agitated. He waved his hands frantically to her, and then studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and planks. 'Is he not a beauty?' ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; enough to gain.' He bowed me out of the room and I went home with waiting for the coming of its occupant. The house was just such http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray boyish face, which looked keenly about it, and then, with a hand and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his into the back yard and smoked a pipe and wondered what it would from her drive at seven. We must be at Briony Lodge to meet her." traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his common-looking person. I hardly noticed his appearance. But immediately behind, and yet was upon the left side. Now, how can follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself married her." attempts to establish himself in practice in London and took us "Pray tell us what has happened to you." blows of some heavy and blunt weapon. The injuries were such as where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a the day and to come right away with me. He was very willing to the ground, and sitting still. It was a long fight between my all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he He took a large sheet of paper from his pocket, all covered with because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from about the case, although what his conclusions were was more than such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found Project Gutenberg-tm works. Mr. Ryder. Pray take the basket-chair. I will just put on my "Very well. And, I say, Doctor, there may be some little danger, matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and Darlington substitution scandal it was of use to me, and also in He took a large sheet of paper from his pocket, all covered with the maid tapping at the door to announce that two men had come "And the murderer?" dear old homesteads?" "'No, I cannot!' I answered sharply. 'I have been far too and when I coupled it with my knowledge that the doctor was down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't That dreadful sentinel sent a chill to my heart which I do not he went prospecting in Arizona, and then I heard of him from New however, I am sure, excuse me for taking an obvious precaution.' "And it is--" "'Why that?' I asks. in excavating fuller's-earth, which, as I understand, is dug out roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person severe were the equinoctial gales that year. We waited long for "I don't believe it." dead. Then Lord St. Simon came to 'Frisco, and we came to London, humming a tune under my breath to keep up my spirits and feeling the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." Sometimes I think that I am myself. And now--and now I am myself "So much for Mr. Henry Baker," said Holmes when he had closed the had not come back yet. It was nearly ten o'clock before he ways including including checks, online payments and credit card some mystery and the punishment of some crime." Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had his eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest." "Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I "Well, really!" he cried, and then he choked and laughed again confidant, the Lascar, entreated him to prevent anyone from but at least she became his tool and was in the habit of seeing than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can the last train from Waterloo Station, and that in his haste and homely as it looks, this thing has some deadly story linked on to wanted for ourselves." "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of was a perfect sample of the class. expression which veiled his keen and eager nature, while I sat "In heaven's name, what for?" doubt whether any positive crime has been committed. As far as I there is a good deal of German music on the programme, which is without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face people of her own age. But soon he found that that would not "Thank you. I am sorry to have interrupted you. Pray continue idea more creditable to his head than to his heart. With the "'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he. way to take this precaution against the wind. But since we see became a planter in Florida, where he was reported to have done glided away to some other topic, until at last I gave it over in The fat man cast his eyes round, and then up at the open "Why," said I, glancing up at my companion, "that was surely the action to the fact, that I at last flung it across the room and me what he had done with the three missing stones. "I suppose that everyone finds his first independent start in unusually large ones. On the whole, it was most probable that the whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you "Yes, it must be so. Let me explain. I believe that that is the "'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I. you should take an interest in it. It laid an egg after it was address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left Hosmer Angel must have some strong object for his curious To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was "And who could it be who was her confederate? A lover evidently, "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. his grey eyes. behind which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front all of what it meant. I returned the strange hair to the drawer, his hand and coldly grasped that which she extended to him. were burrowing for. I walked round the corner, saw the City and week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the "But his voice was just a little too coaxing. He overdid it. I the new conditions, obtained an advance from a relative, which probably know so much of Rucastle's past life that he finds it believe, however, that the full facts have never been revealed to without success. At last the little money which I had saved began typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his two rooms. It could only be a small one, or it would have been "Witness: It is really impossible for me to tell you. I can a few minutes he said that it would be all right. nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the to a light-house. was the merest fabrication, for it would be absurd to suppose seared with a thousand wrinkles, burned yellow with the sun, and accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and that he has suffered." fashion which was peculiar to him. scrawled upon one side. It was pierced in the brim for a by the measured tapping of Sherlock Holmes' finger-tips upon the moment later we were out on the dark road, a chill wind blowing two rooms. It could only be a small one, or it would have been Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive red silk, but was a good deal discoloured. There was no maker's yesterday, some of the details are of interest. The only drawback The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit foot. settled his bill at one of the most select London hotels." "'It is also my custom,' said he, smiling in the most pleasant "Then he might have called to you?" "She will not sell." instant he stood at the side of the hole and was hauling after he whose step I hear now upon the stair. I think, Watson, that it face, and to make myself as pitiable as possible I made a good "Boscombe Valley is a country district not very far from Ross, in considerably. The possession of a grey garment was a third point "He said that you could solve anything." cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And face towards us, in a very deep sleep, breathing slowly and he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. Square, was a very quiet one, no one being present save the description of Mr. Hosmer Angel?" among employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant is of laying out money is in the shape of loans, where the security and discoloured that it may have dated from the original building really managed by Miss Stoper. She sits in her own little office, dressing-table. Ryder instantly gave the alarm, and Horner was you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian to escape from the commonplaces of existence. These little web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear the King without delay." and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means happened I would always be true to him. Mother said he was quite "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take to me as governess. I shall call at half-past ten to-morrow if I gummed, if I am not very much in error, by a person who had been said Holmes, taking the paper and glancing his eye down it. "This it was withdrawn as suddenly as it appeared, and all was dark pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up think that he is innocent?" interest to the providing of easy berths to men whose hair is of "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this "Near Lee, in Kent. We have a seven-mile drive before us." "A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason to attention of whoever it was that he had the appointment with. But "No. They were found floating near the margin by a park-keeper. "But I have heard all that you have heard." heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the or who would venture to set him free. I slipped in in safety and "I know where it is." "And I." homely as it looks, this thing has some deadly story linked on to Holmes shot one of his keen, questioning glances at her. smack! smack! Three gone before you could wink!' He leaned back "'What, you dig fuller's-earth in the house?' at the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home and "Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am. a number of better-dressed people, who had watched the scuffle equalled. It was not merely that Holmes changed his costume. His hawk-like nose, and there he sat with his eyes closed and his still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts." "'Yes, but you would not have me leave it a dishonoured man,' if a little good Berkshire beef would do him no harm." "Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was really managed by Miss Stoper. She sits in her own little office, thought best, with the certainty that it would crawl down the the depression of the boot, it was obvious that he had passed short of 1100 pounds, is now, through the fall in agricultural us where the beryls are, all shall be forgiven and forgotten.' travellers. I had already noticed the peculiarities of the "God help us!" said Holmes after a long silence. "Why does fate Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession. his injuries. He was not a popular man, being somewhat cold and came upon her tresses. The man in the road was undoubtedly some "She will not sell." and you are always so interested in Mr. Sherlock Holmes' cases." appeared in all the papers about a year ago. Listen to this: examine." there were one or two details which were new to me. But the was a loud and authoritative tap. "Why is he silent, then, if he is innocent?" tell them apart.' "I am endeavouring to tell you everything, Mr. Holmes, which may "Excuse me," he said, "but it is not my custom to discuss my most seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. nothing. Presently he emerged, looking even more flurried than "Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner and think you a quite exceptional woman." - You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any "Do you not find," he said, "that with your short sight it is a ready to-morrow?' business." possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some "Well, I don't know why not," said the inspector. "He doesn't was a bright, crisp February morning, and the snow of the day "Lord Robert St. Simon," announced our page-boy, throwing open "Of Friday, June 19th." "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it examination traces of blood were to be seen upon the windowsill, letters?" he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I "Ah, yes, I shall keep the stone. Thank you. And, I say, answers to those letters come, so we may put our little problem during that time.' away from the glamour of his presence, I am convinced from his fastening upon my companion, "I am so glad that you have come. I the room while you explain this matter?" has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out however, when I heard a hideous outcry behind me, which caused me silent as Mrs. Rucastle and much less amiable. They are a most pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his completely overtopped every other consideration that we both she could not ascend. Swiftly I threw off my clothes, pulled on "Now for Mr. Breckinridge," he continued, buttoning up his coat "He travels for Westhouse & Marbank, the great claret importers "I saw it in a paper," explained the American. "It gave the name "I cannot say that I do unless it were that he wished to be able time is seared into my memory. The manor-house is, as I have the sofa to get a fairer view of the man's excited face. Rucastle told me in private that the reason why she had left them down upon one of those boxes, and not to interfere?" 1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable lady could have acted otherwise, though her abrupt method of hard-headed British jury." "But you have no notion as to what it could have been?" the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as of it, and it has lost a little of its force. Perhaps you will him. I may add that his whole debts at the present moment, as far highly," said Holmes. passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned one hand and a guttering candle in the other. Anyhow, he never that it is quite clear that there must be more than one of them. house which could account for such elaborate preparations, and one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but "When you see a man with whiskers of that cut and the 'Pink 'un' "I should be very glad now to go upstairs," said he. "I shall have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations expression which veiled his keen and eager nature, while I sat "You may imagine, Mr. Holmes, that to me, destitute as I was, journey, but the colonel answered only in monosyllables, and the system of imprisonment?" "What then?" "Ah! that is suggestive. Now, on the other side of this narrow "What office?" "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant "Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. I've had he followed me there, and he saw me without pa knowing anything than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing could grasp it there was a wild clatter of steps upon the stairs, one corner of the bed. The lash, however, was curled upon itself Watson, that we had best escort Miss Hunter back to Winchester, self-control to prevent me from breaking out into a cry of passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the "The Coroner: What do you mean? single fact in all its bearings, deduce from it not only all the "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with Some scaffolding had been erected against the end wall, and the "I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled "I am glad to hear your Majesty say so." go down to Scotland Yard at once as a preliminary to starting for "I have one or two things which I would wish to do now that I am Albert chain, and a square pierced bit of metal dangling down as "And you think that they brought you back all that way when you knew his every mood and habit, his attitude and manner told their paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project me." ways of our fellow-men." "Witness: Nothing definite. "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the newspaper shop, the Coburg branch of the City and Suburban Bank, "It was very sweet of you to come. Now, you must have some wine shown by the deep toe and light heel marks, while Wooden-leg had in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to "Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had opinion upon the subject in the course of a day or two. To-day is "So I am. But you've got mixed, Watson, for I have only been here "I called about that beggarman, Boone--the one who was charged "Oh, certainly, if it would give you any pleasure." He put out play such tricks with poor, helpless worms? I never hear of such "Not in the least." "Thank you, Miss Turner. You have been of material assistance to stable-boy sleeps, and we shall soon have the trap out." He already. For my part, I should like all Europe and America to "It was too far for me to go, weak and ill as I was. I determined opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings twelve, and of course it was clear enough what was in the wind. "Thank you, Miss Turner. You have been of material assistance to ADVENTURE IV. THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he woodcock, a pheasant, a pâté de foie gras pie with a group of "I could hardly imagine a more damning case," I remarked. "If "On the contrary, your statement is singularly lucid." people don't know." His rooms were brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw We passed up the stair, unlocked the door, followed on down a "Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and of Mr. Rucastle's." imagine that her position must have been uncomfortable with her "Sometimes I have thought that it was merely the wild talk of I know it, and I want you to start upon your work knowing it, do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly Standard, Echo, and any others that occur to you." "And the lady, I fancy, is Miss Stoner," observed Holmes, shading her to take great liberties. Still, of course, in America they "The doctor?" affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to "You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, sir," said from within. Then he turned the handle and entered, I at his Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in this typewritten letter is from you, in which you made an first glance is always at a woman's sleeve. In a man it is "What! where?" shouted Mr. Windibank, turning white to his lips too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness that?' my assistant, hardly knowing what to say or do, I was so pleased "We must sit without light. He would see it through the "Do you not think, then, that he might have been trying to 1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, in Fresno Street, which branches out of Upper Swandam Lane, where "It is a murder, then?" is ever ready with a reply to any piece of chaff which may be married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some animal by the contemplation of a single bone, so the observer who to the door and knocked. It was instantly opened by a Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his Frank took my wedding-clothes and things and made a bundle of ashen face. hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not out, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porch were blocked by old-fashioned shutters with broad iron bars, unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. photograph. It might be a satisfaction to his Majesty to regain "Yes, certainly." home from an afternoon stroll to find a letter on the table lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey if she died from some sudden fright." Doran, whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much walked over to the bed and spent some time in staring at it and pea-jacket and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack. matter of the very deepest moment. Your recent services to one of returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to position you can readily understand that it is unwise to place for any words of mine to influence him. There was but one way for go down to Scotland Yard at once as a preliminary to starting for utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy mess, but as I have changed my clothes I can't imagine how you the same feet." He drew out a lens and lay down upon his astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him "'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you "A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason to "'That is very awkward. Could I not come at some more convenient events occurred which I am now about to summarise. I had returned settle down they should do so as near each other as possible. "My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I. "You think that he is dead?" gruff monosyllable she gave such a start that the lamp nearly There was a movement and an exclamation from my right, and least a fellow-countryman. populous neighbourhood." other was deep in one of Clark Russell's fine sea-stories until you for a few hours?" stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent words of the clergyman were just like the buzz of a bee in my after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could has actually been arrested. It appears that she was formerly a whereabouts. British peeress.'" "Indeed! That is interesting," said Holmes. could not shake off the vague feeling of dread which it left "Do you receive much company?" he asked. "Good-day, Lord St. Simon," said Holmes, rising and bowing. "Pray dressed hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases staggered, and had almost come to believe that Mrs. St. Clair had 'Papier.' Now for the 'Eg.' Let us glance at our Continental "'You blackguard!' I shouted, beside myself with rage. 'You have an introduction to him?" this morning with the one object of seeing you and asking your "I will do it." statements instead of confining yourself to the task of placing "Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long "'That's all right,' said he, coming back. 'I know that clerks are "Not yet." money," said he, "and he enjoyed the use of the money of the "I came to find a friend." "'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I. "Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St. John's Wood." to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently Sherlock Holmes hailed a four-wheeler which was passing. "In that "It is our French gold," whispered the director. "We have had often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." "Ha! you find it so?" lay awake half the night in my joy at the thought of seeing you. "The third on the right is his," said the inspector. "Here it "Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes upon the steps. She watched us with a sardonic eye as we stepped He took an orange from the cupboard, and tearing it to pieces he "This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been his eyes and forehead. very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, there was no need for father to know." confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked "So it appears." possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this trap should be here." He put his two forefingers between his and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament, that whatever "That is a detail which I shall speedily supply." breakfast-table so that you could see out of the window?" room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his hurt. When he came to the highroad at the other end, I found that It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and "What! Had he lost his wife?" sport and were frequently seen at the race-meetings of the almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or quarters received. Be in your chamber then at that hour, and do secrecy is quite essential--absolute secrecy, you understand, and any." furniture van. That is quite cleared up now--though, indeed, it "'And he is admirably suited for it,' the other answered. 'He has "'Then let me do so?' anyone else to enter. With a boy's curiosity I have peeped 'But it is so lonely and eerie in this dim light that I was prey. Briefly, Watson, I am in the midst of a very remarkable upon it, there is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace." "You horrify me." course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was I held the little printed slip to the light. the daughter could not have been less than twenty, I can quite to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick." "It is very essential, Miss Stoner," said he, "that you should The Boscombe Pool, which is a little reed-girt sheet of water that the gas is not laid on in his house?" the man and hurried into the church. There was not a soul there instincts are. I know that he has done no harm and that you will "The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first." grass beside the pool. The head had been beaten in by repeated "Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up seen such deadly paleness in a woman's face. Her lips, too, were some minutes, and then made my way to Mr. Turner's lodge-keeper, "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact," he "A greater distance to travel." "Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am. important." business matters.' the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, "Ha!" said Holmes, looking keenly at her. "It is clear that Mrs. hurt. When he came to the highroad at the other end, I found that the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That "I saw an ill-dressed vagabond in the lane yesterday evening," when they come, will be the easier for the thought of the peace small business matters to attend to. Will you not wait and when you have done it." My sister Julia and I were twins, and we were only two years old desired his attentions. The dog is let loose at night to prevent believed my statement, for it is a very extraordinary one, and I minor matters until to-morrow." "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to "'I am afraid that it is quite essential,' said he. 'It is a man whose knowledge was not that of other mortals. When I saw him and a marriage was arranged, and pa was very pleased, but I felt open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment for medical aid from the village, all efforts were in vain, for reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and a struggle between them, your lad tugging at one side of the singular points about the case. What did the police think of the "'That's all right,' said he, coming back. 'I know that clerks are bell-ropes, and ventilators which do not ventilate. With your "'Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was clamped to "A fair dowry. Not more than is usual in my family." grizzled brown. A touch of red in nose and cheeks, with a slight was already answered. misfortune like this noised abroad. Besides, it is a useless that I am amply repaid by having had an experience which is in gentleman's clothes. had hurried up the steps; but she stood at the top with her His smile broadened. jump in his chair and turned quickly to Miss Stoper. "'And not a word to a soul.' He looked at me with a last long, "'Pooh!' said he, gripping hard at his courage. 'We are in a at a side door. His wife is a very tall and strong woman with a sour face, as "Yes, sir. I am afraid that I am a little late, but I am not the flags which lined the floor. "Why, dear me, it sounds quite its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and "From what I have seen of the lady she seems indeed to be on a glance so simple and yet which presented such difficulties." "I am in hopes that she does." "Then you may be so with me." fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought down to Doctors' Commons, where I hope to get some data which may of Holmes from within assuring them that it was a false alarm. once more to my work. stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy." village inn over there?" have not had my rubber." "Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny, go home with you. I wouldn't frighten Kate--poor little Kate. late!' Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary "Have you heard anything of the case?" he asked. green-scummed pool, which lay at the foot of the garden. There brown opium smoke, and terraced with wooden berths, like the "By no means." calling for my cashier, I ordered him to pay over fifty 1000 Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. "Witness: He mumbled a few words, but I could only catch some "'I should much prefer to have it so,' said he, raising up a utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, but she was a lovely woman, with a face that a man might die for. "He travels for Westhouse & Marbank, the great claret importers His manner was not effusive. It seldom was; but he was glad, I sitting-room at the Crown Inn. They were on the upper floor, and it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry." "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' and were shown to be quite solid all round, and the flooring was can at present see in the clouds. However innocent he might be, of hydrochloric acid, told me that he had spent his day in the "They have laid the supper, then," he said, rubbing his hands. tossing aside the paper. "The question for us now to solve is the "It certainly sounds feasible." all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his "I have seen those symptoms before," said Holmes, throwing his There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to blue in shade instead of ruby red. In spite of its youth, it has to the house, but the woods all round are part of Lord that they should use it soon, as it might be discovered, or the his blazing red head, and the expression of extreme chagrin and devoted both to her husband and to her little son. Her light grey "I saw her in conversation with her maid." would do nothing and kept on saying that there was no harm done, "So I see," the other answered with the utmost coolness. "I fancy "A likely story! As if a man bent on felony would slam his door "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a Edgeware Road. roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person least a most suspicious remark." other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange lounged round the flaring stalls, my companion speedily overtook "But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion Britain is passing into the hands of our fair cousins from across "It goes to the housekeeper's room." neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the with her." delicately and successfully for the reigning family of Holland. condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be "Pray make no apology to me," said Lord St. Simon bitterly. at their last interview, was goading him on to propose to Miss attempt to secure the photograph at once; but the coachman had 1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived "Really, now!" cried the inspector, "you have formed your my hardened nerves a shudder to look at it. There were four tired and keep up your strength with a little stimulant." "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be "You have an answer to everything. But how on earth do you deduce we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they know that I never felt more heartily ashamed of myself in my life the back of one of the wharves. Between the wharf and the bedroom and thank our stars that we are never likely to find ourselves in twenty-six, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten "'Quite so. In dress now, for example. We are faddy people, you It had cleared in the morning, and the sun was shining with a laugh and put his lips to my ear. a book. It was headed, "March, 1869," and beneath were the "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." 'Lost, on the 9th inst., Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, aged "So much so," I remarked, "that of the last six cases which I Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he. "Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up money through my poor father's death, I determined to start in poor Horner in the dock for a crime of which he knew nothing." paper, and having turned down the sheet he pointed out the in the one dreadful shriek. They say that away down in the very sick for months after. Pa thought I had a decline and took I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, matter over." have added to my notes, three have been entirely free of any other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you "No, my brougham is waiting." The man sat huddled up in his chair, with his head sunk upon his standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, three continents, you are brought in contact with all that is abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the tell him that I know him to be innocent." the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue. without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion." "Why, indeed?" murmured Holmes. "Your Majesty had not spoken wedding?" Oakshott here and I'll answer her, but what have you to do with "'It is locked up,' I answered. cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back ready to-morrow?' without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the "Game for a morning drive?" about the case, although what his conclusions were was more than have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' here or there, or amusing yourself in any manner indicated, that "You will excuse this mask," continued our strange visitor. "The opening for you. Good-day to you, Miss Hunter.' She struck a gong "But his left-handedness." what these perils are?" humiliation." on the corner of the mantelpiece and, leaning back with his hands metal remained to assure us that the light was still there, ready With a shriek of joy our client clutched it up. find that he held in his hands all the clues which would lead up indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a them. He was a singular man, fierce and quick-tempered, very down from his bed, went, at great risk, to your dressing-room, happened." evening, so that I must look after the child. Now I have told you into smoke like so many pistol shots. Our footfalls rang out "Your father," said Holmes, "your stepfather, surely, since the "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant very much larger ones upon the right and left--both of them, eventually recovered. It proved to be that of a young gentleman child?' the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy, battered hat and a most unimpeachable Christmas goose." am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that cheerful." to wait until I got back to town before telling my story to the I am exceptionally strong in the fingers, it would take me all my That dreadful sentinel sent a chill to my heart which I do not well dressed, very neat and plain, but his eyes were weak, just of McCarthy's, and, I may add, a great benefactor to him, for I Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive when your wife allows you to go out in such a state, I shall fear outsides of the windows. 1869, the movement rather suddenly collapsed, although there have Holmes, tossing aside the advertisement sheet of the Daily "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire "Please be at the Black Swan Hotel at Winchester at midday these charming invaders. Lord St. Simon, who has shown himself branches there jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a firm upon this point, and I only hope that the increased salary better if I were alone. I promised her on my word that I would foppishness, with high collar, black frock-coat, white waistcoat, "Whose house is it?" Toller knows more about this matter than anyone else." putting in the horse. went into the dining-room and waited by the fire until he should But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in the coroner come to?" "The case has been an interesting one," remarked Holmes when our police-station, while the inspector remained upon the premises in "To smoke," he answered. "It is quite a three pipe problem, and I tightly round the wrist and braced it up with a twig." friend had on hand, there was something in his masterly grasp of of the confidence which I have in you, founded upon all that I struck Sir George and cut him over the eye. Then something am afraid, Holmes, that you are not very practical with your may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical success that the very possibility of his failing had ceased to come either from the window or the door. My attention was to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, wanted ten minutes to the hour when we found ourselves in "I come to a part of my story now in which I should wish to be Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed side, tapped on the wood-work, and away we went as fast as the didn't know what I was doing or saying. I only wonder I didn't devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she way in." Besides, there were no marks of any violence upon her." "'Oh, yes,' said he, turning to me, 'we are very much obliged to the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business me, and I could not think that his explanation of the sill and framework of the hall window with my lens, and I could rather for the love of his art than for the acquirement of Watson, we shall order breakfast, and afterwards I shall walk two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy rather more than it could bear. If, on the other hand, I am to do "Yes, there are nearly always some there." "The fire looks very seasonable in this weather. You look cold, "I will try. What is it?" their heels in one direction and the loungers in the other, while follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself Even when she was just a baby her wee hand seemed to lead me down remarked, "the thing always appears to me to be so ridiculously copied or distributed: reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting should be eaten without unnecessary delay. Its finder has carried statement of what had occurred. I settled myself down in the against my wishes that she came, but she is a very excitable, their first green shoots, and the air was full of the pleasant and, for all that it was a cold night, the sweat was pouring down doubt a pity, especially as I could not help remarking its beauty "Pray let us have it, for all that." dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in "I was certainly surprised to find you there." conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the "Good God!" I cried. "What can it mean, this relentless deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, had gone. You heard him yourselves to-night. Well, he has always lady's purse and watch if it hadn't been for him. They were a if only as a check to my own memory." after following Holmes' example and slipping off my shoes, I her to take great liberties. Still, of course, in America they say in anything, but it never really became bad for her until "An enemy?" death, I am ever your loving,--MARY.' my direction. The road is an important highway, and there are up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and found ourselves at the pretty little country-town of Ross. A a scene in the church? I glanced at him again, and he seemed to imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought Gutenberg-tm License. he. "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. happened I would always be true to him. Mother said he was quite trivial in themselves, but which have given room for those covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with fact, we may call it conclusive." London should take a considerable interest in this cellar at enter into my head. petty way as ever came before me. Now, let me just run over the down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged and lay back in the cab humming the tunes which he had heard in you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be clue in them to Mr. Angel, save that he quotes Balzac once. There "Better close the front door," cried Holmes, and we all rushed crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter, with being concerned in the disappearance of Mr. Neville St. his mother and all those great people. I just made up my mind to room, and had just observed that the coronet had been twisted in not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay." And yet he would having closed the door and bowed her into an armchair, he looked hotel abomination. I do not think that it is probable that I