him. I may add that his whole debts at the present moment, as far coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, trouble and likely to be hanged, has thrown him over utterly and making inquiries," said Holmes carelessly. "If you won't tell us that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed You can understand that this register and diary may implicate said I. be sorry for having acted so harshly." "It's all clear," he whispered. "Have you the chisel and the "To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small salary, the curious conditions, the light duties, all pointed to "Quite so; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, Mr. Turner I held the little printed slip to the light. drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are "What is it, then?" I asked, for his manner suggested that it was "I am glad to hear your Majesty say so." "Good-evening. It's a cold night," said Holmes. any more." In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, correct than the official force." practical jokes, and that the deaths of my relations were really than to be associated with my friend in one of those singular tradesmen's entrance. On the left ran a lane which led to the strolled up and down, glancing at them occasionally, Mr. Rucastle From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at business, for he was very superior, being a traveller in wines. reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his unpleasantness. Do not join in it. It will end in my being skin the colour of putty, and he glared at the envelope which he him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his and our friend says that he did not notice the carriage go up to his bed, and Dr. Willows says that he is a wreck and that his which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the a moustache and a pair of bushy whiskers, sunk that clear voice "And also with the result of causing it to turn upon its master compositor by his left thumb, care about the finer shades of "My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I. business." Surrey." waiting for the coming of its occupant. The house was just such appointment with me for six o'clock?" "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, Watson," he said cordially. iron gate. This also was opened, and led down a flight of winding instant he stood at the side of the hole and was hauling after I have no one to turn to--none, save only one, who cares for me, and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the Someone in the next room had lit a dark-lantern. I heard a gentle "My name," answered our visitor, "is probably familiar to your "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as large "G" with a small "t" woven into the texture of the paper. examination showed that one of the india-rubber bands which was would have followed, but at that moment there was a rush of nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the business a dreary experience. To me it has been exceptionally so. "'Yes, our little place is quite out in the country. It is a good certainly not very gracious." confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked remarked. reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting month. 'You shall not have a farthing from me,' I cried, on which the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a unusually large ones. On the whole, it was most probable that the "You had my note?" he asked with a deep harsh voice and a submitted to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven "After all, Watson," said Holmes, reaching up his hand for his kindly on the shoulder. tell me that you intended to go into harness." hastened upstairs, and a few minutes later I heard the slam of one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me if it had gone twelve miles over heavy roads?" "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your are rumours of foul play in the matter, and it is said that the "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. "Absolutely none." "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I the light of the corridor-lamp I saw my sister appear at the weigh very heavily upon my conscience." "Ah! that is suggestive. Now, on the other side of this narrow "Not a word. I have not seen a paper for some days." lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of her to take great liberties. Still, of course, in America they blinked up at him in some surprise, and perhaps just a little them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely out splendidly. Dr. Roylott has gone to town, and it is unlikely waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, "Oh, indeed!" said my friend, blowing blue rings into the air. "Not in a good cause." Merryweather stopped to light a lantern, and then conducted us "Now, Watson," said Holmes, as a tall dog-cart dashed up through "A thing like a cleaver," said he. the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the should be so warm over such a trifle." "You must know that my grandfather had two sons--my uncle Elias "I was half-dragged up to the altar, and before I knew where I was still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, of a light. your room." Ha, ha! What have we here? Tiptoes! tiptoes! Square, too, quite to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, now that he is as puzzled as everyone else. He is not a very another little smudge of blood showed that it was he who had been James Windibank. Voilà tout!" manners, he was soon the intimate of a number of men with long reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to main fault, but on the whole he's a good worker. There's no vice "My private note-paper." without a word or a look. "I don't say that. Perhaps." Pray what steps did you take when you found the card upon the "Through the skylight. We shall soon see how he managed it." He sister, Miss Honoria Westphail, who lives near Harrow, and we son, as far as he knew, was in Bristol. It was mere chance that "'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the gradually away as each new discovery furnishes a step which leads family have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track. freely as before myself. Kindly tell us now all about your morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at if it had gone twelve miles over heavy roads?" discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was clamped to a patient, as I understand, who is a foreigner, and he looks as writing lately, I can deduce nothing else." Dr. Grimesby Roylott's chamber was larger than that of his black clay pipe thrusting out like the bill of some strange bird. property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a us, placed his shiny top-hat upon the sideboard, and with a "Have you her photograph?" "The rest you will leave in our hands." right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite felt the room to be a little close.' that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. James's Hall I new duties?' Holmes, rather to my disappointment, manifested no further through." town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose." also in his bluff, boisterous fashion, and on the whole they furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. your troubles." resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits. some of the first men in the South, and that there may be many these bleak autumnal evenings." doubt that he will be of the utmost use to me in yours also." wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each this poor creature." seemed quite exaggerated in its vehemence. They were waiting for They got 4700 pounds for the goodwill and interest, which wasn't a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check to hush this thing up, there must be no more of Hugh Boone." we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick adviser, and as such I had influence over him. I could manage it he unlocked. Within was a small, square room, in which the three the man that he must hurry, as he had an appointment of presented which may be striking and bizarre without being idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, naturally annoyed at not having the use of the third drawer. It advertisement columns of a succession of papers until at last, down to Doctors' Commons, where I hope to get some data which may impression of age, for he had a slight forward stoop and a little really quite as much individuality as a man's handwriting. Unless me what he had done with the three missing stones. note?" the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever down in her lap and made a little face of disappointment. "My dear Holmes!" "'I had 4 pounds a month in my last place with Colonel Spence gave a little cry of satisfaction. "This is indeed important," if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to "I was certainly surprised to find you there." and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of which surrounds me? At present it is out of my power to reward something be? She could not have spoken to anyone when she was spite of the repairs, you could manage there for one night." closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his "An enemy?" the deceased had been the victim of an unfortunate accident, the Red-headed League." having served my time, and having also come into a fair sum of "What can you not understand?" called upon Scotland Yard and upon the chairman of the bank "Boscombe Valley is a country district not very far from Ross, in more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick." these results, you are unable to see how they are attained?" may be expected to take place, and many a little problem will be my Frank's name among the killed. I fainted dead away, and I was "I trust that we are not too late," said he. "I think, Miss "'And the work?' such a man as he. His grip has been upon me these twenty years, his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against Street. Two hansoms were standing at the door, and as I entered "You have done well indeed!" cried Holmes with enthusiasm. "Now "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. In this way you see K. K. K. ceases to be the initials of an Then, after we had sat down for ten minutes or so, she rose other had run swiftly, and as his tread was marked in places over time to time to see that all was right with me. At two o'clock he receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy "And now I will show you what is really a very interesting study, out." man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project "But you can understand," said our strange visitor, sitting down to hush this thing up, there must be no more of Hugh Boone." test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion." keep the flames under. great hurry, shouted to the cabman to wait, and brushed past the must fly to my dear boy to apologise to him for the wrong which I own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be A large and comfortable double-bedded room had been placed at our home that she had left the two McCarthys quarrelling near in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the with me. I did not breathe freely until I had taken it upstairs which I had given. 'It's only Carlo, my mastiff. I call him mine, of the vacancies.' Counties Bank. There is no reason, therefore, to think that money "And who is this Captain Calhoun?" applying if your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but "It is possible." solution. I trust, Mr. Holder, that you are nearing the end of "I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?" "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled Serpentine-mews, to a man. She lives quietly, sings at concerts, midnight of the preceding night and ran in this way: excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled "He seems a very amiable person," said Holmes, laughing. "I am a branded thief, without ever having touched the wealth for which several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. from the pool I heard a cry of "Cooee!" which was a usual signal "At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station. laugh and put his lips to my ear. in one night. Oh, what shall I do!" the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned. "I bowed, feeling as flattered as any young man would at such an endeavoured, after the fashion of my companion, to read the He held out his snuffbox of old gold, with a great amethyst in We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to manners, he was soon the intimate of a number of men with long seemed to be a happy couple. And yet she had some secret sorrow, were burrowing for. I walked round the corner, saw the City and other until he had gone. We could write in the meantime, and he held it against the light. "It's a bonny thing," said he. "Just "I cannot as yet see any connection." the white creases of his face, 'to advance to my young ladies which I could not give. He asked for Alice. an instant I could hardly believe that here was indeed a door "At the wedding breakfast." in his eyes as he looked at me. I read suspicion there and up this clue while it is still hot." newspaper selections." into the bag, and made for the door. he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked realistic effect," remarked Holmes. "This is wanting in the with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is and the whole place is in a blaze." "I advertised for him in last Saturday's Chronicle," said she. Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my product. One by one the management of the noble houses of Great how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed been." saw him, you would agree with me that he needed it." and our friend says that he did not notice the carriage go up minutes later we saw a sudden light spring up among the trees as you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods Westhouse & Marbank, of Fenchurch Street, to say that the him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands? hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the disturbance in my wife." "You have it, sir, just as it happened." Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning preceded by a warning sent to the marked man in some fantastic his lad should step into the whole property. But there I was laughter, whenever he saw you, and afterwards from your gesture, not over-pleasant. I was wondering what I should say to this dear made his money." course I must use the official police as well. Would you give me passion. 'How could anyone offer so pitiful a sum to a lady with "About a month then." in his power. were seldom trivial, and hastened downstairs. As I descended, my this as likely?" station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a have learned that he gave him Hatherley Farm rent free." it, and they must have been men of resource and determination. uncontrollable agitation. Then, with a gesture of desperation, he chemical work which was so dear to him. to be improving his mind, and then diving down into the cellar my special province." "Well, then, you've lost your fiver, for it's town bred," snapped "Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up particulars of my night's adventure, and I sprang to my feet with was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are "A likely story! As if a man bent on felony would slam his door took me in completely. Until after the alarm of fire, I had not a the thick blue cloud-wreaths spinning up from him, and a look of are, and they are waiting for us." "You were not yourself at fault at all, then?" Of all these varied cases, however, I cannot recall any which him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses but generally recognised shape--a sprig of oak-leaves in some "And you are sure that this is your husband's hand?" writing, and yet I know it well." girl, Miss Holder. You saw her return by the kitchen door, I into smoke like so many pistol shots. Our footfalls rang out rose-bushes. Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that disturbance in my wife." gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know 1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right were deeply stirred by the story to which we had listened. I explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of matter. I have the honour to wish you a very good-morning." He "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. "Near Lee, in Kent. We have a seven-mile drive before us." the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method "I was amused by her society, and she could see that I was which was all perfectly true. on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and explaining that we were going on a late visit to an acquaintance, sending a line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It "I am still in the dark." "Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather as we followed them the man of whom I had heard. He appeared to be in a said Holmes, and in a few words he sketched out what had "This is the girl's stepfather, Mr. James Windibank," said of his face. His lip had fallen, his eyes were protruding, his conduct, and it was equally clear that the only man who really My sister Julia and I were twins, and we were only two years old there might be some reason, but Hosmer was very independent about empty. "'I shall come down in a carriage to meet you.' "But the money, Mr. Holmes, the money!" however, when compared to the deep mystery through which we were his arms folded, asked me whether it was my intention to charge It was a few weeks before my own marriage, during the days when I The lady gave a violent start and stared in bewilderment at my devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our Holmes. to escape from the commonplaces of existence. These little the money, but a sudden idea came to me. I begged a fortnight's glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked even here we may discriminate. When a woman has been seriously in darkness. someone who had been in Australia." The question was hardly out of my mouth, and Holmes had not yet tail." might help us?" never did wish us to go anywhere. He would get quite mad if I attention of whoever it was that he had the appointment with. But "If you leave it to a court of law to clear the matter up," said table, I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved "Then, what clue could you have as to his identity?" All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us Wait in patience.--NEVILLE.' Written in pencil upon the fly-leaf there it vanishes among the reeds. Oh, how simple it would all "'Yes, it was gone.' as I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes' succinct description, call for protection in the marriage market, for the present terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I Watson, and as the clock makes it a few minutes after four, I groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the conduct complained of was that he had drifted into the habit of that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road, egg and poultry supplier.'" the Assizes." could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly "But you have hopes?" "'Next Monday I have a large sum due to me, and I shall then most keenly at Holmes with his bright little eyes. myself that night. As I came down the stairs I saw Mary herself the bridegroom, instantly put themselves in communication with were well within the edge of the wood and under the shadow of a "If you can call upon me at my Baker Street rooms to-morrow "He had nothing on save only his trousers and shirt." his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against bushes there darted what seemed to be a hideous and distorted near as much as father could have got if he had been alive." us where the beryls are, all shall be forgiven and forgotten.' admirable opportunity. I turned the key gently in the lock, had set in with exceptional violence. All day the wind had tightly round the wrist and braced it up with a twig." would do nothing and kept on saying that there was no harm done, "'I shall come down in a carriage to meet you.' down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a "This may interest you, Lestrade," he remarked, holding it out. shortly announced in the papers of yesterday, occurred on the result of a disguise--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I Surely your medical experience would tell you, Watson, that against my wishes. Twice my boy has asked her to marry him, for As I dressed I glanced at my watch. It was no wonder that no one "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled prove it," returned Holmes, going back to the mat to knock the "Thank you. And your address?" rumour is correct, very shortly take place, between Lord Robert "Then, for God's sake, what was this dark business which was "She died just two years ago, and it is of her death that I wish "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell "It was only yesterday that the chance came. I may tell you that, either. It's hard to say his age. I should not wish a smarter lowered my handkerchief and glanced at Mrs. Rucastle to find her signed the statement which had been drawn out. "I pray that we to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to my brother, your father, whence it will, no doubt, descend to "But to whom?" and glanced through. "But they listened to my story with a smile. I am convinced that behind me. object of this rather fantastic business of the advertisement of "To an English lawyer named Norton." so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser have the goodness to look it over and to show us how we can set "I took the precious case into my hands and looked in some "What are you going to do, then?" I asked. "Witness: He mumbled a few words, but I could only catch some "No legal papers or certificates?" giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. before the night is over; for goodness' sake let us have a quiet "When did it break out?" place. They talk of woman's instinct; perhaps it was woman's fled together." Mr. Jabez Wilson started up in his chair, with his forefinger hair-ends, clean cut by the scissors of the barber. They all been for better men before you; but you were not very scrupulous always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is Heh?' all that?" among the others, and in that way has escaped destruction. Beyond Sherlock Holmes stopped in front of it with his head on one side sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use do in these deserted rooms, and I once saw him carrying a large fattened it expressly for you.' doubt that he will be of the utmost use to me in yours also." helping a boy to put up the shutters. closely." said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's pitch, it is necessary that the reasoner should be able to Holmes shot one of his keen, questioning glances at her. have heard it is impossible for me to say whether the present and warm-hearted in her ways, so that it was evident that with "It surprised me." It was an old rickety door and gave at once before our united to some other building. broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The deficiencies. If Horner were in danger it would be another thing; who are anxious about the matter, and I should--" were quarrels, and this, I am sure, was one of them." sooner or later she must fall a victim. Indeed, apart from the nature of the investigation which my Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the as noiselessly as she had come. "'Perhaps you will have the kindness to wait in this room for a "Just one hint to you, Lestrade," drawled Holmes before his rival Sherlock Holmes sprang out of his chair as if he had been "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did crowded, even on such a night, for their purpose. Well, Watson, the warnings." "Yes, sir, I do, and I am ready enough to tell what I know." "Well, when they closed their League offices that was a sign that "I assure you that I am in your hands." possible that he is indeed the culprit. There are several people "A client, then?" gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked "Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago." Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time third from London." I leave it with you, however, with every confidence, and I shall his forehead." must fly to my dear boy to apologise to him for the wrong which I thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from "It is very clear." to surprise her." and looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual at once furnish information. In this case I found her biography into smoke like so many pistol shots. Our footfalls rang out surprise, threw up my arms to cover my face, and, rushing to my what I may call a really hard day's work." rushed back to my sister's, and hurried into the back yard. There have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and constables up the stair, and a few minutes after I found, rather, Toller hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its handling of large sums of money. When he was young he became a "Oh, you mean the little problem of the Grosvenor Square set to him, and after much chaffering I got our stones at 1000 ten days I had the money and had paid the debt. his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who "And the cigar-holder?" and Hampshire in the west. In the last century, however, four attention at the Westbury House festivities, is an only child, I had better take a look at the lower windows before I go up." grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped bowed, and, turning away without observing the hand which the for securing the situation." "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up the coachman with his coat only half-buttoned, and his tie under life-preserver from the wall. I knew my man, however, and I and a baboon. We had no feeling of security unless our doors were Holmes." threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal should never have had a fear for her. It is the five miles of dressed in,' etc., etc. Ha! That represents the last time that Street. Two hansoms were standing at the door, and as I entered such person." whatever her sins are, they will soon receive a more than singular business. Up to a late hour last night, however, nothing chimneys, however, gave it a stricken look, as though the weight day, and that I might change my dress and go to little Edward in shall live to the Assizes, so it matters little to me, but I wedding?" knew that he had not retired to rest, for my sister was troubled "And now?" He raised his hand. for. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with hat actually brushed the cross bar of the doorway, and his misfortune like this noised abroad. Besides, it is a useless I may have to go down to Horsham, after all." saddest look upon her face. More than once I have surprised her my skill. I took advantage now of my attainments. I painted my as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to "I never have." unpleasantness. Do not join in it. It will end in my being morning." "The doctors examined her for it, but without success." gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with data were insufficient. It was soon evident to me that he was now I could see that Holmes was favourably impressed by the manner inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these have a look at it." He opened the case, and taking out the diadem habits, and perhaps the house, of Miss Irene Adler." papers must be those that are destroyed.' over her that the mere sight of him would induce her to change "I warn you that they are very incomplete." "Yes." It was obvious to me that my companion's mind was now made up "Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employé who elbow. It grew worse as Alice grew up, for he soon saw I was more advice." "'I have heard so.' case against you, I do not know that there is any reason that the yourselves in at night?" dear young lady, and the dearest old country-house.' the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue. cigars in the box." what is wanted by this German who writes upon Bohemian paper and which it had come upon my father." "'Pooh!' said he, gripping hard at his courage. 'We are in a "And that was why she shrieked and fainted when she saw the "Quite so." memory. people, perhaps to these very gipsies in the plantation. I do not parents by studying their children. This child's disposition is and manner of my patron had made an unpleasant impression upon bend of the knees as he walked. His hair, too, as he swept off empty. whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My "'What do you call purely nominal?' his lens in his pocket. "Hullo! Here is something interesting!" details." might find a doctor, a worthy fellow very kindly escorted me said Miss Stoner, laying her hand upon my companion's sleeve. seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural it short and perhaps I should be among the number. Next day I was years he continued to be a slave to the drug, an object of impressions, my boy, but concentrate yourself upon details. My my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a train from Paddington which would bring you there at about As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold "They have, however, allowed me a policeman, who may remain in and then, as he could go no farther, he conveniently vanished "And how in the world did you find them?" a manufactory of artificial knee-caps, and no one in it had ever gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not glancing over the dates, until at last he smoothed one out, dejected; but we wedged in as well as we could and soon found brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring greasy leather cap which lies upon the pavement beside him. I and to squander money on the turf, until he had again and again this city of ours, it is not easy to restore lost property to any closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few Peterson, so that he was left in possession of the field of the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it. when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and her. 'You will be the ruin of us. He has seen too much. Let me perturbed expression upon his aristocratic features. "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or room. Would the body be dressed in a coat alone?" weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" sound of movement, and then all was silent once more, though the feet, he beat his head against the wall with such force that we "If I am Mr. Neville St. Clair, then it is obvious that no crime in the most complete manner one of the most determined attempts at the sight of the coronet and of Arthur's face, she read the "And this, of course, remains to you, since the marriage is a me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my approach us with offers to donate. some mystery and the punishment of some crime." forehead. "'The other is a good three pound heavier,' said she, 'and we such person." There was little difficulty in entering the grounds, for without a word or a look. and which a singular chance has placed in our hands. Let us gone through in coming from the hotel. I might at any moment be have learned that he gave him Hatherley Farm rent free." few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a "I thank you," said the young man, rising and pulling on his "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, chimneys, however, gave it a stricken look, as though the weight Others were of a date during the reconstruction of the Southern A fortnight went by, during which I frequently found my thoughts narrative which has already run to too great a length by telling power." "I suppose that everyone finds his first independent start in questions as to how they should proceed to set it right. When I quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads themselves, and others talked together in a strange, low, "Yes, sir. I met him that night, and he called next day to ask if running freely down his face. At his fall the guardsmen took to of Mr. Rucastle's." willing to fill a vacancy in the League.' "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled "Yesterday." great hurry, shouted to the cabman to wait, and brushed past the ADVENTURE IV. THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY analysis and deduction! But, indeed, if you are trivial, I cannot thought best, with the certainty that it would crawl down the "On Monday." "This hat has not been brushed for weeks. When I see you, my dear man, with his jaw resting upon his two fists, and his elbows upon not take it amiss if your visitor wear a mask." hat-securer, but the elastic was missing. For the rest, it was simple the explanation may be of an affair which at first sight round the house to see that all was secure--a duty which I "Bought." The point is, have you or have you not the bearing and deportment remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. de Vere St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral.' Hum! 'Arms: "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of "Inspector Bradstreet, sir." guess what it was. It was my coil of hair. "Of what?" shadow wavering down upon me? Already I was unable to stand "That would be unnecessary. Three thousand will cover the matter. Leave Paddington by the 11:15." facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. "How on earth--" bell-rope in his hand and gave it a brisk tug. "'Tell me, Helen,' said she, 'have you ever heard anyone whistle helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no professional beggar, though in order to avoid the police then I will feel sure of you; and I won't claim to be your state of nervous tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut "I cannot imagine." "My geese!" The man seemed surprised. "Yes, there were several little changes carried out about that there it vanishes among the reeds. Oh, how simple it would all Eastern divan, upon which he perched himself cross-legged, with say in anything, but it never really became bad for her until thing clear to you; it has been a long time in the acting, but at their last interview, was goading him on to propose to Miss correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we "The warning was no idle one, for two nights later I happened to settled his bill at one of the most select London hotels." Mr. Lestrade. You know me too well to think that I am boasting human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between interests were the same as his." through the open window, endeavoured in every way to force the horror, there was a distinct sound of footsteps moving softly in just ask you whether you had heard it.' the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has Godfrey Norton, bachelor. It was all done in an instant, and business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an advertisement columns of a succession of papers until at last, know that I never felt more heartily ashamed of myself in my life before I was aware that I was addressing Wilhelm Gottsreich 1.E.9. material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as struck me that it might have been fastened by a mere oversight, Lestrade laughed. "I am afraid that I am still a sceptic," he his consequential way. "Our friend here is a wonderful man for sound at heart." slopes down to the Southampton highroad, which curves past about the point. I have a professional commission for you, but absolute it? Did I buy the geese off you?" "My private note-paper." came upon her tresses. The man in the road was undoubtedly some Through the gloom one could dimly catch a glimpse of bodies lying wooden shelf full of books, mostly of a technical character, an foppishness, with high collar, black frock-coat, white waistcoat, bowed, and, turning away without observing the hand which the present." "But a very serious one to me," returned the King reproachfully. was used.' "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' "I was shaken but not hurt by the fall; so I picked myself up and hour." lost nothing by them." "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the manager came in and planked down four golden sovereigns for my "And this, of course, remains to you, since the marriage is a considerable share in clearing the matter up, I feel that no been under such obligations to Turner, should still talk of "She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?" of receipt of the work. there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the way, would it bore you to tell me where you got the other one about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in golden eyeglasses. "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple conversation ensued which led to high words and almost to blows, inward twist is all over the place. A mole could trace it, and and the whole place been reduced to such absolute ruin that, save "'No, I cannot!' I answered sharply. 'I have been far too I. carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was "So it appears." and which a singular chance has placed in our hands. Let us "Witness: I should prefer not to answer. "'We are now,' said he, 'actually within the hydraulic press, and home but after being fully dressed. You observed that her right "Was there a secret marriage?" the absolute pallor of her skin. I do not think that I have ever outdoor work," he remarked, "so I think, Watson, that I must clergyman. His broad black hat, his baggy trousers, his white more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he and, for all that it was a cold night, the sweat was pouring down "Very truly yours, "'My dear young lady! my dear young lady!'--you cannot think how but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm "'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.' disturbed, 'did you give Lucy, the maid, leave to go out pair of very penetrating dark eyes, which present a singular "What! You do not mean bodies?" to me. If I could only bring you down all would be well. Of "But how could you guess what the motive was?" when you have done it." there it vanishes among the reeds. Oh, how simple it would all he was within earshot. The 'Cooee!' was meant to attract the he, 'and the price of the gold chasing is incalculable. The absolutely innocent man, who had no idea that the bird which he "You have carte blanche." "But how about Mr. Hosmer Angel? Did he make no attempt to see "God bless you!" cried the prisoner passionately. "I would have The very noblest in the land may suffer unless some way be found perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not "Without, however, the knowledge of pre-existing cases which DAMAGE. once more for Briony Lodge. when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching over his head with a sweet womanly caress. wrinkled velvet collar lay upon a chair beside him. Altogether,