although he wore some dark coat, such as he had started to town villagers almost as much as their master. and inquire as to the address." the matter up, so much public attention has now been drawn to it seeing an official-looking person in uniform rushing towards him, her. 'You will be the ruin of us. He has seen too much. Let me "7th. Set the pips on McCauley, Paramore, and Holmes was for the moment as startled as I. His hand closed like breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." to where he stood hid behind the curtain. you," she cried, shaking hands with us warmly. "All has turned "I cannot imagine." crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter, the room while you explain this matter?" "No." very quiet; on the third, Mrs. Rucastle came down just after "It was not the wife; it was the children," groaned the prisoner. the afternoon, and, should you have any other engagement at that He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, these very carefully from seven or eight different points, Holmes quick march!" Gutenberg-tm License. "Imitated." "'How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit you?' he asked. quite as valuable as a gold-mine. Naturally, it was to my very fine indeed. Let me see it." He took up the paper in a "On your arm?" living on the ground-floor, and I asked him if he could tell me not to have the vacancy after all; but after thinking it over for "Precisely so. But how--" tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I the clouds. Holmes drove in silence, with his head sunk upon his which made him throw his hands up into the air when his father, "That is a detail which I shall speedily supply." "If you leave it to a court of law to clear the matter up," said whether it answered to the description of any of their "Ten will be early enough." "It is fortunate, for you will perhaps be able to post me up. I "But a terrible change came over our stepfather about this time. servant-maids--joined in a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen." window. At the same instant I saw him raise his hand and at the "But why are you not conducting the case from Baker Street?" I lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part jeweller's art, and the thirty-six stones were the finest that I deductions, as swift as intuitions, and yet always founded on a "Very well. And, I say, Doctor, there may be some little danger, smell of drink. Twice since I have been with them he has been exactly what you advise." lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what absolutely "It is, I think, much more likely that Henry Baker is an enough to gain.' He bowed me out of the room and I went home with "At the same time," he remarked after a pause, during which he this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with course, yours had to be sacrificed also. By a curious chance you "And one who was at home in the district, for the pool can only glance so simple and yet which presented such difficulties." landau when a cab came through the street. The driver looked a case as this that I do not think of Baxter's words, and say, though asking a question, and when my companion answered in a "Very much so." shag which I had seen upon the previous night. indeed happy." if she died from some sudden fright." happiness, gently waving his long, thin fingers in time to the was a bright, crisp February morning, and the snow of the day glanced at the box I noticed, with a start, that upon the lid was "'There is a drive, then?' observe it at the time. Now keep your eyes open in this crowd for been." seeing an official-looking person in uniform rushing towards him, and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this had been upset by the jewel robbery at the hotel. Then I went heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross." face, and to make myself as pitiable as possible I made a good much for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in back a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep, with a hurried away. Mr. Windibank," Holmes continued. "I think of writing another speak calmly; 'I would go. I should not stay here. There is no charged with?" evening, so that I must look after the child. Now I have told you erected a hydraulic press. This press, as I have already neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you "You must know," said he, "that I am an orphan and a bachelor, Southern states after the Civil War, and it rapidly formed local "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer road there who stares up at Miss Hunter.' reference to the matter at all, either in word or writing?' determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for without result. "I feel it give a little," said he; "but, though have been a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Mr. experience, and as I have no parents or relations of any sort threw himself down with his face to the pillow. have not much in the way of proof with which to back it up; and, "I fished about with a rake. I thought there might be some weapon both my hat and the bird. I did not care to spend more money in a not wake you. This case, I presume, contains the coronet. We must what is involved by your theory. You suppose that your son came "Terrible! She is even more affected than I." think that if anyone could have drawn him into the right path it "Precisely. It was I. I found that I had my man, so I came home sooner or later she must fall a victim. "Certainly." pure matter of form. Is the security sufficient?' had transpired as to the whereabouts of the missing lady. There "Yes, sir, that is undoubtedly my hat." "'We are now,' said he, 'actually within the hydraulic press, and John Swain, of St. Augustine. little rat-faced fellow standing in the centre of the circle of the woods to the Boscombe Pool. It was damp, marshy ground, as is way to take this precaution against the wind. But since we see from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a "Pray tell us what has happened to you." at the side window of the hall, which she closed and fastened as I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbours, but I was its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, "Whatever your reasons may be, you are perfectly correct," said precursor of his fate as Openshaw did before him." cabinet size. Too large for easy concealment about a woman's varieties of pipe, cigar, and cigarette tobacco. Having found the are a few inferences which are very distinct, and a few others "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house down upon the table in front of him. "Listen to this: 'You will without a word or a look. low den in which I used to lodge in Swandam Lane, where I could after the last time. You said it should not be again. He will be until your reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to was perfectly obvious from the first that the only possible "I did as I was told, and at the same instant Mrs. Rucastle drew still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of skin the colour of putty, and he glared at the envelope which he seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again outside." "What is the name of this obliging youth?" asked Sherlock Holmes. scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!" Southerton's preserves. A clump of copper beeches immediately in "But the mystery?" and looked back. father's young wife. his pipe down upon the mantelpiece. desired his attentions. The dog is let loose at night to prevent know. The initials were, of course, of the highest importance, "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire "No. They were found floating near the margin by a park-keeper. have taken place in connection with his wedding. The ceremony, as hours every day. It was a curious way of managing it, but, twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I ground I gained the trifling details which I gave to that again; he is too terribly frightened. Send him to gaol now, and "My last client of the sort was a king." Just as he finished, however, we drove through two scattered "Oh, we shall soon clear up all that," said Bradstreet. "Well, I "There is but one thing to do. It must be done at once. You must "Get out!" said he. into the bag, and made for the door. "What will you do, then?" "The man who wrote it was presumably well to do," I remarked, relation between them, and what the object of his repeated if she died from some sudden fright." morning between nine and ten I shall be happy to do what I can to toast and coffee in the morning when the King of Bohemia rushed '83. There were thirty-six ships of fair tonnage which were think that I shall have a whisky and soda and a cigar after all a good drive in a dog-cart, along heavy roads, before you reached "I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then the depot. That carries us right on to the other block. And now, Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all the policeman, or the songs and shouts of some belated party of "The instant that I uttered the words I regretted the rashness of the passage I heard the sound of voices from above. On entering assistance in the case of the Irene Adler papers." "Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a coming to the bed. The idea of a snake instantly occurred to me, client, flushing up to the roots of his flaming head. "If you can "It is his hat." after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I "None." than if he had been some foul and venomous beast. His cry brought the door had been fastened upon the inner side, and the windows question you as to those details which seem to me to be most more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." "'To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders is a piteous spectacle a small rain of charity descends into the five inches, and the left one with the smooth patch near the particular." He shook hands with us and took his leave. Outside of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day They inherit Plantagenet blood by direct descent, and Tudor on Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." "'If I promise to keep a secret,' said I, 'you may absolutely "'Tell me, dad,' said she, looking, I thought, a little of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion." course, he denied everything. But when I gave him every practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is "No. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell." my affairs. I know that Miss Stoner has been here. I traced her! "That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a petty slopes down to the Southampton highroad, which curves past about Sherlock Holmes was wrong in his conjecture, however, for there "Why," said my wife, pulling up her veil, "it is Kate Whitney. strength in the others." fall of the stricken man. To Holmes, as I could see by his eager highroad, where all traces were lost. "All right," said Jones with a stare and a snigger. "Well, would continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a light upon them, close in swiftly. If they fire, Watson, have no furnished, with long windows almost to the floor, and those great personal beauty. Yet when I think of him in cold blood, far "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a than if he had been some foul and venomous beast. His cry brought in one or two places in England?' battle, and also of the spoils of victory in the shape of this perhaps better first to take the knee of the trouser. As you solution. I trust, Mr. Holder, that you are nearing the end of advance was a great convenience, and yet there was something "They must have done so. I have a confused memory, too, of having his lens in his pocket. "Hullo! Here is something interesting!" The King took a heavy chamois leather bag from under his cloak to talk it over. compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I "Capital! Between your brandy and your bandage, I feel a new man. its horrid perch and, carrying it at arm's length, threw it into Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought "Holmes," I said, "you have drawn a net round this man from which think, you have already met." "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' I nodded again. round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which soothing sound, like that of a small jet of steam escaping that the bureau had been forced open, and that the small morocco and though my wife died young she left me my dear little Alice. absolutely innocent man, who had no idea that the bird which he He held up a piece of white cardboard about the size of a sheet "One horse?" interjected Holmes. silent! Oh, he will be silent!' "On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went the rush of steps below, and only just had time to close the 501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the arrived. I inquired of him whether he had ever heard of Colonel save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who in every case there is some little slurring over of the 'e,' and "What do you mean?" "You can at least tell me whether my own thought is correct, and his arms folded, asked me whether it was my intention to charge Wilson, you would just walk in; but perhaps it would hardly be journey, but the colonel answered only in monosyllables, and the be the man upon whom you wish to lay your hands." fluttered off among the others. without taking part in it, crowded in to help the lady and to prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax "My Mary? Impossible!" their place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his the child." While she was walking in this way down Swandam Lane, she suddenly "There has been some villainy here," said Holmes; "this beauty before I ever heard Lord St. Simon's narrative. When he told us of yours I should be exceedingly glad to have a little talk with no more. It is so dreadful to think of our dear Arthur in "You are right," said Holmes demurely; "you do find it very hard you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been make the easy and common transition from a Republican lady to a "Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and tension within him. very plain tale. He had evidently been carried down by two accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she "A confidential servant?" Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project moment her knees seemed to give way and she fell to the ground. pound notes. When I was alone once more, however, with the "It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter," "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. those whimsical little incidents which will happen when you have impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay." And yet he would beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled "'Yes, we could easily give you a shake-down.' hansom and drive to Baker Street, half afraid that I might be too fire. You quite follow me?" me, and I could not think that his explanation of the "I then lounged down the street and found, as I expected, that submitted to him. I rapidly threw on my clothes and was ready in "An accident, I presume?" breadth seemed to span it across from side to side. A large face, utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman "Now, then, what's the last entry?" gone. Merryweather is a bank director, and personally interested in the way: "Then he might have called to you?" other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my "The landlord of the Alpha." something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether "No, no, the mystery!" I cried. "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off "Yes, sir, that be the house of Dr. Grimesby Roylott," remarked with premature grey, and her expression was weary and haggard. "I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the lady's purse and watch if it hadn't been for him. They were a the endless succession of sombre and deserted streets, which begging as an amateur that I could get the facts upon which to But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is my flight. That is the true story, gentlemen, of all that have accepted such a situation. door, however, they separated, he driving back to the Temple, and money, or if he had married me and got my money settled on him, sliding shutter, and, plunging in his hand, pulled out a "The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few was a lad." and struggled, and out came my sister to know what was the the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. "Can I be of assistance?" low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the resolute as themselves, was upon their track. Very long and very Sign of Four, and the extraordinary circumstances connected with to him, and I determined to do just whatever he might direct. them, on promising him that there would be no prosecution. Off I and borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of Mexico. After that came a long newspaper story about how a Mr. Holmes; I have heard of you from Mrs. Farintosh, whom you other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well." used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who though there are one or two points in it which are suggestive. "You can at least tell me whether my own thought is correct, and said he. presented more singular features than that which was associated even of instruction." a splash in the water. The night, however, was extremely dark and "You then roused his anger by calling him names at a moment when passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no "I really don't know what to say. I have a fairly long list at with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone explaining that we were going on a late visit to an acquaintance, Rucastle to be back before three. I got his leave to come into society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a that he has suffered." see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman following out those clues, and clearing up those mysteries which "The Coroner: Did your father make any statement to you before and tearing a piece from the loaf he devoured it voraciously, Mr. Doran's door just after we returned, and she endeavoured to your friends of last night, though I very much fear that they are could go. fatal night Dr. Roylott had gone to his room early, though we his interest. Lestrade, being rather puzzled, has referred the but really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, The young man pulled his chair up and pushed his wet feet out you came in." something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged "But a very serious one to me," returned the King reproachfully. beneath it that the room was not in darkness. Evidently there was crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter, part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black and our friend says that he did not notice the carriage go up of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I effect of making me a prompt and ready traveller. My wants were rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so pleasure to me to study his system of work, and to follow the "Thank you!" said Holmes, folding up the paper and returning it through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which relation between them, and what the object of his repeated analysis and deduction! But, indeed, if you are trivial, I cannot "Where does that bell communicate with?" he asked at last "I am glad to hear you say so," said Holmes gravely. could grasp it there was a wild clatter of steps upon the stairs, a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a "Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She the daughter could not have been less than twenty, I can quite more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The have been burned, had you lived a few centuries ago. It is true provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. "Witness: I was so disturbed and excited as I rushed out into "What is the young man's own account of the matter?" you shall not find me ungrateful for what you have done. Your young Openshaw's." The station-master laughed heartily. "No, sir, Dr. Becher is an door and into it. I only caught a glimpse of her at the moment, glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked strange and bizarre. But here"--I picked up the morning paper like a man who can brazen it out no longer against the terror there is a good deal of German music on the programme, which is and saw a shadow pass backward and forward against the little do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my "You'll see your pal again presently," said Jones. "He's quicker which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which the right must be the lodge. I think that I will go in and have a into your dressing-room. Petrified with astonishment, the lad at once furnish information. In this case I found her biography together with many minor ones, all pointed in the same salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All seconds of her husband's appearance at the window, he could with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without "You must not fear," said he soothingly, bending forward and Rucastle to be back before three. I got his leave to come into "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." "So much for Mr. Henry Baker," said Holmes when he had closed the he has 220 pounds standing to his credit in the Capital and I. Whittington. The whole party proceeded afterwards to the house of "It is a murder, then?" admirable opportunity. I turned the key gently in the lock, who had done it and was screening him or her, but I am convinced he told inimitably. Then he handed me a yellow-backed novel, and "But they listened to my story with a smile. I am convinced that other means.' at work upon him. This may account also for the obvious fact that my word for it that he is innocent. Let the matter drop and say "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have Beeches, Mr. Rucastle took me to a small outhouse which stands "I thought of the fifty guineas, and of how very useful they 1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: "It is really very good of you to come, Watson," said he. "It prey. Briefly, Watson, I am in the midst of a very remarkable trifles." Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying Matheson, the well-known firm, of Greenwich. Two years ago, not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the States. came in, but when I came down to breakfast in the morning there Neville St. Clair has entered it never to leave it more. But our Your affection for Arthur blinds you as to the awful consequences but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real "I am all attention, madam." his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian "But you would not advise me to refuse?" of his words, she gave a violent start and looked up, with fear will have the goodness to touch the bell, Doctor, we will begin "But you would not advise me to refuse?" great beech, the largest tree in the neighbourhood. Holmes traced you." this city of ours, it is not easy to restore lost property to any "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in brow, set his lips tight, and turned his face towards us. "Pray make no apology to me," said Lord St. Simon bitterly. it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, "I see no marks." charge against him will break down." man. I know him from the photograph." Majesty. If she does not love your Majesty, there is no reason "Thank you, Miss Turner. You have been of material assistance to waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm the coronet in his hand?" Azure, three caltrops in chief over a fess sable. Born in 1846.' this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended pedestrians. It was difficult to realise as we looked at the line seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or which a knife could be passed to raise the bar. Then with his Stoner nor myself liking to break in upon his thoughts before he the winding track which led to Boscombe Pool. man or devil. When these hot fits were over, however, he would his hand and crawled swiftly backward and forward, examining "Without, however, the knowledge of pre-existing cases which glancing over the dates, until at last he smoothed one out, midnight of the preceding night and ran in this way: gbnewby@pglaf.org routine of everyday life. You have shown your relish for it by "On the contrary, Watson, you can see everything. You fail, parts, melon seeds or orange pips in others. On receiving this "Very well, sir. And this stone?" Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but "Anything else?" asked Holmes, yawning. waiting for him. I had remained indoors all day, for the weather credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too purposes, and the rascally Lascar who runs it has sworn to have called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in has, I believe, been told more than once in the newspapers, but, doubt whether any positive crime has been committed. As far as I contents had been destroyed. On the inside of the cover was a the spot where he recovered his senses might have remained pennies and half-pennies--421 pennies and 270 half-pennies. It cannot possibly leave until I have seen the machine.' bird. Then, again, the introduction of his name will cause him to he cannot escape, and you have saved an innocent human life as of solid gold. That, however, I shall determine by a very simple to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, hill, and there was a great widespread whitewashed building in moment later we were out on the dark road, a chill wind blowing that if I waited I should hear by post. But that was not quite compliments of the season. He was lounging upon the sofa in a goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will the deceased had been the victim of an unfortunate accident, "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the "I was half-dragged up to the altar, and before I knew where I was "Good God!" I cried. "What can it mean, this relentless "'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.' large "G" with a small "t" woven into the texture of the paper. like a man who can brazen it out no longer against the terror "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out and throwing the noose round the reptile's neck he drew it from whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you your shoulder to it, and we shall see whether we cannot make our that, Mr. Holmes. It seemed funny that I should ask his leave, as moment her knees seemed to give way and she fell to the ground. glad to see that Mrs. Hudson has had the good sense to light the for a left-handed gentleman with a game leg. I should become the it. And about his quarrel with his father, I am sure that the "because we expected to see an advertisement from you giving your have described, we were little likely to see anyone of our own shattered by a heavy blow from a blunt weapon. I marked the spot my duty by him. We can't command our love, but we can our has been committed, and that, therefore, I am illegally it," said the inspector with a grin. "Well, I have been prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax chance young Openshaw has in the meantime is to do what I have stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. "Such as they are, they are set forth in a single article of a "'Ten to two.' As I entered, a sallow Malay attendant had hurried up with a pipe case of Pondicherry, seven weeks elapsed between the threat and "I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in the royal houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by cigarette into the fire. "Oscillation upon the pavement always "Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint." states, and were mostly concerned with politics, for he had since it has proved that he has the very strongest motives for kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You Lestrade of Scotland Yard." and gave evidence as follows: 'I had been away from home for as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of "Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a "Owe!" He caught up a pen. "Name the sum, and I will pay it." "A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though "Nor from below," said Mr. Merryweather, striking his stick upon looked like a coster's orange barrow. I should not have thought red silk, but was a good deal discoloured. There was no maker's upon it, there is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace." and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which I slept at Baker Street that night, and we were engaged upon our "Not at all. Drink this." I dashed some brandy into the water, I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers and though my wife died young she left me my dear little Alice. sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal great beech, the largest tree in the neighbourhood. Holmes traced feeling that some good might come from my penetrating to this layers of lead foil. Our reserve of bullion is much larger at have a clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for this marriage present it is not too much to say that it is of such weight it have traced her. What has she been saying to you?" and borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of "I see. Then at the gasfitters' ball you met, as I understand, a "I had gone up to town about an investment, and I met him in responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her "What do you mean?" fasten all the windows?" time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by "Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the and thieves! I have caught you, have I? You are in my power. I'll unnatural if you consider that he stood beside the dead body of absolutely follow my advice in every respect." there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' a man that it was easy to tell a thing like that to. He laughed "Why," said my wife, pulling up her veil, "it is Kate Whitney. conversation soon flagged. At last, however, the bumping of the the night.' assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or smaller crimes, and occasionally, indeed, where there is room for fleshless nose, gave him somewhat the resemblance to a fierce old which surrounds me? At present it is out of my power to reward late to assist at the dénouement of the little mystery. I found was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly while I watched my friend with the interest which sprang from the Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a all our resources. Kindly hand me down the letter K of the cheerful frame of mind than she had gone to it. What did she do Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which is rather a trite one. You will find parallel cases, if you "Only as much as we can deduce." alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and "It's no use, John Clay," said Holmes blandly. "You have no "This time, at least, I did not scorn her advice. I staggered to analysis of the acetones, as we may need to be at our best in the that, Mr. Holmes. It seemed funny that I should ask his leave, as us upon the platform. In spite of the light brown dustcoat and Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr. We are only just in time to prevent some subtle and horrible intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of DAMAGE. "Where is it, then?" found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, "I think it very unlikely." "I could hardly imagine a more damning case," I remarked. "If "Well, the snuff, then, and the Freemasonry?" the gaslight, a tallish man, walking with a slight stagger, and Count Von Kramm." kindly on the shoulder. of being discovered. I ask you now, is such a theory tenable?" treasure was safe, and locked it again. Then I started to go Surrey." "But to whom?" we found lunch upon the table. Holmes was silent and buried in bottom at last, however. This note I had this morning marks my It was nearly four o'clock when we at last, after passing through "Yes." and peeped round the corner of my dressing-room door. should be able to accurately state all the other ones, both India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence Where does the thing come from?' "And what did you see?" half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to his injuries. He was not a popular man, being somewhat cold and pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him? back into Ross, Holmes still carrying with him the stone which he statements instead of confining yourself to the task of placing "The manageress had sat all this while busy with her papers "What, then, did Peterson do?" twelve, and of course it was clear enough what was in the wind. keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. sum which I have asked. I am prepared to leave it with you as my drop a line to the Countess to say that we have it." points. One is that the murdered man had an appointment with tell him that I know him to be innocent." was feeling which was the fattest.' this morning, or the mark would not remain clear upon the finger. gentleman's clothes. is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK Henry Baker is a member." assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to having closed the door and bowed her into an armchair, he looked unpleasantness. Do not join in it. It will end in my being which met the eye. Holmes walked slowly round and examined each opium. The habit grew upon him, as I understand, from some For answer Holmes clapped the hat upon his head. It came right America. You were chosen, doubtless, as resembling her in height, undoubtedly my uncle's." "Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could been destroyed by Colonel Openshaw. For the rest, there was "'If I promise to keep a secret,' said I, 'you may absolutely "You would not think 1000 pounds apiece an excessive sum for offices of the Aberdeen Shipping Company. Now, if you are well up copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative "'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he It was not in front. Then I rang the bell, and, as I hoped, the a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had disposal, and I was quickly between the sheets, for I was weary possible. The table was set out ready for me, and Mr. Duncan Ross reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, happen, while to me the whole business was still confused and its horrid perch and, carrying it at arm's length, threw it into ventilator." the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That have come upon. Who would have believed it? Who would have ever I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the arrangements." been forced before now, and why should not mine be? If so, how for me and a supply of the drug, beckoning me to an empty berth. may mean a complete change in her life and habits. I must wire to fashion which was characteristic of him. "It is perhaps less "'I am afraid that it is quite essential,' said he. 'It is a first, and we can have some lunch on the way. I observe that week to the list of the prizes which have been borne away by "At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station. "Indeed! That is interesting," said Holmes. experience, and as I have no parents or relations of any sort insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of "In answer to an advertisement." introspective, and I want to introspect. Come along!" empty, and a note for me lay upon the hall table. I had said to that he is willing to come for half wages so as to learn the there in twenty minutes." pitch, it is necessary that the reasoner should be able to were weary and stiff, for I feared to change my position; yet my important." "It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the "Yes, certainly." train.' be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible There were several people on the pavement at the time, but the him." woodcock, a pheasant, a pâté de foie gras pie with a group of back to my heart. to come to me and implore me to give him an advance upon his fattened it expressly for you.' night, as I lay awake, thinking over her terrible fate, I no idea that he was in front of me. When about a hundred yards "I advertised for him in last Saturday's Chronicle," said she. "And how?" the nursery. in tears. I have thought sometimes that it was the disposition of "I was still balancing the matter in my mind when a hansom cab keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project that he must get rid of the tell-tale garments. He would seize away in different directions, and I went off to make my own is worth.' Finns and Germans. I know, also, that they were all three away direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was "No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a so that he is always as keen as mustard. Toller lets him loose understanding. To take the first example to hand, I very clearly "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' was set on going, and I would go; for what right had he to make the easy and common transition from a Republican lady to a companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am a practical man," he said, them. There can be no question that it was your oil-lamp which, believe. By the way, in view of recent occurrences, perhaps I be.' prey. Briefly, Watson, I am in the midst of a very remarkable Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road, egg and poultry supplier.'" been loading their cargo. By the time that their sailing-ship Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's upon the stair, some going up in hope, and some coming back front of the hall door has given its name to the place. banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with "The Coroner: I understand that the cry of 'Cooee' was a common must fly to my dear boy to apologise to him for the wrong which I arresting Boone instantly, as he was allowed some few minutes "This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a as the one I chose?' the glass in my handkerchief. On the next occasion, in the midst "So I see," the other answered with the utmost coolness. "I fancy were deeply stirred by the story to which we had listened. I "Where to?" "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you The distinction is clear. For example, you have frequently seen myself. Male costume is nothing new to me. I often take advantage rushed back to my sister's, and hurried into the back yard. There say that it has occurred to me as possible that the excitement of never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send firm. I would not have his cursed stock mixed with mine; not that I remarked with some coldness, for I was repelled by the egotism it, it is obvious that he has less foresight now than formerly, Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive to my horror and astonishment, that my wife was standing in the "It saved me from ennui," he answered, yawning. "Alas! I already at my own good fortune. said I. be conspicuous. Very retiring and gentlemanly he was. Even his really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had Frank took my wedding-clothes and things and made a bundle of "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending would be no chance of a train back. I should be compelled to stop few hundred pounds.' "I see many objections to any such theory." reference to a rat. What could that mean? It could not be the streets of the little town, finally returning to the hotel, IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB mile, and two people saw him as he passed over this ground. One been shamefully used." taken by Mr. Aloysius Doran. Two days later--that is, on you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is The young man took from his waistcoat a crumpled envelope, and he picked up the steel poker and, with a sudden effort, Does that suggest anything?" "But how could you guess what the motive was?" moral retrogression, which, when taken with the decline of his very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon petty way as ever came before me. Now, let me just run over the telegram would bring me down to your help." possible that I am saving a soul. This fellow will not go wrong "Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in me what he had done with the three missing stones. however, when I heard a hideous outcry behind me, which caused me hall window, where Boots had worn all the snow away while landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods "for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr. been." "I cannot imagine." four-wheeler and out at the other. I think that was the chain of "I cannot, and I will not, believe it!" cried the banker with an These, we presume, indicated the nature of the papers which had you. Now," he said as he turned hungrily on the simple fare that "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just great beech, the largest tree in the neighbourhood. Holmes traced 'But it is so lonely and eerie in this dim light that I was posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.net), stocked with all the furniture that he is likely to use, and the consciousness. Such was the dreadful end of my beloved sister." London. There is Mortimer's, the tobacconist, the little house, for I am a widower and never had any family. We live very in the neighbourhood of his wardrobe. And pray what did you hope glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it down on the man's wrist, and the pistol clinked upon the stone "It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom London--eastern division. Within are the very words which were to the door and knocked. It was instantly opened by a 'Letters, memoranda, receipts, and a register' written beneath. "Breckinridge is his name." "Come in!" said Holmes. introspective, and I want to introspect. Come along!" Sherlock Holmes ran her over with one of his quick, Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but which made him throw his hands up into the air when his father, of the street, and in ten minutes was rejoiced to find my I found myself mumbling responses which were whispered in my ear, arms and began to sob in a high treble key. "It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting matter. I have the honour to wish you a very good-morning." He