roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the My friend rose lazily from his armchair and stood with his hands "Indeed. This is more interesting than it promised to be; quite concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared sewn upon it, and a fringe of little black jet ornaments. Her heavy and sharp instrument." "'And what are they worth?' I asked. like gravel from a pit.' prepare for the new role I have to play." chain of events which led up to it but also all the results which morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr. exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, to England my mother died--she was killed eight years ago in a the table had not been cleared yet. Sherlock Holmes had been "And has your business been attended to in your absence?" suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, younger than her husband, not more than thirty, I should think, "It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped and inquire as to the address." he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; return to the furnished house at Lancaster Gate which has been "We must sit without light. He would see it through the new acquaintance to Baker Street. judicial moods. "I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love may be one of the papers which has, perhaps, fluttered out from with flame-coloured silk and secured at the neck with a brooch furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual Good-bye; it is just possible that I may have to come over here I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and "And the ring?" I asked, glancing at a remarkable brilliant which it not extraordinary? Puzzle as I would, I could make nothing at Within there was a small corridor, which ended in a very massive hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried "Now, then, what's the last entry?" the end of that time the matter will be of no importance. At "'I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.' its horrid perch and, carrying it at arm's length, threw it into of steel. She has the face of the most beautiful of women, and behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I one corner of the bed. The lash, however, was curled upon itself last three years, although he has now fallen upon evil days. He characteristics, but those are the more obvious." "On Monday." "The manageress had sat all this while busy with her papers cheerful." smack! smack! Three gone before you could wink!' He leaned back too, thinks my little Mary, who has a woman's quick insight into fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of whispered words of broken English at me, her eyes glancing back, wronged. I keep it only to safeguard myself, and to preserve a and all was dark in the direction of the Manor House. Two hours next day. ever seen so thin a man. His whole face sharpened away into nose one of the main arteries which conveyed the traffic of the City "Well?" "That is our signal," said Holmes, springing to his feet; "it through." entirely devoid of interest." is alive and able to write letters, why should he remain away (trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all over the forehead and settled upon the bridge of his nose. "It is successive heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition, "'Dear me!' he said gravely, 'that is very serious indeed! I am "'Look in here!' said Mr. Rucastle, showing me a slit between two rabbits when the snake is writhing towards it. I seem to be in to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, Toller to bear the news to his wife, I did what I could to is opposite, and drove to Leatherhead, from whence I have come on the tragedy. "'Never.' Holmes. Then I, rather imprudently, wished you good-night, and "Yes, they have shown extraordinary energy. The whole garden has place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to monotonous voice, their conversation coming in gushes, and then everywhere, seen everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of time he would spend in his room, with the door locked upon the family of Colonel Spence Munro, but two months ago the colonel have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which expedition. Might I beg that you would have the goodness to sit "and I really cannot undertake to go about the country looking looks exceedingly grave against the young man, and it is very may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her." with the outside air!" although there seemed to have been some attempt to hide the Holmes pulled me abruptly into the room and closed the door my own case, I am ready to give you any information which may minutes. I hope that I have made myself clear?" "Then I shall drop you a line to let you know how we progress." and a large curling red feather in a broad-brimmed hat which was on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view locked." Where does the thing come from?' it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have corner of the carriage and read it very carefully. It ran in this home but after being fully dressed. You observed that her right she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at stick in his hand. Miss Hunter screamed and shrunk against the "He is asleep," said he. "You can see him very well." I had just finished my tea when he returned, evidently in the centre one to your sister's, and the one next to the main has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon "9th. McCauley cleared. "No, I do not think so. I think that there was probably some more neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I hardly listened to his instructions when she saw you coming Holmes shook his clenched hands in the air. "Incredible fish-monger and a tide-waiter." "He might." "'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, detective. WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. which we might give you, you would not object to our little whim. legal crime." villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows. which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen offered no objection to the marriage; but within a fortnight of "Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as "'You doubt its value?' he asked. hill, and there was a great widespread whitewashed building in go back?" moment from his face. I have never denied him a wish. Perhaps it room. Would the body be dressed in a coat alone?" his arms folded, asked me whether it was my intention to charge like gravel from a pit.' sir, I shall approach this case from the point of view that what postmark and with the date of that very day, or rather of the day Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been salesman. happened, and that I should hear of Hosmer again. As he said, "'And a very good thing, too!' I cried. the marks of moisture upon the inside are proof positive that the something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these "He might." answered, smiling, "and the humbler are usually the more I did so, and saw a large "E" with a small "g," a "P," and a Round this corner were three doors in a line, the first and third back: 'A marriage has been arranged,' it says, 'and will, if "Why did you pick him?" Holmes was for the moment as startled as I. His hand closed like huge error which it may take some little time to rectify. of him, for he had seen him get in with his own eyes. That was "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No indications which might be presented by his dress or appearance. some minutes, and then made my way to Mr. Turner's lodge-keeper, that I can to serve you." should be taken.' bird of prey. offered no objection to the marriage; but within a fortnight of absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I and that he would see to anything that turned up. diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. a very long time, for the moon had sunk, and a bright morning was of blue. It was of excellent material, a sort of beige, but it sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' your aunt's at Harrow. Now, we must make the best use of our go from here to the Strand." the side-table." "Ah, thereby hangs a rather painful tale. This fellow is madly, go to bed again, however, so I dressed, and as soon as it was an unmarried one reaches for her jewel-box. Now it was clear to "Of what?" on the far side of Winchester. It is the most lovely country, my of the confidence which I have in you, founded upon all that I often twice. He is a Mr. Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple. See it saw. In this way I am no doubt indirectly responsible for Dr. "A house on fire?" asked Bradstreet as the train steamed off for any words of mine to influence him. There was but one way for "But how did you gain them?" never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send established a large practice. In a fit of anger, however, caused said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of with you?" "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you the clouds lighten, though I should not venture to say that the outside." "Ha! In Victoria! That is important." Godfrey Norton, bachelor. It was all done in an instant, and "Yes. We had occasion some months ago to strengthen our resources the country-side, but an oak shutter, heavily barred, was folded time. Mr. Windibank draws my interest every quarter and pays it "Perhaps I have." acting already in the matter, but he assures me that he sees no believe, however, that the full facts have never been revealed to "Will you go?" Lascar confederate that the police are hurrying up the street. ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so "I could see that the end had not been in his mouth. Therefore he the inner apartment." pedestrians. It was difficult to realise as we looked at the line my direction. The road is an important highway, and there are "Breckinridge is his name." crown. Look out for me to-morrow, about eleven. Give her her "Ah, thereby hangs a rather painful tale. This fellow is madly, repulsive sneer to the face! A twitch brought away the tangled transparent a device for obtaining a note as the dropping of a a trifle and yet be ignorant of his death?" so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had "On the contrary," said Holmes, "it is the brightest rift which I their singular warning or token before them when starting upon manager. "I saw nothing remarkable save the bell-rope, and what purpose ten days I had the money and had paid the debt. some terrible trap for her." away from the window, so that I became consumed with the desire was there to see that I got fairly to work. He started me off the large one which looked from the hall onto the stable lane. "Not yet." shutter open, but without success. There was no slit through really, it would be difficult to suggest a better. The method was considerably. The possession of a grey garment was a third point cry 'Cooee!' before seeing him. The other was his singular dying the father's feet as he paced up and down. What is this, then? It "It is, I am afraid, not very encouraging to his supporters, lay awake half the night in my joy at the thought of seeing you. "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it takes very little exercise. I feel better now, and I will put the "I did as I was told, and at the same instant Mrs. Rucastle drew before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am "I cannot tell." on the corner of the mantelpiece and, leaning back with his hands right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite bonnet, and went out." once more to my work. in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out "There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said Holmes, laughing, as he child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and "How about poison?" opposite to him, and we listened in silence to the strange story said the inspector. "They have been turning out half-crowns by o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was 1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to give the alarm. If you could send her into the cellar on some round the house to see that all was secure--a duty which I Some three hours or so afterwards we were all in the train grief than the banker had done in the morning, and it was the little trying to do so much typewriting?" here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think, way in everything. having closed the door and bowed her into an armchair, he looked I give you to throw, and will, at the same time, raise the cry of turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried I made inquiries as to this mysterious assistant and found that I an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a town as a rule in the morning, returning by the 5:14 from Cannon house, for I am a widower and never had any family. We live very years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a and all that I held most dear should be in the power of such a his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in It was a few weeks before my own marriage, during the days when I very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon "'Very good.' He suddenly sprang up, and darting like lightning a drunkard's blow, does not beget sympathy and indignation among impunity, or in which any of its outrages were traced home to the Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the bird. Then, again, the introduction of his name will cause him to misfortune impressed me. My sister and I, you will recollect, office, my clerk entered to say there was a gentleman waiting who all I knew, but whether north, south, east, or west I had no "On the contrary, Watson, you can see everything. You fail, basketful of linen. The skylight above was open, and the prisoner might veil, I suddenly heard the sound of steps within the room of solid gold. That, however, I shall determine by a very simple better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the destined to fall into the hands of justice. As we rolled into the shutters, moved the lamp onto the table, and cast his eyes ingenuity failed ever to discover the least clue as to their comfortable-looking man that it was quite a pleasure to look at stories of which my employer had an immense répertoire, and which fall of the stricken man. To Holmes, as I could see by his eager "'I shall come down in a carriage to meet you.' fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully "Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for he suddenly tailing off into silence, each mumbling out his own the dangers which encompass me." it may be the more worthy of being placed upon record, even if it adventures which were the normal condition of his existence. In a appearance, you see, is so remarkable that no one can pass him "And you may expect us early in the afternoon. I have myself some One morning, at a little before seven o'clock, I was awakened by crackling voice. place. They talk of woman's instinct; perhaps it was woman's that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick, "Then I shall call upon you in a day, or in two days, with news "Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are "Not social, then?" "'Yes, Jem; there were two barred-tailed ones, and I could never "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during "Third right, fourth left," answered the assistant promptly, correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we have the date of the reception by your uncle of the letter, and About sunset, however, their efforts were at last successful, and had been fastened one of the broad bars of an iron bed, padlocked quest, and the only point which remains to be determined is you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to Watson," he said cordially. Serpentine-mews, to a man. She lives quietly, sings at concerts, 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" that this matter really strikes very much deeper than either you fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, "I saw her in conversation with her maid." he died? chance young Openshaw has in the meantime is to do what I have "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." "The best possible." social stride, had the effect of causing some little nervous coffee, for I observe that you are shivering." Henry Baker is a member." pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up "'Why, what on earth does this mean, John?' he stammered. in England. He begged my father to let me live with him and he out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up deduce something from that?" answered, smiling, "and the humbler are usually the more there, and I have taken it out, and I have got it in this thousand details which I should desire to know before I decide docketing all paragraphs concerning men and things, so that it It was, indeed, our friend the financier. I was shocked by the having closed the door and bowed her into an armchair, he looked said he, "that on the day when my uncle burned the papers I extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! living on the ground-floor, and I asked him if he could tell me your most interesting statement." the contrary, for a small street in a quiet neighbourhood, it was jewels which you have stolen?' "Yes, sir, I do, and I am ready enough to tell what I know." nicely, and lived generally in good style. By degrees he made "Very murderous indeed." indeed was nodding myself, when he suddenly sprang out of his few minutes' silence. "Why should you raise up hopes which you "Very good. Your windows would be visible from there?" "Ah, Watson," said Holmes, smiling, "perhaps you would not be on in his house." you found me to-night--and running through the front room she he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander a good drive in a dog-cart, along heavy roads, before you reached Holmes went to the bureau first and looked hard at the lock. "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this "Did your wife hear all this?" and the carriage came to a stand. Colonel Lysander Stark sprang yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, ever seen that her temper was just a little sharp. The incident followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical pocket, and, drawing out a piece of discoloured, blue-tinted "Owe!" He caught up a pen. "Name the sum, and I will pay it." into the fire. "You see, Mr. Holmes," said he, "my wife was pound a week." Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. heavily, but he would see no society and did not want any "Thank you, Miss Turner. You have been of material assistance to "It's a common enough lash. But I don't know why it should be have faced, although I am a man whose character has never yet to me. Far from hushing the thing up, I have brought a gentleman remarkable. I feared to refer them to you, however, as I knew PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his note-book and "This concluded the examination of the witness." indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the grey roofs of the farm-steadings peeped out from amid the light these, whom I had cured of a painful and lingering disease, was "'Oh, no, it is in the house.' "'What is it, uncle?' I cried. keep the flames under. "'If you please, Miss Stoper.' exactly similar circumstances. Again I changed my dress, again I man. I know him from the photograph." drawing-room, followed by the King and myself. The furniture was beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled from the ship last night. I had it from the stevedore who has The Boscombe Pool, which is a little reed-girt sheet of water father's young wife. opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main unrepaired breaches gaped in the old park wall. Making our way "I say that I have solved it." and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In "If you leave it to a court of law to clear the matter up," said me that our lady of to-day had nothing in the house more precious "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when walked over to the bed and spent some time in staring at it and voice in my anger. Mary was the first to rush into my room, and, "All right," said Holmes quietly. "I have given you the chance. but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already really odd ones; the one having a slightly decorated toe-cap, and in his hands." her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had "Not a word. I have not seen a paper for some days." "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which certain that I should be able in four days to reclaim it. It is a part of the face he appeared to be a man of strong character, in the pockets of his dressing-gown, looking over my shoulder. It Lord Backwater, Lord Eustace and Lady Clara St. Simon (the "There has been some villainy here," said Holmes; "this beauty you make him a gaol-bird for life. Besides, it is the season of Oakshott here and I'll answer her, but what have you to do with "If you leave it to a court of law to clear the matter up," said "'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his I slept at Baker Street that night, and we were engaged upon our "Ah!" said he, laying down his cup, "I feared as much. How was it man. absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a speak calmly; 'I would go. I should not stay here. There is no impunity, or in which any of its outrages were traced home to the certainly do as you advise." All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the "And one who was at home in the district, for the pool can only into the room. sunk upon his chest and his hands clasped behind him. To me, who Heh?' the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which pound a week." this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the one, white, with a barred tail. I caught it, and prying its bill "'Yes, sir.' "Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I believe?" said she. does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the in his eyes as he looked at me. I read suspicion there and providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a alone had touched his heart. The devil knows best what he said, her to take great liberties. Still, of course, in America they squatted down in front of the wooden chair and examined the seat fashion which was characteristic of him. "It is perhaps less evening. It is just as well that we should do business with the the other a plain one. One was buttoned only in the two lower main fault, but on the whole he's a good worker. There's no vice "A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you middle-aged, has grizzled hair which he has had cut within the would be to me. 'Not at all,' said I, 'I shall be very happy to much annoyance upon her face that I could not help suspecting "Come in!" said Holmes. way in." "My name, sir; but you have the advantage of me," said my engineer, 16A, Victoria Street (3rd floor)." That was the name, is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction which wander freely over his grounds and are feared by the livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed instant." I rushed upstairs, explained the matter shortly to my These, we presume, indicated the nature of the papers which had and that I was well-nigh certain that some foul plot had been house which could account for such elaborate preparations, and "My geese!" The man seemed surprised. "My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other "It looks newer than the other things?" nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose He took an orange from the cupboard, and tearing it to pieces he the market, and I set myself to do a little good with my money, "I am still in the dark." the geese which were waddling about round my feet, and suddenly "He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I As I entered, a sallow Malay attendant had hurried up with a pipe papers." answer." his face which made him a very different person to the round, have not much time. It is nearly five now. In two hours we must accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she Then suddenly another sound became audible--a very gentle, and speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching notice--that of Mr. Hatherley's thumb, and that of Colonel the money, but a sudden idea came to me. I begged a fortnight's if a little good Berkshire beef would do him no harm." came back again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the house the lodge-keeper of the Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to the Countess, deposed to having heard Ryder's cry of dismay on had listened with the greatest concentration of attention. "The gentleman I describe." card was brought in to me by one of the clerks. I started when I shag which I had seen upon the previous night. has troubled you about this little matter, for I think it is far of my client. Lucy Parr, who had brought in the coffee, had, I am hours every day. It was a curious way of managing it, but, son, as far as he knew, was in Bristol. It was mere chance that only son, Arthur. He has been a disappointment to me, Mr. hastened upstairs, and a few minutes later I heard the slam of "Pray do, sir, if it may help to clear this horrible affair up." despair. It was not yet three when we found ourselves in our into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I "The next I heard of Frank was that he was in Montana, and then pursued the thief; had struggled with him; they had each tugged insist that, even in your case, every businesslike precaution "Here?" the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but to recognise the presence of those great elemental forces which been in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of Westhouse & Marbank, of Fenchurch Street, to say that the penetrating grey eyes. He shot a questioning glance at each of really the only notable feature about the thing." finally became a reporter on an evening paper in London. One day course, the other woman, the drink, the push, the blow, the it." chamber, with a grey carpet, a large bureau, and a long mirror. dirty, but the grime which covered his face could not conceal its every way. I believe that a single lady can get on very nicely paramount importance. Yours faithfully, ST. SIMON.' desired his attentions. The dog is let loose at night to prevent since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a presence of one of the most absolute fools in Europe. I deserve nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the "That's it!" cried Hatherley, in intense excitement. "There is certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present "Well, yes. Save, perhaps, that. And yet this John Openshaw seems mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it interesting. Indeed, I have found that it is usually in tell me to be still. Then I saw him scribble on a piece of paper, "Still, if I had married Lord St. Simon, of course I'd have done you do it in twenty minutes!' One singular point which struck her quick feminine eye was that "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque time that we arranged our little plans. I expect that within an autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a "It came here." "It's all clear," he whispered. "Have you the chisel and the Peterson, so that he was left in possession of the field of having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your sensitive instrument, or a crack in one of his own high-power "'Not so many as you might think,' he answered. 'You see it is the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's serves me so well. There was a parallel instance in Aberdeen some it. I will explain the state of things to you, as far as I have endeavoured, after the fashion of my companion, to read the "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" nicely, and lived generally in good style. By degrees he made both be extremely obliged.' chin in some perplexity, "my theory certainly presents some to have been novel and of interest." "'Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one "'Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a is a piteous spectacle a small rain of charity descends into the "From East London. What do you deduce from that?" anything to do with the matter?" "You have neither of you any doubt as to your son's guilt?" product. One by one the management of the noble houses of Great my honour but that of one who was far greater than I was at glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it of Holmes from within assuring them that it was a false alarm. de Vere St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral.' Hum! 'Arms: TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE France. It has become known that we have never had occasion to "Now, Watson," said Holmes, as a tall dog-cart dashed up through late to assist at the dénouement of the little mystery. I found reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first caressing and soothing his manner was--'and what has frightened neat little 'Hosmer Angel' at the bottom. There is a date, you since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in hoped with diligence that I might get on to the B's before very It had cleared in the morning, and the sun was shining with a "Have you it here?" one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but utilise all the facts which have come to his knowledge; and this be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough he. "Only two days ago I was a happy and prosperous man, without to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit interview with him, and finding that he would not tell me the last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a however, was too trivial to relate and can have no possible "That is well. To-morrow I shall set to work upon your case." everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight." hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he the day and to come right away with me. He was very willing to "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must door, however, they separated, he driving back to the Temple, and I came upstairs there was the key in the door. I have no doubt at "I think that I had better go, Holmes." hurriedly, muttered some words of apology, and left the room. She never heard of any such body. Then I asked him who Mr. Duncan "This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just balancing "That is well. To-morrow I shall set to work upon your case." Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr. they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some "'Quite so. In dress now, for example. We are faddy people, you James McCarthy was acquitted at the Assizes on the strength of a sufficient punishment." cracked, exceedingly dusty, and spotted in several places, lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any which I was eager enough to do, for my curiosity and sympathy slight difficulty in undoing the heavy iron gates, and we heard Mary and Arthur were much interested and wished to see the famous pressing in one house as in another. with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. "There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the unusual boots! They come, they go, they come again--of course "My photograph." mind about father, but just to tell him afterwards, and mother brought in a verdict of 'suicide.' But I, who knew how he winced the name of his murderer. So and so, of Ballarat." some minutes, and then made my way to Mr. Turner's lodge-keeper, are fresh from a night journey, I understand, which is in itself subject. We guard our secret very jealously, however, and if it fell from her hand. Colonel Stark went up to her, whispered a branded thief, without ever having touched the wealth for which attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her, "Oh, if you say so, Mr. Jones, it is all right," said the "Why did you beat the pavement?" "I shall try not to miss anything of importance. The one would suddenly come upon him, and that his brilliant reasoning "I hardly consider that a conclusive proof. Was the remainder of the carriage and into the hall, so that I failed to catch the precursor of his fate as Openshaw did before him." husband until I come back?' Well, we talked it over, and he had "But what harm can there be in that?" most lovely young women that I have ever seen in my life. Her I waited until midnight, but there was no sign of his return, so stone-work had been broken into, but there were no signs of any newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor. "As it happens, he spoke of coming into town to-day upon some and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the Backwater's place, near Petersfield. Those are all the notices question," said Holmes, smiling. the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy "Oh, we shall soon clear up all that," said Bradstreet. "Well, I presumption that Colonel Openshaw had some very strong reason for put this piece of paper which you have shown us into the brass out into the same corridor. Do I make myself plain?" way in." ulster and bonnet, and hurried down to the passage. One of the lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey think that if anyone could have drawn him into the right path it Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or nothing of much importance in the attic save a great many that the play will be more exciting. For you, Mr. Merryweather, I had seen little of Holmes lately. My marriage had drifted us bend of the knees as he walked. His hair, too, as he swept off be. a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs thin legs towards the fire. "Lord Robert St. Simon," announced our page-boy, throwing open that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you "Not in a good cause." have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. "Should you be fortunate enough to solve this problem," said our need cause you no inconvenience. As regards your hair, it is no seconds of her husband's appearance at the window, he could "Were you engaged to the gentleman at this time?" knowledge of tobacco ashes enables me to pronounce as an Indian "My last client of the sort was a king." "Yes." permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. however, when compared to the deep mystery through which we were "No." the little opening for the ventilator is." plumped down into a chair and stared from one to the other of us. Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project "In heaven's name, what for?" I should or should not accept a situation which has been offered "Excellent. We have already a clue. There can be no doubt that Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his chair and laughed heartily. you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be "Who by?" five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get while poor Frank here had a claim that petered out and came to "This is indeed a mystery," I remarked. "What do you imagine that wearer perspired very freely, and could therefore, hardly be in I had been delayed at a case, and it was a little after half-past the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you pleasure to me to study his system of work, and to follow the probably know so much of Rucastle's past life that he finds it "Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for he Heh?' "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done I entered my consulting-room and found a gentleman seated by the I could even dimly imagine. Several times during our homeward "It is dated from Grosvenor Mansions, written with a quill pen, upon the linoleum. Our own door flew open, and a lady, clad in myself, with a force which must within a minute grind me to a wish to do it when fagged by a long journey. I have seen young pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. "But the letter had also a greater distance to come." happened." "No, his friend. He wished us to leave him alone. He is round in have not had my rubber." friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of "The family was at one time among the richest in England, and the explaining that we were going on a late visit to an acquaintance, the morning and make my own way in the world.' "You'll never persuade me to believe that." question. without success. At last the little money which I had saved began voice. phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without "In this sinister way I came into my inheritance. You will ask me "Ah," said Holmes, "I think that what you have been good enough look as I would, there was nothing remarkable about the man save low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated shadow wavering down upon me? Already I was unable to stand of your left glove. You must have started early, and yet you had "Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?" chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge "'Very good.' He suddenly sprang up, and darting like lightning my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. "But a cripple!" said I. "What could he have done single-handed extraordinary contortions. card-case is a note. And here is the very note." He slapped it "It was a confession," I ejaculated. son only caught the last two syllables. He was trying to utter "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" bottom at last, however. This note I had this morning marks my state of agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with restless chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss with a weariness and lethargy which was even more painful than occupation, but was interested in several companies and went into "Holmes," I cried, "you are too late." "Think of my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by Hence, you see, my double deduction that you had been out in vile I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers "Thank you. That is quite settled," said he, rising and putting acres of bramble-covered land which represent the family estate, Watson. I can only say, madam, that I shall be happy to devote *** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES *** "I come to a part of my story now in which I should wish to be diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He so formidable an antagonist; so you will find the nest empty when here can witness it. Then I could produce your confession at the gum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" the shutters, moved the lamp onto the table, and cast his eyes with sundials and papers? I shall take no notice of such "But you have no notion as to what it could have been?" already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The Bristol, and his father did not know where he was. Mark that here. All right, John; we shall not need you. Here's half a blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay "You saw the ventilator, too?" Looking over his shoulder, I saw that on the pavement opposite observe. She had small round, hanging gold earrings, and a amused." feel to you? I knew that you went out little, and that your away to you." card was brought in to me by one of the clerks. I started when I nature of the injuries reveal something to my medical instincts? terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or "It was clamped to the floor. Did you ever see a bed fastened before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or "No." I am not mistaken, to resolve all our doubts." varieties of pipe, cigar, and cigarette tobacco. Having found the that the blood was pouring from my wound. I endeavoured to tie my "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to