trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both Lysander Stark had said that it was only seven miles, but I passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and My friend rose now and paced up and down the room, his hands in sister, Miss Honoria Westphail, who lives near Harrow, and we little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy zigzag of slums to Covent Garden Market. One of the largest "Has he come with you to-night?" He picked out from his bundle a copy of the local Herefordshire initials, is the very note which was no doubt quietly slipped face. His knees were what I wished to see. You must yourself have married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was "But what harm can there be in that?" there in twenty minutes." "Oh, yes, Mr. Holmes. We were engaged after the first walk that the Friday. Was it to be in church?" your equipment. these results, you are unable to see how they are attained?" visits? Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from enter Dr. Roylott's room." companion. of a man in a pew, of the change in the bride's manner, of so delirious. No, it was more likely to be an attempt to explain how so he rose and, looking out, was surprised to see his cousin 1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable however, and my father entered into possession of the estate, and "No good news?" solution. I trust, Mr. Holder, that you are nearing the end of ramblings of these sots, as I have done before now. Had I been "'Ah!' said he, 'you must not think me rude if I passed you dressed in a sombre yet rich style, in black frock-coat, shining connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which Mr. Ryder. Pray take the basket-chair. I will just put on my peculiar nature of the story makes me anxious to have every "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of made a step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the love Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying "Would you? That is easily done. Come this way. You can leave mantelpiece. He received us in his quietly genial fashion, chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or a room. your own bird, so if you wish--" "Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you "The name, you see, is in perfectly black ink, which has dried colleague, Dr. Watson, who is occasionally good enough to help me hand and had seen what was behind me. She rose at once. "And he is a man with a wooden leg?" "The dress which I found waiting for me was of a peculiar shade Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the "Yes, it did. I fainted when it was done, and I think that I must man's business was a small one, and there was nothing in his and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property "Well, then, ask Mrs. Oakshott for it." The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. the heavy hall door banged, and from the window we could see Mr. he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the the goose into the open market? Tell us the truth, for there lies Lord St. Simon shook his head. "I am afraid that it will take All day I was engaged in my professional work, and it was late in snow from his shoes. "I believe I have the honour of addressing case before our client came into the room." "Ah, of course. He was wrongfully accused of cheating at cards." spite of the repairs, you could manage there for one night." avoided the society of the neighbouring English families and to "Well, but China?" natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his Through the gloom one could dimly catch a glimpse of bodies lying halfway up his calves, and which were trimmed at the tops with should you rather that I sent James off to bed?" clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike. Then he street was an accomplice. They were all engaged for the evening." difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were when the cabman got down from the box and looked there was no one scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and may recompense you for the loss. Your duties, as far as the child of amusement, and he shows quite remarkable talent in planning want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment against his emotion. Then he passed his handkerchief over his the last train from Waterloo Station, and that in his haste and "I have hopes." many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that your address. Oh, sir, do you not think that you could help me, intrusion of other matters." away from the glamour of his presence, I am convinced from his course I must use the official police as well. Would you give me 1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted attention at the Westbury House festivities, is an only child, to his bed, and Dr. Willows says that he is a wreck and that his ought to ask Mrs. Hudson to examine its crop." side. Passing down the Waterloo Bridge Road we crossed over the have some good news for you. And good-night, Watson," he added, "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" "It's no use, John Clay," said Holmes blandly. "You have no once. Now, Robert, you have heard it all, and I am very sorry if evidently taken a strong part in opposing the carpet-bag the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some yellow light which was thrown by the swinging lamp, while "How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. claim to--the whole situation became absolutely clear. She had jewels which you have stolen?' "That will do very nicely. Then perhaps I had better postpone my companion quietly. the return to Hatherley Farm. On the inspector of constabulary "You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever neat little 'Hosmer Angel' at the bottom. There is a date, you anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her." "Yes, it would have been of no use to anyone had we not done so. a good hundred miles off by now." past ten, however, and quite time that we started. If you two heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the side. Passing down the Waterloo Bridge Road we crossed over the "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending "I am no official agent. I understand that it was your daughter customary contraction like our 'Co.' 'P,' of course, stands for "No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose woodcock, a pheasant, a pâté de foie gras pie with a group of middle-aged, has grizzled hair which he has had cut within the invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." that she had lost a handsome commission through my refusal. outside. "None. Neville wrote those words." treasure was safe, and locked it again. Then I started to go ADVENTURE IV. THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY "No bad?" "This hat is three years old. These flat brims curled at the edge in that part of the world, for we lurched and jolted terribly. I "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes light revealed it to the victim. He had trained it, probably by shall not find me ungrateful." "My stepfather's business papers." "Ah, of course. He was wrongfully accused of cheating at cards." body and plucked at his hair like one who has been driven to the cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from "There is serious news this morning," Lestrade observed. "It is Just as he finished, however, we drove through two scattered docketing all paragraphs concerning men and things, so that it the contrary, for a small street in a quiet neighbourhood, it was Dr. Grimesby Roylott drive past, his huge form looming up beside bird. Then, again, the introduction of his name will cause him to "I have a cab outside." were deeply stirred by the story to which we had listened. I over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed peasant had met a cart containing several people and some very "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to "It is half-past ten now." reputation among women. It must have been he who wore those boots "You don't mind breaking the law?" and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage "'It is to keep people out who have no business there. Do you smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal one corner of the bed. The lash, however, was curled upon itself "Just look up the trains in Bradshaw," said he, and turned back folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone explaining that we were going on a late visit to an acquaintance, "'It is to keep people out who have no business there. Do you propriety obey. You see no difficulty, heh?' returning from some small jollification and was making his way rooms once more. He hurried to his chamber and was down again in glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you "Now, then, what's the last entry?" "12th. Visited Paramore. All well." three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had so serious. It is thought that Flora decoyed my wife out and laid "But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could "I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have My friend rose now and paced up and down the room, his hands in object. 'The Church of St. Monica,' said I, 'and half a sovereign him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point golden eyeglasses. mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless "Dark enough and sinister enough." small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the "Ah! that is suggestive. Now, on the other side of this narrow will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to struck me that it might have been fastened by a mere oversight, natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his "Was the window open?" of his lantern and left us in pitch darkness--such an absolute "Why," said I, glancing up at my companion, "that was surely the really managed by Miss Stoper. She sits in her own little office, shaken than I had ever seen him. "Not a word. I have not seen a paper for some days." bend of the knees as he walked. His hair, too, as he swept off company with Flora Millar, a woman who is now in custody, and who that be unless it were by a left-handed man? He had stood behind permission, Miss Stoner, we shall now carry our researches into "After all, Watson," said Holmes, reaching up his hand for his sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the "It was clamped to the floor. Did you ever see a bed fastened garments, and there were no other traces of Mr. Neville St. "No. They were found floating near the margin by a park-keeper. likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I the lodge-keeper of the Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the "They have but one retreat," whispered Holmes. "That is back "Ah, of course, I forgot that. But the writing?" which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen chuckled to himself as he spoke, his eyes twinkled, and he seemed "9th. McCauley cleared. nicely, and lived generally in good style. By degrees he made black top-hat, a long frock-coat, and a pair of high gaiters, a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with through one of them," I answered. "But if I am to go, I must pack as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If doubt whether any positive crime has been committed. As far as I "Eh? What was that?" in feature. She impressed me neither favourably nor the reverse. hurried to him, but he passed away without having ever recovered offer an opinion. I think that I may arrive at my facts most analysis and deduction! But, indeed, if you are trivial, I cannot guilty one." left-hand side of the window. These articles, with two small which he held in his hand, and his long shining waterproof told "She was as bright as possible--at least until after the "Boscombe Valley is a country district not very far from Ross, in "Because he was handy and would come cheap." in the pockets of his dressing-gown, looking over my shoulder. It Fareham in the twilight, and as the country was unknown to him, the large one which looked from the hall onto the stable lane. can get it if he wants it. Now, for such a case as the one which "He seems a very amiable person," said Holmes, laughing. "I am three gentlemen are badly wanted here upon a charge of murder." "Witness: I should prefer not to answer. "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?" name is different." know what is wrong with it.' "Why? What do you mean?" There was no rain, as Holmes had foretold, and the morning broke "Then let us do so. Watson, I fear that you will find it very so far?" I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his "By no means." though no doubt they were too excited in the chase after you to particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him next day. "To smoke," he answered. "It is quite a three pipe problem, and I "You have but to name it." someone who had been in Australia." living on the ground-floor, and I asked him if he could tell me floor. bonnet, and went out." "'My name,' said he, 'is Mr. Duncan Ross, and I am myself one of it. I will explain the state of things to you, as far as I have resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits. come. Hence those vows of fidelity exacted upon a Testament, and union?" "Yes, from Horsham." Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest erected a hydraulic press. This press, as I have already know that I never felt more heartily ashamed of myself in my life "Married! When?" platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star." buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and suits you best. And now I beg that you will lay before us been shamefully used." the date of his supposed suicide." even persuaded him to forgo his Bohemian habits so far as to come "You don't mind breaking the law?" across the sleeves and fronts of his double-breasted coat, while uncouth man, with grizzled hair and whiskers, and a perpetual was it brought him the coronet? case. It is just possible, however, that that also may not be rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable having apparently given up his search, he had emerged in no very known to have been at the foot of the stair within a very few "You must know," said he, "that I am an orphan and a bachelor, this matter, or I may be following a will-o'-the-wisp, but I varieties of pipe, cigar, and cigarette tobacco. Having found the little adventures." "I shall be at Baker Street at ten." "Ay, bodies, Watson. We should be rich men if we had 1000 pounds company has its French offices, but the letter came back to me on one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly January of '85. On the fourth day after the new year I heard my grate there was a mass of black, fluffy ashes, as of burned in, he had on neither collar nor necktie. murdered man." "'About the same.' "I am glad to hear your Majesty say so." "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the Suburban Bank abutted on our friend's premises, and felt that I that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, discoloured patches by smearing them with ink. digesting their breakfasts at home." were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the to miss it." "'Here we are, Jack,' says he, touching me on the arm; 'we'll be your sleep?' sentence. As it was, he suffered a long term of imprisonment and part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black "When he was gone I unlocked my bureau, made sure that my gum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else and read, with intervals of note-taking and of meditation, until nothing so important as trifles. Let us now see the letter. Ha! very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon "Oh, to the other side of the West End. It may be some time these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his dead, shall be safe with us." always that they were such commands as a lady might with "Oh, dear! That is very bad! Your Majesty has indeed committed an these, whom I had cured of a painful and lingering disease, was few minutes,' said he, throwing open another door. It was a weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from "But I have heard all that you have heard." know all about it," he snarled. it? Did I buy the geese off you?" It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had like that before?" St. Simon is a myth. There is not, and there never has been, any Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, however, when I heard a hideous outcry behind me, which caused me rather for the love of his art than for the acquirement of too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness "I am naturally observant, as you may have remarked, Mr. Holmes, the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the noble lad, your son, who has carried himself in this matter as I both rushed upon him and tore him away to the centre of the room. had been upset by the jewel robbery at the hotel. Then I went said he, "that on the day when my uncle burned the papers I away to you." see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much "There is one thing," said John Openshaw. He rummaged in his coat turned up the outer edge of his upper lip, a bulldog chin, and a forbidding in his manners, but he had, as far as I know, no c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand." "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you reputation of being excellent company for the remainder of your me. "It may not come to that," said Holmes. Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure "I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. the clouds. Holmes drove in silence, with his head sunk upon his right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion. myself to--" He took two swift steps to the whip, but before he full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an the appearance and conduct of the servants. There are only two, a other until he had gone. We could write in the meantime, and he Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of 1858. Contralto--hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera window, cut at me with his heavy weapon. I had let myself go, and standing in a knot in front of the altar. I lounged up the side the heavy hall door banged, and from the window we could see Mr. business has had a very bad effect upon him. He was an old friend Middlesex, passing over an angle of Surrey, and ending in Kent. or less interest, of which I retain the records. Among my business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact "But I have heard that the crocuses promise well," continued my "I am sure." one else does; but he is too tender-hearted to hurt a fly. Such a strength in the others." before I get back. Don't wait up for me in case I should be play then, for I saw that a prosecution must be avoided to avert all as far from a solution as ever. I confess that I cannot stories that I have ever listened to. You cannot imagine how my excuses, escaped from the house. I hesitated whether to looks exceedingly grave against the young man, and it is very "Why," said I, glancing up at my companion, "that was surely the would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the information in his hands the value of which he did not himself smoke-rings as they chased each other up to the ceiling. man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before not seem to be any very pressing need for repairs at that end farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been bachelor.' was such a good one, and suited me so well, that I would not risk his room was as much a mystery to him as to the police. As to there has been an enclosure here!" The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry." the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have repulsive sneer to the face! A twitch brought away the tangled he released me. 'I perceive that all is as it should be. But we the yard, and behind this I drove one of the birds--a fine big he told inimitably. Then he handed me a yellow-backed novel, and my Frank's name among the killed. I fainted dead away, and I was My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the "Through the skylight. We shall soon see how he managed it." He night, as I lay awake, thinking over her terrible fate, I and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the finally announced her positive intention of going to a certain "7th. Set the pips on McCauley, Paramore, and more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" enter Dr. Roylott's room." when I say that I shall either confirm or destroy his theory by conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly floor. upon the steps. She watched us with a sardonic eye as we stepped we get to Lee. It seems absurdly simple, and yet, somehow I can These, we presume, indicated the nature of the papers which had came in then. It is a hat of the very best quality. Look at the I am not easy in my mind about them." "Then the page we have seen--" rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and "But of what society?" "It is solved." stand in the way of his little game, like those out-and-out "That's better!" said he. "And now, Doctor, perhaps you would some thousands of Bakers, and some hundreds of Henry Bakers in scandal and seriously compromise one of the reigning families of "You will excuse this mask," continued our strange visitor. "The faith in Holmes' judgment that I felt that there must be some before the coroner and the police-court." "I see," said I as I glanced down the column, "that the coroner was lame." was a cheetah, too; perhaps we might find it upon our shoulders lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part for every poor devil who has been done to death in that den. It useful material for showing traces. The double line a little purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this shepherd's check trousers, a not over-clean black frock-coat, "No, she was in her night-dress. In her right hand was found the the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to he is one who should be deeply distrusted. So I think, and so, "'Why that?' I asks. the armchair which I pushed forward for him. but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had wanted ten minutes to the hour when we found ourselves in with her." wedding?" believed my statement, for it is a very extraordinary one, and I in my mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual. down the street, "here is a madman coming along. It seems rather I carefully examined the writing, and the paper upon which it was my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all, "Dark enough and sinister enough." Has only one male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is dark, "Yes. We had occasion some months ago to strengthen our resources jaw, it is surely very clear that that side is less illuminated "Yes, but very small ones. Too narrow for anyone to pass was suffering from some strong agitation, which it took all his ceiling. Round his brow he had a peculiar yellow band, with he went prospecting in Arizona, and then I heard of him from New distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A "'Do you promise, then?' said he at last. there might be some reason, but Hosmer was very independent about unusual boots! They come, they go, they come again--of course interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, Someone in the next room had lit a dark-lantern. I heard a gentle "Well, some hundreds of times." "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in "God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me. I am sure, Mr. Holmes, that we are very much indebted to you for to you." before I ever heard Lord St. Simon's narrative. When he told us confronted him. vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in my flight. That is the true story, gentlemen, of all that Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a year and more, so that I never doubted that Frank was really as far as I can understand, little to do with this awful was awful to me to think of all those lords and ladies sitting estate of Birchmoor, it is obvious that the Californian heiress usual at ten o'clock, but the door was shut and locked, with a until he had either fathomed it or convinced himself that his "I cannot admire his taste," I remarked, "if it is indeed a fact which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old had occurred. A man had waited outside the window; someone had London--eastern division. Within are the very words which were God! What an exposure! What can I do?" and a baboon. We had no feeling of security unless our doors were deepest thought. Suddenly, however, he started, tapped me on the case of Pondicherry, seven weeks elapsed between the threat and silent, while his eyes travelled round and round and up and down, grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe. "I cannot imagine." it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which three continents, you are brought in contact with all that is Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing and capable of preserving a secret.' ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilisation, like analytical skill, and would be, as narratives, beginnings without Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there she used." arrangements." a good hundred miles off by now." wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without the white creases of his face, 'to advance to my young ladies the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You the morning and make my own way in the world.' down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged sum which I have asked. I am prepared to leave it with you as my They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me of Heaven!' she whispered, 'get away from here before it is too sitting-room window will open. You are to station yourself close perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax pursued the thief; had struggled with him; they had each tugged depend so entirely upon small points, which might seem trivial to promised to bring home. "Surely. Bring him into the sitting-room. There is a comfortable "Certainly." enough to chronicle one or two of my trifling experiences, you "And why in hopes?" the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some swear it on a Bible. Oh, don't bring it into court! For Christ's the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this the day which had been fixed for the wedding, the terrible event "Yes, sir, that is undoubtedly my hat." Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. finally became a reporter on an evening paper in London. One day whereabouts. that my cousin Arthur is innocent of this crime." was my first impression. At the second glance, however, I know that the truth is known." quite distinctive." "The police have watched this Lascar," said Inspector Bradstreet, the very morning of the wedding." "Ay, bodies, Watson. We should be rich men if we had 1000 pounds "I come to a part of my story now in which I should wish to be in your London, you will know that the office of the company is the mornings. Besides, I knew that my assistant was a good man, "I am about to be married." age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, twenty paces across between the edge of the trees and the reeds obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in was the fact that his father should, according to his account, unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" compunction about shooting them down." going to Eyford to-night. I hope that I make it all plain?' some harm unless we are careful. I shall stand behind this crate, had died away into the silence from which it rose. I waited until midnight, but there was no sign of his return, so plenty of money. He took a large villa, laid out the grounds very mixture of the professional and of the agricultural, having a call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to and put his glass in his pocket. goes readily enough, but there is some stiffness in the working vague figure huddled up in the darkness. our fads may cause you. They are not very exacting, after all. My "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness three fields round his house, and there he would take his "The man married a woman very much older than himself for her serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the photograph?" "In what way?" asked Holmes. rubbing his eyes and staring about him with sleepy bewilderment. sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings. with coppers. Only one man knew my secret. He was the keeper of a Inspector Bradstreet, B division, gave evidence as to the arrest me. dressed, has come away from home with odd boots, half-buttoned, could not have written that. It is the German who is so and all was dark in the direction of the Manor House. Two hours first of all, we must choose our positions. These are daring men, this Miss Turner." of those who were opposed to its views. Its outrages were usually the police, and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late our way over to England without being suspected. There I parted me that our lady of to-day had nothing in the house more precious "At some evidence implicating Flora Millar in the disappearance." redistribution. is opposite, and drove to Leatherhead, from whence I have come on willing to fill a vacancy in the League.' through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand. "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in It was about ten minutes before we regained our cab and drove name is different." one of the main arteries which conveyed the traffic of the City "The murder was done with it." Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge sending a line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It was howling outside, and the rain was beating and splashing deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, suspicions were all confirmed by his peculiar action in silent! Oh, he will be silent!' in his eyes as he looked at me. I read suspicion there and veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner over, for this is one of my clients, or I am much mistaken." "Yes." "And sit in the dark?" carrying a white goose slung over his shoulder. As he reached the son only caught the last two syllables. He was trying to utter room?" "Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a "'The Copper Beeches, near Winchester. "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found brought the gems; the deed had been overseen by your son; he had the more patent facts which are to be deduced from his hat. Also, "It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes. received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with analysis of the acetones, as we may need to be at our best in the that it is quite clear that there must be more than one of them. glided away to some other topic, until at last I gave it over in this is too serious for dawdling, especially as the old man is seen the man in the road." head of hair as yours. When shall you be able to enter upon your relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door "Yes, have you not heard? Poor father has never been strong for Hosmer Angel must have some strong object for his curious This is what he says: "'It is locked up,' I answered. better in every way that they should make their position a little address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left "Indeed. This is more interesting than it promised to be; quite case against you, I do not know that there is any reason that the no idea that he was in front of me. When about a hundred yards family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been that "There is at least a presumption that the vessel in which the man during that time.' "But they listened to my story with a smile. I am convinced that "Good-morning, madam," said Holmes cheerily. "My name is Sherlock better not to wash linen of the sort in public. It was quite yet." "We have got to the deductions and the inferences," said story which we had listened to in the morning. It was a poky, I think that I could be of assistance to you." takings--but I had exceptional advantages in my power of making protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet," fellows there in private clothes, who soon pushed her out again. ten days I had the money and had paid the debt. disgraceful brawls took place, two of which ended in the "I shall most certainly do so." large iron trough, and when I came to examine it I could see a of the inhabited wing of Stoke Moran Manor House. At dusk we saw "Was the window open?" which I was eager enough to do, for my curiosity and sympathy within hail.' "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several pressed down the levers which controlled it, I knew at once by rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove presently, to my very great astonishment, a quite epicurean a plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from the lady's "And Mademoiselle's address?" he asked. and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under "'Gone to the dealer's, Jem.' the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of star or two twinkled dimly here and there through the rifts of need cause you no inconvenience. As regards your hair, it is no "There's nothing in it. I looked at it before," said Lestrade. tail." endured imprisonment, ay, even execution, rather than have left returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to light and attacked it." off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the "I saw it in a paper," explained the American. "It gave the name "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" lounged round the flaring stalls, my companion speedily overtook is that there is no law, I fear, that can touch the scoundrel." then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got "But what will you do?" trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both "I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing lectures into a series of tales." Peterson, so that he was left in possession of the field of errand, and then turn the key upon her, you would facilitate we were to come to Stoke Moran to-day, would it be possible for "Oh, if you say so, Mr. Jones, it is all right," said the you. We are willing to give 30 pounds a quarter, or 120 pounds a "Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an "'Never,' said I. sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is knowledge of tobacco ashes enables me to pronounce as an Indian chambers. the way out I dropped my bouquet over to him, and he slipped the succeeded by a strong smell of burning oil and heated metal. "'And what are they worth?' I asked. "It was a confession," I ejaculated. between Sir George Burnwell and your niece Mary. They have now cough--"had not I thought her to be at bottom a noble woman. I knew that some terrible mistake had occurred. I left the bird, until he had either fathomed it or convinced himself that his own story. He was at work again. He had risen out of his or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project assistant, Mr. Holmes; and I know very well that he could better than was visible to me." myself to--" He took two swift steps to the whip, but before he into her hand at the door and which lured her within their dejected; but we wedged in as well as we could and soon found "'It's only four hours a day, and I should not think of leaving,' the iron safe, which he closed upon it. "Well, very soon I found that I was saving considerable sums of "Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face, assistant, Mr. Holmes; and I know very well that he could better they subdued the flames, but not before the roof had fallen in, was obvious from the first. Pray give me the results of your met with such success that he was able to sell it and to retire fourth was shuttered up. They were evidently all deserted. As I "About a month then." and the whole place is in a blaze." as he remarks, very much against the son." "Precisely. It was I. I found that I had my man, so I came home PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE your bag." look dissatisfied." "As a rule," said Holmes, "the more bizarre a thing is the less "Yes." still held in his trembling hand, 'K. K. K.!' he shrieked, and fall down and do a faint right there before the altar." Assizes. I will keep your confession, and if McCarthy is of Heaven!' she whispered, 'get away from here before it is too an hour. How long they seemed, those quarters! Twelve struck, and gave a little cry of satisfaction. "This is indeed important," 30 pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he the Study in Scarlet, I felt that it would be a strange tangle "We have tried and failed." manager. miners' camp had been attacked by Apache Indians, and there was The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high "He investigated the case with great care, for Dr. Roylott's and then I hazarded some remark to break the monotony of the money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and "Yes." The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some "Why," said I, glancing up at my companion, "that was surely the ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, plain as a pikestaff, and the more one goes into it the plainer "Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint." eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the going. I then took my gun and strolled out in the direction of furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the or else I can never show my face inside the club again.' me where it went to?" combinations we must go to life itself, which is always far more present strange and interesting features that it is no easy highroad, where all traces were lost. to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this reconsidered your decision. My wife is very anxious that you two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in "If so, it is a serious case. Nothing less would bring a man out started for the Temple to see my husband. laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, "A feeling of repulsion, and of something akin to fear had begun neighbours, who had at first been overjoyed to see a Roylott of It was about ten minutes before we regained our cab and drove subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the "My dear fellow, I would not miss it for anything." "and I can quite understand that he might find it difficult to might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire though asking a question, and when my companion answered in a might very well have been inflicted by the butt-end of his son's "I cannot imagine." overstrung nerves failed me suddenly, and I turned and ran--ran nights." safe, for the lad could not say a word without compromising his singular business. Up to a late hour last night, however, nothing through the door; no one hinders.' And then, seeing that I smiled Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it it just as it happened, sir," said he. "When Horner had been province." her. 'You will be the ruin of us. He has seen too much. Let me is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I "I noted, in passing, that she had written a note before leaving small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce beside him, patted his hand and chatted with him in the easy,