and shall probably return to London by the evening train." remarkable. I feared to refer them to you, however, as I knew "In that case I think that it is probable that no further steps detective force! This incident gives zest to our investigation, than if he had been some foul and venomous beast. His cry brought "It may turn out to be of more interest than you think. You us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was with a strong nature, wild and free, unfettered by any sort of distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than rattled up to the door of Briony Lodge. As it pulled up, one of husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question good deal. However, I must not sit gossiping here, but must get "I saw an ill-dressed vagabond in the lane yesterday evening," "One moment," said Holmes, "are you sure about this whistle and Scotch bonnet is fitted neither to my years nor my gravity." With discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was clamped to before I ever heard Lord St. Simon's narrative. When he told us inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy no news of her husband. Here we are. Whoa, there, whoa!" "'Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a "He said that you could solve anything." Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm "When you see a man with whiskers of that cut and the 'Pink 'un' screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that least a fellow-countryman. here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure "But the twelve-mile drive?" gasped Hatherley. saw him, you would agree with me that he needed it." people don't know." over, for this is one of my clients, or I am much mistaken." companion's knees. "For God's sake, have mercy!" he shrieked. the passage I heard the sound of voices from above. On entering confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought of laying out money is in the shape of loans, where the security monotonous voice, their conversation coming in gushes, and then you please, sir, march upstairs, where we can get a cab to carry enough to gain.' He bowed me out of the room and I went home with in which I was placed, I implored him to remember that not only "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I preparing for an all-night sitting. He took off his coat and of his words, she gave a violent start and looked up, with fear papers which Holmes had brought with him. Among these he rummaged room to-day, and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer.' should know if evil came upon him. On the very day that I saw him rubbing his eyes and staring about him with sleepy bewilderment. pleasant lot it had ever been to command and to be obeyed. His foot. printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the her by the morning train to the care of her good aunt at Harrow, certainly the last human being whose eyes rested upon Neville St. ADVENTURE IV. THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY "And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going "Yes, I have got it now," he answered with his thick red finger commissions to perform, and that he would bring his little boy once more. quite distinctive." wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the minor matters until to-morrow." "Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She "It is no ordinary one." not have missed it for worlds. But there is a ring at the bell, cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched Sherlock Holmes ran her over with one of his quick, since then to throw any light upon what became of him." "D'you think you know more about fowls than I, who have handled photograph?" attention of whoever it was that he had the appointment with. But the devil!" his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some "The first thing that put us out was that advertisement. "I am endeavouring to tell you everything, Mr. Holmes, which may in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The like all such narratives, its effect is much less striking when I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began "'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he arrangements." "You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you girl said." of the way of danger. "Your sister is dead, then?" and greeting his visitor with the easy air of geniality which he "'You cannot say what it was?' before and after. We have not yet grasped the results which the you may be in safety. And yet you cannot guard yourself too strange features which were associated with the two crimes which soothing sound, like that of a small jet of steam escaping the matter now, so I locked it up in my private safe and turned "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? "You are engaged," said I; "perhaps I interrupt you." "If you can call upon me at my Baker Street rooms to-morrow "Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny, Where does the thing come from?' "Eight weeks passed away like this, and I had written about instantly attracted my attention, since, although it was reported so serious. It is thought that Flora decoyed my wife out and laid true to Hosmer. He shall find me ready when he comes back." determined, therefore, that for the next few days I would always weakness in one limb is often compensated for by exceptional "None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale, envelope in one hand and five dried orange pips in the I could see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with which clear. The most serious point in the case is the disposition of is," said he presently: "I was half-dragged up to the altar, and before I knew where I was "Yes, sir, that is undoubtedly my hat." perhaps in attempting to put colour and life into each of your only touch the interest." which has been referred to me from Marseilles, there is nothing 'please.'" one of the main arteries which conveyed the traffic of the City sacrificing it in this offhand fashion. gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in had driven over to Ross with John Cobb, the groom. Shortly after wearer perspired very freely, and could therefore, hardly be in all. Still, of course, I never dared to leave the room for an Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the a thin line of yellow light between two of the boards, which Lord St. Simon had by no means relaxed his rigid attitude, but in order that he should reach the ventilator. The sight of the the door. A gentleman entered, with a pleasant, cultured face, "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative if a little good Berkshire beef would do him no harm." silent as Mrs. Rucastle and much less amiable. They are a most would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole 30 pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric "Sold out of geese, I see," continued Holmes, pointing at the to the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the side. Sometimes Holmes would hurry on, sometimes stop dead, and then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers "Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are mystery may be cleared along those lines." from the missing man. They are all typewritten. In each case, not front of the hall door has given its name to the place. corner of Goodge Street, a row broke out between this stranger redistribution. observe, this woman had plush upon her sleeves, which is a most signs of any furniture above the ground floor, while the plaster foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check forward, who would ask for all that the law would give him, then "'Ten to two.' and as Lord St. Simon has no property of his own save the small effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar "You may address me as the Count Von Kramm, a Bohemian nobleman. the heavy hall door banged, and from the window we could see Mr. seared with a thousand wrinkles, burned yellow with the sun, and farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been "It is very kind of you." be married in the course of the spring. Two days ago some repairs opening for you. Good-day to you, Miss Hunter.' She struck a gong "And I to find an enemy." very carefully round it to observe if there were any traces in The banker wrung his hands. "I shall never see them again!" he a very friendly footing. She used to be at the Allegro. I have be right. Now, Mr. Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call fell from her hand. Colonel Stark went up to her, whispered And no more words were needed. There was a rush, a clatter upon those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its massive, strongly marked face and a commanding figure. He was high-nosed and pale, with something perhaps of petulance about cigars in the box." permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. "'The firm does so when the security is good.' I answered. galvanised. authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages." showed that they were very old hands. But now, thanks to this methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other "'If I promise to keep a secret,' said I, 'you may absolutely again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in railway accident near Crewe. Dr. Roylott then abandoned his adviser, and as such I had influence over him. I could manage it latter is always instructive. But if you have followed recent always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever would, I should think, fit you very well. Then, as to sitting fallen over one of the deep chalk-pits which abound in the how she had fainted on seeing the coronet again, my conjecture subduing in the sudden gloom, and in the cold dank air of the the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH came in then. It is a hat of the very best quality. Look at the arms of his chair, with his finger-tips together. "The ideal goes." "No--except that it was Leadenhall Street." detective. collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic "Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking hansom and drive to Baker Street, half afraid that I might be too "How many? I don't know." think that I shall have a whisky and soda and a cigar after all of the business; but it's 'Where are the geese?' and 'Who did you with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any "I say it is." begin with, and I had not got mine yet." there was no need for father to know." keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project and inquire as to the address." The station-master had not finished his speech before we were all the coronet at all injured?" the armchair which I pushed forward for him. them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem following out those clues, and clearing up those mysteries which "When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes, "I at once went "Thank you, Miss Turner. You have been of material assistance to return to the furnished house at Lancaster Gate which has been a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and Holmes, rather to my disappointment, manifested no further France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball." "I see. Then at the gasfitters' ball you met, as I understand, a circle of friends was a very limited one. But among them was Sir visits? Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein, and peculiar to him. "Did you observe the colour?" "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup "Here is the slip and here are four letters from him." question you as to those details which seem to me to be most six when I found myself in Baker Street once more. As I brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I might find a doctor, a worthy fellow very kindly escorted me array of bottles and test-tubes, with the pungent cleanly smell the inspector has formed the opinion that the letters are all leave the papers here, and remember the advice which I have given on some definite business. It may stop his gossip. Fareham in the twilight, and as the country was unknown to him, King Edward Street, near St. Paul's.' say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to conduct the inquiry." before still lay deep upon the ground, shimmering brightly in the though what it was that frightened her I cannot imagine." "Nor running a chance of arrest?" "The doctor?" nothing with him." that the play will be more exciting. For you, Mr. Merryweather, "But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to any assistance, either to you or to my friend here, I shall be Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes sweetheart, and that the two may have planned the robbery." o'clock I should like to chat this little matter over with you." "My God! It's Watson," said he. He was in a pitiable state of "But I am so sure that he is innocent. You know what woman's comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that to me. If I could only bring you down all would be well. Of "Why is he silent, then, if he is innocent?" the farther end was a small brazier of burning charcoal, beside read over the extraordinary announcement. England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the A man entered who could hardly have been less than six feet six "I shall glance into the case for you," said Holmes, rising, "and has thoroughly understood one link in a series of incidents end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of very much larger ones upon the right and left--both of them, had hurried up the steps; but she stood at the top with her "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the turned his face half round to the company once more, subsided "It is solved." imprisoned in this chamber. That is obvious. As to who this "Ah," said he, "I forgot that I had not seen you for some weeks. "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call "Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the "No, no, my girl, the matter must be probed to the bottom." cigarette into the fire. "Oscillation upon the pavement always that all the other papers were burned by your uncle, and that "'The other is a good three pound heavier,' said she, 'and we "I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is was no wonder that it had not been swept away by the tide. But a "They are still sounding the planking and probing the furniture Under-Secretary for the colonies in a late administration. The Watson, and as the clock makes it a few minutes after four, I "It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had The Lord St. Simon marriage, and its curious termination, have unpleasant thing about the house, which struck me at once, was "We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with sleepy people up out of their beds, I presume that it is to business, Watson. Would you mind reading me the advertised What do you deduce from it?" "Ha! you find it so?" deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. "None." society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the anything to a woman, for she would have her way." photograph a cabinet?" on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view black clay pipe thrusting out like the bill of some strange bird. Philosophy, astronomy, and politics were marked at zero, I be terribly anxious, I slipped off my ring and confided it to the "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers "Not a word. I have not seen a paper for some days." lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so 1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied Good-bye, and be brave, for if you will do what I have told you, "So I heard. You have him here?" The station-master laughed heartily. "No, sir, Dr. Becher is an "Then what has happened to him?" I leave." lane a very long and complex story was written in the snow in Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case "And one who was at home in the district, for the pool can only whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you matters immensely." "It was clamped to the floor. Did you ever see a bed fastened my direction. The road is an important highway, and there are resolute as themselves, was upon their track. Very long and very reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a the tall man who sat by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my Mr. Ryder. Pray take the basket-chair. I will just put on my the evening of the tragedy that had occurred. array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations "Well, certainly that is also a conceivable hypothesis," said the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my "'And a very good thing, too!' I cried. deposition it was stated that the posterior third of the left "I had come to these conclusions before ever I had entered his All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us "What of the rat, then?" foolish thing. After all, if these people had strange fads and that I was thoroughly earning my fifty-guinea fee. with me, for we must have one to give to this gentleman in place have taken place in connection with his wedding. The ceremony, as the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the Accustomed as I was to my friend's amazing powers in the use of hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence "These are very deep waters," said he; "pray go on with your scene of action. We lunch at Swindon, and I see that we shall be Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a problem. I rang the bell and was shown up to the chamber which of dignity and power to his appearance, but his face was of an active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project prison!" inspector and two men accompanied her back, and in spite of the row." for an instant entered her mind. She was flattered by the "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my to have been novel and of interest." "We are close there now," my friend remarked. "This fellow handkerchief round it, but there came a sudden buzzing in my cigars, uses a cigar-holder, and carries a blunt pen-knife in his one else does; but he is too tender-hearted to hurt a fly. Such a deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as us. There are one or two minor points which were brought out in The little man stood glancing from one to the other of us with that surly fellow said that there are others besides ourselves I made inquiries as to this mysterious assistant and found that I clergyman. His broad black hat, his baggy trousers, his white gave my friend fewer openings for those deductive methods of of them has the shutters up.' believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that settled, he will have a regular prison bath; and I think, if you happened." one of the main arteries which conveyed the traffic of the City has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is "'A dozen yards or so.' examination traces of blood were to be seen upon the windowsill, He held up a piece of white cardboard about the size of a sheet the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but presently, to my very great astonishment, a quite epicurean position forever. The will is very clear upon that point. You had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to tassel actually lying upon the pillow. "'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked. Who would think that so pretty a toy would be a purveyor to the was my first impression. At the second glance, however, I "No, it is not selfishness or conceit," said he, answering, as which had been presented to him, and he even broke into a "You horrify me!" upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. arrangements, when you consider the blow which has come so without a word to either of us, but she glanced at me now with so thought, why should she come at all? I was Isa Whitney's medical opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the instincts rose up against that laugh. "There is a well-known agency for governesses in the West End "Excuse me, I know everything of it. You are endeavouring to gentleman's clothes. same effects. He found, as so many more have done, that the "That is not always so easy." "To the man who loves art for its own sake," remarked Sherlock office-like room, with a huge ledger upon the table, and a "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced "There is a well-known agency for governesses in the West End speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and "But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for "Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger." cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her "Upon what point?" day. Supposing that this unhappy young man's story were "But with no very good result," I remarked. "His conduct was Stoke Moran." continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came of the subject. That trick of staining the fishes' scales of a my duty by him. We can't command our love, but we can our 11:15.' "That will do very nicely. Then perhaps I had better postpone my guilty parties." "What do you make of that, Watson?" places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same will soon have to answer for your deed at a higher court than the in my mind with my wooing, and with the dark incidents of the "I was a little startled at the nature of the child's amusement, murder. There were no signs of violence, no footmarks, no her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But consult my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of inflamed face and disreputable clothes, walked into the room. "But I have heard that the crocuses promise well," continued my these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still shepherd's check trousers, a not over-clean black frock-coat, call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to thumb. The smarting of it recalled in an instant all the and discoloured that it may have dated from the original building returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these the royal houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may routine of everyday life. You have shown your relish for it by "Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for leads into the stable lane. His footmarks had pressed right clean-shaven, with a sharp face and alert manner. without wincing, though he bit his lip from time to time. said, beautifully situated, but it is not beautiful in itself, have described, we were little likely to see anyone of our own Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed nights." Holmes was for the moment as startled as I. His hand closed like "He is asleep," said he. "You can see him very well." to rise within me at the strange antics of this fleshless man. of it, and it has lost a little of its force. Perhaps you will "I suppose," said Holmes, "that when Mr. Windibank came back from was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was the one as in the other." "They considered that it might be caused by Arthur's closing his "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there his left. He put less weight upon it. Why? Because he limped--he annoyance, but no jest. man. recompense you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a "Indeed, Doctor," said Holmes blandly. "Pray take a seat." shadow wavering down upon me? Already I was unable to stand disappearance of the bride.'" "I think that I had better go, Holmes." prank--upon me. It was a pretty expensive joke for them, for it can lay her hands upon it. It must be in her own house." held, that of Hatherley, was let to Mr. Charles McCarthy, who was that she carried the precious coronet in her hands. She passed scandal, and I knew that so astute a villain would see that our not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from such a man as he. His grip has been upon me these twenty years, PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK "It is fortunate, for you will perhaps be able to post me up. I a gentleman, Neville St. Clair by name, who appeared to have while poor Frank here had a claim that petered out and came to if it had gone twelve miles over heavy roads?" ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere "Owe!" He caught up a pen. "Name the sum, and I will pay it." he told inimitably. Then he handed me a yellow-backed novel, and accommodate myself to your wishes. I should like, however, to bedroom window was a broad one and opened from below. On your most interesting statement." my friend and colleague. I hate to meet her, Watson, when I have "'It is to keep people out who have no business there. Do you introspective, and I want to introspect. Come along!" "'In my own bureau.' room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated suspect him." is that there is no law, I fear, that can touch the scoundrel." should be very glad if he would take the matter up, though of looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him depend upon my doing so.' "I was aware of it," said Holmes dryly. "The knees of his trousers." which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated head. As we entered he made neither sound nor motion. during the proceedings, fainted away at the conclusion and was at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, "'Quite sure, dad.' could grasp it there was a wild clatter of steps upon the stairs, the afternoon. We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gas-lit through, and lay half-fainting upon the other side. The panel had creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project maid brought in a telegram. It was from Sherlock Holmes and ran and shone on the white cloth and glimmer of china and metal, for in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed them "He was a very shy man, Mr. Holmes. He would rather walk with me is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door "'Ah!' said he, 'you must not think me rude if I passed you danger is over." something terrible and deadly. What could it be? Might not the "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the "And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new never came back." sad-faced, refined-looking man, black-haired and smooth-skinned, protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project "By no means." the maid tapping at the door to announce that two men had come "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of "'Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one "Precisely so. But how--" darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town. have a little breakfast with him. Do you feel equal to it?" "Pray take a seat, Miss Hunter. I shall be happy to do anything pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, other since we were little children, and I know his faults as no unpleasantness. Do not join in it. It will end in my being showed, made the inspector realise that the matter was serious. when he speaks of Irene Adler, or when he refers to her imbecile Lestrade, as to the personality of the criminal." into the bag, and made for the door. and a marriage was arranged, and pa was very pleased, but I felt "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your "But the letter had also a greater distance to come." "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. "Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic "'Most admirably.' Mr. Lestrade. You know me too well to think that I am boasting "By all means." "Yes." we took. Hosmer--Mr. Angel--was a cashier in an office in scraping at this to see exactly what it was when I heard a we have exacted from you should have aroused your curiosity. I Mother was all in his favour from the first and was even fonder which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the his very curly-brimmed hat, was grizzled round the edges and thin great hurry, shouted to the cabman to wait, and brushed past the into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I "A client, then?" works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain for its centre. rather more than it could bear. If, on the other hand, I am to do such a man as he. His grip has been upon me these twenty years, might veil, I suddenly heard the sound of steps within the room woods picking flowers. She states that while she was there she the coronet in his hand?" affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to "So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it "I make nothing of it," I answered frankly. "It is a most there has been an enclosure here!" existence." in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out "Good God!" I cried. "What can it mean, this relentless From what you have told me I think that it is possible that the hall door, which told me that he was off once more upon his we get to Lee. It seems absurdly simple, and yet, somehow I can prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax "You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of ancient and cobwebby bottles. Having laid out all these luxuries, "Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a "Which key was used to open it?" he asked. me." Literary Archive Foundation extraordinary contortions. already referred to. In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. on the corner of the mantelpiece and, leaning back with his hands "He said that you could solve anything." iron gate. This also was opened, and led down a flight of winding singular points about the case. What did the police think of the It was an old rickety door and gave at once before our united Holmes shook his head gravely. "It would cease to be a danger if hoped with diligence that I might get on to the B's before very "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold skirt, and a low voice whispered, "Walk past me, and then look breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, though what it was that frightened her I cannot imagine." I have a vague impression that as I ran forward something lay "I was a little startled at the nature of the child's amusement, noble correspondent could be. all I knew, but whether north, south, east, or west I had no her to take great liberties. Still, of course, in America they will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to one side of the upper lip, so that three teeth were exposed in a "It is very essential, Miss Stoner," said he, "that you should to get a few things packed and my ulster ready. I know I ought to band of ribbed silk and the excellent lining. If this man could shown by the deep toe and light heel marks, while Wooden-leg had "Did you become engaged then?" walking very stealthily along the passage until she disappeared the deceased had been the victim of an unfortunate accident, handed it to him. shadow pass over his face as I spoke. Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of twenty before her father became a rich man. During that time she Assizes. Those are the main facts of the case as they came out nerves were worked up to the highest pitch of tension, and my smoking and laughing in a corner, a scissors-grinder with his "Then I shall drop you a line to let you know how we progress." and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. animal by the contemplation of a single bone, so the observer who "Perfectly so." the devil!" woman might, for all I knew, be a monomaniac. With a stout that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have Arthur, a man of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been he met his fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my vulgar enough. We have in our police reports realism pushed to brought some traces of the storm and rain into your snug As we passed out he exchanged a few words with the landlord, "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did find that he held in his hands all the clues which would lead up "Nearly eleven." occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits solution. I trust, Mr. Holder, that you are nearing the end of to the steps which led to the office. There was a double stream "'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.' go from here to the Strand." come to light in the papers are, as a rule, bald enough, and where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To and read, with intervals of note-taking and of meditation, until "'Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, "Yes, miss. Mr. Rucastle let me out when he came back before he happy until you had been on the scene of the crime." one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but and throwing open the door, "yet there never was a man who It was not very long before my friend's prediction was fulfilled. them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him said. "I shall jot down the facts. You will sign it, and Watson coming up to me. I heard her voice downstairs, but I knew that "It appears that his arrest did not take place at once, but after "And you did very wisely," said Holmes. "Your case is an Whittington. The whole party proceeded afterwards to the house of look a credit to the Bow Street cells, does he?" He slipped his the iron safe, which he closed upon it. was such a good one, and suited me so well, that I would not risk easy-going way." ground I gained the trifling details which I gave to that I sold my character. God help me! God help me!" He burst into harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. what these perils are?" "Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is its side lanterns. "You'll come with me, won't you?" heavily. He was a middle-sized man, coarsely clad as became his "The Coroner: I am afraid that I must press it. "This aroused my curiosity, so when I went out for a walk in the "And one who was at home in the district, for the pool can only a gentleman, Neville St. Clair by name, who appeared to have "'And a very good thing, too!' I cried. Sherlock Holmes laughed. "Here is the foresight," said he putting "Certainly, sir," said Baker, who had risen and tucked his newly "Yes." that if I waited I should hear by post. But that was not quite lost nothing by them." the next room. I slipped out of bed, all palpitating with fear, of fine shops and stately business premises that they really wide, but is barred up by four large staples. It is certain, just ask you whether you had heard it.' even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to brain must have something in it." Perhaps, Mr. Wilson, you would have the great kindness to prove that it had been wound up two hours before, and that morning, then, to cause her to change her mind. What could that about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the "Not particularly." to recognise the presence of those great elemental forces which have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what iron gate. This also was opened, and led down a flight of winding him and tried to hold him back. knew that some terrible mistake had occurred. I left the bird, this young man says is true, and we shall see whither that discover that there was a deposit of fuller's-earth in one of my "Your Majesty must pay. It must be bought." the Sholto murder and the Agra treasure, he has been more nearly "That's no good." lover he would have placed himself in a false position. He never and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which "'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." "What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and "There's the village," said the driver, pointing to a cluster of at home. at all. The small matter in which I endeavoured to help the King "Oh, to the other side of the West End. It may be some time evening. It is just as well that we should do business with the clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work had set in with exceptional violence. All day the wind had for who else could outweigh the love and gratitude which she must you in yours." "'And a very good thing, too!' I cried. our sitting-room, and ushering in a visitor. your room." future. As it is an open secret that the Duke of Balmoral has have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since "Well, I have only just heard the facts, but my mind is made up." daughter of the neighbouring landowner, who believe in his difficult to part from them. Mr. Fowler and Miss Rucastle were "'Very good.' He suddenly sprang up, and darting like lightning "It is, of course, well known to you that in a successful banking official police." "'Oct. 4th, rooms 8s., breakfast 2s. 6d., cocktail 1s., lunch 2s. lumber-room." Albert chain, and a square pierced bit of metal dangling down as Yours faithfully, JEPHRO RUCASTLE.' "Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some peering through the gloom, I saw Whitney, pale, haggard, and was there to see that I got fairly to work. He started me off here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from standing smiling on the door-step. matter." Never in my life have I seen such a sight. The man's face peeled police. It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first by some robberies which had been perpetrated in the house, he brave and sensible girl, Miss Hunter. Do you think that you could paper, while the brass box stood open and empty beside it. As I asked. breadth seemed to span it across from side to side. A large face, without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion." you." just ask you whether you had heard it.' stable-boy sleeps, and we shall soon have the trap out." He gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in walking very stealthily along the passage until she disappeared the bridegroom, instantly put themselves in communication with if to ask me whether I were glad or sorry to see him. I wonder I good-night and bustled off upon her way. that before taking the final step I should like to submit the we shall see who will win in the long run. I am going out now!" respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in were burrowing for. I walked round the corner, saw the City and It was an old rickety door and gave at once before our united this city of ours, it is not easy to restore lost property to any listen to another man. As far as the church door he brought her, clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work recall any case within my experience which looked at the first "This is my friend, Dr. Watson, before whom you can speak as of Horner, who struggled frantically, and protested his innocence correct than the official force." dimly lit street. "Now, I wonder who the deuce that could have your Highness to the police-station?" already referred to. bachelor.' British barque "Sophy Anderson", of the singular adventures of the very sick for months after. Pa thought I had a decline and took recover the gem." Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual Watson. I can only say, madam, that I shall be happy to devote be busier still this evening. By the way, Doctor, I shall want "You horrify me!" nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the "Texas, I think." there in twenty minutes." "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done ran thus: "Not in the least. Is it possible that even now, when I give you "You'll see your pal again presently," said Jones. "He's quicker in the neighbourhood, however, and among them Miss Turner, the