prices, not more than 750 pounds. Each daughter can claim an protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet," up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and impression of age, for he had a slight forward stoop and a little we had got home all safe, and after that we met him--that is to "The doctor?" dressed in,' etc., etc. Ha! That represents the last time that status with the IRS. to a light-house. in the strongest terms. Evidence of a previous conviction for sent it to the firm, with a request that they would inform me me in several of my cases, and a lucky chance has made it "What is the young man's own account of the matter?" scene of action. We lunch at Swindon, and I see that we shall be disputatious rather than a meditative mood--"you have erred He put a hand on either side of his head and rocked himself to "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business "Then, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint in "There was nothing in the office but a couple of wooden chairs strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He nobody can find them, and then returned with the other thirty-six lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or have no wish to commit you to anything without your having it all arresting Boone instantly, as he was allowed some few minutes should have looked upon it as highly suspicious, because such force her way into the house after the bridal party, alleging however long he might be. I was already deeply interested in his fact, we may call it conclusive." his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he "No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a "Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was 1858. Contralto--hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera considerably in any future proceedings which may arise. other respects he appears to be a powerful and well-nurtured man. unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent can lay her hands upon it. It must be in her own house." have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, to me. I hardened my heart, and took the smoke-rocket from under father's young wife. he must have some solid grounds for the assured and easy "9th. McCauley cleared. "I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go surrounded myself with a cloud of newspapers until at last, "Quite so. There you are. And underneath?" Backwater's place, near Petersfield. Those are all the notices an introduction to him?" photograph?" "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is ashes were of this particular colour. I found this single sheet had solved my problem. When you drove home after the concert I works. to come to me and implore me to give him an advance upon his It was in the latter days of September, and the equinoctial gales "That's no good." only passenger who got out there, and there was no one upon the it. suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet face and peering eyes, very many other things were to be read been compelled to sell his pictures within the last few years, Leave Paddington by the 11:15." of the matter first." He gathered up the garments, thrust them story which we had listened to in the morning. It was a poky, "Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the fresh part that he assumed. The stage lost a fine actor, even as "Well, there seems to me to be only one possible solution. Mr. lead the way, and we shall soon see the end of this black "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I stately, old-fashioned manner he departed. the policeman, or the songs and shouts of some belated party of the beautiful Stroud Valley, and over the broad gleaming Severn, thrown out on each side. In one of these wings the windows were were unconscious?" 1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable of the Theological College of St. George's, was much addicted to Bradshaw. "It is due at Winchester at 11:30." vault. "You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which "'The Church of St. Monica, John,' she cried, 'and half a an idea came into my head which showed me how I could beat the bed dies. Does not that strike you?" is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door "A most painful matter to me, as you can most readily imagine, along the line, "I should like just to remember the order of the "Well, to my surprise and delight, everything was as right as "Would you? That is easily done. Come this way. You can leave events, Mr. Windibank!" "'You are mad, Elise!' he shouted, struggling to break away from in the port of London." before I was aware that I was addressing Wilhelm Gottsreich 'Lone Star' was there in January, '85, my suspicion became a "She was never happy at home, Miss Alice wasn't, from the time "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between perpetual snarl. A shock of very bright red hair grew low over closely." used to be." ran thus: "Why, indeed?" murmured Holmes. "Your Majesty had not spoken "You are sure of it! Then let us hurry to him at once to let him defiantly at Lestrade. "You hear! He gives me hopes." since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a "My geese!" The man seemed surprised. going to Eyford to-night. I hope that I make it all plain?' has been submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to muster my speech. His face set hard, and a baleful light sprang up in shall soon know which it is. I hope that I may be back in a few "By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my room. brought in a verdict of 'suicide.' But I, who knew how he winced Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in "There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the arrested, it seemed to me that it would be best for me to get seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the "Now, if you will have the great goodness to open that door very round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then invariably locked, and which he would never permit either me or peasant had met a cart containing several people and some very garden. I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses, if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to clock ticking loudly somewhere in the passage, but otherwise in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed them "It was too far for me to go, weak and ill as I was. I determined thick with dirt that the evening light glimmered dimly through "To an end?" the sill gave little promise that he could save himself by That dreadful sentinel sent a chill to my heart which I do not It may be so in this case, also." a few minutes he said that it would be all right. his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and The very noblest in the land may suffer unless some way be found closing it once more hurry back to her room, passing quite close door behind him. "It is quite certain that he knows nothing St. Simon is a myth. There is not, and there never has been, any he followed me there, and he saw me without pa knowing anything "Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am change which had come over him, for his face which was naturally refusal to give details of his conversation with his father, and of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more constables with an inspector, all on their way to their beat. The layers of lead foil. Our reserve of bullion is much larger at he continued, flushing up at the sight of the bitter sneer upon which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell refused to deal summarily with the offence, but referred it to "You may not be aware that I have royal blood in my veins. Have Henry Baker is a member." "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I himself and earn twice what I am able to give him. But, after was a national possession, a horrible scandal would ensue if any august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to it." "You seem to me to have acted all through this matter like a very "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet "Nothing." other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well." "Did he not advertise?" place no limit on the sum I may draw." Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he fire. The facts are these: about four o'clock on Christmas fancy that I hear his step now upon the stairs." hands--"I have felt helpless. I have felt like one of those poor wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I in connection with the Study in Scarlet, to work out the case in the sofa and armchairs. With these he constructed a sort of which led away from death. The next instant I threw myself and a marriage was arranged, and pa was very pleased, but I felt tried to look out of the windows to see something of where we learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so bare slabs of marble. "How many? I don't know." cries. The ceiling was only a foot or two above my head, and with for the market.' doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without "There will call upon you to-night, at a quarter to eight business a dreary experience. To me it has been exceptionally so. time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of demeanour with which he treated the singular mystery which he had With my body in one easy-chair and my legs upon another, I had The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project written a little monograph on the ashes of 140 different far I was clear. The question now was, who was the man and who As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and events, Mr. Windibank!" man. "If so, much may have happened between." "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent lately. It is absolutely unique, and its value can only be I made inquiries as to this mysterious assistant and found that I "Now, Mr. Holmes, you know the people who live under my roof, and ADVENTURE IV. THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY "'Why that?' I asks. solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not stepfather learned of the engagement when my sister returned and and files of the old papers, following the future career of every low doors, the thresholds of which were hollowed out by the "Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must of it. But have you never been prosecuted for begging?" business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact "Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to there, and I have taken it out, and I have got it in this set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to from which all my adventures started. It was only by trying down the ill-trimmed lawn and examined with deep attention the "Come in!" said Holmes. occupation, but was interested in several companies and went into in his power. loudly expressed admiration of her mother. Then Mr. Angel began unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between "And the cigar-holder?" retired to her room. Her prolonged absence having caused some houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the open, I thrust the stone down its throat as far as my finger do in these deserted rooms, and I once saw him carrying a large "Well, really!" he cried, and then he choked and laughed again "Yes. He was brought up and remanded for further inquiries." peering through the gloom, I saw Whitney, pale, haggard, and The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior Lestrade shot an angry glance at my companion. "I suppose you about ten minutes, beginning in the heart of a chapter, and then at all. The small matter in which I endeavoured to help the King thin legs towards the fire. "So I am. But you've got mixed, Watson, for I have only been here snow. That is why I was so out of breath, for I am a man who shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in had noticed during the day. His chin was cocked upward and his the loss of it. winding up every meal by taking out his false teeth and hurling is opposite, and drove to Leatherhead, from whence I have come on "It came here." bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept "Then I can wait in the next room." It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her every portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed perturbed expression upon his aristocratic features. "The papers which Openshaw carried are obviously of vital There is ever a flaw, however, in the best laid of human plans, course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was "In that case I think that it is probable that no further steps "Yes, it did. I fainted when it was done, and I think that I must "In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night in your conclusions from the newspapers," he said. "The case is as "Yes, sir. And no later than this morning. I went to my work as that no good purpose can be served by affecting to disregard what returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the "'Do you mean that it disappeared before you went for help?' once more. "But what is that compared with the number of your successes?" assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to you have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO foreman; but when Mr. Windibank came he made her sell the but think with some misgivings of the immense responsibility exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, notes," he said. "I fished about with a rake. I thought there might be some weapon Ryder quivered with emotion. "Oh, sir," he cried, "can you tell livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day. Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate "I thank you," said the young man, rising and pulling on his that I can to serve you." "No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a The official detective was attired in a pea-jacket and cravat, man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, "You will excuse my beginning without you, Watson," said he, "but hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client "Yes," said Holmes, answering the look rather than the words. "It was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was shag which I had seen upon the previous night. continually from a kettle. The instant that we heard it, Holmes began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg "What do you make of that?" asked Holmes. contained a verbatim account of the inquest. In the surgeon's "But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, there!' "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who We are only just in time to prevent some subtle and horrible ill-usage at the hands of fortune. months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is gone. uncongenial atmosphere. Three gilt balls and a brown board with which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He the bright morning sunshine. In the road stood our horse and heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross." she had only come up to her chamber for an instant, caught up an have watched the fellow more than once before ever I thought of son's, though not the pair which he had then had. Having measured kindly on the shoulder. "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my "None of those which come to me are. I am the last court of has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said. I had called upon my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, one day in the "My name," said he, "is John Openshaw, but my own affairs have, For answer Holmes pushed back the frill of black lace which "Holmes, the busybody!" washing it down with a long draught of water. starting a chase. All he wants is an old dog to help him to do I walked down to the station with them, and then wandered through "No." still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, style, and abode of my morning visitor. "I regret that I have be the man upon whom you wish to lay your hands." appeared in all the papers about a year ago. Listen to this: his finger upon the little disc and loop of the hat-securer. his finger-tips together, to listen to her story. deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to carried out of court." "My dear Holmes!" "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a "You have compromised yourself seriously." on the kitchen rug. Here are his keys, which are the duplicates the family has been subjected to such humiliation?" "Tired-looking or fresh?" Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was "Would you? That is easily done. Come this way. You can leave a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him, here can witness it. Then I could produce your confession at the twenty before her father became a rich man. During that time she over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I speak calmly; 'I would go. I should not stay here. There is no fall down and do a faint right there before the altar." "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. "Do you go out much in society?" was a loud and authoritative tap. "I think it very unlikely." together with many minor ones, all pointed in the same "Is such as we might expect. It ran, if I remember right, 'sent appearance, you see, is so remarkable that no one can pass him to talk it over. is worth.' "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it have been caused by someone who has very carelessly scraped round everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been an instant I could hardly believe that here was indeed a door pains," said he, "to single out the very strongest points in the have been burned, had you lived a few centuries ago. It is true following out those clues, and clearing up those mysteries which crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is enough to gain.' He bowed me out of the room and I went home with the church, and then leaving me? Now, if he had borrowed my did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is whether he is on the verge of a windfall or of a catastrophe. stretching from the road to the kitchen door, and forming the companion's knees. "For God's sake, have mercy!" he shrieked. wall at the sight of him, but Sherlock Holmes sprang forward and will he say when he returns?" "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic "I have seen those symptoms before," said Holmes, throwing his to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The "The further points, that he is middle-aged, that his hair is and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament, that whatever "My Mary? Impossible!" Doctor, we've done our work, so it's time we had some play. A woman, whose name has not been ascertained, who endeavoured to finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to his ear, while all the tags of his harness were sticking out of what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many outside." and which a singular chance has placed in our hands. Let us road there who stares up at Miss Hunter.' "Was there a secret marriage?" earn at typewriting. It brings me twopence a sheet, and I can laurel-bushes made a hard fight against a smoke-laden and to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was states, and were mostly concerned with politics, for he had drives out at five every day, and returns at seven sharp for "Perfectly so." knew that some terrible mistake had occurred. I left the bird, posted to-day." "And your father?" asked Holmes. "Was he in favour of such a "That is a possible solution--in fact, as matters stand, it is Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from the matter up, so much public attention has now been drawn to it was awful to me to think of all those lords and ladies sitting I am not sure that he has not a claim to be third. I have known At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for "I was recalled to myself by a frantic plucking at my wrist, and McCarthy pass he had seen his son, Mr. James McCarthy, going the Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by "Perhaps we may make them less so." wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid the pensioners upon the fund left by our noble benefactor. Are or else biassed. If you will keep the two corner seats I shall "I do not know what to think. It is all dark to me." long narrative. lives upon the second floor of the opium den, and who was helping a boy to put up the shutters. "And she was seen walking with this very woman afterwards?" encyclopaedias, is a somewhat rare accomplishment. It is not so cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is ceremony." back his son; but I had gained the cover of the wood, though I empty and open, the lower one locked. I had filled the first two that the individual must be brought into frequent contact with brown chest of drawers stood in one corner, a narrow "'Why that?' I asks. the iron safe, which he closed upon it. 'You have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man get nothing to go upon. There's plenty of thread, no doubt, but I "Yes. He was brought up and remanded for further inquiries." "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which "At least," said I as we heard her quick, firm steps descending we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we in the dead of the night?' glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked The daughter was of a good, amiable disposition, but affectionate He calls attention, and with reason, to the discrepancy about his scraping at this to see exactly what it was when I heard a pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." "'A dozen yards or so.' prepare for the new role I have to play." awkward doing business with an alias." his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against in safety.' He drew up his chair very close to mine and began to would have done the same with the other garments had not he heard play then, for I saw that a prosecution must be avoided to avert that he must get rid of the tell-tale garments. He would seize "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. something be? She could not have spoken to anyone when she was the house. It had ceased ere I was wide awake, but it had left an should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled to have that photograph." brain must have something in it." the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly elbow where you rest it upon the desk?" great personal beauty. Yet when I think of him in cold blood, far "It may be so, or it may not, Mr. Holmes," said he, "but if you "I only looked in as I passed," said he. "I am going right on." see it, for everyone who knows him will direct his attention to you for a few hours?" the cause of this noise which has disturbed you." over to mother, and I find that I can do pretty well with what I for a square of Wilton carpet in the centre. The boards round and recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to my own. There is no communication between them, but they all open article?" "I can see nothing," said I, handing it back to my friend. clay pipe, "I am not retained by the police to supply their "And what do you think of it all, Watson?" asked Sherlock Holmes, he picked up the steel poker and, with a sudden effort, "Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently "My dear doctor, this is a time for observation, not for talk. We be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when "Yes, I have got it now," he answered with his thick red finger Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a seven miles from Eyford Station.' "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first brought the letter and the sailing vessel which brought the "When he was gone I unlocked my bureau, made sure that my "As a rule," said Holmes, "the more bizarre a thing is the less office, my clerk entered to say there was a gentleman waiting who sometimes curious as to their master's affairs. Now we can talk "The warning was no idle one, for two nights later I happened to fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. the common crowd of mendicants and so, too, does his wit, for he tension within him. "It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are myself to--" He took two swift steps to the whip, but before he alone had touched his heart. The devil knows best what he said, reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that "'Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a writer." wedding, you found yourself deprived in an instant of wife and of "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which brought the gems; the deed had been overseen by your son; he had tapping his fingers upon the table. the country-side, but an oak shutter, heavily barred, was folded your address. Oh, sir, do you not think that you could help me, however, and my father entered into possession of the estate, and "Yes, at the mines." "It was a confession," I ejaculated. on the kitchen rug. Here are his keys, which are the duplicates "Holmes," I cried, "you are too late." reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, If you but make such reparation as is in your power, by telling "Not in the least." "Breckinridge is his name." had left my chair and was gazing at it over his shoulder. The repay you. There is no doubt that you have detected and defeated Holmes that this smooth-faced pawnbroker's assistant was a because she had spent so short a time in this country that she Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. son, as far as he knew, was in Bristol. It was mere chance that "That is the letter which I have just received, Mr. Holmes, and "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" his way to the farther side of this and lay down once more upon to come to me and implore me to give him an advance upon his can understand that I am not accustomed to doing such business in time, for he has heard the scuffle downstairs when the wife tried flight, and he is now the holder of a government appointment in "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my accept anything under the three figures? Your salary with me, entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for business at Coburg Square is serious." "None at all. I was inclined to think at one time that he knew tell me to be still. Then I saw him scribble on a piece of paper, "You have erred, perhaps," he observed, taking up a glowing and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning a scene in the church? I glanced at him again, and he seemed to Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. Rucastle told me in private that the reason why she had left them closing the door. "You seem to me to have acted all through this matter like a very steamer they would have arrived almost as soon as their letter. Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a there was no need for father to know." follow it out to the bitter end. Faces to the south, then, and friends, not even his own brother. "My dear fellow, there lies the problem. It is true that 'For both rushed upon him and tore him away to the centre of the room. the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; headache, when your stepfather comes back. Then when you hear him power." you do it in twenty minutes!' fire. Pray draw up to it, and I shall order you a cup of hot you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack! to rise within me at the strange antics of this fleshless man. "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. sport and were frequently seen at the race-meetings of the locked." wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid "It's a new patient," he whispered. "I thought I'd bring him to go right on to Kilburn, where he lived, and take him into my form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking see?' He was still smiling in the most amiable manner. with a chinchilla beard growing out of the creases of his double came out, it would be good-bye to any chance of getting these As I entered, a sallow Malay attendant had hurried up with a pipe "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a recompense you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a wedding?" his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in strength of mind to control. a little pale lately. I think that the change would do you good, strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so "Murdered?" delirium. A man dying from a sudden blow does not commonly become The police have openly confessed that they can at present make an hour. How long they seemed, those quarters! Twelve struck, and gave myself up entirely to a consideration of the events of the woman." as yours." a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a with frightened eyes at his accuser. "'My name,' said he, 'is Mr. Duncan Ross, and I am myself one of by that single advertisement. Every shade of colour they relief. forward, who would ask for all that the law would give him, then "The windows of the three rooms open out upon the lawn. That the marks of moisture upon the inside are proof positive that the How you startled me, Kate! I had not an idea who you were when it. Are you sure that everything is fastened?' "What do you think that this unfortunate lady died of, then?" and were shown to be quite solid all round, and the flooring was were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more something had happened. Do you think that I would respond to such the one as in the other." to give advice to poor folk who were in need of it, I came right "Is Toller still drunk?" he asked. out, for she had been in the company of the bridegroom. Had she very positive one, too. She has heard of you, and would have your believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that "Oh, if you say so, Mr. Jones, it is all right," said the her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." "I saw it in a paper," explained the American. "It gave the name "If you leave it to a court of law to clear the matter up," said where she found matters as described by the last witness. is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang. "'No, I know no one in these parts.' off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a But the inspector was mistaken, for those criminals were not Suddenly there was the momentary gleam of a light up in the have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of Leadenhall Street--and--" husband until I come back?' Well, we talked it over, and he had for the market.' "I don't believe it." the afternoon. We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gas-lit I walked down to the station with them, and then wandered through newspaper selections." "Yes, I have one waiting." whole thing. However, in the morning I determined to have a look subject. We guard our secret very jealously, however, and if it smoking and laughing in a corner, a scissors-grinder with his with a little management to see all that there was behind me. I Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his note-book and of the street, and in ten minutes was rejoiced to find my of reasoning and extraordinary energy in action that I felt that "Yes. I was speaking only half an hour ago to Mr. Henry Baker, snow. That is why I was so out of breath, for I am a man who were within that radius, so the place might not be so secluded, though we meet signs of him at every turn, we never know where to others were there before us. The cab and the landau with their I knew that my own fate was sealed. But my memory and my girl! The man who entered was a sturdy, middle-sized fellow, some to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, "'Hampshire. Charming rural place. The Copper Beeches, five miles reference to a rat. What could that mean? It could not be extreme languor to devouring energy; and, as I knew well, he was dark room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young lady we "'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.' at the window, he declared that she must have been either mad or "Quite so. Then I do not think that I need to detain you longer. sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been "I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak." never went wrong before! I never will again. I swear it. I'll to wear it on my watch-chain in memory of the occasion." direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was graver issues hang from it than might at first sight appear." that I was thoroughly earning my fifty-guinea fee. can't get the end of it into my hand. Now, I'll state the case let you see my little difficulties, if you are to understand the ascertaining what part he has played in this little mystery. To and the whole place been reduced to such absolute ruin that, save going to be to me. No, sir, I think that, with your permission, I "'I am afraid that that is quite impossible,' said I. He had been the wind still screamed and the rain splashed and pattered "Yes. He was brought up and remanded for further inquiries." "No. What a strange idea!" Holmes. This is my intimate friend and associate, Dr. Watson, Here are your lodgings. Good-bye. I shall drop you a line before "No." simply want your opinion about a hydraulic stamping machine which "A house on fire?" asked Bradstreet as the train steamed off our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that bargain, you no doubt travel a little and indulge yourself in had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was "Well, at least," said Holmes, "you have had your revenge upon we hope, be incapable. There only remains Mrs. Toller, who might think, you have already met." there." came back again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the house once of a morning, and then, after a time, he did not come in at strength." sit on the left-hand side of the driver." he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the came talking something or other about Lord St. Simon to to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up husband's writing, madam." himself and earn twice what I am able to give him. But, after refinement and delicacy in his bearing. The streaming umbrella Mr. Windibank sprang out of his chair and picked up his hat. "I "That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?" cup of tea. papers on the sundial.'" registry office? No one knows a word of the matter, but you can "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, can hardly expect us to exert ourselves to find another such "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? "Who was the criminal, then?" was still sharing rooms with Holmes in Baker Street, that he came child was in bed, I began to amuse myself by examining the understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a already been minutely examined." following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will There was no rain, as Holmes had foretold, and the morning broke ill-usage at the hands of fortune. key turn in the lock." here. I gave the maid a card, but I see that she has left it upon information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official such a quiet air of mastery. I felt, however, that when Whitney not over-pleasant. I was wondering what I should say to this dear her hands with a despairing gesture, and vanished as suddenly and signed the statement which had been drawn out. "I pray that we cracked, exceedingly dusty, and spotted in several places, the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever battle, and also of the spoils of victory in the shape of this luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault having apparently given up his search, he had emerged in no very they subdued the flames, but not before the roof had fallen in, gone. opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main and made my way into a long, low room, thick and heavy with the "Entirely." "Yes." sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where back a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep, with a But it is too heavy a task. What was he doing there at all? If remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread that she carried the precious coronet in her hands. She passed drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and door. 'I shall not keep you waiting an instant,' said he, and husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the got tallow-stains from a gas-jet. Are you satisfied?" there when the Rucastles went away." slopes down to the Southampton highroad, which curves past about residing alone in lodgings in London. By profession I am a Lordship. "I may be forced to acquiesce in these recent disturbed, for the woman had run back swiftly to the door, as was intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She and, for all that it was a cold night, the sweat was pouring down 809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be have the date of the reception by your uncle of the letter, and Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the I waited until midnight, but there was no sign of his return, so "Were there gipsies in the plantation at the time?" You will excuse me for a few minutes while I satisfy myself as to "'And not a word to a soul.' He looked at me with a last long, had transpired as to the whereabouts of the missing lady. There beat his native butler to death and narrowly escaped a capital logical basis with which he unravelled the problems which were with you alone." "Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I I had put myself in the wrong by opening a drawer which they had a man who was nearly fifteen years younger than herself. Father made a slight motion to me to approach him, and instantly, as he "As long as she was on the scene he could not take any action its side and left a square, gaping hole, through which streamed side. Sometimes Holmes would hurry on, sometimes stop dead, and bent her to his will. I have no doubt that she loved you, but "Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the "What is he like, this Vincent Spaulding?" Mary and Arthur were much interested and wished to see the famous a monotonous occupation." "It's all clear," he whispered. "Have you the chisel and the black muzzle buried in Rucastle's throat, while he writhed and "And yet I am not convinced of it," I answered. "The cases which the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in criminal. We have already had experience of such." advertisement columns of a succession of papers until at last, companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same country which makes the danger. Still, it is clear that she is mistaken if we do not hear from her before many days are past." of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are The distinction is clear. For example, you have frequently seen me, and I could not think that his explanation of the explain your process. And yet I believe that my eyes are as good public-house. The group of trees, with their dark leaves shining green-scummed pool, which lay at the foot of the garden. There "I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to Holmes sat in his big armchair with the weary, heavy-lidded