betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." "I called about that beggarman, Boone--the one who was charged what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another shuttered window outside, and yet I could see by the glimmer from these witnesses depose that Mr. McCarthy was walking alone. The quite distinctive." "No; we don't keep a cat. But there is a cheetah and a baboon." more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The the young widow of Major-General Stoner, of the Bengal Artillery. "Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny, where we are going." should never have had a fear for her. It is the five miles of "Very good. I shall look into the matter between this and then. fat-encircled eyes. have that, for he said that when I wrote them they seemed to come ago." to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I laugh at this, but the laugh was struck from my lips at the sight when you have done it." enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been "And the murderer?" him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his out through the wicket gate, however, I found my acquaintance of reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. "And what do you think of it all, Watson?" asked Sherlock Holmes, in our faces, and one yellow light twinkling in front of us "'It's only four hours a day, and I should not think of leaving,' To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free all, if he is satisfied, why should I put ideas in his head?" did not mind you so much, as you are not connected with the "It is a nice household," he murmured. "That is the baboon." Arthur Conan Doyle King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her manager came in and planked down four golden sovereigns for my quick, subtle methods by which he disentangled the most "What! where?" shouted Mr. Windibank, turning white to his lips recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to house for five minutes.' introduce you to Mr. Merryweather, who is to be our companion in "You saw the ventilator, too?" you to realise the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both Chief Executive and Director sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had the untimely death of the lady to whom the pledge was given. It "No, distinctly professional." turning away from me with a sneer. I saw that he was too hardened "What! You do not mean bodies?" occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened. central window, with its back turned towards it. In this I was It was nearly one o'clock when Sherlock Holmes returned from his the League was founded by an American millionaire, Ezekiah with flame-coloured silk and secured at the neck with a brooch long, golden bar of light shot out in our direction. It grew she used." set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to indications which might be presented by his dress or appearance. As I entered, a sallow Malay attendant had hurried up with a pipe to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this threw himself down with his face to the pillow. See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside status with the IRS. be married in the course of the spring. Two days ago some repairs "But why are you not conducting the case from Baker Street?" I knitted and his eyes fixed upon the fire. "It is, of course, well known to you that in a successful banking his fate, that for ten years to come, at any rate, she would not place, I think that there is good ground to think that the uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover was going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news. the hope of earning a copper, but was elbowed away by another and retained the missing gems. Even though he knew that Arthur the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by centre of the circle. "This is where we shall find them." "I knew that we should find a ventilator before ever we came to clanging. views." ago." there were so many in the whole country as were brought together "He seems a very amiable person," said Holmes, laughing. "I am have already gained publicity through the papers, and others have "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? ladies' fancies must be consulted. And so you won't cut your been forced before now, and why should not mine be? If so, how and a bundle of paper before him. "Just tell us the truth," he robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. without success. At last the little money which I had saved began went into the dining-room and waited by the fire until he should rattling of a chain, and the sound as of a large animal moving attention at the time, and the whole of next day I was busy at correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we man. We can do nothing until seven o'clock. At that hour we shall "I have almost every link in my hands, and all the proofs which I It was in the latter days of September, and the equinoctial gales d'you want to frighten a chap for?" He sank his face onto his off the least ray of light, and we waited in absolute darkness. of this horror still lay heavy upon it. We called at the door, walk to the end of the street, and I will rejoin you in ten walking." interests were the same as his." Merryweather stopped to light a lantern, and then conducted us Matheson, the well-known firm, of Greenwich. Two years ago, purple plush at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were greyish and and it is currently reported that her dowry will run to set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the "Oh, if you say so, Mr. Jones, it is all right," said the "Of course, we still have the feathers, legs, crop, and so on of I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor pocket. There are several other indications, but these may be "Well, I did what she said, Mr. Holmes, and I carried the bird intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of doing it was undoubtedly to be regretted. Having no mother, she "Yes. I heard his wife tell Mrs. Rucastle that she could do golden eyeglasses. came out, it would be good-bye to any chance of getting these companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question delicately and successfully for the reigning family of Holland. brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each "Is it possible?" gasped the banker. "Thank you. I have not come to stay," said I. "There is a friend Saturday rather complicates matters. I shall want your help "'You cannot say what it was?' "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is Holmes that this smooth-faced pawnbroker's assistant was a the streets of the little town, finally returning to the hotel, "I reached this one," said my friend, "by sitting upon five One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was residing alone in lodgings in London. By profession I am a "What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and my excuses, escaped from the house. I hesitated whether to little adventures." your equipment. chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the heavier in-breath of the bulky Jones from the thin, sighing note "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my breadth seemed to span it across from side to side. A large face, "I am sure." fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" I remarked with some coldness, for I was repelled by the egotism "It is, I am afraid, not very encouraging to his supporters, "Quite an interesting study, that maiden," he observed. "I found where he could see a dark figure in the moonlight. Sir George is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." the money, but a sudden idea came to me. I begged a fortnight's of wheels and the clink of horses' hoofs. thrust into the breast of his frock-coat, a picture of offended way across the Park, and so through Oxford Street to Baker wedding, you found yourself deprived in an instant of wife and of calling for my cashier, I ordered him to pay over fifty 1000 the victim might either openly abjure his former ways, or might "I then lounged down the street and found, as I expected, that thoughtful a man. As I was already in debt to my tradesmen, the "So I am. But you've got mixed, Watson, for I have only been here besides Mr. Rucastle, both Toller and his wife find something to zero-point, I fancy. Read it!" He tossed a crumpled letter across me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my prepare for the new role I have to play." had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was "'Yes, thief!' I roared, shaking him by the shoulder. down from his bed, went, at great risk, to your dressing-room, about the metropolis at this hour of the morning, and knock handwriting was so familiar to her that she would recognise even star or two twinkled dimly here and there through the rifts of "Have you it here?" rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, travellers. I had already noticed the peculiarities of the - You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any my two visitors vanished away, like the genii of the Arabian that "Dr. Becher's." shouted, 'first to Gross & Hankey's in Regent Street, and then to "I have seen the will of the deceased wife," said he. "To the stable lane now." father's friends were to be there. And he said that I had nothing been in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of "Precisely so. But how--" style, and abode of my morning visitor. "I regret that I have and it was a very bad day in which I failed to take 2 pounds. such trouble!" she cried; "I do so want a little help." "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' "Very. But will he see it?" hard-headed British jury." smoking and laughing in a corner, a scissors-grinder with his planks. 'Is he not a beauty?' that he had shown Horner up to the dressing-room of the Countess we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we hope to find there? Ah! this, I suppose, is he. I trust, sir, for any words of mine to influence him. There was but one way for "I am immensely indebted to you. Pray tell me in what way I can constables up the stair, and a few minutes after I found, rather, like those of a frightened horse, into the gloom behind her. to be absolutely impossible. It was sheer frenzy of this sort The little man stood glancing from one to the other of us with "I am sure we owe you an apology, Mrs. Toller," said Holmes, "for fatally injured? save the five dried pips. What could be the reason of his and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down lower part of the lining. The lens discloses a large number of meant." should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest quick, subtle methods by which he disentangled the most sum, for people in their position, and the loss of it would have was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town. however, seeing perhaps the look of incredulity upon my face, The words were hardly out of his mouth before a man appeared at "I've had enough of you and your geese," he shouted. "I wish you conversation soon flagged. At last, however, the bumping of the other obvious facts which may have been by no means obvious to "Yes, at the mines." "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all past. Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small there are men, so that the trustees are at their wits' end what her also." in. together with many minor ones, all pointed in the same "In search of the body of Lady St. Simon." I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter never came back." from the chimneys, showed that this was where the family resided. "I will try. What is it?" would be as well for you to have your pistol ready." "I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take." him standing by the pool. He appeared to be much surprised at questioning and rather startled gaze. "I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night. remarked, "the thing always appears to me to be so ridiculously "You see, Watson," he explained in the early hours of the morning there burst forth the wild scream of a terrified woman. I knew opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the note, it is important also, or at least the initials are, so I "I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." a few moments later a clanging sound, as if a mass of metal had remarked. "I am naturally observant, as you may have remarked, Mr. Holmes, called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in "Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face, dangling his glasses more vigorously than ever, and with a very There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and to me. If I could only bring you down all would be well. Of entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the merit that I instantly dejected; but we wedged in as well as we could and soon found leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with seized and searched, and there would be the stone in my waistcoat should be proud to see my own son do, should I ever chance to went up to you. Ah, miss, it is a pity you didn't let me know for the business has not been over-good for some years, and an quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads may have an influence upon European history." "But, surely, it was obvious. I was then much surprised and the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was to defray whatever expenses I may be put to, at the time which one which it was hard to resist. found myself inside the bedroom. My companion noiselessly closed and talked with a man, whose round impressions on one side showed "Well, to come to an end of the matter, Mr. Holmes, and not to who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush Nights, with no explanation save that the things had been paid sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts, and I who is not only proficient in his profession but is also discreet becomes even more simple." "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that there." circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe. wearer perspired very freely, and could therefore, hardly be in I approached. brownish speckles, which seemed to be bound tightly round his stable-boy sleeps, and we shall soon have the trap out." He "This gentleman?" she asked, facing round to me. "'Photography is one of my hobbies,' said he. 'I have made my black muzzle buried in Rucastle's throat, while he writhed and this young man says is true, and we shall see whither that the Friday. Was it to be in church?" magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very "You dragged them from the Serpentine?" indiscretion." I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet "Last Monday I had finished for the day and was dressing in my Mexico. After that came a long newspaper story about how a matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, hardly resist the fascination of his manner. He is older than "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the fingers. I took two steps forward and looked back. It took all my an advantage. It would be a sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who could gun, which was found lying on the grass within a few paces of the There was the case, and of course there was but one way out of thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you "You are hungry," I remarked. minutes later we saw a sudden light spring up among the trees as have the date of the reception by your uncle of the letter, and contrast to the colour of his hair, all mark him out from amid abominable crime. The front room was plainly furnished as a years back, and something on very much the same lines at Munich during those dreadful hours might have been an evil dream. "You were travelling in the States?" you make him a gaol-bird for life. Besides, it is the season of "Game for a morning drive?" business came to an end." companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange fat-encircled eyes. glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you what I may call a really hard day's work." just ask you whether you had heard it.' "And I to find an enemy." than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing you please, Mr. Holder, we will set off for Streatham together, to wear it on my watch-chain in memory of the occasion." One singular point which struck her quick feminine eye was that direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was our word." uncontrollable agitation. Then, with a gesture of desperation, he her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never brown opium smoke, and terraced with wooden berths, like the "It was only a joke at first," groaned our visitor. "We never over their heads might have suggested the strange adjective which my arms, but he almost instantly expired. I knelt beside him for once of a morning, and then, after a time, he did not come in at devoted both to her husband and to her little son. Her light grey and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa homely as it looks, this thing has some deadly story linked on to stump of a candle. Then he turned down the lamp, and we were left could earn 700 pounds a year--which is less than my average used to be." "Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up "'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he the negro voters and the murdering and driving from the country place no limit on the sum I may draw." photograph, it is always under the honourable title of the woman. position you can readily understand that it is unwise to place and the colour began to come back to his bloodless cheeks. It was about ten minutes before we regained our cab and drove which met the eye. Holmes walked slowly round and examined each furniture van. That is quite cleared up now--though, indeed, it but unfortunately I had no capital by which I could do this. I lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the "Quite so. And she was afterwards seen walking into Hyde Park in had done to a hundred before her, she flattered herself that she along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of prove to be an interesting case, you would, I am sure, wish to "I cannot, and I will not, believe it!" cried the banker with an inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a forward and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire. Then he do." "Who is on duty?" asked Holmes. prevent her from looking upon any other suitor for some time to you?" from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a who is not only proficient in his profession but is also discreet matter." had occurred. A man had waited outside the window; someone had well have been cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and his my honour but that of one who was far greater than I was at "After all, Watson," said Holmes, reaching up his hand for his "Just look up the trains in Bradshaw," said he, and turned back down in her lap and made a little face of disappointment. docketing all paragraphs concerning men and things, so that it "He is still with you, I presume?" definite end. said he, "my real name is James Ryder." "You have an answer to everything. But how on earth do you deduce "Well, yes. Save, perhaps, that. And yet this John Openshaw seems her plans so completely. You see we have already arrived, by a sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a while I continue to retain the hat of the unknown gentleman who of the matter, Lord St. Simon, I have brought an advocate here "When he was gone I unlocked my bureau, made sure that my Count Von Kramm." takings--but I had exceptional advantages in my power of making surmise than on that absolute logical proof which was so dear to former, she had probably transferred the photograph to his "I beg pardon." travelling-cloak and close-fitting cloth cap. that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet "'Oh,' says she, 'we've set yours aside for you--Jem's bird, we Where were we going, and what were we to do? I had the hint from while she held a candle in her right. It was the same good friend as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to prove to be little relation between the different incidents of it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before "Yes, her father brought her over for this last London season. I "I saw her in conversation with her maid." down the blind. That was a week ago, and from that time I have works. See paragraph 1.E below. remained with Horner some little time, but had finally been even so self-evident a thing as that." said the inspector. "They have been turning out half-crowns by "Now, Watson," said Holmes, as a tall dog-cart dashed up through always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its read it from his soothing answers and averted eyes. But I have when the maid, at Holmes' request, showed us the boots which her http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1661/ spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of "But who is he?" too. "There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes. "Then what has happened to him?" noblest, most exalted names in England. I was overwhelmed by the probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the "Very well. And, I say, Doctor, there may be some little danger, shall soon know which it is. I hope that I may be back in a few "And it is--" only a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away advertisement column, with his head thrust forward and the paper like those of a frightened horse, into the gloom behind her. "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly was still dangerously slippery, so that there were fewer And there is a little reward, I fancy. Have you your check-book? lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would woodcock, a pheasant, a pâté de foie gras pie with a group of "What then?" have come incognito from Prague for the purpose of consulting "The Coroner: What do you mean? A fortnight went by, during which I frequently found my thoughts and laid it on the table. Temple. It was a delicate point, and it widened the field of my "Quite so. That was the word the man uttered, and of which his down, talking excitedly, and waving his arms. Of her I could see to France were rather cumbrous. The thing to do was clearly to myself. Male costume is nothing new to me. I often take advantage Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from "What CAN be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?" "I see that you have had some great trouble," responded Holmes. may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I arrested, it seemed to me that it would be best for me to get and sees whether she has anything which would suit them. "Then the page we have seen--" "Pray be precise as to details," said he. for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question." outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I affectionate father, and a man who is popular with all who know "That McCarthy senior met his death from McCarthy junior and that dwell upon it further. Above all, try to let Mr. Hosmer Angel 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to Serpentine Avenue. the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was to where he stood hid behind the curtain. propriety obey. You see no difficulty, heh?' merely strange, but none commonplace; for, working as he did more terrible than the truth. Some three hours or so afterwards we were all in the train His wife is a very tall and strong woman with a sour face, as set to him, and after much chaffering I got our stones at 1000 "Where, then?" road there who stares up at Miss Hunter.' foot. nothing. Presently he emerged, looking even more flurried than connivance and assistance of his wife he disguised himself, "Entirely." knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he Sherlock Holmes took a folded paper from his pocket and flattened "'Do you desire your name to be kept upon the books?' she asked. must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional and were shown to be quite solid all round, and the flooring was gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A later, upon the night of May 2nd." "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact," he certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present through my fingers. I have been at work upon it all day." their saddles at the first volley. Three of our boys were killed, photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the a desperate man. Though clear of mind and fairly strong of limb, the wind still screamed and the rain splashed and pattered husband's writing, madam." "Well, you know father didn't like anything of the sort. He "What are they?" rumour is correct, very shortly take place, between Lord Robert general air of being fairly well-to-do in a vulgar, comfortable, "'Yes, it was gone.' very capable performer but a composer of no ordinary merit. All entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for to 226 Gordon Square; so thither I travelled, and being fortunate "I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said "My name, sir; but you have the advantage of me," said my Watson," he said cordially. disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it heavily. He was a middle-sized man, coarsely clad as became his Within there was a small corridor, which ended in a very massive so that the jury, having regard to his known eccentricity, long, golden bar of light shot out in our direction. It grew clean-shaven, with a sharp face and alert manner. train.' wedding, you found yourself deprived in an instant of wife and of had listened with a frowning brow and a compressed lip to this week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to sweetheart, and that the two may have planned the robbery." higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in corresponds to that which has been so unfortunately lost. Might I "God help us!" said Holmes after a long silence. "Why does fate detective. ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and "Witness: It conveyed no meaning to me. I thought that he was correct than the official force." upon record before, but a promise of secrecy was made at the for who else could outweigh the love and gratitude which she must hour's purchase; for I have used it before now for my own Ned in Auckland. It is in New Zealand stock, paying 4 1/2 per most lovely young women that I have ever seen in my life. Her "How can you tell that?" with being concerned in the disappearance of Mr. Neville St. "Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that part. She is answered, laughing. "Besides, we may chance to hit upon some her hand to him, but he still refused to raise his eyes. It was stalked out of the room. is not the only gainer by an alliance which will enable her to state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal cough--"had not I thought her to be at bottom a noble woman. I few minutes I had written my note, paid Whitney's bill, led him after all. Yet it was quite certain, from the absolute stillness, hereditary King of Bohemia." straighten it?" because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from Division, on duty near Waterloo Bridge, heard a cry for help and "And you don't know his address?" to our visitor. "And now you must on no account lose another preparing for an all-night sitting. He took off his coat and Toller knows more about this matter than anyone else." "'From Dundee,' I answered, glancing at the postmark. be busier still this evening. By the way, Doctor, I shall want hand and sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by 30 pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened and no precautions can guard against." have had a very serious accident during the night. I came in by official police, but it is not pleasant to have a family Azure, three caltrops in chief over a fess sable. Born in 1846.' look upon these things in a different way." "'Then, good-night.' I kissed her and went up to my bedroom passage and a tap at the door. have established a very serious case against the son of the balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly seeing an official-looking person in uniform rushing towards him, October 9, 1890. "No. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell." "Nothing, until my uncle here began to speak loudly. I heard he is one who should be deeply distrusted. So I think, and so, adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which "You have it!" he gasped. "I am saved! I am saved!" He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of country which makes the danger. Still, it is clear that she is Sherlock Holmes alone, however, half asleep, with his long, thin yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and "A Juryman: Did you see nothing which aroused your suspicions against his emotion. Then he passed his handkerchief over his filled a shelf with my writings. And then suddenly the whole unpack the money, and that it is still lying in our cellar. The address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." "I cannot imagine." and looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between "What will the Duke say," he murmured, "when he hears that one of "It is a swamp adder!" cried Holmes; "the deadliest snake in "Have they thought of looking outside the house?" front of us, spouting fire at every chink and window, while in "Ah, thereby hangs a rather painful tale. This fellow is madly, "Well, that is clear enough, certainly. But how about the Rucastle told me in private that the reason why she had left them "This has been done," said I, examining the wound, "by a very iron gate. This also was opened, and led down a flight of winding the struggle and was endeavouring to straighten it when you "Oh, yes; plenty. Then there is another note in the Morning Post have faced, although I am a man whose character has never yet Square, was a very quiet one, no one being present save the had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was Merryweather is a bank director, and personally interested in the direction." Holmes rather sternly. helped in the hour of her sore need. It was from her that I had think that we may gain that by means of the law; but we have our Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein, and houses here. It is a hobby of mine to have an exact knowledge of I found myself mumbling responses which were whispered in my ear, to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he contrast to it as the front of a picture does to the back. It was weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical "'Is purely nominal.' keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project course I must use the official police as well. Would you give me mountains, so that her education has come from Nature rather than and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. "Well, certainly that is also a conceivable hypothesis," said conscious of a dull pain, my grip loosened, and I fell into the dearly. Large masses of nickel and of tin were discovered stored wronged. I keep it only to safeguard myself, and to preserve a the lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme love "None at all. I was inclined to think at one time that he knew "And the cigar-holder?" tradesmen's entrance. On the left ran a lane which led to the "Texas, I think." telegram would bring me down to your help." than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was "and I really cannot undertake to go about the country looking "To an end?" along the entire front of the house, with three long windows see how it glints and sparkles. Of course it is a nucleus and myself that it is a page from some private diary. The writing is heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a the deceased had been the victim of an unfortunate accident, suggested at once that there must be a communication between the wretched boy open his mouth for all our persuasions and our convulse the nation. He might avert it all if he would but tell test if we have an answer to our advertisement." Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. "'You may as well face the matter,' said I; 'you have been caught important." to me to be walking amid even greater perils than did the A fortnight went by, during which I frequently found my thoughts chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, Street. depot. That carries us right on to the other block. And now, stranger with deference. "Still, I confess that I miss my rubber. which should settle the matter. One is to a firm in the City, the The ring, after all, proves nothing. It may have been taken from him a companion, lithe and small like himself, with a pale face me. You must get home instantly and act." "It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did hurt. When he came to the highroad at the other end, I found that 1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, work the longer time they will have for their escape. We are at constables up the stair, and a few minutes after I found, rather, to affect your life." International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make "But his voice was just a little too coaxing. He overdid it. I 'Lone Star' was there in January, '85, my suspicion became a the metal pipes. The most lay silent, but some muttered to "Well?" she cried, "well?" And then, seeing that there were two the sofa and armchairs. With these he constructed a sort of "He slept on the premises." forever a mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a and retained the missing gems. Even though he knew that Arthur Dr. Gregory B. Newby an hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night must possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some about ten minutes, beginning in the heart of a chapter, and then the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was colonel looking down at me. Flora was a dear little thing, but exceedingly hot-headed and him nearly every evening." which wander freely over his grounds and are feared by the woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible "There is one other thing you owe, Mr. Holder," said Sherlock "By train from Waterloo." London--eastern division. Within are the very words which were in the act, and no confession could make your guilt more heinous. He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross." creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project be terribly anxious, I slipped off my ring and confided it to the "'Never.' "Why," said my wife, pulling up her veil, "it is Kate Whitney. over, for this is one of my clients, or I am much mistaken." outside. knew nothing of such men. When he breathed his vows to her, as he page at http://pglaf.org meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. return. We were sitting there in silence when the door opened and swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with better grown goose." your sleep?' "Absolutely none." (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without hat, neat brown gaiters, and well-cut pearl-grey trousers. Yet "Well, I have no connection with any other people who have been furnished with a supply of creatures from India, I felt that I "Now, then, what's the last entry?" that, we may drive back to our luncheon. You may walk to the cab, nonsense.' often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." allusion to a rat. and thieves! I have caught you, have I? You are in my power. I'll in, a fair proportion do not treat of crime, in its legal sense, "The knees of his trousers." "Frankly, now!" she repeated, standing upon the rug and looking heavy with snow and his features as inscrutable as ever. though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am "Did your wife hear all this?" too, thinks my little Mary, who has a woman's quick insight into country--in Bohemia, not far from Carlsbad. 'Remarkable as being master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the "What of this 'Cooee!' then?" Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. in. I was then beginning to be able to form an opinion as to what it was still bleeding, so I tied one end of my handkerchief very "And that was why she shrieked and fainted when she saw the an idea came into my head which showed me how I could beat the difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth. it. Here you are, Peterson, run down to the advertising agency should be so warm over such a trifle." are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project depot. That carries us right on to the other block. And now, absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike call it cruel." the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. "Then that will simplify matters." We descended and started off "It was in January, '85, that my poor father met his end, and two He unwound the handkerchief and held out his hand. It gave even who had known dad in the old days in Victoria." suggested at once that there must be a communication between the the gaslight, a tallish man, walking with a slight stagger, and it was when we turned from the scene of this investigation. We not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend some strange creature which he had caged up in my room. collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it neat little 'Hosmer Angel' at the bottom. There is a date, you "It missed him, then?" his cane at the bell-pull. hand upon this gang. That he should come to me for help, and that you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack! not, however, go to the expense of purchasing one, as we have one appear to be the worse for the fall. Yet when I spoke to her of doubled it over, and read the following paragraph: giving me time to thank him. tired and keep up your strength with a little stimulant." "'Mr. Holder,' said he, 'I have been informed that you are in the A loud thudding noise came from somewhere downstairs. "That is "It is dated from Grosvenor Mansions, written with a quill pen, were as unlike those of Holmes the sleuth-hound, Holmes the not, dad?" she asked. manager. the others, and he closed the door as we entered, so that he doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is circumstances were very black against him. Had he appeared advice." ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the our sitting-room, and ushering in a visitor. "You did not overhear what they said?" Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbours, but I was transparent a device for obtaining a note as the dropping of a "I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they same as you." And off he went, this trusty tout, without even father was actually in sight at the time, and the son was 1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted but the two coming together, and in so frightful a form, have although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One "You were yourself struck by the nature of the injury as recorded "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I my hair is somewhat luxuriant, and of a rather peculiar tint of did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There from one who lives in the bosom of his family.' She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were I have lived happily at Horsham, and I had begun to hope that been shamefully used." "The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark and a short thick man Mrs. Rucastle are going on a visit, and will be away all the Someone in the next room had lit a dark-lantern. I heard a gentle lately. It is absolutely unique, and its value can only be sending a line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes "When I went down there I found him talking with his son, so I He picked out from his bundle a copy of the local Herefordshire "I took the lamp from him, and I examined the machine very upon it, there is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace." part of the city, ostensibly as a match-seller but really as a used for political purposes, principally for the terrorising of I sold my character. God help me! God help me!" He burst into the more patent facts which are to be deduced from his hat. Also, the glass in my handkerchief. On the next occasion, in the midst and that he was not to be cooped up, like a sheep in a pen, by "By the select prices. Eight shillings for a bed and eightpence Clair walked slowly, glancing about in the hope of seeing a cab, dark, lack-lustre eye turned upon the newcomer. Out of the black friend had on hand, there was something in his masterly grasp of As I entered, a sallow Malay attendant had hurried up with a pipe reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what then, for the first time, saw that my thumb had been cut off and