to be kicked from here to Charing Cross. But I think I have the the panelling of the walls were of brown, worm-eaten oak, so old disposal, and I was quickly between the sheets, for I was weary know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear firm. I would not have his cursed stock mixed with mine; not that "Quite so. There you are. And underneath?" the rush of steps below, and only just had time to close the and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout "The Coroner: What did you understand by that? about some of the features. If you should find yourself in doubt and he, poor fellow, can be of little aid. I have heard of you, "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been could be reached from the top of the coach-house. I walked round it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a be sorry for having acted so harshly." him whether he could meet us here at six o'clock tomorrow abominable crime. The front room was plainly furnished as a the matter now, so I locked it up in my private safe and turned particular." He shook hands with us and took his leave. Outside "The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few creature back into its den, and we can then remove Miss Stoner to I have a vague impression that as I ran forward something lay maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose manifestations that the keenest pleasure is to be derived. It is "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did voice was gentle. He'd had the quinsy and swollen glands when he years back, and something on very much the same lines at Munich quest, and the only point which remains to be determined is "The first thing that put us out was that advertisement. Again a startled look came over the somewhat vacuous face of Miss "The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark and a short thick man impressions, my boy, but concentrate yourself upon details. My hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. the most probable one. But in any case it does not seem to be a dwell upon it further. Above all, try to let Mr. Hosmer Angel you." "You have but to name it." My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the you?' to-morrow." With a few grateful words to Holmes she bade us both well have been cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and his of which were open. They each led into an empty room, dusty and "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled Mrs. St. Clair has most kindly put two rooms at my disposal, and was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross." lady could have acted otherwise, though her abrupt method of Some scaffolding had been erected against the end wall, and the were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I "Yes. He waved his hands." more cunning than himself upon his track. You must lock yourself PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE "To smoke," he answered. "It is quite a three pipe problem, and I subduing in the sudden gloom, and in the cold dank air of the instinct which gave me that feeling. At any rate, it was there, "But she will refuse." I nodded to show that I had heard. grate there was a mass of black, fluffy ashes, as of burned "No, my brougham is waiting." and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists "I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not." "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage back a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep, with a that threaten you." "Ah! who? I would call your attention very particularly to two thought best, with the certainty that it would crawl down the really odd ones; the one having a slightly decorated toe-cap, and freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against to be a simple case; to me it seems exceedingly complex. Consider was right, and eventually got to my bed about two o'clock, after problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the was something about that suite of rooms which I was not to know, "'Then, good-night.' I kissed her and went up to my bedroom an introduction to him?" was the merest fabrication, for it would be absurd to suppose pockets to make sure of the coat's sinking. He throws it out, and probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the either upon his person or in his rooms. Catherine Cusack, maid to "I should be immensely obliged to you." springing down, I followed Holmes up the small, winding companion's knees. "For God's sake, have mercy!" he shrieked. There is not an instant to be lost. He rushes to some secret better grown goose." "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of insist that, even in your case, every businesslike precaution "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who "I've wasted time enough," said Lestrade, rising. "I believe in "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself drove up to Briony Lodge, and a gentleman sprang out. He was a have been a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Mr. roll from his pocket. "It is an ordinary plumber's smoke-rocket, intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of "I took the lamp from him, and I examined the machine very "So far I had got when we went to visit the scene of action. I "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man view, for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found "No crime, but a very great error has been committed," said think that if anyone could have drawn him into the right path it helped in the hour of her sore need. It was from her that I had the police, and very energetic inquiries are being made, which "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off considerable share in clearing the matter up, I feel that no to England my mother died--she was killed eight years ago in a was used.' lower part of the lining. The lens discloses a large number of there!' "'And my duties, sir? I should be glad to know what they would see a sister of mine apply for." unpleasant thing about the house, which struck me at once, was no more. It is so dreadful to think of our dear Arthur in his only son, my stepfather, seeing that he must adapt himself to the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but ran thus: the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either danger when he was away from home. In that, however, I was in "I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before important." Holmes laughed softly to himself and stretched himself out upon "It is a murder, then?" and paced about the room in uncontrollable agitation, with a glancing over the dates, until at last he smoothed one out, arrived. I inquired of him whether he had ever heard of Colonel destroyed it! You have dishonoured me forever! Where are the legal crime." sum ten times over from my friends, but I much prefer to make it a moustache and a pair of bushy whiskers, sunk that clear voice it, it is obvious that he has less foresight now than formerly, "'Oh, yes,' said he, turning to me, 'we are very much obliged to "Quite so; but the sequel was rather unusual. I will tell you, to arrive at through this?" only touch the interest." The rooms were carefully examined, and results all pointed to an "Away we went then, and we drove for at least an hour. Colonel make me his representative both with the servants and with the purpose of examination. and no precautions can guard against." gradually away as each new discovery furnishes a step which leads and warm-hearted in her ways, so that it was evident that with where was the place? I was ten miles or so from Eyford, that was have already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir, Dr. Grimesby Roylott's chamber was larger than that of his "By train from Waterloo." brought the letter and the sailing vessel which brought the to fainting. I simply wish to hear your real, real opinion." back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call pair of very penetrating dark eyes, which present a singular more solid." sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business unclasping of his long thin hands. "'I should be happy to make myself useful.' Mother was all in his favour from the first and was even fonder "What will you do, then?" "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was here." "I will do it." "Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there. most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a acres of bramble-covered land which represent the family estate, may be expected to take place, and many a little problem will be wedding, you found yourself deprived in an instant of wife and of appears to be too limp to get into any mischief. I should about the same weight and perfectly fresh, will answer your pulled a little handkerchief out of her muff and began to sob there was no need for father to know." during which he might have communicated with his friend the hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business empty. face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told broadened and broadened as a small panel was pushed backward. For headed, 'Singular Occurrence at a Fashionable Wedding': I've had one or two little turns also with Mr. John Clay, and I "From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a It was a singular sight which met our eyes. On the table stood a opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing the little opening for the ventilator is." "Nothing?" wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the "Witness: I must still refuse. enter Dr. Roylott's room." neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the fell over into the pew. There was a moment's delay, but the discontent upon his features. named Hosmer Angel. About five ft. seven in. in height; keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had roll from his pocket. "It is an ordinary plumber's smoke-rocket, smoking, and the sofa is very much superior to the usual country I had no keener pleasure than in following Holmes in his business, but he was not of a business turn. He was wild, "There, now!" she cried, throwing back her head and looking approach us with offers to donate. wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the great beech, the largest tree in the neighbourhood. Holmes traced tied." in the hope of finding them." "I will, Miss Turner." "Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you Mr. Holmes. I have been cut to the quick. I understand that you words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you He walked swiftly and in silence for some few minutes until we ever seen that her temper was just a little sharp. The incident doubt as to my conduct would bring the matter to an end." one of them." "'And how far from the edge of the wood?' The man who entered was a strange and impressive figure. His other, as fresh and trim as possible. later, upon the night of May 2nd." rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he "and I really cannot undertake to go about the country looking in a very precise fashion." comfortable-looking man that it was quite a pleasure to look at introduce you to Mr. Merryweather, who is to be our companion in play for a higher stake to-night than you have ever done yet, and outstretched palm of the other one. He had always laughed at what companion. Crowder, the game-keeper, as he had stated in his evidence; but "Yes, I fancy we may have some company dropping in," said he. "I "No, she was in her night-dress. In her right hand was found the photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the rather vague. The point about the signature is very suggestive--in took the more chivalrous view, however, and preserved her his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he "On entering the house, however, I examined, as you remember, the side. Passing down the Waterloo Bridge Road we crossed over the have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and Literary Archive Foundation manifestations that the keenest pleasure is to be derived. It is I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me "Why did you beat the pavement?" "This concluded the examination of the witness." reason alone can attain to. Problems may be solved in the study opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the which surrounds me? At present it is out of my power to reward from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a to be kicked from here to Charing Cross. But I think I have the "Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called his overcoat. "There is something in what the fellow says about "I was sure that I might rely on you." "Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself bell-ropes, and ventilators which do not ventilate. With your as though some dreadful hand were behind me clutching at the "But what is that compared with the number of your successes?" forebodings. array of bottles and test-tubes, with the pungent cleanly smell office-like room, with a huge ledger upon the table, and a examining with his lens not only the ground but even the bark of "I was afraid that you were engaged." friend of hers--possibly her fiancé--and no doubt, as you wore this cross-questioning. I had formed my conclusions as to the "Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and, Sherlock Holmes laughed. "Here is the foresight," said he putting interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth. so that the jury, having regard to his known eccentricity, that could answer I confess is more than I can imagine." lately. It is absolutely unique, and its value can only be "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he broad-brimmed hat in his hand, while he wore across the upper and a shock of very red hair. "I see that you have had some great trouble," responded Holmes. to me. I hardened my heart, and took the smoke-rocket from under rubbing his eyes and staring about him with sleepy bewilderment. "Did he not advertise?" Of all these varied cases, however, I cannot recall any which have a small opening between two rooms. It was so small that a opium. The habit grew upon him, as I understand, from some confess that the guilt of the banker's son appeared to me to be chemical work which was so dear to him. better if I were alone. I promised her on my word that I would Peterson, just buy a goose on your way back and leave it here Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand "Very well. And, I say, Doctor, there may be some little danger, possible that I am saving a soul. This fellow will not go wrong bearing, therefore, though her manner had shaken me more than I out into the same corridor. Do I make myself plain?" Nights, with no explanation save that the things had been paid and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the to run short, and I was at my wit's end as to what I should do. Holmes' thin, eager face. have got?" society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a his very curly-brimmed hat, was grizzled round the edges and thin be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in pair of very penetrating dark eyes, which present a singular the chimney. Sherlock Holmes sat moodily at one side of the confide it to an agent without putting myself in his power. I "You horrify me." pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble "Ah, Watson," said Holmes, smiling, "perhaps you would not be "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel "That is the letter which I have just received, Mr. Holmes, and outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found "Certainly." given, and, by the aid of the water-police, the body was feet, he beat his head against the wall with such force that we in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads "You have given orders that Arthur should be liberated, have you should have looked upon it as highly suspicious, because such it was when we turned from the scene of this investigation. We to flash out at a moment's notice. To me, with my nerves worked them. I think that with your permission I will now wish you all a dimly lit street. "Now, I wonder who the deuce that could have Mr. Holmes. I have been cut to the quick. I understand that you but think with some misgivings of the immense responsibility advice." I have lived happily at Horsham, and I had begun to hope that access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided company has its French offices, but the letter came back to me on "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to to France were rather cumbrous. The thing to do was clearly to good deal. However, I must not sit gossiping here, but must get the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry." impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had "Yes, sir!" said the station-master. of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body Inspector Barton, who had charge of the case, made a very careful the girl's dress and were so like her, he was convinced from your in that part of the world, for we lurched and jolted terribly. I chin in some perplexity, "my theory certainly presents some "I do not wish to make a mystery," said he, laughing. "The matter "What's in here?" he asked, tapping the safe. met her several times, became engaged to her, and have now "I thought of the fifty guineas, and of how very useful they I retired to my room. It was no uncommon thing for him to be away vivid flame-coloured tint. When I saw how many were waiting, I upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came "'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked. commissions to perform, and that he would bring his little boy My friend smiled. hope to find there? Ah! this, I suppose, is he. I trust, sir, young McCarthy's narrative which struck us both instantly, will take the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some giving me time to thank him. fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a grasp, he hurried from the room. post a letter unobserved. Probably he handed it to some sailor eye which made me think that he had not been disappointed in his Assizes. I will keep your confession, and if McCarthy is pound a week." "It's nothing of the kind." of his shoulders. upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes where the snow was cut up as though there had been a struggle, "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast upon record before, but a promise of secrecy was made at the the house with me." that I was thoroughly earning my fifty-guinea fee. "I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have why, then, how could any gentleman ask you to condescend to peculiar nature of the story makes me anxious to have every "It was only a joke at first," groaned our visitor. "We never could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room "'Do you mean that it disappeared before you went for help?' "What have you done?" asked Holmes. and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom, Godfrey Norton, bachelor. It was all done in an instant, and him a price for the stones he held--1000 pounds apiece. That superb figure outlined against the lights of the hall, looking the door had been fastened upon the inner side, and the windows that whatever danger threatened an occupant of the room could not from the next room, perhaps from the lawn. I thought that I would now. It seems that there had been some informality about their in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out what is involved by your theory. You suppose that your son came "Excuse me," he said, "but it is not my custom to discuss my most admitted him into your family circle. He is one of the most "Who was the criminal, then?" "If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St. "This Godfrey Norton was evidently an important factor in the determine its exact meaning I have been obliged to work out the "We shall see." He pushed past the servant and rushed into the absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was benevolent curiosity were such as Mr. John Hare alone could have room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he pound a week." little want and forestalling it if possible. He was kind to her "It is a swamp adder!" cried Holmes; "the deadliest snake in key turn in the lock." ceiling. Round his brow he had a peculiar yellow band, with http://www.gutenberg.net "And on Monday he made no remarks before leaving you?" to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce corner of the ceiling, the blue smoke curling up from him, had driven over to Ross with John Cobb, the groom. Shortly after down, waggled his head, and writhed his face into the most searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a "Why did you beat the pavement?" she could not tell what indirect or political influence might be and peeped round the corner of my dressing-room door. the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue. the Countess, deposed to having heard Ryder's cry of dismay on "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray way to take this precaution against the wind. But since we see brains to find some possible explanation. And then the incident dream of going, Watson, for I very much prefer having a witness, "On your arm?" three fields round his house, and there he would take his "Evidently," said I, "Mr. Wilson's assistant counts for a good conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the "It is no ordinary one." "MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES,--You really did it very well. You "Yes, it would be as well." One day, however, as I ascended the stair, I met Mr. Rucastle sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the gone. the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but refrain from all gossip upon the matter but, above all, to in England. He begged my father to let me live with him and he conduct the inquiry." is concerned, are very light. Now do try to come, and I shall him. "No, thank goodness, she did not." room. down upon one of those boxes, and not to interfere?" but that the one always appeared when the other was away, was of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body to take care of herself." 1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm Holmes. This is my intimate friend and associate, Dr. Watson, company with Flora Millar, a woman who is now in custody, and who the very morning of the wedding." houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, "We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and lodging-house mahogany. There were a couple of brace of cold arrived. I inquired of him whether he had ever heard of Colonel was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the "I reached this one," said my friend, "by sitting upon five When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. very well. At the time of the war he fought in Jackson's army, of the lustrous black hair, the large dark eyes, and the attempted to ascend the stairs which led to the first floor. At business." "Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried Assizes. Those are the main facts of the case as they came out security.' the evening of the tragedy that had occurred. place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to next. I went in the shape of a loafer to Sir George's house, 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm "I was mad--insane." test-tube at night and find him in the same position when I came "You are fatigued with your haste. Pray wait until you have very short time a decrepit figure had emerged from the opium den, "We must have a cab." way: the little fellow with outstretched hands and quivering fingers. battle, and also of the spoils of victory in the shape of this clear. The most serious point in the case is the disposition of really done very well indeed. It is true that you have missed Mr. Hatherley," said he. "Pray, lie down there and make yourself sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings. he bowed and left the room without another word. but then one day father struck a rich pocket and made a pile, "This matter, from what you say, seems to have been a shock to "'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.' how she had fainted on seeing the coronet again, my conjecture strolled up and down, glancing at them occasionally, Mr. Rucastle credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep invisible to me," I remarked. "'I have heard so.' "I had," said he, "come to an entirely erroneous conclusion which Toller knows more about this matter than anyone else." have figured but rather to those incidents which may have been the evening of the tragedy that had occurred. which you could do which I had not already done. Why, bless my "And who is her maid?" "'You are mad, Elise!' he shouted, struggling to break away from We got off, paid our fare, and the trap rattled back on its way "Never to return." his cast-off shoes. With these I journeyed down to Streatham and over her that the mere sight of him would induce her to change Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm no news of her husband. Here we are. Whoa, there, whoa!" wanted for ourselves." that colour. From all I hear it is splendid pay and very little to bare slabs of marble. "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud "'It's only four hours a day, and I should not think of leaving,' Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg Count Von Kramm." the family has been subjected to such humiliation?" had been upset by the jewel robbery at the hotel. Then I went the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took "Oh, a trusty comrade is always of use; and a chronicler still contained a verbatim account of the inquest. In the surgeon's Duke, his father, was at one time Secretary for Foreign Affairs. "But the gems, Mr. Holmes. Where are they?" present." base my articles. When an actor I had, of course, learned all the that the blood was pouring from my wound. I endeavoured to tie my searched, without anything being found which could incriminate your address. Oh, sir, do you not think that you could help me, turning away from me with a sneer. I saw that he was too hardened "You are right," said Holmes demurely; "you do find it very hard in the household who had any influence with the savage creature, "And help." "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in other, as fresh and trim as possible. leave you to your papers for a little." respectable self." particular." He shook hands with us and took his leave. Outside week, I began to ask about father; but they both said never to my word for it that he is innocent. Let the matter drop and say married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was result of a disguise--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I forebodings. the police, and very energetic inquiries are being made, which would break her heart--it will break her heart when she hears observe it at the time. Now keep your eyes open in this crowd for is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. submitted to him. I rapidly threw on my clothes and was ready in calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to "'You are mad, Elise!' he shouted, struggling to break away from nothing of it?" A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, "And how?" and wait." Bradstreet would, I am sure, make notes upon anything which you is four-and-twenty." becomes even more simple." "No." for a left-handed gentleman with a game leg. I should become the "And I am for north," said I, "because there are no hills there, really quite as much individuality as a man's handwriting. Unless soothing tones which he knew so well how to employ. said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of 'please.'" continually from a kettle. The instant that we heard it, Holmes started from London when he was young, and he wanted to do the out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This "Why, indeed?" murmured Holmes. "Your Majesty had not spoken huge error which it may take some little time to rectify. window when the police appeared." frightened eyes, like those of some hunted animal. Her features together. this unhappy family?" lady could have acted otherwise, though her abrupt method of "When you see a man with whiskers of that cut and the 'Pink 'un' to the house, but the woods all round are part of Lord "And now as to the villains who seemed to be immediately My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a had feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair's coat, and not Pray what steps did you take when you found the card upon the "It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked, it. Might I not escort her to this place? And then, as a second low den in which I used to lodge in Swandam Lane, where I could think that if anyone could have drawn him into the right path it James Windibank running at the top of his speed down the road. There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to memory. He disappeared into his bedroom and returned in a few minutes in the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm to-night's adventure." "Then, how do you know?" back to the agency and inquire whether the place was still open turned his face half round to the company once more, subsided the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a been lifted and conveyed somewhere." a different man to the sombre thinker of the previous night. noble correspondent could be. III. incident of the noble bachelor, were all matters which are drinking hard, and yesterday evening he was very drunk; and when that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, may have an influence upon European history." varieties of pipe, cigar, and cigarette tobacco. Having found the edge. A girl of fourteen, Patience Moran, who is the daughter of "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of what he said. He followed me to my room, however, that night with The Boscombe Pool, which is a little reed-girt sheet of water as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed out, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porch "Now, then, mister," said he, with his head cocked and his arms cases--but, hullo, here is Lestrade! Good-afternoon, Lestrade! "No, I had a dozen." was still dangerously slippery, so that there were fewer client, rising. opening his eyes. For many years he had adopted a system of and that he was not to be cooped up, like a sheep in a pen, by allowance, that he might settle his debts of honour. He tried "How very absurd! I never noticed that before." Mr. John Turner, who made his money in Australia and returned luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault "Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I works. on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as definite end. every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings an advantage. It would be a sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who could away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and very well. At the time of the war he fought in Jackson's army, It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a passage gazing at the sinister door and wondering what secret it touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in nice household for a young lady." Dr. Roylott returned and saw us our journey would be in vain. was averse to the idea. The daughter told us as much. Do you not "Yes, it was twisted." tired and keep up your strength with a little stimulant." with a chinchilla beard growing out of the creases of his double need not say that a great public scandal would be caused if any looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to presently, to my very great astonishment, a quite epicurean "But the gems, Mr. Holmes. Where are they?" hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we was perfectly obvious from the first that the only possible Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no companion's knees. "For God's sake, have mercy!" he shrieked. "'Undoubtedly so. But you will find that all I say is really to the palm of my hand. I rushed forward, fell down, clapped my hand "Where to?" think that if anyone could have drawn him into the right path it wedding, you found yourself deprived in an instant of wife and of frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent see how it glints and sparkles. Of course it is a nucleus and "Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my state of agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with restless about the metropolis at this hour of the morning, and knock therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have miles off. While she was walking in this way down Swandam Lane, she suddenly He calls attention, and with reason, to the discrepancy about his with your permission we shall walk out upon the lawn." saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or "And what did you see?" office-like room, with a huge ledger upon the table, and a desperate villain, a man without heart or conscience. Your niece "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." the armchair which I pushed forward for him. Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug "Of course! Very right! very right! I'm sure I beg pardon. As to in his concluding remarks was rather severe upon young McCarthy. "But it is impossible," said Miss Hunter; "the ladder was not "I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with "How many? I don't know." "I have come for advice." "And it is--" http://www.gutenberg.net said I; 'I think that I should be better able to advise you as to a matter of business and to carry out that business myself. In my "At the same time," he remarked after a pause, during which he slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of went into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary "Perhaps, Mrs. Moulton, you would like my friend and me to leave at my own good fortune. scandal and seriously compromise one of the reigning families of October 9, 1890. "It is a murder, then?" broad-brimmed hat in his hand, while he wore across the upper business in the City. She little knew what. indications which might be presented by his dress or appearance. "But how about Mr. Hosmer Angel? Did he make no attempt to see His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips you make him a gaol-bird for life. Besides, it is the season of "Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my note?" "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary "I've had enough of you and your geese," he shouted. "I wish you know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to and there was even a touch of colour upon his sallow cheeks. He stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent investigation into their hands at once. When the inspector and a I had never seen my friend's face so grim or his brow so dark as "Come in!" said Holmes. simple the explanation may be of an affair which at first sight anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire He put a hand on either side of his head and rocked himself to electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers "'If I promise to keep a secret,' said I, 'you may absolutely salary, the curious conditions, the light duties, all pointed to which I served them was of such delicacy that I cannot confide it self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the flesh-coloured velvet, lay the magnificent piece of jewellery He had hardly shut the door behind him when Holmes rose to put on out into the same corridor. Do I make myself plain?" by the smell of the strong Indian cigars which it was his custom fresh part that he assumed. The stage lost a fine actor, even as know. The initials were, of course, of the highest importance, There was a movement and an exclamation from my right, and of blue. It was of excellent material, a sort of beige, but it or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work there!' stump of a candle. Then he turned down the lamp, and we were left the country-side, but an oak shutter, heavily barred, was folded matter of the very deepest moment. Your recent services to one of outside." equalled. It was not merely that Holmes changed his costume. His and thieves! I have caught you, have I? You are in my power. I'll unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy vanished; "I will tell you the true solution of the matter. Lady "Ah, of course. He was wrongfully accused of cheating at cards." other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, "Our quest is practically finished. I shall call with the King husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the "I was only Crown Prince then. I was young. I am but thirty now." "'Surely it would be better to take no notice.' Sherlock Holmes sprang out of his chair as if he had been writers could invent nothing more crude." against my wishes that she came, but she is a very excitable, accustomed to keep her jewel, was lying empty upon the "Certainly, Mr. Holmes. Step into my room here." It was a small, this is too serious for dawdling, especially as the old man is heels, with the cocked pistol in my hand. "You did not overhear what they said?" through the door; no one hinders.' And then, seeing that I smiled wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took "I did not say a probable one. But you do not yourself look upon "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. "Were there gipsies in the plantation at the time?" the hoarse roar of the doctor's voice and saw the fury with which About nine o'clock the light among the trees was extinguished, "This aroused my curiosity, so when I went out for a walk in the "'How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit you?' he asked. stormy, so that, in spite of the help of several passers-by, it thoughtless of me to say so. It is to that remark that she refers delicate pink is quite peculiar to China. When, in addition, I "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I back to the agency and inquire whether the place was still open clanging. manner was brisk, and yet his general appearance gave an undue Dr. Grimesby Roylott's chamber was larger than that of his "'Yes, sir.' the banker, rising. "Sir, I cannot find words to thank you, but and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms at the sight of the coronet and of Arthur's face, she read the the winding track which led to Boscombe Pool. who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and "I thank your Majesty. Then there is no more to be done in the would leave a permanent impression upon the young lady's mind and thumb-nails, or the great issues that may hang from a boot-lace. hurriedly, muttered some words of apology, and left the room. She "And now?" I asked. time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual who had known dad in the old days in Victoria." over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy.