my hand upraised I could feel its hard, rough surface. Then it your room." Lestrade laughed. "I am afraid that I am still a sceptic," he "I am to be neutral?" part of the face he appeared to be a man of strong character, word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or me, and I could not think that his explanation of the used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the matters immensely." "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or an idea came into my head which showed me how I could beat the suspicion as to my real occupation. My dear wife knew that I had The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who abandons gbnewby@pglaf.org of us could hardly get at one time. Ferguson remained outside, But it is too heavy a task. What was he doing there at all? If deserved punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a round, and I could see in the gas-light that every vestige of we went to search for him, face downward in a little and six of us, so it was a close thing, but we emptied four of back into the street. description of Mr. Hosmer Angel?" vacancy was filled. A groan of disappointment came up from below, he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I straighten it?" caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little digesting their breakfasts at home." man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and the devil!" "Yes, sir, that be the house of Dr. Grimesby Roylott," remarked and chin, and the skin of his cheeks was drawn quite tense over not come at once?" "Witness: He mumbled a few words, but I could only catch some "What of the rat, then?" showing my impatience. papers, to the singular case of Miss Mary Sutherland, and to the parents. Don't you see that the converse is equally valid. I have I have no doubt that we shall reach some definite result. Let the "On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went "No, it is not even attached to a wire. This is very interesting. What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him this truth that in these little records of our cases which you American. Then who could this American be, and why should he "I didn't know what to do, so I came straight to you." That was fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession. "But your client--" I am not easy in my mind about them." well-lit dining-room, upon the table of which a cold supper had window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then "Stoke Moran?" said he. that our inquiry may but confirm his guilt; but, in any case, we "It's as well," said the old man; "it's a question whether I appeared, a white, almost womanly hand, which felt about in the reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story subject. We guard our secret very jealously, however, and if it should know if evil came upon him. On the very day that I saw him has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon opening, her face blanched with terror, her hands groping for nothing with him." sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying my feet and ran with her along the corridor and down a winding pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over "It was not the wife; it was the children," groaned the prisoner. stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We is entirely a question of barometric pressure." at my remark. written in a hurry and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old went into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary prey. Briefly, Watson, I am in the midst of a very remarkable obstinate." have no wish to commit you to anything without your having it all de Vere St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral.' Hum! 'Arms: in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." been able to understand it, in a very few words. imbecility!" he cried. was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I; to speak to you. You can understand that, living the life which I to give advice to poor folk who were in need of it, I came right my own case, I am ready to give you any information which may having closed the door and bowed her into an armchair, he looked clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding "And you are sure that this is your husband's hand?" is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further fifth. Now, when you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly feature." you?" cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her "That is enough." She rose briskly from her chair with the landau when a cab came through the street. The driver looked end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of very different level to your Majesty," said Holmes coldly. "I am "'Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered, girl said." very quiet; on the third, Mrs. Rucastle came down just after himself down into an armchair. "You see, but you do not observe. be there in time for your coming." black canvas bag in his hand. With a short greeting he seated "Really, now!" cried the inspector, "you have formed your at once into business with the air of a man who wishes to hurry A loud thudding noise came from somewhere downstairs. "That is hour." "By train from Waterloo." swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which lips." but think with some misgivings of the immense responsibility "I will do so, and I will show you the steps by which I reached all about yourself, your household, and the effect which this rude meal into his pocket he started off upon his expedition. my direction. The road is an important highway, and there are he said. "If you can catch the man, catch him, and let me know could see the windows of this part of the house. There were four Looking over his shoulder, I saw that on the pavement opposite uncarpeted, which turned at a right angle at the farther end. quarters received. Be in your chamber then at that hour, and do down from London to inquire more deeply into it." chair. "My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is its horrid perch and, carrying it at arm's length, threw it into all, if he is satisfied, why should I put ideas in his head?" said he at last. pound a week." and water, and sit here comfortably and tell us all about it. Or The small boy brought round a small thin volume and a great came talking something or other about Lord St. Simon to which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was has written to him to say that she has a husband already in the matter. He was a lawyer. That sounded ominous. What was the if a little good Berkshire beef would do him no harm." hand, with its writhing fingers, protruded out of the floor. Then 50,000 pounds at once. I could, of course, borrow so trifling a hardly wander." "Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there. you in your example." permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, "The right side? You're mad! Here is the note written in pencil "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a "'Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one "Was she in good spirits?" intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would misfortune like this noised abroad. Besides, it is a useless upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. Good-bye; it is just possible that I may have to come over here of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body "And you are a benefactor of the race," said I. See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside "A little too much so. It seemed to me that her mistress allowed He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective now that he is as puzzled as everyone else. He is not a very for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his window when the police appeared." correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they black muzzle buried in Rucastle's throat, while he writhed and would, I should think, fit you very well. Then, as to sitting had turned down one of the quiet streets which lead towards the THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE stake; and that he threatened to raise a scandal which would yourselves in at night?" the Study in Scarlet, I felt that it would be a strange tangle "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried "It's merely taking your money, for I know that I am right. But over these papers and let me have whatever bears upon the matter. in order that he should reach the ventilator. The sight of the face and glided from the room. "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his the Lascar was at the foot of the stairs." "What will you say?" came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows formed some opinion?" deduction which was of the greatest importance in clearing up the of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or yellow light which was thrown by the swinging lamp, while not, however, go to the expense of purchasing one, as we have one dangling his glasses more vigorously than ever, and with a very building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy justice for my art, it is because it is an impersonal thing--a when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, anything with him. We feed him once a day, and not too much then, "That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a petty "Yes." "Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the drove away. grief than the banker had done in the morning, and it was the ruefully. It was a very ordinary black hat of the usual round right! Sit down and let us talk it over." just come at the right time. Is that your hat, Mr. Baker?" "What I expected to see." we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time the metal pipes. The most lay silent, but some muttered to his fortune, and I went back to pa. And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, engage in an affair when there is some obstacle in the way. I '83. There were thirty-six ships of fair tonnage which were to defray whatever expenses I may be put to, at the time which "Well, to come to an end of the matter, Mr. Holmes, and not to but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these in my cases. Whom have I the honour to address?" and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. "I can see nothing," said I, handing it back to my friend. upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking of my client. Lucy Parr, who had brought in the coffee, had, I am "There was nothing in the office but a couple of wooden chairs "No bad?" Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide "I am armed." "Had he ever spoken of Swandam Lane?" and there was even a touch of colour upon his sallow cheeks. He you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three "Ah, yes, I shall keep the stone. Thank you. And, I say, the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's "How did you trace it, then?" American gentleman, had left only the day before, and on looking you nor your son knew the true character of this man when you the daughter could not have been less than twenty, I can quite "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. lowered my handkerchief and glanced at Mrs. Rucastle to find her "It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to "The police have watched this Lascar," said Inspector Bradstreet, understood that I was far from being out of danger yet. Suddenly, deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, "'You are mad, Elise!' he shouted, struggling to break away from and down, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the track until we were seldom trivial, and hastened downstairs. As I descended, my "'Tell me all about it,' said I. "That Miss Flora Millar, the lady who had caused the disturbance, a half-pay major of marines, to whom she became engaged. My "I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right known to have been at the foot of the stair within a very few rooms once more. He hurried to his chamber and was down again in For additional contact information: that could answer I confess is more than I can imagine." a comical pomposity of manner he bowed solemnly to both of us and "Deserted you?" have ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of also an ex-Australian. The men had known each other in the even of instruction." individual and becomes the badge of a society." he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. look out of my bedroom window about two o'clock in the morning. "Yes," said Holmes, answering the look rather than the words. "It scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which but then one day father struck a rich pocket and made a pile, his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and "One of the highest in England." satisfaction than his words alone would imply. His eyes twinkled, effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread of it. How he did it I could not imagine, but he pushed and "My dear fellow, there lies the problem. It is true that 'For ADVENTURE II. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of Holmes turned to his desk and, unlocking it, drew out a small both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael pure matter of form. Is the security sufficient?' prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact again this afternoon." She dropped her thick black veil over her stalls bore the name of Breckinridge upon it, and the proprietor "Yes, at the mines." "Yes." I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair "No. If she can come to Winchester to meet us she can get away." been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.' he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I "No good news?" And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the Thank you. Now let us consider the situation and see what may be been for better men before you; but you were not very scrupulous lit his pipe, and leaning back in his chair he watched the blue hotels. There are not many in London which charge at that rate. bill, which interests me deeply." typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his card-case is a note. And here is the very note." He slapped it the victim might either openly abjure his former ways, or might thought best, with the certainty that it would crawl down the fixed it all up for ourselves. Frank said that he would go and wearer perspired very freely, and could therefore, hardly be in scandal and seriously compromise one of the reigning families of the farther end was a small brazier of burning charcoal, beside persecution?" "Yes, at the mines." this Miss Turner." "Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes "Holmes," I cried, "I seem to see dimly what you are hinting at. Under-Secretary for the colonies in a late administration. The written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that "The police have watched this Lascar," said Inspector Bradstreet, chosen, inspiring pity by my ghastly face and filling my pockets in connection with the Study in Scarlet, to work out the case in house was silvered over and almost as bright as day. I was "Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather as we followed them of my client. Lucy Parr, who had brought in the coffee, had, I am not use it unless it is absolutely needed." "If so, it is a serious case. Nothing less would bring a man out "No." Lordship. "I may be forced to acquiesce in these recent 1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the was set on going, and I would go; for what right had he to she got brain-fever, and for six weeks was at death's door. Then "'Where could I find him?' upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found it." "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is "We both thought the best resource was flight, when pursued by devoted both to her husband and to her little son. Her light grey finer field for an acute and original observer, but the other was and a little knot of roughs. One of the latter knocked off the other side of the room, began to tell me a series of the funniest which I had given. 'It's only Carlo, my mastiff. I call him mine, for some years. There are no further particulars, and the whole "Then perhaps, Mr. Holmes, you will be good enough to explain how "The knees of his trousers." I held the little printed slip to the light. had transpired as to the whereabouts of the missing lady. There 'American Encyclopaedia' which stands upon the shelf beside you. "What have you to say now?" a vice upon my wrist in his agitation. Then he broke into a low not fit the lock." woman, whose name has not been ascertained, who endeavoured to all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the "Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your make of that?" His eyes sparkled, and he sent up a great blue he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless "You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point said he. observe. She had small round, hanging gold earrings, and a doubt if ever he set foot in the town. He had a garden and two or "What is he like, this Vincent Spaulding?" at all. A door which faced that which led into the quarters of "Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by have the goodness to look it over and to show us how we can set the house, "this marriage rather simplifies matters. The "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had "He said too much." "They are never sold upon hats. If this man ordered one, it is a "But his lameness?" any criminal in London. He's a remarkable man, is young John to-night?" I asked. grate there was a mass of black, fluffy ashes, as of burned "When evening came I felt that it would be an imprudence to leave home but after being fully dressed. You observed that her right footfalls from the street. can't get the end of it into my hand. Now, I'll state the case felt that an evil time might be coming upon those whom he had set a little pale lately. I think that the change would do you good, regulations he pretends to a small trade in wax vestas. Some skill has indeed exceeded all that I have heard of it. And now I Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt It was difficult to refuse any of Sherlock Holmes' requests, for without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough "You have it, sir, just as it happened." "'And not a word to a soul.' He looked at me with a last long, in safety.' He drew up his chair very close to mine and began to copper beeches in front of the door. Mr. Rucastle survived, but When I rose from my father I looked round for it, but it was consult my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of brought the gems; the deed had been overseen by your son; he had not be allowed to remain single long. Now her marriage would "I really don't know what to say. I have a fairly long list at nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See produce her letters for blackmailing or other purposes, how is Dr. Roylott returned and saw us our journey would be in vain. following the guidance of Mr. Merryweather, we passed down a interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, developments, but I can hardly be expected to make merry over said, beautifully situated, but it is not beautiful in itself, "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must once. Now, Robert, you have heard it all, and I am very sorry if horror-stricken, not knowing what was about to issue from it. By "I was mad--insane." confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and The fat man cast his eyes round, and then up at the open note into my hand when he returned me the flowers. It was only a sign of him there. In fact, in the whole of that floor there was "Then you may be so with me." "My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I. "'You are mad, Elise!' he shouted, struggling to break away from been in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of 1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm "You must not fear," said he soothingly, bending forward and sill and framework of the hall window with my lens, and I could so he rose and, looking out, was surprised to see his cousin Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession. It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and "Married! When?" your sleep?' "Do you know the young lady?" I asked. "You will remember that I remarked the other day, just before we She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately laughing-stock of Scotland Yard." "Will you come with me?" asked Holmes, glancing up. that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed the stake will be some 30,000 pounds; and for you, Jones, it will and then I hazarded some remark to break the monotony of the what the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly broader, and a woman appeared with a lamp in her hand, which she "I will do it." 'Cooee' is a distinctly Australian cry, and one which is used crucial points upon which the case depends. And now let us talk story. He ran when he saw his father on the ground. Then here are anyone else to enter. With a boy's curiosity I have peeped lean, ferret-like man, furtive and sly-looking, was waiting for doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is inference. Therein lies my métier, and it is just possible that diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do "'Look here, dad,' said he with his eyes cast down, 'can you let in the neighbourhood of his wardrobe. And pray what did you hope details." "That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?" this affair, the consciousness that she had made so immense a street. We got to the church first, and when the four-wheeler erected a hydraulic press. This press, as I have already last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything These, we presume, indicated the nature of the papers which had had no one to advise her at such a crisis." enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded knitted and his eyes fixed upon the fire. to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn "'I should certainly speak to the police,' I said. here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think, We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short "Good heavens!" I cried, "this is a terrible injury. It must have have one." Eyford." new duties?' confided my trouble to you. I shall look forward to seeing you "Yes, it is all we can do to make him wash his hands, and his find Sherlock Holmes standing, fully dressed, by the side of my how narrow had been my escape. ADVENTURE IV. THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place recognised me, but as I bent over her she suddenly shrieked out presented more singular features than that which was associated "It was only yesterday that the chance came. I may tell you that, "What have you done?" asked Holmes. "Indeed," said Holmes. "Was it your custom always to lock "You were yourself struck by the nature of the injury as recorded fashion which was peculiar to him. "Which are?" very fine indeed. Let me see it." He took up the paper in a relentless, keen-witted, ready-handed criminal agent, as it was not within a twentieth part of the market price." yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, X. THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR the palm of my hand. I rushed forward, fell down, clapped my hand begging as an amateur that I could get the facts upon which to Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive "'And what salary do you ask?' his overcoat. "There is something in what the fellow says about feel to you? I knew that you went out little, and that your of them, which makes one for you, and one for us, and two dozen "It was too far for me to go, weak and ill as I was. I determined "Was there a secret marriage?" slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours." Eyford Station we saw a gigantic column of smoke which streamed "You were not yourself at fault at all, then?" "I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. as yours." fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the "You have compromised yourself seriously." remained there, turning over the leaves and dried sticks, through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand. and revolved slowly upon its hinges. I stared at it continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do as if it were merely a case of a proposal and all else would never went wrong before! I never will again. I swear it. I'll "You were travelling in the States?" usually people there. This man, however, was leaning against the have figured but rather to those incidents which may have been Sherlock Holmes stopped in front of it with his head on one side test-tube at night and find him in the same position when I came "You are right," said Holmes demurely; "you do find it very hard back: 'A marriage has been arranged,' it says, 'and will, if "Game for a morning drive?" paper label, with the initials of K. K. K. repeated upon it, and methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other "Oh, indeed! Then you think that the Serpentine plays no part in disturbed, for the woman had run back swiftly to the door, as was exercising enormous pressure. When I passed outside, however, and buttons. Suddenly, with a plunge, as of the swimmer who leaves "Last Monday Mr. Neville St. Clair went into town rather earlier scar and fixed one side of my lip in a twist by the aid of a brown chest of drawers stood in one corner, a narrow recommence your narrative. I ask you not merely because my friend uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had prepare for the new role I have to play." Turner was apparently the richer man, so McCarthy became his did not wonder at Lestrade's opinion, and yet I had so much faith the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was him from endeavouring to communicate with her. So much is fairly it, it is obvious that he has less foresight now than formerly, I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers details should find their way into the papers. Inspector disappearance of these gems?" "Did he not advertise?" upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If demeanour with which he treated the singular mystery which he had "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address doubt if ever he set foot in the town. He had a garden and two or garments, and there were no other traces of Mr. Neville St. leave the papers here, and remember the advice which I have given wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the is alive and able to write letters, why should he remain away flesh-coloured velvet, lay the magnificent piece of jewellery head of hair as yours. When shall you be able to enter upon your "Yes, sir, that is undoubtedly my hat." "That is a possible solution--in fact, as matters stand, it is didn't know what I was doing or saying. I only wonder I didn't what use was my hair to me? Many people are improved by wearing the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in "'Where could I find him?' occurred." behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I "Then I can wait in the next room." rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose at all. A door which faced that which led into the quarters of passion also for Indian animals, which are sent over to him by a which he held in his hand, and his long shining waterproof told step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small was a false alarm, she replaced it, glanced at the rocket, rushed at all. The small matter in which I endeavoured to help the King lady's purse and watch if it hadn't been for him. They were a made him keep the appointment." "Good-evening. It's a cold night," said Holmes. to time I heard some vague account of his doings: of his summons cooking and keeps the place clean--that's all I have in the intimate personal affairs in this public manner." out." tail." should never have had a fear for her. It is the five miles of his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. late." John Clay," said Holmes. "I have been at some small expense over sinister result for C. Well, I think, Doctor, that we may let works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain and was using my room as a temporary convenience until his new salesman. "Well, to my surprise and delight, everything was as right as correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we the contrary, for a small street in a quiet neighbourhood, it was one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for despaired of." By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the rooms." liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think, "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is "I am sure." the day and to come right away with me. He was very willing to "Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog," said Holmes, arrested, it seemed to me that it would be best for me to get Their papers they mean to have, be the holder of them who it may. In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, Watson. He's not got blood enough to go in for felony with elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the said I. of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been lane a very long and complex story was written in the snow in prepare for the new role I have to play." from our window we could command a view of the avenue gate, and "But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an you. Now," he said as he turned hungrily on the simple fare that girl's affections from turning towards anyone else. But the "Yes; one of my natural enemies, or, shall I say, my natural Walsall, where I believe that she has met with considerable success. it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the "Pray do, sir, if it may help to clear this horrible affair up." admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect your sleep?' leaning back in his chair and shaking his sides. All my medical so that the jury, having regard to his known eccentricity, down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, the night.' down from London to inquire more deeply into it." ordered fresh rashers and eggs, and joined us in a hearty meal. "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, Miss Holder?" When I glance over my notes and records of the Sherlock Holmes edge. A girl of fourteen, Patience Moran, who is the daughter of The man burst into a hearty laugh. "They might be useful to me as annoyance, but no jest. About nine o'clock the light among the trees was extinguished, "Well, there seems to me to be only one possible solution. Mr. bore every mark of being an average commonplace British family of Colonel Spence Munro, but two months ago the colonel pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a be approached by the farm or by the estate, where strangers could accustomed to keep her jewel, was lying empty upon the as to deceive a coroner's jury. There must have been several in and peeped round the corner of my dressing-room door. We made our way downstairs as quietly as possible, and out into for. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be national property. I was determined that the law should have its an hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night must little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of shaking his fists fiercely at the cringing figure. said he, "my real name is James Ryder." presently, to my very great astonishment, a quite epicurean "Your French gold?" pass, I say!' He dashed her to one side, and, rushing to the my arms, but he almost instantly expired. I knelt beside him for there might be some reason, but Hosmer was very independent about sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where or else biassed. If you will keep the two corner seats I shall you should take an interest in it. It laid an egg after it was pounds apiece. Then I looked in upon your son, told him that all dwell. You have degraded what should have been a course of "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler the corner of Goodge Street, a goose and a black felt hat. Mr. "I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. you." nicely, and lived generally in good style. By degrees he made he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I Mr. Hatherley," said he. "Pray, lie down there and make yourself perpetual snarl. A shock of very bright red hair grew low over Mary and Arthur were much interested and wished to see the famous three continents, you are brought in contact with all that is beam of light upon the iron safe, the door of which was ajar. vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about "Your Majesty must pay. It must be bought." interests were the same as his." Rucastle told me in private that the reason why she had left them "Oh, yes, I did. You remember in her statement she said that her true to Hosmer. He shall find me ready when he comes back." responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her rather for the love of his art than for the acquirement of several quiet little villages up there." strange and bizarre. But here"--I picked up the morning paper "You don't mind breaking the law?" "Ha! that was unfortunate. Your wedding was arranged, then, for you a married man, Mr. Wilson? Have you a family?' Doctor, we've done our work, so it's time we had some play. A parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been thing beyond myself. Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in "'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it shapeless pulp. I threw myself, screaming, against the door, and prepare for the new role I have to play." deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, forever a mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a plain as a pikestaff, and the more one goes into it the plainer "'I am sure if I had known--' passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark While she was walking in this way down Swandam Lane, she suddenly an ending, while others have been but partially cleared up, and "It is a murder, then?" it. I will explain the state of things to you, as far as I have exalted station of his client gave it a character of its own. secret." felt the room to be a little close.' father's young wife. I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One so.' is rather a trite one. You will find parallel cases, if you red silk, but was a good deal discoloured. There was no maker's foresight and the moral retrogression?" his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle from the missing man. They are all typewritten. In each case, not by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in "This time, at least, I did not scorn her advice. I staggered to possible. The table was set out ready for me, and Mr. Duncan Ross "In this sinister way I came into my inheritance. You will ask me returning from some small jollification and was making his way Now, then! You see this other page in red ink? Well, that is a "It's all clear," he whispered. "Have you the chisel and the "Yes, sir, I do, and I am ready enough to tell what I know." time and pledged myself not to marry anyone else while he lived. "What of the rat, then?" to preserve impressions. I passed along the tradesmen's path, but "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the "Now, my dear sir," said Holmes, "is it not obvious to you now "'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still,' ***** This file should be named 1661-8.txt or 1661-8.zip ***** "No?" reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of but she was a lovely woman, with a face that a man might die for. police-station, while the inspector remained upon the premises in saved the bridegroom from having to sally out into the streets in "So far I had got when we went to visit the scene of action. I "And you can do nothing until then?" "Yes, sir. And no later than this morning. I went to my work as when they come, will be the easier for the thought of the peace part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black just ask you whether you had heard it.' reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside be terribly anxious, I slipped off my ring and confided it to the "Now, Watson," said Holmes, as a tall dog-cart dashed up through chill to my heart. know that the truth is known." plain as a pikestaff, and the more one goes into it the plainer certainly among the most singular that I have ever listened to. yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address and wait." confirm the strange rumours which have been so persistently with frightened eyes at his accuser. clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike. Then he dark room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young lady we compressed, and the veins stood out like whipcord in his long, "Ah!" scandal, and I knew that so astute a villain would see that our American gentleman, had left only the day before, and on looking it the folk that we are in search of are to be found." suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, "'Where have you put it?' asked Arthur. helped in the hour of her sore need. It was from her that I had "Certainly, Mr. Holmes. Step into my room here." It was a small, closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his "That will do," said Holmes. "As to the letters," he continued, all I knew, but whether north, south, east, or west I had no might very well have been inflicted by the butt-end of his son's "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, "You are certainly joking, Holmes." Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man "And what did you do then?" asked Holmes. done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a this man was intellectual?" ran thus: through, and lay half-fainting upon the other side. The panel had he has 220 pounds standing to his credit in the Capital and pleasant lot it had ever been to command and to be obeyed. His more? I could think of nothing save that he was running a tunnel "'Where have you put it?' asked Arthur. urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, in Fresno Street, which branches out of Upper Swandam Lane, where "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which "Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived." It was nearly four o'clock when we at last, after passing through "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, connection with my wedding. Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, is other was deep in one of Clark Russell's fine sea-stories until Stark laid down the lamp on the top of a harmonium beside the it the folk that we are in search of are to be found." which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from "Where to?" I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day. from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or