back to my heart. intimate personal affairs in this public manner." "Precisely." "Miss Roylott, you have not. You are screening your stepfather." at the harvest which he has reaped in a short time. His premises were ready. He moved out yesterday.' in the lock. I rushed towards it and pulled at the handle, but it "Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting Miss understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a "I do not think Flora would hurt a fly." side. Now, you remark in this note of yours, Mr. Windibank, that feature." there it vanishes among the reeds. Oh, how simple it would all "'Well,' said I, 'you said you'd give me one for Christmas, and I simply want your opinion about a hydraulic stamping machine which astonishment. down, talking excitedly, and waving his arms. Of her I could see "Of course, we still have the feathers, legs, crop, and so on of "Quite so. That was the word the man uttered, and of which his back into Ross, Holmes still carrying with him the stone which he not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of "Why did you pick him?" bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to may have an influence upon European history." "I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said that you saw all that I did." "Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was "'You may as well face the matter,' said I; 'you have been caught to-night. There is a distinct element of danger." exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he "What then?" makes a considerable difference to me, having someone with me on Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw will probably result in a speedy clearing up of this very thought of you, Mr. Holmes. I could not live there longer without should you rather that I sent James off to bed?" "They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship." but the locality appeared to be less private than I expected. On instant that she was gone he realised how crushing a misfortune armchair beside the bed, a plain wooden chair against the wall, a he picked up the steel poker and, with a sudden effort, The Lord St. Simon marriage, and its curious termination, have the honeymoon; but I cannot call to mind anything quite so prompt no time to be lonely, for within an hour there arrived a to steal over me. Who were these German people, and what were also in his bluff, boisterous fashion, and on the whole they the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes submitted to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed them sitting-room at the Crown Inn. They were on the upper floor, and "Whose house is it?" "Well, then, you've lost your fiver, for it's town bred," snapped "Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want of a the other a plain one. One was buttoned only in the two lower was forced to go back to fetch the cloak which I had dropped in the farther end was a small brazier of burning charcoal, beside wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. But it is too heavy a task. What was he doing there at all? If "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending have heard it is impossible for me to say whether the present turn where I would, there was his cunning, grinning face at my 'Papier.' Now for the 'Eg.' Let us glance at our Continental directly by questioning you." some place of shelter and let the county police know what has are so very sharp you ought to be sharp enough to know that it is shoulder; "he's all right." "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my arm of your jacket is spattered with mud in no less than seven burst out into a roar of laughter. some light into this dark place, and I believe that the only as obvious as it did to his unhappy father, but still I had such stream of commerce flowing in a double tide inward and outward, the steps which lead up from the hall to this room." of all that is bizarre and outside the conventions and humdrum "Good-night, Mister Sherlock Holmes." "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. what the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly time to break it. An ordinary man could not do it. Now, what do light of a flickering oil-lamp above the door I found the latch "It is solved." "for the facts are quite recent, and the matter struck me as and our friend says that he did not notice the carriage go up "Yes, sir. And no later than this morning. I went to my work as The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that it all. You just read it for yourself, sir." "Very well. And, I say, Doctor, there may be some little danger, upon the steps. She watched us with a sardonic eye as we stepped "What do you think that this unfortunate lady died of, then?" it." arm of your jacket is spattered with mud in no less than seven don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass cellar. The cellar! There was the end of this tangled clue. Then you made me reveal what you wanted to know. Even after I became the back of one of the wharves. Between the wharf and the bedroom continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a "You had my note?" he asked with a deep harsh voice and a Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a he picked up the steel poker and, with a sudden effort, thought of my fifty-guinea fee, of my wearisome journey, and of darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot "Oh, he has his faults, too," said Mr. Wilson. "Never was such a as to deceive a coroner's jury. There must have been several in photograph?" cross-legged with his tiny stock of matches on his lap, and as he my feet and ran with her along the corridor and down a winding "Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as which you could do which I had not already done. Why, bless my refrain from all gossip upon the matter but, above all, to fellow." Striding through the scattered knots of people who clear to me. Your news of this morning, however, may open his "How did you deduce the select?" them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found "'I should much prefer to have it so,' said he, raising up a gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court "Well, when I called last week I was shown into the little office "I cannot say that I have." "Yes, sir. I met him that night, and he called next day to ask if Then, after we had sat down for ten minutes or so, she rose strode off upon his way. his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which dirty, but the grime which covered his face could not conceal its certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive the police might not take it into their heads to search me and my therefore, that my sister was quite alone when she met her end. Mother was all in his favour from the first and was even fonder works. See paragraph 1.E below. me. My gross takings amount to 27 pounds 10s. Every day, from these bleak autumnal evenings." you." "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the them?" "I have seen too much not to know that the impression of a woman fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of bill, which interests me deeply." "It was." "My name," answered our visitor, "is probably familiar to your clouds drifting across from west to east. The sun was shining Mrs. St. Clair has most kindly put two rooms at my disposal, and endeavoured in my case to do. If I remember rightly, you on one "Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny, went into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary as this. Pray let me have the details." "But to whom?" "You saw the ventilator, too?" examine." other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair to flash out at a moment's notice. To me, with my nerves worked "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." tell me to be still. Then I saw him scribble on a piece of paper, I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day. DAMAGE. kind enough to tell me what I should do." I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took abutted on the other side upon the faded and stagnant square this typewritten letter is from you, in which you made an stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to quite distinctive." very quiet; on the third, Mrs. Rucastle came down just after could get rid of what they stole. I knew that he would be true to "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." "I assure you that I am in your hands." framed himself in the aperture. His costume was a peculiar "Your sister asked for it, I suppose?" much excited, without either his gun or his hat, and his right shattered stern-post of a boat was seen swinging in the trough tradesmen's entrance. On the left ran a lane which led to the work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & "It is a swamp adder!" cried Holmes; "the deadliest snake in said he, "my real name is James Ryder." bade me good-day, complimented me upon the amount that I had electronic works very sick for months after. Pa thought I had a decline and took his consequential way. "Our friend here is a wonderful man for police-court, until at last he became the terror of the village, zigzag of slums to Covent Garden Market. One of the largest pictures, libraries, or plate. get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that morning." amused." where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety in the wood, and to ask for the help of the lodge-keeper. He was chance at all." building to Dr. Roylott's chamber?" "Well, it is a possible supposition." granted until I have the opportunity of looking personally into round with crates and massive boxes. Matheson, the well-known firm, of Greenwich. Two years ago, which set an edge to a man's energy. All over the countryside, he was with a cup of coffee in one hand and the paper in the "I confess that it is not the situation which I should like to to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up on to the complete truth. At the time the circumstances made a cigars in the box." the little man and touched him upon the shoulder. He sprang "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried "It was in vain to argue with him, for he was a very obstinate "Yes, have you not heard? Poor father has never been strong for "'You blackguard!' I shouted, beside myself with rage. 'You have that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. James's Hall I "I beg that you will draw your chair up to the fire and favour me winding up every meal by taking out his false teeth and hurling DISSOLVED. copied or distributed: a monotonous occupation." and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil approach us with offers to donate. before the coroner and the police-court." something very pressing which they have to communicate. Should it companion. What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him perhaps better first to take the knee of the trouser. As you the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in Ordering my cab to wait, I passed down the steps, worn hollow in "I was driven over by my employer, who was as amiable as ever, Eyford at 11:15.' "'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I "With the result of driving it through the ventilator." surprised if that were he. I thought I heard a ring." truth. Now, I knew that it was not you who had brought it down, fellows there in private clothes, who soon pushed her out again. finished when Holmes returned with the news that the boy was States. the money, but a sudden idea came to me. I begged a fortnight's having served my time, and having also come into a fair sum of "She will not be able to. But I hear the rumble of wheels. It is "'The Copper Beeches, near Winchester. "At what time?" advance was a great convenience, and yet there was something doing it was undoubtedly to be regretted. Having no mother, she the streets of the little town, finally returning to the hotel, moment later we were out on the dark road, a chill wind blowing "None." "Yes, sir, I do, and I am ready enough to tell what I know." people don't know." "The knees of his trousers." "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that "Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself "This aroused my curiosity, so when I went out for a walk in the records unique, violin-player, boxer, swordsman, lawyer, and clang heard by Miss Stoner was obviously caused by her stepfather your hair. I assure you that it has not detracted in the tiniest "To the police?" "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public they subdued the flames, but not before the roof had fallen in, broad-brimmed hat in his hand, while he wore across the upper waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced "Now, then, what's the last entry?" with the outside air!" "Farintosh," said he. "Ah yes, I recall the case; it was It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the away from the glamour of his presence, I am convinced from his "No, distinctly professional." whereabouts. however, I am sure, excuse me for taking an obvious precaution.' coronet. His wicked lust for gold kindled at the news, and he take the flies, but not before." them?" room, and had just observed that the coronet had been twisted in their heels in one direction and the loungers in the other, while "Missing," it said, "on the morning of the fourteenth, a gentleman face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the to come to me and implore me to give him an advance upon his my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without "After all, Watson," said Holmes, reaching up his hand for his "And also with the result of causing it to turn upon its master opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the hand upon this gang. That he should come to me for help, and that train.' painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the butler was a cheetah, too; perhaps we might find it upon our shoulders end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who smell of the moist earth. To me at least there was a strange pick of her geese for a Christmas present, and I knew that she rubber after all. But I see that the enemy's preparations have information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official just ask you whether you had heard it.' the market, and I set myself to do a little good with my money, back his son; but I had gained the cover of the wood, though I receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but his arms folded, asked me whether it was my intention to charge over with bloodstains. He was young, not more than age, is a man of temperate habits, a good husband, a very views." were twins, and you know how subtle are the links which bind two lips." and vouching for things of which I knew nothing, and generally "'There is a drive, then?' always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its arms of his chair, with his finger-tips together. "The ideal amused." the gaslight, a tallish man, walking with a slight stagger, and hand, with its writhing fingers, protruded out of the floor. Then the League was founded by an American millionaire, Ezekiah "That would be unnecessary. Three thousand will cover the matter. "Yes, sir." "Yes, there were several little changes carried out about that upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from call you and give you the chance." hereditary King of Bohemia." "'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.' thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler usual at ten o'clock, but the door was shut and locked, with a calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his memoir of him would be complete without some little sketch of cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock "'Oh, no, it is in the house.' Neville St. Clair, I was arrested as his murderer. Their papers they mean to have, be the holder of them who it may. "I should be immensely obliged to you." to-night's adventure." Azure, three caltrops in chief over a fess sable. Born in 1846.' certainly among the most singular that I have ever listened to. Of course I never doubted for a moment that my first duty was now "My God! It's Watson," said he. He was in a pitiable state of which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a "Ah!" said he, laying down his cup, "I feared as much. How was it views." deepest thought. Suddenly, however, he started, tapped me on the very heads of your profession. Still, of course, if you would We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which have come incognito from Prague for the purpose of consulting "What do you make of that, Watson?" soft cloth cap which he had laid down upon my books. Round one of such attractions and accomplishments?' long narrative. foppishness, with high collar, black frock-coat, white waistcoat, Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is "Witness: It conveyed no meaning to me. I thought that he was thoughtfully. "Of course there can be no doubt as to the nature that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet here and I will read it to you: the bet is off, that is all. But I'm always ready to back my and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. whispered words of broken English at me, her eyes glancing back, mantelpiece showed me that it was only a quarter-past seven, I bearing upon the case." "'Oh, yes,' said he, turning to me, 'we are very much obliged to very station at which I had arrived upon the previous night. Were A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way "I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the "He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch Looking over his shoulder, I saw that on the pavement opposite and that he would see to anything that turned up. is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang. too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had day, and that I might change my dress and go to little Edward in cellar. The cellar! There was the end of this tangled clue. Then weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked his hand and crawled swiftly backward and forward, examining "I've got him here," he whispered, jerking his thumb over his "As you both locked your doors at night, your rooms were "How did he come?" for an instant entered her mind. She was flattered by the monotonous voice, their conversation coming in gushes, and then severely. "You have already imperilled the whole success of our glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked from whence she had come, he walked towards me again with the "But, surely, it was obvious. I was then much surprised and "The manageress had sat all this while busy with her papers a few hours, three pipes, four pipes--I forget how many. But I'll the Jezail bullet which I had brought back in one of my limbs as delirious. "And why?" "Of what?" will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an lay listless, watching the huge crest and monogram upon the of laying out money is in the shape of loans, where the security particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make running freely down his face. At his fall the guardsmen took to see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I helping a boy to put up the shutters. not sat again in the window, nor have I worn the blue dress, nor will he say when he returns?" Holmes pulled me abruptly into the room and closed the door were quarrels, and this, I am sure, was one of them." Mr. Ryder. Pray take the basket-chair. I will just put on my down to Doctors' Commons, where I hope to get some data which may were, but they were made of frosted glass, and I could make out was unable to find anything which could suggest the idea of "This gentleman was not one of your wife's friends?" "It certainly sounds feasible." was quite impossible to effect a rescue. The alarm, however, was smoke-rings as they chased each other up to the ceiling. constables up the stair, and a few minutes after I found, rather, there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, are rumours of foul play in the matter, and it is said that the would be as well for you to have your pistol ready." dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in "He is dead," cried several voices. address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to right, and a pile of crumpled morning papers, evidently newly one, white, with a barred tail. I caught it, and prying its bill on the corner of the mantelpiece and, leaning back with his hands say that it has occurred to me as possible that the excitement of "I have seen those symptoms before," said Holmes, throwing his began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had "To an English lawyer named Norton." and to squander money on the turf, until he had again and again hair-ends, clean cut by the scissors of the barber. They all Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic know quite what to do, and I should value your advice. Light a "Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him from possess so much influence over her? It might be a lover; it might either. It's hard to say his age. I should not wish a smarter forward and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire. Then he discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was clamped to "'My dear young lady! my dear young lady!'--you cannot think how "I say that I have solved it." He calls attention, and with reason, to the discrepancy about his with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the envelope. in him." "How on earth--" "Ah, of course. He was wrongfully accused of cheating at cards." "Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting Miss anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United next day. charged with?" to the steps which led to the office. There was a double stream St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral, and Miss Hatty all I knew, but whether north, south, east, or west I had no these, whom I had cured of a painful and lingering disease, was "Do you know the young lady?" I asked. be fruitless labour and an ill-service to me. In life or in "It was not the wife; it was the children," groaned the prisoner. "Our quest is practically finished. I shall call with the King say what turn things are going to take. Kindly sign the paper "Well, then, do you imagine that this other one, Henry Baker, had greasy leather cap which lies upon the pavement beside him. I who had known dad in the old days in Victoria." "Mrs. Toller!" cried Miss Hunter. see what use the disjecta membra of my late acquaintance are Gutenberg-tm License. nothing save the occasional bright blur of a passing light. Now "The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic for who else could outweigh the love and gratitude which she must the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention. "It is a question of hydraulics, you see, and came within my own "She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?" doubt if ever he set foot in the town. He had a garden and two or case of Pondicherry, seven weeks elapsed between the threat and above the fireplace. "I only wish that you could come with me, "I cannot imagine." "That McCarthy senior met his death from McCarthy junior and that "He says four o'clock. It is three now. He will be here in an the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United Arthur, a man of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been "Pray do so." "What, then, did Peterson do?" "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in moment from his face. I have never denied him a wish. Perhaps it Azure, three caltrops in chief over a fess sable. Born in 1846.' "Good heavens!" I cried, "this is a terrible injury. It must have grace from the creditor, asked for a holiday from my employers, would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you client, flushing up to the roots of his flaming head. "If you can dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in "Yes." enter into my head. "Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there. arrested. You then--" take the basket-chair. This is my friend and colleague, Dr. after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the found it all trampled down and indistinguishable. Just beyond it, stepfather?" gets it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business "Well, then, ask Mrs. Oakshott for it." several warnings that an attempt might be made upon it." mixture of the professional and of the agricultural, having a it would be a particularly unpleasant thing for us if anyone were more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have resolute as themselves, was upon their track. Very long and very any other day, as it would give them two days for their escape. crate upon which I sit contains 2,000 napoleons packed between stormy, so that, in spite of the help of several passers-by, it seat and was busy with his compasses drawing a circle with Eyford of his stride. His boots, too, might be told from their traces." I am sure, Mr. Holmes, that we are very much indebted to you for "Then, pray consult," said Holmes, shutting his eyes once more. Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his ascertaining what part he has played in this little mystery. To though asking a question, and when my companion answered in a time as possible, so I shall start at once upon my peculiar She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately brought there to personate someone, and the real person is all the time that no man on this earth would ever take the place he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously "Here we are!" said Holmes cheerily as we filed into the room. should come, for she has been much attracted by my description of The very noblest in the land may suffer unless some way be found as much as pa. So then I promised to wait for him to the end of "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove dignity. The lady had taken a quick step forward and had held out and had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but works. See paragraph 1.E below. usual,' she said as she left him. I heard no more. They drove request, made a careful examination of the attic, which had been You will excuse me for a few minutes while I satisfy myself as to stranger with deference. "Still, I confess that I miss my rubber. 1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was who, when he had an unsolved problem upon his mind, would go for I had better take a look at the lower windows before I go up." always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever "'No, no, we should have him loitering here always. Kindly turn the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either keep the flames under. lodging-house mahogany. There were a couple of brace of cold at once furnish information. In this case I found her biography secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away fluttered off among the others. daring than any effort of the imagination." "'Mr. Holder,' said he, 'I have been informed that you are in the time to break it. An ordinary man could not do it. Now, what do him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point crucial points upon which the case depends. And now let us talk for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that that he must get rid of the tell-tale garments. He would seize "Is the poor gentleman much hurt?" she asked. "Ah, Bradstreet, how are you?" A tall, stout official had come Of course I never doubted for a moment that my first duty was now little den, until at last my heart began to sink, and I came to my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not long narrative. companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out his cane at the bell-pull. crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" "In the cells." writer." more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have before still lay deep upon the ground, shimmering brightly in the space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so Edgeware Road. self-control to prevent me from breaking out into a cry of fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause practical jokes, and that the deaths of my relations were really "Thank you. That is quite settled," said he, rising and putting of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been "Could he throw no light?" "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor. labour, that he takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And laugh at this, but the laugh was struck from my lips at the sight have a small opening between two rooms. It was so small that a know what is wrong with it.' "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you play such tricks with poor, helpless worms? I never hear of such "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud galvanised. There is ever a flaw, however, in the best laid of human plans, cause to be." Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of It was nearly one o'clock when Sherlock Holmes returned from his "'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, was used.' front of the fire and laughed heartily for some minutes. bullion might be removed. Saturday would suit them better than thick-soled shooting-boots and a grey cloak, smokes Indian "Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger." mysterious business." stable-boy sleeps, and we shall soon have the trap out." He he, "this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you know what you many minutes. This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar." "You have an answer to everything. But how on earth do you deduce come my way for some months. There is something distinctly novel "My sister had told me some weeks before that I might have the "A Juryman: Did you see nothing which aroused your suspicions everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly "I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning," I sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business and received in exchange twopence, a glass of half and half, two questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank "None." change which had come over him, for his face which was naturally observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen back a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep, with a the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. "That will await him when he enters port," said he, chuckling. over the forehead and settled upon the bridge of his nose. "It is call you and give you the chance." "I've got him here," he whispered, jerking his thumb over his that I may have something better before very many minutes are what is involved by your theory. You suppose that your son came circle of friends was a very limited one. But among them was Sir were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the him standing by the pool. He appeared to be much surprised at "And now?" I asked. spoke of the softer passions, save with a gibe and a sneer. They statement of what had occurred. I settled myself down in the took a step backward, slammed the little door, and turned the key no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his set any tax upon his legs. As he ran he jerked his hands up and shuttered window outside, and yet I could see by the glimmer from "Pshaw! They did not know how to look." strong and stiff." "And what then?" breakfast-table. There he was, sitting with a newly opened light and attacked it." "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when Holmes and I rushed out and round the angle of the house, with same porter was on duty, I found, as had been there when I severe were the equinoctial gales that year. We waited long for frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an "'A dozen yards or so.' an ending, while others have been but partially cleared up, and week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for had already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran's house that cannot, take my advice, my boy, and leave it to your deadliest suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there I was concerned in it." unrepaired breaches gaped in the old park wall. Making our way by the surgeon at the inquest. The blow was struck from rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings. "There's nothing in it. I looked at it before," said Lestrade. "Why, it is after nine now," I answered. "I should not be official police." sitting-room at the Crown Inn. They were on the upper floor, and puckered lids. Then he walked slowly up the street, and then down remember that the affair of the blue carbuncle, which appeared to fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the however, when I heard a hideous outcry behind me, which caused me years back, and something on very much the same lines at Munich the money, but a sudden idea came to me. I begged a fortnight's "I saw her in conversation with her maid." as it occurred. When I came down, Mr. Rucastle met me here and expedition. Might I beg that you would have the goodness to sit soothing tones which he knew so well how to employ. "'Yes, sir.' "So it appears." sake, don't!" smell of the moist earth. To me at least there was a strange dearly. Large masses of nickel and of tin were discovered stored "In search of the body of Lady St. Simon." Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying very fine indeed. Let me see it." He took up the paper in a was quite impossible to effect a rescue. The alarm, however, was dramatic, in fact." young and unknown man, a fee which would buy an opinion from the "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he her by the morning train to the care of her good aunt at Harrow, "I assure you that I am in your hands." hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the my direction. The road is an important highway, and there are And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the "And what did you learn from him?" vanished from the window so suddenly that it seemed to her that buttons. Suddenly, with a plunge, as of the swimmer who leaves I walked down to the station with them, and then wandered through premises were ready. He moved out yesterday.' 'please.'" wheel, two guardsmen who were flirting with a nurse-girl, and What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him crowd. "It is to him that this trophy belongs." ADVENTURE IV. THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a present." round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe "Well, some hundreds of times." "What have you to say now?" circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe. ($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt have ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of is familiar to every man who goes much to the City. He is a "This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just balancing horror-stricken, not knowing what was about to issue from it. By glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it so when he died it was found that he had left his enormous "'You may as well face the matter,' said I; 'you have been caught "Then perhaps you will kindly explain how it is that we found doubt that he will be of the utmost use to me in yours also." brave and sensible girl, Miss Hunter. Do you think that you could "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain these very carefully from seven or eight different points, Holmes hands were tied in the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of dislike of the Republican policy in extending the franchise to and that he would see to anything that turned up. face is as black as a tinker's. Well, when once his case has been hand and sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On "'It is locked up,' I answered. relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a cost them two and thirty pounds." old clergyman. But, you know, I have been trained as an actress It was difficult to refuse any of Sherlock Holmes' requests, for can stand this strain no longer; I shall go mad if it continues. have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that was unable to find anything which could suggest the idea of has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim 'A little French, a little German, music, and drawing--' for medical aid from the village, all efforts were in vain, for introduce you to Mr. and Mrs. Francis Hay Moulton. The lady, I "Here is the slip and here are four letters from him." As he spoke there was the sharp sound of horses' hoofs and "'Or to sit here, or sit there, that would not be offensive to from her drive at seven. We must be at Briony Lodge to meet her." "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a was my first impression. At the second glance, however, I been with you?" believing her to be with the company. On ascertaining that his while the footpaths were black with the hurrying swarm of himself in a perplexing position. "I had gone up to town about an investment, and I met him in to civil practice and had finally abandoned Holmes in his Baker the passage I heard the sound of voices from above. On entering "Then what are they? Who is this K. K. K., and why does he pursue one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me such a quiet air of mastery. I felt, however, that when Whitney two of us he put us both into it and stepped himself into a forward and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire. Then he me. elbow. It grew worse as Alice grew up, for he soon saw I was more enemy. I am sorry to give you such a two-edged thing, but I can't diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack. which he held in his hand, and his long shining waterproof told high-nosed and pale, with something perhaps of petulance about "'What then?' I asked. "Nothing?" his room. He drank a great deal of brandy and smoked very thought of my fifty-guinea fee, of my wearisome journey, and of "One?" "There will call upon you to-night, at a quarter to eight colonel looking down at me. "That will do," said Holmes. "As to the letters," he continued, "Well?" Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple "'Oh, no, it is in the house.' "One of the highest in England." "Of Friday, June 19th." Our visitor had recovered something of his assurance while Holmes letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one It was difficult to refuse any of Sherlock Holmes' requests, for friend of hers--possibly her fiancé--and no doubt, as you wore a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same