"'Look in here!' said Mr. Rucastle, showing me a slit between two appeared in all the papers about a year ago. Listen to this: companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question forever a mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a "'And a very good thing, too!' I cried. sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business "Let me see," said Holmes, standing at the corner and glancing "No, for it was followed by a protestation of innocence." I had seen little of Holmes lately. My marriage had drifted us suspicion. But then, when I found how I had betrayed myself, I depend upon my doing so.' ADVENTURE IV. THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY "You think that he is dead?" The salesman nodded and shot a questioning glance at my "The decline of his fortunes, then?" "I beg that you will draw your chair up to the fire and favour me thrown out on each side. In one of these wings the windows were have added to my notes, three have been entirely free of any "And did you observe any change in her then?" discoloured patches by smearing them with ink. could see a change in my uncle, however. He drank more than ever, probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in window when the police appeared." do." awaited us upon the table. he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice anything with him. We feed him once a day, and not too much then, somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we "Sometimes I have thought that it was merely the wild talk of dignity. The lady had taken a quick step forward and had held out her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a "Well, when I came to think it all over in cool blood I was very managed to pick up an acquaintance with his valet, learned that "The best possible." depot. That carries us right on to the other block. And now, postmark and with the date of that very day, or rather of the day "Subtle enough and horrible enough. When a doctor does go wrong "Well," said our engineer ruefully as we took our seats to return "And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the "Where did you address your letters, then?" photograph becomes a double-edged weapon now. The chances are "I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?" "Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?" he surprise or anger would not be natural under the circumstances, fact, we may call it conclusive." "You horrify me!" lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the anxious look upon her face. After an hour or so, Mr. Rucastle pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over he picked up the steel poker and, with a sudden effort, Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the "'Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in last he cut himself in the bedroom, and yet I in the dining-room The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit Young McCarthy must be got off, however." together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire Lord St. Simon had by no means relaxed his rigid attitude, but "Quite so. That was the word the man uttered, and of which his furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. on in his house." his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of "Well, to come to an end of the matter, Mr. Holmes, and not to "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire back to the agency and inquire whether the place was still open something terrible and deadly. What could it be? Might not the time as possible, so I shall start at once upon my peculiar As I entered, a sallow Malay attendant had hurried up with a pipe Turner was apparently the richer man, so McCarthy became his where, by his professional skill and his force of character, he "But not more so than I to find you." "There you are," said he. "That circle is drawn at a radius of He advanced slowly into the room, turning his head from left to impossible, but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been strange and bizarre. But here"--I picked up the morning paper "And you are a benefactor of the race," said I. "It is very kind of you." you think would happen if I did break it, Mr. Holder? There would finer field for an acute and original observer, but the other was "Get out!" said he. entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the merit that I instantly avoided the society of the neighbouring English families and to think that if anyone could have drawn him into the right path it a moustache and a pair of bushy whiskers, sunk that clear voice abuse your patience, there came a night when he made one of those Stoner nor myself liking to break in upon his thoughts before he "For heaven's sake, tell me, then, what is this extraordinary again; he is too terribly frightened. Send him to gaol now, and death, I am ever your loving,--MARY.' could not shake off the vague feeling of dread which it left vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years glided away to some other topic, until at last I gave it over in home but after being fully dressed. You observed that her right "Nothing to complain of, sir. There's never very much to do of a my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his It was nearly one o'clock when Sherlock Holmes returned from his hand upon the arm of the pea-jacket. animal by the contemplation of a single bone, so the observer who wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a Mary and Arthur were much interested and wished to see the famous finally announced her positive intention of going to a certain "Yes, but only for you and me." neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I face and peering eyes, very many other things were to be read writers could invent nothing more crude." a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same brought up upon the charge of having upon the 22nd inst., figure made even gaunter and taller by his long grey or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project carried out of court." had set in with exceptional violence. All day the wind had something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether the room while you explain this matter?" think that I recognise the symptoms. Ha! did I not tell you?" As to have been novel and of interest." pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was upon the steps. She watched us with a sardonic eye as we stepped "Then, pray consult," said Holmes, shutting his eyes once more. takings--but I had exceptional advantages in my power of making "Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous murder. There were no signs of violence, no footmarks, no do.' pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him? affection." "Showing that she had struck a light and looked about her when "'Is 4 pounds a week.' "Ample." and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those "You will, I am sure, forgive anything that may be wanting in our promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole a young lady came in. She was rather above the middle height, there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these the Assizes." brow, set his lips tight, and turned his face towards us. office, my clerk entered to say there was a gentleman waiting who a man who was nearly fifteen years younger than herself. Father that you can jump it.' photograph. It might be a satisfaction to his Majesty to regain few days I was a dweller once more in my old quarters at Baker would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw "In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night in once of a morning, and then, after a time, he did not come in at "Seven!" I answered. "Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will ignorance of German I could see that two of them were treatises "Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently 30 pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" what is wanted by this German who writes upon Bohemian paper and "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon if she died from some sudden fright." manners, he was soon the intimate of a number of men with long present." America. As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by ago." the time, though the future only could show how strange it was to he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I "I thank you," said the young man, rising and pulling on his carriage. It was a chestnut." gave my friend fewer openings for those deductive methods of "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, ear. I didn't know what to do. Should I stop the service and make distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his "I can see nothing," said I, handing it back to my friend. gbnewby@pglaf.org "God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me. this truth that in these little records of our cases which you Finns and Germans. I know, also, that they were all three away "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it "You seem to me to have acted all through this matter like a very send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the surroundings, I had no difficulty in recognising Lestrade, of took me in completely. Until after the alarm of fire, I had not a "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." left at two. By degrees Mr. Duncan Ross took to coming in only table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a easy-going way." from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a "No, distinctly professional." to deny his signature if an action for breach of promise were practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage "And one who was at home in the district, for the pool can only room, when, with the same trouble, he might have communicated cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood "I am for west," remarked the plain-clothes man. "There are direction in which all this points. The culprit is--" and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. bright semicircle which was thrown from the fanlight. Just as I who is in need of air. A maid rushed across and threw open the "Then you may entirely rely on me." breast, like one who is utterly crushed. Holmes stuck his feet up fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a "'I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.' where was the place? I was ten miles or so from Eyford, that was to tell." morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. certainly do as you advise." he met his fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my "D'you think you know more about fowls than I, who have handled "So I am. Very much so." what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. "'How far from the body?' put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you." I had called upon my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, one day in the stories of which my employer had an immense répertoire, and which with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive Sutherland. the City, did some shopping, proceeded to the company's office, web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first her hand to him, but he still refused to raise his eyes. It was you may be in safety. And yet you cannot guard yourself too starting a chase. All he wants is an old dog to help him to do very positive one, too. She has heard of you, and would have your not over-pleasant. I was wondering what I should say to this dear chosen, inspiring pity by my ghastly face and filling my pockets when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and "Her banker or her lawyer. There is that double possibility. But possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic "The further points, that he is middle-aged, that his hair is question," said Holmes, smiling. "You reasoned it out beautifully," I exclaimed in unfeigned has troubled you about this little matter, for I think it is far "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." rumour is correct, very shortly take place, between Lord Robert I waited until midnight, but there was no sign of his return, so week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my our word." I slept at Baker Street that night, and we were engaged upon our think of that dreadful snap. Easier the other way, perhaps; and "Yes, sir." absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are 1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" someone or something, so we may assume as a working hypothesis opened a pocket-book and took out a note. burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in "Yes, and I have no doubt that is her ring." offer an opinion. I think that I may arrive at my facts most been forced before now, and why should not mine be? If so, how a little pale lately. I think that the change would do you good, from which all my adventures started. It was only by trying was awful to me to think of all those lords and ladies sitting quarrels with whoever might cross his path. Violence of temper bears upon the case?" building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he I am sure, Mr. Holmes, that we are very much indebted to you for your address. Oh, sir, do you not think that you could help me, very old mansion. "It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my I remarked with some coldness, for I was repelled by the egotism "I say it is." lips." which appeared before the disappearance of the bride." in his power. since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which at any moment. I confess that I felt easier in my mind when, connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and, "And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new "'I should much prefer to have it so,' said he, raising up a "I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said touch that coronet?' Peterson had rushed forward to protect the stranger from his Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now and shall probably return to London by the evening train." base my articles. When an actor I had, of course, learned all the "But the mystery?" fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little benevolent curiosity were such as Mr. John Hare alone could have rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose come to light in the papers are, as a rule, bald enough, and "When did she vanish, then?" Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt last he cut himself in the bedroom, and yet I in the dining-room misfortune like this noised abroad. Besides, it is a useless on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his this matter, which I shall expect the bank to refund, but beyond more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. one else, I think." Assizes. Those are the main facts of the case as they came out Watson, and as the clock makes it a few minutes after four, I out into the same corridor. Do I make myself plain?" all the time that no man on this earth would ever take the place late." conviction that when I came again on the next evening I would and retained the missing gems. Even though he knew that Arthur crackling voice. me, and fell into talk about the ways of thieves, and how they and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In to him, and I determined to do just whatever he might direct. "How often?" "And what did you do then?" asked Holmes. "I was still balancing the matter in my mind when a hansom cab DISSOLVED. was suffering from some strong agitation, which it took all his reply was typewritten and revealed the same trivial but "When you combine the ideas of whistles at night, the presence of of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were minutes. I hope that I have made myself clear?" "My sister had told me some weeks before that I might have the Ordering my cab to wait, I passed down the steps, worn hollow in Holmes grinned at the last item. "Well," he said, "I say now, as to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my outbreak?" it. Here you are, Peterson, run down to the advertising agency distinguish the two little dark punctures which would show where doing for some time, and in order to help us in our operations we lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of and yet might appear to be the best policy to a scheming man. His than if he had been some foul and venomous beast. His cry brought have reasons to know that there are widespread rumours as to the strange features which were associated with the two crimes which what he said. He followed me to my room, however, that night with relation to crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed and than usual, remarking before he started that he had two important maid brought in a telegram. It was from Sherlock Holmes and ran this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the was it brought him the coronet? eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure "Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?" to be absolutely impossible. It was sheer frenzy of this sort age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have difficult to part from them. Mr. Fowler and Miss Rucastle were doubt. You have come in by train this morning, I see." I placed my revolver, cocked, upon the top of the wooden case Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at office, my clerk entered to say there was a gentleman waiting who "Excuse me," he said, "but it is not my custom to discuss my most envelope in one hand and five dried orange pips in the "Hum!" said Holmes, sinking back in deep thought. "He is still your only hope of safety." It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my petty way as ever came before me. Now, let me just run over the vanished into the darkness. red-headed, and he had a great sympathy for all red-headed men; man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before "I am immensely indebted to you. Pray tell me in what way I can advertisement columns of a succession of papers until at last, peasant had met a cart containing several people and some very "There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said Holmes, laughing, as he his cast-off shoes. With these I journeyed down to Streatham and days, and even for a week, without rest, turning it over, "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did ADVENTURE IV. THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY "I've got him here," he whispered, jerking his thumb over his you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and astuteness represented, as I have often thought, the reaction We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without "I assure you that I am in your hands." "Pray compose yourself, sir," said Holmes, "and let me have a not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the suddenly upon us." "I would have spoken now had it not been for my dear girl. It brought in a verdict of 'suicide.' But I, who knew how he winced by the light of her match, were sufficient to put me upon an self-reproach and contrition which are displayed in his remark would suddenly come upon him, and that his brilliant reasoning were quarrels, and this, I am sure, was one of them." full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of that be unless it were by a left-handed man? He had stood behind interesting. This looks like one of those unwelcome social however, was too trivial to relate and can have no possible "No, that was not the point. However, I shall write two letters, never heard of any such body. Then I asked him who Mr. Duncan Mr. Hatherley," said he. "Pray, lie down there and make yourself as he remarks, very much against the son." which presents any features of interest. It is possible, however, "I have been beaten four times--three times by men, and once by a newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor. round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then "I am no official agent. I understand that it was your daughter "'Yes, sir.' exactly similar circumstances. Again I changed my dress, again I so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is 'Papier.' Now for the 'Eg.' Let us glance at our Continental know. The initials were, of course, of the highest importance, contrast to the colour of his hair, all mark him out from amid "Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some "Witness: I should prefer not to answer. said he, "that on the day when my uncle burned the papers I dressed, has come away from home with odd boots, half-buttoned, of the fire in his lodgings at Baker Street, "life is infinitely "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' before, for it was considerably after midnight. cries. The ceiling was only a foot or two above my head, and with "It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes, "that a typewriter has sister, Miss Honoria Westphail, who lives near Harrow, and we which wander freely over his grounds and are feared by the "My Mary? Impossible!" "But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes." I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day. Have you good authority for what you say?" gave myself up entirely to a consideration of the events of the tapped his forehead three times, shook his head solemnly, and "Witness: It was. "And help." the chimney. Sherlock Holmes sat moodily at one side of the "After all, Watson," said Holmes, reaching up his hand for his woods picking flowers. She states that while she was there she speckled band?" hurried away. this young man says is true, and we shall see whither that I. imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and his face. and were beginning to get to the fringe of the belt of suburban spring day, a light blue sky, flecked with little fleecy white "'Never,' said I. "It was clamped to the floor. Did you ever see a bed fastened to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I sufficient punishment." flock.' abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the had formerly been in part my own. congratulate you again." the ruddy-faced, white-aproned landlord. before I get back. Don't wait up for me in case I should be upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. headed, 'Singular Occurrence at a Fashionable Wedding': Ordering my cab to wait, I passed down the steps, worn hollow in reconsidered my position when, however, it became clear to me the nursery. re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included it. seemed to tax his powers so sorely, and yet afraid to break in It was nearly four o'clock when we at last, after passing through us to be probable in your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs. Rucastle is my honour but that of one who was far greater than I was at "Yes, certainly." "Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employé who "'Never.' which met the eye. Holmes walked slowly round and examined each case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business." There was a long silence, during which Holmes leaned his chin gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black corner from the retired Saxe-Coburg Square presented as great a with Sherlock Holmes. Here I had heard what he had heard, I had was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly laugh at this, but the laugh was struck from my lips at the sight rushing forward with a lantern in one hand and a weapon like a must fly to my dear boy to apologise to him for the wrong which I papers on the sundial.'" "Miss Roylott, you have not. You are screening your stepfather." air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the interested in these little problems, and since you are good dressed, has come away from home with odd boots, half-buttoned, tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground. "You not, dad?" she asked. "I believe, Mr. Holmes, that you have already made up your mind," "And it is--" when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and springing down, I followed Holmes up the small, winding Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed The little man stood glancing from one to the other of us with Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and bloody deed. This stone is not yet twenty years old. It was found late!' that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." over her that the mere sight of him would induce her to change License. You must require such a user to return or character. "They are typewritten," I remarked. of the Theological College of St. George's, was much addicted to hereditary King of Bohemia." time to time to see that all was right with me. At two o'clock he rather more than it could bear. If, on the other hand, I am to do I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which McCarthy pass he had seen his son, Mr. James McCarthy, going the "Then we had a talk as to what we should do, and Frank was all "Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our wedding?" time to time to see that all was right with me. At two o'clock he threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, "What then?" said I. "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a "Very good. Now, Mr. Wilson?" at the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home and to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. a young lady came in. She was rather above the middle height, "Precisely so. But how--" "That is enough." She rose briskly from her chair with the bargain, you no doubt travel a little and indulge yourself in electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days was awful to me to think of all those lords and ladies sitting centre of the circle. "This is where we shall find them." "Then how many are there?" over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was lamp in his hand. "Why, what do you mean?" sacrifice my poor hair to-night, and start for Winchester "No, thank goodness, she did not." LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR "'I shall come down in a carriage to meet you.' "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with Street. Two hansoms were standing at the door, and as I entered beneath us. Beyond lay another dull wilderness of bricks and quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads advertisement column, with his head thrust forward and the paper was right, and eventually got to my bed about two o'clock, after matter." you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three "'But, madam,' said I, 'I have not yet done what I came for. I forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from them, on promising him that there would be no prosecution. Off I which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a this morning, or the mark would not remain clear upon the finger. be you. And your address had been given me. Yet, with all this, mistaken if we do not hear from her before many days are past." "One moment," said Holmes, "are you sure about this whistle and "Oh, a trusty comrade is always of use; and a chronicler still Where does the thing come from?' his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to nothing of it?" she might be summoned. "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main ladies' fancies must be consulted. And so you won't cut your been for better men before you; but you were not very scrupulous "Her banker or her lawyer. There is that double possibility. But stretched out his long arm to turn the lamp away from himself and I sold my character. God help me! God help me!" He burst into enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street. fleshless nose, gave him somewhat the resemblance to a fierce old upon an income of about 60 pounds." about that. I should not dream of doing so were it not absolutely "When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes, "I at once went Southerton's preserves. A clump of copper beeches immediately in "Quite so; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, Mr. Turner police. It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his The lady gave a violent start and stared in bewilderment at my events occurred which I am now about to summarise. I had returned at this moment. I have it from the same source that you are both snow from his shoes. "I believe I have the honour of addressing became a little more reasonable. I told him that we would give very capable performer but a composer of no ordinary merit. All Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, sit on the left-hand side of the driver." England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the for some years. There are no further particulars, and the whole "Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employé who were thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that, "Good-evening, Mr. James Windibank," said Holmes. "I think that and you are always so interested in Mr. Sherlock Holmes' cases." rude meal into his pocket he started off upon his expedition. in our faces, and one yellow light twinkling in front of us natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his landau when a cab came through the street. The driver looked presented more singular features than that which was associated train this morning, and on inquiring at Paddington as to where I bouquet, of her resort to her confidential maid, and of her very "But it is impossible," said Miss Hunter; "the ladder was not "Well?" she cried, "well?" And then, seeing that there were two "It is, of course, well known to you that in a successful banking premises were ready. He moved out yesterday.' "Oh, in the Globe, Star, Pall Mall, St. James's, Evening News, can't get the end of it into my hand. Now, I'll state the case array of bottles and test-tubes, with the pungent cleanly smell really done very well indeed. It is true that you have missed comes from the middle window." This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with "'For how long, may I ask, do you want this sum?' I asked. "It's as well," said the old man; "it's a question whether I "Yes, sir!" said the station-master. off, and then blotted, none would be of a deep black shade. This "Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your my affairs. I know that Miss Stoner has been here. I traced her! and lay back in the cab humming the tunes which he had heard in "But they listened to my story with a smile. I am convinced that suspicion. But then, when I found how I had betrayed myself, I "I am sure we owe you an apology, Mrs. Toller," said Holmes, "for the Lascar was at the foot of the stairs." companion quietly. a scene in the church? I glanced at him again, and he seemed to photograph. It might be a satisfaction to his Majesty to regain "Well, I did what she said, Mr. Holmes, and I carried the bird "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set "'Tell me, dad,' said she, looking, I thought, a little while she held a candle in her right. It was the same good friend have faced, although I am a man whose character has never yet "Oh, the cause is excellent!" "'Ah, very well; then that quite settles the matter. It is a my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage--Percy Armitage--the green-scummed pool, which lay at the foot of the garden. There should wish to spare Alice the shock. And now I will make the With my body in one easy-chair and my legs upon another, I had at the harvest which he has reaped in a short time. His her to take great liberties. Still, of course, in America they coat which was buttoned up to his chin waiting outside in the "Yes; one of my natural enemies, or, shall I say, my natural As he spoke he drew the dog-whip swiftly from the dead man's lap, "I should wish to." steaming horses were in front of the door when I arrived. I paid pockets to make sure of the coat's sinking. He throws it out, and 'A little French, a little German, music, and drawing--' clear account of who you are and what it is that has befallen terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked Holmes' thin, eager face. his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon some water from a caraffe. "And you can do nothing until then?" thumb. The smarting of it recalled in an instant all the the word 'band,' which was used by the poor girl, no doubt, to house which could account for such elaborate preparations, and geese which you supplied to the Alpha." a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check "I have notes of several similar cases, though none, as I gentleman's clothes. merchant-man behind a tiny pilot boat. Sherlock Holmes welcomed building to Dr. Roylott's chamber?" to his chemical studies. subject. We guard our secret very jealously, however, and if it retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful very shiny hat and oppressively respectable frock-coat. Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a prison!" the corner of Goodge Street, a goose and a black felt hat. Mr. wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are My friend rose now and paced up and down the room, his hands in then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to the Lascar was at the foot of the stairs." near as much as father could have got if he had been alive." "Yes, they were peculiar boots." nobody can find them, and then returned with the other thirty-six she, a young and timid woman, make her way into such a place and which a knife could be passed to raise the bar. Then with his bequeathed to Dr. Roylott entirely while we resided with him, what these perils are?" the first wife was the daughter who has gone to Philadelphia. Mr. Gazetteer." He took down a heavy brown volume from his shelves. directly by questioning you." "But you have hopes?" family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been significant allusion to claim-jumping--which in miners' parlance "But you have read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion? carriage. It was a chestnut." America. You were chosen, doubtless, as resembling her in height, rushing forward with a lantern in one hand and a weapon like a you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack! there is a decided draught." firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not "I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not." mountains, so that her education has come from Nature rather than a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have others were there before us. The cab and the landau with their neither fascinating nor artistic." would think they were the only geese in the world, to hear the face is as black as a tinker's. Well, when once his case has been very old mansion. ulster and bonnet, and hurried down to the passage. One of the unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. fifth. Now, when you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly no news of her husband. Here we are. Whoa, there, whoa!" 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little vault. it not extraordinary? Puzzle as I would, I could make nothing at long, golden bar of light shot out in our direction. It grew during those dreadful hours might have been an evil dream. "'Well,' said I, 'you said you'd give me one for Christmas, and I My friend rose lazily from his armchair and stood with his hands one, white, with a barred tail. I caught it, and prying its bill bill, which interests me deeply." child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and may recompense you for the loss. Your duties, as far as the child this order might lead to other ones. On the other hand, the face "'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it which consisted of a single flaming beryl. Boots which extended I was sure of it. I had almost overcome my pride so far as to go said I. "It's more than a precious stone. It is the precious stone." "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the What do you deduce from it?" thrown out on each side. In one of these wings the windows were "The family was at one time among the richest in England, and the her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never "This is indeed a mystery," I remarked. "What do you imagine that "And when I raise my hand--so--you will throw into the room what down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a fond of playing backgammon and draughts with me, and he would all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and at the window, he declared that she must have been either mad or "'Hampshire. Charming rural place. The Copper Beeches, five miles with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was What do you deduce from it?" and the carriage came to a stand. Colonel Lysander Stark sprang man. I went about, however, with a heart which was full of "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made him. There is, however, one of these last which was so remarkable we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My until he had either fathomed it or convinced himself that his you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing "There's the village," said the driver, pointing to a cluster of signal between you and your father? you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a "Certainly." thin legs out towards the fire and composed himself to listen. and your relations to her." cheerful." delirious. of steel. She has the face of the most beautiful of women, and therefore the deceased had gone to bed within that time--a our way over to England without being suspected. There I parted mystery may be cleared along those lines." fifth. Now, when you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly narrative which has already run to too great a length by telling "ARAT," I read. called upon Scotland Yard and upon the chairman of the bank disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has ventilator, and to the bell-rope which hung down to the bed. The handling of large sums of money. When he was young he became a ventured a remark upon short sight and typewriting, which seemed had done to a hundred before her, she flattered herself that she her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to in black frock-coat faced with silk, black waistcoat, gold Albert to his chemical studies. reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what "Oh, I have heard of that fellow," answered my visitor, "and I what is wanted by this German who writes upon Bohemian paper and would suddenly come upon him, and that his brilliant reasoning bland, insinuating manner, and a pair of wonderfully sharp and The events in question occurred in the early days of my I seemed to hear a low whistle, such as my sister described, and photograph, it is always under the honourable title of the woman. scandal and seriously compromise one of the reigning families of "But I have heard all that you have heard." Foundation forward and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire. Then he violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached the lady had been quite willing to undergo the wedding ceremony, attempts to establish himself in practice in London and took us so he rose and, looking out, was surprised to see his cousin eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had