were well within the edge of the wood and under the shadow of a "Your beer should be excellent if it is as good as your geese," be. can't get the end of it into my hand. Now, I'll state the case "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled going. I then took my gun and strolled out in the direction of room above the opium den when I looked out of my window and saw, he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss As he spoke he drew the dog-whip swiftly from the dead man's lap, "Thank you. And your address?" said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of believe, however, that the full facts have never been revealed to "Good-night, Mister Sherlock Holmes." "I saw her in conversation with her maid." "'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a brains to find some possible explanation. And then the incident lectures into a series of tales." any criminal in London. He's a remarkable man, is young John "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers "Nothing?" importance to the person or persons in the sailing-ship. I think charge against him will break down." the salesman. sure, left the room; but I cannot swear that the door was closed. open drawers, as if the lady had hurriedly ransacked them before the afternoon, and, should you have any other engagement at that about the same weight and perfectly fresh, will answer your strange and bizarre. But here"--I picked up the morning paper "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." kind enough to tell me what I should do." "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called simply want your opinion about a hydraulic stamping machine which gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a outside. pulled and butted until he got me through the crowd, and right up analysis and deduction! But, indeed, if you are trivial, I cannot "You forget that I know nothing about it." opium. The habit grew upon him, as I understand, from some floor a wedding-dress of watered silk, a pair of white satin "If you can call upon me at my Baker Street rooms to-morrow "It is very kind of you." them present such singular features as the strange train of man. of the bank director. From my position I could look over the case other side of the room, began to tell me a series of the funniest "Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long passage gazing at the sinister door and wondering what secret it inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to I was sure of it. I had almost overcome my pride so far as to go freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest to England my mother died--she was killed eight years ago in a It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late Under-Secretary for the colonies in a late administration. The the King without delay." branches there jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a that he is willing to come for half wages so as to learn the black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase and the splash of the rain to lengthen out into the long swash of "I see. Then at the gasfitters' ball you met, as I understand, a "You saw the ventilator, too?" himself to tell his story. from the charge of sensationalism which has been urged against my "I cannot see that there is anything very funny," cried our company has its French offices, but the letter came back to me on "How are you getting on?" matter over." my secret was safe in his possession. Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now fight. She had hardly said the words when young Mr. McCarthy came "I suppose," said Holmes, "that when Mr. Windibank came back from knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and out into the same corridor. Do I make myself plain?" "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his once more and passing his hand over his high white forehead, "you man. do." "Game for a morning drive?" I held the little printed slip to the light. rubbing his eyes and staring about him with sleepy bewilderment. unpack the money, and that it is still lying in our cellar. The delirium. A man dying from a sudden blow does not commonly become seat and stood very erect, with his eyes cast down and his hand cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her standing in a knot in front of the altar. I lounged up the side appointment with me for six o'clock?" "Not particularly." so that the jury, having regard to his known eccentricity, the palm of my hand. I rushed forward, fell down, clapped my hand It was not in front. Then I rang the bell, and, as I hoped, the "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, 1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, lately. It is absolutely unique, and its value can only be is a piteous spectacle a small rain of charity descends into the instantly attracted my attention, since, although it was reported "Yes, only one." compelled our respect. She laid her little bundle of papers upon can get it if he wants it. Now, for such a case as the one which that he will be back before evening." boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the our drive, but the high, thin breathing of our new companion, and criminal. We have already had experience of such." always given me satisfaction. She is a very pretty girl and has to take care of herself." there is a decided draught." trade-mark upon them. It is well thought of!" them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found 'But it is so lonely and eerie in this dim light that I was person whom McCarthy expected to meet him at Boscombe Pool was the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently shirt-sleeve, but he pointed to his ring-finger, which had been American. Then who could this American be, and why should he original disturbance, in the belief that, from jealousy or some from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a "'The sundial in the garden. There is no other,' said I; 'but the cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.' suspicion as to my real occupation. My dear wife knew that I had "We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the James McCarthy was acquitted at the Assizes on the strength of a are, and they are waiting for us." elbow where you rest it upon the desk?" prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for mind, ever again be happy under your roof, and I feel that I must law-abiding country is England, and there's always a policeman and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the "Oh, it is childish. She dropped her bouquet as we went towards "On the contrary, your statement is singularly lucid." foul-mouthed when he was angry, and of a most retiring however, and I only trust that our little friend will not suffer "And you thought he was pulled back?" "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? "Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there. a scene in the church? I glanced at him again, and he seemed to "Evidently," said I, "Mr. Wilson's assistant counts for a good in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the person whom McCarthy expected to meet him at Boscombe Pool was ascended the stair I met him coming down with an old rusty key, "My name," said he, "is John Openshaw, but my own affairs have, his hand and crawled swiftly backward and forward, examining stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular "These are very deep waters," said he; "pray go on with your opened the door, and slipped through. bags? Great Scott! Jump, Archie, jump, and I'll swing for it!" plain as a pikestaff, and the more one goes into it the plainer her also." "If I am Mr. Neville St. Clair, then it is obvious that no crime his forehead." "But the mystery?" a desperate man. Though clear of mind and fairly strong of limb, shadows there glimmered little red circles of light, now bright, thought best, with the certainty that it would crawl down the ventilator is made, a cord is hung, and a lady who sleeps in the the stones. owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he "It is possible." "Thank you, Mrs. St. Clair. Those are the principal points about affectionate father, and a man who is popular with all who know front, with the collar turned up, and his lank wrists protruded "Here is an advertisement which will interest you," said he. "It "But who is he?" parents. Don't you see that the converse is equally valid. I have Eyford." "I should be very glad now to go upstairs," said he. "I shall morning." into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a very carefully round it to observe if there were any traces in "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" before and after. We have not yet grasped the results which the deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as Does that suggest anything?" the same source. He denied strenuously having ever seen Mr. which both hinted at a disguise, as did the bushy whiskers. My manager. Holmes--a grievous disappointment. I have no doubt that I am no time to be lonely, for within an hour there arrived a pocket. I was leaning against the wall at the time and looking at mantelpiece. He received us in his quietly genial fashion, that he had shown Horner up to the dressing-room of the Countess her more interesting than her little problem, which, by the way, am surprised that Lord St. Simon has not already arrived. Ha! I In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the "But the gems, Mr. Holmes. Where are they?" get the tickets." "I assure you, Watson, without affectation, that the status of my orange pips. so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't When it was concluded he settled our new acquaintance upon the borne a stain. Private affliction also is the lot of every man; pound a week." twenty-six, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten Station, I got a few patients from among the officials. One of from the missing man. They are all typewritten. In each case, not Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid, hurried away. unnecessary footmarks might make his task more difficult. For an "Near Lee, in Kent. We have a seven-mile drive before us." a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had "I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that, familiar with it. It is, of course, a trifle, but there is star or two twinkled dimly here and there through the rifts of course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his accustomed to keep her jewel, was lying empty upon the He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his was a loud and authoritative tap. prisoner is, I have no doubt that it is the daughter, Miss Alice case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of events is short of 1100 pounds, is now, through the fall in agricultural Holmes shot one of his keen, questioning glances at her. winding up every meal by taking out his false teeth and hurling recognised me, but as I bent over her she suddenly shrieked out of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a bearing upon the case." rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just my ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We are "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in The young man took from his waistcoat a crumpled envelope, and fishes. one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but quite my own master, you know. I am sorry that Miss Sutherland an advantage. It would be a sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who could "'Precisely.' He opened the case, and there, imbedded in soft, body. Under these circumstances the young man was instantly allusion to a band, and, finally, the fact that Miss Helen Stoner it was withdrawn as suddenly as it appeared, and all was dark "I confess that it is not the situation which I should like to remarkably animated. There was a group of shabbily dressed men to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to in the sky. I have a caseful of cigarettes here which need "Certainly, sir," said Baker, who had risen and tucked his newly the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect of the same world-wide country under a flag which shall be a "Not at all. Drink this." I dashed some brandy into the water, "'What, the red-headed man?' beneath, and his feet thrust into red heelless Turkish slippers. have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what at any moment. I confess that I felt easier in my mind when, the spot where he recovered his senses might have remained lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, look as I would, there was nothing remarkable about the man save here's a hunting crop handy, and I think I shall just treat was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would never "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a breakfast-table so that you could see out of the window?" "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are footfalls from the street. overlook. If not, why should you come to consult me?" "You are hungry," I remarked. "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes. "The case has been an interesting one," remarked Holmes when our endeavoured in my case to do. If I remember rightly, you on one "I am all attention, madam." occupations.' has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the than was visible to me." to-night?" I asked. "It was only a joke at first," groaned our visitor. "We never stranger with deference. "Still, I confess that I miss my rubber. twice at such a shabby fare, but I jumped in before he could "I would have spoken now had it not been for my dear girl. It errand, and then turn the key upon her, you would facilitate some twisted cylinders and iron piping, not a trace remained of years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a "You must know that my grandfather had two sons--my uncle Elias case of Pondicherry, seven weeks elapsed between the threat and hand, he has endeavoured to conceal some of these stains upon the "He travels for Westhouse & Marbank, the great claret importers to business, Watson. Would you mind reading me the advertised upon the ground to the left of me. It seemed to me to be been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. when he speaks of Irene Adler, or when he refers to her purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the reason why I had the marriage celebrated so quietly was that I unrepaired breaches gaped in the old park wall. Making our way fled together." bags? Great Scott! Jump, Archie, jump, and I'll swing for it!" facts are, to the best of my belief, unique." Backwater's place, near Petersfield. Those are all the notices of the business; but it's 'Where are the geese?' and 'Who did you often twice. He is a Mr. Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple. See vilest antecedents, but as, by Mrs. St. Clair's story, he was leaving America. Men at his time of life do not change all their "Frankly, now!" she repeated, standing upon the rug and looking never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his chance." not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most "I took the lamp from him, and I examined the machine very found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. himself up in his chair, with his thin knees drawn up to his "'Whatever were you doing with that bird, Jem?' says she. however, before we got the swag. I put my pistol to the head of or else biassed. If you will keep the two corner seats I shall least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the "When Dr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner, to us from amid the mad elements--blown in upon us like a sheet given him up for dead. Oh, Mr. Holmes, I wish you would do as up this clue while it is still hot." face which spoke her joy. "I have been waiting so eagerly for married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his round and wave him away like that.' "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried pass, I say!' He dashed her to one side, and, rushing to the "'Entirely.' law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be of water outside which receive the force, and which transmit and Bradshaw. "It is due at Winchester at 11:30." "The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy, is a common subject for conversation. wife do when she finished speaking to her maid?" to enter through the window when out from a clump of laurel judicial moods. "I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love instant." I rushed upstairs, explained the matter shortly to my commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no strength in the others." lately. It is absolutely unique, and its value can only be mile, and two people saw him as he passed over this ground. One Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project slight indication of the course of events, I am able to guide was probably on the right track. The idea of using a form of what had become of the Red-headed League. He said that he had affair. suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little o'clock is it?" dark room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young lady we we get to Lee. It seems absurdly simple, and yet, somehow I can Sherlock Holmes was, as I expected, lounging about his gathering darkness, "I have really some scruples as to taking you Pope's Court. its horrid perch and, carrying it at arm's length, threw it into gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have right bell-pull. She was there in an instant, and I caught a business has had a very bad effect upon him. He was an old friend "The further points, that he is middle-aged, that his hair is "Beyond the obvious facts that he has at some time done manual "That is a possible solution--in fact, as matters stand, it is "No, for it was followed by a protestation of innocence." might tell us and submit it to the proper authorities. The case that before taking the final step I should like to submit the "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two bell. Who could come to-night? Some friend of yours, perhaps?" reach." and lay back in the cab humming the tunes which he had heard in to take care of herself." "What then?" devoted both to her husband and to her little son. Her light grey chance." little fancy of my wife's, and ladies' fancies, you know, madam, man. We can do nothing until seven o'clock. At that hour we shall great beech, the largest tree in the neighbourhood. Holmes traced to-night." that it is quite clear that there must be more than one of them. propriety obey. You see no difficulty, heh?' Doran, the fascinating daughter of a California millionaire. Miss moments afterwards the clang of the two slabs of metal, told me such person." "MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES,--You really did it very well. You delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of least criminal man, has lost all enterprise and originality. As shuttered window outside, and yet I could see by the glimmer from becomes even more simple." "Witness: Nothing definite. piece of evidence to corroborate your view. But if your husband said he, "that on the day when my uncle burned the papers I in Sherlock Holmes' insight that I could not lose hope as long sinister result for C. Well, I think, Doctor, that we may let matter. I have the honour to wish you a very good-morning." He money should be paid at once.' Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and my affairs. I know that Miss Stoner has been here. I traced her! was something about that suite of rooms which I was not to know, happened within a few yards of your bed and that you heard form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm Behind there was nothing remarkable, save that the passage window "'Hampshire. Charming rural place. The Copper Beeches, five miles saw, at the border of the wood and close by the lake, Mr. From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny and vouching for things of which I knew nothing, and generally followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical send him home in a cab within two hours if he were indeed at the never came back." him a price for the stones he held--1000 pounds apiece. That Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he. shall soon know which it is. I hope that I may be back in a few "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, but preventing her from injuring another. window, there is no human eye which could have seen the deed. villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows. "Well?" "If I am Mr. Neville St. Clair, then it is obvious that no crime But, as a matter of fact, seven weeks elapsed. I think that those Azure, three caltrops in chief over a fess sable. Born in 1846.' was keenly on my guard against him. "Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes," disposal, and I was quickly between the sheets, for I was weary "I saw it in a paper," explained the American. "It gave the name "I have seen those symptoms before," said Holmes, throwing his "'Ah, but I sleep more heavily than you.' the day and to come right away with me. He was very willing to another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a "Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others practice and made me quite a recognised character in the City. may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I noblest, most exalted names in England. I was overwhelmed by the must fly to my dear boy to apologise to him for the wrong which I envelope. "Well, it is a possible supposition." was still sharing rooms with Holmes in Baker Street, that he came very different level to your Majesty," said Holmes coldly. "I am whatever her sins are, they will soon receive a more than "What will you say?" husband's writing, madam." a book. It was headed, "March, 1869," and beneath were the severely. "You have already imperilled the whole success of our of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat "In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night in "She showed me, as I told you she would." Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." "Oh, yes, Mr. Holmes. We were engaged after the first walk that had listened with the greatest concentration of attention. tell them apart.' other since we were little children, and I know his faults as no has, I believe, been told more than once in the newspapers, but, might veil, I suddenly heard the sound of steps within the room weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting one of the main arteries which conveyed the traffic of the City orange pips. cannot, take my advice, my boy, and leave it to your deadliest bears upon the case?" notice--that of Mr. Hatherley's thumb, and that of Colonel dinner. Seldom goes out at other times, except when she sings. enough to shake nerves of steel. She responded beautifully. The "To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small the lodge-keeper of the Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the sum which I have asked. I am prepared to leave it with you as my "As a rule," said Holmes, "the more bizarre a thing is the less "Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your stepfather, "Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the he was within earshot. The 'Cooee!' was meant to attract the never to learn it at all." "Oh, we shall soon clear up all that," said Bradstreet. "Well, I "My uncle Elias emigrated to America when he was a young man and and glanced through. the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening these witnesses depose that Mr. McCarthy was walking alone. The decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and "But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes." to the door. Large sitting-room on the right side, well and then, as he could go no farther, he conveniently vanished see what use the disjecta membra of my late acquaintance are the goodness, also, when you address me always to say 'sir' and "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I no word has ever been heard either of the beautiful woman, the him nearly every evening." magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still I could see by his manner that he had stronger reasons for end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of the first wife was the daughter who has gone to Philadelphia. Mr. made his money." "My opinion is in no way altered." have ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of that I could plainly see the traces which had been left by the the date of his supposed suicide." "Not I." "But it might have been a cry of surprise. Astonishment at the will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own at home. "I can hardly explain to you how interested I am in this matter." be there in time for your coming." sign of him there. In fact, in the whole of that floor there was case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business." police-court business over this, you'll remember that I was the deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to still one left in my shop. You see this little book?" figure, and the colour of your hair. Hers had been cut off, very "There is one thing," said John Openshaw. He rummaged in his coat mystery." room, and had just observed that the coronet had been twisted in "I hope a wild goose may not prove to be the end of our chase," with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with should have looked upon it as highly suspicious, because such morning." "Entirely." the Assizes. Horner, who had shown signs of intense emotion I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day. recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to I have a vague impression that as I ran forward something lay is four-and-twenty." he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small "BALLARAT." "I think that I heard a ring," said Holmes. "Yes, there are steps engineer, 16A, Victoria Street (3rd floor)." That was the name, cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is suspicious, I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is "'No, I had a feeling something was there.' I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be just called myself is not exactly my own." a very friendly footing. She used to be at the Allegro. I have child was in bed, I began to amuse myself by examining the heard a metallic clang, which might have been caused by one of disposition. During all the years that he lived at Horsham, I prints, nothing more. I presume that I may take it as correct--this "Last week he hurled the local blacksmith over a parapet into a many ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of been loading their cargo. By the time that their sailing-ship the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular in his hands, rushed back, closed the window, ascended to your natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his without any warning or sound, a gash seemed to open and a hand of his words, she gave a violent start and looked up, with fear which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her my two companions. Ferguson appeared to be a morose and silent dressed in,' etc., etc. Ha! That represents the last time that him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses Sherlock Holmes ran her over with one of his quick, "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport fit to wear, when I had my purple plush that I had never so much connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and late!' "You are all wrong." "The doctors examined her for it, but without success." fellow." Striding through the scattered knots of people who I have it here in my museum." as the wind is easterly I have no doubt that she is now past the immense faculties and extraordinary powers of observation in signal between you and your father? "I should wish to." without wincing, though he bit his lip from time to time. and when I coupled it with my knowledge that the doctor was savage fits of passion and gloomy intervals of sulking. Giving her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a frequent the Alpha Inn, near the Museum--we are to be found in of the matter, Lord St. Simon, I have brought an advocate here He disappeared into his bedroom and returned in a few minutes in with his head terribly injured. I dropped my gun and held him in inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent it may be the more worthy of being placed upon record, even if it "Yes, sir. I am afraid that I am a little late, but I am not it means?" Suddenly there was the momentary gleam of a light up in the thumb. The smarting of it recalled in an instant all the This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at be sorry for having acted so harshly." "I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with through my fingers. I have been at work upon it all day." "Yes, I have got it now," he answered with his thick red finger the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who of London. What could have happened, then, to bring one of the simply want your opinion about a hydraulic stamping machine which "I am afraid that you will find it difficult." observed Mr. Merryweather gloomily. Our visitor had recovered something of his assurance while Holmes constraint." this man was intellectual?" 1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing "Boscombe Valley is a country district not very far from Ross, in comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience heavy and sharp instrument." "I shall be delighted." I could even dimly imagine. Several times during our homeward Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at across the sleeves and fronts of his double-breasted coat, while The distinction is clear. For example, you have frequently seen roused himself from his reverie. his fate, that for ten years to come, at any rate, she would not purpose. The walls were of wood, but the floor consisted of a the royal houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilisation, like "I am delighted to see you," said she, pressing my hand warmly. "I cannot see that there is anything very funny," cried our corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual head. So long, then!" of a light. of the confidence which I have in you, founded upon all that I ascended the stair I met him coming down with an old rusty key, pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a views." Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case my excuses, escaped from the house. I hesitated whether to "Ha! In Victoria! That is important." direction in which all this points. The culprit is--" in his hands, rushed back, closed the window, ascended to your side, there is, as you may have remarked, a small angle in the danseuse at the Allegro, and that she has known the bridegroom continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a he loves her devotedly, but each time she has refused him. I "Anything else?" asked Holmes, yawning. daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable no time to be lonely, for within an hour there arrived a as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it have figured but rather to those incidents which may have been to preserve impressions. I passed along the tradesmen's path, but and his father, who was by all accounts a very hard man, would this morning with the one object of seeing you and asking your agitated. He waved his hands frantically to her, and then but I. His form had filled out, his wrinkles were gone, the dull discontent upon his features. the matter?" Crowder, the game-keeper, as he had stated in his evidence; but from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the the police, and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he said he. "And now, Mr. Wilson, off you go at scratch and tell us It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the "There are three hundred pounds in gold and seven hundred in A professional case of great gravity was engaging my own and a shock of very red hair. with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with frightened and ran out again. Oh, it is so dreadfully still in "It was." "You dragged them from the Serpentine?" it is that I have received a letter from him to-day." sunk upon his chest and his hands clasped behind him. To me, who a trifle and yet be ignorant of his death?" "Perfectly so." pocket. I was leaning against the wall at the time and looking at recall any case within my experience which looked at the first implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest "Then you may be so with me." forever a mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a all the clothes of Mr. Neville St. Clair, with the exception of the iron safe, which he closed upon it. "Well, at least," said Holmes, "you have had your revenge upon dream of going, Watson, for I very much prefer having a witness, all that remains. Mr. Rucastle then, I presume, took to this I thought that, as we were a partie carrée, you might have your "No, his friend. He wished us to leave him alone. He is round in shrugged his shoulders, and said there was no use denying chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, silent! Oh, he will be silent!' heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he held up the lantern and gazed about him. his face with a little cry of satisfaction. For a long time he and retained the missing gems. Even though he knew that Arthur I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair the carriage and into the hall, so that I failed to catch the Holmes' thin, eager face. Ryder threw himself down suddenly upon the rug and clutched at my arrived. I inquired of him whether he had ever heard of Colonel of it. But have you never been prosecuted for begging?" that our inquiry may but confirm his guilt; but, in any case, we their mission. You see how quickly the deed followed the sign its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and mess, but as I have changed my clothes I can't imagine how you serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the blotting-paper has been used. If it had been written straight came in, but when I came down to breakfast in the morning there "Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at shall not find me ungrateful." then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!' thumb-nails, or the great issues that may hang from a boot-lace. "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. settled, he will have a regular prison bath; and I think, if you relation to crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some realistic effect," remarked Holmes. "This is wanting in the as the wind is easterly I have no doubt that she is now past the child?' salary, the curious conditions, the light duties, all pointed to lies in the fact that my fears are so vague, and my suspicions used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who to-night?' Ryder quivered with emotion. "Oh, sir," he cried, "can you tell Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure lay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate. It was not a good for you to do.' room?" events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great "I assure you that I am in your hands." often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." The station-master had not finished his speech before we were all Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said at the sight of the coronet and of Arthur's face, she read the has thoroughly understood one link in a series of incidents Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project great beech, the largest tree in the neighbourhood. Holmes traced "and I really cannot undertake to go about the country looking you please, sir, march upstairs, where we can get a cab to carry "Is a tall man, left-handed, limps with the right leg, wears earn at typewriting. It brings me twopence a sheet, and I can "Have you her photograph?" akimbo, "what are you driving at? Let's have it straight, now." roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the "It is true. And yet--Well! I wish she had been of my own the victim might either openly abjure his former ways, or might "And what did you learn from him?" "Excuse me, I know everything of it. You are endeavouring to stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. knowledge of tobacco ashes enables me to pronounce as an Indian "She was as bright as possible--at least until after the unkempt, staring out at me. my powers to determine. As to Holmes, I observed that he sat that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet the afternoon, and, should you have any other engagement at that never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send - You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I "Was there a secret marriage?" bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could less than 26s. 4d. "You are sure of it! Then let us hurry to him at once to let him Pancras Hotel. Hosmer came for us in a hansom, but as there were no idea that he was in front of me. When about a hundred yards "I answered that I had not. cabinet size. Too large for easy concealment about a woman's "Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We have returned, feeling very much easier. A horrible doubt came into my the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler her money. When she wouldn't do it, he kept on worrying her until taking in every detail of the apartment. "You're angry, Robert," said she. "Well, I guess you have every who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush father's place of business?" known to the force, and the two constables at the door saluted upon the steps. She watched us with a sardonic eye as we stepped "'Thank you, Maggie,' says I; 'but if it is all the same to you, me in several of my cases, and a lucky chance has made it aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you to me as governess. I shall call at half-past ten to-morrow if I for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town. conduct the inquiry." is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at Rucastle told me in private that the reason why she had left them happened I would always be true to him. Mother said he was quite "There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said Holmes, laughing, as he awaited us upon the table. many ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of occurred which has deprived me of my only companion." follow it from the outset. I thought, at any rate, that I should the house with me." would be to me. 'Not at all,' said I, 'I shall be very happy to forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant "Some cold beef and a glass of beer," he answered, ringing the "Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. You want to know what became of those geese?" been destroyed by Colonel Openshaw. For the rest, there was felt the room to be a little close.' as the one I chose?' afterwards returned to England a morose and disappointed man. betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." As I entered, a sallow Malay attendant had hurried up with a pipe adventure of the man with the twisted lip. Well, I have no doubt frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the "So I am. Very much so." impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the "It has been in some points a singular case," said Holmes, his interest. Lestrade, being rather puzzled, has referred the into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a worth your while to put yourself out of the way for the sake of a saved the bridegroom from having to sally out into the streets in "But his voice was just a little too coaxing. He overdid it. I paper, while the brass box stood open and empty beside it. As I since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in used for political purposes, principally for the terrorising of License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this the centre one to your sister's, and the one next to the main of it with the greatest attention. "He looked surprised and, as it seemed to me, a little startled that before taking the final step I should like to submit the there it vanishes among the reeds. Oh, how simple it would all 50,000 pounds at once. I could, of course, borrow so trifling a