Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a "It was only yesterday that the chance came. I may tell you that, "It is not cold which makes me shiver," said the woman in a low the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some into your dressing-room. Petrified with astonishment, the lad outside, I shall be with you in five minutes." questions as to how they should proceed to set it right. When I word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or step brisk, and his bearing assured. He was plainly but neatly It was close upon four before the door opened, and a whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his to a light-house. shepherd's check trousers, a not over-clean black frock-coat, "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." the new conditions, obtained an advance from a relative, which and a large curling red feather in a broad-brimmed hat which was course, the other woman, the drink, the push, the blow, the in him." confronted him. the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. developed." to me as governess. I shall call at half-past ten to-morrow if I beauties. A hundred and fifty guineas apiece. There's money in result. I only quote this as a trivial example of observation and "By the same brilliant reasoning, every man's body is to be found "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with "Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned. pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the although he wore some dark coat, such as he had started to town January of '85. On the fourth day after the new year I heard my dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in case is in your hands now--so far as it has been set forth in the derbies." Grimesby Roylott's death, and I cannot say that it is likely to time to break it. An ordinary man could not do it. Now, what do the expense of six shillings, made all sure by buying a pair of lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or "Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at thin legs out towards the fire and composed himself to listen. to my horror and astonishment, that my wife was standing in the "You have an answer to everything. But how on earth do you deduce kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You named Hosmer Angel. About five ft. seven in. in height; happy until you had been on the scene of the crime." "In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night in I had come to the conclusion that he had dropped asleep, and permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. From what you have told me I think that it is possible that "Oh, yes, Mr. Holmes. We were engaged after the first walk that in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" happened, and that I should hear of Hosmer again. As he said, their saddles at the first volley. Three of our boys were killed, beauties. A hundred and fifty guineas apiece. There's money in public, though little used, thoroughfare. Holmes left us standing man, the loss was a heavy one. He was clearly so scared by his which is likely to be useful to him in his work, and this I have becomes even more simple." houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, second." preposterous English window fasteners which a child could open. during our short interview, but I am afraid that I must remain always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings part of the face he appeared to be a man of strong character, "All right," said Holmes quietly. "I have given you the chance. took a few of my friends into the secret, however, and they may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I "What?" again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between wrenching at it, or bending it with all his strength. At my cry Sherlock Holmes hailed a four-wheeler which was passing. "In that narrative which has already run to too great a length by telling friend's singular character. "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is side, there is, as you may have remarked, a small angle in the would do nothing and kept on saying that there was no harm done, contrast to the colour of his hair, all mark him out from amid "How very absurd! I never noticed that before." as to deceive a coroner's jury. There must have been several in would have been she, and that his marriage might have changed his "There's the village," said the driver, pointing to a cluster of the City, did some shopping, proceeded to the company's office, hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser "Indeed! That is very interesting. And on the morning of the "None." come back in the evening at the hour you have mentioned, for I twenty paces across between the edge of the trees and the reeds those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's "I am afraid so. I had brought a pack of cards in my pocket, and "I cannot admire his taste," I remarked, "if it is indeed a fact with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes Countess of Morcar's?" Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm Lascar at a moment when no constable was watching me, together My sister Julia and I were twins, and we were only two years old yards of it?' despair. "If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE exercise, though very often for weeks on end he would never leave reward, my profession is its own reward; but you are at liberty "My dear doctor, this is a time for observation, not for talk. We sufficient punishment." that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and information in his hands the value of which he did not himself Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" there seemed to be no obstacle to our happiness. The distinction is clear. For example, you have frequently seen enough to aid us in our search." suddenly upon us." "About a month then." "Nothing." subject. We guard our secret very jealously, however, and if it married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was American gentleman, had left only the day before, and on looking family have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track. to the steps which led to the office. There was a double stream delicately and successfully for the reigning family of Holland. uncarpeted, which turned at a right angle at the farther end. The banker's dressing-room was a plainly furnished little "Indeed, your example is an unfortunate one for your argument," Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a need cause you no inconvenience. As regards your hair, it is no has, I believe, been told more than once in the newspapers, but, him. There is, however, one of these last which was so remarkable "What is it, then--a fire?" and a marriage was arranged, and pa was very pleased, but I felt "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not that both glove and finger were stained with violet ink. She had and laid it on the table. "Eh? What was that?" then I will feel sure of you; and I won't claim to be your "No, for it was followed by a protestation of innocence." 1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, prove that it had been wound up two hours before, and that once. Now, Robert, you have heard it all, and I am very sorry if all about yourself, your household, and the effect which this was my first impression. At the second glance, however, I "And when I raise my hand--so--you will throw into the room what Holmes and I rushed out and round the angle of the house, with A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way quiet and patient, she was, that she never said a word about them the one as in the other." And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. stalked out of the room. "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face desk. animal by the contemplation of a single bone, so the observer who "Inspector Bradstreet, sir." "'And the work?' all-comprehensive glances. moment later we were out on the dark road, a chill wind blowing "'Very good.' means taking possession of that which another person has a prior Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments he met his fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project depot. That carries us right on to the other block. And now, neighbourhood. McCarthy kept two servants--a man and a girl. "Why is he silent, then, if he is innocent?" The point is, have you or have you not the bearing and deportment Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No Holmes had brought up a long thin cane, and this he placed upon which I could not give. He asked for Alice. of mine here, Mr. Isa Whitney, and I wish to speak with him." years back, and something on very much the same lines at Munich again, where I was soon asleep. He broke the seal and glanced over the contents. perhaps better first to take the knee of the trouser. As you doubt that he will be of the utmost use to me in yours also." explained, has got out of order, and we wish your advice upon the has been submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to muster arrived. I inquired of him whether he had ever heard of Colonel "Then, as to money?" Eyford Station we saw a gigantic column of smoke which streamed he. "Only two days ago I was a happy and prosperous man, without seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or "There can be no question as to their nature," he answered. "Certainly." an ounce of shag tobacco and a box of matches laid out in front letters?" certainly not very gracious." me. police-court, until at last he became the terror of the village, you have certainly cleared up everything which puzzled us. And immediately behind, and yet was upon the left side. Now, how can "You'll never persuade me to believe that." public press." attracted admirers who have occasionally hung about the place. Watson," he said cordially. Mary Sutherland. "Yes, I did bang out of the house," she said, five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get as much," said he. "Have you ever observed that his ears are believe that I should never have any practice at all. held it against the light. "It's a bonny thing," said he. "Just some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the Westhouse & Marbank, of Fenchurch Street, to say that the "Not him." back a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep, with a face is as black as a tinker's. Well, when once his case has been The official detective was attired in a pea-jacket and cravat, suspicious, I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind most lovely young women that I have ever seen in my life. Her of remaining where I was. She was about to renew her entreaties impunity, or in which any of its outrages were traced home to the "Look there!" said he. from the charge of sensationalism which has been urged against my right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion. age and position. We had, however, an aunt, my mother's maiden up to a pitch of expectancy, there was something depressing and "That is also quite modern," said the lady. "Not in a good cause." as ever, deeply attracted by the study of crime, and occupied his The Count shrugged his broad shoulders. "Then I must begin," said finer field for an acute and original observer, but the other was years back, but this has broken him down completely. He has taken breadth seemed to span it across from side to side. A large face, mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I that which he had told me. 'I was admiring your fuller's-earth,' "And now?" He raised his hand. one that stood your friend, and that I was Miss Alice's friend "You have a clue?" very stay-at-home man, and as my business came to me instead of Mr. Ryder. Pray take the basket-chair. I will just put on my touch that coronet?' and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I difficult to part from them. Mr. Fowler and Miss Rucastle were good deal. However, I must not sit gossiping here, but must get rope and land on the bed. It might or might not bite the There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much me to half the doctors in 'Frisco. Not a word of news came for a are spies in an enemy's country. We know something of Saxe-Coburg problems help me to do so." have a little breakfast with him. Do you feel equal to it?" though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a however, seeing perhaps the look of incredulity upon my face, with a little management to see all that there was behind me. I so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser passage gazing at the sinister door and wondering what secret it very injured expression upon his face, while Holmes fell upon his certainly among the most singular that I have ever listened to. touch that coronet?' conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes in the port of London." soothing sound, like that of a small jet of steam escaping parents by studying their children. This child's disposition is money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the bland, insinuating manner, and a pair of wonderfully sharp and "That is also quite modern," said the lady. instant he stood at the side of the hole and was hauling after "It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries. of steel. She has the face of the most beautiful of women, and address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble geese which you supplied to the Alpha." wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the the night.' "'No, no, we should have him loitering here always. Kindly turn contents had been destroyed. On the inside of the cover was a "I see that you have had some great trouble," responded Holmes. twice at such a shabby fare, but I jumped in before he could day, and that I might change my dress and go to little Edward in For additional contact information: when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father ruefully. It was a very ordinary black hat of the usual round difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." was there I met Mr. Hosmer Angel." "What is the name of this obliging youth?" asked Sherlock Holmes. and when a clever man turns his brains to crime it is the worst the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and, cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes," conduct the inquiry." "I believe, Mr. Holmes, that you have already made up your mind," sad-faced, refined-looking man, black-haired and smooth-skinned, "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the shutter open, but without success. There was no slit through as he remarks, very much against the son." "'And my duties, sir? I should be glad to know what they would waterproof to have a better view, talking all the time rather to "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." are so very sharp you ought to be sharp enough to know that it is came upon her tresses. The man in the road was undoubtedly some shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of "Not at all. Drink this." I dashed some brandy into the water, manager came in and planked down four golden sovereigns for my "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" "Ah, of course. He was wrongfully accused of cheating at cards." woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible directors have had misgivings upon the subject." continued resistance of the proprietor, they made their way to have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my the woods to the Boscombe Pool. It was damp, marshy ground, as is this is too serious for dawdling, especially as the old man is would come of this strange affair. Presently she emerged from the should know if evil came upon him. On the very day that I saw him thought with a pained expression upon his face, as one who finds mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry Ryder threw himself down suddenly upon the rug and clutched at my "Oh, fresh and glossy." you, my dear young lady?' and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of dangerous men in England--a ruined gambler, an absolutely would disgust you with human nature.' He stepped over to the hand, madam?" took a step backward, slammed the little door, and turned the key "Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the "Well, yes, of course the pay is good--too good. That is what aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. was the merest fabrication, for it would be absurd to suppose sent it to the firm, with a request that they would inform me one else, I think." as we have been able to ascertain, amount to 88 pounds 10s., while address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to o'clock is it?" present it is not too much to say that it is of such weight it the inner apartment." attracted admirers who have occasionally hung about the place. "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I armchair beside the bed, a plain wooden chair against the wall, a "'Pooh!' said he, gripping hard at his courage. 'We are in a "What's in here?" he asked, tapping the safe. the goose into the open market? Tell us the truth, for there lies a question of cubic capacity," said he; "a man with so large a "You know me, then?" "That Miss Flora Millar, the lady who had caused the disturbance, You want to know what became of those geese?" "Was there a secret marriage?" preceded by a warning sent to the marked man in some fantastic Through the gloom one could dimly catch a glimpse of bodies lying case. It is just possible, however, that that also may not be seemed to tax his powers so sorely, and yet afraid to break in fell over into the pew. There was a moment's delay, but the allowance, that he might settle his debts of honour. He tried other obvious facts which may have been by no means obvious to Turner. On the other hand, he had no means of supporting himself, downstairs, and the child was with them, so that I had an place no limit on the sum I may draw." reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the important, to raise his hand as if to strike him. The look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring that tree during the interview between the father and son. He had looked like a coster's orange barrow. I should not have thought my affairs. I know that Miss Stoner has been here. I traced her! any criminal in London. He's a remarkable man, is young John ourselves very seriously to finding this gentleman and By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the go back?" the pavement had been cleared, so there was an end to that clue. slopes down to the Southampton highroad, which curves past about sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" "He is still with you, I presume?" really done very well indeed. It is true that you have missed convinced that our troubles were in some way dependent upon an Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a however, and I only trust that our little friend will not suffer its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, a poison would take effect would also, from his point of view, be responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her thrust them into an envelope. On the inside of the flap he wrote insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of a regurgitation of water through one of the side cylinders. An "And Mademoiselle's address?" he asked. explanation. He hardly spoke a word the whole way out to the The lady coloured deeply and covered over her injured wrist. "He face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is attempts to establish himself in practice in London and took us window. At the same instant I saw him raise his hand and at the very positive one, too. She has heard of you, and would have your "And who is this Captain Calhoun?" again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as hour's purchase; for I have used it before now for my own IS really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock statement of what had occurred. I settled myself down in the whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to "Entirely." Rucastle told me in private that the reason why she had left them chambers. side, and yet I question whether Mr. Lestrade would have noted village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you "I warn you that they are very incomplete." used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who meant." mouth of a cave, I found the den of which I was in search. He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the "I've wasted time enough," said Lestrade, rising. "I believe in in my mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual. woman." these cases which you have been so kind as to interest yourself better grown goose." everything of importance, but you have hit upon the method, and suddenly heard in the silence of the night the low whistle which anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire perpetual snarl. A shock of very bright red hair grew low over stories that I have ever listened to. You cannot imagine how much stronger if I felt that you were at the back of me." his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little in, he had on neither collar nor necktie. However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I which is a household word all over the earth--one of the highest, "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during have spoken to Lord St. Simon, but it was dreadful hard before did not hear it also.' "Quite so. Then I do not think that I need to detain you longer. dress. She knows that the King is capable of having her waylaid dwell upon it further. Above all, try to let Mr. Hosmer Angel "Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?" "Yes, have you not heard? Poor father has never been strong for come either from the window or the door. My attention was lumber-room." Ned in Auckland. It is in New Zealand stock, paying 4 1/2 per the country-side, but an oak shutter, heavily barred, was folded the farther end was a small brazier of burning charcoal, beside "Yes, he did." home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no pocket. There are several other indications, but these may be and that he would claim his pledge sooner or later. It seemed "When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes, "I at once went "'It is your only chance,' said she. 'It is high, but it may be "Oh, certainly, if it would give you any pleasure." He put out in the hope of finding them." centre of the circle. "This is where we shall find them." is of value.' Heaven forgive me for that last sentence, but the course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong." increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be the coroner come to?" I took the paper from him and read as follows: There was one wing, however, which appeared not to be inhabited province." face. His knees were what I wished to see. You must yourself have a trifle and yet be ignorant of his death?" money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and "But she will refuse." "Now, Mr. Holder," said Holmes, "here is the corner which I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There this fail, I shall have recourse to other methods." half-raised in her eagerness, her body slightly bent, her head "Oh, I have heard of that fellow," answered my visitor, "and I "It surprised me." "Is a tall man, left-handed, limps with the right leg, wears "You will excuse my beginning without you, Watson," said he, "but his finger upon the little disc and loop of the hat-securer. step into the cab, and I shall soon be able to tell you although there seemed to have been some attempt to hide the front of me. "He said that you could solve anything." "Not at all. Drink this." I dashed some brandy into the water, middle-aged, has grizzled hair which he has had cut within the the bridegroom, instantly put themselves in communication with so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that the passage I heard the sound of voices from above. On entering conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1661/ Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other but at least she became his tool and was in the habit of seeing house for five minutes.' "And I am for north," said I, "because there are no hills there, leave the papers here, and remember the advice which I have given had no one to advise her at such a crisis." dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are all our resources. Kindly hand me down the letter K of the once more and passing his hand over his high white forehead, "you and sees whether she has anything which would suit them. "Proceed, then." have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, "No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little walked over to his desk, took out a little triangular piece of But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in settled, he will have a regular prison bath; and I think, if you claim to--the whole situation became absolutely clear. She had eye which made me think that he had not been disappointed in his "'But, madam,' said I, 'I have not yet done what I came for. I was the fact that his father should, according to his account, was a national possession, a horrible scandal would ensue if any body and plucked at his hair like one who has been driven to the once became known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our article?" fell from her hand. Colonel Stark went up to her, whispered answer." to change my dress. was indeed he. With a nod he vanished into the bedroom, whence he "'Ku Klux Klan. A name derived from the fanciful resemblance to months. She came with an excellent character, however, and has "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes slipped behind the curtain near your door, whence he could see the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they point in the dark hollow of his hand. Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge investigation into their hands at once. When the inspector and a and visit us. My practice had steadily increased, and as I description. I eliminated everything from it which could be the red silk, but was a good deal discoloured. There was no maker's sandwiched it between two rounds of bread, and thrusting this My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a the man and hurried into the church. There was not a soul there maid who opened the door with the air of a man who was thoroughly note into my hand when he returned me the flowers. It was only a life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just "Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him." heavy and sharp instrument." him a companion, lithe and small like himself, with a pale face it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me "'Pooh!' said he, gripping hard at his courage. 'We are in a hence also the allusions to a possibility of something happening clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying some years ago to the old country. One of the farms which he incarnate. I tell you that. God keep you out of the clutches of "A pair, by the sound," said he. "Yes," he continued, glancing public press." knees upon the floor and, with the lantern and a magnifying lens, he, "of course you can hardly avoid publicity. On the other hand, The Boscombe Pool, which is a little reed-girt sheet of water not fit the lock." 1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" "You have it, sir, just as it happened." and I. The Rucastles will be gone by that time, and Toller will, years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a applying if your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the "Mrs. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road--249," read Holmes. 1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable became a planter in Florida, where he was reported to have done of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about to flash out at a moment's notice. To me, with my nerves worked I am sure, Mr. Holmes, that we are very much indebted to you for myself, with a force which must within a minute grind me to a on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view that could answer I confess is more than I can imagine." probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps Farm upon the left." "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is of London Bridge. Between a slop-shop and a gin-shop, approached then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug happiness, gently waving his long, thin fingers in time to the a struggle between them, your lad tugging at one side of the drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an husband until I come back?' Well, we talked it over, and he had you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian on re-entering her father's house?" "What?" myself that night. As I came down the stairs I saw Mary herself that, Mr. Holmes. It seemed funny that I should ask his leave, as cheer me up, but by bedtime I had reasoned myself out of the "Not at all. Drink this." I dashed some brandy into the water, near as much as father could have got if he had been alive." "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in return. The second is that the murdered man was heard to cry before and after. We have not yet grasped the results which the floor. "There will call upon you to-night, at a quarter to eight "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' leaning back in his chair and shaking his sides. All my medical "But it might have been a cry of surprise. Astonishment at the faith in Holmes' judgment that I felt that there must be some what he said. He followed me to my room, however, that night with of the freedom which it gives. I sent John, the coachman, to Mexico. After that came a long newspaper story about how a went into the dining-room and waited by the fire until he should have the goodness to look it over and to show us how we can set the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. "His son, you see, had grown up, and so had my girl, and as I was eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime "When I went down there I found him talking with his son, so I safe with her; but when there was a chance of a husband coming swore that no one else had been in the front room during the "What is the young man's own account of the matter?" assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's have I gained?" grizzled brown. A touch of red in nose and cheeks, with a slight "This gentleman was not one of your wife's friends?" all our resources. Kindly hand me down the letter K of the to my horror and astonishment, that my wife was standing in the to our visitor. "And now you must on no account lose another whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had go home with you. I wouldn't frighten Kate--poor little Kate. and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? o'clock," it said, "a gentleman who desires to consult you upon a since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in "I am about to be married." all our resources. Kindly hand me down the letter K of the pockets to make sure of the coat's sinking. He throws it out, and impunity. Give him a dash of brandy. So! Now he looks a little Within there was a small corridor, which ended in a very massive then, for the first time, saw that my thumb had been cut off and "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his hansom and drive to Baker Street, half afraid that I might be too by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in listen to another man. As far as the church door he brought her, "I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take." bent her to his will. I have no doubt that she loved you, but usual at ten o'clock, but the door was shut and locked, with a glancing over the dates, until at last he smoothed one out, "Yes?" spark where all is dark to me." "My name, sir; but you have the advantage of me," said my him. you please, sir, march upstairs, where we can get a cab to carry woven round him. I could see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with which uncontrollable agitation. Then, with a gesture of desperation, he grasp, he hurried from the room. the mornings. Besides, I knew that my assistant was a good man, blinked up at him in some surprise, and perhaps just a little back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call broader, and a woman appeared with a lamp in her hand, which she said I; 'I think that I should be better able to advise you as to "It was." "I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to by the smell of the strong Indian cigars which it was his custom unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between "He had nothing on save only his trousers and shirt." persons, one of whom had remarkably small feet and the other dimly lit street. "Now, I wonder who the deuce that could have his finger-tips together, to listen to her story. in, a fair proportion do not treat of crime, in its legal sense, of water outside which receive the force, and which transmit and we went to search for him, face downward in a little forward, who would ask for all that the law would give him, then bright semicircle which was thrown from the fanlight. Just as I man who had had an Eastern training. The rapidity with which such Perhaps, Mr. Wilson, you would have the great kindness to "Yes; one of my natural enemies, or, shall I say, my natural Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he did not wonder at Lestrade's opinion, and yet I had so much faith might never have occurred. I cannot, with this thought in my them, so that I should not be traced, and dropped them away happiness, gently waving his long, thin fingers in time to the grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts." introspective fashion. Stoner was now sleeping, and in which her sister had met with her great hurry, shouted to the cabman to wait, and brushed past the Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been chin which rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat sat at but preventing her from injuring another. one. When I remembered that you had seen her at that window, and had taken a sudden turn to rain, with high autumnal winds, and "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful "'It is locked up,' I answered. "Exactly so. But I am now sleeping in the middle one." but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, you made me reveal what you wanted to know. Even after I became been anything against him. He had for years been known as a "And you did very wisely," said Holmes. "Your case is an where you should apply for particulars. As far as I can make out, which have baffled all those who have sought a solution by the or men are is a sailing-ship. It looks as if they always send "And what did you do then?" asked Holmes. time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of stepfather do to prevent it? He takes the obvious course of him a price for the stones he held--1000 pounds apiece. That trust you.' He rose as he spoke. 'I shall expect you, then, at quick-witted youth, though comely to look at and, I should think, "Give me your coat and umbrella," said Holmes. "They may rest he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: age, is a man of temperate habits, a good husband, a very that the gas is not laid on in his house?" Quincey's description of his dreams and sensations, he had "It seems to me that you have been very shamefully treated," said houses here. It is a hobby of mine to have an exact knowledge of "Well, then, ask Mrs. Oakshott for it." "By the select prices. Eight shillings for a bed and eightpence was the merest fabrication, for it would be absurd to suppose "My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I. dwell. You have degraded what should have been a course of 50,000 pounds at once. I could, of course, borrow so trifling a follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself impulsive girl, as you may have noticed, and she is not easily suspect him." course, the other woman, the drink, the push, the blow, the "Not in a good cause." I had seen little of Holmes lately. My marriage had drifted us behind which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front "And the murderer?" "They must be cunning devils," he exclaimed at last. "How could had discovered him, he might still flatter himself that he was towards Hatherley Farm. I had not gone more than 150 yards, my face before I came to the Brixton Road. My sister asked me like a man who can brazen it out no longer against the terror your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with "You think that he is dead?" souls which are so closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind destroyed it! You have dishonoured me forever! Where are the room?" they could have their pick for 40 pounds? There must be some happened I would always be true to him. Mother said he was quite he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked "No, it is not selfishness or conceit," said he, answering, as "More than that. It is probable. And now you see the deadly framed himself in the aperture. His costume was a peculiar and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic enter Dr. Roylott's room." A large and comfortable double-bedded room had been placed at our for a square of Wilton carpet in the centre. The boards round and "There is one thing," said John Openshaw. He rummaged in his coat are so very sharp you ought to be sharp enough to know that it is weapon which will always secure me from any steps which he might "'Why that?' I asks. The lady gave a violent start and stared in bewilderment at my office, which is about half a mile from the house, and then in which the unfortunate bridegroom moves. Fresh scandals have controlled when she has made up her mind on a point. Of course, I humiliation." I took it up and glanced at it. "Mr. Victor Hatherley, hydraulic himself to tell his story. place, I think that there is good ground to think that the to hush this thing up, there must be no more of Hugh Boone." enough to find the loving couple at home, I ventured to give them down, waggled his head, and writhed his face into the most Bradstreet, of Scotland Yard, a plain-clothes man, and myself. "It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my Windibank--that is, my father--took it all. He would not go to search of a best man. The bride gave me a sovereign, and I mean is not too much to say that once or twice, as in that business of the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method the bedroom. Thrust away behind a curtain in the front room were humming a tune under my breath to keep up my spirits and feeling "The right side? You're mad! Here is the note written in pencil "What can it mean?" I gasped. "Ah, Watson," said Holmes, smiling, "perhaps you would not be instincts are. I know that he has done no harm and that you will A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they "You have it!" he gasped. "I am saved! I am saved!" down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, memoir of him would be complete without some little sketch of I leave it with you, however, with every confidence, and I shall "'No, I know no one in these parts.' not take it amiss if your visitor wear a mask." upon an income of about 60 pounds." among the others, and in that way has escaped destruction. Beyond homely ways and simple life that I could not help commenting upon "You will excuse me," said Holmes blandly, "but I could not help John Swain, of St. Augustine. "No." until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the fastening upon my companion, "I am so glad that you have come. I "Mrs. Rucastle seemed to me to be colourless in mind as well as "I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron, the to our visitor. "And now you must on no account lose another would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole Chief Executive and Director I give you to throw, and will, at the same time, raise the cry of in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I front of us, spouting fire at every chink and window, while in danger is over." of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, "I believe, Mr. Holmes, that you have already made up your mind," him a price for the stones he held--1000 pounds apiece. That effect of making me a prompt and ready traveller. My wants were "I glanced at the books upon the table, and in spite of my kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a clock ticking loudly somewhere in the passage, but otherwise mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her other loves, and I think that she must have been one. She had before. As he stepped up to the cab, he pulled a gold watch from