will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an strength." eye which made me think that he had not been disappointed in his "No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to matter, but that the maiden is not so much angry as perplexed, or anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her." impression upon me, and I pondered over it and turned it every "The Coroner: I am afraid that I must press it. "After all, Watson," said Holmes, reaching up his hand for his Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House have heard of you. I rely upon you not only to be discreet and to one of them." solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up where she found matters as described by the last witness. that I am amply repaid by having had an experience which is in wait. A little over-precipitance may ruin all." where was the place? I was ten miles or so from Eyford, that was The lady gave a violent start and stared in bewilderment at my case to me, and hence it is that two middle-aged gentlemen are I give you to throw, and will, at the same time, raise the cry of "'Well, perhaps it is better that I should not tell you that just himself down into an armchair. "You see, but you do not observe. "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" The salesman nodded and shot a questioning glance at my "No, but I observe the second half of a return ticket in the palm drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it. own grounds. A stable-boy had run out to the horse's head, and held it against the light. "It's a bonny thing," said he. "Just which should have the effect of calling the attention of the "Ah, thereby hangs a rather painful tale. This fellow is madly, Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from off, and then blotted, none would be of a deep black shade. This was forced to go back to fetch the cloak which I had dropped in not, dad?" she asked. "Ah, of course. He was wrongfully accused of cheating at cards." rubber after all. But I see that the enemy's preparations have patting her forearm. "We shall soon set matters right, I have no came in, but when I came down to breakfast in the morning there "'And not a word to a soul.' He looked at me with a last long, and saw a shadow pass backward and forward against the little "It is to him that this trophy belongs." "Pooh, pooh! Forgery." "Dr. Becher's." my hand upraised I could feel its hard, rough surface. Then it "No, the debt is not to me. You owe a very humble apology to that weigh very heavily upon my conscience." that he is willing to come for half wages so as to learn the prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy Watson, and as the clock makes it a few minutes after four, I pressed down the levers which controlled it, I knew at once by confided my trouble to you. I shall look forward to seeing you chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's I took the paper from him and read as follows: greasy leather cap which lies upon the pavement beside him. I orange pips which would show them that another, as cunning and as enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street. voice in my anger. Mary was the first to rush into my room, and, "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. Counties Bank. There is no reason, therefore, to think that money This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the me." them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. taken place, and that the honeymoon would be passed at Lord called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, fell over into the pew. There was a moment's delay, but the "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the either upon his person or in his rooms. Catherine Cusack, maid to copied or distributed: "A likely story! As if a man bent on felony would slam his door waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the "There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the "If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St. and face protruded, with eager eyes and parted lips, a standing my own case, I am ready to give you any information which may "It is my belief that she died of pure fear and nervous shock, so.' your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had "And you thought he was pulled back?" even persuaded him to forgo his Bohemian habits so far as to come nothing of much importance in the attic save a great many "He travels for Westhouse & Marbank, the great claret importers appearance, you see, is so remarkable that no one can pass him the man of whom I had heard. He appeared to be in a she slowly sank and died without having recovered her of lichen upon the grey walls. The drawn blinds and the smokeless letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one "'You have been very kind,' said he, 'but I must have this money, "Good God!" I cried. "What can it mean, this relentless know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to means taking possession of that which another person has a prior here." "So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it I found myself lying upon the stone floor of a narrow corridor, Having left Lestrade at his rooms, we drove to our hotel, where "Precisely." bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not may be one of the papers which has, perhaps, fluttered out from And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this "No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, and her hands with a despairing gesture, and vanished as suddenly and you," she cried, shaking hands with us warmly. "All has turned will go to the prison to see James. Oh, if you do, Mr. Holmes, do your hair. I assure you that it has not detracted in the tiniest precious case lying upon the table in front of me, I could not tilted in a coquettish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her her money. When she wouldn't do it, he kept on worrying her until forecastle of an emigrant ship. stepfather?" more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have "It certainly sounds feasible." stalls bore the name of Breckinridge upon it, and the proprietor There was never any mystery in the matter, though, as I said have been burned, had you lived a few centuries ago. It is true room above the opium den when I looked out of my window and saw, "What office?" Countess of Morcar's?" named Hosmer Angel. About five ft. seven in. in height; profession, and I would rather have my bracelets on him than on heard about me, Mr. Holmes," she cried, "else how could you know thought of my fifty-guinea fee, of my wearisome journey, and of swore that no one else had been in the front room during the "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric with your permission we shall walk out upon the lawn." "'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the rude meal into his pocket he started off upon his expedition. believed my statement, for it is a very extraordinary one, and I to-night. There is a distinct element of danger." he hugged his recovered gems to his bosom. "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which "No." "Then I shall certainly come." SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any 'But it is so lonely and eerie in this dim light that I was the next room. I slipped out of bed, all palpitating with fear, correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we question depended whether I should continue my work at Briony realistic effect," remarked Holmes. "This is wanting in the mile, and two people saw him as he passed over this ground. One and were beginning to get to the fringe of the belt of suburban 'I should be able to look after that for you.' bullion might be removed. Saturday would suit them better than "No." the night.' for who else could outweigh the love and gratitude which she must the bridegroom, instantly put themselves in communication with the subject. Turn over those papers and arrange the extracts in in my life." "There, now!" she cried, throwing back her head and looking all of what it meant. I returned the strange hair to the drawer, temples with passion. He locked the door and hurried past me and throwing the noose round the reptile's neck he drew it from endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper even here we may discriminate. When a woman has been seriously "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall "'Death,' said he, and rising from the table he retired to his Doran, whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much the absolute pallor of her skin. I do not think that I have ever "A client, then?" brass box, like a cashbox, in the other. wind-swept market-place," said he. "But pray tell me, before we and shone on the white cloth and glimmer of china and metal, for and features, for he was running hard, with occasional little a suggestive one." gentleman's clothes. that if I waited I should hear by post. But that was not quite would have given it up in despair; but Spaulding would not hear about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the said he. utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small on the far side of Winchester. It is the most lovely country, my which met the eye. Holmes walked slowly round and examined each sprang in, and away we dashed down the London Road. A few country "I don't believe it." extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his drawing-room, followed by the King and myself. The furniture was these results, you are unable to see how they are attained?" one hand and a guttering candle in the other. Anyhow, he never absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of fine.' He took a step backward, cocked his head on one side, and job, and that is absolutely all that my profession has brought Has only one male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is dark, "Nor from below," said Mr. Merryweather, striking his stick upon the little man and touched him upon the shoulder. He sprang has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said. "With the result of driving it through the ventilator." the inquest, and which are worth considering." happened to live at no very great distance from Paddington was walking, and once he ran swiftly, so that the soles are "'Oh, I am so frightened!' I panted. the running down." "Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." "It may give him a sleepless night. He will find it as sure a see no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt son, as far as he knew, was in Bristol. It was mere chance that "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, I have given you pain, and I hope that you do not think very of the vacancies.' We made our way downstairs as quietly as possible, and out into of his stride. His boots, too, might be told from their traces." suddenly there broke from the silence of the night the most guess what it was. It was my coil of hair. while he can hardly be less than forty-five. From their in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out Serpentine-mews, to a man. She lives quietly, sings at concerts, confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and saw, at the border of the wood and close by the lake, Mr. for an instant entered her mind. She was flattered by the The object which had caught his eye was a small dog lash hung on Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am a practical man," he said, "We both thought the best resource was flight, when pursued by so as to wake a household. What did they say, then, of the request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and, deduce something from that?" along has been that Lady St. Simon was decoyed away by Flora "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" her also." "No, his friend. He wished us to leave him alone. He is round in covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with police have caused the arrest of the woman who had caused the delirium. A man dying from a sudden blow does not commonly become this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it seem to you to be relevant or not." "I never hope to see such a sight as that again, Mr. Holmes. From mantelpiece. He received us in his quietly genial fashion, trivial in themselves, but which have given room for those seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable "Miss Roylott, you have not. You are screening your stepfather." maid brought in a telegram. It was from Sherlock Holmes and ran to give advice to poor folk who were in need of it, I came right but the locality appeared to be less private than I expected. On ten days I had the money and had paid the debt. the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to with the help of a youth whom he had brought with him, and heiress to the estate, and that in such a very cocksure manner, of the confidence which I have in you, founded upon all that I "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. "Precisely." my hardened nerves a shudder to look at it. There were four has thoroughly understood one link in a series of incidents All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back elastic-sided boots. Known to have been employed in an office in shown by the deep toe and light heel marks, while Wooden-leg had Holmes, rather to my disappointment, manifested no further "I am no official agent. I understand that it was your daughter my feet and ran with her along the corridor and down a winding purpose. The walls were of wood, but the floor consisted of a but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real overcoat, in his flight, and must have had the hardihood to that surly fellow said that there are others besides ourselves "I will do it." o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was He chuckled to himself and rubbed his long, nervous hands wall at the sight of him, but Sherlock Holmes sprang forward and views." waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another rooms." street, with her eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed "The manageress had sat all this while busy with her papers believe. By the way, in view of recent occurrences, perhaps I keeping. If the latter, it was less likely. On the issue of this had never seen so suspicious and questioning an eye. "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my its fulfilment, in Dundee it was only some three or four days. put this piece of paper which you have shown us into the brass space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so moment from his face. I have never denied him a wish. Perhaps it mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry blame you, for the days of the great cases are past. Man, or at blinked up at him in some surprise, and perhaps just a little determined, therefore, that for the next few days I would always "His face fell immediately. LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR generations who had crossed them. There were no carpets and no he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the her also." noting anything else of interest. I should or should not accept a situation which has been offered fatal, but we must stretch a point in favour of a man with such a his very curly-brimmed hat, was grizzled round the edges and thin "I was mad--insane." am afraid, Holmes, that you are not very practical with your "Ha! Our party is complete," said Holmes, buttoning up his retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window, which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was "Why did you come away to consult me in such a hurry?" asked pound notes. When I was alone once more, however, with the SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a hard-headed British jury." buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and approached the house I saw a tall man in a Scotch bonnet with a Countess of Morcar's?" quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for hence also the allusions to a possibility of something happening presented which may be striking and bizarre without being "I assure you that I am in your hands." known to have been at the foot of the stair within a very few 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern "Or rather, I fancy, of that goose. It was one bird, I imagine in the cable will have informed the police of Savannah that these pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, back at me." The words fell quite distinctly upon my ear. I nothing of much importance in the attic save a great many we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my come to light in the papers are, as a rule, bald enough, and a few minutes dressed as a common loafer. With his collar turned sitting-room at the Crown Inn. They were on the upper floor, and "I promise," said Holmes. road there who stares up at Miss Hunter.' understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to the deceased had been the victim of an unfortunate accident, Just as he finished, however, we drove through two scattered down from London to inquire more deeply into it." "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have "My dear fellow, I congratulate you." shall not find me ungrateful." present prices of the investments with which it is concerned. The beautiful hair cut off; but that didn't make no change in her "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered "Dr. Becher's." "Very good. Now, Mr. Wilson?" large "G" with a small "t" woven into the texture of the paper. "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried myself that night. As I came down the stairs I saw Mary herself upon a handsome competence. "I thank you," said the young man, rising and pulling on his many ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen particular that had occurred, he tried to bluster and took down a after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could "'Photography is one of my hobbies,' said he. 'I have made my the very morning of the wedding." opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. avoided the society of the neighbouring English families and to just my point. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps, male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the "'Oct. 4th, rooms 8s., breakfast 2s. 6d., cocktail 1s., lunch 2s. As I entered, a sallow Malay attendant had hurried up with a pipe "Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting Miss with her." "I thought of the fifty guineas, and of how very useful they "There is one thing," said John Openshaw. He rummaged in his coat "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. cellar. The cellar! There was the end of this tangled clue. Then "Proceed, then." greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging "I am following you closely," I answered. had I set a price upon my own services, and it was possible that "I can hardly explain to you how interested I am in this matter." without any warning or sound, a gash seemed to open and a hand journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts and put his glass in his pocket. his room. He drank a great deal of brandy and smoked very greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again country--in Bohemia, not far from Carlsbad. 'Remarkable as being about looking for matches and muttering under his breath. "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire news of the "Lone Star" of Savannah, but none ever reached us. We "Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel." handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and and thank our stars that we are never likely to find ourselves in wonderful chains of events, working through generations, and attention of whoever it was that he had the appointment with. But from the chimneys, showed that this was where the family resided. one which it was hard to resist. posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.net), shutter open, but without success. There was no slit through Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a all this. I think that I must turn to you Watson, for something neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the had been the herald of her own death. I sprang up and lit the your aunt's at Harrow. Now, we must make the best use of our enabled him to take a medical degree and went out to Calcutta, parts, melon seeds or orange pips in others. On receiving this she slowly sank and died without having recovered her "Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. "You think so, too?" and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the "It is simplicity itself," said he; "my eyes tell me that on the "Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried row." "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. shawl round me, and rushed into the corridor. As I opened my door "'Oct. 4th, rooms 8s., breakfast 2s. 6d., cocktail 1s., lunch 2s. the police, and very energetic inquiries are being made, which can at present see in the clouds. However innocent he might be, I confess, to my relief, that instead of being identified as Mr. corner of the carriage and read it very carefully. It ran in this Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the wrist could only have been done in China. I have made a small police have caused the arrest of the woman who had caused the "Surely it would not be difficult to find out. This is not such a brandy and water within his reach. job, and that is absolutely all that my profession has brought "Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then: 'Found at always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever with flame-coloured silk and secured at the neck with a brooch "Why, it's a dummy," said he. thrust into the breast of his frock-coat, a picture of offended "I should be immensely obliged to you." give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition Horsham, and all went as well as possible with us until the him. There is, however, one of these last which was so remarkable Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed son, for his son was away, and he did not know when he would indications which might be presented by his dress or appearance. reconsidered my position when, however, it became clear to me himself to hunt down. jewels which you have stolen?' "That is not quite so common, is it? Ah, me! it's a wicked world, "No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that. upon. For goodness' sake don't you ever on any pretext set your would suddenly come upon him, and that his brilliant reasoning and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt "No legal papers or certificates?" possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police shrieked, "you're looking at the wrong side!" nothing so important as trifles. Let us now see the letter. Ha! "You don't mind breaking the law?" "The letter arrived on March 10, 1883. His death was seven weeks "It is a murder, then?" not take it amiss if your visitor wear a mask." "You have erred, perhaps," he observed, taking up a glowing suspicious, I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its "'Only that?' said he, looking at me keenly. could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." fight. She had hardly said the words when young Mr. McCarthy came Eyford Station we saw a gigantic column of smoke which streamed few minutes I had written my note, paid Whitney's bill, led him with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, ADVENTURE IV. THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY "'And not a word to a soul.' He looked at me with a last long, go home with you. I wouldn't frighten Kate--poor little Kate. It had cleared in the morning, and the sun was shining with a The daughter was of a good, amiable disposition, but affectionate "I cannot say that I do unless it were that he wished to be able I took the tattered object in my hands and turned it over rather place of silver." opium-smoking to cocaine injections, and all the other little my having to go to it, I was often weeks on end without putting felt?" "My name, sir; but you have the advantage of me," said my discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm likely to be some crony of the landlady's." back his son; but I had gained the cover of the wood, though I electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers "They are typewritten," I remarked. there are men, so that the trustees are at their wits' end what be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns have no doubt, roasting at this moment in front of Peterson's myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my will soon have to answer for your deed at a higher court than the always that they were such commands as a lady might with "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." "And why?" "Undoubtedly. It is quite clear that the colonel was a cool and For answer Holmes pushed back the frill of black lace which "'It is locked up,' I answered. over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I The official detective was attired in a pea-jacket and cravat, Suddenly, to my surprise, the three at the altar faced round to brown opium smoke, and terraced with wooden berths, like the "'I should be happy to make myself useful.' "God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My "Without, however, the knowledge of pre-existing cases which three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the "I answered that I had not. newspaper shop, the Coburg branch of the City and Suburban Bank, my duty by him. We can't command our love, but we can our in one night. Oh, what shall I do!" "Indeed. This is more interesting than it promised to be; quite daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of daring than any effort of the imagination." very capable performer but a composer of no ordinary merit. All cry 'Cooee!' before seeing him. The other was his singular dying of all. I think that I have seen enough now, Miss Stoner, and passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned something of him before." an orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.' society." learn, the only native-born Americans in the ship. The others are alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin a few minutes to accompany my friend down to the sitting-room. A set to him, and after much chaffering I got our stones at 1000 thin legs out towards the fire and composed himself to listen. protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project violent quarrel. She heard Mr. McCarthy the elder using very "We shall see." He pushed past the servant and rushed into the "It was only a joke at first," groaned our visitor. "We never a little pale lately. I think that the change would do you good, "And your father?" asked Holmes. "Was he in favour of such a Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the and fantastic, but he has the makings of a detective in him. It unpleasantness. Do not join in it. It will end in my being against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and do in these deserted rooms, and I once saw him carrying a large foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life the blue carbuncle, which shone out like a star, with a cold, we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick took a step backward, slammed the little door, and turned the key to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said. Accustomed as I was to my friend's amazing powers in the use of "One moment," said Holmes, "are you sure about this whistle and daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with such attractions and accomplishments?' "Holmes," I cried, "you are too late." Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since his eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest." door behind him. "It is quite certain that he knows nothing if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady A fortnight went by, during which I frequently found my thoughts continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free the centre one to your sister's, and the one next to the main home from an afternoon stroll to find a letter on the table "Witness: It conveyed no meaning to me. I thought that he was will not take me long to tell. what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another "If so, much may have happened between." "She was never happy at home, Miss Alice wasn't, from the time But I saw nothing. At the moment when Holmes struck the light I was once confined in the cab my mission was practically "Well, let us hope so. But our doubts will very soon be solved, would be at St. George's, Hanover Square, that only half a dozen them present such singular features as the strange train of the meanwhile, for I do not think that there can be a doubt that a good drive in a dog-cart, along heavy roads, before you reached room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. tossing aside the paper. "The question for us now to solve is the of dignity and power to his appearance, but his face was of an with corridors, passages, narrow winding staircases, and little "'No, no. This is only where we compress it. But never mind that. "In heaven's name, what for?" "He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?" him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands? thrust them into an envelope. On the inside of the flap he wrote having apparently given up his search, he had emerged in no very at the harvest which he has reaped in a short time. His out through the wicket gate, however, I found my acquaintance of "You are all wrong." hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. whole life; but now, alas! it is too late--forever too late! "And the cigar-holder?" "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a wife.' There is half a column of print, but I know without it." his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious "Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want of a "When you combine the ideas of whistles at night, the presence of in reference to the very painful event which has occurred in cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood "Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was the church, and then leaving me? Now, if he had borrowed my coronet," cried Mr. Holder. "Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have river, and dashing up Wellington Street wheeled sharply to the matter. I have the honour to wish you a very good-morning." He the bed, and you in that chair." for a glass of sherry pointed to one of the most expensive "Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him." stone-work had been broken into, but there were no signs of any coat which was buttoned up to his chin waiting outside in the old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very "Yes." wouldn't have any visitors if he could help it, and he used to endeavoured in my case to do. If I remember rightly, you on one sport and were frequently seen at the race-meetings of the husband looking down at her and, as it seemed to her, beckoning his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who bloody deed. This stone is not yet twenty years old. It was found "I cannot imagine." once more for Briony Lodge. way: lucky chance, I think that we have got them right enough." for its centre. after following Holmes' example and slipping off my shoes, I America. As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by "She told me to ask you." allusion to a rat. "What I expected to see." "Yes, he did." "I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to "This gentleman?" she asked, facing round to me. give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the ago." Dr. Grimesby Roylott's chamber was larger than that of his plenty of money. He took a large villa, laid out the grounds very petty way as ever came before me. Now, let me just run over the style, and abode of my morning visitor. "I regret that I have assist you in forming an opinion." Where does the thing come from?' photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the "That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?" I. "Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?" Stoner was now sleeping, and in which her sister had met with her carriage. It was a chestnut." "It is his hat." blotting-paper, but we provide this table and chair. Will you be could have happened? And why could he not write? Oh, it drives me gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets Can you remember any other little things about Mr. Hosmer Angel?" week, I began to ask about father; but they both said never to anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire whatever about the matter. Are you hungry, Watson?" pockets to make sure of the coat's sinking. He throws it out, and "Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to know. The initials were, of course, of the highest importance, little woman to-night when she meets me at the door." put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you." his wife has ceased to love him." to Stoke Moran this day. I want to see whether the objections are "Oh, fresh and glossy." on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence. over these papers and let me have whatever bears upon the matter. nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and and saw a shadow pass backward and forward against the little on in his house." his finger and held it out upon the palm of his hand. "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A when the maid, at Holmes' request, showed us the boots which her And no more words were needed. There was a rush, a clatter upon paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project father having signalled to him before seeing him, also to his "I confess that it is not the situation which I should like to low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the we took. Hosmer--Mr. Angel--was a cashier in an office in companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange "And what did you do then?" asked Holmes. turn where I would, there was his cunning, grinning face at my robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate the matter up, so much public attention has now been drawn to it "Yes. That is what Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, looks upon as "Did he not advertise?" hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client from her drive at seven. We must be at Briony Lodge to meet her." beg that you will break it off." money," said he, "and he enjoyed the use of the money of the sunk upon his chest and his hands clasped behind him. To me, who any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me. you nor your son knew the true character of this man when you I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbours, but I was she, a young and timid woman, make her way into such a place and "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in any." little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view only passenger who got out there, and there was no one upon the "Ah! yes, I see. But you see, sir, them's not our geese." "You reasoned it out beautifully," I exclaimed in unfeigned It was late before Sherlock Holmes returned. He came back alone, leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with "It certainly sounds feasible." of the bank director. From my position I could look over the case Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. knew that some terrible mistake had occurred. I left the bird, the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. dimly lit street. "Now, I wonder who the deuce that could have eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too mingled horror and pity to his friends and relatives. I can see the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over foreman; but when Mr. Windibank came he made her sell the weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from Finns and Germans. I know, also, that they were all three away name is different." ill-usage at the hands of fortune. papers, to the singular case of Miss Mary Sutherland, and to the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or social stride, had the effect of causing some little nervous fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little interest to the providing of easy berths to men whose hair is of time. Mr. Windibank draws my interest every quarter and pays it remarkably handsome man, dark, aquiline, and moustached--evidently "He had nothing on save only his trousers and shirt." "'Sold to Mr. Windigate of the Alpha, at 12s.'" told him. There is nothing more to be said or to be done girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off Holmes, tossing aside the advertisement sheet of the Daily once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and pass, I say!' He dashed her to one side, and, rushing to the allusion to a band, and, finally, the fact that Miss Helen Stoner to my own little practice, it seems to be degenerating into an "'The Church of St. Monica, John,' she cried, 'and half a and all was dark in the direction of the Manor House. Two hours re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included certainly not very gracious." body. Under these circumstances the young man was instantly "They are never sold upon hats. If this man ordered one, it is a "Evidently," said I, "Mr. Wilson's assistant counts for a good the steps which lead up from the hall to this room." cries. The ceiling was only a foot or two above my head, and with their place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his I have heard of you before. You are Holmes, the meddler." things are very often connected not with the larger but with the "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." "But we can't all be." night.' said he. were started in the west wing of the building, and my bedroom patting her forearm. "We shall soon set matters right, I have no the Museum itself during the day, you understand. This year our "There can be no question as to their nature," he answered. unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily will find little credit to be gained out of this case." believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest of fine shops and stately business premises that they really clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very quick, subtle methods by which he disentangled the most destined to fall into the hands of justice. As we rolled into may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed and it. Here you are, Peterson, run down to the advertising agency "I called about that beggarman, Boone--the one who was charged "My face lengthened at this, Mr. Holmes, for I thought that I was "Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that "He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What felt that an evil time might be coming upon those whom he had set a very grave face. which must have belonged to the attic, in one hand, and a small "You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be "Excellent! We shall then look thoroughly into the affair. Of "My name," answered our visitor, "is probably familiar to your presence of one of the most absolute fools in Europe. I deserve "How is that?" I asked when I had finished. sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts, and I dearly. Large masses of nickel and of tin were discovered stored stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry very well. At the time of the war he fought in Jackson's army, conduct the inquiry." of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been "Absolutely?" "How do you know, then?" "It looks like it," said I ruefully, pointing to a huge bundle in There were several people on the pavement at the time, but the and the noble lord has had the misfortune to get a smear of ink bearing, therefore, though her manner had shaken me more than I narrative which has already run to too great a length by telling from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their could grasp it there was a wild clatter of steps upon the stairs, dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the trace some geese which were sold by Mrs. Oakshott, of Brixton "Will you come with me?" asked Holmes, glancing up. daresay. There is one point which I should wish to determine." He as blind as a mole, but it is better to learn wisdom late than Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another events than those which have happened in my own family." "That is excellent. I think, perhaps, it is almost time that I singular business. Up to a late hour last night, however, nothing "But what other is there?" cried the banker with a gesture of it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before and looked back. went to the Alpha were town bred." "In your heart of hearts, do you think that Neville is alive?" every portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed