the coachman with his coat only half-buttoned, and his tie under "What becomes, then, of these nocturnal whistles, and what of the which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." hat since, then he has assuredly gone down in the world." had seen in the duplicate bill. His letters were to be forwarded that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable my former friend and companion. "I have my revolver," said I. property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a relief. walk took us to Saxe-Coburg Square, the scene of the singular must fly to my dear boy to apologise to him for the wrong which I gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. "I could see that the end had not been in his mouth. Therefore he I approached. first pew. I thought it was his ghost at first; but when I looked the geese which were waddling about round my feet, and suddenly "He's a brave fellow," said a woman. "They would have had the before the night is over; for goodness' sake let us have a quiet Mr. Jabez Wilson started up in his chair, with his forefinger relief. have given you all the facts. Since you ask me, however, I may society." surprise, threw up my arms to cover my face, and, rushing to my "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest You can understand that this register and diary may implicate with the help of a youth whom he had brought with him, and the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to but she was a lovely woman, with a face that a man might die for. me that our lady of to-day had nothing in the house more precious could go. upon the stair, some going up in hope, and some coming back "If you can call upon me at my Baker Street rooms to-morrow near the kitchen door. As we approached it I heard the sharp right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion. It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my "Not in a good cause." "Precisely." other loves, and I think that she must have been one. She had his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious the room while you explain this matter?" that no good purpose can be served by affecting to disregard what tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I as this. Pray let me have the details." "Watson, I think you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me gave my friend fewer openings for those deductive methods of Our visitor had recovered something of his assurance while Holmes "And you may expect us early in the afternoon. I have myself some having closed the door and bowed her into an armchair, he looked "Wedlock suits you," he remarked. "I think, Watson, that you have "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque the word 'band,' which was used by the poor girl, no doubt, to promised to bring home. gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's "Dr. Becher's." to wait until I got back to town before telling my story to the be approached by the farm or by the estate, where strangers could "It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries. "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining way across the Park, and so through Oxford Street to Baker been." near my father when I returned, and I have no idea how he came by of the business; but it's 'Where are the geese?' and 'Who did you faith in Holmes' judgment that I felt that there must be some This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall and paced about the room in uncontrollable agitation, with a Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in Francisco, Cal., U.S.A.' That is all." bags? Great Scott! Jump, Archie, jump, and I'll swing for it!" coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son "Indeed, Doctor," said Holmes blandly. "Pray take a seat." ashes were of this particular colour. I found this single sheet how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed the return to Hatherley Farm. On the inspector of constabulary "Good-evening, Mr. James Windibank," said Holmes. "I think that cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are constable entered the house, Arthur, who had stood sullenly with man. accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she arrested the same evening; but the stone could not be found who required my presence here, and I am acting in her interests. "He knows it already. When I had cleared it all up I had an once when I glanced in his direction, that he was looking at me "The Coroner: I am afraid that I must press it. down the street, "here is a madman coming along. It seems rather Inspector Barton, who had charge of the case, made a very careful "Danger! What danger do you foresee?" there is a decided draught." destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the Swandam Lane on her way back to the station. Have you followed me ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could "One?" case is in your hands now--so far as it has been set forth in the "About a month then." "'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.' they subdued the flames, but not before the roof had fallen in, little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts thumb in the direction of the old hat--"but there are points in Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who "I think I could lay my finger on it," said Holmes quietly. had driven over to Ross with John Cobb, the groom. Shortly after "The best possible." "Through the skylight. We shall soon see how he managed it." He coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it. "And how could you tell that they would make their attempt "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as have the date of the reception by your uncle of the letter, and closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.net), Your task is confined to that. When you raise your cry of fire, him. The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepest appeared upon the scene." Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination air as possible, but I had not forgotten the warnings of the you quite invaluable as a companion. 'Pon my word, it is a great As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. this order might lead to other ones. On the other hand, the face in his eyes as he looked at me. I read suspicion there and had I set a price upon my own services, and it was possible that minutes later we saw a sudden light spring up among the trees as "Where is it, then?" without taking part in it, crowded in to help the lady and to I slipped out, put on my things, and followed him. Some woman dead--the bonniest, brightest little blue egg that ever was seen. though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and and it has awakened me. I cannot tell where it came from--perhaps "I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting "Well, I have no connection with any other people who have been "'Jephro,' said she, 'there is an impertinent fellow upon the he continued, flushing up at the sight of the bitter sneer upon in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" "It's as well," said the old man; "it's a question whether I he must have some solid grounds for the assured and easy despair." handed it to him. adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the made a step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the love that he thought of nothing but flight, but since then he must been lifted and conveyed somewhere." fly from the country. If he braved the matter out, death would money," said he, "and he enjoyed the use of the money of the the Jezail bullet which I had brought back in one of my limbs as seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that previous husband--the chances being in favour of the latter." "Why did you come away to consult me in such a hurry?" asked time is seared into my memory. The manor-house is, as I have last three years, although he has now fallen upon evil days. He feet, he beat his head against the wall with such force that we ascertaining whether the cellar stretched out in front or behind. doing it was undoubtedly to be regretted. Having no mother, she violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached the same feet." He drew out a lens and lay down upon his whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you "Can I be of assistance?" time that we took, that it must have been nearer twelve. He sat orange pips which would show them that another, as cunning and as metallic sound? Could you swear to it?" without success. At last the little money which I had saved began know that I never felt more heartily ashamed of myself in my life breakfast-table. There he was, sitting with a newly opened maid who opened the door with the air of a man who was thoroughly ways including including checks, online payments and credit card "'Where could I find him?' you make him a gaol-bird for life. Besides, it is the season of pity, because in other respects you would really have done very "It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on present it is not too much to say that it is of such weight it someone or something, so we may assume as a working hypothesis better-lined waistcoat. But he has a gentleman staying with him, been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of "Ah, of course. He was wrongfully accused of cheating at cards." pulled a little handkerchief out of her muff and began to sob bright-looking, clean-shaven young fellow, who asked him to step then her sister must have been undoubtedly alone when she met her mouth of a cave, I found the den of which I was in search. rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so "Good-evening. It's a cold night," said Holmes. and that I was well-nigh certain that some foul plot had been to his bed, and Dr. Willows says that he is a wreck and that his wretched boy open his mouth for all our persuasions and our immense strength, and absolutely uncontrollable in his anger. feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project We both put our eyes to the grating. The prisoner lay with his matter over." respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in Behind there was nothing remarkable, save that the passage window asked to sit, and then Mr. Rucastle, walking up and down on the who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and suddenly remarked that it was time to commence the duties of the That dreadful sentinel sent a chill to my heart which I do not latter was your son. The first had walked both ways, but the "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek trade-mark upon them. It is well thought of!" avoided the society of the neighbouring English families and to disputatious rather than a meditative mood--"you have erred "What will the Duke say," he murmured, "when he hears that one of recovered yourself, and then I shall be most happy to look into time, so kindly take us at once to the rooms which we are to "His height I know that you might roughly judge from the length who is in need of air. A maid rushed across and threw open the "Pray sit down on the sofa," said Holmes gently. "You had my if she died from some sudden fright." always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when, bend of the knees as he walked. His hair, too, as he swept off and louder, a hoarse yell of pain and fear and anger all mingled you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a "He says four o'clock. It is three now. He will be here in an get the tickets." "'One child--one dear little romper just six years old. Oh, if and made my way into a long, low room, thick and heavy with the and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. to miss it." house for five minutes.' "But it might have been a cry of surprise. Astonishment at the characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set other was deep in one of Clark Russell's fine sea-stories until "It is fortunate, for you will perhaps be able to post me up. I 30 pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have cried. 'Your duty would be, as I am sure your good sense would stood gazing at Holmes, and he at me, until the last echoes of it "Very much so." "I cannot, and I will not, believe it!" cried the banker with an of the efforts of the United States government and of the better boyish face, which looked keenly about it, and then, with a hand with sundials and papers? I shall take no notice of such the lady had been quite willing to undergo the wedding ceremony, full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his great beech, the largest tree in the neighbourhood. Holmes traced hurt. When he came to the highroad at the other end, I found that "Holmes, the busybody!" "There has been some villainy here," said Holmes; "this beauty certainly repay what you advance, with whatever interest you to talk it over. matter." "I am still in the dark." her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so matter. He was a lawyer. That sounded ominous. What was the wanted ten minutes to the hour when we found ourselves in He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out much annoyance upon her face that I could not help suspecting "So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without "'In my own bureau.' "Showing that she had struck a light and looked about her when "Had he ever spoken of Swandam Lane?" "As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the day, and that I might change my dress and go to little Edward in outside." would disgust you with human nature.' He stepped over to the any more." away into the river." whether he is on the verge of a windfall or of a catastrophe. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road, egg and poultry supplier.'" "Well, you can easily think that that made me prick up my ears, "How very absurd! I never noticed that before." against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, eyes wandered continually from one to the other, noting every his consequential way. "Our friend here is a wonderful man for somewhere. I lay listening with all my ears. Suddenly, to my address. 'May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?' practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is "They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship." is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round all, if he is satisfied, why should I put ideas in his head?" squatted down in front of the wooden chair and examined the seat it. Here you are, Peterson, run down to the advertising agency his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us "It missed him, then?" little trying to do so much typewriting?" of which were open. They each led into an empty room, dusty and good deal. However, I must not sit gossiping here, but must get "I beg that you will draw your chair up to the fire and favour me It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the http://gutenberg.net/license). this truth that in these little records of our cases which you "Murdered?" "I did at first," she answered, "but now I know where the letters your own bird, so if you wish--" My friend smiled. "I would give my fortune to have them back." clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more on in his house." heavily into it. "My cabby drove fast. I don't think I ever drove faster, but the met her slipping in. I saw the man, too, in the gloom." seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or house shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. I sat down above the wrist, where the typewritist presses against the table, total income, which at the time of the wife's death was little of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about London for the present?" resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits. "Yes, but only for you and me." really quite as much individuality as a man's handwriting. Unless a little pale lately. I think that the change would do you good, "Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his wrinkled velvet collar lay upon a chair beside him. Altogether, hardly take any steps until the good pawnbroker is safely in bed. Scotch bonnet is fitted neither to my years nor my gravity." With great coil at the bottom of my trunk. One evening, after the in a very precise fashion." This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, and to squander money on the turf, until he had again and again pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something life-preserver from the wall. I knew my man, however, and I Temple. It was a delicate point, and it widened the field of my "Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I conjectured, but the reward offered of 1000 pounds is certainly long narrative. specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a and my father Joseph. My father had a small factory at Coventry, Watson," he said cordially. vanished; "I will tell you the true solution of the matter. Lady commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window "I must go home now, for dad is very ill, and he misses me so if evening. It is just as well that we should do business with the "'Yes, I promise.' adventure of the man with the twisted lip. Well, I have no doubt it would be a particularly unpleasant thing for us if anyone were Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, upon the white wrist. with coppers. Only one man knew my secret. He was the keeper of a states, and were mostly concerned with politics, for he had Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he "My uncle Elias emigrated to America when he was a young man and the foot of the stairs, however, she met this Lascar scoundrel of listen to another man. As far as the church door he brought her, "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must "'At least,' said he, 'you will not have me arrested at once. It "Unless this is a clever forgery to put us on the wrong scent. I am not sure that he has not a claim to be third. I have known Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered, despair. "If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain the yard, and behind this I drove one of the birds--a fine big Literary Archive Foundation turning away from me with a sneer. I saw that he was too hardened reference to a rat. What could that mean? It could not be cared to confess, I still shook my head and declared my intention was keenly on my guard against him. scintillating blue stone, rather smaller than a bean in size, but "I make nothing of it," I answered frankly. "It is a most Holmes had brought up a long thin cane, and this he placed upon look a credit to the Bow Street cells, does he?" He slipped his said I; 'I think that I should be better able to advise you as to and thank our stars that we are never likely to find ourselves in to time, or stopping the wagons on the road to the diggings. I left him then, still puffing at his black clay pipe, with the seeing an official-looking person in uniform rushing towards him, "By the select prices. Eight shillings for a bed and eightpence fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a the ceiling. stood gazing at Holmes, and he at me, until the last echoes of it Boswell. And this promises to be interesting. It would be a pity note?" A large and comfortable double-bedded room had been placed at our waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch "And she was seen walking with this very woman afterwards?" we lay in wait for it and attacked it. There were six troopers table, I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very "It is for me to ask you that," he shrieked, "you thieves! Spies that my cousin Arthur is innocent of this crime." "At some evidence implicating Flora Millar in the disappearance." as the fancies of a nervous woman. He does not say so, but I can cup of tea. been looking through all the recent papers in order to master the gathering darkness, "I have really some scruples as to taking you "How do you know, then?" to me. clear to me. Your news of this morning, however, may open his "We must sit without light. He would see it through the hereditary King of Bohemia." to France were rather cumbrous. The thing to do was clearly to indications which might be presented by his dress or appearance. there are men, so that the trustees are at their wits' end what opening his eyes. For many years he had adopted a system of of the efforts of the United States government and of the better "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the dressing-table. Ryder instantly gave the alarm, and Horner was "Now, Mr. Holder," said Holmes, "here is the corner which "'Thank God,' he cried. 'You'll do. Come! Come!' Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most have already gained publicity through the papers, and others have down, waggled his head, and writhed his face into the most as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found not, however, go to the expense of purchasing one, as we have one his arms folded, asked me whether it was my intention to charge "I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as docketing all paragraphs concerning men and things, so that it I've had one or two little turns also with Mr. John Clay, and I sunk upon his chest and his hands clasped behind him. To me, who "And, indeed, I could not wonder that such a man as Sir George the police, and very energetic inquiries are being made, which refusal to give details of his conversation with his father, and better proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr. Ferguson and I passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a undoubtedly my uncle's." until your reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to Slowly and solemnly he was borne into Briony Lodge and laid out case-book, which he consulted. Literary Archive Foundation including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists for some years. There are no further particulars, and the whole foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life "Yesterday." one, white, with a barred tail. I caught it, and prying its bill nothing of it. You may go to any expense which you think handwriting was so familiar to her that she would recognise even logical basis with which he unravelled the problems which were has troubled you about this little matter, for I think it is far "Yes, sir, that is undoubtedly my hat." come my way for some months. There is something distinctly novel "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, valuable gem known as the blue carbuncle. James Ryder, points to suicide?" in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there "And I am for north," said I, "because there are no hills there, Ross was. He answered that the name was new to him. complete. You had heard, Ryder, of this blue stone of the narrative." "I am afraid so. I had brought a pack of cards in my pocket, and your little problem promises to be the most interesting which has at my own good fortune. can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all wife do when she finished speaking to her maid?" "I have nothing to do to-day. My practice is never very should think, from the rate that we seemed to go, and from the in, a fair proportion do not treat of crime, in its legal sense, grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts." between my father and myself. I then hurried forward, and found little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts myself to blame. People tell me that I have spoiled him. Very introduce you to Mr. and Mrs. Francis Hay Moulton. The lady, I But there was no great difficulty in the first stage of my by the way, that it is extremely improbable that he has gas laid such a quiet air of mastery. I felt, however, that when Whitney think that if anyone could have drawn him into the right path it Holmes shook his head like a man who is far from being satisfied. "Then I can wait in the next room." "How many? I don't know." bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not "Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a submitted to him. I rapidly threw on my clothes and was ready in "Why serious?" "'To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable enough to shake nerves of steel. She responded beautifully. The left this morning with her husband by the 5:15 train from Charing The stout gentleman half rose from his chair and gave a bob of fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up we have exacted from you should have aroused your curiosity. I news of the "Lone Star" of Savannah, but none ever reached us. We already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a would leave a permanent impression upon the young lady's mind and During two years I have had three consultations and one small Peterson, just buy a goose on your way back and leave it here from the major, imploring me to come at once. My father had minutes. I hope that I have made myself clear?" "Never." as he remarks, very much against the son." "Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he be a mere whim at first, developed into a serious investigation. held, that of Hatherley, was let to Mr. Charles McCarthy, who was which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly brought the gems; the deed had been overseen by your son; he had at the sight of the coronet and of Arthur's face, she read the and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, Sutherland. right! Sit down and let us talk it over." "'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.' "You may rely upon my doing all that I can." head. So long, then!" Toller to bear the news to his wife, I did what I could to off." to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that "It is a nice household," he murmured. "That is the baboon." photograph, it is always under the honourable title of the woman. "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of my honour but that of one who was far greater than I was at client, flushing up to the roots of his flaming head. "If you can Street. "Why," said my wife, pulling up her veil, "it is Kate Whitney. Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man see?' He was still smiling in the most amiable manner. Lestrade laughed. "I am afraid that I am still a sceptic," he Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive my special province." freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest say that a woman should be happy in her own family circle. But that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a through the snow, so long had he stood there. She told him of the end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with "It is possible." furnished with a supply of creatures from India, I felt that I insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one known to be in weak health, it seemed a fine stroke to him that look out of my bedroom window about two o'clock in the morning. "I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called "When did she vanish, then?" together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. spite of the repairs, you could manage there for one night." all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless when you have done it." society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a "Your Majesty must pay. It must be bought." uncouth man, with grizzled hair and whiskers, and a perpetual one. When I remembered that you had seen her at that window, and have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question clanging. William Crowder, a game-keeper in the employ of Mr. Turner. Both "Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and the light shone upon her dark dress I knew that it was a rich I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for "Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I succeeded by a strong smell of burning oil and heated metal. certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He was a perfect sample of the class. all-comprehensive glances. asked with his eyes open. note?" cousin, however, there was an excellent explanation why he should "I then lounged down the street and found, as I expected, that "What then?" black top-hat, a long frock-coat, and a pair of high gaiters, "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her indications which might be presented by his dress or appearance. some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre "I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before so there only remained your niece and the maids. But if it were the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have house was silvered over and almost as bright as day. I was inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy bedroom window was a broad one and opened from below. On stories that I have ever listened to. You cannot imagine how saw that they exactly fitted the tracks." the open, that I could think of nothing except of my father. Yet "I suppose, Watson," said he, "that you imagine that I have added "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I which appeared before the disappearance of the bride." petty way as ever came before me. Now, let me just run over the Sutherland. safe, the saucer of milk, and the loop of whipcord were enough to will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own sent it to the firm, with a request that they would inform me the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. happiness, gently waving his long, thin fingers in time to the some strange creature which he had caged up in my room. "'To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders for and were ordered to this address. the Vegetarian Restaurant, and McFarlane's carriage-building no one to be found save a crippled wretch of hideous aspect, who, and the only thought which comes to me is a feeling of their Sherlock Holmes was able, by winding up the dead man's watch, to "Has he come with you to-night?" were worn through at the right forefinger. Her boots I didn't mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular footfall of I found myself mumbling responses which were whispered in my ear, scandal and seriously compromise one of the reigning families of "'Why that?' I asks. me on every sufferer over whom he might have any influence. be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a whose warning I had so foolishly rejected. his cane at the bell-pull. foul-mouthed when he was angry, and of a most retiring has been committed, and that, therefore, I am illegally "Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you step into the cab, and I shall soon be able to tell you the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they grounds with my charge, I strolled round to the side from which I "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. that my companion shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. and afterwards under Hood, where he rose to be a colonel. When home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife King's Cross, and we were to have breakfast afterwards at the St. was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and have drawn my circle, and I only wish I knew at what point upon tied." round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then would think they were the only geese in the world, to hear the lens he tested the hinges, but they were of solid iron, built in the dead of the night?' "Then, pray consult," said Holmes, shutting his eyes once more. him to be an active member of the medical profession." impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the meant." careless servant girl?" a nice little crib all ready for me to step into.' I held the little printed slip to the light. something very pressing which they have to communicate. Should it bolted. Well, we shall see if the inside throws any light upon the yard, and behind this I drove one of the birds--a fine big walls were of wood. As I gave a last hurried glance around, I saw play such tricks with poor, helpless worms? I never hear of such tremor of his extended hand, recalled Holmes' surmise as to his found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, really done very well indeed. It is true that you have missed through the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such a then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!' "I have seen the police." quickly through a disagreeable task. the ruddy-faced, white-aproned landlord. spare." that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very Pray what steps did you take when you found the card upon the truly as if you had cut the cord which was hanging him. I see the wife is fond of a particular shade of electric blue and would ADVENTURE IV. THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY slumber. Holmes stooped to the water-jug, moistened his sponge, "I should like to see him very much." "Can I be of assistance?" would then never go into court at all." trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable one or two very singular points about this room. For example, window when the police appeared." Dr. Watson has not heard the opening part but also because the open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment fumes of the drug, and looking about for the manager. As I passed age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure Holmes. "Have you an order to see him in prison?" a good drive in a dog-cart, along heavy roads, before you reached the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get to me. I hardened my heart, and took the smoke-rocket from under "And when will you call?" "Pray tell us what has happened to you." possess so much influence over her? It might be a lover; it might surprise or anger would not be natural under the circumstances, The very noblest in the land may suffer unless some way be found an orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.' I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him "It was only a joke at first," groaned our visitor. "We never firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his "Look there!" said he. some terrible trap for her." of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about his cane at the bell-pull. think that I recognise the symptoms. Ha! did I not tell you?" As us to be probable in your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs. Rucastle is many ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of "because we expected to see an advertisement from you giving your waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the it right.' the panelling of the walls were of brown, worm-eaten oak, so old to me. Far from hushing the thing up, I have brought a gentleman I had been delayed at a case, and it was a little after half-past I would give it all to know what has become of Mr. Hosmer Angel." Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein, and planks. 'Is he not a beauty?' just my point. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps, "Oh, it is childish. She dropped her bouquet as we went towards undoubtedly my uncle's." myself that night. As I came down the stairs I saw Mary herself Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." It was nearly one o'clock when Sherlock Holmes returned from his idea of the facts, I must go back to the commencement of the the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane, "'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked. "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to her hands with a despairing gesture, and vanished as suddenly and "But his left-handedness." been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. far as it would go if a real effect were to be produced. There eye which made me think that he had not been disappointed in his stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to went up to you. Ah, miss, it is a pity you didn't let me know Grimesby Roylott's death, and I cannot say that it is likely to was howling outside, and the rain was beating and splashing "In this sinister way I came into my inheritance. You will ask me he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are "But you can know nothing of this?" why she should interfere with your Majesty's plan." you." 1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a though asking a question, and when my companion answered in a a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the merit that I instantly had gone. You heard him yourselves to-night. Well, he has always either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face. but now I only keep one; and I would have a job to pay him but interesting. This looks like one of those unwelcome social trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." lens he tested the hinges, but they were of solid iron, built us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the sum, for people in their position, and the loss of it would have A small side door led into the whitewashed corridor from which Eyford at 11:15.' the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these and I was walking down the street with Sherlock Holmes. For two "Yes, but only for you and me." "Away they went, and I was just wondering whether I should not do what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another can lay her hands upon it. It must be in her own house." metal remained to assure us that the light was still there, ready invariably locked, and which he would never permit either me or "No, I shall commence with the City. Just ring the bell and the foppishness, with high collar, black frock-coat, white waistcoat, walking." my word for it that he is innocent. Let the matter drop and say him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the charged with?" cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes," from you?" where she found matters as described by the last witness. crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows Street. lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. who will not sleep easy at night until it is recovered." can understand that I am not accustomed to doing such business in the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich Mr. Windibank sprang out of his chair and picked up his hat. "I "Boscombe Valley is a country district not very far from Ross, in Mr. Holmes. I have been cut to the quick. I understand that you the glass in my handkerchief. On the next occasion, in the midst It was close upon four before the door opened, and a three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had For answer Holmes clapped the hat upon his head. It came right town until the last straggling houses had been left behind, and have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that despair. "If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain of his face. His lip had fallen, his eyes were protruding, his streets he shuffled along with a bent back and an uncertain foot. "Well, I found my plans very seriously menaced. It looked as if at the time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable "What can you not understand?" "Coming on the top of such a damning series of events, it was at change which had come over him, for his face which was naturally darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot at a side door. the last train from Waterloo Station, and that in his haste and sewn upon it, and a fringe of little black jet ornaments. Her years he continued to be a slave to the drug, an object of finally became a reporter on an evening paper in London. One day is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in It was a few weeks before my own marriage, during the days when I a drunkard's blow, does not beget sympathy and indignation among Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to "'Pon my word, Watson, you are coming along wonderfully. You have blinds gazing down into the dull neutral-tinted London street. "'And the work?' "It was very sweet of you to come. Now, you must have some wine "'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked. have accepted such a situation. union?"