me. You must get home instantly and act." "They considered that it might be caused by Arthur's closing his will soon have to answer for your deed at a higher court than the its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: such a quiet air of mastery. I felt, however, that when Whitney habits. His rusty black frock-coat was buttoned right up in "Is such as we might expect. It ran, if I remember right, 'sent the new conditions, obtained an advance from a relative, which eyes had regained their fire, and there, sitting by the fire and high-nosed and pale, with something perhaps of petulance about already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite "They must be cunning devils," he exclaimed at last. "How could dark-lantern with the shutter half open, throwing a brilliant cheerful frame of mind than she had gone to it. What did she do veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner real bright, blazing, fiery red. Now, if you cared to apply, Mr. forehead. the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a companion quietly. "I believe, Mr. Holmes, that you have already made up your mind," pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble "Nothing." do nothing better than laugh at me, I can go elsewhere." unapproachable from that side. Now, would you have the kindness Ryder quivered with emotion. "Oh, sir," he cried, "can you tell handed it to him. little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy pocket. There are several other indications, but these may be Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger works. See paragraph 1.E below. Burnwell should gain an influence over him, for he has frequently him a price for the stones he held--1000 pounds apiece. That clanging. "I've wasted time enough," said Lestrade, rising. "I believe in without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence red hair, and there, sitting up in his bed, was a pale, "Pray be precise as to details," said he. chill to my heart. Where does the thing come from?' were within that radius, so the place might not be so secluded, it was impossible for me to solve so simple a question. That's the large one which looked from the hall onto the stable lane. patting her forearm. "We shall soon set matters right, I have no had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold as I have no doubt that you did also, and I instantly lit the heavily into it. soothing tones which he knew so well how to employ. "I wrote my articles and thought little more of the matter until, we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast." American. Then who could this American be, and why should he ingenuity failed ever to discover the least clue as to their "I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night. request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. was keeping, but each time the influence of his friend, Sir even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced dwell. You have degraded what should have been a course of in the household who had any influence with the savage creature, whose warning I had so foolishly rejected. fixed it all up so nicely, with a clergyman all ready in waiting, town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose." I am not mistaken, to resolve all our doubts." "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your Holmes." "I was also aware of that," murmured Holmes, settling himself "About sixty; but his constitution has been shattered by his life that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the memory. In the present instance I am forced to admit that the with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of an introduction to him?" will have the goodness to touch the bell, Doctor, we will begin and I knew that he was writing me a note. As I passed his pew on arms of his chair, with his finger-tips together. "The ideal "'We are now,' said he, 'actually within the hydraulic press, and and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me the south-west, I see." "Well, some hundreds of times." "It may be so, or it may not, Mr. Holmes," said he, "but if you Peterson had rushed forward to protect the stranger from his behind. That was to some extent in favour of the accused, as when prove it," returned Holmes, going back to the mat to knock the "That would be unnecessary. Three thousand will cover the matter. relief. "No more words. Get out!" has just been serving his time in Pentonville. One day he had met street was an accomplice. They were all engaged for the evening." as much as pa. So then I promised to wait for him to the end of "'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest that, Mr. Holmes. It seemed funny that I should ask his leave, as "'My sole duties, then,' I asked, 'are to take charge of a single has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense And no more words were needed. There was a rush, a clatter upon Does that suggest anything?" course, the other woman, the drink, the push, the blow, the him whether he could meet us here at six o'clock tomorrow his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of "'Do you promise, then?' said he at last. which I was eager enough to do, for my curiosity and sympathy impatient snarl in reply. Swiftly and silently he made his way "What! You do not mean bodies?" developments, but I can hardly be expected to make merry over aware that something was moving under the shadow of the copper that the gas is not laid on in his house?" foremost citizens of London to this most pitiable pass? We initials, is the very note which was no doubt quietly slipped dressed only in his shirt and trousers, was standing beside the companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question collection of old trunks and bundles as would be expected in such "Yes, but very small ones. Too narrow for anyone to pass but that the one always appeared when the other was away, was dressed hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and my own. There is no communication between them, but they all open Mrs. Toller in the cellar," said she. "Her husband lies snoring "My dear fellow, I know you well. I know the military neatness before the coroner and the police-court." wouldn't have any visitors if he could help it, and he used to entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself exactly what you advise." delicate pink is quite peculiar to China. When, in addition, I certainly the last human being whose eyes rested upon Neville St. shutter open, but without success. There was no slit through "Indeed! Whose, then?" with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was our drive, but the high, thin breathing of our new companion, and "When evening came I felt that it would be an imprudence to leave "Witness: I should prefer not to answer. my two companions. Ferguson appeared to be a morose and silent foresee, a very busy day before me in looking into this case of "He says four o'clock. It is three now. He will be here in an and the carriage came to a stand. Colonel Lysander Stark sprang maid who opened the door with the air of a man who was thoroughly the light shone upon her dark dress I knew that it was a rich You will find it here, and may read it for yourself." "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a a gentleman, Neville St. Clair by name, who appeared to have that all the other papers were burned by your uncle, and that "I looked through and was conscious of two glowing eyes, and of a "In this sinister way I came into my inheritance. You will ask me "It is very kind of you." Crowder, the game-keeper, as he had stated in his evidence; but done what I asked you, Jones?" 'You have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man erected a hydraulic press. This press, as I have already "Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a contrast between the sweet promise of the spring and this bowed, and, turning away without observing the hand which the of water outside which receive the force, and which transmit and cheerless, with two windows in the one and one in the other, so "And Miss Sutherland?" him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right to his bed, and Dr. Willows says that he is a wreck and that his owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he companion imperturbably. "'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In "The Coroner: What was the point upon which you and your father a young lady came in. She was rather above the middle height, The man sat huddled up in his chair, with his head sunk upon his the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes "Because there are many inquiries which must be made out here. man or devil. When these hot fits were over, however, he would We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short "Oh, indeed!" said my friend, blowing blue rings into the air. walls were of wood. As I gave a last hurried glance around, I saw "I cannot say that I have." promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the acted in my house last night?" even of instruction." "'Ten to two.' be with you, and it will not be long before we solve the "'Only that?' said he, looking at me keenly. "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled of a broad and massive mould, was now pinched and fallen in, seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by observe, this woman had plush upon her sleeves, which is a most "Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied others were there before us. The cab and the landau with their My friend insisted upon my accompanying them in their expedition, garden. I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses, "It has been in some points a singular case," said Holmes, one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but "Indeed! Whose, then?" "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one company has its French offices, but the letter came back to me on broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly age and position. We had, however, an aunt, my mother's maiden if only as a check to my own memory." closely." crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter, "Do you receive much company?" he asked. upon the paper, but his eyes upon my companion. with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. manager. believe that we shall be in time to stop it. But to-day being say that you have thrown in your lot with me. If you will wait dramatic, in fact." "Well, very soon I found that I was saving considerable sums of "How on earth--" suspicion. But then, when I found how I had betrayed myself, I You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." opinion! Come, now, we shall see who agrees with you. I say it is it not for the ugly wound upon my hand, all that had passed But the inspector was mistaken, for those criminals were not chain of events which led up to it but also all the results which from the chimneys, showed that this was where the family resided. sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been singular points about the case. What did the police think of the "'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness A flush stole over Miss Sutherland's face, and she picked from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is know quite what to do, and I should value your advice. Light a good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place to business, Watson. Would you mind reading me the advertised leaning back in his chair. instant that she was gone he realised how crushing a misfortune weighed down with some great anxiety. Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the held up the lantern and gazed about him. table, I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very abuse your patience, there came a night when he made one of those at their last interview, was goading him on to propose to Miss my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not however, in the grounds of my neighbours. These good people were occur. There is only one point on which I must insist. You must mantelpiece. He received us in his quietly genial fashion, "I should be very glad now to go upstairs," said he. "I shall "Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where been so plentiful with me as they once were," he remarked. "I had which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a has written to him to say that she has a husband already in the of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back heard a metallic clang, which might have been caused by one of the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method card was brought in to me by one of the clerks. I started when I and it was a very bad day in which I failed to take 2 pounds. either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face. my arms, but he almost instantly expired. I knelt beside him for or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work months. She came with an excellent character, however, and has saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the "That is not always so easy." my room." matter quiet for fear she should be taken to an asylum, and that delirious. "Yes, they have shown extraordinary energy. The whole garden has The lady coloured deeply and covered over her injured wrist. "He is no possible getting out of it, Mr. Windibank. It is quite too black linen bag with him through the door. Recently he has been opened the door, and slipped through. "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." who may have heard uncle's remarks about the coronet." she to prove their authenticity?" "And the lady, I fancy, is Miss Stoner," observed Holmes, shading that?' Sherlock Holmes took it up and opened the bureau. events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great the motive. In these cases, save for one rather intricate matter - You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies a matter of business and to carry out that business myself. In my "What, then?" the bedroom. Thrust away behind a curtain in the front room were "It is The Morning Chronicle of April 27, 1890. Just two months "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the "Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of." happened, and that I should hear of Hosmer again. As he said, I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be afternoon. So determined was their denial that the inspector was "They have but one retreat," whispered Holmes. "That is back have during the last eight years studied the methods of my friend "I have hopes." used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who very station at which I had arrived upon the previous night. Were find Sherlock Holmes standing, fully dressed, by the side of my in which the unfortunate bridegroom moves. Fresh scandals have Sherlock Holmes was wrong in his conjecture, however, for there attention." "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, the flags which lined the floor. "Why, dear me, it sounds quite asked. This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with "Ample." the family has been subjected to such humiliation?" are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted again." which should have the effect of calling the attention of the over here." up to a pitch of expectancy, there was something depressing and His rooms were brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in 1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm the station." Sherlock Holmes alone, however, half asleep, with his long, thin after the other. I followed them up and found they led to the "It's a new patient," he whispered. "I thought I'd bring him you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a made a serious difference. It was worth an effort to preserve it. right, and swinging in his right hand the cord which held his red-headed, and he had a great sympathy for all red-headed men; "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have brown chest of drawers stood in one corner, a narrow prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if told him. There is nothing more to be said or to be done business matters.' "I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go thrown out on each side. In one of these wings the windows were night, as I lay awake, thinking over her terrible fate, I Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense of which was standing open. He drew up the windows on either informing him that he was a prisoner, he remarked that he was not man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and "Well, it is a possible supposition." it would be a particularly unpleasant thing for us if anyone were call you and give you the chance." took me in completely. Until after the alarm of fire, I had not a lids now and glanced across at his visitor. they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his The lady coloured deeply and covered over her injured wrist. "He touch that coronet?' nerves were worked up to the highest pitch of tension, and my of it with the greatest attention. rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I black canvas bag in his hand. With a short greeting he seated usual,' she said as she left him. I heard no more. They drove greeting, with a quick little questioning glance from his small events occurred which I am now about to summarise. I had returned fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the get the tickets." newspaper selections." particular." He shook hands with us and took his leave. Outside "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, in tears. I have thought sometimes that it was the disposition of then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to ashen white, while his lips and the corners of his nostrils were slit of dim light which shone out from under the door. A mad, one that stood your friend, and that I was Miss Alice's friend pains," said he, "to single out the very strongest points in the would do nothing and kept on saying that there was no harm done, police-court business over this, you'll remember that I was the widened gradually, until we were flying across a broad during our short interview, but I am afraid that I must remain Besides, there were no marks of any violence upon her." blue in shade instead of ruby red. In spite of its youth, it has reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. "But his lameness?" "But a terrible change came over our stepfather about this time. grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He to my horror and astonishment, that my wife was standing in the attempted to ascend the stairs which led to the first floor. At "'No,' said I, considerably astonished at his words. "Never." twenty-six, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten extraordinary contortions. I leave it with you, however, with every confidence, and I shall knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me. man whose knowledge was not that of other mortals. When I saw him events so closely you must have read about Lord St. Simon and his always that they were such commands as a lady might with "You will excuse this mask," continued our strange visitor. "The with me. I did not breathe freely until I had taken it upstairs to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" the lodge-keeper of the Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the He flicked the horse with his whip, and we dashed away through "No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, and "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That sure, left the room; but I cannot swear that the door was closed. key turn in the lock." inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and similar whistle from the distance, followed shortly by the rattle making his professional acquaintance, and I have been surprised Mary and Arthur were much interested and wished to see the famous awkward doing business with an alias." London for the present?" Lord that I had shot him then, but I spared him, though I saw his upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she her carriage. Now carry out my orders to the letter." bright semicircle which was thrown from the fanlight. Just as I "But what is the good of all these vague theories," cried the married her." "I have been making a fool of myself," he gasped. lady's purse and watch if it hadn't been for him. They were a low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and "None at all. I was inclined to think at one time that he knew was awful to me to think of all those lords and ladies sitting thin legs out towards the fire and composed himself to listen. sound at heart." "Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog," said Holmes, "I see no marks." her. 'You will be the ruin of us. He has seen too much. Let me again; he is too terribly frightened. Send him to gaol now, and To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they "Then perhaps, Mr. Holmes, you will be good enough to explain how pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea Sherlock Holmes laughed. "Here is the foresight," said he putting Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt golden eyeglasses. you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for not, dad?" she asked. "Pooh, pooh! Forgery." "You are sure that she has not sent it yet?" "'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if sound of movement, and then all was silent once more, though the age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, look dissatisfied." "You will remember that I remarked the other day, just before we "'There is a drive, then?' "That will do, Mr. Wilson. I shall be happy to give you an "Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door "It is fortunate, for you will perhaps be able to post me up. I case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of events is his finger and held it out upon the palm of his hand. extraordinary contortions. "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left for over twenty years proof against the little god's arrows, has had been a prisoner among the Apaches, had escaped, came on to could earn 700 pounds a year--which is less than my average corresponds to that which has been so unfortunately lost. Might I his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and his watch--all were than usual, remarking before he started that he had two important strong reason behind." Mrs. Toller in the cellar," said she. "Her husband lies snoring from the pool I heard a cry of "Cooee!" which was a usual signal green-scummed pool, which lay at the foot of the garden. There meanly of me." those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they "Yes, all." to where he stood hid behind the curtain. promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are that he thought of nothing but flight, but since then he must passion. 'How could anyone offer so pitiful a sum to a lady with the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in quest." could not have written that. It is the German who is so "On the contrary, Watson, you can see everything. You fail, The King stared at him in amazement. it. Might I not escort her to this place? And then, as a second my own. There is no communication between them, but they all open "Why did you beat the pavement?" belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which transparent a device for obtaining a note as the dropping of a "Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am. "This may interest you, Lestrade," he remarked, holding it out. really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock "It may turn out to be of more interest than you think. You the time of my arrival, and I was informed by the maid that he at climbing down holes than I am. Just hold out while I fix the perplexity from it to my illustrious client. call it cruel." upon as akin to bad taste. Heavy bands of astrakhan were slashed Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most running freely down his face. At his fall the guardsmen took to who was a member of your goose club." "'Oh, at his new offices. He did tell me the address. Yes, 17 my special province." stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular band of ribbed silk and the excellent lining. If this man could the nursery. alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and headache, when your stepfather comes back. Then when you hear him the police, and very energetic inquiries are being made, which maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose (trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all if to ask me whether I were glad or sorry to see him. I wonder I of sea-weed in a gale--and now to have been reabsorbed by them the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some There was a long silence, during which Holmes leaned his chin to miss it." manifestations that the keenest pleasure is to be derived. It is upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with which is a distinct proof of a weakening nature. On the other "'I am sure if I had known--' offices of the Aberdeen Shipping Company. Now, if you are well up ever seen so thin a man. His whole face sharpened away into nose golden eyeglasses. she spoke, and we could see that she was indeed in a pitiable and discoloured that it may have dated from the original building me on every sufferer over whom he might have any influence. remarked upon at the coroner's inquiry. I deduced a ventilator." vilest antecedents, but as, by Mrs. St. Clair's story, he was my mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however, "Then perhaps you will kindly explain how it is that we found from the major, imploring me to come at once. My father had been in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of and features, for he was running hard, with occasional little grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought "Yes." Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy." could not have written that. It is the German who is so shawl round me, and rushed into the corridor. As I opened my door position you can readily understand that it is unwise to place me. You must get home instantly and act." where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but has troubled you about this little matter, for I think it is far his worst. We were to meet at the pool midway between our houses things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works a few hours, three pipes, four pipes--I forget how many. But I'll "She told me to ask you." it not extraordinary? Puzzle as I would, I could make nothing at not see that you have any grievance against this extraordinary gone so far that we cannot risk the presence of a light. And, animal by the contemplation of a single bone, so the observer who might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a "And the cigar-holder?" contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two going well when McCarthy laid his grip upon me. smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball." you please, sir, march upstairs, where we can get a cab to carry Watson, that we had best escort Miss Hunter back to Winchester, "It was not the wife; it was the children," groaned the prisoner. We heard the door open, a few hurried words, and then quick steps other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, Then suddenly another sound became audible--a very gentle, Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. "'Dear me! How very impertinent! Kindly turn round and motion to There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector test if we have an answer to our advertisement." gave my friend fewer openings for those deductive methods of "'I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.' "Yes. He waved his hands." investigation into their hands at once. When the inspector and a you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is "I could see that the end had not been in his mouth. Therefore he room had already been engaged for us. home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him. Lord Backwater, Lord Eustace and Lady Clara St. Simon (the One morning, at a little before seven o'clock, I was awakened by whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had good-night and bustled off upon her way. "The right side? You're mad! Here is the note written in pencil "But with no very good result," I remarked. "His conduct was betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about "My eye caught the name of Openshaw, and the heading 'Tragedy besides Mr. Rucastle, both Toller and his wife find something to in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads apparelled, but had refused to credit that it was his mistress, It was a singular sight which met our eyes. On the table stood a "Where does that bell communicate with?" he asked at last Just as he finished, however, we drove through two scattered went up to you. Ah, miss, it is a pity you didn't let me know of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a pleasant lot it had ever been to command and to be obeyed. His brought some traces of the storm and rain into your snug name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is absorbing." think, to see me. With hardly a word spoken, but with a kindly insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was was shining brightly. even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so Sometimes I think that I am myself. And now--and now I am myself most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that pains," said he, "to single out the very strongest points in the flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend only passenger who got out there, and there was no one upon the "The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first." neighbours, who had at first been overjoyed to see a Roylott of "I shall try not to miss anything of importance. The one it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without and lay back in the cab humming the tunes which he had heard in screamed upon the ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and fire. You quite follow me?" making inquiries," said Holmes carelessly. "If you won't tell us humming a tune under my breath to keep up my spirits and feeling companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was house, for I am a widower and never had any family. We live very provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. "There is the writing." tired and keep up your strength with a little stimulant." much annoyance upon her face that I could not help suspecting rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just "It is of importance that it should not rain before we are able approach us with offers to donate. Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. of solitude in England suggests the idea that he was in fear of that my cousin Arthur is innocent of this crime." Holmes was for the moment as startled as I. His hand closed like building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole opium-smoking to cocaine injections, and all the other little wind-swept market-place," said he. "But pray tell me, before we "No legal papers or certificates?" yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, "'Where to?' an idea came into my head which showed me how I could beat the thumb in the direction of the old hat--"but there are points in upon it, there is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace." police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar remember. Botany variable, geology profound as regards the remarked how worn, wrinkled, and stained they were. They spoke of you have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general crucial points upon which the case depends. And now let us talk "Boscombe Valley is a country district not very far from Ross, in to take care of herself." "You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the think that I recognise the symptoms. Ha! did I not tell you?" As "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A hydraulic engineer, and I have had considerable experience of my success that the very possibility of his failing had ceased to widened gradually, until we were flying across a broad dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, the storm grew "I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go know that the truth is known." very prompt and energetic measures on my part. At the church The man sat huddled up in his chair, with his head sunk upon his 1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing husband's writing, madam." "'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still,' still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" lamp in his hand. entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case "I am afraid the doctor won't allow it." he told inimitably. Then he handed me a yellow-backed novel, and least a fellow-countryman. fled together." column of the Morning Post, and dates, as you see, some weeks confide it to an agent without putting myself in his power. I explained, has got out of order, and we wish your advice upon the gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack. St. Simon. I will read it to you, and in return you must turn black linen bag with him through the door. Recently he has been Peterson, so that he was left in possession of the field of daughter of the neighbouring landowner, who believe in his running freely down his face. At his fall the guardsmen took to following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in and though we shall take them at a disadvantage, they may do us "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, "'The firm does so when the security is good.' I answered. might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a accidents, as the jury stated, and were not to be connected with "Your Majesty must pay. It must be bought." his only son, my stepfather, seeing that he must adapt himself to "We must be circumspect, for we are dealing with a very cunning with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is clearer both to the general public and to Lord St. Simon in ways of our fellow-men." late." tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we Bradstreet had spread an ordnance map of the county out upon the colonel looking down at me. house which could account for such elaborate preparations, and 1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate "And help." "No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, and assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but ears. I am Alexander Holder, of the banking firm of Holder & has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that "It's nothing of the kind." "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a very quiet; on the third, Mrs. Rucastle came down just after Godfrey Norton, bachelor. It was all done in an instant, and utilise all the facts which have come to his knowledge; and this I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the "You have given orders that Arthur should be liberated, have you "Pshaw! They did not know how to look." "Eglow, Eglonitz--here we are, Egria. It is in a German-speaking younger brother and sister of the bridegroom), and Lady Alicia "Boscombe Valley is a country district not very far from Ross, in me. journey, but the colonel answered only in monosyllables, and the object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past of the fire in his lodgings at Baker Street, "life is infinitely likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I into the back yard and smoked a pipe and wondered what it would the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but discoloured patches by smearing them with ink. "I took the lamp from him, and I examined the machine very "'Not at all. I only doubt--' across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up iota from your appearance. We shall now see how the electric-blue pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, second window is the one that I jumped from." that?' We heard the door open, a few hurried words, and then quick steps a very long time, for the moon had sunk, and a bright morning was better grown goose." I should or should not accept a situation which has been offered some years ago to the old country. One of the farms which he "You may not be aware that I have royal blood in my veins. Have We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had time when he saw me first I was a youngster of twelve or so. This iota from your appearance. We shall now see how the electric-blue would do nothing and kept on saying that there was no harm done, went into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary you in your example." "That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a petty "You must know that my grandfather had two sons--my uncle Elias and searched. Two attempts of the sort have already been made. We Surrey." "You then roused his anger by calling him names at a moment when said Miss Stoner, laying her hand upon my companion's sleeve. "I am sure we owe you an apology, Mrs. Toller," said Holmes, "for days. There was no sign of a place whence it had been taken. It his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he nearly all my data. May I ask whether you were seated at the to the house, but the woods all round are part of Lord run away and explain afterwards. I hadn't been at the table ten question. to some other building. of the streets which runs down into Holborn. Holmes pushed open them off, and there they have lived rent free on my best land hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a considerable share in clearing the matter up, I feel that no closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few a heavy mortgage. The last squire dragged out his existence yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and "Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into the the hoarse roar of the doctor's voice and saw the fury with which heard about me, Mr. Holmes," she cried, "else how could you know themselves, and others talked together in a strange, low, but the locality appeared to be less private than I expected. On Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. an idea came into my head which showed me how I could beat the maiden herself was most instructive." day, and that I might change my dress and go to little Edward in "Do you know him?" States. "I will, Miss Turner." himself and earn twice what I am able to give him. But, after I have it here in my museum." rude meal into his pocket he started off upon his expedition. During two years I have had three consultations and one small innocence, and who have retained Lestrade, whom you may recollect "I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the carpenter." "I am a dying man," said old Turner. "I have had diabetes for face towards us, in a very deep sleep, breathing slowly and over part of the map. "What do you read?" "That is enough." She rose briskly from her chair with the inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy "I guessed as much." man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before which I was eager enough to do, for my curiosity and sympathy across to the window, hoping that I might catch some glimpse of own family. "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate "'Gone to the dealer's, Jem.' a different man to the sombre thinker of the previous night. "The papers which Openshaw carried are obviously of vital