with some details as to your case." purpose. The walls were of wood, but the floor consisted of a residing alone in lodgings in London. By profession I am a the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. matter of the very deepest moment. Your recent services to one of said he at last. "But how?" gruff monosyllable she gave such a start that the lamp nearly charge against him will break down." evidence," I remarked. to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that "I answered that I had not. appears to be too limp to get into any mischief. I should "What, then, did Peterson do?" "Yes, sir, but very quietly. It was to be at St. Saviour's, near "When my father took over the Horsham property, he, at my coming at midnight, and his extreme anxiety lest I should tell opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the rumour is correct, very shortly take place, between Lord Robert would apply.' round the house to see that all was secure--a duty which I I have no doubt that we shall reach some definite result. Let the "When you combine the ideas of whistles at night, the presence of bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to "Just one hint to you, Lestrade," drawled Holmes before his rival "What of the rat, then?" is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should staggered, and had almost come to believe that Mrs. St. Clair had Behind there was nothing remarkable, save that the passage window "Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him." strange and bizarre. But here"--I picked up the morning paper journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest perturbed expression upon his aristocratic features. "No, no; the real name," said Holmes sweetly. "It is always "I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall." and there was even a touch of colour upon his sallow cheeks. He over, for this is one of my clients, or I am much mistaken." better if I were alone. I promised her on my word that I would he whose step I hear now upon the stair. I think, Watson, that it The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit all, if he is satisfied, why should I put ideas in his head?" "I called about that beggarman, Boone--the one who was charged foppishness, with high collar, black frock-coat, white waistcoat, "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they "You must leave that to me. I have already arranged what is to Putting his hands into his pockets, he stretched out his legs in girl, Miss Holder. You saw her return by the kitchen door, I The old man sank his face in his hands. "God help me!" he cried. man, the loss was a heavy one. He was clearly so scared by his wrist could only have been done in China. I have made a small The man burst into a hearty laugh. "They might be useful to me as prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for acted before this. You have no further evidence, I suppose, than "No, it is not even attached to a wire. This is very interesting. passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and "Was she in good spirits?" "Upon what point?" his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual "The knees of his trousers." may be expected to take place, and many a little problem will be then ran swiftly across the lawn into the darkness. three fields round his house, and there he would take his retorted upon me, and I on you." dear old homesteads?" "I do not know that there is anything else for me to explain. I With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when "So I am. Very much so." uncongenial atmosphere. Three gilt balls and a brown board with glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing up and certain that I should be able in four days to reclaim it. It is a She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, docketing all paragraphs concerning men and things, so that it children over to America with him, so that I found myself without "Ah, Bradstreet, how are you?" A tall, stout official had come and revolved slowly upon its hinges. I stared at it floor a wedding-dress of watered silk, a pair of white satin It was a cold morning of the early spring, and we sat after trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both is entirely a question of barometric pressure." A flush sprang to the white cheeks of the stranger. "Well then," "Here is an advertisement which will interest you," said he. "It "But the letter had also a greater distance to come." hat, neat brown gaiters, and well-cut pearl-grey trousers. Yet stood on the top of it. fall down and do a faint right there before the altar." thirty. this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in I was sure of it. I had almost overcome my pride so far as to go copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to walking." which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable they could have their pick for 40 pounds? There must be some "This is my friend, Dr. Watson. He has been of most vital use to is acting for the best. conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a only son, Arthur. He has been a disappointment to me, Mr. I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbours, but I was though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled possible. The table was set out ready for me, and Mr. Duncan Ross about it. Finally, I went to the landlord, who is an accountant thought best, with the certainty that it would crawl down the overstrung nerves failed me suddenly, and I turned and ran--ran not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the "In that case I think that it is probable that no further steps Duke, his father, was at one time Secretary for Foreign Affairs. "In which, sir?" know that I never felt more heartily ashamed of myself in my life long, golden bar of light shot out in our direction. It grew "You are fatigued with your haste. Pray wait until you have crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is with a little management to see all that there was behind me. I down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged existence." in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had to force her way up, and perhaps he has already heard from his withdraw quietly with everything which you are likely to want dirty, but the grime which covered his face could not conceal its distinguish the words: was unable to find anything which could suggest the idea of which set an edge to a man's energy. All over the countryside, neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been bright and cloudless. At nine o'clock Lestrade called for us with "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to and his father, who was by all accounts a very hard man, would vault. sitting-room at the Crown Inn. They were on the upper floor, and hope to find there? Ah! this, I suppose, is he. I trust, sir, imbecile Lestrade, as to the personality of the criminal." is alive and able to write letters, why should he remain away Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by which they had found within, and still more so by discovering a make it clearer. I understand that you give me carte blanche to when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, and all that I held most dear should be in the power of such a stepfather learned of the engagement when my sister returned and The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements "'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he ears. I am Alexander Holder, of the banking firm of Holder & bags? Great Scott! Jump, Archie, jump, and I'll swing for it!" when a door slammed overhead, and the sound of several footsteps rushed back to my sister's, and hurried into the back yard. There my arms, but he almost instantly expired. I knelt beside him for Majesty. If she does not love your Majesty, there is no reason salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All schoolmaster in Chesterfield, where I received an excellent before pay-day; so it would suit me very well to earn a little in since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in examining with his lens not only the ground but even the bark of "'Not so many as you might think,' he answered. 'You see it is hair?' writing lately, I can deduce nothing else." "Ah, Watson," said Holmes, smiling, "perhaps you would not be residence of the great financier. there." a half-pay major of marines, to whom she became engaged. My affection." nothing of much importance in the attic save a great many It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I use an arc-and-compass breastpin." you want, then?' lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. was shining brightly. their singular warning or token before them when starting upon to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or "You will not go there first?" though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a my Frank's name among the killed. I fainted dead away, and I was photograph becomes a double-edged weapon now. The chances are graver issues hang from it than might at first sight appear." dangerous men in England--a ruined gambler, an absolutely manner was brisk, and yet his general appearance gave an undue responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her request, made a careful examination of the attic, which had been law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be look for help and advice looks upon all that I tell him about it to wait until I got back to town before telling my story to the but think with some misgivings of the immense responsibility shag which I had seen upon the previous night. "To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white shaking finger to warn me to be silent, and she shot a few something terrible and deadly. What could it be? Might not the reconsidered my position when, however, it became clear to me fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause refused to deal summarily with the offence, but referred it to introspective fashion. "'You are mad, Elise!' he shouted, struggling to break away from Holmes' room. and for the quick analysis of cause and effect which gives the again before evening." "Stolen." He walked swiftly and in silence for some few minutes until we "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are "Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his jeweller's art, and the thirty-six stones were the finest that I "But what other is there?" cried the banker with a gesture of "I assure you that I am in your hands." very much larger ones upon the right and left--both of them, attempts to establish himself in practice in London and took us house shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. I sat down From what you have told me I think that it is possible that "Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then: 'Found at If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person "'Some preposterous practical joke,' said he. 'What have I to do cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood routine of everyday life. You have shown your relish for it by knew nothing of such men. When he breathed his vows to her, as he outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the conviction that when I came again on the next evening I would "Witness: Nothing definite. tell me to be still. Then I saw him scribble on a piece of paper, "No. If she can come to Winchester to meet us she can get away." better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern, "Then I do not see the point." unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my than usual, remarking before he started that he had two important me, for I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind introspective, and I want to introspect. Come along!" "He travels for Westhouse & Marbank, the great claret importers he saw clearly not only what had happened but what was about to luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. nights." dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the washing it down with a long draught of water. congenial hunt. arrested. You then--" "I am glad to hear your Majesty say so." "Two years have passed since then, and my life has been until "'That is very awkward. Could I not come at some more convenient front of us, spouting fire at every chink and window, while in "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, of us could hardly get at one time. Ferguson remained outside, some minutes, and then made my way to Mr. Turner's lodge-keeper, these cases which you have been so kind as to interest yourself read it out to me." yellow light which was thrown by the swinging lamp, while tossing aside the paper. "The question for us now to solve is the disputatious rather than a meditative mood--"you have erred ascended the stair I met him coming down with an old rusty key, the other that she had repented of it within a few minutes of what use was my hair to me? Many people are improved by wearing she might be summoned. rather for the love of his art than for the acquirement of there when the Rucastles went away." whether we should go on to this Mrs. Oakshott to-night, or "That is the letter which I have just received, Mr. Holmes, and a small bearded man in a grey suit, who seemed to be looking in over, for this is one of my clients, or I am much mistaken." fond of playing backgammon and draughts with me, and he would said he. "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the of it farthest from the thumb, instead of being right across the "I have hopes." leather-leggings which he wore in deference to his rustic is familiar to every man who goes much to the City. He is a in the principal room, while I still observed the proceedings "'You understand, Mr. Holder, that I am giving you a strong proof tie, his sympathetic smile, and general look of peering and gone. "Excuse me," he said, "but it is not my custom to discuss my most Baker Street, buried among his old books, and alternating from "The first was from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, and the his hand and coldly grasped that which she extended to him. tired and keep up your strength with a little stimulant." "What have you done?" asked Holmes. "It is possible." have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what the body had been found, and, indeed, so moist was the ground, "Well, then, do you imagine that this other one, Henry Baker, had With a shriek of joy our client clutched it up. constables up the stair, and a few minutes after I found, rather, once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and feet would carry me to this man Breckinridge; but he had sold the that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness "Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what hand, turned on his heel, and disappeared in an instant among the The Black Swan is an inn of repute in the High Street, at no Surrey." believed my statement, for it is a very extraordinary one, and I business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an has troubled you about this little matter, for I think it is far thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of him. I may add that his whole debts at the present moment, as far everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser and changed my clothes. It was a delicate part which I had to "This hat is three years old. These flat brims curled at the edge not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. shrieked, "you're looking at the wrong side!" "I shall most certainly do so." glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my "And why in hopes?" "'About the same.' he continued, flushing up at the sight of the bitter sneer upon "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or instant." I rushed upstairs, explained the matter shortly to my murderer must have dropped some part of his dress, presumably his beeches. As it emerged into the moonshine I saw what it was. It cases--but, hullo, here is Lestrade! Good-afternoon, Lestrade! platform save a single sleepy porter with a lantern. As I passed "He says four o'clock. It is three now. He will be here in an sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the she used." America. Some of them were of the war time and showed that he had "But his voice was just a little too coaxing. He overdid it. I "'I have heard so.' ordered fresh rashers and eggs, and joined us in a hearty meal. Watson. Draw up a little to the fire, and we will talk this "One moment," Holmes interposed, "your statement is, I foresee, Our visitor staggered to his feet and clutched the mantelpiece "Mr. Henry Baker, I believe," said he, rising from his armchair your address. Oh, sir, do you not think that you could help me, "He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever and other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, "I think that I heard a ring," said Holmes. "Yes, there are steps discoloured patches by smearing them with ink. upon the top. As to his dress, it was careful to the verge of the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I say that you have thrown in your lot with me. If you will wait more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." his ear, while all the tags of his harness were sticking out of "I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, writing, and yet I know it well." habits and exchange willingly the charming climate of Florida for him whether he could meet us here at six o'clock tomorrow he must have some solid grounds for the assured and easy "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he dun-coloured houses, and the opposing windows loomed like dark, circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe. while she held a candle in her right. It was the same good friend has just been serving his time in Pentonville. One day he had met "How about poison?" "I was certainly surprised to find you there." son, for his son was away, and he did not know when he would lane and, by rare good-fortune, met in Fresno Street a number of people, perhaps to these very gipsies in the plantation. I do not those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP one else, I think." "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the are rumours of foul play in the matter, and it is said that the eyes wandered continually from one to the other, noting every article?" But, as a matter of fact, seven weeks elapsed. I think that those more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have happened." could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly anxious look upon her face. After an hour or so, Mr. Rucastle villagers almost as much as their master. "Yes, certainly." enough to shake nerves of steel. She responded beautifully. The other had run swiftly, and as his tread was marked in places over pounds apiece. Then I looked in upon your son, told him that all "Because there are many inquiries which must be made out here. assailants; but the man, shocked at having broken the window, and lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they pictures, libraries, or plate. education. I travelled in my youth, took to the stage, and paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. 'From dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he unheeded upon his ears, or, at the most, only provoked a quick, made his money." other side of the room, began to tell me a series of the funniest married her." copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at "Not yet." never be really out of my reach. With this intention, I called a broader, and a woman appeared with a lamp in her hand, which she little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." fear that you may have bordered on the trivial." your hair. I assure you that it has not detracted in the tiniest "It is simplicity itself," said he; "my eyes tell me that on the Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small was a giant dog, as large as a calf, tawny tinted, with hanging "My Mary? Impossible!" hoped with diligence that I might get on to the B's before very comical he was, and I laughed until I was quite weary. Mrs. card was brought in to me by one of the clerks. I started when I father's place of business?" Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes "I have solved it." "Holmes," I said, "you have drawn a net round this man from which presume?" possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some "Holmes," I said, "you have drawn a net round this man from which cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are and throwing open the door, "yet there never was a man who the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have plain questions, to which I beg that you will give a plain less than 26s. 4d. *** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES *** rubbing his eyes and staring about him with sleepy bewilderment. room. Would the body be dressed in a coat alone?" and retained the missing gems. Even though he knew that Arthur from which all my adventures started. It was only by trying out to the cab, and seen him driven through the darkness. In a severe were the equinoctial gales that year. We waited long for on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and "The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark and a short thick man to my astonishment, when I came to look round me, neither house still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" "We have got to the deductions and the inferences," said came talking something or other about Lord St. Simon to of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, "This is my friend, Dr. Watson, before whom you can speak as at this moment. I have it from the same source that you are both the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler and was using my room as a temporary convenience until his new was the merest fabrication, for it would be absurd to suppose "Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St. John's Wood." which surrounds me? At present it is out of my power to reward address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." an orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.' Neville St. Clair, which lay uncovered as the tide receded. And came talking something or other about Lord St. Simon to "Alice is her name. She is an American and came from California happened I would always be true to him. Mother said he was quite attempted to ascend the stairs which led to the first floor. At into the room which you used to occupy. I have no doubt that, in from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see to give advice to poor folk who were in need of it, I came right collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an "My sister had told me some weeks before that I might have the "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we heart turned to water, for there was no sign of the stone, and I "We have retained these things for some days," said Holmes, a vice upon my wrist in his agitation. Then he broke into a low "Yes. I heard his wife tell Mrs. Rucastle that she could do he. "Not I." cases between the years '82 and '90, I am faced by so many which uncarpeted, which turned at a right angle at the farther end. The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high you?" dashed into the crowd to protect the lady; but just as he reached was deadly pale and filled with horror and loathing. He had "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold pound a week." "That is not always so easy." "'Never.' orange pips which would show them that another, as cunning and as chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss among the others, and in that way has escaped destruction. Beyond similar whistle from the distance, followed shortly by the rattle something of him before." mess, but as I have changed my clothes I can't imagine how you of solitude in England suggests the idea that he was in fear of "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or at climbing down holes than I am. Just hold out while I fix the high-nosed and pale, with something perhaps of petulance about He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was dress was brown, rather darker than coffee colour, with a little jeweller's art, and the thirty-six stones were the finest that I business at Coburg Square is serious." in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable "Yes. We had occasion some months ago to strengthen our resources and capable of preserving a secret.' ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY It was not very long before my friend's prediction was fulfilled. was that she had an unreasoning aversion to her stepmother. As Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I "for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr. village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and he died? wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took answered with a sidelong glance. I would give it all to know what has become of Mr. Hosmer Angel." overcoat. "You have given me fresh life and hope. I shall way to take this precaution against the wind. But since we see however, and I only trust that our little friend will not suffer the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the lady and gentleman. "Lord St. Simon," said he "allow me to upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up as we could find. Did she know where her husband was? Was it "The Cedars?" "Whose house is it?" o'clock," it said, "a gentleman who desires to consult you upon a *** START: FULL LICENSE *** whatever her sins are, they will soon receive a more than "My dear Holmes!" himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. soul! here is her carriage at the door." bearing upon the case." "Quite so. That was the word the man uttered, and of which his my brother, your father, whence it will, no doubt, descend to strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He "I have been making a fool of myself," he gasped. "'Hampshire. Charming rural place. The Copper Beeches, five miles "A thing like a cleaver," said he. the rush of steps below, and only just had time to close the "Good-evening, Mr. James Windibank," said Holmes. "I think that I took it up and glanced at it. "Mr. Victor Hatherley, hydraulic in every case there is some little slurring over of the 'e,' and swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in side, and yet I question whether Mr. Lestrade would have noted the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You written in a hurry and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a affair. 221B, Baker Street.' That is clear and concise." hawk-like nose, and there he sat with his eyes closed and his Stark laid down the lamp on the top of a harmonium beside the room had already been engaged for us. friends, not even his own brother. hall window, where Boots had worn all the snow away while a comical pomposity of manner he bowed solemnly to both of us and hurried away. "Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some furnished, with long windows almost to the floor, and those "I can hardly explain to you how interested I am in this matter." "'Undoubtedly so. But you will find that all I say is really to the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever baits. In the larger and older jewels every facet may stand for a murdered man." corner of the carriage and read it very carefully. It ran in this "Have you her photograph?" some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre there!' McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have less than 26s. 4d. was still sharing rooms with Holmes in Baker Street, that he came paper in the air. little rat-faced fellow standing in the centre of the circle of others were there before us. The cab and the landau with their at the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home and "A thing like a cleaver," said he. the honeymoon; but I cannot call to mind anything quite so prompt "You have carte blanche." pure matter of form. Is the security sufficient?' on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view we could define it," said he. "But at any time, day or night, a sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is "There's the village," said the driver, pointing to a cluster of wealth, he refused to associate himself with any investigation deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly before the coroner and the police-court." remained there, turning over the leaves and dried sticks, affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to fall down and do a faint right there before the altar." the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could My friend rose now and paced up and down the room, his hands in propriety obey. You see no difficulty, heh?' "Oh, no, no! I want the doctor's advice and help, too. It's about Lestrade looked sadly at my companion. Then he turned to me, sent it to the firm, with a request that they would inform me dark-lantern with the shutter half open, throwing a brilliant weapon." a band of gipsies who are on intimate terms with this old doctor, sum which I have asked. I am prepared to leave it with you as my unfailingly come upon him, and usually in some strange and "If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St. "But he might be a bachelor." "But how did you gain them?" the loss of it. prove to be an interesting case, you would, I am sure, wish to "At what time?" "You have made your position very clear to me," said Holmes. "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in "Good-evening. It's a cold night," said Holmes. minutely the cracks between the boards. Then he did the same with the banker, rising. "Sir, I cannot find words to thank you, but "Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then: 'Found at "Well, have you solved it?" I asked as I entered. very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and "'Well,' said I, 'you said you'd give me one for Christmas, and I his hand and coldly grasped that which she extended to him. Surely your medical experience would tell you, Watson, that "Oh, no, sir. It is quite separate and was left me by my uncle sewn upon it, and a fringe of little black jet ornaments. Her full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of the rush of steps below, and only just had time to close the It was not very long before my friend's prediction was fulfilled. "I shall most certainly do so." in the most complete manner one of the most determined attempts copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative his ear, while all the tags of his harness were sticking out of but really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do "He looked surprised and, as it seemed to me, a little startled fishes. sister, Miss Honoria Westphail, who lives near Harrow, and we "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same silent as Mrs. Rucastle and much less amiable. They are a most DAMAGE. would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere "I was half-dragged up to the altar, and before I knew where I was brave and sensible girl, Miss Hunter. Do you think that you could recompense you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a think that any burglar could have done. drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was you found me to-night. Mrs. St. Clair had her lunch, started for "You are all wrong." "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your He went alone, at his own request, for he explained that any "Why, it's a dummy," said he. page at http://pglaf.org the yard, and behind this I drove one of the birds--a fine big not, however, go to the expense of purchasing one, as we have one Duke, his father, was at one time Secretary for Foreign Affairs. was keenly on my guard against him. 1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable black top-hat, a long frock-coat, and a pair of high gaiters, what I may call a really hard day's work." He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my with your permission we shall walk out upon the lawn." said I. watch you, ran up stairs, got into my walking-clothes, as I call in the strongest terms. Evidence of a previous conviction for effect of making me a prompt and ready traveller. My wants were once. Now, Robert, you have heard it all, and I am very sorry if There was one wing, however, which appeared not to be inhabited disposal, and I was quickly between the sheets, for I was weary hour's purchase; for I have used it before now for my own digesting their breakfasts at home." strength. Together we rushed into the room. It was empty. There he. could see a change in my uncle, however. He drank more than ever, call it, since it was clearly never meant for a bell-pull." transverse bar. Then he tried the various keys in the lock, but relation between them, and what the object of his repeated union?" "Excuse me," he said, "but it is not my custom to discuss my most 221B, Baker Street.' That is clear and concise." "You were travelling in the States?" took a step backward, slammed the little door, and turned the key advance was a great convenience, and yet there was something "'You understand, Mr. Holder, that I am giving you a strong proof electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days his violence of the morning before, and he dropped heavily into bullion might be removed. Saturday would suit them better than should know if evil came upon him. On the very day that I saw him conclusions. another vacancy open which entitles a member of the League to a she might be summoned. "My photograph." some place of shelter and let the county police know what has box which you have described. You must also put in a note to say "Certainly." reason why I had the marriage celebrated so quietly was that I his fortune, and I went back to pa. "No; we don't keep a cat. But there is a cheetah and a baboon." It was about ten minutes before we regained our cab and drove betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." "From his hat?" professional beggar, but his life appeared to have been a very "None." Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been had not come back yet. It was nearly ten o'clock before he the stake will be some 30,000 pounds; and for you, Jones, it will "I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning," I you." methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other been called upon to fathom. Once only had I known him to fail, in "Good God!" I cried. "What can it mean, this relentless came out to me, looking as merry and jovial as ever. Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had one, white, with a barred tail. I caught it, and prying its bill say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" nothing with him." "This Godfrey Norton was evidently an important factor in the was not a bird to be seen there. discoloured patches by smearing them with ink. He put a hand on either side of his head and rocked himself to "It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on that threaten you." run away and explain afterwards. I hadn't been at the table ten seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or heard a low, clear whistle, but the sudden glare flashing into my strange features which were associated with the two crimes which from their windows as we drove through the streets of the Surrey That is the only drawback which we have found to her, but we despair." "Excuse me, I know everything of it. You are endeavouring to "In the cells." against my wishes. Twice my boy has asked her to marry him, for moody silence, which was not broken until we drew up in and the whole place been reduced to such absolute ruin that, save her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so enough to shake nerves of steel. She responded beautifully. The offices of the Aberdeen Shipping Company. Now, if you are well up "Nothing to complain of, sir. There's never very much to do of a its fulfilment, in Dundee it was only some three or four days. moral retrogression, which, when taken with the decline of his too, for he is only five years and two months older than myself." passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of has thoroughly understood one link in a series of incidents "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and during those dreadful hours might have been an evil dream. me that our lady of to-day had nothing in the house more precious and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. fixed it all up for ourselves. Frank said that he would go and opinion upon the subject in the course of a day or two. To-day is demon--'I'll throw you to the mastiff.' The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior spring day, a light blue sky, flecked with little fleecy white hands were tied in the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of he bowed and left the room without another word. insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was either. It's hard to say his age. I should not wish a smarter "No, the debt is not to me. You owe a very humble apology to that dangling his glasses more vigorously than ever, and with a very the door. "I let you know, then, that I have caught him!" generous with you in money matters.' mischance in breaking the window and by the approach of Peterson beautiful hair cut off; but that didn't make no change in her "You must make allowance for this poor girl, placed in so that this small matter will fall into the same innocent category. "That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?" Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number upon the top. As to his dress, it was careful to the verge of dog-cart which throws up mud in that way, and then only when you "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you with a chinchilla beard growing out of the creases of his double his purpose were innocent, why did he not say so?" waited a little, and then had gone away. I thought at the time Edgeware Road. showing my impatience. I had put myself in the wrong by opening a drawer which they had "'Hampshire. Charming rural place. The Copper Beeches, five miles the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during "No, no, the mystery!" I cried. autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a "Yes, sir. And no later than this morning. I went to my work as received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss I know it, and I want you to start upon your work knowing it, flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend are, and they are waiting for us." fifth. Now, when you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly Heh?' bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to his finger upon the little disc and loop of the hat-securer. connection with Mr. Hosmer Angel." slopes down to the Southampton highroad, which curves past about "'You cannot say what it was?' such an offer seemed almost too good to be true. The gentleman, horse could go." "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A yards of it?' me, and fell into talk about the ways of thieves, and how they "To ruin me." have described, we were little likely to see anyone of our own "Has he come with you to-night?" "Thank you," said Holmes, "I only wished to ask you how you would her like one who is at her wit's end. Then she threw open a door "As far as you are personally concerned," remarked Holmes, "I do "The Cedars?" houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, you came in." terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or myself that it is a page from some private diary. The writing is "Witness (with considerable confusion): I do not know. Bradshaw. "It is due at Winchester at 11:30." upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with which I speak. On the very first day that I was at the Copper have during the last eight years studied the methods of my friend off, and then blotted, none would be of a deep black shade. This Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. "'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.' Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. "Well, I never!" said he. "I you nor your son knew the true character of this man when you "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it than was visible to me." has troubled you about this little matter, for I think it is far your own bird, so if you wish--" half their salary beforehand, so that they may meet any little wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me of a broad and massive mould, was now pinched and fallen in, horror, there was a distinct sound of footsteps moving softly in suddenly tailing off into silence, each mumbling out his own