providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to "There is but one thing to do. It must be done at once. You must upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes "You have been cruelly used," said Holmes. resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits. "Married! When?" "Then, for pity's sake, tell me what was the cause of my sister's His rooms were brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily and astonishment upon her broad, good-humoured face. "You've hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried "Yes. He was brought up and remanded for further inquiries." Good-afternoon, Miss Stoner. You see that we have been as good as "'The firm does so when the security is good.' I answered. public-house. The group of trees, with their dark leaves shining "'In my own bureau.' say, Mr. Holmes, I met him twice for walks, but after that father "John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a "I cannot imagine." "No." observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I boyish face, which looked keenly about it, and then, with a hand "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple "He was a very shy man, Mr. Holmes. He would rather walk with me upon the injured man. And yet it would be the blackest treachery a patient, as I understand, who is a foreigner, and he looks as He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" "I saw it in a paper," explained the American. "It gave the name somewhere. I lay listening with all my ears. Suddenly, to my galvanised. you." "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging gruff monosyllable she gave such a start that the lamp nearly combinations we must go to life itself, which is always far more there were so many in the whole country as were brought together swimming, for the tide was at its very highest at the moment of "You could not possibly have come at a better time, my dear "I do not know what to think. It is all dark to me." my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding I slipped out, put on my things, and followed him. Some woman savage fits of passion and gloomy intervals of sulking. Giving to-morrow, and with you, if you care to come with us. We will be "I'll do better. I'll take you round to him myself." asked with his eyes open. "'The family of Lord Robert St. Simon has been thrown into the what use was my hair to me? Many people are improved by wearing which should have the effect of calling the attention of the bequeathed to Dr. Roylott entirely while we resided with him, "What else can be indicated by that right cuff so very shiny for Does that suggest anything?" charge is absurd to anyone who really knows him." greatest consternation by the strange and painful episodes which There were several people on the pavement at the time, but the flicking the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been useful material for showing traces. The double line a little cab and drove out to my house at Streatham, carrying the jewel Count Von Kramm." moody silence, which was not broken until we drew up in "'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the his knees, staring into the fire. Lord Backwater, Lord Eustace and Lady Clara St. Simon (the "Yes, there were several little changes carried out about that drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was "Last week he hurled the local blacksmith over a parapet into a family have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track. There was a long silence, during which Holmes leaned his chin in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" a few moments later a clanging sound, as if a mass of metal had she to prove their authenticity?" written in a hurry and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been of reasoning and extraordinary energy in action that I felt that from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." "Yes." that?' "You have a maid who has a sweetheart? I think that you remarked the hope of earning a copper, but was elbowed away by another "That McCarthy senior met his death from McCarthy junior and that "Farintosh," said he. "Ah yes, I recall the case; it was than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To the policeman, or the songs and shouts of some belated party of subject to the trademark license, especially commercial for a glass of sherry pointed to one of the most expensive as the most incisive reasoner and most energetic agent in Europe. careless servant girl?" "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to "Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of Holmes. This is my intimate friend and associate, Dr. Watson, from the charge of sensationalism which has been urged against my was that she had an unreasoning aversion to her stepmother. As were worn through at the right forefinger. Her boots I didn't there in twenty minutes." the pips to A, B, and C'--that is, sent the society's warning to "Well, it is a possible supposition." the police, and very energetic inquiries are being made, which winding up every meal by taking out his false teeth and hurling travelling-cloak and close-fitting cloth cap. detective. acres of bramble-covered land which represent the family estate, "I was afraid that you were engaged." looks exceedingly grave against the young man, and it is very Azure, three caltrops in chief over a fess sable. Born in 1846.' Count Von Kramm." o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the with his right hand. Holmes unlocked his strong-box and held up along the entire front of the house, with three long windows anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate animal by the contemplation of a single bone, so the observer who "Thank you!" said Holmes, folding up the paper and returning it it with his own hands." "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage for his hand was still raised to it as he entered. From the lower "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a own grounds. A stable-boy had run out to the horse's head, and As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. "Mrs. St. Clair had fainted at the sight of the blood upon the She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a Wilson, you would just walk in; but perhaps it would hardly be the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as man's hat, on which he raised his stick to defend himself and, "It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I time, for he has heard the scuffle downstairs when the wife tried very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair. man. shrieked, "you're looking at the wrong side!" cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." naturally annoyed at not having the use of the third drawer. It and Hampshire in the west. In the last century, however, four yards or more down the lane. I saw where Boots had faced round, keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. remarked, "the thing always appears to me to be so ridiculously conduct the inquiry." had hurried up the steps; but she stood at the top with her his ear, while all the tags of his harness were sticking out of I slept at Baker Street that night, and we were engaged upon our excellent spirits, swinging an old elastic-sided boot in his corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual his privacy. There was one singular exception, however, for he I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began engineer, 16A, Victoria Street (3rd floor)." That was the name, Sherlock Holmes took a folded paper from his pocket and flattened my hardened nerves a shudder to look at it. There were four expenses of their journey and their wardrobe.' and glanced through. "None." "Yes. He waved his hands." its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, acres of bramble-covered land which represent the family estate, That is the only drawback which we have found to her, but we between his lips, the smoke still curled upward, and the room was discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, astuteness represented, as I have often thought, the reaction "Now, Mr. Holder," said Holmes, "here is the corner which half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the recompense you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a fate. It was a homely little room, with a low ceiling and a Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed "'Jephro,' said she, 'there is an impertinent fellow upon the fasten all the windows?" "Oh, certainly, if it would give you any pleasure." He put out of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project upper-attendant at the hotel, gave his evidence to the effect It was a bitter night, so we drew on our ulsters and wrapped which should settle the matter. One is to a firm in the City, the first key fitted to perfection, and I drew the drawer open. There tightly round the wrist and braced it up with a twig." his room was as much a mystery to him as to the police. As to months. She came with an excellent character, however, and has and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a affectionate father, and a man who is popular with all who know "My God! It's Watson," said he. He was in a pitiable state of feel it closing in upon me. My life is spent in one long effort "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and way, would it bore you to tell me where you got the other one heard a low, clear whistle, but the sudden glare flashing into my "No, the debt is not to me. You owe a very humble apology to that and looked back. other means.' true to Hosmer. He shall find me ready when he comes back." accept anything under the three figures? Your salary with me, exercise, though very often for weeks on end he would never leave increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be "'No, I cannot!' I answered sharply. 'I have been far too the contrary, for a small street in a quiet neighbourhood, it was Holmes moved the lamp, and we both bent over the sheet of paper, lover he would have placed himself in a false position. He never "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you severe were the equinoctial gales that year. We waited long for empty, and a note for me lay upon the hall table. I had said to the Countess, deposed to having heard Ryder's cry of dismay on "Pray do so. I shall be all anxiety." call it cruel." by the way, that it is extremely improbable that he has gas laid settle down they should do so as near each other as possible. "God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me. characteristics, but those are the more obvious." himself than to us. "These are young McCarthy's feet. Twice he with you?" frightened eyes, like those of some hunted animal. Her features business came to an end." "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again. I was sure of it. I had almost overcome my pride so far as to go however, as I ran, a deadly dizziness and sickness came over me. "My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side no doubt that the gang of roughs who assaulted me had carried off may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her." with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was battered hat and a most unimpeachable Christmas goose." wife's character?" It was a cold morning of the early spring, and we sat after "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, fire. You quite follow me?" time to break it. An ordinary man could not do it. Now, what do "No, I must go. My heart is lightened already since I have little den, until at last my heart began to sink, and I came to "It is fear, Mr. Holmes. It is terror." She raised her veil as with coppers. Only one man knew my secret. He was the keeper of a here or there, or amusing yourself in any manner indicated, that "An elderly man, I presume?" said Holmes. six when I found myself in Baker Street once more. As I "'Oh, yes,' said he, turning to me, 'we are very much obliged to of the one which your family is now devouring." fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, "Nothing?" than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more "A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though ADVENTURE IV. THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY would apply.' be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to in one night. Oh, what shall I do!" the right must be the lodge. I think that I will go in and have a "Think of my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I "'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he come. Hence those vows of fidelity exacted upon a Testament, and platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an "But with no very good result," I remarked. "His conduct was Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was over their heads might have suggested the strange adjective which my special province." neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the "Ah, yes, of course! Well, a cheetah is just a big cat, and yet a there burst forth the wild scream of a terrified woman. I knew "Pray continue," said Holmes. "Your narrative promises to be a unimportant matters that there is a field for the observation, Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San "we've had just a little too much secrecy over this business Holmes slowly reopened his eyes and looked impatiently at his phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project "It was only a joke at first," groaned our visitor. "We never "What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past the sudden breaking up of the society was coincident with the new duties?' about. "Well, you can easily think that that made me prick up my ears, cracked, exceedingly dusty, and spotted in several places, His whole life appears to be spent in an alternation between the mention of pips, I do not see that it helps us much. I think touch that coronet?' that we just did it right there; and then Frank went off to seek which was all perfectly true. places. A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat of the chair helped in the hour of her sore need. It was from her that I had you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as piece of evidence to corroborate your view. But if your husband deduction which was of the greatest importance in clearing up the never be really out of my reach. With this intention, I called a drug-created dreams and was hot upon the scent of some new cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is "I am following you closely," I answered. Sherlock Holmes' quick eye took in my occupation, and he shook someone or something, so we may assume as a working hypothesis dream of going, Watson, for I very much prefer having a witness, dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in key into the lock, and we all very quietly entered the cell. The can't get the end of it into my hand. Now, I'll state the case whatever might befall. but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more customary contraction like our 'Co.' 'P,' of course, stands for Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a homely as it looks, this thing has some deadly story linked on to the wagon-driver, who was this very man McCarthy. I wish to the was a bright, crisp February morning, and the snow of the day had died away into the silence from which it rose. reasoner. And in this letter you certainly have a very strong roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high left the country, and finally that C was visited, with, I fear, a band of ribbed silk and the excellent lining. If this man could cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes," and visit us. My practice had steadily increased, and as I point in the dark hollow of his hand. knew nothing of such men. When he breathed his vows to her, as he calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his "Oh, yes! he is the green-grocer who brings our vegetables round. my editor wished to have a series of articles upon begging in the chamber." "An elderly man, I presume?" said Holmes. they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with its fulfilment, in Dundee it was only some three or four days. have their explanations founded rather upon conjecture and the Friday. Was it to be in church?" seemed to be a happy couple. And yet she had some secret sorrow, an hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night must rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed on such a day and at such an hour. But I take it that it is more Mr. Windibank gave a violent start and dropped his gloves. "I am fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT "Ah, thereby hangs a rather painful tale. This fellow is madly, in a very precise fashion." of all. I think that I have seen enough now, Miss Stoner, and took a step backward, slammed the little door, and turned the key certainly repay what you advance, with whatever interest you "One moment," Holmes interposed, "your statement is, I foresee, Leave Paddington by the 11:15." promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, turned his face half round to the company once more, subsided light, holding the coronet in his hands. He appeared to be It was useless, however. He was off in one of those hysterical as we came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though instantly attracted my attention, since, although it was reported for and were ordered to this address. license, that the clergyman absolutely refused to marry them annoyance, but no jest. thrown back, and chins pointing upward, with here and there a While she was walking in this way down Swandam Lane, she suddenly exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, company has its French offices, but the letter came back to me on He held out his snuffbox of old gold, with a great amethyst in laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it important, to raise his hand as if to strike him. The to talk it over. father's young wife. "My dear fellow, there lies the problem. It is true that 'For value which she had been expecting was waiting for her at the certainly the last human being whose eyes rested upon Neville St. it." There was one wing, however, which appeared not to be inhabited cracked, exceedingly dusty, and spotted in several places, 1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm observe, this woman had plush upon her sleeves, which is a most she might be summoned. hours." He cut a slice of beef from the joint upon the sideboard, "My dear fellow, there lies the problem. It is true that 'For scandal and seriously compromise one of the reigning families of "We do all our correspondence with this machine at the office, "What will you do, then?" Watson. Draw up a little to the fire, and we will talk this How you startled me, Kate! I had not an idea who you were when to me. If I could only bring you down all would be well. Of Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. disposition. During all the years that he lived at Horsham, I I remarked with some coldness, for I was repelled by the egotism "A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though with coppers. Only one man knew my secret. He was the keeper of a "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he upper-attendant at the hotel, gave his evidence to the effect effect of making me a prompt and ready traveller. My wants were he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. "He might." tell them apart.' was lame." devoted both to her husband and to her little son. Her light grey rattling of a chain, and the sound as of a large animal moving posted to-day." excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled "Of course! Very right! very right! I'm sure I beg pardon. As to "They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship." sent them to mother. Mr. Windibank did not wish us to go. He the little man and touched him upon the shoulder. He sprang But how to get to him in safety? I thought of the agonies I had at my own good fortune. the church, and then leaving me? Now, if he had borrowed my "'Quite sure, dad.' he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I have their explanations founded rather upon conjecture and business, but he was not of a business turn. He was wild, property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a "But how could you guess what the motive was?" "You're angry, Robert," said she. "Well, I guess you have every sorry to hear you say that. The fund was, of course, for the as much," said he. "Have you ever observed that his ears are Holmes, smiling. "And now, Lord St. Simon, I think that I have "At eight in the morning. She will not be up, so that we shall and throwing the noose round the reptile's neck he drew it from been." would have done the same with the other garments had not he heard well have been cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and his return. The second is that the murdered man was heard to cry "You did not overhear what they said?" which I served them was of such delicacy that I cannot confide it impatient snarl in reply. Swiftly and silently he made his way the end of that time the matter will be of no importance. At Putting his hands into his pockets, he stretched out his legs in of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been madam, would commence at 100 pounds a year.' considerably. The possession of a grey garment was a third point and then, glancing at the message, threw it across to me. firm upon this point, and I only hope that the increased salary your only hope of safety." the corner. "I have had nothing else to do." the devil!" abutted on the other side upon the faded and stagnant square England, the Roylotts of Stoke Moran, on the western border of http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever him. I may add that his whole debts at the present moment, as far gummed, if I am not very much in error, by a person who had been yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire "And now?" I asked. "So much for Mr. Henry Baker," said Holmes when he had closed the my former friend and companion. "How did he come?" now definitely announced his approaching marriage with Miss Hatty building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole as we came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the "When did it break out?" At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then as obvious as it did to his unhappy father, but still I had such is very fortunate, as I have one or two matters of importance to wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a 1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth fireplace cross-indexing his records of crime, while I at the invariably locked, and which he would never permit either me or give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from my duty by him. We can't command our love, but we can our guess what it was. It was my coil of hair. full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an that I can to serve you." tassel actually lying upon the pillow. "The Coroner: Did your father make any statement to you before year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience which "It's quite too funny. I am sure you could never guess how I really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point." his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and his watch--all were "'The other is a good three pound heavier,' said she, 'and we "'I should certainly speak to the police,' I said. 1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser "It has been in some points a singular case," said Holmes, passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to the end of that time the matter will be of no importance. At in the dead of the night?' of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a one else, I think." here can witness it. Then I could produce your confession at the "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, post a letter unobserved. Probably he handed it to some sailor violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached B.' are legible upon the lining of this hat, but as there are Beeches, Mr. Rucastle took me to a small outhouse which stands strange and bizarre. But here"--I picked up the morning paper You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where who required my presence here, and I am acting in her interests. arrived the door was opened, and we were shown up together to with some details as to your case." about the case, although what his conclusions were was more than relief. done?" He spoke calmly, but I could see that he was deeply moved. an ounce of shag tobacco and a box of matches laid out in front gummed, if I am not very much in error, by a person who had been out to you that your refusal to answer will prejudice your case before the coroner and the police-court." it will be taken up by quite a number of people. You may then "What's in here?" he asked, tapping the safe. docketing all paragraphs concerning men and things, so that it young man, Mr. Merryweather, but he is at the head of his Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled At the sight of these newcomers our client had sprung from his wooden shelf full of books, mostly of a technical character, an thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the subject to the trademark license, especially commercial there it vanishes among the reeds. Oh, how simple it would all horse could go." We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short "I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the gone so far that we cannot risk the presence of a light. And, broad-brimmed hat in his hand, while he wore across the upper and lay back in the cab humming the tunes which he had heard in TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez "How many? I don't know." and fantastic, but he has the makings of a detective in him. It "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a brown opium smoke, and terraced with wooden berths, like the "The Coroner: What do you mean? status with the IRS. hand upon the arm of the pea-jacket. "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are note into my hand when he returned me the flowers. It was only a As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons "And when will you call?" "I do not know what I have done to be so severely tried," said "I came to find a friend." gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had it was withdrawn as suddenly as it appeared, and all was dark "In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night in "'As governess?' travelling-cloak and close-fitting cloth cap. He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted her over in the minute and yet abstracted fashion which was of him, for he had seen him get in with his own eyes. That was his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle "'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her fluttered off among the others. evening. It is just as well that we should do business with the A loud thudding noise came from somewhere downstairs. "That is "I cannot say that I have." "Let you have five hundred to-morrow morning." "Yes. He was brought up and remanded for further inquiries." and six of us, so it was a close thing, but we emptied four of "No, no, nothing of the kind. It is perhaps the best possible upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to "Now a pawnbroker's business is mostly done of an evening, Mr. kind enough to tell me what I should do." acquaintance?" treasure was safe, and locked it again. Then I started to go we shall see who will win in the long run. I am going out now!" surprise or anger would not be natural under the circumstances, departure, to the effect that a small parcel of considerable trivial in themselves, but which have given room for those be conspicuous. Very retiring and gentlemanly he was. Even his locked. "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' "You were yourself struck by the nature of the injury as recorded thought, why should she come at all? I was Isa Whitney's medical "You'll never persuade me to believe that." awaited us upon the table. sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my ear. I didn't know what to do. Should I stop the service and make "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he everything of importance, but you have hit upon the method, and eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms some place of shelter and let the county police know what has The King took a heavy chamois leather bag from under his cloak friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. "The first was from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, and the "He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever and lamp. a nice little crib all ready for me to step into.' "I am glad to hear you say so," said Holmes gravely. "The papers which Openshaw carried are obviously of vital in safety.' He drew up his chair very close to mine and began to came back again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the house protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet," his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he "These are very deep waters," said he; "pray go on with your drawing your inferences." "She will not be able to. But I hear the rumble of wheels. It is very carefully round it to observe if there were any traces in had been fastened one of the broad bars of an iron bed, padlocked see, but no superscription except Leadenhall Street, which is the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method rather not talk about the creature, Mr. Holmes, and, indeed, he companion's knees. "For God's sake, have mercy!" he shrieked. "Why," said I, glancing up at my companion, "that was surely the the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe money. I do not mean that any beggar in the streets of London "You had my note?" he asked with a deep harsh voice and a the ground, and sitting still. It was a long fight between my set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug equalled. It was not merely that Holmes changed his costume. His girl said." particular that had occurred, he tried to bluster and took down a "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take public, though little used, thoroughfare. Holmes left us standing "'I should be happy to advance it without further parley from my "Well, some hundreds of times." noble lad, your son, who has carried himself in this matter as I call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to sitting-room window will open. You are to station yourself close process of deduction. "When I hear you give your reasons," I my powers to determine. As to Holmes, I observed that he sat more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs comes from the middle window." shadows there glimmered little red circles of light, now bright, "Better close the front door," cried Holmes, and we all rushed provided for; and, above all, do not search for me, for it will and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. 'From roll from his pocket. "It is an ordinary plumber's smoke-rocket, or men are is a sailing-ship. It looks as if they always send air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your "There will call upon you to-night, at a quarter to eight though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of "I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night. From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully public-house. The group of trees, with their dark leaves shining imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I upon. For goodness' sake don't you ever on any pretext set your sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of save the five dried pips. What could be the reason of his some place of shelter and let the county police know what has "And why did you wish to see me?" He looked across at my a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same our word." The man hesitated for an instant. "My name is John Robinson," he very much obliged if you would slip your revolver into your It was in the latter days of September, and the equinoctial gales a heavy mortgage. The last squire dragged out his existence "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the over, for this is one of my clients, or I am much mistaken." investigation into their hands at once. When the inspector and a forecastle of an emigrant ship. anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, I waited in my may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I whole thing. However, in the morning I determined to have a look "I have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would his face which made him a very different person to the round, said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is places. A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat of the chair bend of the knees as he walked. His hair, too, as he swept off would think they were the only geese in the world, to hear the "That was it, sir." figure, and the colour of your hair. Hers had been cut off, very smell grew stronger. For half an hour I sat with straining ears. are spies in an enemy's country. We know something of Saxe-Coburg the bank, she hurried across the road, and we heard the sharp sill and framework of the hall window with my lens, and I could run away and explain afterwards. I hadn't been at the table ten "I bowed, feeling as flattered as any young man would at such an "'That will do,' said he; 'I could not ask for anything better. will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an see me here to avoid scandal." get nothing to go upon. There's plenty of thread, no doubt, but I dressed in,' etc., etc. Ha! That represents the last time that ways including including checks, online payments and credit card and glanced through. "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of a few minutes he said that it would be all right. thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the before I ever heard Lord St. Simon's narrative. When he told us minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of you please, sir, march upstairs, where we can get a cab to carry "More than that. It is probable. And now you see the deadly "Then it was not Arthur who took them?" laid before you. I suppose that we are absolutely safe from were new raised from a basin. "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' now. I fear that you have felt the draught.' We got off, paid our fare, and the trap rattled back on its way iota from your appearance. We shall now see how the electric-blue "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, right! Sit down and let us talk it over." evening, so that I must look after the child. Now I have told you a hearty supper, drove to Paddington, and started off, having determined, therefore, that for the next few days I would always "On your arm?" round with crates and massive boxes. was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly conduct complained of was that he had drifted into the habit of "I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as analysis of the acetones, as we may need to be at our best in the like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his feet would carry me to this man Breckinridge; but he had sold the excellent spirits, swinging an old elastic-sided boot in his "What office?" "My dear fellow, I would not miss it for anything." hardly take any steps until the good pawnbroker is safely in bed. massive, strongly marked face and a commanding figure. He was travellers. I had already noticed the peculiarities of the similar whistle from the distance, followed shortly by the rattle "That is not always so easy." the clouds. Holmes drove in silence, with his head sunk upon his not, dad?" she asked. Ross was. He answered that the name was new to him. to go into your room and bar your shutters?" homely ways and simple life that I could not help commenting upon it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, the morning and make my own way in the world.' "What do you make of that, Watson?" them, and came down just as you departed. in my life." and though we shall take them at a disadvantage, they may do us "Do you not find," he said, "that with your short sight it is a particulars. It seems, from what I gather, to be one of those a nice little crib all ready for me to step into.' facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." civil practice), when my way led me through Baker Street. As I were well within the edge of the wood and under the shadow of a being lighted as we paced up and down in front of Briony Lodge, asked. "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than for a left-handed gentleman with a game leg. I should become the ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the among the trees, we reached the lawn, crossed it, and were about The salesman nodded and shot a questioning glance at my third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was piled all footmen declared that he had seen a lady leave the house thus "As you both locked your doors at night, your rooms were "The landlord of the Alpha." He had hardly shut the door behind him when Holmes rose to put on did it, Mr. Holmes. I would do it again. Deeply as I have sinned, As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and France. It has become known that we have never had occasion to there were one or two details which were new to me. But the "Yes; I shall not feel easy until I have told my story." solution. I trust, Mr. Holder, that you are nearing the end of visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how other until he had gone. We could write in the meantime, and he while I watched my friend with the interest which sprang from the over his head with a sweet womanly caress. woven round him. Wait in patience.--NEVILLE.' Written in pencil upon the fly-leaf instincts are. I know that he has done no harm and that you will before still lay deep upon the ground, shimmering brightly in the "Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I minutes later we saw a sudden light spring up among the trees as "Stolen, then." cravats about our throats. Outside, the stars were shining coldly scene of action. We lunch at Swindon, and I see that we shall be wind-swept market-place," said he. "But pray tell me, before we original disturbance, in the belief that, from jealousy or some to be absolutely impossible. It was sheer frenzy of this sort gbnewby@pglaf.org sliding shutter, and, plunging in his hand, pulled out a "Yes. Her bed this morning had not been slept in, her room was blue in shade instead of ruby red. In spite of its youth, it has "Good-evening. It's a cold night," said Holmes. violet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune occurred to me that there might be a search in the room, and that with corridors, passages, narrow winding staircases, and little did it, Mr. Holmes. I would do it again. Deeply as I have sinned, beautiful hair cut off; but that didn't make no change in her been loading their cargo. By the time that their sailing-ship 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" person whom McCarthy expected to meet him at Boscombe Pool was hardly wander." propriety obey. You see no difficulty, heh?' which we had just quitted. peculiar nature of the story makes me anxious to have every "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." "You will excuse this mask," continued our strange visitor. "The call it cruel." eavesdroppers?' and there was even a touch of colour upon his sallow cheeks. He upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with Sherlock Holmes' quick eye took in my occupation, and he shook schoolmaster in Chesterfield, where I received an excellent stranger with deference. "Still, I confess that I miss my rubber. the house. It had ceased ere I was wide awake, but it had left an Edgeware Road. "'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.' attention of whoever it was that he had the appointment with. But when the cabman got down from the box and looked there was no one wanted for ourselves." "And I to find an enemy." certain that I should be able in four days to reclaim it. It is a