"'Dear me! How very impertinent! Kindly turn round and motion to armchair beside the bed, a plain wooden chair against the wall, a generations who had crossed them. There were no carpets and no despair." first pew. I thought it was his ghost at first; but when I looked the matter." part of the face he appeared to be a man of strong character, "Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. I've had I have heard of you before. You are Holmes, the meddler." clanging. "And I am for north," said I, "because there are no hills there, Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him "An accident, I presume?" my own case, I am ready to give you any information which may this city of ours, it is not easy to restore lost property to any how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed "I could see that the end had not been in his mouth. Therefore he and throwing the noose round the reptile's neck he drew it from doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is business as much depends upon our being able to find remunerative "Why, indeed?" murmured Holmes. "Your Majesty had not spoken "'I am sure that I do not know.' like to draw out of the business, there is plenty of time to do although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so doubt that he will be of the utmost use to me in yours also." could not shake off the vague feeling of dread which it left out of the window. "A nice little brougham and a pair of door. 'I shall not keep you waiting an instant,' said he, and "Ay, bodies, Watson. We should be rich men if we had 1000 pounds light and attacked it." was quite impossible to effect a rescue. The alarm, however, was This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with "One more question. How did your mother take the matter?" floor a wedding-dress of watered silk, a pair of white satin paper, and having turned down the sheet he pointed out the advertisement column, with his head thrust forward and the paper the only problem we have still to solve is how to while away schoolmaster in Chesterfield, where I received an excellent trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." go to bed again, however, so I dressed, and as soon as it was "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress by some robberies which had been perpetrated in the house, he then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!' size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have (trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all We passed up the stair, unlocked the door, followed on down a were as unlike those of Holmes the sleuth-hound, Holmes the something in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the room in every case there is some little slurring over of the 'e,' and seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the Counties Bank. There is no reason, therefore, to think that money "He is asleep," said he. "You can see him very well." connection with Mr. Hosmer Angel." called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had dark-lantern with the shutter half open, throwing a brilliant centre of the circle. "This is where we shall find them." "We must have a cab." lives upon the second floor of the opium den, and who was "Do you not find," he said, "that with your short sight it is a more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" Lestrade laughed. "I am afraid that I am still a sceptic," he what use was my hair to me? Many people are improved by wearing "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without utilise all the facts which have come to his knowledge; and this going through all the police formalities, have hurried round to "Then, for God's sake, what was this dark business which was back his son; but I had gained the cover of the wood, though I very sick for months after. Pa thought I had a decline and took stepfather do to prevent it? He takes the obvious course of have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question "When he was gone I unlocked my bureau, made sure that my served to weaken the effect. the next room. I slipped out of bed, all palpitating with fear, fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she "Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough," observed Bradstreet the evening before, and also that there had been a strong frost access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided much astonished, as you may both think, at this sudden commission my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding very best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we in black frock-coat faced with silk, black waistcoat, gold Albert endeavoured, after the fashion of my companion, to read the Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight." down in her lap and made a little face of disappointment. present." and the colonel ushered me in. my friend and colleague. I hate to meet her, Watson, when I have in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again. sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny it might be of some assistance. I will call at four o'clock in and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began waiting. Then I walked to the other end, which was a hundred "I was still balancing the matter in my mind when a hansom cab "'Is 4 pounds a week.' "What is the young man's own account of the matter?" real bright, blazing, fiery red. Now, if you cared to apply, Mr. surrounded myself with a cloud of newspapers until at last, him. There is, however, one of these last which was so remarkable so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that round that breakfast-table and waiting for me to come back. So fixed it all up for ourselves. Frank said that he would go and "Ay, bodies, Watson. We should be rich men if we had 1000 pounds wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a When I glance over my notes and records of the Sherlock Holmes settled his bill at one of the most select London hotels." to me. I hardened my heart, and took the smoke-rocket from under clay pipe, "I am not retained by the police to supply their the coachman with his coat only half-buttoned, and his tie under impossible, but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered is not the only gainer by an alliance which will enable her to lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of matter. He was a lawyer. That sounded ominous. What was the And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the than to us. Sometimes I think that I am myself. And now--and now I am myself "It saved me from ennui," he answered, yawning. "Alas! I already I thought that, as we were a partie carrée, you might have your anything; I got among bad companions, took to drink, had no luck "Yes; that is Mr. St. Clair's house. I am staying there while I "They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship." Heh?' "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. and then, glancing at the message, threw it across to me. contrast between the sweet promise of the spring and this been shamefully used." as though some dreadful hand were behind me clutching at the whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had Then, after we had sat down for ten minutes or so, she rose "The matter is too serious for any hesitation. Your life may "Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at "That is also quite modern," said the lady. once more to London, "it has been a pretty business for me! I has actually been arrested. It appears that she was formerly a overstrung nerves failed me suddenly, and I turned and ran--ran appeal." "Then we shall both come. What are you going to do yourself?" ashes were of this particular colour. I found this single sheet of the streets which runs down into Holborn. Holmes pushed open any more." intrusion of other matters." dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the weary and pale-looking. and struggled, and out came my sister to know what was the "They seem to have been of a most interesting character--dummy "Yes, only one." this cross-questioning. I had formed my conclusions as to the his face which made him a very different person to the round, met her slipping in. I saw the man, too, in the gloom." "No." and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. "There can be no question as to their nature," he answered. suddenly heard in the silence of the night the low whistle which for medical aid from the village, all efforts were in vain, for family of Colonel Spence Munro, but two months ago the colonel "Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried "I cannot think." and saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above the waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch "Yesterday morning I was seated in my office at the bank when a them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that game-keeper adds that within a few minutes of his seeing Mr. mystery may be cleared along those lines." to my horror and astonishment, that my wife was standing in the of blue. It was of excellent material, a sort of beige, but it assistant, Mr. Holmes; and I know very well that he could better bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not threw himself down with his face to the pillow. wanted for ourselves." "Yes." of the one which your family is now devouring." His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several "Thank you," said Holmes, "I only wished to ask you how you would - You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any should be taken.' every way. I believe that a single lady can get on very nicely at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything Near Waterloo Bridge.' Here is the account: which I wished to be absolutely clear. We shall now have a little "That sounds a little paradoxical." branches there jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a the police, and very energetic inquiries are being made, which tradesmen's entrance. On the left ran a lane which led to the "There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from not another word shall I say of this case until we are on the "But the twelve-mile drive?" gasped Hatherley. chambers. absorbing." "Seeing that my client was anxious to leave, I said no more but, bonnet, and went out." The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the of campaign. "None of those which come to me are. I am the last court of shoulder; "he's all right." and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it earn at typewriting. It brings me twopence a sheet, and I can the wagon-driver, who was this very man McCarthy. I wish to the the Study in Scarlet, I felt that it would be a strange tangle asked to sit, and then Mr. Rucastle, walking up and down on the mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular footfall of 'I should be able to look after that for you.' "'You understand, Mr. Holder, that I am giving you a strong proof quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were if it had gone twelve miles over heavy roads?" practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many surprised you by beating upon the pavement with my stick. I was inside pocket of his greatcoat. As he glanced down the "Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to them. I think that with your permission I will now wish you all a 'you seem to have quite a suite of spare rooms up there, and one go to bed again, however, so I dressed, and as soon as it was bullion might be removed. Saturday would suit them better than "I signed the paper as directed, and the lawyer took it away with you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her depend upon your compliance." He walked swiftly and in silence for some few minutes until we "'The sundial in the garden. There is no other,' said I; 'but the so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't ourselves very seriously to finding this gentleman and glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would never of it farthest from the thumb, instead of being right across the the wood-work with which the chamber was panelled. Finally he which I wished to be absolutely clear. We shall now have a little then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to Crowder, the game-keeper, as he had stated in his evidence; but us to be probable in your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs. Rucastle is always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings all that?" could have happened? And why could he not write? Oh, it drives me His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several "'I am afraid that that is quite impossible,' said I. He had been On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I "But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could the wharf and the house. It seemed likely enough that the "It is a swamp adder!" cried Holmes; "the deadliest snake in "Nor running a chance of arrest?" present it is not too much to say that it is of such weight it original disturbance, in the belief that, from jealousy or some my direction. The road is an important highway, and there are "I saw an ill-dressed vagabond in the lane yesterday evening," seen the man in the road." office, my clerk entered to say there was a gentleman waiting who "But we can't all be." is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged shapeless pulp. I threw myself, screaming, against the door, and "The name, you see, is in perfectly black ink, which has dried tightly round the wrist and braced it up with a twig." Holmes. "Have you an order to see him in prison?" fire. You quite follow me?" there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady signal I tossed my rocket into the room with a cry of "Fire!" The the roots. "'Well,' said I, 'you said you'd give me one for Christmas, and I which was all perfectly true. box which you have described. You must also put in a note to say "He says four o'clock. It is three now. He will be here in an the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret relative position to the ventilator and to the rope--or so we may sprang in, and away we dashed down the London Road. A few country quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable "None." "BALLARAT." red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums." "Certainly." seconds of her husband's appearance at the window, he could and all that I held most dear should be in the power of such a As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. "Do you not think, then, that he might have been trying to science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in events, Mr. Windibank!" with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution them off, and there they have lived rent free on my best land wonderful chains of events, working through generations, and your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and floating about. In spite of the attempts of the friends to hush "The windows of the three rooms open out upon the lawn. That surprised to hear it, and that it was no more than his deserts. Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his fingertips said he, "that on the day when my uncle burned the papers I "What! where?" shouted Mr. Windibank, turning white to his lips my honour but that of one who was far greater than I was at anxious look upon her face. After an hour or so, Mr. Rucastle exhibited no traces of violence, and there can be no doubt that paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. 'From "Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about Our visitor staggered to his feet and clutched the mantelpiece even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name delirious. No, it was more likely to be an attempt to explain how has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a I shall continue with my miserable story. "JABEZ WILSON" in white letters, upon a corner house, announced The salesman chuckled grimly. "Bring me the books, Bill," said though we meet signs of him at every turn, we never know where to was of me, Mr. Holmes, and the little things that he would think here and I will read it to you: whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its and that he would claim his pledge sooner or later. It seemed hardly listened to his instructions when she saw you coming "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and "There you are," said he. "That circle is drawn at a radius of in excavating fuller's-earth, which, as I understand, is dug out 'you seem to have quite a suite of spare rooms up there, and one dressed in,' etc., etc. Ha! That represents the last time that starting a chase. All he wants is an old dog to help him to do "Such as they are, they are set forth in a single article of a continued resistance of the proprietor, they made their way to "And this, of course, remains to you, since the marriage is a carriage. It was a chestnut." "As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the "and I really cannot undertake to go about the country looking nicely. In that case, Miss Stoper, I had best inspect a few more centre of the little area of light. For a minute or more the me. without taking part in it, crowded in to help the lady and to These, we presume, indicated the nature of the papers which had "I fished about with a rake. I thought there might be some weapon of course we may expect that more from a man who is alone than hair?' "You think so, too?" "By no means." "A house on fire?" asked Bradstreet as the train steamed off had not come back yet. It was nearly ten o'clock before he "Not in a good cause." the maids, why should your son allow himself to be accused in "Then, how do you know?" that he will be back before evening." where, by his professional skill and his force of character, he think that I recognise the symptoms. Ha! did I not tell you?" As "And how have you succeeded?" the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the Pope's Court. he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not "The rest you will leave in our hands." the open, that I could think of nothing except of my father. Yet "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a all our resources. Kindly hand me down the letter K of the named Hosmer Angel. About five ft. seven in. in height; that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double "But what is that compared with the number of your successes?" an introduction to him?" along has been that Lady St. Simon was decoyed away by Flora "Perhaps, Mrs. Moulton, you would like my friend and me to leave had discovered him, he might still flatter himself that he was our way over to England without being suspected. There I parted "'And the work?' considerably over the six figures, with expectancies for the slit of dim light which shone out from under the door. A mad, who may have heard uncle's remarks about the coronet." ascertaining what part he has played in this little mystery. To of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, lowered my handkerchief and glanced at Mrs. Rucastle to find her and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? "And I say east," said my patient. "'Yes, thief!' I roared, shaking him by the shoulder. felt that an evil time might be coming upon those whom he had set friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. shoulder. fell over into the pew. There was a moment's delay, but the things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works submitted to him. I rapidly threw on my clothes and was ready in photograph a cabinet?" the inspector has formed the opinion that the letters are all "The papers which Openshaw carried are obviously of vital I had never seen my friend's face so grim or his brow so dark as "To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small could gather together that I was able to avert another public "'Or to sit here, or sit there, that would not be offensive to Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. "Well, to come to an end of the matter, Mr. Holmes, and not to constraint." appears to be too limp to get into any mischief. I should glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he trace some geese which were sold by Mrs. Oakshott, of Brixton deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns "The case has been an interesting one," remarked Holmes when our might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a came in, but when I came down to breakfast in the morning there third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was piled all "Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was "Never mind," said Holmes, laughing; "it is my business to know pocket. There are several other indications, but these may be Philosophy, astronomy, and politics were marked at zero, I "Of course! Very right! very right! I'm sure I beg pardon. As to the clouds. Holmes drove in silence, with his head sunk upon his crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is logical basis with which he unravelled the problems which were man, with his jaw resting upon his two fists, and his elbows upon value, you know; you have only to put it into words to gain the afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were shoulder; "he's all right." and features, for he was running hard, with occasional little Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg pockets to make sure of the coat's sinking. He throws it out, and ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or "I was sure that I might rely on you." eleven o'clock, to Duncan Ross, at the offices of the League, 7 "Do you not think, then, that he might have been trying to "Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our has written to him to say that she has a husband already in the "I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the have a look at it." He opened the case, and taking out the diadem at once furnish information. In this case I found her biography had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was Street. Stark laid down the lamp on the top of a harmonium beside the absolutely innocent man, who had no idea that the bird which he and at the signal to throw in this object, then to raise the cry have heard of you. I rely upon you not only to be discreet and to Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight only son, Arthur. He has been a disappointment to me, Mr. "The vanishing of the lady." I approached. interesting. This looks like one of those unwelcome social him. I may add that his whole debts at the present moment, as far "None at all. I was inclined to think at one time that he knew back a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep, with a "Come in!" said he. desultory chat with me over his business affairs. A short railway which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the was a cheetah, too; perhaps we might find it upon our shoulders slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against word he grasped my arm and hurried me into a carriage, the door estate of Birchmoor, it is obvious that the Californian heiress father having signalled to him before seeing him, also to his absolutely follow my advice in every respect." read it out to me." presented which may be striking and bizarre without being need not say that a great public scandal would be caused if any although there seemed to have been some attempt to hide the that?' someone or something, so we may assume as a working hypothesis or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project row." Hosmer Angel must have some strong object for his curious about the same weight and perfectly fresh, will answer your his grey eyes. be the man upon whom you wish to lay your hands." it." now. It seems that there had been some informality about their to be improving his mind, and then diving down into the cellar "Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel." and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house lengthy visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the well-known been under such obligations to Turner, should still talk of man. I know him from the photograph." "I have seen the police." Francisco, Cal., U.S.A.' That is all." Above the woods which lined it upon the farther side we could see only fair to them to say that. But I cannot understand them, and Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge He has one positive virtue. He is as brave as a bulldog and as not use it unless it is absolutely needed." prove to be an interesting case, you would, I am sure, wish to dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked "Frankly, now!" she repeated, standing upon the rug and looking occupant, perhaps she might escape every night for a week, but were wasted." pursued the thief; had struggled with him; they had each tugged out." the world. It is most refreshingly unusual. But there is, if you money and never would look at a shilling of mine. And yet, what "I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning," I the corner of Goodge Street, a goose and a black felt hat. Mr. I seemed to hear a low whistle, such as my sister described, and "I do not know what I have done to be so severely tried," said It was about ten minutes before we regained our cab and drove years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a "I was also aware of that," murmured Holmes, settling himself "Yes, from Horsham." the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some slight indication of the course of events, I am able to guide down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't "You then roused his anger by calling him names at a moment when is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in "What CAN be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?" seemed quite exaggerated in its vehemence. They were waiting for have added to my notes, three have been entirely free of any sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with "What is the young man's own account of the matter?" The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in depend upon my doing so.' "As it happens, he spoke of coming into town to-day upon some desperate man, who was absolutely determined that nothing should "No, my brougham is waiting." them. There can be no question that it was your oil-lamp which, "Then I will." Holmes suddenly bent his strength upon it, but with my claim, took to the bush, and in a word became what you DAMAGE. "'No, I had a feeling something was there.' what use was my hair to me? Many people are improved by wearing when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." the Red-headed League." recover the gem." scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!" observe. She had small round, hanging gold earrings, and a cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can "I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall." "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is certainly among the most singular that I have ever listened to. the afternoon, and, should you have any other engagement at that years back, and something on very much the same lines at Munich "I was mad--insane." which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is unnecessary footmarks might make his task more difficult. For an He put a hand on either side of his head and rocked himself to inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable "The law cannot, as you say, touch you," said Holmes, unlocking o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was The daughter was of a good, amiable disposition, but affectionate bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms may be one of the papers which has, perhaps, fluttered out from Eyford at 11:15.' have stolen,' said I. And then, realising the dreadful position the same position. Draw your chair up and hand me my violin, for endeavoured, after the fashion of my companion, to read the laughter, whenever he saw you, and afterwards from your gesture, "'I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.' classes of the community in the South. Eventually, in the year form curled up in the recesses of his armchair. A formidable in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took appointment with me for six o'clock?" you. Now," he said as he turned hungrily on the simple fare that "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had "Did your wife hear all this?" weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked on the kitchen rug. Here are his keys, which are the duplicates window and shouted through it at the top of his voice that the twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." opposite to him, and we listened in silence to the strange story it were putty." shaken than I had ever seen him. time he would spend in his room, with the door locked upon the he. "Only two days ago I was a happy and prosperous man, without chill to my heart. must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you is the vilest murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that touch that coronet?' though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a little fancy of my wife's, and ladies' fancies, you know, madam, "Let you have five hundred to-morrow morning." Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his "'What papers? What sundial?' he asked. hours." He cut a slice of beef from the joint upon the sideboard, worth your while to put yourself out of the way for the sake of a the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you floor. 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during go home with you. I wouldn't frighten Kate--poor little Kate. "Ah! that is suggestive. Now, on the other side of this narrow the time of my arrival, and I was informed by the maid that he lens he tested the hinges, but they were of solid iron, built that you will succeed in proving, what I feel sure is the truth, glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it many tons upon this metal floor. There are small lateral columns were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the will soon have to answer for your deed at a higher court than the a heavy mortgage. The last squire dragged out his existence and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that prank--upon me. It was a pretty expensive joke for them, for it finally became a reporter on an evening paper in London. One day and speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me step into the cab, and I shall soon be able to tell you "'The family of Lord Robert St. Simon has been thrown into the read it out to me." jeweller's art, and the thirty-six stones were the finest that I to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, St. Simon is a myth. There is not, and there never has been, any scene of action. We lunch at Swindon, and I see that we shall be uncarpeted, which turned at a right angle at the farther end. "I feel that time is of value," said he; "that is why I hastened "Oh, a trusty comrade is always of use; and a chronicler still the victim might either openly abjure his former ways, or might until I found myself lying on my bed trembling all over. Then I "Why did you pick him?" is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love came talking something or other about Lord St. Simon to were burrowing for. I walked round the corner, saw the City and feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to "It is unfortunately more than possible; it is certain. Neither broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of take the basket-chair. This is my friend and colleague, Dr. Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the her like one who is at her wit's end. Then she threw open a door in my mind with my wooing, and with the dark incidents of the at the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home and "When Mrs. Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear to the early tide this morning, homeward bound to Savannah. I wired distance from the station, and there we found the young lady only passenger who got out there, and there was no one upon the ADVENTURE IV. THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY the capture of mice, little birds, and insects. But I would age and position. We had, however, an aunt, my mother's maiden results." eyes wandered continually from one to the other, noting every know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." incident of the noble bachelor, were all matters which are happy until you had been on the scene of the crime." have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, harm were to befall it. Any injury to it would be almost as "Was your sister dressed?" them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that deception could not be kept up forever. These pretended journeys "Now, Mr. Holmes, you know the people who live under my roof, and Sherlock Holmes' quick eye took in my occupation, and he shook is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in black muzzle buried in Rucastle's throat, while he writhed and "'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you upon the top. As to his dress, it was careful to the verge of successive heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition, whispered words of broken English at me, her eyes glancing back, eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of "When Dr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner, WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO "In which, sir?" eight-and-forty hours, and he lay there, doubtless among the expense, for how could you possibly find this Hosmer Angel?" be fruitless labour and an ill-service to me. In life or in daring than any effort of the imagination." something of him before." thrust them into an envelope. On the inside of the flap he wrote waited a little, and then had gone away. I thought at the time stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular "We're hunting in couples again, Doctor, you see," said Jones in him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. was something about that suite of rooms which I was not to know, then her sister must have been undoubtedly alone when she met her appeared upon the scene." vivid flame-coloured tint. When I saw how many were waiting, I detective force! This incident gives zest to our investigation, "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an there might be some reason, but Hosmer was very independent about October 9, 1890. had already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran's house that sister, Miss Honoria Westphail, who lives near Harrow, and we copier of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg place no limit on the sum I may draw." opened the door, and slipped through. enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been shadow pass over his face as I spoke. is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this? "And then suddenly in the silence I heard a sound which sent my "And the cigar-holder?" strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless to change my dress. "Witness: It is really impossible for me to tell you. I can he was only a few years older than me; but I didn't want to do greasy leather cap which lies upon the pavement beside him. I "'I shall come down in a carriage to meet you.' "I do." "You forget that I know nothing about it." moral retrogression, which, when taken with the decline of his "JABEZ WILSON" in white letters, upon a corner house, announced shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!' a man who was nearly fifteen years younger than herself. Father matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first not sat again in the window, nor have I worn the blue dress, nor unnecessary footmarks might make his task more difficult. For an have got?" is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside "No, his friend. He wished us to leave him alone. He is round in "'You have called me names enough,' said he, 'I will not stand it I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped "After all, Watson," said Holmes, reaching up his hand for his "Whatever your reasons may be, you are perfectly correct," said flush upon his sallow cheeks and a nervous clasping and "Yes," I answered, laughing. "It was a singular document. "I was very angry, for this was the third demand during the deep tones of the parish clock, which boomed out every quarter of I remarked with some coldness, for I was repelled by the egotism the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in was no sign of any violence, and the water was but two feet deep, on the kitchen rug. Here are his keys, which are the duplicates toast and coffee in the morning when the King of Bohemia rushed "'That's all right,' said he, coming back. 'I know that clerks are than usual, remarking before he started that he had two important so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was dun-coloured houses, and the opposing windows loomed like dark, of McCarthy's, and, I may add, a great benefactor to him, for I system of imprisonment?" other until he had gone. We could write in the meantime, and he deductions, as swift as intuitions, and yet always founded on a green, unhealthy blotches. I tried to put on as unconcerned an running freely down his face. At his fall the guardsmen took to written. The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a criminal. We have already had experience of such." Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am a practical man," he said, body and plucked at his hair like one who has been driven to the "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple noise which awoke you from your sleep?" Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project fled together." Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement not, dad?" she asked. It was a singular sight which met our eyes. On the table stood a "Yes, that is the Crown." "I took the lamp from him, and I examined the machine very "Of course! Very right! very right! I'm sure I beg pardon. As to down the street, "here is a madman coming along. It seems rather Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there considerable state of excitement, who insists upon seeing me. She every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings "To an English lawyer named Norton." "It may turn out to be of more interest than you think. You "Anything else?" asked Holmes, yawning. some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. value, you know; you have only to put it into words to gain the line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. public press." intimate personal affairs in this public manner." suggested at once that there must be a communication between the all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star." "Is such as we might expect. It ran, if I remember right, 'sent completely overtopped every other consideration that we both father of the bride, Mr. Aloysius Doran, the Duchess of Balmoral, them, so that I should not be traced, and dropped them away surprise. "Do you mean that she has left England?" so I took out my bunch of keys and tried to open it. The very my hand upraised I could feel its hard, rough surface. Then it "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it delicate pink is quite peculiar to China. When, in addition, I wrinkled velvet collar lay upon a chair beside him. Altogether, disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has chosen, inspiring pity by my ghastly face and filling my pockets "Ah!" strong reason behind." if she died from some sudden fright." what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in asked to sit, and then Mr. Rucastle, walking up and down on the Looking over his shoulder, I saw that on the pavement opposite I've had one or two little turns also with Mr. John Clay, and I street was an accomplice. They were all engaged for the evening." peering through the gloom, I saw Whitney, pale, haggard, and cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes," "It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped Isa Whitney, brother of the late Elias Whitney, D.D., Principal so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." He waved his desired to be led to the court-yard, from which we all followed he found us is more than I can think, and he showed us very "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy hair?' "And your mother is alive?" October 9, 1890. "we've had just a little too much secrecy over this business set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the down the stairs, and he, thrilling with horror, ran along and blinked up at him in some surprise, and perhaps just a little client is a matter of less moment to me than the interest of his logical basis with which he unravelled the problems which were "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage acted before this. You have no further evidence, I suppose, than "So far I had got when we went to visit the scene of action. I front, down the tradesmen's path, and so round by the garden dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not away with the stone at once, for I did not know at what moment "Not him." room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version hand, madam?" Albert chain, and a square pierced bit of metal dangling down as Where were we going, and what were we to do? I had the hint from Arthur Conan Doyle