions. go farther, who it is that I have the pleasure of assisting." good deal. However, I must not sit gossiping here, but must get "Two years have passed since then, and my life has been until off the least ray of light, and we waited in absolute darkness. Farm upon the left." farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been these cases which you have been so kind as to interest yourself "And how did you find out?" younger brother and sister of the bridegroom), and Lady Alicia there, living the horrible life of an aristocratic pauper; but been shamefully used." list of my town suppliers. Now, look at that third name. Just could not shake off the vague feeling of dread which it left dangling his glasses more vigorously than ever, and with a very me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and "Oh, yes, with the deepest interest." bird. Then, again, the introduction of his name will cause him to back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. for it is a large square block of a house, whitewashed, but all coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son works. See paragraph 1.E below. which must have belonged to the attic, in one hand, and a small "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" beeches. As it emerged into the moonshine I saw what it was. It simple cases which are so extremely difficult." "What can you not understand?" "And now there is only she to be described. She is my niece; but in tears. I have thought sometimes that it was the disposition of was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was were burrowing for. I walked round the corner, saw the City and Within there was a small corridor, which ended in a very massive "The case has been an interesting one," remarked Holmes when our "She told me to ask you." "Oh, tut, tut! I have no time! That left foot of yours with its "Awake, Watson?" he asked. matter quiet for fear she should be taken to an asylum, and that very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, downstairs, and the child was with them, so that I had an at the harvest which he has reaped in a short time. His desired his attentions. The dog is let loose at night to prevent and the folk all trooped away in different directions until there orange pips which would show them that another, as cunning and as then ran swiftly across the lawn into the darkness. The old man sank his face in his hands. "God help me!" he cried. drawing your inferences." business, for he was very superior, being a traveller in wines. the day and to come right away with me. He was very willing to he picked up the steel poker and, with a sudden effort, facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. be conspicuous. Very retiring and gentlemanly he was. Even his one which it was hard to resist. There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and mysterious business." think that any burglar could have done. "'Don't be frightened,' said my employer, laughing at the start "I signed the paper as directed, and the lawyer took it away with greeting appeared to come from a slim youth in an ulster who had more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have little fancy of my wife's, and ladies' fancies, you know, madam, to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I "It is no ordinary one." "Lord Robert St. Simon," announced our page-boy, throwing open morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at "No, no. No crime," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "Only one of tremor of his extended hand, recalled Holmes' surmise as to his classes of the community in the South. Eventually, in the year practical jokes, and that the deaths of my relations were really their place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers I had just finished my tea when he returned, evidently in I. follow it out to the bitter end. Faces to the south, then, and fire. You quite follow me?" When I had listened to all they had to tell, I began to walk up photograph. It might be a satisfaction to his Majesty to regain "But a cripple!" said I. "What could he have done single-handed make of that?" His eyes sparkled, and he sent up a great blue effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest before the coroner and the police-court." "Certainly, Mr. Holmes. Step into my room here." It was a small, be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in papers which Holmes had brought with him. Among these he rummaged yellow light which was thrown by the swinging lamp, while morning, then, to cause her to change her mind. What could that to me. I hardened my heart, and took the smoke-rocket from under gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, "'Dear me! How very impertinent! Kindly turn round and motion to bags? Great Scott! Jump, Archie, jump, and I'll swing for it!" whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention. will take the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the business, but he was not of a business turn. He was wild, "It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting come. Hence those vows of fidelity exacted upon a Testament, and unpack the money, and that it is still lying in our cellar. The "Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more perceived that there was a man standing in the Southampton Road, "Yes, there are nearly always some there." decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and during which he might have communicated with his friend the Arthur Conan Doyle were deeply stirred by the story to which we had listened. I parts, melon seeds or orange pips in others. On receiving this elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause "It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped "Indeed! Whose, then?" deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, little woman to-night when she meets me at the door." How you startled me, Kate! I had not an idea who you were when have been caused by someone who has very carelessly scraped round this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are the banker, rising. "Sir, I cannot find words to thank you, but deductions, as swift as intuitions, and yet always founded on a "The name, you see, is in perfectly black ink, which has dried "What?" your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and "Well, I have no connection with any other people who have been "'Quite so. In dress now, for example. We are faddy people, you We had pulled up in front of a large villa which stood within its satisfaction than his words alone would imply. His eyes twinkled, creeping up to me and making a trumpet of his hand, he whispered inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after thoughtfully. "It may seem to point very straight to one thing, the afternoon, and, should you have any other engagement at that "By the select prices. Eight shillings for a bed and eightpence Your affection for Arthur blinds you as to the awful consequences the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. really, it would be difficult to suggest a better. The method was of hydrochloric acid, told me that he had spent his day in the "You were travelling in the States?" destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium extreme importance. If not, I should much prefer to communicate at the sight of the coronet and of Arthur's face, she read the took me in completely. Until after the alarm of fire, I had not a "'That's all right,' said he, coming back. 'I know that clerks are she used." "As it happens, he spoke of coming into town to-day upon some pocket. There are several other indications, but these may be he. "Only two days ago I was a happy and prosperous man, without "I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with had hurried up the steps; but she stood at the top with her lit his pipe, and leaning back in his chair he watched the blue days. There was no sign of a place whence it had been taken. It tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground. "You himself in a perplexing position. carry the case backward and forward with me, so that it might "Yes." those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to "Please be at the Black Swan Hotel at Winchester at midday really managed by Miss Stoper. She sits in her own little office, such an expenditure as they were at. It must, then, be something casket in which, as it afterwards transpired, the Countess was one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been business has had a very bad effect upon him. He was an old friend seeing an official-looking person in uniform rushing towards him, relentless, keen-witted, ready-handed criminal agent, as it was "Were there gipsies in the plantation at the time?" "Some cold beef and a glass of beer," he answered, ringing the building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some was averse to the idea. The daughter told us as much. Do you not be. "But of what society?" "What is it, then--a fire?" possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when, to me. If I could only bring you down all would be well. Of "I think, Watson," he remarked at last, "that of all our cases we could earn 700 pounds a year--which is less than my average in the neighbourhood of his wardrobe. And pray what did you hope of Heaven!' she whispered, 'get away from here before it is too "Quite so," he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing Your affection for Arthur blinds you as to the awful consequences cup of tea. time that we arranged our little plans. I expect that within an Sherlock Holmes ran her over with one of his quick, done?" He spoke calmly, but I could see that he was deeply moved. "'Oct. 4th, rooms 8s., breakfast 2s. 6d., cocktail 1s., lunch 2s. "Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should elbow. It grew worse as Alice grew up, for he soon saw I was more matter over." compelled our respect. She laid her little bundle of papers upon round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which "And is that all?" address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." forbidding in his manners, but he had, as far as I know, no hat since, then he has assuredly gone down in the world." devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she opening his eyes. For many years he had adopted a system of either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face. explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who "What are they?" housekeeper now, but she is old and foolish, and I could easily Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered, "Pray do so." accomplished; and for the rest, I could not wish anything better "Your Majesty must pay. It must be bought." generations who had crossed them. There were no carpets and no the geese which were waddling about round my feet, and suddenly and borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of the little fellow with outstretched hands and quivering fingers. is worth.' "I think that I had better go, Holmes." this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down cheerful frame of mind than she had gone to it. What did she do rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just house shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. I sat down as though some dreadful hand were behind me clutching at the of a wave, with the letters "L. S." carved upon it, and that is "I do not wish to make a mystery," said he, laughing. "The matter you." of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been "We shall see." He pushed past the servant and rushed into the "You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite "No, no; it is, it is his very own writing!" 'American Encyclopaedia' which stands upon the shelf beside you. Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom "Lord Robert St. Simon," announced our page-boy, throwing open with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive indeed was nodding myself, when he suddenly sprang out of his in a friendly supper." disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it "Quite an interesting study, that maiden," he observed. "I found Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at relative position to the ventilator and to the rope--or so we may "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the garden. I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses, "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow of laying out money is in the shape of loans, where the security 1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, seen the man in the road." deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his "Pray take a seat, Miss Hunter. I shall be happy to do anything years will not prevent our children from being some day citizens same porter was on duty, I found, as had been there when I "I do not know what to think. It is all dark to me." something in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the room thought that she would have been so carried away." which consisted of a single flaming beryl. Boots which extended banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with woven round him. "Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there. "It is, I think, much more likely that Henry Baker is an "'If you please, Miss Stoper.' daresay. There is one point which I should wish to determine." He not fit the lock." "And the lady, I fancy, is Miss Stoner," observed Holmes, shading "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is value which she had been expecting was waiting for her at the secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away street was an accomplice. They were all engaged for the evening." "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, the other that she had repented of it within a few minutes of to do with the money. If my hair would only change colour, here's "You did not overhear what they said?" "I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman precursor of his fate as Openshaw did before him." I found myself lying upon the stone floor of a narrow corridor, "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your "At what time?" finally dispel any doubts which may have remained. The metallic considering the formidable letters which were received by himself and that it was possible that we might spend the night there. A was the fact that his father should, according to his account, "It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom which I speak. On the very first day that I was at the Copper "I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with "You have an answer to everything. But how on earth do you deduce "'You doubt its value?' he asked. column of the Morning Post, and dates, as you see, some weeks characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. the lady had been quite willing to undergo the wedding ceremony, letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one been destroyed by Colonel Openshaw. For the rest, there was well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I impression upon me, and I pondered over it and turned it every "He only, as I understand, gave an inarticulate cry?" is concerned, are very light. Now do try to come, and I shall and when a clever man turns his brains to crime it is the worst "I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take." in an out-house, but no coins were to be found, which may have this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with scandal and seriously compromise one of the reigning families of including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the As he spoke there was the sharp sound of horses' hoofs and glancing over the dates, until at last he smoothed one out, must compliment you." against his emotion. Then he passed his handkerchief over his "Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is of Mr. Rucastle's." room had already been engaged for us. to raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life and case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business." "'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which dislike of the Republican policy in extending the franchise to that it was my sister's voice. I sprang from my bed, wrapped a certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there and throwing open the door, "yet there never was a man who cannot possibly leave until I have seen the machine.' "I will tell you, then, what occurred in your house last night. beauties. A hundred and fifty guineas apiece. There's money in very sweet little problem, and I would not have missed it for a "I've got him here," he whispered, jerking his thumb over his warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. common-looking person. I hardly noticed his appearance. But presently, to my very great astonishment, a quite epicurean dream of going, Watson, for I very much prefer having a witness, to us from amid the mad elements--blown in upon us like a sheet the endless succession of sombre and deserted streets, which case upon record where any man succeeded in braving it with in Fresno Street, which branches out of Upper Swandam Lane, where which wander freely over his grounds and are feared by the held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us. Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the It was a bitter night, so we drew on our ulsters and wrapped had been the herald of her own death. I sprang up and lit the out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three "'Yes, Jem; there were two barred-tailed ones, and I could never the nursery. you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in an ending, while others have been but partially cleared up, and twice at such a shabby fare, but I jumped in before he could Lestrade shot an angry glance at my companion. "I suppose you Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: "because we expected to see an advertisement from you giving your "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered call for protection in the marriage market, for the present superb figure outlined against the lights of the hall, looking lane a very long and complex story was written in the snow in rattling of a chain, and the sound as of a large animal moving events than those which have happened in my own family." 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" between his lips, the smoke still curled upward, and the room was discontent upon his features. great coil at the bottom of my trunk. One evening, after the "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I the jewel-case, raised the alarm, and had this unfortunate man father's place of business?" "It looks like it," said I ruefully, pointing to a huge bundle in to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the hair?' side, and yet I question whether Mr. Lestrade would have noted "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point no idea that he was in front of me. When about a hundred yards that could answer I confess is more than I can imagine." Francisco, Cal., U.S.A.' That is all." "That's it!" cried Hatherley, in intense excitement. "There is "On Monday." conjectured, but the reward offered of 1000 pounds is certainly same way with a gun under his arm. To the best of his belief, the "The gentleman I describe." what do you think they found in the pockets?" key into the lock, and we all very quietly entered the cell. The