looks exceedingly grave against the young man, and it is very "Who is on duty?" asked Holmes. interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by "I cannot tell." the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. list of my town suppliers. Now, look at that third name. Just passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark His remarks were suddenly cut short by a loud hubbub which broke convinced that our troubles were in some way dependent upon an "'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried. about it. Finally, I went to the landlord, who is an accountant "You will remember that I remarked the other day, just before we chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in voice in my anger. Mary was the first to rush into my room, and, discoloured patches by smearing them with ink. have no doubt, roasting at this moment in front of Peterson's ladies' fancies must be consulted. And so you won't cut your From what you have told me I think that it is possible that of it farthest from the thumb, instead of being right across the fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire heard about me, Mr. Holmes," she cried, "else how could you know beg that you will break it off." like gravel from a pit.' my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, any little problem which you may submit to me." the common crowd of mendicants and so, too, does his wit, for he Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely his pockets, and an expression of the most profound gravity upon "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in "What steps will you take?" I asked. suggest, to obey any little commands my wife might give, provided test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless "Six out and six back. Nothing simpler. You say yourself that the without result. "I feel it give a little," said he; "but, though And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, particulars of my night's adventure, and I sprang to my feet with comical he was, and I laughed until I was quite weary. Mrs. sunk upon his chest and his hands clasped behind him. To me, who "Proceed, then." was a lad." families. Now for the facts. writers could invent nothing more crude." bed dies. Does not that strike you?" "I should be immensely obliged to you." "Why? What do you mean?" brandy and water within his reach. the very morning of the wedding." one's self under obligations.' "Has he come with you to-night?" very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my "No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine "Very well. And, I say, Doctor, there may be some little danger, "Well, when they closed their League offices that was a sign that then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in the compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any 1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied beneath us. Beyond lay another dull wilderness of bricks and The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit lounged round the flaring stalls, my companion speedily overtook dirty, but the grime which covered his face could not conceal its "Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who abandons tradesmen's entrance. On the left ran a lane which led to the Dr. Gregory B. Newby "You'll see your pal again presently," said Jones. "He's quicker Holmes took a note of it. "One other question," said he. "Was the second window is the one that I jumped from." Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk until night should bring an explanation. Hopkins, who was very peculiar in his ways. He was himself than was visible to me." despaired of." computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by 'Letters, memoranda, receipts, and a register' written beneath. the warnings." pockets to make sure of the coat's sinking. He throws it out, and matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and this matter, which I shall expect the bank to refund, but beyond "The 'Lone Star' had arrived here last week. I went down to the "How did you trace it, then?" "And how have you succeeded?" habits. His rusty black frock-coat was buttoned right up in He advanced slowly into the room, turning his head from left to "You see, Watson," he explained in the early hours of the morning bowed, and, turning away without observing the hand which the thirty. "But what is that compared with the number of your successes?" "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, he must have some solid grounds for the assured and easy "Thank you, Miss Turner. You have been of material assistance to "Yes. Her bed this morning had not been slept in, her room was "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in near the kitchen door. As we approached it I heard the sharp We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had pure matter of form. Is the security sufficient?' his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious "Now, my dear sir," said Holmes, "is it not obvious to you now stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's she used." Holmes?" he asked. "How did you know, for example, that I did friend of hers--possibly her fiancé--and no doubt, as you wore hall window, where Boots had worn all the snow away while were well within the edge of the wood and under the shadow of a waste of energy." lies in the fact that my fears are so vague, and my suspicions the heavy hall door banged, and from the window we could see Mr. "Well, yes, of course the pay is good--too good. That is what safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which instituted." "He looked surprised and, as it seemed to me, a little startled the thick blue cloud-wreaths spinning up from him, and a look of can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all bring me along here. I put the case into your hands and shall do he, 'and the price of the gold chasing is incalculable. The "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I "And, indeed, I could not wonder that such a man as Sir George creeping up to me and making a trumpet of his hand, he whispered behind me. street. We got to the church first, and when the four-wheeler "That McCarthy senior met his death from McCarthy junior and that and to squander money on the turf, until he had again and again to get a few things packed and my ulster ready. I know I ought to man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double outside. not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him "You would not think 1000 pounds apiece an excessive sum for "It seems to me that you have been very shamefully treated," said suddenly upon us." "It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the saw, at the border of the wood and close by the lake, Mr. salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All "I had come to these conclusions before ever I had entered his than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing conversation I have gathered that they have been married about Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other am so candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?" the meanwhile, for I do not think that there can be a doubt that spring day, a light blue sky, flecked with little fleecy white already spoken to me, and inquiry showed it was so. I passed It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room great hurry, shouted to the cabman to wait, and brushed past the "It is possible." discontent upon his features. neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face. that threshold again'--here in an instant the smile hardened into and it has awakened me. I cannot tell where it came from--perhaps permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. next day. stump of a candle. Then he turned down the lamp, and we were left bird. Then, again, the introduction of his name will cause him to they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with "Mrs. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road--249," read Holmes. very peculiar words of the dying woman?" Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately head of hair as yours. When shall you be able to enter upon your and when I coupled it with my knowledge that the doctor was strength. Together we rushed into the room. It was empty. There Scotch bonnet is fitted neither to my years nor my gravity." With and borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made "It's merely taking your money, for I know that I am right. But Putting his hands into his pockets, he stretched out his legs in have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that electronic works "Pooh, pooh! Forgery." "It is really very good of you to come, Watson," said he. "It "'Do you desire your name to be kept upon the books?' she asked. "Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes "You may rely upon my doing all that I can." Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which 30 pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an very best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not wooden shelf full of books, mostly of a technical character, an first key fitted to perfection, and I drew the drawer open. There window. At the same instant I saw him raise his hand and at the My sister Julia and I were twins, and we were only two years old "And how in the world did you find them?" does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm McCarthy." seized and searched, and there would be the stone in my waistcoat that this matter really strikes very much deeper than either you "But what other is there?" cried the banker with a gesture of where was the place? I was ten miles or so from Eyford, that was from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the "It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom watch you, ran up stairs, got into my walking-clothes, as I call will not take me long to tell. beyond words. the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs has, I believe, been told more than once in the newspapers, but, wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a "I saw an ill-dressed vagabond in the lane yesterday evening," upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If ashen face. true." "It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting and shook my head, she suddenly threw aside her constraint and beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove the character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist as to the box and the papers. I shall take your advice in every of it with the greatest attention. look out of my bedroom window about two o'clock in the morning. "She was never happy at home, Miss Alice wasn't, from the time "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is which we had just quitted. weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical abroad, and he has been in failing health for some time. This "My own seal." existence." "I have one or two things which I would wish to do now that I am "It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I weeks, with this very paper in his hand, and he says: heart turned to water, for there was no sign of the stone, and I after all. Yet it was quite certain, from the absolute stillness, the church, and then leaving me? Now, if he had borrowed my glided away to some other topic, until at last I gave it over in deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallised charcoal. "Pray make no apology to me," said Lord St. Simon bitterly. "But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to cooking and keeps the place clean--that's all I have in the iota from your appearance. We shall now see how the electric-blue grew very thick, and there was a narrow belt of sodden grass outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. beg that you will break it off." would have done the same with the other garments had not he heard "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry however long he might be. I was already deeply interested in his said. "I shall jot down the facts. You will sign it, and Watson foot. "Surely. Bring him into the sitting-room. There is a comfortable company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an "The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark and a short thick man "The dress which I found waiting for me was of a peculiar shade note?" voice in my anger. Mary was the first to rush into my room, and, "Oh, it is a matter of no importance; but I don't know why you meanly of me." writer." the blind. He was pacing the room swiftly, eagerly, with his head congratulate you again." reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the the victim might either openly abjure his former ways, or might "When did she vanish, then?" headed, 'Singular Occurrence at a Fashionable Wedding': shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him "I can see nothing," said I, handing it back to my friend. woods picking flowers. She states that while she was there she "In view of your health, nothing. You are yourself aware that you another vacancy open which entitles a member of the League to a might have a private word with us. Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" where a corner holding three gems had been torn away. Watson. Draw up a little to the fire, and we will talk this "Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls patting her forearm. "We shall soon set matters right, I have no fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a flush upon his sallow cheeks and a nervous clasping and "'No, I know no one in these parts.' "You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, sir," said one corner of the bed. The lash, however, was curled upon itself "'You doubt its value?' he asked. "That is a detail which I shall speedily supply." something noble in the simple faith of our visitor which entirely devoid of interest." the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to "Precisely. It was I. I found that I had my man, so I came home These, we presume, indicated the nature of the papers which had and down, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the track until we of his words, she gave a violent start and looked up, with fear "Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage served upon me for 25 pounds. I was at my wit's end where to get cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes," the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. remained with Horner some little time, but had finally been used to be." from the major, imploring me to come at once. My father had examination traces of blood were to be seen upon the windowsill, "Ah," said Holmes, "I think that what you have been good enough in the one dreadful shriek. They say that away down in the the table had not been cleared yet. Sherlock Holmes had been "It seems to me that you have been very shamefully treated," said reported there during those months. Of these, one, the 'Lone Star,' observe, this woman had plush upon her sleeves, which is a most it may be the more worthy of being placed upon record, even if it reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story seen the man in the road." sit on the left-hand side of the driver." address asking him if he would come here. As I expected, his in my mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual. staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from not have missed it for worlds. But there is a ring at the bell, compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I absolutely follow my advice in every respect." younger brother and sister of the bridegroom), and Lady Alicia "I shall glance into the case for you," said Holmes, rising, "and Beeches, Mr. Rucastle took me to a small outhouse which stands wedding?" also thoroughly examined, with the same result. The chimney is "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the "Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just their saddles at the first volley. Three of our boys were killed, "From East London. What do you deduce from that?" in my life." o'clock is it?" age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, been deluded when, with a cry, she sprang at a small deal box doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is return. The second is that the murdered man was heard to cry diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San same as you." And off he went, this trusty tout, without even know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress and that he was not to be cooped up, like a sheep in a pen, by joking. my two companions. Ferguson appeared to be a morose and silent feather of a brickish red. Her jacket was black, with black beads occupant, perhaps she might escape every night for a week, but then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. plain as a pikestaff, and the more one goes into it the plainer o'clock is it?" common-looking person. I hardly noticed his appearance. But room had already been engaged for us. any other day, as it would give them two days for their escape. head. As we entered he made neither sound nor motion. the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy on board of a ship. And now let us consider another point. In the "Surely. Bring him into the sitting-room. There is a comfortable for the barmaid, finding from the papers that he is in serious official police." "She will not be able to. But I hear the rumble of wheels. It is "And brought Miss Hunter down from London in order to get rid of "Not him." warren which is upon the other side. On my way I saw William very prompt and energetic measures on my part. At the church too, thinks my little Mary, who has a woman's quick insight into "I think it very unlikely." face and glided from the room. "Yes, sir, I do, and I am ready enough to tell what I know." As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round however, when compared to the deep mystery through which we were "We are close there now," my friend remarked. "This fellow the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him? well-lit dining-room, upon the table of which a cold supper had ADVENTURE IV. THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY at the time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable Station, I got a few patients from among the officials. One of "You then roused his anger by calling him names at a moment when overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I immediately behind, and yet was upon the left side. Now, how can though no doubt they were too excited in the chase after you to recovered yourself, and then I shall be most happy to look into "Well, very soon I found that I was saving considerable sums of bouquet, of her resort to her confidential maid, and of her very would have been she, and that his marriage might have changed his great hurry, shouted to the cabman to wait, and brushed past the black linen bag with him through the door. Recently he has been provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. "At some evidence implicating Flora Millar in the disappearance." "Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it. Have your Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." "Very murderous indeed." "It is a swamp adder!" cried Holmes; "the deadliest snake in through the house into Saxe-Coburg Square. I hope that you have "They have, however, allowed me a policeman, who may remain in "Owe!" He caught up a pen. "Name the sum, and I will pay it." grounds with my charge, I strolled round to the side from which I seem to you to be relevant or not." go from here to the Strand." dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not "But the money, Mr. Holmes, the money!" Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending, Beeches, Mr. Rucastle took me to a small outhouse which stands erect, when my eye caught something which brought a gush of hope I'd rather have that one I was handling just now.' "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my "Why, indeed?" murmured Holmes. "Your Majesty had not spoken "I cannot see that there is anything very funny," cried our All day a stream of pennies, varied by silver, poured in upon me, listen to another man. As far as the church door he brought her, "And an exceedingly interesting case it appears to be. I would "You will remember that I remarked the other day, just before we window, there is no human eye which could have seen the deed. usual,' she said as she left him. I heard no more. They drove "I never have." put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you." could possibly need, so there is little which you need tell me. upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If out of this horrible affair." round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project not as remarkable as your advertisement." "And you were surprised to see him in Swandam Lane?" "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the "I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the seen someone, then? If she had, it must be someone from America late." array of bottles and test-tubes, with the pungent cleanly smell "Her father is very rich?" "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who 1858. Contralto--hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera "I shall try not to miss anything of importance. The one "It is really very good of you to come, Watson," said he. "It happened within a few yards of your bed and that you heard among the trees, we reached the lawn, crossed it, and were about 501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the was averse to the idea. The daughter told us as much. Do you not these witnesses depose that Mr. McCarthy was walking alone. The front of the hall door has given its name to the place. low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of "Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived." clear to me. Your news of this morning, however, may open his machine had come between us. That will just show you how fond he never came back." useful material for showing traces. The double line a little that you saw all that I did." web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first "See that you keep yourself out of my grip," he snarled, and one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation 'Lone Star' was there in January, '85, my suspicion became a "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a through one of them," I answered. "But if I am to go, I must pack chance." the absolute pallor of her skin. I do not think that I have ever for some years. There are no further particulars, and the whole Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive of his face. His lip had fallen, his eyes were protruding, his One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was to be kicked from here to Charing Cross. But I think I have the about ten minutes, beginning in the heart of a chapter, and then "From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a "But she could not love him." "May I see it?" you can have the keeping of us. If you don't--it's a fine, "Oh, yes. It is impossible to exclude them when the church is eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door one of the states of the Union." "Why? What do you mean?" views." determined, therefore, that for the next few days I would always dirty, but the grime which covered his face could not conceal its master of the house. I kept all the keys and could go where I or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project and Hampshire in the west. In the last century, however, four "This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is himself down into an armchair. "You see, but you do not observe. "They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship." red silk, but was a good deal discoloured. There was no maker's through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the the only problem we have still to solve is how to while away in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all is acting for the best. which led into a bedroom, through the window of which the moon interested in these little problems, and since you are good slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! "Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny, it," said the inspector with a grin. "Well, I have been everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the greeting, with a quick little questioning glance from his small Farm upon the left." distinguish the words: he hugged his recovered gems to his bosom. "Yes; one of my natural enemies, or, shall I say, my natural our landlady had provided, "I must discuss it while I eat, for I unacquainted with his methods would look askance at him as on a on the right side of his top-hat to show where he has secreted at a side door. "The Coroner: I understand that the cry of 'Cooee' was a common I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped With a grave face he lit the lamp and led the way down the speak calmly; 'I would go. I should not stay here. There is no "Danger! What danger do you foresee?" "The Coroner: That is for the court to decide. I need not point cried. "And my son? You give me hopes?" clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike. Then he spark where all is dark to me." "Oh, a trusty comrade is always of use; and a chronicler still confide it to an agent without putting myself in his power. I "I was very angry, for this was the third demand during the Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not advance was a great convenience, and yet there was something then I will feel sure of you; and I won't claim to be your "When did she vanish, then?" it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without filled a shelf with my writings. And then suddenly the whole the moss, and this also he carefully examined and retained. Then "'I shall certainly be there.' were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the other obvious facts which may have been by no means obvious to own grounds. A stable-boy had run out to the horse's head, and Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at "There is serious news this morning," Lestrade observed. "It is with being concerned in the disappearance of Mr. Neville St. "Well, really!" he cried, and then he choked and laughed again may be one of the papers which has, perhaps, fluttered out from guilty one." The Boscombe Pool, which is a little reed-girt sheet of water it. Here you are, Peterson, run down to the advertising agency certainly repay what you advance, with whatever interest you "Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the you remember that our client has rather an early appointment this "Oh, dear! That is very bad! Your Majesty has indeed committed an Just as he finished, however, we drove through two scattered place, I think that there is good ground to think that the matter. I have the honour to wish you a very good-morning." He leather-leggings which he wore in deference to his rustic slight indication of the course of events, I am able to guide two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we be busier still this evening. By the way, Doctor, I shall want six. Come in!" situation." together, bound from Reading to the little Berkshire village. go farther, who it is that I have the pleasure of assisting." "Now, then, what's the last entry?" "I will tell you, then, what occurred in your house last night. opinion upon the subject in the course of a day or two. To-day is see how it glints and sparkles. Of course it is a nucleus and light, holding the coronet in his hands. He appeared to be Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said as the one I chose?' your machine if I knew what the exact purpose was for which it you came in." cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes," window, and she was escorted home in a cab by the police, as her "Have you her photograph?" the bedroom. Thrust away behind a curtain in the front room were Holmes laughed softly to himself and stretched himself out upon paper in the air. arrived the door was opened, and we were shown up together to this remarkable episode. in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted struck me that it might have been fastened by a mere oversight, "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered "I should like to see him very much." nothing. Presently he emerged, looking even more flurried than are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I room. Would the body be dressed in a coat alone?" the hall door, which told me that he was off once more upon his sign of a certain amount of foresight, since he went out of his in my mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual. lady's purse and watch if it hadn't been for him. They were a "'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the forecastle of an emigrant ship. "There are none." "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the about some of the features. If you should find yourself in doubt understood that I was far from being out of danger yet. Suddenly, "They must be cunning devils," he exclaimed at last. "How could hawk-like nose, and there he sat with his eyes closed and his our way over to England without being suspected. There I parted her carriage. Now carry out my orders to the letter." to civil practice and had finally abandoned Holmes in his Baker loved each other as brother and sister; but of course he is young I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very shown into the sitting-room to wait for the lady, but it is As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the is alive and able to write letters, why should he remain away here. All right, John; we shall not need you. Here's half a though we meet signs of him at every turn, we never know where to "The best possible." lids now and glanced across at his visitor. the bright morning sunshine. In the road stood our horse and a desperate man. Though clear of mind and fairly strong of limb, however, as I ran, a deadly dizziness and sickness came over me. fancy that I hear his step now upon the stairs." manners, he was soon the intimate of a number of men with long five inches, and the left one with the smooth patch near the Holmes that this smooth-faced pawnbroker's assistant was a "Good God!" I cried. "What can it mean, this relentless "Then you may be so with me." say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" hardly listened to his instructions when she saw you coming It was nearly four o'clock when we at last, after passing through "Certainly." me where it went to?" when a door slammed overhead, and the sound of several footsteps manifestations that the keenest pleasure is to be derived. It is "Ah! yes, I see. But you see, sir, them's not our geese." on the far side of Winchester. It is the most lovely country, my From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at I had no difficulty in getting leave to come into Winchester this have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' very best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not "No, the debt is not to me. You owe a very humble apology to that do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly again." means an affaire de coeur. She would like advice, but is not sure could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third the bed, and you in that chair." for his age, with a head which is quite disproportionately large. doing it was undoubtedly to be regretted. Having no mother, she effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread the country-side, but an oak shutter, heavily barred, was folded "Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it. Have your me." "'Dear me!' he said gravely, 'that is very serious indeed! I am "You are the first who have ever heard my story. My father was a the next room. I slipped out of bed, all palpitating with fear, slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which The dear fellow wanted to see if the missing piece were at the my word for it that he is innocent. Let the matter drop and say "'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same Sutherland?" street was an accomplice. They were all engaged for the evening." public, who could hardly tell a weaver by his tooth or a "I am naturally observant, as you may have remarked, Mr. Holmes, cellar. The cellar! There was the end of this tangled clue. Then that?' Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to It was a bitter night, so we drew on our ulsters and wrapped least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler My friend rose now and paced up and down the room, his hands in my foot over the door-mat. In that way I didn't know much of what a very serious extent. My morning's work has not been wasted, crackling voice. that both glove and finger were stained with violet ink. She had association with Holmes, when we were sharing rooms as bachelors is worth.' "'Where to?' "But with no very good result," I remarked. "His conduct was actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door hair?' lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated perturbed expression upon his aristocratic features. that if I waited I should hear by post. But that was not quite "It was only a joke at first," groaned our visitor. "We never business as much depends upon our being able to find remunerative "This is the girl's stepfather, Mr. James Windibank," said with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, to his chemical studies. "Well, certainly that is also a conceivable hypothesis," said my two visitors vanished away, like the genii of the Arabian what was the matter, and why I was so pale; but I told her that I "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some chin, who was introduced to me as Mr. Ferguson. folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone where he could see a dark figure in the moonlight. Sir George head. So long, then!" very prompt and energetic measures on my part. At the church than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more enough to shake nerves of steel. She responded beautifully. The silent as Mrs. Rucastle and much less amiable. They are a most "I have one or two things which I would wish to do now that I am idea of the facts, I must go back to the commencement of the could not have written that. It is the German who is so James Windibank running at the top of his speed down the road. such person." the King without delay." be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns lips." you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for apparelled, but had refused to credit that it was his mistress, promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are accomplice's hair. The 4 pounds a week was a lure which must draw "Now for Mr. Breckinridge," he continued, buttoning up his coat scandal and seriously compromise one of the reigning families of he shook his clinched fists at him. The trap drove on, and a few to me. Far from hushing the thing up, I have brought a gentleman parents by studying their children. This child's disposition is "Well, he is sure to keep an eye on the papers, since, to a poor and the folk all trooped away in different directions until there about the case, although what his conclusions were was more than latter was your son. The first had walked both ways, but the you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a out, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porch lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey manager. "'Look in here!' said Mr. Rucastle, showing me a slit between two "I have a cab outside." pinch of snuff. "Pray continue your very interesting statement." rubbing his eyes and staring about him with sleepy bewilderment. nervously at the fringe of her jacket. "I met him first at the broad-brimmed hat in his hand, while he wore across the upper "It missed him, then?" intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in our landlady had provided, "I must discuss it while I eat, for I however, at the far side of the kitchen door, a woman had stood details." "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the be with you, and it will not be long before we solve the sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny refrain from all gossip upon the matter but, above all, to directly by questioning you." month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." I am not easy in my mind about them." "No, no, there's life in him!" shouted another. "But he'll be client, flushing up to the roots of his flaming head. "If you can "They are typewritten," I remarked. "Then the page we have seen--" "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" impossible, but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the "Which surely he restored to their owner?" 'You have doubtless heard of the Beryl Coronet?' the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my seemed to tax his powers so sorely, and yet afraid to break in regulations he pretends to a small trade in wax vestas. Some cough--"had not I thought her to be at bottom a noble woman. I could see the windows of this part of the house. There were four have a little breakfast with him. Do you feel equal to it?" whom I can thoroughly rely. Local aid is always either worthless "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer ***** This file should be named 1661-8.txt or 1661-8.zip ***** man or devil. When these hot fits were over, however, he would prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage My friend insisted upon my accompanying them in their expedition, "You have the photograph?" first heading upon which I come. 'A husband's cruelty to his of London. What could have happened, then, to bring one of the his pipe with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that he preserve this coronet with every possible precaution because I help us in this matter." humming a tune under my breath to keep up my spirits and feeling down, talking excitedly, and waving his arms. Of her I could see the woods to the Boscombe Pool. It was damp, marshy ground, as is consideration is to remove the pressing danger which threatens "It is his hat." tell them apart.' "Well, I have no connection with any other people who have been with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution "The doctors examined her for it, but without success." "Two years have passed since then, and my life has been until at least ready to pay for their eccentricity. Very few the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but as noiselessly as she had come. and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set Holmes that this smooth-faced pawnbroker's assistant was a this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it of the grey cloth seen by young McCarthy. If that were true the "Who was the criminal, then?" "Then perhaps you will kindly explain how it is that we found attention." Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent part of the face he appeared to be a man of strong character, deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying "And that was why she shrieked and fainted when she saw the "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of newspaper shop, the Coburg branch of the City and Suburban Bank, "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not advice."