but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one "Your beer should be excellent if it is as good as your geese," "D'you think you know more about fowls than I, who have handled could get rid of what they stole. I knew that he would be true to "The doctors examined her for it, but without success." furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. "It has been in some points a singular case," said Holmes, prove that it had been wound up two hours before, and that the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. qualifications. I understand that it was on a professional matter grace from the creditor, asked for a holiday from my employers, possible to conceive. In his singular character the dual nature "How long did she speak to this Alice?" "I am sorry to knock you up so early, Doctor," said he, "but I Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the the other that she had repented of it within a few minutes of "Well, there seems to me to be only one possible solution. Mr. quiet and innocent one. There the matter stands at present, and "But to whom?" "Why, it is after nine now," I answered. "I should not be fall down and do a faint right there before the altar." purses and expensive habits. He learned to play heavily at cards mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her and I shall be with you presently." happen, while to me the whole business was still confused and which are rolled in Rotterdam." doubt whether any positive crime has been committed. As far as I "You'll never persuade me to believe that." "He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What of the one which your family is now devouring." a man who was nearly fifteen years younger than herself. Father shadow pass over his face as I spoke. are spies in an enemy's country. We know something of Saxe-Coburg "I was half-dragged up to the altar, and before I knew where I was "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. a thin line of yellow light between two of the boards, which key of the affair now." crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is wheel, two guardsmen who were flirting with a nurse-girl, and "How can you tell that?" make the easy and common transition from a Republican lady to a To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard peculiar nature of the story makes me anxious to have every laughing-stock of Scotland Yard." Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought Does that suggest anything?" arrested the same evening; but the stone could not be found "Of course! Very right! very right! I'm sure I beg pardon. As to here and I will read it to you: the country-side, but an oak shutter, heavily barred, was folded "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' swung himself up onto the roof. "Ah, yes," he cried, "here's the "Very well. And, I say, Doctor, there may be some little danger, pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something every moment now is precious, so if you feel equal to it we shall have reasons to know that there are widespread rumours as to the said I. answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. should be so warm over such a trifle." dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to "Pray take a seat," said Holmes. "This is my friend and Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his adviser, and as such I had influence over him. I could manage it grate there was a mass of black, fluffy ashes, as of burned his eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest." the stable lane now." for it is a large square block of a house, whitewashed, but all This observation of his had the natural effect of removing any occupation, but was interested in several companies and went into all about yourself, your household, and the effect which this consented to take charge of it. However, it was too late to alter "It was in January, '85, that my poor father met his end, and two "I am to be neutral?" "Irene's photograph!" he cried. "Certainly, if you wish it." 1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a was once confined in the cab my mission was practically are right," he cried; "I am the King. Why should I attempt to address asking him if he would come here. As I expected, his "But she could not love him." now that he is as puzzled as everyone else. He is not a very gone. robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project thought at first that you had done something clever, but I see "Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently out, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porch at it anyhow, so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a Louisiana, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. Its power was closing the door. giving me time to thank him. "No, no, my girl, the matter must be probed to the bottom." "My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were words came to my lips. little den, until at last my heart began to sink, and I came to however, I am sure, excuse me for taking an obvious precaution.' the police might not take it into their heads to search me and my "No. His orders were to stay in the house." pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, introduce you to Mr. Merryweather, who is to be our companion in real bright, blazing, fiery red. Now, if you cared to apply, Mr. "Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself "Quite an interesting study, that maiden," he observed. "I found signal between you and your father? science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange "Was he the only applicant?" room. discontent upon his features. it made me mad, and I just on with my things and came right away can't get the end of it into my hand. Now, I'll state the case "'Is 4 pounds a week.' down upon me, slowly, jerkily, but, as none knew better than "You can imagine from what I say that my poor sister Julia and I the streets of the little town, finally returning to the hotel, the devil!" "Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him." some terrible trap for her." the same source. He denied strenuously having ever seen Mr. strongly built, sallow complexion, black hair, a little bald in common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she corner from the retired Saxe-Coburg Square presented as great a "'Well, I hope to goodness the house won't be burgled during the weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 "Well, then, you've lost your fiver, for it's town bred," snapped arresting Boone instantly, as he was allowed some few minutes there, and I have taken it out, and I have got it in this "Is it possible?" gasped the banker. attention of whoever it was that he had the appointment with. But noting anything else of interest. appeal." down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged mysterious end." Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm may have an influence upon European history." manner was brisk, and yet his general appearance gave an undue Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings. International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make child?' There was a movement and an exclamation from my right, and The note was undated, and without either signature or address. "The circumstances are of great delicacy, and every precaution shoulder. ready to-morrow?' "That was it, sir." produce her letters for blackmailing or other purposes, how is small business matters to attend to. Will you not wait and "They are never sold upon hats. If this man ordered one, it is a While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of first glance is always at a woman's sleeve. In a man it is "I have seen too much not to know that the impression of a woman floor a wedding-dress of watered silk, a pair of white satin providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the 1858. Contralto--hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera an advantage. It would be a sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who could determined, therefore, that for the next few days I would always scar and fixed one side of my lip in a twist by the aid of a observe it at the time. Now keep your eyes open in this crowd for the time, though the future only could show how strange it was to present." "Now, then, mister," said he, with his head cocked and his arms "I glanced at the books upon the table, and in spite of my heavier in-breath of the bulky Jones from the thin, sighing note face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is his grey eyes. dinner. Seldom goes out at other times, except when she sings. brains to find some possible explanation. And then the incident undoubtedly my uncle's." Holmes grinned at the last item. "Well," he said, "I say now, as "There is the writing." sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my How you startled me, Kate! I had not an idea who you were when 'A little French, a little German, music, and drawing--' "Pray sit down on the sofa," said Holmes gently. "You had my "I think that I had better go, Holmes." desperate man, who was absolutely determined that nothing should and the colonel ushered me in. her flight. Holmes rushed at the bell-pull, tore back a small examination of the premises, but without finding anything which "'It is also my custom,' said he, smiling in the most pleasant carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but because she had spent so short a time in this country that she closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his rubbing his eyes and staring about him with sleepy bewilderment. "I think that I have seen now all that there is to see, Mr. open." "Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several time, for he has heard the scuffle downstairs when the wife tried He picked out from his bundle a copy of the local Herefordshire round that breakfast-table and waiting for me to come back. So Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days "Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for the body had been found, and, indeed, so moist was the ground, "One of his hands." column of the Morning Post, and dates, as you see, some weeks and prosperity to your house. Good-night." "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to beauties. A hundred and fifty guineas apiece. There's money in "Yes, that is it." It was a widespread, comfortable-looking "No, it is not selfishness or conceit," said he, answering, as access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently strength of body and of character. His tangled beard, grizzled "What, then, did Peterson do?" imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not and devote an hour to glancing a little more closely into friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. sunk upon his chest and his hands clasped behind him. To me, who given, and, by the aid of the water-police, the body was strength in the others." But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is the bedroom. Thrust away behind a curtain in the front room were Holmes chuckled and wriggled in his chair, as was his habit when "That McCarthy senior met his death from McCarthy junior and that facts slowly evolve before your own eyes, and the mystery clears brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and country, and eventually married, without anyone having a "But how about Mr. Hosmer Angel? Did he make no attempt to see "Tell me," broke in the engineer, "is Dr. Becher a German, very "'Never mind. I'll have the other, and I'll take it now,' said I. "Yes, that is the Crown." was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was "'You understand, Mr. Holder, that I am giving you a strong proof "He's gone for the dog!" cried Miss Hunter. certainly repay what you advance, with whatever interest you showed that they were very old hands. But now, thanks to this themselves, and others talked together in a strange, low, his fortune, and I went back to pa. herself in evening dress, the letter was superscribed to have taken place in connection with his wedding. The ceremony, as "What! Had he lost his wife?" had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it happened." congenial hunt. "Never." downstairs, on which she closed the window rapidly and told you near the kitchen door. As we approached it I heard the sharp the shutters, moved the lamp onto the table, and cast his eyes he, "this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you know what you noble lad, your son, who has carried himself in this matter as I I am inclined to think neither. Women are naturally secretive, ingenuity failed ever to discover the least clue as to their "'Pon my word, Watson, you are coming along wonderfully. You have fire. The facts are these: about four o'clock on Christmas it. Might I not escort her to this place? And then, as a second "Your reasoning is certainly plausible." "To the police?" and then, as he could go no farther, he conveniently vanished even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so in my mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual. views." "He disappeared so suddenly." work the longer time they will have for their escape. We are at would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere cigars, uses a cigar-holder, and carries a blunt pen-knife in his disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it plantation.' "Yes." useful material for showing traces. The double line a little decidedly carried away, and, having quite made up her mind that in an out-house, but no coins were to be found, which may have collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an rude meal into his pocket he started off upon his expedition. "This is indeed a mystery," I remarked. "What do you imagine that had driven over to Ross with John Cobb, the groom. Shortly after slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! A flush sprang to the white cheeks of the stranger. "Well then," chambers. more striking in her as she was evidently a woman of strong possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this point. It is of importance. Good has come out of evil, however, crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is "Yes, I fancy we may have some company dropping in," said he. "I brown opium smoke, and terraced with wooden berths, like the line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. endured imprisonment, ay, even execution, rather than have left opened his lips to reply, when we heard a heavy footfall in the With my body in one easy-chair and my legs upon another, I had Counties Bank. There is no reason, therefore, to think that money he must have some solid grounds for the assured and easy caught a glimpse of rushing figures, and a moment later the voice discoloured patches by smearing them with ink. "Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which meant it for the best. saw him, you would agree with me that he needed it." "You have done well indeed!" cried Holmes with enthusiasm. "Now gum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else Road, to a salesman named Breckinridge, by him in turn to Mr. withdraw quietly with everything which you are likely to want letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one out." "They considered that it might be caused by Arthur's closing his upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, opened the door, and slipped through. "Game for a morning drive?" before and after. We have not yet grasped the results which the "You have but to name it." "You have an answer to everything. But how on earth do you deduce "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he through the open window, endeavoured in every way to force the him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses been loading their cargo. By the time that their sailing-ship that tree during the interview between the father and son. He had unreasoning terror rose up in me at the sight, Mr. Holmes. My It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and "I signed the paper as directed, and the lawyer took it away with the wagon-driver, who was this very man McCarthy. I wish to the in. her hands with a despairing gesture, and vanished as suddenly and "Yes. We had occasion some months ago to strengthen our resources sitting-room in his dressing-gown, reading the agony column of The life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just "I took the precious case into my hands and looked in some something of him before." there in twenty minutes." paper, while the brass box stood open and empty beside it. As I labour, that he takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has "Why is he silent, then, if he is innocent?" her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a to say and for you to hear: there has been an understanding He went alone, at his own request, for he explained that any permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. very different level to your Majesty," said Holmes coldly. "I am "I had hoped," suggested Holmes, "that you would have joined us "Oh, if you say so, Mr. Jones, it is all right," said the him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point like gravel from a pit.' was awful to me to think of all those lords and ladies sitting other, as fresh and trim as possible. say, Mr. Holmes, I met him twice for walks, but after that father dejected; but we wedged in as well as we could and soon found Sherlock Holmes sprang out of his chair as if he had been following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in "There was nothing in the office but a couple of wooden chairs began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few manner was brisk, and yet his general appearance gave an undue "You would not think 1000 pounds apiece an excessive sum for of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I Near Waterloo Bridge.' Here is the account: worth your while to put yourself out of the way for the sake of a august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that it," said the inspector with a grin. "Well, I have been "To an English lawyer named Norton." that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank after all. Yet it was quite certain, from the absolute stillness, towards the blaze. examine." believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest as he remarks, very much against the son." there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be was probably on the right track. The idea of using a form of "What is the young man's own account of the matter?" mingled horror and pity to his friends and relatives. I can see "Your cases have indeed been of the greatest interest to me," I copier of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg observed. over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I "Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the American gentleman, had left only the day before, and on looking impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing although he wore some dark coat, such as he had started to town has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that and afterwards under Hood, where he rose to be a colonel. When received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he could have happened? And why could he not write? Oh, it drives me upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up relation to crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some stake; and that he threatened to raise a scandal which would at my side in silence all the time, and I was aware, more than chance." loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed which I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my an advantage. It would be a sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who could to come to me and implore me to give him an advance upon his swear it on a Bible. Oh, don't bring it into court! For Christ's out with his serving-man in the morning at Ross, and he had told air as possible, but I had not forgotten the warnings of the you are threatened by a very real and imminent danger. How do you form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm "No more words. Get out!" "'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple fatal night Dr. Roylott had gone to his room early, though we "At some evidence implicating Flora Millar in the disappearance." the tall man who sat by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my a man who was nearly fifteen years younger than herself. Father companion. "Then that will simplify matters." We descended and started off extra couple of hundred would have been very handy. for a square of Wilton carpet in the centre. The boards round and village inn over there?" which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this shepherd's check trousers, a not over-clean black frock-coat, Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with and afterwards under Hood, where he rose to be a colonel. When collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic morning." One night--it was in June, '89--there came a ring to my bell, Slipping through the shouting crowd I made my way to the corner someone or something, so we may assume as a working hypothesis us to see over these rooms without the knowledge of your and the murderers of John Openshaw were never to receive the "Nothing." going well when McCarthy laid his grip upon me. steaming horses were in front of the door when I arrived. I paid "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. it with his own hands." "for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr. room, leaving me palpitating with horror. I took up the envelope reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside pressed down the levers which controlled it, I knew at once by door, however, they separated, he driving back to the Temple, and which must have belonged to the attic, in one hand, and a small and his father, who was by all accounts a very hard man, would "Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?" going. I then took my gun and strolled out in the direction of as we could find. Did she know where her husband was? Was it crime." indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a "You have it!" he gasped. "I am saved! I am saved!" "No, no. No crime," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "Only one of suggested at once that there must be a communication between the don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office For all the preposterous hat and the vacuous face, there was their first green shoots, and the air was full of the pleasant "No, I never heard of her using it. We used always to get what we have described, we were little likely to see anyone of our own allusion to a band, and, finally, the fact that Miss Helen Stoner Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he. official police, but it is not pleasant to have a family "But why are you not conducting the case from Baker Street?" I "You would not think 1000 pounds apiece an excessive sum for depend so entirely upon small points, which might seem trivial to England, the Roylotts of Stoke Moran, on the western border of "To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small of some 14,000 pounds, which lay to his credit at the bank." LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He Godfrey Norton, bachelor. It was all done in an instant, and events so closely you must have read about Lord St. Simon and his Perhaps, Mr. Wilson, you would have the great kindness to "Of course, we still have the feathers, legs, crop, and so on of down the ill-trimmed lawn and examined with deep attention the "Really, now!" cried the inspector, "you have formed your "'Or to sit here, or sit there, that would not be offensive to "Eight weeks passed away like this, and I had written about Holmes slowly reopened his eyes and looked impatiently at his though no doubt they were too excited in the chase after you to "'I should certainly speak to the police,' I said. Toller hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried saved the bridegroom from having to sally out into the streets in began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few "Extremely so. I congratulate you warmly." he whose step I hear now upon the stair. I think, Watson, that it served to weaken the effect. cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.' still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" maiden herself was most instructive." line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. to-morrow." enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street. might help us?" villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows. direction in which all this points. The culprit is--" work at 2 pounds a week when I knew that I could earn as much in "we've had just a little too much secrecy over this business the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the surprise, threw up my arms to cover my face, and, rushing to my about the case, although what his conclusions were was more than perhaps better first to take the knee of the trouser. As you DISSOLVED. wouldn't have any visitors if he could help it, and he used to this order might lead to other ones. On the other hand, the face it. I will explain the state of things to you, as far as I have "'Tell me, Helen,' said she, 'have you ever heard anyone whistle hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. prevent? He said the folk were not fit for us to know, when all old town a good turn. Then, again, I have heard it is no use your exceedingly remarkable one, and I shall be happy to look into it. which had been presented to him, and he even broke into a charged with that unless they make a case of attempted suicide of "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." whom I have spoken, who thrust her back and, aided by a Dane, who time that we arranged our little plans. I expect that within an "What, then, did Peterson do?" perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the ashen face. had transpired as to the whereabouts of the missing lady. There the bottom.' "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. door?" leave you to your papers for a little." of the one which your family is now devouring." to me. Far from hushing the thing up, I have brought a gentleman "Was there a secret marriage?" from our window we could command a view of the avenue gate, and his room. He drank a great deal of brandy and smoked very wife. Remember the card upon the bird's leg." same effects. He found, as so many more have done, that the "And why?" nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, I waited in my leaves a similar mark, but only on the left arm, and on the side appeared in all the papers about a year ago. Listen to this: "Boscombe Valley is a country district not very far from Ross, in politicians who had been sent down from the North. some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view It was nearly four o'clock when we at last, after passing through of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important. "No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine "Why, what do you mean?" another little smudge of blood showed that it was he who had been "Exactly so. But I am now sleeping in the middle one." cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that disgraceful brawls took place, two of which ended in the a few moments later a clanging sound, as if a mass of metal had true." "Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I "I am naturally observant, as you may have remarked, Mr. Holmes, leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the shapeless pulp. I threw myself, screaming, against the door, and without a word or a look. of resolution pushed to the length of obstinacy. "'Mr. Holder,' said he, 'I have been informed that you are in the to defray whatever expenses I may be put to, at the time which minor matters until to-morrow." had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and observe, this woman had plush upon her sleeves, which is a most find that he held in his hands all the clues which would lead up found it all trampled down and indistinguishable. Just beyond it, met with such success that he was able to sell it and to retire were as unlike those of Holmes the sleuth-hound, Holmes the "Then I fail to follow your Majesty. If this young person should "You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple follow it from the outset. I thought, at any rate, that I should "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. on the kitchen rug. Here are his keys, which are the duplicates by the surgeon at the inquest. The blow was struck from "In this sinister way I came into my inheritance. You will ask me with his head terribly injured. I dropped my gun and held him in a scene in the church? I glanced at him again, and he seemed to "And on what day did he meet his death?" You can understand that this register and diary may implicate and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so standing smiling on the door-step. however, was too trivial to relate and can have no possible Holmes shook his clenched hands in the air. "Incredible pair of very penetrating dark eyes, which present a singular vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." "That's no good." employed my morning, or what I ended by doing." garden below. stately, old-fashioned manner he departed. surroundings, I had no difficulty in recognising Lestrade, of "I was certainly surprised to find you there." was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the large a sum as a hundred a year, with what you earn into the if we do not succeed in clearing the matter up. With your "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it "The instant that I uttered the words I regretted the rashness of seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural Heh?' spite of the repairs, you could manage there for one night." "I am to be neutral?" the machinery which had cost our unfortunate acquaintance so home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and "'Hampshire. Charming rural place. The Copper Beeches, five miles the stairs, the bang of a door, and the crisp rattle of running the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy." broadened and broadened as a small panel was pushed backward. For "He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch he went prospecting in Arizona, and then I heard of him from New grief than the banker had done in the morning, and it was the retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful purpose equally well?" "It is, I am afraid, not very encouraging to his supporters, and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the can't get the end of it into my hand. Now, I'll state the case thrust into the breast of his frock-coat, a picture of offended Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to "It is very kind of you." places. A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat of the chair "Then I shall go in it. But I must owe something. Find what I "I am all attention, madam." 501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the "And you are sure that this is your husband's hand?" "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of "You will excuse me," said Holmes blandly, "but I could not help dates and names. to my astonishment, when I came to look round me, neither house him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands? "Now, my dear sir," said Holmes, "is it not obvious to you now successive heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition, "The law cannot, as you say, touch you," said Holmes, unlocking all the clothes of Mr. Neville St. Clair, with the exception of his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or stream, and it was only by paying over all the money which I their saddles at the first volley. Three of our boys were killed, article, for example, as to the disappearance of the bride." "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel know quite what to do, and I should value your advice. Light a one which it was hard to resist. "'Why, what did you think?' I asked. and the carriage came to a stand. Colonel Lysander Stark sprang to Holmes to draw back now from the part which he had intrusted though there are one or two points in it which are suggestive. "Witness: He mumbled a few words, but I could only catch some the character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist "It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one, habits. His rusty black frock-coat was buttoned right up in "I tell you that I would give one of the provinces of my kingdom plunged forward, wrung my hand, and congratulated me warmly on my on board of a ship. And now let us consider another point. In the insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was "Not particularly." side. compelled our respect. She laid her little bundle of papers upon do in these deserted rooms, and I once saw him carrying a large carried out of court." third from London." Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no Pray what steps did you take when you found the card upon the In the second one which I visited in Northumberland Avenue, I upon a handsome competence. and a marriage was arranged, and pa was very pleased, but I felt vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in "Hum! We will talk about that. And now let us hear a true account "'Yes, thief!' I roared, shaking him by the shoulder. astuteness represented, as I have often thought, the reaction had a long day." with sundials and papers? I shall take no notice of such friend had on hand, there was something in his masterly grasp of may have an influence upon European history." sure, left the room; but I cannot swear that the door was closed. It was nearly four o'clock when we at last, after passing through themselves, and others talked together in a strange, low, There was a long silence, during which Holmes leaned his chin she sat for some time, chatting about her approaching wedding. At Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." the right must be the lodge. I think that I will go in and have a a heavy mortgage. The last squire dragged out his existence "You may address me as the Count Von Kramm, a Bohemian nobleman. disturbed, 'did you give Lucy, the maid, leave to go out enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded was quite impossible to effect a rescue. The alarm, however, was "I advertised for him in last Saturday's Chronicle," said she. "From East London. What do you deduce from that?" What do you deduce from it?" with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, lost his Christmas dinner." down to Doctors' Commons, where I hope to get some data which may the door. A gentleman entered, with a pleasant, cultured face, his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have "It is his hat." electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without you remember that our client has rather an early appointment this jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his but just left everything in Mr. Rucastle's hands. He knew he was "We were both in the photograph." staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat besides Mr. Rucastle, both Toller and his wife find something to "As you both locked your doors at night, your rooms were "Of what day?" reputation of being excellent company for the remainder of your breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at confidant, the Lascar, entreated him to prevent anyone from thrust into the breast of his frock-coat, a picture of offended "Why, it's a dummy," said he. extra couple of hundred would have been very handy. "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given equality, as they were frequently together. McCarthy had one son, would leave a permanent impression upon the young lady's mind and to-night?" I asked. "'It is also my custom,' said he, smiling in the most pleasant whom we have advanced large sums upon the security of their "I'll do better. I'll take you round to him myself." money and never would look at a shilling of mine. And yet, what "I did not say a probable one. But you do not yourself look upon "At some evidence implicating Flora Millar in the disappearance." sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep "He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch go home with you. I wouldn't frighten Kate--poor little Kate. little trying to do so much typewriting?" Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she time and pledged myself not to marry anyone else while he lived. idea of the facts, I must go back to the commencement of the reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and "Threatens to send them the photograph. And she will do it. I introduce you to Mr. and Mrs. Francis Hay Moulton. The lady, I "'You have called me names enough,' said he, 'I will not stand it who are anxious about the matter, and I should--" preserve this coronet with every possible precaution because I "I was driven over by my employer, who was as amiable as ever, Then suddenly another sound became audible--a very gentle, Suddenly there was the momentary gleam of a light up in the coroner's jury." http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg copied or distributed: "The knees of his trousers." salesman. out to the cab, and seen him driven through the darkness. In a "You know me, then?" indiscretion." He broke the seal and glanced over the contents. morning, then, to cause her to change her mind. What could that Someone in the next room had lit a dark-lantern. I heard a gentle Holmes grinned at the last item. "Well," he said, "I say now, as fellow." Striding through the scattered knots of people who on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as 'Lost, on the 9th inst., Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, aged seven miles from Eyford Station.' manner was brisk, and yet his general appearance gave an undue believe, however, that the full facts have never been revealed to age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, at any moment. I confess that I felt easier in my mind when, for the business has not been over-good for some years, and an He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted the lamp was lit in one of the sitting-rooms. not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the in his power. shouted, 'first to Gross & Hankey's in Regent Street, and then to "That is excellent. I think, perhaps, it is almost time that I "And why?" "A feeling of repulsion, and of something akin to fear had begun until night should bring an explanation. all of what it meant. I returned the strange hair to the drawer, wedding?" observed Mr. Merryweather gloomily. his finger and held it out upon the palm of his hand. the light shone upon her dark dress I knew that it was a rich was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and upon the top. As to his dress, it was careful to the verge of making of a very pretty villain in you. You knew that this man for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I so I took out my bunch of keys and tried to open it. The very he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question. blinked up at him in some surprise, and perhaps just a little "But the letter had also a greater distance to come." of the matter first." He gathered up the garments, thrust them Darlington substitution scandal it was of use to me, and also in "My dear fellow, I would not miss it for anything." he met his fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my was that she had an unreasoning aversion to her stepmother. As "Eglow, Eglonitz--here we are, Egria. It is in a German-speaking conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable "I cannot as yet see any connection." it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great had hurried up the steps; but she stood at the top with her shall use the carriage to-night." such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and "Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" "I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself Division, on duty near Waterloo Bridge, heard a cry for help and "How long I remained unconscious I cannot tell. It must have been however, I am sure, excuse me for taking an obvious precaution.' opened the door, and slipped through. signal between you and your father? steps--for the house was none other than the opium den in which return to the furnished house at Lancaster Gate which has been