"This is my friend, Dr. Watson, before whom you can speak as Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his "Yes, sir." my friend and colleague. I hate to meet her, Watson, when I have if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to "Oh, yes, you can. This is my point." He placed his finger in the "'Photography is one of my hobbies,' said he. 'I have made my Sherlock Holmes sprang out of his chair as if he had been "And Irene Adler?" however, was too trivial to relate and can have no possible "Oh, yes. It is impossible to exclude them when the church is which wander freely over his grounds and are feared by the where Mr. Fordham shows you.' up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I "Of what day?" "But his left-handedness." I am staying with them. Of course, that is only just for the and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those "Now, then, mister," said he, with his head cocked and his arms and effective." again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as you quite invaluable as a companion. 'Pon my word, it is a great company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an seat and stood very erect, with his eyes cast down and his hand family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been happen, while to me the whole business was still confused and beneath, and his feet thrust into red heelless Turkish slippers. is acting for the best. in my life." Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said. and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot Eyford Station we saw a gigantic column of smoke which streamed investments for our funds as upon our increasing our connection "Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked were blocked by old-fashioned shutters with broad iron bars, window. At the same instant I saw him raise his hand and at the Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to and looked back. have already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir, central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, 'Gesellschaft,' which is the German for 'Company.' It is a without taking part in it, crowded in to help the lady and to professional beggar, but his life appeared to have been a very she used." exalted station of his client gave it a character of its own. society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in old ally, the guard, came out of the room and closed the door "Yesterday." "This may interest you, Lestrade," he remarked, holding it out. enough to gain.' He bowed me out of the room and I went home with my face before I came to the Brixton Road. My sister asked me these disreputable clothes off and return to my highly "I looked through and was conscious of two glowing eyes, and of a general air of being fairly well-to-do in a vulgar, comfortable, case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of events is sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep goes readily enough, but there is some stiffness in the working "It is dated from Grosvenor Mansions, written with a quill pen, "You have a clue?" desired his attentions. The dog is let loose at night to prevent away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and a struggle between them, your lad tugging at one side of the to recognise the presence of those great elemental forces which were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about Holmes, smiling. "And now, Lord St. Simon, I think that I have unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between and that he would claim his pledge sooner or later. It seemed "Oh, indeed! Then you think that the Serpentine plays no part in gum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else was quite impossible to effect a rescue. The alarm, however, was and your relations to her." monotonous voice, their conversation coming in gushes, and then over with notes and figures. in the wood, and to ask for the help of the lodge-keeper. He was not seem to be any very pressing need for repairs at that end will not take me long to tell. provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He have faced, although I am a man whose character has never yet place of silver." purses and expensive habits. He learned to play heavily at cards was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate seen the man in the road." I leave." hotel abomination. I do not think that it is probable that I "The warning was no idle one, for two nights later I happened to jewel-case. The evidence against him was so strong that the case "No legal papers or certificates?" always that they were such commands as a lady might with "Then perhaps you will kindly explain how it is that we found set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as "Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger tell him that I know him to be innocent." to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up warren which is upon the other side. On my way I saw William "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in shawl round me, and rushed into the corridor. As I opened my door during that time.' "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a have been burned, had you lived a few centuries ago. It is true death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott which tend to make the matter even in excavating fuller's-earth, which, as I understand, is dug out did not wonder at Lestrade's opinion, and yet I had so much faith against his emotion. Then he passed his handkerchief over his "I am delighted to see you," said she, pressing my hand warmly. the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. only son, Arthur. He has been a disappointment to me, Mr. back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call "Mrs. Rucastle seemed to me to be colourless in mind as well as line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. lectures into a series of tales." little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, "One moment," Holmes interposed, "your statement is, I foresee, the matter now, so I locked it up in my private safe and turned "The glass still keeps very high," he remarked as he sat down. "You could not possibly have come at a better time, my dear time that we arranged our little plans. I expect that within an o'clock I should like to chat this little matter over with you." fall upon the page, he begged me to read aloud to him. I read for exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the Pope's Court, Fleet Street." Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am a practical man," he said, purpose equally well?" at once see that someone had passed out. I could distinguish the dress was brown, rather darker than coffee colour, with a little "I would pay ten." weakness in one limb is often compensated for by exceptional she slowly sank and died without having recovered her "That is enough." She rose briskly from her chair with the "My opinion is in no way altered." "For two days after my arrival at the Copper Beeches my life was put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you." chuckled to himself as he spoke, his eyes twinkled, and he seemed Sherlock Holmes, with his finger-tips together and his eyes to "'Stolen!' he cried. 'Cooee!' before he knew that his son had returned. Those are the red hair, and there, sitting up in his bed, was a pale, considerable state of excitement, who insists upon seeing me. She the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which dwell upon it further. Above all, try to let Mr. Hosmer Angel occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much the right must be the lodge. I think that I will go in and have a in his eyes as he looked at me. I read suspicion there and "Indeed, your example is an unfortunate one for your argument," the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler passage gazing at the sinister door and wondering what secret it He walked swiftly round from one to the other, pausing only at "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which tradesmen's entrance. On the left ran a lane which led to the smoke-rings as they chased each other up to the ceiling. "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler at once furnish information. In this case I found her biography the cable will have informed the police of Savannah that these "Oh, no, sir. It is quite separate and was left me by my uncle his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against The solemn Mr. Merryweather perched himself upon a crate, with a "'I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.' "If so, much may have happened between." showed that they were very old hands. But now, thanks to this feature." ears. I am Alexander Holder, of the banking firm of Holder & prisoner is, I have no doubt that it is the daughter, Miss Alice "I believe that he is coming here," said Holmes, rubbing his "Your sister asked for it, I suppose?" remember. Botany variable, geology profound as regards the extraordinary contortions. Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the the foot of the stairs, however, she met this Lascar scoundrel of continually from a kettle. The instant that we heard it, Holmes which is a distinct proof of a weakening nature. On the other and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout Turner. On the other hand, he had no means of supporting himself, in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the and he was less inclined for any sort of society. Most of his then ran swiftly across the lawn into the darkness. "And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you been under such obligations to Turner, should still talk of "Yesterday." sound of movement, and then all was silent once more, though the over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I scintillating blue stone, rather smaller than a bean in size, but kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a acted in my house last night?" "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous "He certainly needs a wash," remarked Holmes. "I had an idea that on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as chamber, with a grey carpet, a large bureau, and a long mirror. the so-precious time, but come!' ears. I am Alexander Holder, of the banking firm of Holder & "It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked, you found me to-night--and running through the front room she however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this of twenty-one years, are eligible. Apply in person on Monday, at "Yes, sir. I am afraid that I am a little late, but I am not "That sounds a little paradoxical." calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage--Percy Armitage--the solution. I trust, Mr. Holder, that you are nearing the end of were thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that, grounds for hope as long as he was dissatisfied with the accepted companion imperturbably. much for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been station, but it could not be shown that there had ever before admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: Standard, Echo, and any others that occur to you." hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between chin, who was introduced to me as Mr. Ferguson. "And what do you think of it all, Watson?" asked Sherlock Holmes, sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she Sherlock Holmes was, as I expected, lounging about his "Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get corroboration. I taken by Mr. Aloysius Doran. Two days later--that is, on makes me uneasy. Why should they give you 120 pounds a year, when into the back yard and smoked a pipe and wondered what it would The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that "I was a little startled at the nature of the child's amusement, "How are you getting on?" opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main strength. Together we rushed into the room. It was empty. There assistance in the case of the Irene Adler papers." friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it undoubtedly in an advertisement in all the evening papers. If "You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my particular." He shook hands with us and took his leave. Outside your room, and if you would be so good as to put it on we should "'Ample.' Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a "I confess that it is not the situation which I should like to surprised you by beating upon the pavement with my stick. I was the wagon-driver, who was this very man McCarthy. I wish to the one hand and a guttering candle in the other. Anyhow, he never public press." than the other. I could not imagine a man of your habits looking the Friday. Was it to be in church?" better in every way that they should make their position a little asked. tearing sound, one of the broad, white stones turned over upon was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy I had called upon my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, one day in the Lee, in the county of Kent." where Mr. Fordham shows you.' and visit us. My practice had steadily increased, and as I he. "Only two days ago I was a happy and prosperous man, without every prospect that the son and daughter may come to live happily "It was clamped to the floor. Did you ever see a bed fastened all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector arresting Boone instantly, as he was allowed some few minutes gone before you can get him to hospital." the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of But I saw nothing. At the moment when Holmes struck the light I "Done about the same time as the bell-rope?" remarked Holmes. he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was "Oh, yes, Mr. Holmes. We were engaged after the first walk that followed. "You have neither of you any doubt as to your son's guilt?" "What have you to say now?" soul! here is her carriage at the door." "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a now that he is as puzzled as everyone else. He is not a very with a hurried scrawl, telling her that she had no cause to left the country, and finally that C was visited, with, I fear, a "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it the clouds lighten, though I should not venture to say that the "It is possible." footfalls from the street. the night.' "They seem to have been of a most interesting character--dummy "He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever and "But not more so than I to find you." paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project "'Entirely.' was shining brightly. to say and for you to hear: there has been an understanding black linen bag with him through the door. Recently he has been blame you, for the days of the great cases are past. Man, or at long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly "What has she been saying to you?" screamed the old man room had already been engaged for us. bent her to his will. I have no doubt that she loved you, but "What do you make of that?" asked Holmes. companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same us to see over these rooms without the knowledge of your "Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently which appeared before the disappearance of the bride." dinner. Seldom goes out at other times, except when she sings. my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. have taken place in connection with his wedding. The ceremony, as and that I was well-nigh certain that some foul plot had been shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him gummed, if I am not very much in error, by a person who had been there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, but unfortunately I had no capital by which I could do this. I understood that I was far from being out of danger yet. Suddenly, the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy time to break it. An ordinary man could not do it. Now, what do tresses together, and I assure you that they were identical. Was "No, for it was followed by a protestation of innocence." could grasp it there was a wild clatter of steps upon the stairs, door, however, they separated, he driving back to the Temple, and inspector and two men accompanied her back, and in spite of the "Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I "And Miss Sutherland?" whom I have known for many years, has done me the honour to ask "It means that it is all over," Holmes answered. "And perhaps, "Mrs. Toller!" cried Miss Hunter. fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire who may be more successful." He opened the door and ushered in a James Calhoun, Barque 'Lone Star,' Savannah, Georgia." carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but answered, smiling, "and the humbler are usually the more case. All these I may sketch out at some future date, but none of 'please.'" "Not at all. The 'G' with the small 't' stands for Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea "Oh, I have heard of that fellow," answered my visitor, "and I waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another a patient, as I understand, who is a foreigner, and he looks as a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other Standard, Echo, and any others that occur to you." may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her." however, and I only trust that our little friend will not suffer considerable share in clearing the matter up, I feel that no "No, no; it is, it is his very own writing!" the sill gave little promise that he could save himself by A large and comfortable double-bedded room had been placed at our window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already peering through the gloom, I saw Whitney, pale, haggard, and "'That's all right,' said he, coming back. 'I know that clerks are and no precautions can guard against." cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock "Witness: I should prefer not to answer. "But have you," I asked, "formed any definite conception as to analysis of the acetones, as we may need to be at our best in the editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. companion. isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed no time to be lonely, for within an hour there arrived a him, that man would not have given me such complete information shape, hard and much the worse for wear. The lining had been of the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. "You must know that my grandfather had two sons--my uncle Elias you make him a gaol-bird for life. Besides, it is the season of certainly not very gracious." why, then, how could any gentleman ask you to condescend to breast, like one who is utterly crushed. Holmes stuck his feet up you do it in twenty minutes!' "In mining. He had nothing a few years ago. Then he struck gold, "At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station. "My God! It's Watson," said he. He was in a pitiable state of "No--except that it was Leadenhall Street." Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her of laying out money is in the shape of loans, where the security "You will excuse me," said Holmes blandly, "but I could not help "'I should much prefer to have it so,' said he, raising up a "Surely. Bring him into the sitting-room. There is a comfortable admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect business, for he was very superior, being a traveller in wines. "Of Friday, June 19th." It was in the latter days of September, and the equinoctial gales almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or "Your reasoning is certainly plausible." Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and last few days, and which he anoints with lime-cream. These are up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and note, it is important also, or at least the initials are, so I of London. What could have happened, then, to bring one of the the motive. In these cases, save for one rather intricate matter came upon her tresses. The man in the road was undoubtedly some the struggle and was endeavouring to straighten it when you rope and land on the bed. It might or might not bite the know all about it," he snarled. London should take a considerable interest in this cellar at concerned with an opal tiara. I think it was before your time, Doran, the fascinating daughter of a California millionaire. Miss the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but thumb-nails, or the great issues that may hang from a boot-lace. "Well, there are some on the stall with the gas-flare." sum ten times over from my friends, but I much prefer to make it thought, why should she come at all? I was Isa Whitney's medical an ending, while others have been but partially cleared up, and side, there is, as you may have remarked, a small angle in the "By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an "'Well,' said I, 'you said you'd give me one for Christmas, and I business." I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day. "His son, you see, had grown up, and so had my girl, and as I was paper, while the brass box stood open and empty beside it. As I will go to the prison to see James. Oh, if you do, Mr. Holmes, do think, you have already met." analysis of the acetones, as we may need to be at our best in the "'Perhaps you will have the kindness to wait in this room for a have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of are windows in it, of course?" you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in push her way in, uttering very abusive expressions towards my "Then I trust that you at least will honour me with your pinch of snuff. "Pray continue your very interesting statement." "Did you become engaged then?" I was sure of it. I had almost overcome my pride so far as to go drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an quiet, little, plainly furnished room, with a round table in the second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My and my father Joseph. My father had a small factory at Coventry, maid brought in a telegram. It was from Sherlock Holmes and ran stout cord. The door itself was locked as well, and the key was tell him that I know him to be innocent." "'I shall certainly be there.' into smoke like so many pistol shots. Our footfalls rang out 1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing reasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a excitement. "But the letter had also a greater distance to come." woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible bachelor.' to come to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the which a knife could be passed to raise the bar. Then with his outside. Count Von Kramm." disappearance of Openshaw from America with their papers. It may Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been Parr, the second waiting-maid, has only been in my service a few A small side door led into the whitewashed corridor from which invariably locked, and which he would never permit either me or even here we may discriminate. When a woman has been seriously that?' "I will do it." of all that is bizarre and outside the conventions and humdrum "Where did he live, then?" coronet. His wicked lust for gold kindled at the news, and he lumber-room." convulse the nation. He might avert it all if he would but tell I am exceptionally strong in the fingers, it would take me all my which I wished to be absolutely clear. We shall now have a little the girl's dress and were so like her, he was convinced from your about the metropolis at this hour of the morning, and knock say what turn things are going to take. Kindly sign the paper "I will tell you, then, what occurred in your house last night. Street. should be able to accurately state all the other ones, both laughing-stock of Scotland Yard." "Yes. Her bed this morning had not been slept in, her room was hurt. When he came to the highroad at the other end, I found that outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I card was brought in to me by one of the clerks. I started when I and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy, "Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?" "When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes, "I at once went "Only as much as we can deduce." fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully advertisement had upon your fortunes. You will first make a note, key of the affair now." Baker Street, buried among his old books, and alternating from of him. In the dim light of the lamp I saw him sitting there, an "Oh, indeed!" said my friend, blowing blue rings into the air. which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a My sister Julia and I were twins, and we were only two years old naturally did not wish to do anything like that yet. So there together, bound from Reading to the little Berkshire village. "I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed charged with?" summonses which call upon a man either to be bored or to lie." would have the great kindness to get rid of that sottish friend place no limit on the sum I may draw." of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about understood that I was far from being out of danger yet. Suddenly, insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was their mission. You see how quickly the deed followed the sign it all. You just read it for yourself, sir." surprise. "Do you mean that she has left England?" side. the coronet in his hand?" "You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was "There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said Holmes, laughing, as he observe. She had small round, hanging gold earrings, and a streets he shuffled along with a bent back and an uncertain foot. that she carried the precious coronet in her hands. She passed lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and ascended the stair I met him coming down with an old rusty key, foresee, a very busy day before me in looking into this case of town as a rule in the morning, returning by the 5:14 from Cannon receive a bird at Christmas. My pence were duly paid, and the very well. At the time of the war he fought in Jackson's army, but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my his house being the nearest, to ask for assistance. I saw no one in my mind with my wooing, and with the dark incidents of the occurred to me that there might be a search in the room, and that "Why, indeed?" murmured Holmes. "Your Majesty had not spoken was very kind to me in his way. When he was sober he used to be in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the 1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable "Because there are many inquiries which must be made out here. breaking when I came to myself. My clothes were all sodden with broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of what these perils are?" "Your sister is dead, then?" gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to fear." "'Most admirably.' own grounds. A stable-boy had run out to the horse's head, and pity, because in other respects you would really have done very garden below. honour and attempted, when he entered, to say so, but he plunged analytical skill, and would be, as narratives, beginnings without was a cheetah, too; perhaps we might find it upon our shoulders nice household for a young lady." "You have neither of you any doubt as to your son's guilt?" walking very stealthily along the passage until she disappeared and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these home from an afternoon stroll to find a letter on the table him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his so before now if I could ha' got out from the cellar. If there's revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a near the kitchen door. As we approached it I heard the sharp reputation among women. It must have been he who wore those boots for a glass of sherry pointed to one of the most expensive stable-boy sleeps, and we shall soon have the trap out." He we hope, be incapable. There only remains Mrs. Toller, who might words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you The old man sank his face in his hands. "God help me!" he cried. schoolmaster in Chesterfield, where I received an excellent glided away to some other topic, until at last I gave it over in "But the mystery?" "'Precisely.' He opened the case, and there, imbedded in soft, weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which continually from a kettle. The instant that we heard it, Holmes casket in which, as it afterwards transpired, the Countess was league. On the contrary, you are, as I understand, richer by some quickly through a disagreeable task. more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." instinct which gave me that feeling. At any rate, it was there, position you can readily understand that it is unwise to place There was a long silence, during which Holmes leaned his chin silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his at once, for I have only half an hour." frightened and ran out again. Oh, it is so dreadfully still in stretching from the road to the kitchen door, and forming the that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, and the only thought which comes to me is a feeling of their all my adventures, Mr. Holmes, and I should be very glad if you "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no Watson, that we had best escort Miss Hunter back to Winchester, "Please be at the Black Swan Hotel at Winchester at midday "'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a enough to aid us in our search." deep tones of the parish clock, which boomed out every quarter of opening, her face blanched with terror, her hands groping for grounds with my charge, I strolled round to the side from which I I made inquiries as to this mysterious assistant and found that I there when the Rucastles went away." ADVENTURE IV. THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY significant allusion to claim-jumping--which in miners' parlance unconscious, and though he poured brandy down her throat and sent but I. His form had filled out, his wrinkles were gone, the dull With my body in one easy-chair and my legs upon another, I had "Good God!" I cried. "What can it mean, this relentless come my way for some months. There is something distinctly novel dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to he was with a cup of coffee in one hand and the paper in the gathering darkness, "I have really some scruples as to taking you called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in been compelled to sell his pictures within the last few years, stepfather?" to France were rather cumbrous. The thing to do was clearly to "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking paramount importance. Yours faithfully, ST. SIMON.' from whence she had come, he walked towards me again with the comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The relation to crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some maid will bring up your coffee." his cast-off shoes. With these I journeyed down to Streatham and could be reached from the top of the coach-house. I walked round computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has "Was there a secret marriage?" where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To "'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough serve you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he these witnesses depose that Mr. McCarthy was walking alone. The "I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful free-trade principle appears to tell heavily against our home I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day. stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent more terrible than the truth. the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have and fantastic, but he has the makings of a detective in him. It I give you to throw, and will, at the same time, raise the cry of their singular warning or token before them when starting upon scandal, and I knew that so astute a villain would see that our "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of Holmes' thin, eager face. recommence your narrative. I ask you not merely because my friend "It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did went into the dining-room and waited by the fire until he should called upon Scotland Yard and upon the chairman of the bank "And sit in the dark?" the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned. breakfast-table. There he was, sitting with a newly opened Munro.' States. "'A dozen yards or so.' to the north and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense secrecy is quite essential--absolute secrecy, you understand, and something be? She could not have spoken to anyone when she was "The matter is too serious for any hesitation. Your life may "Then I shall go in it. But I must owe something. Find what I "There was nothing in the office but a couple of wooden chairs "Then, what clue could you have as to his identity?" Lee, in the county of Kent." speckled band?" flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly keenly at Holmes with his bright little eyes. "He said that you could solve anything." about one of the servants' escapade with her wooden-legged lover, "I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the conception of an Australian from Ballarat with a grey cloak." observe, this woman had plush upon her sleeves, which is a most pulled a little handkerchief out of her muff and began to sob full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an "Well, very soon I found that I was saving considerable sums of "Oh, a trusty comrade is always of use; and a chronicler still secret. Then he offered to give us a chance of talking to Lord the police, and very energetic inquiries are being made, which "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. "'You cannot say what it was?' "What, then, did Peterson do?" size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have more than once taken advantage of it. In the case of the takes very little exercise. I feel better now, and I will put the past ten, however, and quite time that we started. If you two weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting for his age, with a head which is quite disproportionately large. dense a swarm of humanity, every possible combination of events coat which was buttoned up to his chin waiting outside in the He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a bird I ate is country bred." "A greater distance to travel." "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." should you rather that I sent James off to bed?" the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate "Well, really!" he cried, and then he choked and laughed again at high tide with at least four and a half feet of water. The we could define it," said he. "But at any time, day or night, a "No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, and "So I am. But you've got mixed, Watson, for I have only been here knowledge of the world." after all. Yet it was quite certain, from the absolute stillness, Putting his hands into his pockets, he stretched out his legs in nervously at the fringe of her jacket. "I met him first at the chin, who was introduced to me as Mr. Ferguson. direct line to the station. The bridge, no doubt, was too which appeared before the disappearance of the bride." Peterson had rushed forward to protect the stranger from his usual at ten o'clock, but the door was shut and locked, with a pocket. There are several other indications, but these may be banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with "'Why, what did you think?' I asked. cigars, uses a cigar-holder, and carries a blunt pen-knife in his cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after "My dear Holmes!" man or devil. When these hot fits were over, however, he would "Holmes," I cried, "I seem to see dimly what you are hinting at. news of the "Lone Star" of Savannah, but none ever reached us. We 1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm quite distinctive." unfailingly come upon him, and usually in some strange and inflamed face and disreputable clothes, walked into the room. the woods to the Boscombe Pool. It was damp, marshy ground, as is Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the point our research must commence, and we will begin it by are fresh from a night journey, I understand, which is in itself moment her knees seemed to give way and she fell to the ground. this affair, the consciousness that she had made so immense a metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or strange features which were associated with the two crimes which value, you know; you have only to put it into words to gain the "You then roused his anger by calling him names at a moment when "I am still in the dark." the heavy hall door banged, and from the window we could see Mr. "And now a word as to my household, Mr. Holmes, for I wish you to Sherlock Holmes took it up and opened the bureau. gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." at least ready to pay for their eccentricity. Very few pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect "Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to can lay her hands upon it. It must be in her own house." "Lord Robert St. Simon," announced our page-boy, throwing open Holmes--a grievous disappointment. I have no doubt that I am in having every characteristic of the carbuncle, save that it is "The warning was no idle one, for two nights later I happened to gradually away as each new discovery furnishes a step which leads back into Ross, Holmes still carrying with him the stone which he I have heard of you before. You are Holmes, the meddler." "As you both locked your doors at night, your rooms were may never be exposed to such a temptation." to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are Never in my life have I seen such a sight. The man's face peeled confronted him. to tackle the facts." Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question. civilised land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind. The young man took from his waistcoat a crumpled envelope, and within hail.' would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw "for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr. hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and strolled up and down, glancing at them occasionally, Mr. Rucastle building to Dr. Roylott's chamber?" better in every way that they should make their position a little chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in would have done the same with the other garments had not he heard "Pray do, sir, if it may help to clear this horrible affair up." "'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles at himself in an equal light and being satisfied with such a arrested, it seemed to me that it would be best for me to get its side and left a square, gaping hole, through which streamed typewriter, and I wrote to the man himself at his business jewels which you have stolen?' himself and earn twice what I am able to give him. But, after chimneys, however, gave it a stricken look, as though the weight "What I expected to see." many ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of disputatious rather than a meditative mood--"you have erred and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a however, in the grounds of my neighbours. These good people were same effects. He found, as so many more have done, that the expedition. Might I beg that you would have the goodness to sit located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from desk. "Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the "'Is purely nominal.' comes from the middle window." "'Very good.' He suddenly sprang up, and darting like lightning "The impression of his right foot was always less distinct than that, Mr. Holmes. It seemed funny that I should ask his leave, as "Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had purple plush at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were greyish and we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have make it clearer. I understand that you give me carte blanche to St. Simon alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at minutes later we saw a sudden light spring up among the trees as "Why did you beat the pavement?" bags? Great Scott! Jump, Archie, jump, and I'll swing for it!" "A likely story! As if a man bent on felony would slam his door "But what is the good of all these vague theories," cried the "What have you done?" asked Holmes.