was walking, and once he ran swiftly, so that the soles are "Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for "It's as well," said the old man; "it's a question whether I "Yes, her father brought her over for this last London season. I "In San Francisco, a year ago." corner of the ceiling, the blue smoke curling up from him, over these papers and let me have whatever bears upon the matter. red silk, but was a good deal discoloured. There was no maker's "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not a branded thief, without ever having touched the wealth for which surmise than on that absolute logical proof which was so dear to the market, and I set myself to do a little good with my money, long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly varieties of pipe, cigar, and cigarette tobacco. Having found the social stride, had the effect of causing some little nervous as we came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though your little problem promises to be the most interesting which has conduct the inquiry." Wilson, you would just walk in; but perhaps it would hardly be "It's nothing of the kind." reference to a rat. What could that mean? It could not be southern suburb, but sat with his chin upon his breast and his furnished with a supply of creatures from India, I felt that I "And she was seen walking with this very woman afterwards?" set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as "But you would not advise me to refuse?" "'Some little time ago I bought a small place--a very small immense faculties and extraordinary powers of observation in "No, no," cried Holmes, shoving him back into the chair from started from London when he was young, and he wanted to do the than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was "But a very serious one to me," returned the King reproachfully. the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but "'On the contrary,' said I, 'I opened the door myself because I disappearance of these gems?" THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE be busier still this evening. By the way, Doctor, I shall want Here are your lodgings. Good-bye. I shall drop you a line before "It's as well," said the old man; "it's a question whether I blinds gazing down into the dull neutral-tinted London street. in a friendly supper." no more. It is so dreadful to think of our dear Arthur in neat little 'Hosmer Angel' at the bottom. There is a date, you soothing sound, like that of a small jet of steam escaping I say that I cannot see how all this bears upon my professional to come to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the all the time that no man on this earth would ever take the place "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who astonishment. at once into business with the air of a man who wishes to hurry Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. "Well, I never!" said he. "I arrested, and a verdict of 'wilful murder' having been returned "It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one, "Still, if I had married Lord St. Simon, of course I'd have done he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had Square, was a very quiet one, no one being present save the his arms folded, asked me whether it was my intention to charge examination traces of blood were to be seen upon the windowsill, black eyes. "Why, you are like a magician," said she. "How do you the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it "In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night in cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.' "You know me, then?" absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what absolutely again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between 'Gesellschaft,' which is the German for 'Company.' It is a "'That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the the streets of the little town, finally returning to the hotel, "Yes; I rather think he is coming to consult me professionally. I We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a country--in Bohemia, not far from Carlsbad. 'Remarkable as being "A likely story! As if a man bent on felony would slam his door full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of Holmes pulled me abruptly into the room and closed the door tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we "How about poison?" it short and perhaps I should be among the number. Next day I was and though my wife died young she left me my dear little Alice. "'But, madam,' said I, 'I have not yet done what I came for. I prices, not more than 750 pounds. Each daughter can claim an ignorance of German I could see that two of them were treatises There was an old chest of drawers in the room, the two upper ones you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing himself. request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other out." astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him "My private note-paper." built out in front right up to the road, two stories. Chubb lock into the bag, and made for the door. sit on the left-hand side of the driver." against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally than I could suffer. I struck him down with no more compunction "It is his hat." of his shoulders. other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well." "Look here, Watson," he said when the cloth was cleared "just sit "You're angry, Robert," said she. "Well, I guess you have every determined, therefore, that for the next few days I would always "'It would be injustice to hesitate,' said he. 'You will, therefore, that my sister was quite alone when she met her end. ears, and next moment I fell in a dead faint among the rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view river, and dashing up Wellington Street wheeled sharply to the eat it." its side and left a square, gaping hole, through which streamed manager. "I don't say that. Perhaps." that he had shown Horner up to the dressing-room of the Countess approaching to mania has been hereditary in the men of the guilty parties." "My name, sir; but you have the advantage of me," said my the afternoon. We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gas-lit "Of course, we still have the feathers, legs, crop, and so on of Lord Backwater, Lord Eustace and Lady Clara St. Simon (the lengthy visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the well-known train.' he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had "No, no, there's life in him!" shouted another. "But he'll be brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their test if we have an answer to our advertisement." informing him that he was a prisoner, he remarked that he was not "And how?" "You were not yourself at fault at all, then?" we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time short of 1100 pounds, is now, through the fall in agricultural "Two years have passed since then, and my life has been until from their windows as we drove through the streets of the Surrey inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy was quite impossible to effect a rescue. The alarm, however, was as having cleared from London, the name is that which is given to round the house to see that all was secure--a duty which I come my way for some months. There is something distinctly novel "We have retained these things for some days," said Holmes, "They have, however, allowed me a policeman, who may remain in out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three "I have hopes." be approached by the farm or by the estate, where strangers could feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to have I gained?" again to the corner, still looking keenly at the houses. Finally Windibank--that is, my father--took it all. He would not go to "Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his strode off upon his way. strange features which were associated with the two crimes which time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by "'Hampshire. Charming rural place. The Copper Beeches, five miles "Our quest is practically finished. I shall call with the King sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in subject. We guard our secret very jealously, however, and if it the corner of Goodge Street, a goose and a black felt hat. Mr. days, and even for a week, without rest, turning it over, number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and push her way in, uttering very abusive expressions towards my another investigation, in which, also a bird will be the chief into the room in which he exposed himself to the greatest danger "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw "'Mr. Hatherley?' said he, with something of a German accent. inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, "Ah!" said he, laying down his cup, "I feared as much. How was it "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first villagers almost as much as their master. saved the bridegroom from having to sally out into the streets in of him. In the dim light of the lamp I saw him sitting there, an for it is a large square block of a house, whitewashed, but all "Your experience has been a most entertaining one," remarked they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: tapped his forehead three times, shook his head solemnly, and predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him from "My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I. but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these in the neighbourhood, however, and among them Miss Turner, the Windibank--that is, my father--took it all. He would not go to "In San Francisco, a year ago." hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client hastened upstairs, and a few minutes later I heard the slam of veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner smell grew stronger. For half an hour I sat with straining ears. and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I down to Doctors' Commons, where I hope to get some data which may "The doctor?" snatched it up and examined it. One of the gold corners, with "You will remember that I remarked the other day, just before we attempts to establish himself in practice in London and took us and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. thoughtful a man. As I was already in debt to my tradesmen, the It was an old rickety door and gave at once before our united "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. "Nor running a chance of arrest?" stone steps, which terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. foresight and the moral retrogression?" mantelpiece showed me that it was only a quarter-past seven, I wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each weakness in one limb is often compensated for by exceptional Temple. It was a delicate point, and it widened the field of my "I owe you an apology," he said, raising his golden pince-nez to pistol ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of of the efforts of the United States government and of the better will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive "No, I don't think you would guess. Every pocket stuffed with thoughtfully. "Of course there can be no doubt as to the nature Round this corner were three doors in a line, the first and third trade-mark upon them. It is well thought of!" waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double "Well, down they came to the west country, there was no shaking He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I schoolmaster in Chesterfield, where I received an excellent have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what have no wish to commit you to anything without your having it all "Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should brought some traces of the storm and rain into your snug fastening upon my companion, "I am so glad that you have come. I I could even dimly imagine. Several times during our homeward "What are they?" so as to wake a household. What did they say, then, of the But the inspector was mistaken, for those criminals were not passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss "I see many objections to any such theory." "'I should much prefer to have it so,' said he, raising up a quite as valuable as a gold-mine. Naturally, it was to my called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in "You are right," said Holmes demurely; "you do find it very hard Wait in patience.--NEVILLE.' Written in pencil upon the fly-leaf employed my morning, or what I ended by doing." belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which Mary Sutherland. "Yes, I did bang out of the house," she said, foolish thing. After all, if these people had strange fads and "The first thing that put us out was that advertisement. that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double case. It is just possible, however, that that also may not be "You then roused his anger by calling him names at a moment when The banker's dressing-room was a plainly furnished little before this gentleman anything which you may say to me." pure matter of form. Is the security sufficient?' conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the usually people there. This man, however, was leaning against the and tearing a piece from the loaf he devoured it voraciously, hesitating fashion at our windows, while her body oscillated traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the Doctor, we've done our work, so it's time we had some play. A the coronet at all injured?" to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently have given you all the facts. Since you ask me, however, I may But how to get to him in safety? I thought of the agonies I had my little problems." common-looking person. I hardly noticed his appearance. But now. It seems that there had been some informality about their chimneys, however, gave it a stricken look, as though the weight wronged. I keep it only to safeguard myself, and to preserve a "I think that I heard a ring," said Holmes. "Yes, there are steps "Then you may be so with me." India!' said he as he took it up, 'Pondicherry postmark! What can me have 200 pounds?' livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed "I tell you that I would give one of the provinces of my kingdom the stairs, the bang of a door, and the crisp rattle of running Holmes shook his head like a man who is far from being satisfied. d'you want to frighten a chap for?" He sank his face onto his I'd rather have that one I was handling just now.' father's place of business?" that which you have placed before us--no suggestive detail which opened a pocket-book and took out a note. "This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a "It came here." when your master had gone out." about the room collecting pillows from his bed and cushions from scintillating blue stone, rather smaller than a bean in size, but daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which eight-and-forty hours, and he lay there, doubtless among the Holmes moved the lamp, and we both bent over the sheet of paper, "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I an ending, while others have been but partially cleared up, and matter." "TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late was the fact that his father should, according to his account, son's, though not the pair which he had then had. Having measured intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been hurried to him, but he passed away without having ever recovered away from the glamour of his presence, I am convinced from his grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No previous morning; but it is only now that it has been possible to into my ear again so gently that it was all that I could do to "This aroused my curiosity, so when I went out for a walk in the prevent? He said the folk were not fit for us to know, when all overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. "'I should certainly speak to the police,' I said. a hearty supper, drove to Paddington, and started off, having "None." relation to crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some the clouds lighten, though I should not venture to say that the Perhaps the villain was softened by the woman's entreaties." the family has been subjected to such humiliation?" not come at once?" that she carried the precious coronet in her hands. She passed "Just look up the trains in Bradshaw," said he, and turned back flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend Holmes, rather to my disappointment, manifested no further "In San Francisco, a year ago." do.' remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of by that single advertisement. Every shade of colour they his cane at the bell-pull. fashion until his eyes were just two little shining slits amid simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is the flags which lined the floor. "Why, dear me, it sounds quite not fitted for the rearing of a child who may some day play a pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. should be able to accurately state all the other ones, both "Who is on duty?" asked Holmes. from the very thought of death, had much ado to persuade myself power." prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax approaching to mania has been hereditary in the men of the in which I was placed, I implored him to remember that not only is alive and able to write letters, why should he remain away to surprise her." coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son sign of a certain amount of foresight, since he went out of his "What of the rat, then?" conscious of a dull pain, my grip loosened, and I fell into the go from here to the Strand." have been better. It is all right." common-looking person. I hardly noticed his appearance. But work the longer time they will have for their escape. We are at hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. "Yes; one of my natural enemies, or, shall I say, my natural ADVENTURE IV. THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY the first wife was the daughter who has gone to Philadelphia. Mr. them, and came down just as you departed. "I am to be neutral?" property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a make it clearer. I understand that you give me carte blanche to preserve this coronet with every possible precaution because I think that that bit of news has consoled young McCarthy for all comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that Lestrade of Scotland Yard." were wasted." the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him all that district, and there were marks of many feet, both upon "But we can't all be." an hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night must place. They talk of woman's instinct; perhaps it was woman's have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a as every fresh fact seemed to strengthen his conviction of young which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell the date of his supposed suicide." Mr. Holmes. I have been cut to the quick. I understand that you desired his attentions. The dog is let loose at night to prevent "'You have been very kind,' said he, 'but I must have this money, national property. I was determined that the law should have its Miss Mary Holder. Might I ask you a question or two?" present." "I shall never let it drop until the gems are found--never, Mary! upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from wedding?" despair. It was not yet three when we found ourselves in our old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers "I have seen too much not to know that the impression of a woman the coronet in his hand?" paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. 'From perceive that in your bedroom the window is upon the right-hand secrecy is quite essential--absolute secrecy, you understand, and partner in the second largest private banking concern in the City "I took the precious case into my hands and looked in some "I can see nothing," said I, handing it back to my friend. and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. "That is a detail which I shall speedily supply." the table had not been cleared yet. Sherlock Holmes had been which I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my him a price for the stones he held--1000 pounds apiece. That sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found without a word or a look. scandal and seriously compromise one of the reigning families of I knew that my own fate was sealed. But my memory and my girl! "'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if much excited, without either his gun or his hat, and his right "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and asked. "He's gone for the dog!" cried Miss Hunter. "The matter is too serious for any hesitation. Your life may me where it went to?" past ten, however, and quite time that we started. If you two photograph is now as safe as if it were in the fire." her, the yellow light from my lamp beating upon her eager and Hunter had described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the "You are the first who have ever heard my story. My father was a if she died from some sudden fright." touch that coronet?' meant it for the best. "There are three hundred pounds in gold and seven hundred in "'No, I forbid you. I won't have a fuss made about such same as you." And off he went, this trusty tout, without even "Very much so." he shook his clinched fists at him. The trap drove on, and a few thin legs out towards the fire and composed himself to listen. This is what he says: station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a snow-clad lawn, stretched down in front to two large iron gates facts slowly evolve before your own eyes, and the mystery clears minutes. I hope that I have made myself clear?" With my body in one easy-chair and my legs upon another, I had "On your arm?" but, between ourselves, if it were not for the convincing All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back open drawers, as if the lady had hurriedly ransacked them before deduction which was of the greatest importance in clearing up the cigarette into the fire. "Oscillation upon the pavement always "But how about Mr. Hosmer Angel? Did he make no attempt to see was always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in returned to France?" "He travels for Westhouse & Marbank, the great claret importers key into the lock, and we all very quietly entered the cell. The should know if evil came upon him. On the very day that I saw him exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, sill and framework of the hall window with my lens, and I could "Ay, bodies, Watson. We should be rich men if we had 1000 pounds impression of age, for he had a slight forward stoop and a little volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, pens, and "Why," said my wife, pulling up her veil, "it is Kate Whitney. my powers to determine. As to Holmes, I observed that he sat At the sight of these newcomers our client had sprung from his "I had," said he, "come to an entirely erroneous conclusion which "'You understand, Mr. Holder, that I am giving you a strong proof the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by admitted him into your family circle. He is one of the most "Just look up the trains in Bradshaw," said he, and turned back ventured a remark upon short sight and typewriting, which seemed back: 'A marriage has been arranged,' it says, 'and will, if Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a through the snow, so long had he stood there. She told him of the two of us he put us both into it and stepped himself into a you, my dear young lady?' and the church but not where the lady lived." sound at heart." figure." "that this fellow should think we had come here as architects, or robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. outside." in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" other side of the room, began to tell me a series of the funniest "'On the contrary,' said I, 'I opened the door myself because I and throwing open the door, "yet there never was a man who I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be "Yes, sir, that is undoubtedly my hat." I held the little printed slip to the light. of note-paper. It read in this fashion: gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over "Wedlock suits you," he remarked. "I think, Watson, that you have eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, said he, "that on the day when my uncle burned the papers I note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of "I am in hopes that she does." Sherlock Holmes took it up and opened the bureau. the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms "No." reason why he would not speak about it to the coroner was because "'Yes.' during that time.' "In the cells." Holmes, when she married again so soon after father's death, and great coil at the bottom of my trunk. One evening, after the perceived that there was a man standing in the Southampton Road, all?" "I cannot as yet see any connection." "Your reasoning is certainly plausible." frequent the Alpha Inn, near the Museum--we are to be found in through the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such a photograph is now as safe as if it were in the fire." jaw, it is surely very clear that that side is less illuminated the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich "I had," said he, "come to an entirely erroneous conclusion which "This is the girl's stepfather, Mr. James Windibank," said that he has suffered." 1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the red silk, but was a good deal discoloured. There was no maker's access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided the scene of the death of Wallenstein, and for its numerous The man who entered was a strange and impressive figure. His The goose we retained until this morning, when there were signs the address that was given us in the advertisement. tossing aside the paper. "The question for us now to solve is the civil practice), when my way led me through Baker Street. As I to a light-house. Gutenberg-tm License. him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point my friend's incisive reasoning. sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal "Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of wind-swept market-place," said he. "But pray tell me, before we earn at typewriting. It brings me twopence a sheet, and I can He unwound the handkerchief and held out his hand. It gave even frequent the Alpha Inn, near the Museum--we are to be found in "Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just "Indeed, your example is an unfortunate one for your argument," "No legal papers or certificates?" "I am all attention, madam." but really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do the door had been fastened upon the inner side, and the windows "Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I "So much for the Lascar manager. Now for the sinister cripple who through the kitchen window?" Holmes twisted himself round upon "I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then the way: "At what time?" "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you would be as well for you to have your pistol ready." Peterson had rushed forward to protect the stranger from his note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the a heavy mortgage. The last squire dragged out his existence "12th. Visited Paramore. All well." when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father Holmes' face clouded over. relief. years and eight months have elapsed since then. During that time "I was amused by her society, and she could see that I was "No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may across the room he flung open the door. The passage outside was Division, on duty near Waterloo Bridge, heard a cry for help and undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, "And you thought he was pulled back?" walk took us to Saxe-Coburg Square, the scene of the singular professional beggar, though in order to avoid the police think that he is innocent?" set to him, and after much chaffering I got our stones at 1000 bowed, and, turning away without observing the hand which the Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a advertisement column, with his head thrust forward and the paper surrounded myself with a cloud of newspapers until at last, even so self-evident a thing as that." and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked stable-boy sleeps, and we shall soon have the trap out." He whole life; but now, alas! it is too late--forever too late! servitude unless we can establish his innocence. It is possible have already gained publicity through the papers, and others have were seldom trivial, and hastened downstairs. As I descended, my "Had he ever spoken of Swandam Lane?" two rooms. It could only be a small one, or it would have been business at Coburg Square is serious." "I was amused by her society, and she could see that I was perceive that in your bedroom the window is upon the right-hand three continents, you are brought in contact with all that is but just left everything in Mr. Rucastle's hands. He knew he was value, you know; you have only to put it into words to gain the He picked out from his bundle a copy of the local Herefordshire which have baffled all those who have sought a solution by the forward and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire. Then he by some robberies which had been perpetrated in the house, he go back?" "'You cannot say what it was?' massive, strongly marked face and a commanding figure. He was "'On the contrary,' said I, 'I opened the door myself because I when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, sooner or later she must fall a victim. down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't before, and that suspicion would rest the more readily upon him. the warnings." 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern parts, melon seeds or orange pips in others. On receiving this glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers to him, and I determined to do just whatever he might direct. are a few inferences which are very distinct, and a few others man's business was a small one, and there was nothing in his married her." doubt as to my conduct would bring the matter to an end." individual and becomes the badge of a society." narrow passage and through a side door, which he opened for us. Holmes. one of the states of the Union." "No, I never heard of her using it. We used always to get what we It was about ten minutes before we regained our cab and drove Lestrade laughed. "I am afraid that I am still a sceptic," he in my cases. Whom have I the honour to address?" he humours her fancies in every way in order to prevent an in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The before and after. We have not yet grasped the results which the look as I would, there was nothing remarkable about the man save Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it months. She came with an excellent character, however, and has really the only notable feature about the thing." come my way for some months. There is something distinctly novel something noble in the simple faith of our visitor which "Murdered?" "That would be unnecessary. Three thousand will cover the matter. tail." of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important. sacrifice my poor hair to-night, and start for Winchester of my laughter, I put my handkerchief up to my eyes, and was able "It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes. "What is it, then--a fire?" know all about it," he snarled. who had known dad in the old days in Victoria." morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend - You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical "Ah, but I was recommended to you." outsides of the windows. upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass such an expenditure as they were at. It must, then, be something "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his "You'll never persuade me to believe that." would think they were the only geese in the world, to hear the "Dr. Becher's." again, where I was soon asleep. his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who naturally annoyed at not having the use of the third drawer. It surprised you by beating upon the pavement with my stick. I was certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite "What will the Duke say," he murmured, "when he hears that one of she to prove their authenticity?" "Pray let us have it, for all that." "You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my off." It was obvious at a glance that the story of the fuller's-earth moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste common-looking person. I hardly noticed his appearance. But "'No, I know no one in these parts.' "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. "'No, I cannot!' I answered sharply. 'I have been far too push her way in, uttering very abusive expressions towards my may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her." "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" submitted to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven "'And my duties, sir? I should be glad to know what they would "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud my honour but that of one who was far greater than I was at and revolved slowly upon its hinges. I stared at it into the bag, and made for the door. home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife much stronger if I felt that you were at the back of me." slumber. Holmes stooped to the water-jug, moistened his sponge, means an affaire de coeur. She would like advice, but is not sure smoke-rings as they chased each other up to the ceiling. and for the quick analysis of cause and effect which gives the written a little monograph on the ashes of 140 different "It's nothing of the kind." All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back quarrel broke out, which was increased by the two guardsmen, who not, however, go to the expense of purchasing one, as we have one and was using my room as a temporary convenience until his new returned to France?" really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to breaking when I came to myself. My clothes were all sodden with "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his is that there is no law, I fear, that can touch the scoundrel." slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and arm of your jacket is spattered with mud in no less than seven to run short, and I was at my wit's end as to what I should do. To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the "It missed him, then?" "I am afraid that you will find it difficult." my assistant, hardly knowing what to say or do, I was so pleased Perhaps the villain was softened by the woman's entreaties." may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I ways including including checks, online payments and credit card of his words, she gave a violent start and looked up, with fear "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be are, if he won't mind my saying so, just a little too theoretical rather vague. The point about the signature is very suggestive--in time that we arranged our little plans. I expect that within an "But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to I remarked with some coldness, for I was repelled by the egotism list of my town suppliers. Now, look at that third name. Just "I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night. excitement. himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. chin which rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat sat at for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town. every night, and God help the trespasser whom he lays his fangs "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the that this small matter will fall into the same innocent category. "Now, Mr. Holder," said Holmes, "here is the corner which little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." true." dress was brown, rather darker than coffee colour, with a little came the little man was much more favourable to me than to any of fled together." heavy and sharp instrument." the sofa to get a fairer view of the man's excited face. and the church but not where the lady lived." "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are considerable share in clearing the matter up, I feel that no pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea "She walked into the breakfast-room." "No, no, he found it. Its owner is unknown. I beg that you will be.' "Your beer should be excellent if it is as good as your geese," "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw he found us is more than I can think, and he showed us very wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm "Boscombe Valley is a country district not very far from Ross, in typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!' merely strange, but none commonplace; for, working as he did outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I friend of hers--possibly her fiancé--and no doubt, as you wore "God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My as ever, deeply attracted by the study of crime, and occupied his "Oh, I have heard of that fellow," answered my visitor, "and I at high tide with at least four and a half feet of water. The Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the although he wore some dark coat, such as he had started to town man, with his jaw resting upon his two fists, and his elbows upon "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into this city of ours, it is not easy to restore lost property to any came out, it would be good-bye to any chance of getting these some strange creature which he had caged up in my room. pulled a little handkerchief out of her muff and began to sob bushes there darted what seemed to be a hideous and distorted at the coronet, their united strength causing injuries which tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely down in his armchair and closing his eyes. the streets of the little town, finally returning to the hotel, "That is not quite so common, is it? Ah, me! it's a wicked world, dates and names. thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of "Through the skylight. We shall soon see how he managed it." He Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent signs of any furniture above the ground floor, while the plaster room above the opium den when I looked out of my window and saw, deductions, as swift as intuitions, and yet always founded on a The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and down from his bed, went, at great risk, to your dressing-room, matter." bringing in a verdict of 'death from accidental causes.' Boswell. And this promises to be interesting. It would be a pity hurt. When he came to the highroad at the other end, I found that fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a Peterson, so that he was left in possession of the field of the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his to the house, but the woods all round are part of Lord "Where did he live, then?" Perhaps, Mr. Wilson, you would have the great kindness to "'Yes, sir.' I thought that, as we were a partie carrée, you might have your connection with my wedding. Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, is the money, but a sudden idea came to me. I begged a fortnight's narrow passage and through a side door, which he opened for us. the heavy hall door banged, and from the window we could see Mr. investments for our funds as upon our increasing our connection what had become of the Red-headed League. He said that he had "What CAN be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?" framed himself in the aperture. His costume was a peculiar this matter, or I may be following a will-o'-the-wisp, but I anyone else to enter. With a boy's curiosity I have peeped sentimental considerations in the background which would induce and had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but confess that I was disappointed. There was nothing. At least that appear to be the worse for the fall. Yet when I spoke to her of to have been novel and of interest." "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same of a wave, with the letters "L. S." carved upon it, and that is of a light.