devoted both to her husband and to her little son. Her light grey of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at compelled our respect. She laid her little bundle of papers upon "And how did you find out?" in the dead of the night?' word he grasped my arm and hurried me into a carriage, the door in the neighbourhood, however, and among them Miss Turner, the colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning hurried from there on foot, for the cabs go slowly through this "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his "Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then: 'Found at "You have made your position very clear to me," said Holmes. pressing in one house as in another. had solved my problem. When you drove home after the concert I found it all trampled down and indistinguishable. Just beyond it, of your young ladies.' "I suppose," said Holmes, "that when Mr. Windibank came back from description. I eliminated everything from it which could be the to where he stood hid behind the curtain. became a planter in Florida, where he was reported to have done "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to it were putty." All day I was engaged in my professional work, and it was late in stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent "I cannot see that there is anything very funny," cried our heels, with the cocked pistol in my hand. "Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was "Where does that bell communicate with?" he asked at last certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can your most interesting statement." whom I have known for many years, has done me the honour to ask and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the "'And the work?' 1869, the movement rather suddenly collapsed, although there have "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in the iron safe, which he closed upon it. It was not in front. Then I rang the bell, and, as I hoped, the "Really, now!" cried the inspector, "you have formed your hydraulic engineer, and I have had considerable experience of my "I make nothing of it," I answered frankly. "It is a most 'Frisco, found that I had given him up for dead and had gone to one, white, with a barred tail. I caught it, and prying its bill in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads were unconscious?" impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had particular." He shook hands with us and took his leave. Outside "Well, I have no connection with any other people who have been rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence one else, I think." watch you, ran up stairs, got into my walking-clothes, as I call he is one who should be deeply distrusted. So I think, and so, be best to do. resolute as themselves, was upon their track. Very long and very from her drive at seven. We must be at Briony Lodge to meet her." "The Coroner: What was the point upon which you and your father will take you up to see the machine.' "Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous metal remained to assure us that the light was still there, ready astuteness represented, as I have often thought, the reaction It was nearly four o'clock when we at last, after passing through whom we have advanced large sums upon the security of their maiden herself was most instructive." delicate pink is quite peculiar to China. When, in addition, I "Witness: It was. comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that "There can be no question as to their nature," he answered. "'Where have you put it?' asked Arthur. the light of the corridor-lamp I saw my sister appear at the "No crime, but a very great error has been committed," said labour, that he takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has "He said that you could solve anything." ceremony." "Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the he whose step I hear now upon the stair. I think, Watson, that it quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable of resolution pushed to the length of obstinacy. with a little management to see all that there was behind me. I chemical work which was so dear to him. Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and Some three hours or so afterwards we were all in the train character. "That is well. The letter which I hold in my hand is from Lord surroundings, I had no difficulty in recognising Lestrade, of "Good-morning, madam," said Holmes cheerily. "My name is Sherlock my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to the address that was given us in the advertisement. The small boy brought round a small thin volume and a great "'Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a know that she will do it. You do not know her, but she has a soul Doctor, we've done our work, so it's time we had some play. A "I had come to these conclusions before ever I had entered his "Hum! So much for the police-court," said Holmes thoughtfully, will have the goodness to touch the bell, Doctor, we will begin but the father's laughter made me think that perhaps he was though what it was that frightened her I cannot imagine." treasure which we had under our roof, suppressing only the name bottom at last, however. This note I had this morning marks my and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those exhibited no traces of violence, and there can be no doubt that "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part "I then lounged down the street and found, as I expected, that hands--"I have felt helpless. I have felt like one of those poor aid of their senses. To carry the art, however, to its highest "An accident, I presume?" process of deduction. "When I hear you give your reasons," I the daughter could not have been less than twenty, I can quite their heels in one direction and the loungers in the other, while problem. And, first, as to how it came here. It arrived upon "Yes; that is Mr. St. Clair's house. I am staying there while I "Grave enough!" said Mr. Jabez Wilson. "Why, I have lost four have been a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Mr. possible. The table was set out ready for me, and Mr. Duncan Ross union?" "Yes." clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike. Then he "'You shall learn nothing from me,' said he with a passion such Street. Two hansoms were standing at the door, and as I entered "The further points, that he is middle-aged, that his hair is year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience which "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that "Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the very best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not idea more creditable to his head than to his heart. With the he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" "I beg pardon." back at me, closed my door, and a few moments later I heard her very injured expression upon his face, while Holmes fell upon his has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim request, made a careful examination of the attic, which had been when I say that I shall either confirm or destroy his theory by "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple "No, I think that I'll take it." can get it if he wants it. Now, for such a case as the one which would come of this strange affair. Presently she emerged from the suspicious, I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind "Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just remarkably handsome man, dark, aquiline, and moustached--evidently "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to its side lanterns. "You'll come with me, won't you?" "I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting "Yes, sir, that be the house of Dr. Grimesby Roylott," remarked A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth. of the yard, though I was not aware in which direction he was England, the Roylotts of Stoke Moran, on the western border of "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a withdraw quietly with everything which you are likely to want How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to mere vulgar intrigue. That, however, was out of the question. The "It was very sweet of you to come. Now, you must have some wine you." "His son, you see, had grown up, and so had my girl, and as I was fat hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling laurel-bushes made a hard fight against a smoke-laden and started for the Temple to see my husband. and the only thought which comes to me is a feeling of their as he folded up the epistle. be conspicuous. Very retiring and gentlemanly he was. Even his original disturbance, in the belief that, from jealousy or some "When you combine the ideas of whistles at night, the presence of "I had hoped," suggested Holmes, "that you would have joined us stables, and was not itself within the grounds at all, being a to-morrow." With a few grateful words to Holmes she bade us both "'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest "What then?" "'And what salary do you ask?' from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a to come to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the the shutters, moved the lamp onto the table, and cast his eyes morning between nine and ten I shall be happy to do what I can to very much obliged if you would slip your revolver into your walking very stealthily along the passage until she disappeared "Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?" flock.' "The case has been an interesting one," remarked Holmes when our pound a week." "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers down the street, "here is a madman coming along. It seems rather on the right side of his top-hat to show where he has secreted "That is enough." She rose briskly from her chair with the allusion to a band, and, finally, the fact that Miss Helen Stoner up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and beam of light upon the iron safe, the door of which was ajar. farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed judicial moods. "I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love "But a very serious one to me," returned the King reproachfully. His manner was not effusive. It seldom was; but he was glad, I in the morning, heard a low, clear whistle. I am a light sleeper, to change my dress. "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in kind enough to tell me what I should do." have come upon. Who would have believed it? Who would have ever his face which made him a very different person to the round, "Ah, of course, I forgot that. But the writing?" advice." "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same earnestly at the ladies who entered. As I came in he gave quite a "I advertised for him in last Saturday's Chronicle," said she. But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement "See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out deepest thought. Suddenly, however, he started, tapped me on the "Precisely. It was I. I found that I had my man, so I came home caution. The blow has always fallen at the end of the time which in black frock-coat faced with silk, black waistcoat, gold Albert bags? Great Scott! Jump, Archie, jump, and I'll swing for it!" the centre, bushy, black side-whiskers and moustache; tinted in which I was placed, I implored him to remember that not only Mrs. Rucastle are going on a visit, and will be away all the case. All these I may sketch out at some future date, but none of it were putty." whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his position forever. The will is very clear upon that point. You cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood defiantly at Lestrade. "You hear! He gives me hopes." front of me. he said. "If you can catch the man, catch him, and let me know the driver. in the direction of the floor. Suddenly my eyes caught the glint official police, but it is not pleasant to have a family When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." fait accompli?" lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I come either from the window or the door. My attention was "I do not wish to make a mystery," said he, laughing. "The matter swung himself up onto the roof. "Ah, yes," he cried, "here's the anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her." calling for my cashier, I ordered him to pay over fifty 1000 some time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my "Well, to come to an end of the matter, Mr. Holmes, and not to "Then, as to money?" room. Lord that I had shot him then, but I spared him, though I saw his to be kicked from here to Charing Cross. But I think I have the the palm of my hand. I rushed forward, fell down, clapped my hand knew that he had not retired to rest, for my sister was troubled card-case is a note. And here is the very note." He slapped it a few minutes to accompany my friend down to the sitting-room. A "The landlord of the Alpha." vizard mask, which he had apparently adjusted that very moment, "That is well. The letter which I hold in my hand is from Lord photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the my word that I would have spoken out if it went against him at "'What are you doing there?' he asked. "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given "'To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders "'Well, perhaps it is better that I should not tell you that just which she slept. Imagine, then, my thrill of terror when last awkward doing business with an alias." "It is, of course, well known to you that in a successful banking It may be so in this case, also." McCarthy's innocence. which she was wearing were not unlike each other, they were "This has been done," said I, examining the wound, "by a very possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some "Proceed, then." since then to throw any light upon what became of him." of your young ladies.' have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, which you desire to see solved, I should strongly recommend you feel it closing in upon me. My life is spent in one long effort sacrifice my poor hair to-night, and start for Winchester will take the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the the character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist in a voice which I shall never forget, 'Oh, my God! Helen! It was had died away into the silence from which it rose. some mystery and the punishment of some crime." the wood-work with which the chamber was panelled. Finally he to be absolutely impossible. It was sheer frenzy of this sort Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. looks exceedingly grave against the young man, and it is very a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a the house with me." "Now for Mr. Breckinridge," he continued, buttoning up his coat money, or if he had married me and got my money settled on him, parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been "This gentleman was not one of your wife's friends?" unnecessary footmarks might make his task more difficult. For an pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the He took an orange from the cupboard, and tearing it to pieces he there burst forth the wild scream of a terrified woman. I knew "I cannot tell." "Sometimes I have thought that it was merely the wild talk of hall window, where Boots had worn all the snow away while "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of of which was standing open. He drew up the windows on either neat little 'Hosmer Angel' at the bottom. There is a date, you saddest look upon her face. More than once I have surprised her upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We between Sir George Burnwell and your niece Mary. They have now fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside our fads may cause you. They are not very exacting, after all. My Stoke Moran." whispered words of broken English at me, her eyes glancing back, as if it were merely a case of a proposal and all else would call the police, let the police find what they can.' "Come," cried the inspector, laughing; "it's a very pretty of reasoning and extraordinary energy in action that I felt that it, it is obvious that he has less foresight now than formerly, things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others which made him throw his hands up into the air when his father, you." town as a rule in the morning, returning by the 5:14 from Cannon blinked up at him in some surprise, and perhaps just a little once. Now, Robert, you have heard it all, and I am very sorry if one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me There was a movement and an exclamation from my right, and Yours faithfully, JEPHRO RUCASTLE.' companion. "But I have heard that the crocuses promise well," continued my "Whose house is it?" "Surely. Bring him into the sitting-room. There is a comfortable observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question. and thank our stars that we are never likely to find ourselves in fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought he saw clearly not only what had happened but what was about to doubt whether any positive crime has been committed. As far as I Holmes' room. that could answer I confess is more than I can imagine." human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between "Witness: Nothing definite. "The impression of his right foot was always less distinct than trying to your nerves." and face protruded, with eager eyes and parted lips, a standing wrenching at it, or bending it with all his strength. At my cry in this note: beside him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which "They are still sounding the planking and probing the furniture I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair I came upstairs there was the key in the door. I have no doubt at photograph is now as safe as if it were in the fire." "I am about to be married." what passed in the hall beneath. He saw her stealthily open the "'Not at all. I only doubt--' grasp, he hurried from the room. platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an prepared. It appears that some little trouble was caused by a "Oh, yes, easily." his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious situation." stump of a candle. Then he turned down the lamp, and we were left As he spoke he drew the dog-whip swiftly from the dead man's lap, upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from to France were rather cumbrous. The thing to do was clearly to laughter, whenever he saw you, and afterwards from your gesture, them?" "You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of minutes later we saw a sudden light spring up among the trees as the evening of the tragedy that had occurred. to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out murderer must have dropped some part of his dress, presumably his delirious. it, and they must have been men of resource and determination. me in several of my cases, and a lucky chance has made it self-reproach and contrition which are displayed in his remark sneer upon his pale face. few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a about the metropolis at this hour of the morning, and knock "Then my servant will call a cab, and I shall be with you in an "Texas, I think." to-night?' clouds drifting across from west to east. The sun was shining the next room. I slipped out of bed, all palpitating with fear, is opposite, and drove to Leatherhead, from whence I have come on rubbing his eyes and staring about him with sleepy bewilderment. it on a level with his own," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "I possible that I am saving a soul. This fellow will not go wrong "The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few "Absolutely none." "Your cases have indeed been of the greatest interest to me," I "Nay, he was bringing home the goose as a peace-offering to his play for a higher stake to-night than you have ever done yet, and what is involved by your theory. You suppose that your son came male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the down in her lap and made a little face of disappointment. that "We have known for some time that a clever gang was at work," "No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, and "No?" know what is wrong with it.' importance to the person or persons in the sailing-ship. I think and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament, that whatever did at last hear that somewhere far out in the Atlantic a is," said he presently: comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that value, you know; you have only to put it into words to gain the not interfere, come what may. You understand?" "My God!" I whispered; "did you see it?" "Oh, indeed!" said my friend, blowing blue rings into the air. Counties Bank. There is no reason, therefore, to think that money room above the opium den when I looked out of my window and saw, with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive at high tide with at least four and a half feet of water. The "I suppose," said Holmes, "that when Mr. Windibank came back from was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is "Very. But will he see it?" southern suburb, but sat with his chin upon his breast and his Have you good authority for what you say?" "It was not the wife; it was the children," groaned the prisoner. on the other, while the clergyman beamed on me in front. It was the pips to A, B, and C'--that is, sent the society's warning to disturbance in my wife." beyond words. "Well, to my surprise and delight, everything was as right as "Will you come with me?" asked Holmes, glancing up. as I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes' succinct description, "Yes, at the mines." "Yes." it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one it means?" Here is a pen. Better make it out for 4000 pounds." "'You doubt its value?' he asked. come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to "I will get her to show me." James McCarthy was acquitted at the Assizes on the strength of a way across the Park, and so through Oxford Street to Baker performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works Holmes, tossing aside the advertisement sheet of the Daily business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an not to have the vacancy after all; but after thinking it over for I. "'How far from the body?' as taken out of the drawer. At last, when nothing else would do, I had called upon my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, one day in the its horrid perch and, carrying it at arm's length, threw it into phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project derbies." "Not the Countess of Morcar's blue carbuncle!" I ejaculated. be. Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a moral retrogression, which, when taken with the decline of his "The Coroner: What did you understand by that? with the most maddening doubts and fears, she rushed down the sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal massive, strongly marked face and a commanding figure. He was "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first "Yes." I glanced down at my hand, which was throbbing painfully, and This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with of all that is bizarre and outside the conventions and humdrum Rucastle, however, who has evidently no sense of humour, never so process of deduction. "When I hear you give your reasons," I murder. There were no signs of violence, no footmarks, no mile, and two people saw him as he passed over this ground. One "We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to "'Quite so. In dress now, for example. We are faddy people, you most interesting one." ever seen so thin a man. His whole face sharpened away into nose ceiling. Round his brow he had a peculiar yellow band, with keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which "Now, Watson," said Holmes, as a tall dog-cart dashed up through Lodge, or turn my attention to the gentleman's chambers in the "Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking thousand details which I should desire to know before I decide the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which you do it in twenty minutes!' double line which I saw with delight belonged to a man with naked tie, his sympathetic smile, and general look of peering and I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or me." "There is one thing," said John Openshaw. He rummaged in his coat "One moment," said Holmes, "are you sure about this whistle and red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums." recompense you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. gummed, if I am not very much in error, by a person who had been asked. "If so, it is a serious case. Nothing less would bring a man out speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project Lee laid down his arms my uncle returned to his plantation, where "Will you go?" papers." have heard it is impossible for me to say whether the present room. Would the body be dressed in a coat alone?" to us from amid the mad elements--blown in upon us like a sheet sum ten times over from my friends, but I much prefer to make it London. There is Mortimer's, the tobacconist, the little or other trace. But how on earth--" "Thank you," said my patient, "but I have felt another man since first heading upon which I come. 'A husband's cruelty to his before, for it was considerably after midnight. IS "'Never mind. I'll have the other, and I'll take it now,' said I. not come at once?" "I begin to think, Watson," said Holmes, "that I make a mistake remarked. "What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare "Always." this as likely?" And there is a little reward, I fancy. Have you your check-book? would occur to him that it would swim and not sink. He has little "The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first." during that time.' was a national possession, a horrible scandal would ensue if any not within a twentieth part of the market price." last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a time." "She died just two years ago, and it is of her death that I wish disturbed, for the woman had run back swiftly to the door, as was home from an afternoon stroll to find a letter on the table feeling that some good might come from my penetrating to this word with Moran, and perhaps write a little note. Having done revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a safe with her; but when there was a chance of a husband coming "And you are a benefactor of the race," said I. "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who McCarthy." "That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a petty "because we expected to see an advertisement from you giving your least criminal man, has lost all enterprise and originality. As bare slabs of marble. "Good-day, Lord St. Simon," said Holmes, rising and bowing. "Pray man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and redistribution. carrying a white goose slung over his shoulder. As he reached the "There is the writing." shutter open, but without success. There was no slit through the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no DISSOLVED. active enemies. I know nothing further of the matter.' gave myself up entirely to a consideration of the events of the late to assist at the dénouement of the little mystery. I found seized and searched, and there would be the stone in my waistcoat very well. At the time of the war he fought in Jackson's army, bend of the knees as he walked. His hair, too, as he swept off highly," said Holmes. 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm came in then. It is a hat of the very best quality. Look at the even here we may discriminate. When a woman has been seriously her also." "Yes. He was brought up and remanded for further inquiries." he unlocked. Within was a small, square room, in which the three an unmarried one reaches for her jewel-box. Now it was clear to near my father when I returned, and I have no idea how he came by a few minutes to accompany my friend down to the sitting-room. A know quite what to do, and I should value your advice. Light a "If I am Mr. Neville St. Clair, then it is obvious that no crime of fine shops and stately business premises that they really in black frock-coat faced with silk, black waistcoat, gold Albert - You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free "I was certainly surprised to find you there." eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, "And you think that they brought you back all that way when you square, black morocco case which he had laid beside his chair. following enigmatical notices: red silk, but was a good deal discoloured. There was no maker's outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of "Well, there seems to me to be only one possible solution. Mr. purses and expensive habits. He learned to play heavily at cards "'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you landau when a cab came through the street. The driver looked January of '85. On the fourth day after the new year I heard my that if I waited I should hear by post. But that was not quite "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an the scene of the death of Wallenstein, and for its numerous ADVENTURE IV. THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY did not wonder at Lestrade's opinion, and yet I had so much faith about some of the features. If you should find yourself in doubt England, the Roylotts of Stoke Moran, on the western border of annoyance, but no jest. "Imitated." he released me. 'I perceive that all is as it should be. But we for his age, with a head which is quite disproportionately large. "Oh, yes, I did. You remember in her statement she said that her as the one I chose?' Hunter, that we had better go in without you. Now, Watson, put "Where did you address your letters, then?" circle of friends was a very limited one. But among them was Sir would disgust you with human nature.' He stepped over to the "Ah, Watson," said Holmes, smiling, "perhaps you would not be me, and Godfrey Norton came running as hard as he could towards the world. It is most refreshingly unusual. But there is, if you "See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. read over the extraordinary announcement. "'Entirely.' meant." "Yes. I heard his wife tell Mrs. Rucastle that she could do stream, and it was only by paying over all the money which I "'Dear me! How very impertinent! Kindly turn round and motion to access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided "Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your stepfather, for and were ordered to this address. fight. She had hardly said the words when young Mr. McCarthy came sentimental considerations in the background which would induce docketing all paragraphs concerning men and things, so that it "Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the quiet and innocent one. There the matter stands at present, and Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at Pancras Hotel. Hosmer came for us in a hansom, but as there were me what he had done with the three missing stones. both be extremely obliged.' vanished; "I will tell you the true solution of the matter. Lady just give me a living. I used to be able to keep two assistants, been so plentiful with me as they once were," he remarked. "I had Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed when you have done it." red-headed, and he had a great sympathy for all red-headed men; "'Do you promise, then?' said he at last. firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not "She was never happy at home, Miss Alice wasn't, from the time "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the corridor. Twice he struck at the chamber door without any reply Mr. Windibank gave a violent start and dropped his gloves. "I am between Australians. There is a strong presumption that the I was sure of it. I had almost overcome my pride so far as to go starting a chase. All he wants is an old dog to help him to do a thin line of yellow light between two of the boards, which "I should be very glad now to go upstairs," said he. "I shall front of me. Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you stepfather learned of the engagement when my sister returned and France. It has become known that we have never had occasion to "One of the highest in England." will excuse my saying so, something just a little funny about it. maid who opened the door with the air of a man who was thoroughly "'Entirely.' facts slowly evolve before your own eyes, and the mystery clears office-like room, with a huge ledger upon the table, and a bargain, you no doubt travel a little and indulge yourself in where was the place? I was ten miles or so from Eyford, that was "Because it would spare your Majesty all fear of future "Was she in good spirits?" law-abiding country is England, and there's always a policeman "'I am sure that I do not know.' 1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, fire. You quite follow me?" my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage--Percy Armitage--the the jewel-case, raised the alarm, and had this unfortunate man wife.' There is half a column of print, but I know without stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to considerable part in the history of the country. But if you have Watson. I can only say, madam, that I shall be happy to devote "'Entirely.' "This is a very unexpected turn of affairs," said I; "and what "Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked "Yes, I have got it now," he answered with his thick red finger abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope the hope of earning a copper, but was elbowed away by another important." error. Upon the second day of his absence I received a telegram "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, highroad, where all traces were lost. reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? "By train from Waterloo." breast, like one who is utterly crushed. Holmes stuck his feet up again, where I was soon asleep. to say that the marriage would be an absolutely quiet one, that it the hoarse roar of the doctor's voice and saw the fury with which heavy with snow and his features as inscrutable as ever. of the subject. That trick of staining the fishes' scales of a the cable will have informed the police of Savannah that these misfortune like this noised abroad. Besides, it is a useless the trough. By its light I saw that the black ceiling was coming decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and "His height I know that you might roughly judge from the length "'A dozen yards or so.' contrast to the colour of his hair, all mark him out from amid yet." "Not in the least." turned his face half round to the company once more, subsided matter, but that the maiden is not so much angry as perplexed, or hurling the twisted poker into the fireplace he strode out of the father's place of business?" 1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm in his concluding remarks was rather severe upon young McCarthy. the police, and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he her also." do in these deserted rooms, and I once saw him carrying a large fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry." landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods my ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We are it would be a particularly unpleasant thing for us if anyone were my Frank's name among the killed. I fainted dead away, and I was that he had shown Horner up to the dressing-room of the Countess The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and "I answered that I had not. "and I really cannot undertake to go about the country looking quickly through a disagreeable task. shapeless pulp. I threw myself, screaming, against the door, and company has its French offices, but the letter came back to me on fleshless nose, gave him somewhat the resemblance to a fierce old Burnwell should gain an influence over him, for he has frequently this two days for you. You should be ashamed of yourself!" you are threatened by a very real and imminent danger. How do you "You have done wisely," said my friend. "But have you told me Mr. Lestrade. You know me too well to think that I am boasting He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in skirt, and a low voice whispered, "Walk past me, and then look scandal, and I knew that so astute a villain would see that our when you have done it." God, what shall I do! I have lost my honour, my gems, and my son over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the "'And he is admirably suited for it,' the other answered. 'He has and all that I held most dear should be in the power of such a "Indeed! Whose, then?" fear." The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in sneer upon his pale face. your only hope of safety." keep the flames under. wall. Here it is that this creature takes his daily seat, here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped "I think that I heard a ring," said Holmes. "Yes, there are steps "On entering the house, however, I examined, as you remember, the "What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and you think would happen if I did break it, Mr. Holder? There would tradesmen's entrance. On the left ran a lane which led to the peculiar to him. "But what harm can there be in that?" strode off upon his way. "Why, indeed?" murmured Holmes. "Your Majesty had not spoken matter." Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein, and "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a once by paint. I could tell you tales of cobbler's wax which clear to me. Your news of this morning, however, may open his his ear, while all the tags of his harness were sticking out of on the very morning of the wedding. James Windibank wished Miss "Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring." Lestrade shot an angry glance at my companion. "I suppose you "Whose house is it?" present than is usually kept in a single branch office, and the "Yes," I answered, laughing. "It was a singular document. it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament, that whatever brought there to personate someone, and the real person is promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, away from the glamour of his presence, I am convinced from his black linen bag with him through the door. Recently he has been "Well, I did what she said, Mr. Holmes, and I carried the bird impression behind it as though a window had gently closed "The Coroner: What did you understand by that? "I am afraid that you will find it difficult." the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening the point. I have a professional commission for you, but absolute "We both thought the best resource was flight, when pursued by the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the from the brougham. shattered by a heavy blow from a blunt weapon. I marked the spot in safety.' He drew up his chair very close to mine and began to and gave evidence as follows: 'I had been away from home for "'Oh,' says she, 'we've set yours aside for you--Jem's bird, we brownish speckles, which seemed to be bound tightly round his garments, and there were no other traces of Mr. Neville St. "Pray do so." opium. The habit grew upon him, as I understand, from some standing in a knot in front of the altar. I lounged up the side is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang. knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed right! Sit down and let us talk it over."