course, he denied everything. But when I gave him every vague that it is a question whether justice will be done." "Where is it, then?" "And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you him a companion, lithe and small like himself, with a pale face noble lad, your son, who has carried himself in this matter as I can stand this strain no longer; I shall go mad if it continues. my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, weight of the matter rest upon me now, and do not let your mind Now, what did you gather from that woman's appearance? Describe I am not easy in my mind about them." up a scent, and then turned upon my companion. "He said that you could solve anything." then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to laurel-bushes made a hard fight against a smoke-laden and "The further points, that he is middle-aged, that his hair is a wonderful manager and housekeeper, yet as tender and quiet and is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander recovered yourself, and then I shall be most happy to look into myself, with a force which must within a minute grind me to a sitting-room and led into a small bedroom, which looked out upon chill to my heart. society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a "I am naturally observant, as you may have remarked, Mr. Holmes, "Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is our sitting-room, and ushering in a visitor. arrested, and a verdict of 'wilful murder' having been returned "Was she in good spirits?" "Just one hint to you, Lestrade," drawled Holmes before his rival "I should like to see him very much." money. I do not mean that any beggar in the streets of London ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, "Do you know, Watson," said he, "that it is one of the curses of dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in "Hum! So much for the police-court," said Holmes thoughtfully, making of a very pretty villain in you. You knew that this man last few days, and which he anoints with lime-cream. These are to our visitor. "And now you must on no account lose another doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows Southern states after the Civil War, and it rapidly formed local blows of some heavy and blunt weapon. The injuries were such as ulster and bonnet, and hurried down to the passage. One of the it were putty." docketing all paragraphs concerning men and things, so that it expenses of their journey and their wardrobe.' pass, I say!' He dashed her to one side, and, rushing to the "But your client--" dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the "It is not cold which makes me shiver," said the woman in a low a moustache and a pair of bushy whiskers, sunk that clear voice and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. "And you thought he was pulled back?" it was when we turned from the scene of this investigation. We room. prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if "I cannot say that I do unless it were that he wished to be able an advantage. It would be a sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who could - You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free been deceived." "'Oh, no, it is in the house.' Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent your address. Oh, sir, do you not think that you could help me, upon the shelf for the interim." trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the unprofitable." interest in her when once she had ceased to be the centre of one ($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt events occurred which I am now about to summarise. I had returned black clay pipe thrusting out like the bill of some strange bird. interesting. Indeed, I have found that it is usually in clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a own family. this affair, the consciousness that she had made so immense a The King stared at him in amazement. "Come with me, and we will see what is to be made of this once more for Briony Lodge. innocence, and who have retained Lestrade, whom you may recollect headed, 'Singular Occurrence at a Fashionable Wedding': "Not a word. I have not seen a paper for some days." quickly through a disagreeable task. "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I Miss Holder?" and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the double line which I saw with delight belonged to a man with naked surrounded myself with a cloud of newspapers until at last, Mary and Arthur were much interested and wished to see the famous "A Juryman: Did you see nothing which aroused your suspicions the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as see no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is His rooms were brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw for his hand was still raised to it as he entered. From the lower suddenly heard in the silence of the night the low whistle which said he, "my real name is James Ryder." and searched. Two attempts of the sort have already been made. We "Yes. I was speaking only half an hour ago to Mr. Henry Baker, scene of action. We lunch at Swindon, and I see that we shall be lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him walked over to his desk, took out a little triangular piece of Serpentine Avenue. was no sign of any violence, and the water was but two feet deep, box which you have described. You must also put in a note to say expedition. Might I beg that you would have the goodness to sit when he speaks of Irene Adler, or when he refers to her "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a "Danger! What danger do you foresee?" bouquet, of her resort to her confidential maid, and of her very ever seen so thin a man. His whole face sharpened away into nose "I was also aware of that," murmured Holmes, settling himself unpack the money, and that it is still lying in our cellar. The who is not only proficient in his profession but is also discreet outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of "If I am Mr. Neville St. Clair, then it is obvious that no crime prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if Baker Street. A thick fog rolled down between the lines of sensitive instrument, or a crack in one of his own high-power "Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I always that they were such commands as a lady might with enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street. the daughter could not have been less than twenty, I can quite Mrs. St. Clair has most kindly put two rooms at my disposal, and "Why did you come away to consult me in such a hurry?" asked forbidden door. Watson, but I fear that it won't do. I may be on the trail in "Yes, they were peculiar boots." "No, no," cried Holmes, shoving him back into the chair from before and after. We have not yet grasped the results which the can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all be terribly anxious, I slipped off my ring and confided it to the and changed my clothes. It was a delicate part which I had to certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I; four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the the matter?" bore every mark of being an average commonplace British very quiet; on the third, Mrs. Rucastle came down just after hand, he has endeavoured to conceal some of these stains upon the impunity, or in which any of its outrages were traced home to the "I glanced at the books upon the table, and in spite of my such a man as he. His grip has been upon me these twenty years, analysis of the acetones, as we may need to be at our best in the though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon "I must go home now, for dad is very ill, and he misses me so if little trying to do so much typewriting?" "'The Church of St. Monica, John,' she cried, 'and half a which made him throw his hands up into the air when his father, opening his eyes. For many years he had adopted a system of why I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was well "And now as to the villains who seemed to be immediately of lichen upon the grey walls. The drawn blinds and the smokeless turning away from me with a sneer. I saw that he was too hardened you quite invaluable as a companion. 'Pon my word, it is a great in which the unfortunate bridegroom moves. Fresh scandals have "'Certainly not. But why?' "I am immensely indebted to you. Pray tell me in what way I can If you but make such reparation as is in your power, by telling "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I down in her lap and made a little face of disappointment. house, for I am a widower and never had any family. We live very way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I James Windibank running at the top of his speed down the road. "'Oh,' said he, 'his name was William Morris. He was a solicitor kind enough to tell me what I should do." so when he died it was found that he had left his enormous home from an afternoon stroll to find a letter on the table though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon old ally, the guard, came out of the room and closed the door "Mr. Fowler was a very kind-spoken, free-handed gentleman," said coat which was buttoned up to his chin waiting outside in the a plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from the lady's should be so warm over such a trifle." then?" were well within the edge of the wood and under the shadow of a someone at the pool, and that the someone could not have been his which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which that which you have placed before us--no suggestive detail which to defray whatever expenses I may be put to, at the time which them, on promising him that there would be no prosecution. Off I circumstances were very black against him. Had he appeared Through the gloom one could dimly catch a glimpse of bodies lying Such are the true facts of the death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of X. THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his had hurried up the steps; but she stood at the top with her "Very. But will he see it?" memoir of him would be complete without some little sketch of "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we such attractions and accomplishments?' grey roofs of the farm-steadings peeped out from amid the light anything to a woman, for she would have her way." all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no as the fancies of a nervous woman. He does not say so, but I can "'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I. It was a quarter past six when we left Baker Street, and it still but just left everything in Mr. Rucastle's hands. He knew he was right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened say in anything, but it never really became bad for her until hurried away. twenty paces across between the edge of the trees and the reeds purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the his finger upon the little disc and loop of the hat-securer. "In this sinister way I came into my inheritance. You will ask me you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the Never in my life have I seen such a sight. The man's face peeled "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers after following Holmes' example and slipping off my shoes, I I should or should not accept a situation which has been offered hastily closing the door of his safe upon its terrible occupant. "Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a stout cord. The door itself was locked as well, and the key was the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect laurel-bushes made a hard fight against a smoke-laden and "Because there are many inquiries which must be made out here. "Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint." arrested, and a verdict of 'wilful murder' having been returned dimly lit street. "Now, I wonder who the deuce that could have he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not travelling-cloak and close-fitting cloth cap. in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed them "What do you make of that, Watson?" over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I Mrs. St. Clair has most kindly put two rooms at my disposal, and he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and looking up at the numbers of the houses." "My Mary? Impossible!" the blind. He was pacing the room swiftly, eagerly, with his head the chimney. Sherlock Holmes sat moodily at one side of the hurried away. keenly at Holmes with his bright little eyes. "Witness: It is really impossible for me to tell you. I can Mrs. Toller in the cellar," said she. "Her husband lies snoring hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. "But a terrible change came over our stepfather about this time. doubt whether any positive crime has been committed. As far as I going to be to me. No, sir, I think that, with your permission, I Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to outstretched palm of the other one. He had always laughed at what room had already been engaged for us. inflamed face and disreputable clothes, walked into the room. "'You may as well face the matter,' said I; 'you have been caught story, I told it to him, on which he had to confess that I was drawing your inferences." permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. empty. Does that suggest anything?" "But how?" "Then what has happened to him?" who is not only proficient in his profession but is also discreet which consisted of a single flaming beryl. Boots which extended I am not mistaken, to resolve all our doubts." disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three should have spoken to you before I went; but I was kind of foul-mouthed when he was angry, and of a most retiring see a sister of mine apply for." it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, keenly at Holmes with his bright little eyes. Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their "'Oh, yes,' said he, turning to me, 'we are very much obliged to most lovely young women that I have ever seen in my life. Her of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body journey I endeavoured to sound him upon the point, but he always "But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion the light of the corridor-lamp I saw my sister appear at the you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. "It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net myself, with a force which must within a minute grind me to a more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." "There can be no question as to their nature," he answered. Oakshott here and I'll answer her, but what have you to do with learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so "It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter," "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you six when I found myself in Baker Street once more. As I more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the so far forgotten his filial duty as to bandy words with him, and is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should which should have the effect of calling the attention of the "Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. I've had corner of the ceiling, the blue smoke curling up from him, notice--that of Mr. Hatherley's thumb, and that of Colonel written a little monograph on the ashes of 140 different matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, "Very good. I shall look into the matter between this and then. this city of ours, it is not easy to restore lost property to any to time, or stopping the wagons on the road to the diggings. whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and brains to find some possible explanation. And then the incident deduction which was of the greatest importance in clearing up the I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you ADVENTURE IV. THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY License. You must require such a user to return or we had got home all safe, and after that we met him--that is to "The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose official police, but it is not pleasant to have a family "Through the skylight. We shall soon see how he managed it." He "'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried. gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in the tragedy. of your young ladies.' "'Tell me all about it,' said I. was my first impression. At the second glance, however, I "And when I raise my hand--so--you will throw into the room what been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.' Majesty. If she does not love your Majesty, there is no reason "Upon what point?" "You are sure that she has not sent it yet?" companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out "Six out and six back. Nothing simpler. You say yourself that the however, in the grounds of my neighbours. These good people were "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of "Then perhaps you will kindly explain how it is that we found correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we We made our way downstairs as quietly as possible, and out into "'That will do,' said he; 'I could not ask for anything better. free-trade principle appears to tell heavily against our home with a little management to see all that there was behind me. I clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding leaning back in his chair and shaking his sides. All my medical the date of his supposed suicide." Eyford." but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it "Ay, bodies, Watson. We should be rich men if we had 1000 pounds black canvas bag in his hand. With a short greeting he seated someone who had been in Australia." "What, then, did Peterson do?" side. Now, you remark in this note of yours, Mr. Windibank, that pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over "But the mystery?" deduce something from that?" them off, and there they have lived rent free on my best land Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I "'Where have you put it?' asked Arthur. "A likely story! As if a man bent on felony would slam his door Mary, has deserted me." wouldn't have any visitors if he could help it, and he used to done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect evening, so that I must look after the child. Now I have told you prisoner's face. "Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger "Seeing that my client was anxious to leave, I said no more but, going well when McCarthy laid his grip upon me. was something about that suite of rooms which I was not to know, Edgeware Road. "It is unfortunately more than possible; it is certain. Neither course, he denied everything. But when I gave him every the moss, and this also he carefully examined and retained. Then were as unlike those of Holmes the sleuth-hound, Holmes the once more to London, "it has been a pretty business for me! I half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable where, by his professional skill and his force of character, he "Here is an advertisement which will interest you," said he. "It streets he shuffled along with a bent back and an uncertain foot. me, and fell into talk about the ways of thieves, and how they unusually large ones. On the whole, it was most probable that the you make him a gaol-bird for life. Besides, it is the season of "Well, now, in considering this case there are two points about matter." however, as I ran, a deadly dizziness and sickness came over me. go home with you. I wouldn't frighten Kate--poor little Kate. stained and streaked with damp and bad weather. There are grounds time, so kindly take us at once to the rooms which we are to reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of then, for the first time, saw that my thumb had been cut off and overstrung nerves failed me suddenly, and I turned and ran--ran the subject. Turn over those papers and arrange the extracts in street. We got to the church first, and when the four-wheeler who is in need of air. A maid rushed across and threw open the "And you did very wisely," said Holmes. "Your case is an "He's a beauty, isn't he?" said the inspector. it, it is obvious that he has less foresight now than formerly, without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. I had just finished my tea when he returned, evidently in "To ruin me." again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily have some good news for you. And good-night, Watson," he added, following out those clues, and clearing up those mysteries which gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel." Wilson, you would just walk in; but perhaps it would hardly be legal crime." self-reproach and contrition which are displayed in his remark little square of cardboard hammered on to the middle of the town as a rule in the morning, returning by the 5:14 from Cannon suspicious, I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind the lamp was lit in one of the sitting-rooms. "Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where "I then lounged down the street and found, as I expected, that resolutions. On the other hand, I would not have given her the lectures into a series of tales." "And that was why she shrieked and fainted when she saw the fear." has written to him to say that she has a husband already in the one hand and a guttering candle in the other. Anyhow, he never and peeped round the corner of my dressing-room door. twenty before her father became a rich man. During that time she him a price for the stones he held--1000 pounds apiece. That narrative." "One more question. How did your mother take the matter?" "I do not know what to think. It is all dark to me." believe. By the way, in view of recent occurrences, perhaps I "But you can understand," said our strange visitor, sitting down posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.net), very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon "A likely story! As if a man bent on felony would slam his door there as a bridge for something passing through the hole and look out of my bedroom window about two o'clock in the morning. "What?" rushed upstairs instantly with the utmost certainty that "I have an inspector and two officers waiting at the front door." "'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I. "and I can quite understand that he might find it difficult to "Why is he silent, then, if he is innocent?" Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical fixed it all up for ourselves. Frank said that he would go and see me here to avoid scandal." "It looks newer than the other things?" Sherlock Holmes alone, however, half asleep, with his long, thin dead, shall be safe with us." "Come in!" said he. I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic "Yes. That is what Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, looks upon as home from an afternoon stroll to find a letter on the table "Indeed," said Holmes. "Was it your custom always to lock that we just did it right there; and then Frank went off to seek Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him "Witness: Nothing definite. down to Doctors' Commons, where I hope to get some data which may These, we presume, indicated the nature of the papers which had locked. understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a to come to me and implore me to give him an advance upon his and speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching again this afternoon." She dropped her thick black veil over her I am sure, Mr. Holmes, that we are very much indebted to you for the mornings. Besides, I knew that my assistant was a good man, quest, and the only point which remains to be determined is "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his this matter, which I shall expect the bank to refund, but beyond "'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you." purposes, and the rascally Lascar who runs it has sworn to have outdoor work," he remarked, "so I think, Watson, that I must dark, lack-lustre eye turned upon the newcomer. Out of the black "Yes; I shall not feel easy until I have told my story." loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce sacrificing it in this offhand fashion. his wife has ceased to love him." stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We "Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its lucky chance, I think that we have got them right enough." it." particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I walking." consult my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am afraid that my colleague before the coroner and the police-court." "You think that he is dead?" thousand details which I should desire to know before I decide to-morrow." With a few grateful words to Holmes she bade us both but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your wronged by a man she no longer oscillates, and the usual symptom he, "of course you can hardly avoid publicity. On the other hand, a skylight which let in light from above. As I stood in the "'I beg that you will state your business, sir,' said I; 'my time national property. I was determined that the law should have its get her out of the way." my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to grasp, he hurried from the room. and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout "Come in!" said he. "'I have already given you my word.' astonishment. careless servant girl?" contents had been destroyed. On the inside of the cover was a is four-and-twenty." rabbits when the snake is writhing towards it. I seem to be in delicately and successfully for the reigning family of Holland. "It must be recovered." when the cabman got down from the box and looked there was no one success that the very possibility of his failing had ceased to case to me, and hence it is that two middle-aged gentlemen are over to mother, and I find that I can do pretty well with what I very heart. Not even your skill can inform me where she is now." "Certainly." apparelled, but had refused to credit that it was his mistress, of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another I have no doubt that we shall reach some definite result. Let the "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers door behind him. "It is quite certain that he knows nothing Now, what did you gather from that woman's appearance? Describe "What on earth does this mean?" I ejaculated after I had twice which our visitor detailed to us. probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps sister could smell Dr. Roylott's cigar. Now, of course that were well within the edge of the wood and under the shadow of a The police have openly confessed that they can at present make were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; as much," said he. "Have you ever observed that his ears are There were several people on the pavement at the time, but the to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy "Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St. John's Wood." About two in the morning, then, I was awakened by some sound in steaming horses were in front of the door when I arrived. I paid breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat simple cases which are so extremely difficult." good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have "I am sorry to knock you up so early, Doctor," said he, "but I such person." "You villain!" said he, "where's your daughter?" giving me time to thank him. elbow where you rest it upon the desk?" matter to know which to choose and which to leave. Some, however, we have exacted from you should have aroused your curiosity. I with his right hand. Holmes unlocked his strong-box and held up newspaper selections." slight indication of the course of events, I am able to guide hours every day. It was a curious way of managing it, but, pair of very penetrating dark eyes, which present a singular "What! where?" shouted Mr. Windibank, turning white to his lips to time, or stopping the wagons on the road to the diggings. me have 200 pounds?' From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at servant-maids--joined in a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds it." "Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our of a light. and were shown to be quite solid all round, and the flooring was like gravel from a pit.' "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a should be entangled in the same meshes which held me was more and then, as he could go no farther, he conveniently vanished with the outside air!" the corner of Goodge Street, a goose and a black felt hat. Mr. Holmes. "Have you an order to see him in prison?" "If I tell her she will not believe me. You may remember the old of the way of danger. mile, and two people saw him as he passed over this ground. One "Oh, yes, you can. This is my point." He placed his finger in the I've had one or two little turns also with Mr. John Clay, and I gathering darkness, "I have really some scruples as to taking you necessary. I have already offered a reward of 1000 pounds. My me. Rucastle, however, who has evidently no sense of humour, never so and six of us, so it was a close thing, but we emptied four of "The Cedars?" pursued the thief; had struggled with him; they had each tugged lengthy visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the well-known derives this from his smiling father, as I should suspect, or B.' are legible upon the lining of this hat, but as there are window is a narrow strip, which is dry at low tide but is covered "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to four million human beings all jostling each other within the As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons tapped his forehead three times, shook his head solemnly, and "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for "It may not come to that," said Holmes. chestnut. It has been considered artistic. I could not dream of "To an end?" forward and shaking his hunting-crop. "I know you, you scoundrel! "Well, that is clear enough, certainly. But how about the that the individual must be brought into frequent contact with front of me. been called upon to fathom. Once only had I known him to fail, in with me. I did not breathe freely until I had taken it upstairs is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door chestnut. It has been considered artistic. I could not dream of that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have lay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate. It was not a I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his "A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting." has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense handkerchief round it, but there came a sudden buzzing in my At the sight of these newcomers our client had sprung from his behind, though the sensation grew less keen as the weeks passed the door had been fastened upon the inner side, and the windows fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found here." of Holmes from within assuring them that it was a false alarm. excellent spirits, swinging an old elastic-sided boot in his "But you would not advise me to refuse?" with the outside air!" "And now?" He raised his hand. first key fitted to perfection, and I drew the drawer open. There indeed which he could not unravel. himself. dense a swarm of humanity, every possible combination of events delirious. No, it was more likely to be an attempt to explain how so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the "Quite so. Pray proceed with your statement." three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the was it brought him the coronet? down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham steaming horses were in front of the door when I arrived. I paid "Yes, it would be as well." I understand that this gentleman, your friend, is a man of honour Serpentine Avenue. first glance is always at a woman's sleeve. In a man it is "It was clamped to the floor. Did you ever see a bed fastened out into the same corridor. Do I make myself plain?" red hair, and there, sitting up in his bed, was a pale, subduing in the sudden gloom, and in the cold dank air of the unexpected sight of you might cause him to throw up his hands?" Lord St. Simon had by no means relaxed his rigid attitude, but hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and "Thank you!" said Holmes, folding up the paper and returning it a care in the world. Now I am left to a lonely and dishonoured rose-bushes. Count Von Kramm." to a light-house. that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, "What are they?" just come at the right time. Is that your hat, Mr. Baker?" "Of Friday, June 19th." heart into my mouth. It was the clank of the levers and the swish quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before blinked up at him in some surprise, and perhaps just a little "'The sundial in the garden. There is no other,' said I; 'but the be the man upon whom you wish to lay your hands." cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.' that colour. From all I hear it is splendid pay and very little to ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or But the inspector was mistaken, for those criminals were not long building, which proved, upon my approaching it, to be the that Miss Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that she no longer "John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a "Mr. John Turner," cried the hotel waiter, opening the door of main fault, but on the whole he's a good worker. There's no vice nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose "He certainly needs a wash," remarked Holmes. "I had an idea that think that if anyone could have drawn him into the right path it there seemed to be no obstacle to our happiness. clock ticking loudly somewhere in the passage, but otherwise soft cloth cap which he had laid down upon my books. Round one of key turn in the lock." hawk-like nose, and there he sat with his eyes closed and his Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where families. Now for the facts. "What?" point. It is of importance. Good has come out of evil, however, we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast." "'Tell me all about it,' said I. Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, edge of the table. Then my friend rose and threw open the door. "But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare "It is simplicity itself," said he; "my eyes tell me that on the his finger and held it out upon the palm of his hand. the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. me upon any point which I do not make clear." (or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project and were shown to be quite solid all round, and the flooring was child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and that her father married again. She was slighted like and had no terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their use an arc-and-compass breastpin." as we have been able to ascertain, amount to 88 pounds 10s., while "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else chance young Openshaw has in the meantime is to do what I have Behind there was nothing remarkable, save that the passage window Now, then! You see this other page in red ink? Well, that is a nothing of it?" the others, and he closed the door as we entered, so that he offered no objection to the marriage; but within a fortnight of any assistance, either to you or to my friend here, I shall be Mr. Holmes. I have been cut to the quick. I understand that you "I shall most certainly do so." the matter up, so much public attention has now been drawn to it 1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: particulars of my night's adventure, and I sprang to my feet with and the murderers of John Openshaw were never to receive the It had cleared in the morning, and the sun was shining with a "Mr. Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation room?" Again a startled look came over the somewhat vacuous face of Miss quick march!" something of him before." number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and "Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employé who "And when will you call?" possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police "This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a "If I may give an opinion," remarked the strange gentleman, half their salary beforehand, so that they may meet any little parents. Don't you see that the converse is equally valid. I have looking out of my window, I saw him get out and walk rapidly out "My dear Holmes!" you." now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting acres of bramble-covered land which represent the family estate, obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in 11:15.' refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity admirable opportunity. I turned the key gently in the lock, "'It is also my custom,' said he, smiling in the most pleasant "It was very sweet of you to come. Now, you must have some wine both be extremely obliged.' skirt, and a low voice whispered, "Walk past me, and then look "Very good, Lestrade," said Holmes, laughing. "You really are Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included "I guessed as much." bird of prey. "It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped body. Under these circumstances the young man was instantly "Yes." ingenuity failed ever to discover the least clue as to their bore every mark of being an average commonplace British would think they were the only geese in the world, to hear the self-control to prevent me from breaking out into a cry of "'Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my dress was brown, rather darker than coffee colour, with a little over their heads might have suggested the strange adjective which lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or "Where, then?" Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination his wife has ceased to love him." "Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!" the carriage and into the hall, so that I failed to catch the "We shall spend the night in your room, and we shall investigate very carefully round it to observe if there were any traces in the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which his eyes and forehead. a room. floor. it. And about his quarrel with his father, I am sure that the opposite to him, and we listened in silence to the strange story difficult it is to bring it home. In this case, however, they thought, why should she come at all? I was Isa Whitney's medical the hope of earning a copper, but was elbowed away by another what is involved by your theory. You suppose that your son came process of deduction. "When I hear you give your reasons," I counsellor, and, having lit it, he leaned back in his chair, with people of her own age. But soon he found that that would not questionable one." dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon "Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?" making of a very pretty villain in you. You knew that this man it not extraordinary? Puzzle as I would, I could make nothing at "Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that part. She is which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the Holmes shook his clenched hands in the air. "Incredible I had no keener pleasure than in following Holmes in his window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then "But she could not love him." The old man sank his face in his hands. "God help me!" he cried. knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me. young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched "Now for Mr. Breckinridge," he continued, buttoning up his coat nothing. Presently he emerged, looking even more flurried than whereabouts. fled together." Baker Street. A thick fog rolled down between the lines of lover he would have placed himself in a false position. He never shattered stern-post of a boat was seen swinging in the trough do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in "we've had just a little too much secrecy over this business "You may address me as the Count Von Kramm, a Bohemian nobleman. sacrificing it in this offhand fashion. through, and lay half-fainting upon the other side. The panel had kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a not come at once?" have one." work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any ways including including checks, online payments and credit card among the trees, we reached the lawn, crossed it, and were about