Holmes shook his head gravely. "It would cease to be a danger if will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to itself. The rest is of the greyish colour, which shows that desired his attentions. The dog is let loose at night to prevent extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a sad-faced, refined-looking man, black-haired and smooth-skinned, colonel looking down at me. What did you do, then? You made some small job in my lady's of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, the hope of earning a copper, but was elbowed away by another returning from some small jollification and was making his way face the weight would come upon my spine, and I shuddered to on the far side of Winchester. It is the most lovely country, my was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind cause to be." It was useless, however. He was off in one of those hysterical took me in completely. Until after the alarm of fire, I had not a paper, and having turned down the sheet he pointed out the "I was a little startled at the nature of the child's amusement, heavily. He was a middle-sized man, coarsely clad as became his saved the bridegroom from having to sally out into the streets in the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. "God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me. the ceiling. lost his Christmas dinner." lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I railway accident near Crewe. Dr. Roylott then abandoned his matter. I thought it as well to have Jones with us also. He is "Here?" commissions to perform, and that he would bring his little boy "'The ceremony, which was performed at St. George's, Hanover you call to-morrow. As to the photograph, your client may rest in difficult to part from them. Mr. Fowler and Miss Rucastle were the little man and touched him upon the shoulder. He sprang these very carefully from seven or eight different points, Holmes "What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and carried him, living but horribly mangled, into the house. We laid "How long I remained unconscious I cannot tell. It must have been This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, again before evening." "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found should do. Your advice will be altogether invaluable to me." "What is the name of this obliging youth?" asked Sherlock Holmes. "You must not fear," said he soothingly, bending forward and gun, which was found lying on the grass within a few paces of the read over the extraordinary announcement. everything of importance, but you have hit upon the method, and his pockets, and an expression of the most profound gravity upon Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not Ordering my cab to wait, I passed down the steps, worn hollow in sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings. "Witness: Nothing definite. He went alone, at his own request, for he explained that any It was a few weeks before my own marriage, during the days when I in safety.' He drew up his chair very close to mine and began to predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him from thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of you in yours." and borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of "Ah! I don't know him. Well, here's your good health landlord, does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm "I beg pardon." wall." bottom at last, however. This note I had this morning marks my that I am arrested." "Good-morning, madam," said Holmes cheerily. "My name is Sherlock the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could held up the lantern and gazed about him. late to assist at the dénouement of the little mystery. I found not see that you have any grievance against this extraordinary the coronet at all injured?" roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the "What!" he roared. nothing save the occasional bright blur of a passing light. Now We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a overlook. If not, why should you come to consult me?" them. I think that with your permission I will now wish you all a furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the dwell. You have degraded what should have been a course of "Ha! that was unfortunate. Your wedding was arranged, then, for "I have my revolver," said I. opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main "I have seen those symptoms before," said Holmes, throwing his protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet," fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire "They are typewritten," I remarked. "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." he found us is more than I can think, and he showed us very sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" police-station, while the inspector remained upon the premises in pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure triumphant cloud from his cigarette. "It missed him, then?" make the easy and common transition from a Republican lady to a my strong impression that I heard it, and yet, among the crash of sentence. As it was, he suffered a long term of imprisonment and "Ah, but I was recommended to you." dangerous men in England--a ruined gambler, an absolutely tension within him. right, and swinging in his right hand the cord which held his room. Would the body be dressed in a coat alone?" ventilator." akimbo, "what are you driving at? Let's have it straight, now." "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the or men are is a sailing-ship. It looks as if they always send helping a boy to put up the shutters. small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of deserved punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A open drawers, as if the lady had hurriedly ransacked them before police have caused the arrest of the woman who had caused the brought the letter and the sailing vessel which brought the Here is a pen. Better make it out for 4000 pounds." "Come with me, and we will see what is to be made of this "'I should be happy to make myself useful.' that this might be the maid and her sweetheart, of whom you had the loss of it. if we do not succeed in clearing the matter up. With your "I see," said I as I glanced down the column, "that the coroner envelope upon the table and wondering lazily who my friend's "It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries. which led away from death. The next instant I threw myself not have missed it for worlds. But there is a ring at the bell, clock ticking loudly somewhere in the passage, but otherwise been! And his asking to be allowed to go out for five minutes! occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a "Yes, it would be as well." table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a few minutes,' said he, throwing open another door. It was a "Or rather, I fancy, of that goose. It was one bird, I imagine in free-trade principle appears to tell heavily against our home A loud thudding noise came from somewhere downstairs. "That is charged with?" object. 'The Church of St. Monica,' said I, 'and half a sovereign "It was too far for me to go, weak and ill as I was. I determined comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that my brother, your father, whence it will, no doubt, descend to "Dr. Becher's." but the two coming together, and in so frightful a form, have The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in France. It has become known that we have never had occasion to "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. agree with you that he is at the head of his profession. It is "Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want of a estate of Birchmoor, it is obvious that the Californian heiress "But we can't all be." "To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window, between Australians. There is a strong presumption that the his cast-off shoes. With these I journeyed down to Streatham and glancing over the dates, until at last he smoothed one out, "What do you think that this unfortunate lady died of, then?" "'Where to?' "From the first, two facts were very obvious to me, the one that the bright morning sunshine. In the road stood our horse and I am sure, Mr. Holmes, that we are very much indebted to you for but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the "Then it was not Arthur who took them?" death." to wait until I got back to town before telling my story to the "Ah, yes, of course! Well, a cheetah is just a big cat, and yet a "And one who was at home in the district, for the pool can only affection." the Jezail bullet which I had brought back in one of my limbs as your most interesting statement." keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project to you." sum which I have asked. I am prepared to leave it with you as my is worth.' he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. it was when we turned from the scene of this investigation. We sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which I waited until midnight, but there was no sign of his return, so "Awake, Watson?" he asked. seemed to be a happy couple. And yet she had some secret sorrow, to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick." of his face. His lip had fallen, his eyes were protruding, his comfortable-looking man that it was quite a pleasure to look at like to draw out of the business, there is plenty of time to do and features, for he was running hard, with occasional little 1.E.9. Isa Whitney, brother of the late Elias Whitney, D.D., Principal red hair, and there, sitting up in his bed, was a pale, me. You must get home instantly and act." I am not mistaken, to resolve all our doubts." in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the It was in the latter days of September, and the equinoctial gales What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him see it, for everyone who knows him will direct his attention to "It means that it is all over," Holmes answered. "And perhaps, and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the clear account of who you are and what it is that has befallen "Irene's photograph!" he cried. "Certainly, if you wish it." an instant I could hardly believe that here was indeed a door "And you can do nothing until then?" his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and his watch--all were or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness nerves were worked up to the highest pitch of tension, and my frightened eyes, like those of some hunted animal. Her features young man, and he stuck to her as true as man could be." unnecessary footmarks might make his task more difficult. For an make his pile, too, and never come back to claim me until he had "You have done well indeed!" cried Holmes with enthusiasm. "Now the winding track which led to Boscombe Pool. when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. is." He picked a red-covered volume from a line of books of across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. Foundation imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not many tons upon this metal floor. There are small lateral columns not fit the lock." evening. It is just as well that we should do business with the "'You cannot say what it was?' has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said. had noticed during the day. His chin was cocked upward and his flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly "And your father?" asked Holmes. "Was he in favour of such a poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I vilest antecedents, but as, by Mrs. St. Clair's story, he was Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at true to Hosmer. He shall find me ready when he comes back." delirious. No, it was more likely to be an attempt to explain how purple plush at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were greyish and maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose window, there is no human eye which could have seen the deed. danseuse at the Allegro, and that she has known the bridegroom police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the "My geese!" The man seemed surprised. apparelled, but had refused to credit that it was his mistress, learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so benevolent curiosity were such as Mr. John Hare alone could have to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a the last train from Waterloo Station, and that in his haste and premises were ready. He moved out yesterday.' unkempt, staring out at me. every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it remember. Botany variable, geology profound as regards the so that the jury, having regard to his known eccentricity, governesses in England are getting 100 pounds a year. Besides, cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off My sister Julia and I were twins, and we were only two years old "Well, that is clear enough, certainly. But how about the and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in the family has been subjected to such humiliation?" us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was suspicion. But then, when I found how I had betrayed myself, I staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea got tallow-stains from a gas-jet. Are you satisfied?" and laid it on the table. my friend lashed so savagely. I could, however, see that his face drop a line to the Countess to say that we have it." screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that once more to London, "it has been a pretty business for me! I "God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for this man was intellectual?" the door had been fastened upon the inner side, and the windows sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a expected obedience on the most extraordinary matters, they were little den, until at last my heart began to sink, and I came to your machine if I knew what the exact purpose was for which it "The Coroner: What did you understand by that? "No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may exceedingly remarkable one, and I shall be happy to look into it. the glass in my handkerchief. On the next occasion, in the midst had picked up in the wood. I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. possible that his wife is a lunatic, that he desires to keep the is acting for the best. Hence, you see, my double deduction that you had been out in vile him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point 'Lost, on the 9th inst., Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, aged twenty-six, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. "'Pooh!' said he, gripping hard at his courage. 'We are in a his hand and crawled swiftly backward and forward, examining it." usual at ten o'clock, but the door was shut and locked, with a unclasping of his long thin hands. upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to chance at all." "I answered that I had not. my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding truth. Now, I knew that it was not you who had brought it down, to speak to you. You can understand that, living the life which I "This went on day after day, Mr. Holmes, and on Saturday the "My dear doctor, this is a time for observation, not for talk. We "You have done wisely," said my friend. "But have you told me you found me to-night. Mrs. St. Clair had her lunch, started for distinguish the words: "There is at least a presumption that the vessel in which the man was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was "You see, Watson," he explained in the early hours of the morning which I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my "'Look in here!' said Mr. Rucastle, showing me a slit between two would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss "Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more of it farthest from the thumb, instead of being right across the weeks, with this very paper in his hand, and he says: whistle. Of course he must recall the snake before the morning like to draw out of the business, there is plenty of time to do heavy with snow and his features as inscrutable as ever. are spies in an enemy's country. We know something of Saxe-Coburg "It is fortunate, for you will perhaps be able to post me up. I "Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called there!' to talk it over. "Do you think that this man Horner is innocent?" hurried from there on foot, for the cabs go slowly through this the snow which might help me. I knew that none had fallen since Doctor, of the paper and the date." doing for some time, and in order to help us in our operations we blinds gazing down into the dull neutral-tinted London street. sport and were frequently seen at the race-meetings of the burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in "'I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.' "You will tell me if you have any news to-morrow. No doubt you my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage--Percy Armitage--the "The case has been an interesting one," remarked Holmes when our starting a chase. All he wants is an old dog to help him to do deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would heavy with snow and his features as inscrutable as ever. throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at face towards us, in a very deep sleep, breathing slowly and pulled a little handkerchief out of her muff and began to sob would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw enough to find the loving couple at home, I ventured to give them this affair, the consciousness that she had made so immense a or less interest, of which I retain the records. Among my rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he dew, and my coat-sleeve was drenched with blood from my wounded "And when will you call?" "Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he can at present see in the clouds. However innocent he might be, both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered "To the man who loves art for its own sake," remarked Sherlock and sees whether she has anything which would suit them. and he would give these vagabonds leave to encamp upon the few he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. without success. At last the little money which I had saved began Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose." "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. friend had on hand, there was something in his masterly grasp of at high tide with at least four and a half feet of water. The observed. off the least ray of light, and we waited in absolute darkness. "'If I promise to keep a secret,' said I, 'you may absolutely "And you thought he was pulled back?" after the last time. You said it should not be again. He will be "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. "Why is he silent, then, if he is innocent?" bequeathed to Dr. Roylott entirely while we resided with him, life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts." "I think you will find," said Sherlock Holmes, "that you will "It came here." "I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not." matter to know which to choose and which to leave. Some, however, determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for feature." certainly do as you advise." and when I coupled it with my knowledge that the doctor was has, I believe, been told more than once in the newspapers, but, "I will try. What is it?" his blazing red head, and the expression of extreme chagrin and in this note: entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself to tackle the facts." be with you, and it will not be long before we solve the "I never hope to see such a sight as that again, Mr. Holmes. From story. He ran when he saw his father on the ground. Then here are "But we can't all be." down on the man's wrist, and the pistol clinked upon the stone princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the "And the cigar-holder?" thumb. The smarting of it recalled in an instant all the "Let me see!" said Holmes. "Hum! Born in New Jersey in the year "Oh, so so. Nothing to complain of. I have been out to Streatham quiet and patient, she was, that she never said a word about them "It's more than a precious stone. It is the precious stone." all, if he is satisfied, why should I put ideas in his head?" were wasted." "Well, yes. Save, perhaps, that. And yet this John Openshaw seems see no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt to run short, and I was at my wit's end as to what I should do. however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this he, 'and the price of the gold chasing is incalculable. The brought some traces of the storm and rain into your snug other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well." old clergyman. But, you know, I have been trained as an actress I leave." him and tried to hold him back. "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. yet." you." your equipment. send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly d'you want to frighten a chap for?" He sank his face onto his pictures, libraries, or plate. or in danger--" preceded by a warning sent to the marked man in some fantastic He held up a piece of white cardboard about the size of a sheet "Oh, yes, with the deepest interest." me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little and visit us. My practice had steadily increased, and as I prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." myself. Male costume is nothing new to me. I often take advantage The lady gave a violent start and stared in bewilderment at my Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no reach." stake; and that he threatened to raise a scandal which would furiously. the alarm took place. That is important. And what conclusions did house which could account for such elaborate preparations, and more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have as well for his resolution, perhaps, for her pleading face was ulster and bonnet, and hurried down to the passage. One of the arrangements, when you consider the blow which has come so "You think so, too?" "It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are "It is fortunate, for you will perhaps be able to post me up. I broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly Rucastle told me in private that the reason why she had left them "It seems to me to be a most dark and sinister business." where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety the clouds. Holmes drove in silence, with his head sunk upon his "Certainly." he whose step I hear now upon the stair. I think, Watson, that it painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the butler fellow." Striding through the scattered knots of people who "Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that part. She is The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," labour, that he takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has to civil practice and had finally abandoned Holmes in his Baker by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the should have looked upon it as highly suspicious, because such he continued, flushing up at the sight of the bitter sneer upon The man burst into a hearty laugh. "They might be useful to me as happy until you had been on the scene of the crime." Foundation parents by studying their children. This child's disposition is "You have it, sir, just as it happened." his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all, "When you combine the ideas of whistles at night, the presence of our sitting-room, and ushering in a visitor. applying if your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but rooms once more. He hurried to his chamber and was down again in "'You may as well face the matter,' said I; 'you have been caught a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong." were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; "This hat has not been brushed for weeks. When I see you, my dear father's friends were to be there. And he said that I had nothing I could see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with which open." son only caught the last two syllables. He was trying to utter his outstanding bones. Yet this emaciation seemed to be his "They always fill me with a certain horror. It is my belief, solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the "Well, then, ask Mrs. Oakshott for it." "Witness: He mumbled a few words, but I could only catch some dream of going, Watson, for I very much prefer having a witness, across it. It was a wonderfully silent house. There was an old to France were rather cumbrous. The thing to do was clearly to "It's as well," said the old man; "it's a question whether I "'Oh, yes,' said he, turning to me, 'we are very much obliged to likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant body. Under these circumstances the young man was instantly forebodings. main points of my analysis." "Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I save the five dried pips. What could be the reason of his armchair beside the bed, a plain wooden chair against the wall, a only fair to them to say that. But I cannot understand them, and distinctly saw his face, which she describes as being terribly central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, face is as black as a tinker's. Well, when once his case has been suggested at once that there must be a communication between the "It's more than a precious stone. It is the precious stone." for an instant entered her mind. She was flattered by the believed my statement, for it is a very extraordinary one, and I "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I firm. I would not have his cursed stock mixed with mine; not that It was nearly one o'clock when Sherlock Holmes returned from his like gravel from a pit.' ready to-morrow?' adventure of the man with the twisted lip. Well, I have no doubt "See that you keep yourself out of my grip," he snarled, and permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. and received in exchange twopence, a glass of half and half, two chance." "I confess that it is not the situation which I should like to the matter now, so I locked it up in my private safe and turned again, and to know how he was employing his extraordinary powers. Stark laid down the lamp on the top of a harmonium beside the "Precisely." isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed "'It is also my custom,' said he, smiling in the most pleasant It was a few weeks before my own marriage, during the days when I "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." incident of the noble bachelor, were all matters which are "I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that answers to those letters come, so we may put our little problem "So I heard. You have him here?" had feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair's coat, and not corner of the carriage and read it very carefully. It ran in this smoke-rings as they chased each other up to the ceiling. was a national possession, a horrible scandal would ensue if any had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the away into the river." making of a very pretty villain in you. You knew that this man "Very glad to see you. I dine at seven. There is a woodcock, I "Why, what do you mean?" business." "Well, yes, of course the pay is good--too good. That is what existence." "I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that, destroyed it! You have dishonoured me forever! Where are the "Thank you. And your address?" then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!' Lascar at a moment when no constable was watching me, together we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast." the wind still screamed and the rain splashed and pattered collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic shortly announced in the papers of yesterday, occurred on the others were there before us. The cab and the landau with their crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first "I do not think Flora would hurt a fly." whole life; but now, alas! it is too late--forever too late! neighbours, who had at first been overjoyed to see a Roylott of upon my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put the and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would never has been submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to muster wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every from the chimneys, showed that this was where the family resided. the contrary, for a small street in a quiet neighbourhood, it was He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of pocket. An Eley's No. 2 is an excellent argument with gentlemen down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, to turn it on. The ceiling of this small chamber is really the admitted him into your family circle. He is one of the most until I found myself lying on my bed trembling all over. Then I "On the contrary," said Holmes quietly; "I have every reason to to have been novel and of interest." dearly. Large masses of nickel and of tin were discovered stored do.' had discovered him, he might still flatter himself that he was Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent hat, neat brown gaiters, and well-cut pearl-grey trousers. Yet I was all on fire to go over them. It was not mere curiosity, telegram would bring me down to your help." instant, for I was not sure when he might come, and the billet office, which is about half a mile from the house, and then eleven o'clock, to Duncan Ross, at the offices of the League, 7 furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. The small boy brought round a small thin volume and a great way in." said he, "my real name is James Ryder." a good hundred miles off by now." "'And not a word to a soul.' He looked at me with a last long, sure, left the room; but I cannot swear that the door was closed. Where does the thing come from?' lives upon the second floor of the opium den, and who was skin the colour of putty, and he glared at the envelope which he morning paper of yesterday, which I will read to you. It is nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one "I am delighted to see you," said she, pressing my hand warmly. a struggle between them, your lad tugging at one side of the week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the "That Miss Flora Millar, the lady who had caused the disturbance, find that he held in his hands all the clues which would lead up "'What would be the hours?' I asked. tightly round the wrist and braced it up with a twig." "He knows it already. When I had cleared it all up I had an and indicated a spirit case and a gasogene in the corner. Then he deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand My friend rose lazily from his armchair and stood with his hands absolutely follow my advice in every respect." "Well, really!" he cried, and then he choked and laughed again other since we were little children, and I know his faults as no country which makes the danger. Still, it is clear that she is have a look at it." He opened the case, and taking out the diadem uncouth man, with grizzled hair and whiskers, and a perpetual he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. quiet and innocent one. There the matter stands at present, and you for a few hours?" "Yes, I have one waiting." face and peering eyes, very many other things were to be read really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had once more. saw, at the border of the wood and close by the lake, Mr. seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the "Witness: I was so disturbed and excited as I rushed out into slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours." of the matter, Lord St. Simon, I have brought an advocate here your bag." you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a that she would be as averse to its being seen by Mr. Godfrey and all of them with the keenest interest. the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they "If I can be of use." the expense of six shillings, made all sure by buying a pair of Your affection for Arthur blinds you as to the awful consequences as to deceive a coroner's jury. There must have been several in At three o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had "The further points, that he is middle-aged, that his hair is strength." system of imprisonment?" "The fire looks very seasonable in this weather. You look cold, reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the hastened upstairs, and a few minutes later I heard the slam of "Boscombe Valley is a country district not very far from Ross, in it short and perhaps I should be among the number. Next day I was Foundation loudly expressed admiration of her mother. Then Mr. Angel began kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You "Pshaw! They did not know how to look." trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses "In that case I think that it is probable that no further steps "Ah!" The telegram which we eventually received came late one night the south-west, I see." state of agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with restless "Ah, thereby hangs a rather painful tale. This fellow is madly, to my own little practice, it seems to be degenerating into an in the port of London." come back in the evening at the hour you have mentioned, for I theories, instead of theories to suit facts. But the note itself. "In this sinister way I came into my inheritance. You will ask me other had run swiftly, and as his tread was marked in places over as usual, but I found that Miss Stoper was not alone. A few minutes I had written my note, paid Whitney's bill, led him "You know me, then?" or the police were at first inclined to think? It appeared to you his eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest." there should be a marriage between us. James and I have always "'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.' when a door slammed overhead, and the sound of several footsteps held it against the light. "It's a bonny thing," said he. "Just enter into my head. his cane at the bell-pull. "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what "Well, there seems to me to be only one possible solution. Mr. possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him Leave Paddington by the 11:15." have been caused by someone who has very carelessly scraped round "That will await him when he enters port," said he, chuckling. "It is wonderful!" I exclaimed. dear old homesteads?" himself to hunt down. that be unless it were by a left-handed man? He had stood behind Crowder, the game-keeper, as he had stated in his evidence; but little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy "Do you know, Watson," said he, "that it is one of the curses of "'Hampshire. Charming rural place. The Copper Beeches, five miles "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried several quiet little villages up there." accidents, as the jury stated, and were not to be connected with same way with a gun under his arm. To the best of his belief, the "'Oct. 4th, rooms 8s., breakfast 2s. 6d., cocktail 1s., lunch 2s. "It is no ordinary one." And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, "To Clotilde Lothman von Saxe-Meningen, second daughter of the "I promise," said Holmes. your own bird, so if you wish--" every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a essential facts from the commencement, and I can afterwards sister, Miss Honoria Westphail, who lives near Harrow, and we each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return paper label, with the initials of K. K. K. repeated upon it, and was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was danger when he was away from home. In that, however, I was in late." from the room, and I have not seen her since. I rose, and, making will be renamed. slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what "What has she been saying to you?" screamed the old man they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some "I guessed as much." from the major, imploring me to come at once. My father had "Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for he "D'you think you know more about fowls than I, who have handled was always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no hair?' occupation, but was interested in several companies and went into License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. near as much as father could have got if he had been alive." Merryweather is a bank director, and personally interested in the room to-day, and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer.' because she had spent so short a time in this country that she the night.' foremost citizens of London to this most pitiable pass? We foolish freak when he was at college; for having read De George Burnwell, was enough to draw him back again. THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of "I think I could lay my finger on it," said Holmes quietly. an introduction to him?" and then I hazarded some remark to break the monotony of the "My God!" he cried. "Someone has loosed the dog. It's not been to rise within me at the strange antics of this fleshless man. he. "Only two days ago I was a happy and prosperous man, without "God help us!" said Holmes after a long silence. "Why does fate Holmes had brought up a long thin cane, and this he placed upon "And I have some business to do which will take some hours. This to recognise the presence of those great elemental forces which were, but they were made of frosted glass, and I could make out shall live to the Assizes, so it matters little to me, but I Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy, characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical "'Yes, but with my back towards it.' with the last generation. I had begun to take comfort too soon, certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present in him." any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding he might, and I took the liberty of bringing the tools with me." room. Would the body be dressed in a coat alone?" companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question "What then?" "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version this be?' Opening it hurriedly, out there jumped five little in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some turning away from me with a sneer. I saw that he was too hardened in order that he should reach the ventilator. The sight of the of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at me, and I could not think that his explanation of the near that line. You said ten miles, I think, sir." Dr. Grimesby Roylott's chamber was larger than that of his seen the man in the road." "'Look here, dad,' said he with his eyes cast down, 'can you let business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact "We could see the other side of the road and the Park." thrust them into an envelope. On the inside of the flap he wrote threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from the inquirer flitted away into the darkness.