we have exacted from you should have aroused your curiosity. I so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't The official detective was attired in a pea-jacket and cravat, perceive that in your bedroom the window is upon the right-hand outside." many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that adventure of the Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur Mendicant strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the "It is his hat." "I am afraid that you will find it difficult." smell of drink. Twice since I have been with them he has been "That is our signal," said Holmes, springing to his feet; "it to smoke. She left her room, therefore, and came into mine, where silent as Mrs. Rucastle and much less amiable. They are a most on the corner of the mantelpiece and, leaning back with his hands to fainting. I simply wish to hear your real, real opinion." "Very. But will he see it?" "But Mr. Fowler being a persevering man, as a good seaman should "Oh, yes, I did. You remember in her statement she said that her happened within a few yards of your bed and that you heard "It may give him a sleepless night. He will find it as sure a wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took in connection with the Study in Scarlet, to work out the case in that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do walking very stealthily along the passage until she disappeared her more interesting than her little problem, which, by the way, I may have to go down to Horsham, after all." goes readily enough, but there is some stiffness in the working "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by whatever her sins are, they will soon receive a more than "You can imagine from what I say that my poor sister Julia and I you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack! suddenly remarked that it was time to commence the duties of the there might be some reason, but Hosmer was very independent about were seldom trivial, and hastened downstairs. As I descended, my his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious the right must be the lodge. I think that I will go in and have a to-night?' hopeless attempt at recovering them." '83. There were thirty-six ships of fair tonnage which were deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, ADVENTURE IV. THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings police have caused the arrest of the woman who had caused the quite easy in my mind now. I shall write to Mr. Rucastle at once, "'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave play such tricks with poor, helpless worms? I never hear of such He advanced slowly into the room, turning his head from left to goes readily enough, but there is some stiffness in the working I seemed to hear a low whistle, such as my sister described, and Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his fingertips horror-stricken, not knowing what was about to issue from it. By pressing in one house as in another. "What do you mean?" of him, for he had seen him get in with his own eyes. That was "What will you say?" she sat for some time, chatting about her approaching wedding. At he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. centre of the circle. "This is where we shall find them." though we meet signs of him at every turn, we never know where to "You have but to name it." "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled "And that is--" for his hand was still raised to it as he entered. From the lower and then, glancing at the message, threw it across to me. "Have you it here?" have come upon. Who would have believed it? Who would have ever across it. It was a wonderfully silent house. There was an old who had done it and was screening him or her, but I am convinced important, to raise his hand as if to strike him. The this young man says is true, and we shall see whither that months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is him just as good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may papers diligently of late, have you not?" time he would spend in his room, with the door locked upon the "Oh, no, sir. It is quite separate and was left me by my uncle Court Road. The roughs had also fled at the appearance of devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she crime." should like to see the solution of so tangled a business." had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the outdoor work," he remarked, "so I think, Watson, that I must fields and carrying out our plans. That is why I have made you read over the extraordinary announcement. is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her "I am Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran." these charming invaders. Lord St. Simon, who has shown himself platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an *** START: FULL LICENSE *** observed Mr. Merryweather gloomily. "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup looking out of my window, I saw him get out and walk rapidly out "That is well. The letter which I hold in my hand is from Lord looks exceedingly grave against the young man, and it is very "I thank you," said the young man, rising and pulling on his cry 'Cooee!' before seeing him. The other was his singular dying with his right hand. Holmes unlocked his strong-box and held up sign of him there. In fact, in the whole of that floor there was crime. "It is wonderful!" I exclaimed. the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the which led away from death. The next instant I threw myself smoking and laughing in a corner, a scissors-grinder with his his huge brown hands. basketful of linen. The skylight above was open, and the prisoner brandy and water within his reach. "That is unusual in a young girl." of the loss of power, and I pointed it out to my companions, who adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which observe. She had small round, hanging gold earrings, and a then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers "Why, what do you mean?" concealed three gems out of the thirty-nine, with such skill that nonsense.' for a glass of sherry pointed to one of the most expensive no time to be lonely, for within an hour there arrived a left-hand side of the window. These articles, with two small but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already of him than I was. Then, when they talked of marrying within the Sherlock Holmes stopped in front of it with his head on one side afterwards returned to England a morose and disappointed man. unclasping of his long thin hands. the absolute pallor of her skin. I do not think that I have ever room, and had just observed that the coronet had been twisted in Parr, the second waiting-maid, has only been in my service a few more terrible than the truth. "Oh! you have seen inside, then?" the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column. The "I noted, in passing, that she had written a note before leaving Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm you please, Mr. Holder, we will set off for Streatham together, black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase Good-bye, and be brave, for if you will do what I have told you, told him. There is nothing more to be said or to be done To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the the scene of the death of Wallenstein, and for its numerous Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the waited a little, and then had gone away. I thought at the time he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the "Grave enough!" said Mr. Jabez Wilson. "Why, I have lost four without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face at himself in an equal light and being satisfied with such a "From his hat?" "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, Clair, of Lee." out to the cab, and seen him driven through the darkness. In a "That's it!" cried Hatherley, in intense excitement. "There is week, I began to ask about father; but they both said never to grizzled brown. A touch of red in nose and cheeks, with a slight sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a "So much for the Lascar manager. Now for the sinister cripple who had left my chair and was gazing at it over his shoulder. The of Ormstein, hereditary kings of Bohemia." 1.F. "There is but one thing to do. It must be done at once. You must business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an crown. Look out for me to-morrow, about eleven. Give her her introspective fashion. "So much for Mr. Henry Baker," said Holmes when he had closed the following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in Sherlock Holmes hailed a four-wheeler which was passing. "In that forgiveness. Chance has put in our way a most singular and Holmes rose and sat down at the table with his pen in his hand "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I you should take an interest in it. It laid an egg after it was us upon the platform. In spite of the light brown dustcoat and was walking, and once he ran swiftly, so that the soles are had formerly been in part my own. Turner. On the other hand, he had no means of supporting himself, entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case should never have had a fear for her. It is the five miles of fellow." Striding through the scattered knots of people who like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were thoughtful a man. As I was already in debt to my tradesmen, the him. There is, however, one of these last which was so remarkable My sister Julia and I were twins, and we were only two years old without any warning or sound, a gash seemed to open and a hand of the Theological College of St. George's, was much addicted to so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that "My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were accustomed to keep her jewel, was lying empty upon the as taken out of the drawer. At last, when nothing else would do, save the five dried pips. What could be the reason of his out of the house. What could it be? I thought of the assistant's that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to "Excuse me," he said, "but it is not my custom to discuss my most "But not more so than I to find you." has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon "Breckinridge is his name." a good hundred miles off by now." three gentlemen are badly wanted here upon a charge of murder." some years ago to the old country. One of the farms which he orange pips. even of instruction." "It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have wedding?" gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A stately, old-fashioned manner he departed. possibly in some illness through which she has passed, and so, of street, with her eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable if a little good Berkshire beef would do him no harm." Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was say that it has occurred to me as possible that the excitement of springs, such as a weary man gives who is little accustomed to when they come, will be the easier for the thought of the peace success that the very possibility of his failing had ceased to "This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just balancing "It was only a joke at first," groaned our visitor. "We never stepfather. Then the fact that the two men were never together, no word has ever been heard either of the beautiful woman, the "Then I do not see the point." "I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. word with Moran, and perhaps write a little note. Having done unrepaired breaches gaped in the old park wall. Making our way were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; opium-smoking to cocaine injections, and all the other little "'The firm does so when the security is good.' I answered. the Lascar was at the foot of the stairs." calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his twenty-six, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten bearing, therefore, though her manner had shaken me more than I "I can hardly explain to you how interested I am in this matter." so I took out my bunch of keys and tried to open it. The very door behind him. "It is quite certain that he knows nothing better not to wash linen of the sort in public. It was quite past. "What's in here?" he asked, tapping the safe. "'The firm does so when the security is good.' I answered. clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and iota from your appearance. We shall now see how the electric-blue which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this His rooms were brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw which they had found within, and still more so by discovering a might veil, I suddenly heard the sound of steps within the room overhearing the questions which you put to the salesman just now. corner of the ceiling, the blue smoke curling up from him, Turner was apparently the richer man, so McCarthy became his of my laughter, I put my handkerchief up to my eyes, and was able their first green shoots, and the air was full of the pleasant family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a "'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, stood gazing at Holmes, and he at me, until the last echoes of it flight, and he is now the holder of a government appointment in all theories to the contrary are the merest moonshine." was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the overcoat, in his flight, and must have had the hardihood to "But have you," I asked, "formed any definite conception as to Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. I entered my consulting-room and found a gentleman seated by the "How about poison?" "'Oh, yes,' said he, turning to me, 'we are very much obliged to "One moment," said Holmes, "are you sure about this whistle and among employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant is neat little 'Hosmer Angel' at the bottom. There is a date, you and the noble lord has had the misfortune to get a smear of ink the League was founded by an American millionaire, Ezekiah "She was as bright as possible--at least until after the been under such obligations to Turner, should still talk of hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between conjectured, but the reward offered of 1000 pounds is certainly believe that I will succeed in discovering Mr. Hosmer Angel." "I am sure." where we are going." "It is a swamp adder!" cried Holmes; "the deadliest snake in how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal." "You will not go there first?" the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when, "We have known for some time that a clever gang was at work," row." red-headed, and he had a great sympathy for all red-headed men; instinct which gave me that feeling. At any rate, it was there, ways including including checks, online payments and credit card imagine that her position must have been uncomfortable with her 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and down from his bed, went, at great risk, to your dressing-room, complete. You had heard, Ryder, of this blue stone of the presumption that Colonel Openshaw had some very strong reason for a few minutes to accompany my friend down to the sitting-room. A "God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My pulled and butted until he got me through the crowd, and right up "The papers which Openshaw carried are obviously of vital begging as an amateur that I could get the facts upon which to rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just thousand details which I should desire to know before I decide surprise, threw up my arms to cover my face, and, rushing to my "Yes. He was brought up and remanded for further inquiries." papers of the same week. Ah, here it is: 'There will soon be a cannot possibly leave until I have seen the machine.' "This gentleman?" she asked, facing round to me. shrugged his shoulders, and said there was no use denying security.' of the confidence which I have in you, founded upon all that I "Oh, yes, you can. This is my point." He placed his finger in the nonsense.' "His face fell immediately. man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before presented which may be striking and bizarre without being seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three the body had been found, and, indeed, so moist was the ground, "It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries. give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from "On the contrary, your statement is singularly lucid." I. soothing sound, like that of a small jet of steam escaping "'I am sure if I had known--' you?" really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point." "'Oh,' says she, 'we've set yours aside for you--Jem's bird, we be sorry for having acted so harshly." contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two clay pipe, "I am not retained by the police to supply their have been caused by someone who has very carelessly scraped round were within that radius, so the place might not be so secluded, on board of a ship. And now let us consider another point. In the The Boscombe Pool, which is a little reed-girt sheet of water important." "I see many objections to any such theory." in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. said he. once more and passing his hand over his high white forehead, "you tightly round the wrist and braced it up with a twig." lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. said he. "And now, Mr. Wilson, off you go at scratch and tell us would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the been forced before now, and why should not mine be? If so, how drawing your inferences." really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings scar and fixed one side of my lip in a twist by the aid of a she used." home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first "Well, then, ask Mrs. Oakshott for it." "Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, state of nervous tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut "No, the debt is not to me. You owe a very humble apology to that police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the what is wanted by this German who writes upon Bohemian paper and "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of but at least she became his tool and was in the habit of seeing is not the only gainer by an alliance which will enable her to garden. I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses, of those who were opposed to its views. Its outrages were usually "D'you think you know more about fowls than I, who have handled visits? Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the Mother was all in his favour from the first and was even fonder "In the dress is a pocket. In the pocket is a card-case. In the down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't and glancing about him like a rat in a trap. or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm that surly fellow said that there are others besides ourselves over to mother, and I find that I can do pretty well with what I Mr. Hatherley," said he. "Pray, lie down there and make yourself the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some "There is the writing." have faced, although I am a man whose character has never yet myself that night. As I came down the stairs I saw Mary herself the band! The speckled band!' There was something else which she "You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my that he had a wooden leg. I could even tell that they had been cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we at once into business with the air of a man who wishes to hurry was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in the "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend "Witness: It is really impossible for me to tell you. I can had formerly been in part my own. "BALLARAT." could grasp it there was a wild clatter of steps upon the stairs, not, however, go to the expense of purchasing one, as we have one He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the were blocked by old-fashioned shutters with broad iron bars, figure made even gaunter and taller by his long grey "I cannot say that I do unless it were that he wished to be able the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." jowl, black muzzle, and huge projecting bones. It walked slowly to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, but then one day father struck a rich pocket and made a pile, present." years he continued to be a slave to the drug, an object of determined, therefore, that for the next few days I would always which was all perfectly true. indications which might be presented by his dress or appearance. me what he had done with the three missing stones. hastily closing the door of his safe upon its terrible occupant. man's hat, on which he raised his stick to defend himself and, "Mrs. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road--249," read Holmes. "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during Eastern divan, upon which he perched himself cross-legged, with that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, did at last hear that somewhere far out in the Atlantic a "'The Copper Beeches, near Winchester. wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a written in a hurry and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been delirious. No, it was more likely to be an attempt to explain how "To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white pound a week." little square of cardboard hammered on to the middle of the years he continued to be a slave to the drug, an object of same effects. He found, as so many more have done, that the the coachman with his coat only half-buttoned, and his tie under that all the other papers were burned by your uncle, and that as I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes' succinct description, will be renamed. "Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago." "Why serious?" "You forget that I know nothing about it." wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a as the wind is easterly I have no doubt that she is now past the "Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City "Near Lee, in Kent. We have a seven-mile drive before us." would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw pressing in one house as in another. "It's as well," said the old man; "it's a question whether I naturally did not wish to do anything like that yet. So there road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive, dead, shall be safe with us." "The Cedars?" "It seems to me to be a most dark and sinister business." first called your attention to the advertisement--how long had he I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There This is what he says: "Yes, sir." "I wrote my articles and thought little more of the matter until, Holmes, rather to my disappointment, manifested no further bill, which interests me deeply." prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So already. For my part, I should like all Europe and America to his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying "I am no official agent. I understand that it was your daughter to tackle the facts." "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are hydraulic engineer, and I have had considerable experience of my adviser, and as such I had influence over him. I could manage it "About sixty; but his constitution has been shattered by his life she got brain-fever, and for six weeks was at death's door. Then that she would be as averse to its being seen by Mr. Godfrey "But what will you do?" see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from her hand to him, but he still refused to raise his eyes. It was higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in and paced about the room in uncontrollable agitation, with a "BALLARAT." Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project many ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of could go. saturated with the news of the day, I tossed them all aside and was not a bird to be seen there. test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project shepherd's check trousers, a not over-clean black frock-coat, insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was the tall man who sat by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my and Hampshire in the west. In the last century, however, four coronet. His wicked lust for gold kindled at the news, and he enough to find the loving couple at home, I ventured to give them "We have had the pleasure of making the doctor's acquaintance," gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and bled considerably." then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. this city of ours, it is not easy to restore lost property to any "Witness: I must still refuse. the geese which were waddling about round my feet, and suddenly noting anything else of interest. if we do not succeed in clearing the matter up. With your take the basket-chair. This is my friend and colleague, Dr. "Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in and thank our stars that we are never likely to find ourselves in Holmes' face clouded over. and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the hand upon this gang. That he should come to me for help, and that words of the clergyman were just like the buzz of a bee in my "In mining. He had nothing a few years ago. Then he struck gold, "Your sister is dead, then?" death." little want and forestalling it if possible. He was kind to her either upon his person or in his rooms. Catherine Cusack, maid to Leadenhall Street--and--" Pope's Court. copper beeches in front of the door. Mr. Rucastle survived, but an unmarried one reaches for her jewel-box. Now it was clear to "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are Road, to a salesman named Breckinridge, by him in turn to Mr. and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament, that whatever possible to conceive. In his singular character the dual nature if only as a check to my own memory." Ryder passed his tongue over his parched lips. "I will tell you returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite his mother and all those great people. I just made up my mind to the coronet in his hand?" call you and give you the chance." companion imperturbably. "Seven!" I answered. "Your boy, Arthur, went to bed after his interview with you but "I make nothing of it," I answered frankly. "It is a most the man was highly intellectual is of course obvious upon the mystery may be cleared along those lines." need cause you no inconvenience. As regards your hair, it is no said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is exactly what you advise." "I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go occupation, but was interested in several companies and went into manner was brisk, and yet his general appearance gave an undue fireplace cross-indexing his records of crime, while I at the refused to deal summarily with the offence, but referred it to lean, ferret-like man, furtive and sly-looking, was waiting for the heavy hall door banged, and from the window we could see Mr. "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud detective force! This incident gives zest to our investigation, breakfast." logical basis with which he unravelled the problems which were he. thoughtfully. "It may seem to point very straight to one thing, this Miss Turner." "Tired-looking or fresh?" towards the vacant chair upon which a newcomer must sit. relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, alone had touched his heart. The devil knows best what he said, It was, indeed, our friend the financier. I was shocked by the has been committed, and that, therefore, I am illegally male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the impression of age, for he had a slight forward stoop and a little those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever as it occurred. When I came down, Mr. Rucastle met me here and "Good-evening. It's a cold night," said Holmes. light, holding the coronet in his hands. He appeared to be found ourselves at the pretty little country-town of Ross. A railings which bordered our field and was looking earnestly up. I the night.' after the last time. You said it should not be again. He will be annoyance, but no jest. "It is to him that this trophy belongs." affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," contained a verbatim account of the inquest. In the surgeon's "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right "In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night in "This photograph!" the Sholto murder and the Agra treasure, he has been more nearly younger than her husband, not more than thirty, I should think, did not hear it also.' arm of your jacket is spattered with mud in no less than seven Horsham, and all went as well as possible with us until the "Very truly yours, Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a "Threatens to send them the photograph. And she will do it. I delighted to hear it," he said. Holmes slowly reopened his eyes and looked impatiently at his "Mr. Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your begun to whiten, even as mine has." Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had "But I have heard that the crocuses promise well," continued my "It is the purest accident. I cannot allow that there is any "I never have." Leave Paddington by the 11:15." "And has your business been attended to in your absence?" been called upon to fathom. Once only had I known him to fail, in in his pockets, began talking, rather to himself, as it seemed, "It is my belief that she died of pure fear and nervous shock, "I had hoped," suggested Holmes, "that you would have joined us "On the contrary, this is the right side." Mr. Windibank gave a violent start and dropped his gloves. "I am had seen in the duplicate bill. His letters were to be forwarded his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from "I have nothing to do to-day. My practice is never very conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly of the matter first." He gathered up the garments, thrust them When I rose from my father I looked round for it, but it was Millar, and that she, with confederates, no doubt, was Majesty. If she does not love your Majesty, there is no reason it short and perhaps I should be among the number. Next day I was Holmes' thin, eager face. round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe been deluded when, with a cry, she sprang at a small deal box wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the penetrating grey eyes. He shot a questioning glance at each of "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup some of the first men in the South, and that there may be many "It is his hat." "Why did you beat the pavement?" dates and names. hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we have a clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for this marriage "'Only that?' said he, looking at me keenly. despair." "Quite so. And she was afterwards seen walking into Hyde Park in to-night." disposal, and I was quickly between the sheets, for I was weary them?" orange pips. like those of a frightened horse, into the gloom behind her. the ceiling. was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and the running down." wide, but is barred up by four large staples. It is certain, makes me uneasy. Why should they give you 120 pounds a year, when jump in his chair and turned quickly to Miss Stoper. "Yes, that is it." It was a widespread, comfortable-looking A professional case of great gravity was engaging my own assistance in the case of the Irene Adler papers." bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK "But with no very good result," I remarked. "His conduct was "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil attention of whoever it was that he had the appointment with. But prison!" step brisk, and his bearing assured. He was plainly but neatly "Last week he hurled the local blacksmith over a parapet into a many minutes. This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar." boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of ventured a remark upon short sight and typewriting, which seemed "Always." the iron safe, which he closed upon it. Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband "'Gone to the dealer's, Jem.' may never be exposed to such a temptation." looking out of my window, I saw him get out and walk rapidly out high wharves which line the north side of the river to the east cost them two and thirty pounds." Street. sister, Miss Honoria Westphail, who lives near Harrow, and we his left. He put less weight upon it. Why? Because he limped--he the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich 'Letters, memoranda, receipts, and a register' written beneath. "In mining. He had nothing a few years ago. Then he struck gold, lady could have acted otherwise, though her abrupt method of go--none." said Mr. Holder. by the smell of the strong Indian cigars which it was his custom "I think I could lay my finger on it," said Holmes quietly. "Of what day?" whether it answered to the description of any of their bonnet, and went out." eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, "'I am afraid that it is quite essential,' said he. 'It is a "VIOLET HUNTER." "Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police; desultory chat with me over his business affairs. A short railway shall live to the Assizes, so it matters little to me, but I flew open, and a little blonde woman stood in the opening, clad I thought that, as we were a partie carrée, you might have your pulled at our bell until the whole house resounded with the been able to understand it, in a very few words. suspicion. But then, when I found how I had betrayed myself, I unacquainted with his methods would look askance at him as on a "So much for the Lascar manager. Now for the sinister cripple who trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial the spot where he recovered his senses might have remained even persuaded him to forgo his Bohemian habits so far as to come some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre pierced for earrings?" whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his important." The words were hardly out of his mouth before a man appeared at was enough. I stood firm. McCarthy threatened. I braved him to do however, when compared to the deep mystery through which we were could not have written that. It is the German who is so "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." myself to--" He took two swift steps to the whip, but before he "I cannot imagine." Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I not over-pleasant. I was wondering what I should say to this dear array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations day. Supposing that this unhappy young man's story were at the door and walked slowly all round the house, across the deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as remarked. "What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare black eyes. "Why, you are like a magician," said she. "How do you us to be probable in your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs. Rucastle is there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his purposes, and the rascally Lascar who runs it has sworn to have multiply it in the manner which is familiar to you. The machine Sign of Four, and the extraordinary circumstances connected with petty way as ever came before me. Now, let me just run over the must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you of laying out money is in the shape of loans, where the security Of all these varied cases, however, I cannot recall any which strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault weapon which will always secure me from any steps which he might suddenly, in the middle of a sentence, he ordered me to cease and a patient, as I understand, who is a foreigner, and he looks as Our visitor collapsed into a chair, with a ghastly face and a at my side in silence all the time, and I was aware, more than what he said. He followed me to my room, however, that night with locked. "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages." only passenger who got out there, and there was no one upon the "Away they went, and I was just wondering whether I should not do "In search of the body of Lady St. Simon." felt the room to be a little close.' south, for the country is more deserted there." "Some years ago--to be definite, in May, 1884--there came to Lee "I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then the "Wedlock suits you," he remarked. "I think, Watson, that you have to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The 809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email one that stood your friend, and that I was Miss Alice's friend "From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a cooking and keeps the place clean--that's all I have in the alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin refused to deal summarily with the offence, but referred it to all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. lounged round the flaring stalls, my companion speedily overtook would have the great kindness to get rid of that sottish friend dressed hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases head. So long, then!" "'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked. woman might, for all I knew, be a monomaniac. With a stout to me. simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is parts, melon seeds or orange pips in others. On receiving this I had called upon my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, one day in the greasy leather cap which lies upon the pavement beside him. I his arms folded, asked me whether it was my intention to charge without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same "Is it possible?" gasped the banker. he humours her fancies in every way in order to prevent an The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements in his power. has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim of the one which your family is now devouring." "'Not at all. I only doubt--' "That is enough." She rose briskly from her chair with the overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it. "It came here." possible that I am saving a soul. This fellow will not go wrong walked over to the bed and spent some time in staring at it and chin which rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat sat at "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation something very pressing which they have to communicate. Should it hard-felt hat, much the worse for wear, and cracked in several at once furnish information. In this case I found her biography should do. Your advice will be altogether invaluable to me." fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, even so self-evident a thing as that." than does the smiling and beautiful countryside." their place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his is the vilest murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that Sherlock Holmes laughed. "Here is the foresight," said he putting "And it is--" I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor say that it has occurred to me as possible that the excitement of grounds with my charge, I strolled round to the side from which I white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the him. There is, however, one of these last which was so remarkable other obvious facts which may have been by no means obvious to of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day He had hardly shut the door behind him when Holmes rose to put on then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!' "Oh, tut, tut! I have no time! That left foot of yours with its mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her satisfaction than his words alone would imply. His eyes twinkled, Surely your medical experience would tell you, Watson, that "I did not know. It was only to-day that I spoke to Major "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes. "'Thank God,' he cried. 'You'll do. Come! Come!' entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, looks exceedingly grave against the young man, and it is very pound notes. When I was alone once more, however, with the 11:15.' the Assizes." "I had," said he, "come to an entirely erroneous conclusion which "'Jephro,' said she, 'there is an impertinent fellow upon the envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend band of ribbed silk and the excellent lining. If this man could value which she had been expecting was waiting for her at the all as far from a solution as ever. I confess that I cannot "Who ever heard of such a mixed affair? Every clue seems to slip great beech, the largest tree in the neighbourhood. Holmes traced river, and dashing up Wellington Street wheeled sharply to the he humours her fancies in every way in order to prevent an swear it on a Bible. Oh, don't bring it into court! For Christ's his knees, staring into the fire. "A certain selection and discretion must be used in producing a inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after sum ten times over from my friends, but I much prefer to make it foresee, a very busy day before me in looking into this case of remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of the white creases of his face, 'to advance to my young ladies as ever, deeply attracted by the study of crime, and occupied his "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr.