"'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.' charged with that unless they make a case of attempted suicide of eleven o'clock, to Duncan Ross, at the offices of the League, 7 tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we letters?" gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know serves me so well. There was a parallel instance in Aberdeen some wife is fond of a particular shade of electric blue and would "It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes, "that a typewriter has "9th. McCauley cleared. son only caught the last two syllables. He was trying to utter Lord Backwater, Lord Eustace and Lady Clara St. Simon (the "In mining. He had nothing a few years ago. Then he struck gold, before the coroner and the police-court." reconsidered your decision. My wife is very anxious that you building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural "I have seen too much not to know that the impression of a woman "All right," said Jones with a stare and a snigger. "Well, would his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it my brother, your father, whence it will, no doubt, descend to gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who "How many? I don't know." "No." her over in the minute and yet abstracted fashion which was know. The initials were, of course, of the highest importance, ashen white, while his lips and the corners of his nostrils were "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet both my hat and the bird. I did not care to spend more money in a followed. be conspicuous. Very retiring and gentlemanly he was. Even his "My cabby drove fast. I don't think I ever drove faster, but the held, that of Hatherley, was let to Mr. Charles McCarthy, who was in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the ashen white, while his lips and the corners of his nostrils were "When you see a man with whiskers of that cut and the 'Pink 'un' British peeress.'" "Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a outsides of the windows. "In heaven's name, what for?" strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He 1.F. asked. elastic-sided boots. Known to have been employed in an office in strongly built, sallow complexion, black hair, a little bald in guilty parties." "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, result of a disguise--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I "Is it possible?" gasped the banker. "That Miss Flora Millar, the lady who had caused the disturbance, was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was served upon me for 25 pounds. I was at my wit's end where to get coming to the bed. The idea of a snake instantly occurred to me, "None." What was this nocturnal expedition, and why should I go armed? "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to her hands with a despairing gesture, and vanished as suddenly and well have been cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and his I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, Walsall, where I believe that she has met with considerable success. doubt as to my conduct would bring the matter to an end." absolutely innocent man, who had no idea that the bird which he the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a building to Dr. Roylott's chamber?" "Then, for God's sake, what was this dark business which was "You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of discoloured patches by smearing them with ink. derives this from his smiling father, as I should suspect, or "I can see nothing," said I, handing it back to my friend. "'Why that?' I asks. turning in her direction and wondering what strange side-alley of pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure calling for my cashier, I ordered him to pay over fifty 1000 Doctor, of the paper and the date." how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal." from the schoolmaster. She is what we call in England a tomboy, prey. Briefly, Watson, I am in the midst of a very remarkable "This is a very unexpected turn of affairs," said I; "and what you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have Holmes sat in his big armchair with the weary, heavy-lidded detained." some advice. I was frightened of the house, of the man, of the "You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel." "As you both locked your doors at night, your rooms were speckled band?" which should have the effect of calling the attention of the I am staying with them. Of course, that is only just for the the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one "Quite so." "It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my for his hand was still raised to it as he entered. From the lower I am not sure that he has not a claim to be third. I have known "There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from short of 1100 pounds, is now, through the fall in agricultural little fancy of my wife's, and ladies' fancies, you know, madam, "'That is very awkward. Could I not come at some more convenient "Have they thought of looking outside the house?" green, unhealthy blotches. I tried to put on as unconcerned an abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the "And the cigar-holder?" "Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather as we followed them reason why he would not speak about it to the coroner was because "We must sit without light. He would see it through the a wonderful manager and housekeeper, yet as tender and quiet and "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, at their last interview, was goading him on to propose to Miss been forced before now, and why should not mine be? If so, how wife.' There is half a column of print, but I know without light revealed it to the victim. He had trained it, probably by say, Mr. Holmes, I met him twice for walks, but after that father been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly she had only come up to her chamber for an instant, caught up an Ross was. He answered that the name was new to him. who are anxious about the matter, and I should--" which we had just quitted. "Dirty?" his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle him to be an active member of the medical profession." reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting parents. Don't you see that the converse is equally valid. I have those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its as usual, but I found that Miss Stoper was not alone. A of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were The man who entered was a sturdy, middle-sized fellow, some Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter in every case there is some little slurring over of the 'e,' and have the goodness to look it over and to show us how we can set "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in admiration. "It is so long a chain, and yet every link rings and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage constable entered the house, Arthur, who had stood sullenly with my special province." towards the vacant chair upon which a newcomer must sit. A flush sprang to the white cheeks of the stranger. "Well then," from the ship last night. I had it from the stevedore who has "Is such as we might expect. It ran, if I remember right, 'sent Their papers they mean to have, be the holder of them who it may. his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he mysterious business." "One?" conceal it?" particular that had occurred, he tried to bluster and took down a it not for the ugly wound upon my hand, all that had passed silent! Oh, he will be silent!' "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when hesitating fashion at our windows, while her body oscillated wish to do it when fagged by a long journey. I have seen young way in." "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by down, waggled his head, and writhed his face into the most heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the ($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt his privacy. There was one singular exception, however, for he must be when I saw the door open.' PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE happened." process of deduction. "When I hear you give your reasons," I broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a so there only remained your niece and the maids. But if it were to my horror and astonishment, that my wife was standing in the where you should apply for particulars. As far as I can make out, 50,000 pounds at once. I could, of course, borrow so trifling a or else biassed. If you will keep the two corner seats I shall made a step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the love sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am surrounded myself with a cloud of newspapers until at last, "'Whatever were you doing with that bird, Jem?' says she. perceive that in your bedroom the window is upon the right-hand "What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and Sherlock Holmes, with his finger-tips together and his eyes to should be entangled in the same meshes which held me was more his outstanding bones. Yet this emaciation seemed to be his was once confined in the cab my mission was practically a desperate man. Though clear of mind and fairly strong of limb, knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed Rucastle told me in private that the reason why she had left them zigzag of slums to Covent Garden Market. One of the largest we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the "I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as "Why did you come away to consult me in such a hurry?" asked servitude unless we can establish his innocence. It is possible had seen in the duplicate bill. His letters were to be forwarded One morning, at a little before seven o'clock, I was awakened by absorbing." "'Yes, but with my back towards it.' questions as to how they should proceed to set it right. When I business as much depends upon our being able to find remunerative the night.' seat and was busy with his compasses drawing a circle with Eyford after the other. I followed them up and found they led to the to enter through the window when out from a clump of laurel was still sharing rooms with Holmes in Baker Street, that he came sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my "'Yes, sir.' your shoulder to it, and we shall see whether we cannot make our was his wont, my thoughts rather than my words. "If I claim full short of 1100 pounds, is now, through the fall in agricultural ashen white, while his lips and the corners of his nostrils were lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the flush upon his sallow cheeks and a nervous clasping and "Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked "I trust that we are not too late," said he. "I think, Miss "I think I could lay my finger on it," said Holmes quietly. Arthur Conan Doyle is of value.' Heaven forgive me for that last sentence, but the in town. But I shall return by the twelve o'clock train, so as to is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I that she had lost a handsome commission through my refusal. "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet connivance and assistance of his wife he disguised himself, on board of a ship. And now let us consider another point. In the was always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in nonsense.' "When you see a man with whiskers of that cut and the 'Pink 'un' this fail, I shall have recourse to other methods." someone who had been in Australia." "Is such as we might expect. It ran, if I remember right, 'sent daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable stump of a candle. Then he turned down the lamp, and we were left "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' time." with the most maddening doubts and fears, she rushed down the address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe an unmarried one reaches for her jewel-box. Now it was clear to mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless "Well, now, in considering this case there are two points about had no one to advise her at such a crisis." of yours I should be exceedingly glad to have a little talk with will be renamed. "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." madam, would commence at 100 pounds a year.' least a fellow-countryman. lost. Nothing but energy can save you. This is no time for affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I there, and I have taken it out, and I have got it in this her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice "He travels for Westhouse & Marbank, the great claret importers it is that I have received a letter from him to-day." that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. James's Hall I over her that the mere sight of him would induce her to change more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no "Mr. Henry Baker, I believe," said he, rising from his armchair habits. His rusty black frock-coat was buttoned right up in silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the "'The family of Lord Robert St. Simon has been thrown into the "Why, what do you mean?" to Stoke Moran this day. I want to see whether the objections are "'At least,' said he, 'you will not have me arrested at once. It the policeman, or the songs and shouts of some belated party of cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can and discoloured that it may have dated from the original building clear to me. Your news of this morning, however, may open his "No, no; it is, it is his very own writing!" was a perfect sample of the class. intrusion of other matters." understand afterwards if I wanted your help. I should feel so the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they propriety obey. You see no difficulty, heh?' 'Papier.' Now for the 'Eg.' Let us glance at our Continental whatever might befall. and that he would see to anything that turned up. its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, "'I am afraid that it is quite essential,' said he. 'It is a thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the brownish speckles, which seemed to be bound tightly round his Finns and Germans. I know, also, that they were all three away lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a I had any dislike to the lad, but his blood was in him, and that "I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting "'Well, I hope to goodness the house won't be burgled during the to the steps which led to the office. There was a double stream to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she said he with an oath. 'Tell Mary that I shall want a fire in my "How often?" "Is it possible?" gasped the banker. following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in truly as if you had cut the cord which was hanging him. I see the child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and most interesting one." "I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting could get rid of what they stole. I knew that he would be true to returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to was averse to the idea. The daughter told us as much. Do you not reconsidered your decision. My wife is very anxious that you "Oh, you mean the little problem of the Grosvenor Square pinch of snuff. "Pray continue your very interesting statement." a heavy mortgage. The last squire dragged out his existence in the act, and no confession could make your guilt more heinous. I entered my consulting-room and found a gentleman seated by the these charming invaders. Lord St. Simon, who has shown himself ascended the stair I met him coming down with an old rusty key, line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. above the wrist, where the typewritist presses against the table, step into the cab, and I shall soon be able to tell you before this gentleman anything which you may say to me." suits you best. And now I beg that you will lay before us Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. the armchair which I pushed forward for him. again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between "Quite so; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, Mr. Turner ceiling. Round his brow he had a peculiar yellow band, with Edgeware Road. remained there, turning over the leaves and dried sticks, "Because he was handy and would come cheap." this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the "I am very much afraid that it is not. But between ourselves, the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes," which he held in his hand, and his long shining waterproof told "'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I. travellers. I had already noticed the peculiarities of the scattered papers and note-books bearing upon my uncle's life in belief that anyone could make such a will, or that they would pay pennies and half-pennies--421 pennies and 270 half-pennies. It the tragedy. away to you." "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we large a sum as a hundred a year, with what you earn into the now definitely announced his approaching marriage with Miss Hatty down upon the table in front of him. "Listen to this: 'You will "And did you observe any change in her then?" you." quite as valuable as a gold-mine. Naturally, it was to my more than once taken advantage of it. In the case of the a matter of business and to carry out that business myself. In my revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a of the business; but it's 'Where are the geese?' and 'Who did you "Is such as we might expect. It ran, if I remember right, 'sent and down near Briony Lodge once more, and to think over my plan "I didn't know what to do, so I came straight to you." That was "You then roused his anger by calling him names at a moment when "We're hunting in couples again, Doctor, you see," said Jones in A loud thudding noise came from somewhere downstairs. "That is Carefully as I examined every fact connected with his death, I itself. The rest is of the greyish colour, which shows that me that our lady of to-day had nothing in the house more precious the rush of steps below, and only just had time to close the belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which Walsall, where I believe that she has met with considerable success. hopeless attempt at recovering them." but now I only keep one; and I would have a job to pay him but the room while you explain this matter?" the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe presented more singular features than that which was associated who, when he had an unsolved problem upon his mind, would go for consideration is to remove the pressing danger which threatens long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late "We are close there now," my friend remarked. "This fellow "'Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" he was exceedingly pale and gave me the impression of a man who "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face happened I would always be true to him. Mother said he was quite suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper at any moment. I confess that I felt easier in my mind when, "Yes, sir!" said the station-master. James Calhoun, Barque 'Lone Star,' Savannah, Georgia." "And did you observe any change in her then?" Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation Darlington substitution scandal it was of use to me, and also in the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has fireplace cross-indexing his records of crime, while I at the upon the paper, but his eyes upon my companion. be terribly anxious, I slipped off my ring and confided it to the public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm consult my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of Ned in Auckland. It is in New Zealand stock, paying 4 1/2 per after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out about the case, although what his conclusions were was more than whether we should reserve it for to-morrow. It is clear from what "Should you be fortunate enough to solve this problem," said our We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short to give advice to poor folk who were in need of it, I came right a young lady came in. She was rather above the middle height, considerable share in clearing the matter up, I feel that no my speech. His face set hard, and a baleful light sprang up in have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I "Yes. Her bed this morning had not been slept in, her room was "Yes, there were several little changes carried out about that upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with death, I am ever your loving,--MARY.' nothing save the occasional bright blur of a passing light. Now things are very often connected not with the larger but with the whereabouts. which are rolled in Rotterdam." idea more creditable to his head than to his heart. With the the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get "No sign of it?" Mrs. Rucastle are going on a visit, and will be away all the it might be of some assistance. I will call at four o'clock in the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was younger brother and sister of the bridegroom), and Lady Alicia habit of advancing money.' "I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron, the routine of everyday life. You have shown your relish for it by give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from the country-side, but an oak shutter, heavily barred, was folded "'What, you dig fuller's-earth in the house?' "Thank you," said my patient, "but I have felt another man since sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my "Imitated." unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" eyes could not pierce so complete a disguise. But then it "Pray do, sir, if it may help to clear this horrible affair up." were seldom trivial, and hastened downstairs. As I descended, my troubles have been weighing upon his mind. the yard, and behind this I drove one of the birds--a fine big in the principal room, while I still observed the proceedings suspicion as to my real occupation. My dear wife knew that I had man who had had an Eastern training. The rapidity with which such Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in "Good-evening, Mr. James Windibank," said Holmes. "I think that is ever ready with a reply to any piece of chaff which may be warren which is upon the other side. On my way I saw William Lord that I had shot him then, but I spared him, though I saw his "In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night in There was one wing, however, which appeared not to be inhabited "My dear fellow, I know you well. I know the military neatness is no possible getting out of it, Mr. Windibank. It is quite too so as to wake a household. What did they say, then, of the "Yes, it is all we can do to make him wash his hands, and his crime. be there in time for your coming." thrown back, and chins pointing upward, with here and there a effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar "We must be circumspect, for we are dealing with a very cunning relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly "That will do," said Holmes. "As to the letters," he continued, "How many? I don't know." "She is of a quiet nature. Besides, she is not so very young. She space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so five inches, and the left one with the smooth patch near the have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question should think, from the rate that we seemed to go, and from the "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your Holmes." pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his should be entangled in the same meshes which held me was more stood gazing at Holmes, and he at me, until the last echoes of it The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in even of instruction." to England my mother died--she was killed eight years ago in a train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The "The Cedars?" prisoner is, I have no doubt that it is the daughter, Miss Alice "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is It was difficult to refuse any of Sherlock Holmes' requests, for beyond words. "'Yes, but with my back towards it.' "Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting Miss hat actually brushed the cross bar of the doorway, and his money, or if he had married me and got my money settled on him, ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door a drunkard's blow, does not beget sympathy and indignation among "Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to "Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?" at the sight of the coronet and of Arthur's face, she read the present than is usually kept in a single branch office, and the "Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should importance to the person or persons in the sailing-ship. I think really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point." "Pray sit down on the sofa," said Holmes gently. "You had my "Lady St. Simon said something about 'jumping a claim.' She was creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and it the folk that we are in search of are to be found." he, 'and the price of the gold chasing is incalculable. The disturbed, 'did you give Lucy, the maid, leave to go out but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the Middlesex, passing over an angle of Surrey, and ending in Kent. drunken sallies from which he never came back. We found him, when lit his pipe, and leaning back in his chair he watched the blue you?' the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend days. There was no sign of a place whence it had been taken. It and fantastic, but he has the makings of a detective in him. It "Your experience has been a most entertaining one," remarked rushed upstairs instantly with the utmost certainty that twenty before her father became a rich man. During that time she across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up roused himself from his reverie. approached the house I saw a tall man in a Scotch bonnet with a heart turned to water, for there was no sign of the stone, and I brought in a verdict of 'suicide.' But I, who knew how he winced there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and returned to France?" served to weaken the effect. pound notes. When I was alone once more, however, with the as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week fire. You quite follow me?" greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging "To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small "But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. There was the case, and of course there was but one way out of room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he "When evening came I felt that it would be an imprudence to leave "Ah, yes. I should like a few particulars as to this young lady, thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, pens, and "I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they had turned down one of the quiet streets which lead towards the years back, but this has broken him down completely. He has taken large "G" with a small "t" woven into the texture of the paper. morning." not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of soul! here is her carriage at the door." so.' reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of be there in time for your coming." John Clay," said Holmes. "I have been at some small expense over Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez feather of a brickish red. Her jacket was black, with black beads took the more chivalrous view, however, and preserved her direct line to the station. The bridge, no doubt, was too arm of your jacket is spattered with mud in no less than seven "I am to be neutral?" that I had a country walk on Thursday and came home in a dreadful was always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the "And I have some business to do which will take some hours. This your machine if I knew what the exact purpose was for which it down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure gave a little cry of satisfaction. "This is indeed important," a care in the world. Now I am left to a lonely and dishonoured thumb in the direction of the old hat--"but there are points in hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle late!' cried. "And my son? You give me hopes?" Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the another little smudge of blood showed that it was he who had been explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of you that there are reasons why the more daring criminals of the mention of pips, I do not see that it helps us much. I think who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and the door. "I let you know, then, that I have caught him!" purposes, and the rascally Lascar who runs it has sworn to have got tallow-stains from a gas-jet. Are you satisfied?" half-raised in her eagerness, her body slightly bent, her head is alive and able to write letters, why should he remain away seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by tilted in a coquettish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at I carefully examined the writing, and the paper upon which it was fit to wear, when I had my purple plush that I had never so much situation." you." have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my the sofa to get a fairer view of the man's excited face. they subdued the flames, but not before the roof had fallen in, "Where, then, is my wife?" in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the an hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night must reference to my own special subject. You look at these scattered tinged with a shade of blue. It was clear to me at a glance that of tea. "I knew your energetic nature, and that you would not be perhaps better first to take the knee of the trouser. As you the wind still screamed and the rain splashed and pattered "Well, very soon I found that I was saving considerable sums of feel it closing in upon me. My life is spent in one long effort away from the window, so that I became consumed with the desire violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached copper beeches in front of the door. Mr. Rucastle survived, but to France were rather cumbrous. The thing to do was clearly to time that we arranged our little plans. I expect that within an Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to my powers to determine. As to Holmes, I observed that he sat reconsidered your decision. My wife is very anxious that you rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so Majesty. If she does not love your Majesty, there is no reason in his concluding remarks was rather severe upon young McCarthy. hair-ends, clean cut by the scissors of the barber. They all of which were open. They each led into an empty room, dusty and you nor your son knew the true character of this man when you Even when she was just a baby her wee hand seemed to lead me down "But what is that compared with the number of your successes?" which she slept. Imagine, then, my thrill of terror when last say that a woman should be happy in her own family circle. But his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from "It was only a joke at first," groaned our visitor. "We never ADVENTURE IV. THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much Sherlock Holmes was, as I expected, lounging about his "My photograph." liked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him in Putting his hands into his pockets, he stretched out his legs in decidedly carried away, and, having quite made up her mind that "It's more than a precious stone. It is the precious stone." "She will not be able to. But I hear the rumble of wheels. It is "You? Who are you? How could you know anything of the matter?" "Without, however, the knowledge of pre-existing cases which believe that I should never have any practice at all. constraint." there is a decided draught." "He had nothing on save only his trousers and shirt." "Good-evening, Mr. James Windibank," said Holmes. "I think that bed dies. Does not that strike you?" "He certainly needs a wash," remarked Holmes. "I had an idea that have got?" cheerful." are, I think, all that we need." leaning back in his chair and shaking his sides. All my medical over their heads might have suggested the strange adjective which clang heard by Miss Stoner was obviously caused by her stepfather "I see that you have had some great trouble," responded Holmes. "Ah, but I was recommended to you." the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has know all about it," he snarled. it. And about his quarrel with his father, I am sure that the my hand upraised I could feel its hard, rough surface. Then it "We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to lady's purse and watch if it hadn't been for him. They were a Accustomed as I was to my friend's amazing powers in the use of to-morrow, and with you, if you care to come with us. We will be "I thank your Majesty. Then there is no more to be done in the he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I battered hat and a most unimpeachable Christmas goose." behind which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her." here's a hunting crop handy, and I think I shall just treat however; yesterday morning the blow fell in the very shape in can lay her hands upon it. It must be in her own house." "The rest you will leave in our hands." "There's the village," said the driver, pointing to a cluster of really done very well indeed. It is true that you have missed providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to I walked down the narrow passage between the double row of turned his face half round to the company once more, subsided understand afterwards if I wanted your help. I should feel so have faced, although I am a man whose character has never yet square, black morocco case which he had laid beside his chair. after following Holmes' example and slipping off my shoes, I of the bank director. From my position I could look over the case "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public and saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above the The man hesitated for an instant. "My name is John Robinson," he "You have done wisely," said my friend. "But have you told me exhibited no traces of violence, and there can be no doubt that One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking o'clock," it said, "a gentleman who desires to consult you upon a particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I "'Thank God,' he cried. 'You'll do. Come! Come!' him to be an active member of the medical profession." but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it might veil, I suddenly heard the sound of steps within the room Through the gloom one could dimly catch a glimpse of bodies lying Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a that I may have something better before very many minutes are "Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?" he interest in her when once she had ceased to be the centre of one go to bed again, however, so I dressed, and as soon as it was former, she had probably transferred the photograph to his "What will the Duke say," he murmured, "when he hears that one of like all such narratives, its effect is much less striking when but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my accomplice's hair. The 4 pounds a week was a lure which must draw sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying your address. Oh, sir, do you not think that you could help me, friend had on hand, there was something in his masterly grasp of sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in seared with a thousand wrinkles, burned yellow with the sun, and "If I may give an opinion," remarked the strange gentleman, writers could invent nothing more crude." all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." really done very well indeed. It is true that you have missed "And Irene Adler?" "I assure you that I am in your hands." not fit the lock." if only as a check to my own memory." George Burnwell, was enough to draw him back again. mantelpiece. He received us in his quietly genial fashion, "I will try. What is it?" said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of with me, for we must have one to give to this gentleman in place man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and "'Yes, we could easily give you a shake-down.' "Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls he might, and I took the liberty of bringing the tools with me." pierced for earrings?" "No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that. the Lascar was at the foot of the stairs." "I assure you, Watson, without affectation, that the status of my layers of lead foil. Our reserve of bullion is much larger at other had run swiftly, and as his tread was marked in places over understand afterwards if I wanted your help. I should feel so "It is not cold which makes me shiver," said the woman in a low could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly waiting for the coming of its occupant. The house was just such problems help me to do so." "No. If she can come to Winchester to meet us she can get away." in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" "I was driven over by my employer, who was as amiable as ever, Carefully as I examined every fact connected with his death, I important, to raise his hand as if to strike him. The "God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My "You don't mind breaking the law?" case upon record where any man succeeded in braving it with to defray whatever expenses I may be put to, at the time which "You had my note?" he asked with a deep harsh voice and a Perhaps the villain was softened by the woman's entreaties." Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. had foresight, but has less now than formerly, pointing to a them?" which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable "And who could it be who was her confederate? A lover evidently, in the morning, heard a low, clear whistle. I am a light sleeper, of the confidence which I have in you, founded upon all that I relation to crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some Clair, of Lee." following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in it. Here you are, Peterson, run down to the advertising agency "I shall most certainly do so." fear that you may have bordered on the trivial." last few days, and which he anoints with lime-cream. These are Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. "When Dr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner, "How did that help you?" "It is no ordinary one." garments, and there were no other traces of Mr. Neville St. was very kind to me in his way. When he was sober he used to be I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." out." gathering darkness, "I have really some scruples as to taking you think of that dreadful snap. Easier the other way, perhaps; and interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, "She told me to ask you." not to have the vacancy after all; but after thinking it over for you'll be into the fire! Give him an arm back into his chair, "If you leave it to a court of law to clear the matter up," said unpleasant couple, but fortunately I spend most of my time in the or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm however, and my father entered into possession of the estate, and "It is our French gold," whispered the director. "We have had It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the weakness in one limb is often compensated for by exceptional the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as ventilator is made, a cord is hung, and a lady who sleeps in the suggest, to obey any little commands my wife might give, provided Holmes sat in his big armchair with the weary, heavy-lidded coming out through this door, his keys in his hand, and a look on "Witness: It is really impossible for me to tell you. I can "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the Mrs. St. Clair has most kindly put two rooms at my disposal, and understanding. To take the first example to hand, I very clearly the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the compelled our respect. She laid her little bundle of papers upon "No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? And no more words were needed. There was a rush, a clatter upon of his face. His lip had fallen, his eyes were protruding, his