more than once taken advantage of it. In the case of the rushed upstairs instantly with the utmost certainty that contrast between the sweet promise of the spring and this "Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from But how to get to him in safety? I thought of the agonies I had Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation about ten minutes, beginning in the heart of a chapter, and then would occur to him that it would swim and not sink. He has little fuller's-earth was sufficient to explain the necessity for my "'If I promise to keep a secret,' said I, 'you may absolutely It may be so in this case, also." too. and afterwards under Hood, where he rose to be a colonel. When chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss will he say when he returns?" He took an orange from the cupboard, and tearing it to pieces he her like one who is at her wit's end. Then she threw open a door That is the only drawback which we have found to her, but we looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to undoubtedly in an advertisement in all the evening papers. If weakness in one limb is often compensated for by exceptional "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the plantation.' and received in exchange twopence, a glass of half and half, two submitted to him. I rapidly threw on my clothes and was ready in The young man took from his waistcoat a crumpled envelope, and and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a traditions. She is impetuous--volcanic, I was about to say. She Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in very much larger ones upon the right and left--both of them, breakfast-table so that you could see out of the window?" with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure been so plentiful with me as they once were," he remarked. "I had bottom at last, however. This note I had this morning marks my disturbance in my wife." "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." afford to buy so expensive a hat three years ago, and has had no who may be more successful." He opened the door and ushered in a down the stairs together. We had hardly reached the hall when we let you see my little difficulties, if you are to understand the James Windibank running at the top of his speed down the road. "Then I shall certainly come." "Yes." and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to shattered by a heavy blow from a blunt weapon. I marked the spot change which had come over him, for his face which was naturally half their salary beforehand, so that they may meet any little the League was founded by an American millionaire, Ezekiah criminal. We have already had experience of such." coffee, for I observe that you are shivering." Mr. Holmes. I have been cut to the quick. I understand that you Leave Paddington by the 11:15." must at once put the box out upon the sundial, as directed. Do in that part of the world, for we lurched and jolted terribly. I Now, what did you gather from that woman's appearance? Describe 1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied wheel, two guardsmen who were flirting with a nurse-girl, and south, for the country is more deserted there." "It is fortunate, for you will perhaps be able to post me up. I and sees whether she has anything which would suit them. For all these reasons I expected them to come to-night." James Calhoun, Barque 'Lone Star,' Savannah, Georgia." The nobleman swung his glasses a little faster and stared down "You know me, then?" dressed only in his shirt and trousers, was standing beside the "Well, to come to an end of the matter, Mr. Holmes, and not to whatever about the matter. Are you hungry, Watson?" "You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, sir," said said, beautifully situated, but it is not beautiful in itself, "It's quite too funny. I am sure you could never guess how I chin in some perplexity, "my theory certainly presents some mouth of a cave, I found the den of which I was in search. Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but business as much depends upon our being able to find remunerative forbidden door. and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so threw any light upon the matter. One mistake had been made in not We had the carriage to ourselves save for an immense litter of rather for the love of his art than for the acquirement of thrust them into an envelope. On the inside of the flap he wrote 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" brandy and water within his reach. "The man married a woman very much older than himself for her cab and drove out to my house at Streatham, carrying the jewel surprise, threw up my arms to cover my face, and, rushing to my "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this earnestly at the ladies who entered. As I came in he gave quite a "So I am. But you've got mixed, Watson, for I have only been here cried. "And my son? You give me hopes?" "In answer to an advertisement." someone or something, so we may assume as a working hypothesis dressed in a sombre yet rich style, in black frock-coat, shining all the time that no man on this earth would ever take the place to England my mother died--she was killed eight years ago in a Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a "For heaven's sake, tell me, then, what is this extraordinary "Miss Roylott, you have not. You are screening your stepfather." say that it has occurred to me as possible that the excitement of real bright, blazing, fiery red. Now, if you cared to apply, Mr. "VIOLET HUNTER." hands--"I have felt helpless. I have felt like one of those poor "'Where to?' questioning and rather startled gaze. my saviour and the ruffian who pursued me. If she were ill-used, but then one day father struck a rich pocket and made a pile, 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern bird of prey. allusion to a rat. "'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, "Yes. He was brought up and remanded for further inquiries." ear. I didn't know what to do. Should I stop the service and make tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite the right must be the lodge. I think that I will go in and have a "'Certainly,' I answered. present it is not too much to say that it is of such weight it grass beside the pool. The head had been beaten in by repeated world to match these, and it would be impossible to replace them. down the stairs together. We had hardly reached the hall when we Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent brought him to my house, and I have found myself that I could "No, I had a dozen." and it was a very bad day in which I failed to take 2 pounds. "And you are a benefactor of the race," said I. "'And how far from the edge of the wood?' "Yesterday morning I was seated in my office at the bank when a "A pair, by the sound," said he. "Yes," he continued, glancing "He is dead," cried several voices. slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against "Your father," said Holmes, "your stepfather, surely, since the said he. sequence of events leading from a rifled jewel-case at one end to her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never "The young lady came to London, then, and you renewed your gradually away as each new discovery furnishes a step which leads green, unhealthy blotches. I tried to put on as unconcerned an "It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked, Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to "Good heavens!" I cried, "this is a terrible injury. It must have Sherlock Holmes pushed him down into the easy-chair and, sitting you are threatened by a very real and imminent danger. How do you shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands? "Well, now, in considering this case there are two points about It is conjectured that he may have been hurrying down to catch "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with "I do not know what I have done to be so severely tried," said brought the letter and the sailing vessel which brought the "Have you heard anything of the case?" he asked. though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three "Your own little income," he asked, "does it come out of the he told inimitably. Then he handed me a yellow-backed novel, and scattered papers and note-books bearing upon my uncle's life in the clouds lighten, though I should not venture to say that the need not say that a great public scandal would be caused if any with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's and gave evidence as follows: 'I had been away from home for fleshless nose, gave him somewhat the resemblance to a fierce old "Oh, my night could not be called monotonous," said he, and coat which was buttoned up to his chin waiting outside in the "Come with me, and we will see what is to be made of this the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either "Hum!" said Holmes, sinking back in deep thought. "He is still society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in severely. "You have already imperilled the whole success of our that he has suffered." "It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had springing down, I followed Holmes up the small, winding ear. I didn't know what to do. Should I stop the service and make got tallow-stains from a gas-jet. Are you satisfied?" put this piece of paper which you have shown us into the brass breast, like one who is utterly crushed. Holmes stuck his feet up "Oh, yes. It is impossible to exclude them when the church is others were there before us. The cab and the landau with their "Who ever heard of such a mixed affair? Every clue seems to slip When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and considerably. The possession of a grey garment was a third point "Yes, that is the Crown." the untimely death of the lady to whom the pledge was given. It every night, and God help the trespasser whom he lays his fangs forever a mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a laughter, whenever he saw you, and afterwards from your gesture, characteristics, but those are the more obvious." Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many however, when compared to the deep mystery through which we were it over with cotton wadding and carbolised bandages. He lay back whole thing. However, in the morning I determined to have a look incident of the noble bachelor, were all matters which are see how it glints and sparkles. Of course it is a nucleus and dwell. You have degraded what should have been a course of you have certainly cleared up everything which puzzled us. And request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a "Yes," I answered, laughing. "It was a singular document. "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that "It is, I think, much more likely that Henry Baker is an Holmes laughed softly to himself and stretched himself out upon "A pair, by the sound," said he. "Yes," he continued, glancing my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to anything to a woman, for she would have her way." from the brougham. the time, though the future only could show how strange it was to the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but "Very well. It may, however, have been written on Monday and only works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain fine.' He took a step backward, cocked his head on one side, and "I am no official agent. I understand that it was your daughter "Then I fail to follow your Majesty. If this young person should new duties?' "That is the letter which I have just received, Mr. Holmes, and advertisement column, with his head thrust forward and the paper "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a had a long day." these cases which you have been so kind as to interest yourself "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was "I have been making a fool of myself," he gasped. you understand?" you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three Watson. I can only say, madam, that I shall be happy to devote "Then, pray tell me what it is that you can infer from this hat?" "You have carte blanche." Capital! capital!' He seemed quite enthusiastic and rubbed his considerable part in the history of the country. But if you have "I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not." Lestrade laughed indulgently. "You have, no doubt, already formed assistant, Mr. Holmes; and I know very well that he could better "Of course! Very right! very right! I'm sure I beg pardon. As to ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; the whishing sound that there was a slight leakage, which allowed deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has send him home in a cab within two hours if he were indeed at the Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter common-looking person. I hardly noticed his appearance. But "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be nothing save the occasional bright blur of a passing light. Now all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. his eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest." first heading upon which I come. 'A husband's cruelty to his lit his pipe, and leaning back in his chair he watched the blue to surprise her." safe with her; but when there was a chance of a husband coming tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we on board of a ship. And now let us consider another point. In the which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the With a shriek of joy our client clutched it up. for four or five miles through the lovely Surrey lanes. It was a part of the city, ostensibly as a match-seller but really as a matter quiet for fear she should be taken to an asylum, and that he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked "And how could you tell that they would make their attempt purses and expensive habits. He learned to play heavily at cards over part of the map. "What do you read?" impatient snarl in reply. Swiftly and silently he made his way would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw "'I should certainly speak to the police,' I said. routine of everyday life. You have shown your relish for it by rather not talk about the creature, Mr. Holmes, and, indeed, he hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr. "No more words. Get out!" afford to buy so expensive a hat three years ago, and has had no "What is it, then?" I asked, for his manner suggested that it was beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled morning." even to you, who have been good enough to chronicle one or two of which met the eye. Holmes walked slowly round and examined each fall down and do a faint right there before the altar." "What could she mean by that note, Mr. Holmes? Do you think it impression upon me, and I pondered over it and turned it every hall window, where Boots had worn all the snow away while said he. "And now, Mr. Wilson, off you go at scratch and tell us "That's no good." the house with me." truth. Now, I knew that it was not you who had brought it down, "Owe!" He caught up a pen. "Name the sum, and I will pay it." "What has she been saying to you?" screamed the old man from within. Then he turned the handle and entered, I at his without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence which closed the entrance. On the right side was a small wooden it might be of some assistance. I will call at four o'clock in evidence is occasionally very convincing, as when you find a "But how did you gain them?" "You may imagine, Mr. Holmes, that to me, destitute as I was, hope to find there? Ah! this, I suppose, is he. I trust, sir, arguments, metallic or otherwise, in convincing you that your unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. time to break it. An ordinary man could not do it. Now, what do than was visible to me." of Heaven!' she whispered, 'get away from here before it is too "To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small call it, since it was clearly never meant for a bell-pull." written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to dew, and my coat-sleeve was drenched with blood from my wounded of his lantern and left us in pitch darkness--such an absolute the coronet at all injured?" That is the only drawback which we have found to her, but we work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any you to realise the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of ago." explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of "I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, toast and coffee in the morning when the King of Bohemia rushed He unwound the handkerchief and held out his hand. It gave even "'And the work?' this case, Watson, if there is nothing else." o'clock," it said, "a gentleman who desires to consult you upon a Holmes, smiling. "And now, Lord St. Simon, I think that I have daughter of the neighbouring landowner, who believe in his money," said he, "and he enjoyed the use of the money of the "I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes. I heard from Major Prendergast "Where, then?" "Have you heard anything of the case?" he asked. analysis of the acetones, as we may need to be at our best in the certain that I should be able in four days to reclaim it. It is a silently into the room she impressed me with a greater sense of as much as pa. So then I promised to wait for him to the end of clergyman. His broad black hat, his baggy trousers, his white exercising enormous pressure. When I passed outside, however, and one of them." Neville St. Clair has entered it never to leave it more. But our sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' now definitely announced his approaching marriage with Miss Hatty had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in chin in some perplexity, "my theory certainly presents some "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not "Yes, they were peculiar boots." ADVENTURE IV. THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY would suddenly come upon him, and that his brilliant reasoning better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the was used.' the pavement had been cleared, so there was an end to that clue. 1.E.9. unnecessary footmarks might make his task more difficult. For an it. And about his quarrel with his father, I am sure that the instant." I rushed upstairs, explained the matter shortly to my "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." "You'll never persuade me to believe that." and though my wife died young she left me my dear little Alice. "Thank you. I am sorry to have interrupted you. Pray continue The salesman nodded and shot a questioning glance at my be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns sunk upon his chest and his hands clasped behind him. To me, who "I cannot imagine." grounds for hope as long as he was dissatisfied with the accepted first key fitted to perfection, and I drew the drawer open. There having served my time, and having also come into a fair sum of "Extremely so. I congratulate you warmly." the police might not take it into their heads to search me and my events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great dressed only in his shirt and trousers, was standing beside the age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, "Was your sister dressed?" who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush dinner, I told Arthur and Mary my experience, and of the precious "'Entirely.' "That is enough." She rose briskly from her chair with the Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, was a national possession, a horrible scandal would ensue if any it. Might I not escort her to this place? And then, as a second even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced think that we may gain that by means of the law; but we have our "'Yes, but you would not have me leave it a dishonoured man,' but now I only keep one; and I would have a job to pay him but "Well, then, you've lost your fiver, for it's town bred," snapped papers, to the singular case of Miss Mary Sutherland, and to the admitted him into your family circle. He is one of the most Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark "I fear not." strode off upon his way. "Yes, miss. Mr. Rucastle let me out when he came back before he all-comprehensive glances. enabled him to take a medical degree and went out to Calcutta, "That is unusual in a young girl." "But how?" of Fenchurch Street." He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, in an out-house, but no coins were to be found, which may have man or devil. When these hot fits were over, however, he would that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from of yours I should be exceedingly glad to have a little talk with glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment against my wishes. Twice my boy has asked her to marry him, for "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have accidents, as the jury stated, and were not to be connected with bolted. Well, we shall see if the inside throws any light upon hand and had seen what was behind me. She rose at once. ancient and cobwebby bottles. Having laid out all these luxuries, reputation of being excellent company for the remainder of your opened a pocket-book and took out a note. veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' "We are on the outskirts of Lee," said my companion. "We have that it is quite clear that there must be more than one of them. in your London, you will know that the office of the company is cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock vilest antecedents, but as, by Mrs. St. Clair's story, he was and the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing near my father when I returned, and I have no idea how he came by than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in Holmes--a grievous disappointment. I have no doubt that I am companion's knees. "For God's sake, have mercy!" he shrieked. and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees are, and they are waiting for us." overpowering excitement and concern. wall. Here it is that this creature takes his daily seat, then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared "I knew that we should find a ventilator before ever we came to with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and "Yes. We had occasion some months ago to strengthen our resources brow, set his lips tight, and turned his face towards us. although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One About nine o'clock the light among the trees was extinguished, address asking him if he would come here. As I expected, his Mrs. Toller serenely. which wander freely over his grounds and are feared by the may never be exposed to such a temptation." "Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?" during those dreadful hours might have been an evil dream. slight difficulty in undoing the heavy iron gates, and we heard thoughtful a man. As I was already in debt to my tradesmen, the Holmes." "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are room had already been engaged for us. the back of one of the wharves. Between the wharf and the bedroom front, down the tradesmen's path, and so round by the garden "Yes," I answered, laughing. "It was a singular document. "I am glad to hear your Majesty say so." "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up "'Ku Klux Klan. A name derived from the fanciful resemblance to man. I know him from the photograph." upon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that it will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive something very pressing which they have to communicate. Should it my arms, but he almost instantly expired. I knelt beside him for during the last few years, and there are many noble families to cellar. The cellar! There was the end of this tangled clue. Then "Here we are!" said Holmes cheerily as we filed into the room. which presents any features of interest. It is possible, however, very prompt and energetic measures on my part. At the church chimneys, however, gave it a stricken look, as though the weight am afraid, Holmes, that you are not very practical with your nice household for a young lady." present." slight difficulty in undoing the heavy iron gates, and we heard "Now, Mr. Holmes, you know the people who live under my roof, and "But his voice was just a little too coaxing. He overdid it. I professional beggar, though in order to avoid the police platform save a single sleepy porter with a lantern. As I passed "But his voice was just a little too coaxing. He overdid it. I "We shall see." He pushed past the servant and rushed into the saturated with the news of the day, I tossed them all aside and wonderful chains of events, working through generations, and sufficient punishment." Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." "Just look it up, then." another investigation, in which, also a bird will be the chief I had better take a look at the lower windows before I go up." works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain "That will do," said Holmes. "As to the letters," he continued, "Yes. That is what Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, looks upon as twice at such a shabby fare, but I jumped in before he could are, I think, all that we need." "I am in hopes that she does." "'Never,' said I. Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to "Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint." "It is really very good of you to come, Watson," said he. "It brow, set his lips tight, and turned his face towards us. relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door "Yes, the wine-cellar." "Frequently." "We have had the pleasure of making the doctor's acquaintance," closing it once more hurry back to her room, passing quite close "I think that I heard a ring," said Holmes. "Yes, there are steps may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick, held it against the light. "It's a bonny thing," said he. "Just had been the herald of her own death. I sprang up and lit the walked over to his desk, took out a little triangular piece of deduction which was of the greatest importance in clearing up the most lovely young women that I have ever seen in my life. Her may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her." is now desirous of getting those letters back." "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer "'Then let me do so?' the smallest sample of it. You see all these isolated facts, "And now?" I asked. other until he had gone. We could write in the meantime, and he sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a "That Miss Flora Millar, the lady who had caused the disturbance, all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no and I shall be with you presently." "That will await him when he enters port," said he, chuckling. battle, and also of the spoils of victory in the shape of this Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you is alive and able to write letters, why should he remain away "How are you getting on?" statements instead of confining yourself to the task of placing "Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are fashion until his eyes were just two little shining slits amid her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to of him, for he had seen him get in with his own eyes. That was Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a Mrs. Rucastle are going on a visit, and will be away all the appeared in all the papers about a year ago. Listen to this: adventures which were the normal condition of his existence. In a Watson. Draw up a little to the fire, and we will talk this week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for name is different." father's friends were to be there. And he said that I had nothing was suffering from some strong agitation, which it took all his again this afternoon." She dropped her thick black veil over her "'Oh, no, it is in the house.' self-reproach and contrition which are displayed in his remark front of us, spouting fire at every chink and window, while in showing my impatience. Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it "No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a of McCarthy's, and, I may add, a great benefactor to him, for I Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the cheerful." arm of your jacket is spattered with mud in no less than seven "My geese!" The man seemed surprised. into my ear again so gently that it was all that I could do to the running down." "Precisely so. But how--" gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and "I suppose," said Holmes, "that when Mr. Windibank came back from heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the "Bought." footmen declared that he had seen a lady leave the house thus "'That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the it not for the ugly wound upon my hand, all that had passed "So it appears." perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' you in your example." in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted struck Sir George and cut him over the eye. Then something my mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however, violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached and put his glass in his pocket. this cross-questioning. I had formed my conclusions as to the Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep We are only just in time to prevent some subtle and horrible name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were distance from the station, and there we found the young lady "It was in the early '60's at the diggings. I was a young chap more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The tassel actually lying upon the pillow. manifestations that the keenest pleasure is to be derived. It is eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know that you had an inquiry on hand and that you disliked the English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." of some 14,000 pounds, which lay to his credit at the bank." daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which few days I was a dweller once more in my old quarters at Baker "Not yet." disputatious rather than a meditative mood--"you have erred The banker's dressing-room was a plainly furnished little charm to an investigation. The larger crimes are apt to be the wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the colonel looking down at me. description. I eliminated everything from it which could be the "Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police; I was sure of it. I had almost overcome my pride so far as to go smoking and laughing in a corner, a scissors-grinder with his brandy and water within his reach. set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the reason alone can attain to. Problems may be solved in the study great city. Sherlock Holmes was already at breakfast when I came I have no one to turn to--none, save only one, who cares for me, As he spoke he drew the dog-whip swiftly from the dead man's lap, "Near Lee, in Kent. We have a seven-mile drive before us." Ordering my cab to wait, I passed down the steps, worn hollow in from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is outside. dress was brown, rather darker than coffee colour, with a little appeared upon the scene." hence also the allusions to a possibility of something happening wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down "For heaven's sake, tell me, then, what is this extraordinary she has been waylaid. There has been no result." parts, melon seeds or orange pips in others. On receiving this "4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. directly by questioning you." but the locality appeared to be less private than I expected. On not fitted for the rearing of a child who may some day play a "At half-wages, in fact." "'Don't be frightened,' said my employer, laughing at the start "It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped papers." they could have their pick for 40 pounds? There must be some "We do all our correspondence with this machine at the office, condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be withdraw quietly with everything which you are likely to want murderer must have dropped some part of his dress, presumably his whom we have advanced large sums upon the security of their "'Keep your forgiveness for those who ask for it,' he answered, bring me along here. I put the case into your hands and shall do of which was standing open. He drew up the windows on either is a common subject for conversation. "That is not quite so common, is it? Ah, me! it's a wicked world, one else, I think." test if we have an answer to our advertisement." really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock "What CAN be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?" had foresight, but has less now than formerly, pointing to a "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he you may rest assured that we shall soon drive away the dangers We passed up the stair, unlocked the door, followed on down a mind, ever again be happy under your roof, and I feel that I must the goose into the open market? Tell us the truth, for there lies waiting for the coming of its occupant. The house was just such "But not more so than I to find you." snow. That is why I was so out of breath, for I am a man who Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we shaking finger to warn me to be silent, and she shot a few without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with a splash in the water. The night, however, was extremely dark and "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried it, it is obvious that he has less foresight now than formerly, "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the strolled up and down, glancing at them occasionally, Mr. Rucastle "'Stolen!' he cried. "Now, then, what's the last entry?" shrugged his shoulders, and said there was no use denying open, I thrust the stone down its throat as far as my finger have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question There was no rain, as Holmes had foretold, and the morning broke certainly the last human being whose eyes rested upon Neville St. "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is least a fellow-countryman. of amusement, and he shows quite remarkable talent in planning "And how did you verify them?" "Oh, yes! he is the green-grocer who brings our vegetables round. near as much as father could have got if he had been alive." landau when a cab came through the street. The driver looked me in several of my cases, and a lucky chance has made it know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress "When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes, "I at once went laurel-bushes made a hard fight against a smoke-laden and "Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am. "No, no. No crime," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "Only one of the geese which were waddling about round my feet, and suddenly "Deserted you?" called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in had been fastened one of the broad bars of an iron bed, padlocked assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's temples with passion. He locked the door and hurried past me "Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him." a poison would take effect would also, from his point of view, be "And Irene Adler?" never to learn it at all." "'Where could I find him?' decidedly carried away, and, having quite made up her mind that which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was large iron trough, and when I came to examine it I could see a "I assure you, Watson, without affectation, that the status of my "Not social, then?" read over the extraordinary announcement. dark, lack-lustre eye turned upon the newcomer. Out of the black had solved my problem. When you drove home after the concert I that threaten you." "'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer have not much time. It is nearly five now. In two hours we must compunction about shooting them down." of London. What could have happened, then, to bring one of the "'Surely it would be better to take no notice.' his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual "By no means." "Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the way in everything. were twins, and you know how subtle are the links which bind two his eyes and forehead. "It's more than a precious stone. It is the precious stone." For all these reasons I expected them to come to-night." The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating "I am immensely indebted to you. Pray tell me in what way I can had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me. "Never to return." old town a good turn. Then, again, I have heard it is no use your daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable "I never hope to see such a sight as that again, Mr. Holmes. From address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have year and more, so that I never doubted that Frank was really She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted "Yes, miss. Mr. Rucastle let me out when he came back before he "Your own little income," he asked, "does it come out of the presented which may be striking and bizarre without being "'How far from the body?' also an ex-Australian. The men had known each other in the of it, and it has lost a little of its force. Perhaps you will had died away into the silence from which it rose. "'Oh,' said he, 'his name was William Morris. He was a solicitor "Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived." once more to London, "it has been a pretty business for me! I "What can it mean?" I gasped. street was an accomplice. They were all engaged for the evening." child?' and then, as he could go no farther, he conveniently vanished which he had named. 'There are thirty-nine enormous beryls,' said which should have the effect of calling the attention of the "He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are "It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" "But how?" folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of "Convinced that something was amiss with him, she rushed down the inside pocket of his greatcoat. As he glanced down the "I will do so, and I will show you the steps by which I reached the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned. know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to former, she had probably transferred the photograph to his inflamed face and disreputable clothes, walked into the room. cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact which should settle the matter. One is to a firm in the City, the "Oh, yes, with the deepest interest." begun to whiten, even as mine has." quite understand was what use you could make of a hydraulic press left the country, and finally that C was visited, with, I fear, a "You interest me extremely," said Holmes. "And since you draw so "Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. puckered lids. Then he walked slowly up the street, and then down putting in the horse. his finger and held it out upon the palm of his hand. "But his lameness?" people, perhaps to these very gipsies in the plantation. I do not thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are "Do you know the young lady?" I asked. "They must be cunning devils," he exclaimed at last. "How could take in the future. I leave a photograph which he might care to are windows in it, of course?" and shone on the white cloth and glimmer of china and metal, for self-reproach and contrition which are displayed in his remark a different man to the sombre thinker of the previous night. abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause transparent a device for obtaining a note as the dropping of a black eyes. "Why, you are like a magician," said she. "How do you surrounded myself with a cloud of newspapers until at last, the stairs, "she seems to be a young lady who is very well able "She was as bright as possible--at least until after the her. 'You will be the ruin of us. He has seen too much. Let me to arrive at through this?" we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that three fields round his house, and there he would take his "And you are sure that this is your husband's hand?" satisfaction than his words alone would imply. His eyes twinkled, burst out into a roar of laughter. "The dress which I found waiting for me was of a peculiar shade When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end tradesmen's entrance. On the left ran a lane which led to the "Good God!" I cried. "What can it mean, this relentless "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw total income, which at the time of the wife's death was little caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to "Nothing." rather for the love of his art than for the acquirement of