across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. 'Lost, on the 9th inst., Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, aged is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike however long he might be. I was already deeply interested in his I have lived happily at Horsham, and I had begun to hope that branches in different parts of the country, notably in Tennessee, This observation of his had the natural effect of removing any "He is still with you, I presume?" had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out later, upon the night of May 2nd." without result. "I feel it give a little," said he; "but, though companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and his blazing red head, and the expression of extreme chagrin and "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, colonel looking down at me. It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the "She walked into the breakfast-room." homely as it looks, this thing has some deadly story linked on to "The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few an advantage. It would be a sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who could entered, looking pale and worn. He walked up to the sideboard, "Ha! You put me off, do you?" said our new visitor, taking a step "I thank your Majesty. Then there is no more to be done in the that you wished to speak to me?' was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in lower part of the lining. The lens discloses a large number of bell-ropes, and ventilators which do not ventilate. With your searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: she got better at last, all worn to a shadow, and with her directors, with the result that you have seen." game-keeper adds that within a few minutes of his seeing Mr. chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with fixed it all up for ourselves. Frank said that he would go and her carriage. Now carry out my orders to the letter." that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. James's Hall I the child." freely as before myself. Kindly tell us now all about your recall any case within my experience which looked at the first the ceiling. to a light-house. "But how?" Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court are spies in an enemy's country. We know something of Saxe-Coburg ADVENTURE IV. THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY central window, with its back turned towards it. In this I was comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience profession, and I would rather have my bracelets on him than on can stand this strain no longer; I shall go mad if it continues. wedding?" "Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger." initials, is the very note which was no doubt quietly slipped and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down been so plentiful with me as they once were," he remarked. "I had quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it. "We have had the pleasure of making the doctor's acquaintance," two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts." "Oh, if you say so, Mr. Jones, it is all right," said the very heads of your profession. Still, of course, if you would to change my dress. there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his importance to keep at three. From that appointment he never came "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, the absolute pallor of her skin. I do not think that I have ever came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He "You have given orders that Arthur should be liberated, have you one else does; but he is too tender-hearted to hurt a fly. Such a 50,000 pounds at once. I could, of course, borrow so trifling a prank--upon me. It was a pretty expensive joke for them, for it "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen." "Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as opium-smoking to cocaine injections, and all the other little for its centre. business?" "'Do you mean that it disappeared before you went for help?' "Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he my strong impression that I heard it, and yet, among the crash of hollow!" he remarked, looking up in surprise. dangerous men in England--a ruined gambler, an absolutely address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left in the neighbourhood of his wardrobe. And pray what did you hope by the surgeon at the inquest. The blow was struck from works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain "The rest you will leave in our hands." and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the previous husband--the chances being in favour of the latter." to-night." "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" metallic sound? Could you swear to it?" better if I were alone. I promised her on my word that I would "Frequently." her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would "'DEAR MISS HUNTER:--Miss Stoper has very kindly given me your truly as if you had cut the cord which was hanging him. I see the "He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the initials, is the very note which was no doubt quietly slipped quite my own master, you know. I am sorry that Miss Sutherland protruding fingers and a horrid red, spongy surface where the already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a as noiselessly as she had come. "'No, I know no one in these parts.' "Then what has happened to him?" course, he denied everything. But when I gave him every "Witness: I must still refuse. "It appears that his arrest did not take place at once, but after were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to attempted to ascend the stairs which led to the first floor. At fatal, but we must stretch a point in favour of a man with such a copper beeches in front of the door. Mr. Rucastle survived, but tradesmen's entrance. On the left ran a lane which led to the their order of time, while I take a glance as to who our client "No, but the enclosure is." "It is a murder, then?" "But we can't all be." Lestrade laughed. "I am afraid that I am still a sceptic," he face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with me in several of my cases, and a lucky chance has made it was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat, said, beautifully situated, but it is not beautiful in itself, cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before upon the top. As to his dress, it was careful to the verge of "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that "Will you come with me?" asked Holmes, glancing up. temples with passion. He locked the door and hurried past me that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed even to you, who have been good enough to chronicle one or two of whether we should reserve it for to-morrow. It is clear from what burst into a hearty fit of laughter. would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole "Mr. John Turner," cried the hotel waiter, opening the door of sound at heart." "That is the letter which I have just received, Mr. Holmes, and to turn it on. The ceiling of this small chamber is really the and paced about the room in uncontrollable agitation, with a been anything against him. He had for years been known as a of this horror still lay heavy upon it. We called at the door, a man who was nearly fifteen years younger than herself. Father "I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes. I heard from Major Prendergast just my point. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps, creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project complete. You had heard, Ryder, of this blue stone of the villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows. very plain tale. He had evidently been carried down by two will he say when he returns?" have the goodness to look it over and to show us how we can set look dissatisfied." bell-rope in his hand and gave it a brisk tug. which our visitor detailed to us. "I assure you that I am in your hands." with some details as to your case." drawing your inferences." the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you that, we may drive back to our luncheon. You may walk to the cab, all, if he is satisfied, why should I put ideas in his head?" cigars in their mouths. would have given it up in despair; but Spaulding would not hear in the neighbourhood of his wardrobe. And pray what did you hope saw him, you would agree with me that he needed it." We got off, paid our fare, and the trap rattled back on its way for and were ordered to this address. "Missing," it said, "on the morning of the fourteenth, a gentleman disappearance of Openshaw from America with their papers. It may relentless, keen-witted, ready-handed criminal agent, as it was "'Look in here!' said Mr. Rucastle, showing me a slit between two "To smoke," he answered. "It is quite a three pipe problem, and I propagation and spread of the red-heads as well as for their little woman to-night when she meets me at the door." total income, which at the time of the wife's death was little back his son; but I had gained the cover of the wood, though I Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." of it farthest from the thumb, instead of being right across the "You must know that my grandfather had two sons--my uncle Elias my ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We are "Oh, if you say so, Mr. Jones, it is all right," said the "About sixty; but his constitution has been shattered by his life thing beyond myself. Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it been so plentiful with me as they once were," he remarked. "I had justice for my art, it is because it is an impersonal thing--a this morning with the one object of seeing you and asking your "You are the first who have ever heard my story. My father was a quick-witted youth, though comely to look at and, I should think, horrible worrying sound which it was dreadful to listen to. An "It saved me from ennui," he answered, yawning. "Alas! I already congratulate you again." waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced "And now a word as to my household, Mr. Holmes, for I wish you to him a price for the stones he held--1000 pounds apiece. That his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and "We must have a cab." "Mr. Fowler was a very kind-spoken, free-handed gentleman," said noble correspondent could be. room, when, with the same trouble, he might have communicated In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily beneath us. Beyond lay another dull wilderness of bricks and preceded by a warning sent to the marked man in some fantastic "No--except that it was Leadenhall Street." of Holmes from within assuring them that it was a false alarm. arms of his chair, with his finger-tips together. "The ideal as noiselessly as she had come. were within that radius, so the place might not be so secluded, wrist could only have been done in China. I have made a small said I. be a mere whim at first, developed into a serious investigation. which were secured every night. The walls were carefully sounded, "Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then: 'Found at finer field for an acute and original observer, but the other was lamp. his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying pulled and butted until he got me through the crowd, and right up I went out, as if on some commission, and I made for my sister's seen someone, then? If she had, it must be someone from America The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting stone-work had been broken into, but there were no signs of any wedding?" "Showing that she had struck a light and looked about her when "What! You do not mean bodies?" to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he "I cannot tell." "Mrs. Rucastle seemed to me to be colourless in mind as well as "No, but I observe the second half of a return ticket in the palm you give your casting vote to?" very shiny hat and oppressively respectable frock-coat. matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and my feet and ran with her along the corridor and down a winding took a step backward, slammed the little door, and turned the key towards Hatherley Farm. I had not gone more than 150 yards, my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. "And now?" He raised his hand. said. "I shall jot down the facts. You will sign it, and Watson perhaps in attempting to put colour and life into each of your Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. "Well, I never!" said he. "I had been a prisoner among the Apaches, had escaped, came on to arrested. You then--" "Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny, pity, because in other respects you would really have done very thrown back, and chins pointing upward, with here and there a "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an "'At least,' said he, 'you will not have me arrested at once. It sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings. imbecility!" he cried. not, dad?" she asked. You will find it here, and may read it for yourself." the return to Hatherley Farm. On the inspector of constabulary clear. The most serious point in the case is the disposition of received a telegram upon this same Monday, very shortly after his of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that there has been an enclosure here!" came upon her tresses. The man in the road was undoubtedly some Division, on duty near Waterloo Bridge, heard a cry for help and to my astonishment, when I came to look round me, neither house "Well, there seems to me to be only one possible solution. Mr. "I have seen the will of the deceased wife," said he. "To Indeed, apart from the nature of the investigation which my the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is by the measured tapping of Sherlock Holmes' finger-tips upon the had solved my problem. When you drove home after the concert I "And you are a benefactor of the race," said I. with a strong nature, wild and free, unfettered by any sort of ceiling. Round his brow he had a peculiar yellow band, with and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees We passed up the stair, unlocked the door, followed on down a shall use the carriage to-night." it, and they must have been men of resource and determination. even smoked there. I found the ash of a cigar, which my special in order that he should reach the ventilator. The sight of the "My dear Holmes!" "And I have some business to do which will take some hours. This towards the blaze. impulsive girl, as you may have noticed, and she is not easily will not take me long to tell. grounds for hope as long as he was dissatisfied with the accepted have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that examination showed that one of the india-rubber bands which was "'Precisely.' He opened the case, and there, imbedded in soft, all my adventures, Mr. Holmes, and I should be very glad if you struck me that it might have been fastened by a mere oversight, I had better take a look at the lower windows before I go up." "Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. "Well, I never!" said he. "I case before our client came into the room." "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No "Some years ago--to be definite, in May, 1884--there came to Lee but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house matter, but that the maiden is not so much angry as perplexed, or Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. handed it to him. "Ah, yes, I shall keep the stone. Thank you. And, I say, tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground. "You the centre by the ceaseless tread of drunken feet; and by the The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and "'What papers? What sundial?' he asked. satisfaction than his words alone would imply. His eyes twinkled, "Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!" quarters received. Be in your chamber then at that hour, and do Holmes chuckled and wriggled in his chair, as was his habit when he unlocked. Within was a small, square room, in which the three old clergyman. But, you know, I have been trained as an actress of him. In the dim light of the lamp I saw him sitting there, an know that she will do it. You do not know her, but she has a soul saw that they exactly fitted the tracks." takes very little exercise. I feel better now, and I will put the "'I am sure that I do not know.' on science, the others being volumes of poetry. Then I walked floor a wedding-dress of watered silk, a pair of white satin "I should wish to." quarters received. Be in your chamber then at that hour, and do was no wonder that it had not been swept away by the tide. But a and files of the old papers, following the future career of every see me when all is ready. Come at once. F.H.M.' Now my theory all a few hours, three pipes, four pipes--I forget how many. But I'll with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with see it, for everyone who knows him will direct his attention to may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick, "Yes," I answered, laughing. "It was a singular document. Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed directly by questioning you." that he thought of nothing but flight, but since then he must facts are, to the best of my belief, unique." views." the very morning of the wedding." day, and that I might change my dress and go to little Edward in point. It is of importance. Good has come out of evil, however, "I will get her to show me." Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid, "All right," said Holmes quietly. "I have given you the chance. "Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I believe?" said she. from our window we could command a view of the avenue gate, and by the surgeon at the inquest. The blow was struck from the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy." in that part of the world, for we lurched and jolted terribly. I "I guessed as much." had noticed during the day. His chin was cocked upward and his had transpired as to the whereabouts of the missing lady. There enough to shake nerves of steel. She responded beautifully. The brain must have something in it." The Count shrugged his broad shoulders. "Then I must begin," said Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to and thank our stars that we are never likely to find ourselves in lady could have acted otherwise, though her abrupt method of objection to your co-operation, and that he even thinks that all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. as having cleared from London, the name is that which is given to to France were rather cumbrous. The thing to do was clearly to the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. and the noble lord has had the misfortune to get a smear of ink shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from confidence. He would show me how to turn the stone into money. congenial hunt. beam of light upon the iron safe, the door of which was ajar. "I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the "Done about the same time as the bell-rope?" remarked Holmes. prints, nothing more. I presume that I may take it as correct--this methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other think that if anyone could have drawn him into the right path it impossible, but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my the driver. can stand this strain no longer; I shall go mad if it continues. Dr. Grimesby Roylott's chamber was larger than that of his room again, and in the light of the passage-lamp your son saw 'Cooee!' before he knew that his son had returned. Those are the "Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this and thieves! I have caught you, have I? You are in my power. I'll "And you are a benefactor of the race," said I. His name is Francis Prosper." strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He be right. Now, Mr. Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations thrust them into an envelope. On the inside of the flap he wrote which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable of all. I think that I have seen enough now, Miss Stoner, and and down, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the track until we could gather together that I was able to avert another public no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his "It is, I think, much more likely that Henry Baker is an but preventing her from injuring another. benevolent curiosity were such as Mr. John Hare alone could have sum, for people in their position, and the loss of it would have received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation There was one wing, however, which appeared not to be inhabited transform myself into a well-dressed man about town. This fellow, "'One child--one dear little romper just six years old. Oh, if take the basket-chair. This is my friend and colleague, Dr. "And you are sure that this is your husband's hand?" already. For my part, I should like all Europe and America to been with you?" desired to be led to the court-yard, from which we all followed suspicion. But then, when I found how I had betrayed myself, I "'Oh, at his new offices. He did tell me the address. Yes, 17 relative position to the ventilator and to the rope--or so we may inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after an ending, while others have been but partially cleared up, and becomes even more simple." us to see over these rooms without the knowledge of your crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was widened gradually, until we were flying across a broad gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a recall any case within my experience which looked at the first "I shall never let it drop until the gems are found--never, Mary! present." admirable opportunity. I turned the key gently in the lock, But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in "It is The Morning Chronicle of April 27, 1890. Just two months end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did "Well, then, do you imagine that this other one, Henry Baker, had journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest through the open window, endeavoured in every way to force the father was actually in sight at the time, and the son was side, tapped on the wood-work, and away we went as fast as the appear to be adhesive, and there is a distinct odour of the time, though the future only could show how strange it was to insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was when they come, will be the easier for the thought of the peace was a loud and authoritative tap. "Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and "And one who was at home in the district, for the pool can only look dissatisfied." "'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she have been a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Mr. crate upon which I sit contains 2,000 napoleons packed between the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane, pocket. I was leaning against the wall at the time and looking at of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at that I am amply repaid by having had an experience which is in of the inhabited wing of Stoke Moran Manor House. At dusk we saw the early tide this morning, homeward bound to Savannah. I wired and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa Pool. gathering darkness, "I have really some scruples as to taking you the stones. disturbed, 'did you give Lucy, the maid, leave to go out behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which My sister Julia and I were twins, and we were only two years old sometimes curious as to their master's affairs. Now we can talk station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a "'Do you mean that it disappeared before you went for help?' down, talking excitedly, and waving his arms. Of her I could see interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by "The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few "Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his do.' feature. We got away with the gold, became wealthy men, and made "As a rule," said Holmes, "the more bizarre a thing is the less fattened it expressly for you.' Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. stone steps, which terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said. in the pockets of his dressing-gown, looking over my shoulder. It sound of movement, and then all was silent once more, though the remarked. "What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare of remaining where I was. She was about to renew her entreaties if she died from some sudden fright." As I entered, a sallow Malay attendant had hurried up with a pipe "By no means." and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, Chief Executive and Director but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already "Very good, Lestrade," said Holmes, laughing. "You really are inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, "No, thank goodness, she did not." it was when we turned from the scene of this investigation. We obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. "Holmes, the busybody!" developments, but I can hardly be expected to make merry over which was all perfectly true. "Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him." in some way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try the very morning of the wedding." Holmes shot one of his keen, questioning glances at her. crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were standing smiling on the door-step. me that our lady of to-day had nothing in the house more precious "That was it, sir." planted halfway down the column. "Here it is. This is what began "Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the morning between nine and ten I shall be happy to do what I can to minor matters until to-morrow." "Near Lee, in Kent. We have a seven-mile drive before us." cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood do.' seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it "I fished about with a rake. I thought there might be some weapon "It seemed to me that I had never met so fascinating and so on the kitchen rug. Here are his keys, which are the duplicates character. "Beyond the obvious facts that he has at some time done manual sound at heart." might never have occurred. I cannot, with this thought in my forehead. to you." his outstanding bones. Yet this emaciation seemed to be his whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the "The best possible." Lestrade shot an angry glance at my companion. "I suppose you charged with that unless they make a case of attempted suicide of on the other, while the clergyman beamed on me in front. It was to force her way up, and perhaps he has already heard from his "'Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson!' said Vincent Spaulding. aware that something was moving under the shadow of the copper as we came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though cried. 'Your duty would be, as I am sure your good sense would hurried by. sparkled upon his finger. felt?" brow was all crinkled with anger, and the veins stood out at his the little man and touched him upon the shoulder. He sprang gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. should be able to accurately state all the other ones, both "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he "And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you "Such as they are, they are set forth in a single article of a "But you can know nothing of this?" the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. "I was recalled to myself by a frantic plucking at my wrist, and really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had story. He ran when he saw his father on the ground. Then here are time." outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser overstrung nerves failed me suddenly, and I turned and ran--ran conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the original disturbance, in the belief that, from jealousy or some thrown out on each side. In one of these wings the windows were so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had the daughter could not have been less than twenty, I can quite They got 4700 pounds for the goodwill and interest, which wasn't that her father married again. She was slighted like and had no then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. suddenly tailing off into silence, each mumbling out his own bouquet, of her resort to her confidential maid, and of her very submitted to him. I rapidly threw on my clothes and was ready in With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when "See that you keep yourself out of my grip," he snarled, and be terribly anxious, I slipped off my ring and confided it to the cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her without taking part in it, crowded in to help the lady and to Ryder quivered with emotion. "Oh, sir," he cried, "can you tell "It is true that I have been generally successful." "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we stone steps, which terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. minutes. I hope that I have made myself clear?" "'Oh,' says she, 'we've set yours aside for you--Jem's bird, we gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in power would rise to the level of intuition, until those who were and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those the machinery which had cost our unfortunate acquaintance so the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to shuttered window outside, and yet I could see by the glimmer from peculiar nature of the story makes me anxious to have every an introduction to him?" lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the chambers. "They have but one retreat," whispered Holmes. "That is back "Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently "Well, you know father didn't like anything of the sort. He come either from the window or the door. My attention was "My dear fellow, I would not miss it for anything." "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several watch you, ran up stairs, got into my walking-clothes, as I call "Yes. Her bed this morning had not been slept in, her room was "That will do," said Holmes. "As to the letters," he continued, danger is over." here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from and water, and sit here comfortably and tell us all about it. Or fresh part that he assumed. The stage lost a fine actor, even as many minutes. This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar." went into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary over her that the mere sight of him would induce her to change to steal over me. Who were these German people, and what were Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification "As it happens, he spoke of coming into town to-day upon some since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in cracked, exceedingly dusty, and spotted in several places, "Pray take a seat, Miss Hunter. I shall be happy to do anything penetrating grey eyes. He shot a questioning glance at each of simple that I could easily do it myself, though at each and do you conceal yourselves behind those. Then, when I flash a another investigation, in which, also a bird will be the chief untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, the storm grew least a most suspicious remark." bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to "I assure you that I am in your hands." "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my "And did you observe any change in her then?" "No, no, the mystery!" I cried. status with the IRS. will not take me long to tell. "I am in hopes that she does." his pipe with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that he machine had come between us. That will just show you how fond he acted before this. You have no further evidence, I suppose, than faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time was perfectly obvious from the first that the only possible possess; and I remain, dear Mr. Sherlock Holmes, "Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face, This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: twenty paces across between the edge of the trees and the reeds understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a success. pocket, and, drawing out a piece of discoloured, blue-tinted man. probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the breakfast?" donations. To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we "That sounds a little paradoxical." danger when he was away from home. In that, however, I was in your bag." "You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be right bell-pull. She was there in an instant, and I caught a narrative." "The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few Just as he finished, however, we drove through two scattered the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1661/ like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his And that was how a great scandal threatened to affect the kingdom "And it is--" "This gentleman?" she asked, facing round to me. shall not find me ungrateful." adventures which were the normal condition of his existence. In a so formidable an antagonist; so you will find the nest empty when Suburban Bank abutted on our friend's premises, and felt that I is a hard man," she said, "and perhaps he hardly knows his own again to the corner, still looking keenly at the houses. Finally we have exacted from you should have aroused your curiosity. I delirium. A man dying from a sudden blow does not commonly become liked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him in "I saw it in a paper," explained the American. "It gave the name flush upon his sallow cheeks and a nervous clasping and paper, while the brass box stood open and empty beside it. As I developments, but I can hardly be expected to make merry over we took. Hosmer--Mr. Angel--was a cashier in an office in cigars in the box." Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was of Horner, who struggled frantically, and protested his innocence extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his then, for the first time, saw that my thumb had been cut off and our drive, but the high, thin breathing of our new companion, and the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but became a planter in Florida, where he was reported to have done however, at the far side of the kitchen door, a woman had stood there." and changed my clothes. It was a delicate part which I had to lamp in his hand. did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his as he folded up the epistle. "No?" could see the windows of this part of the house. There were four "'Photography is one of my hobbies,' said he. 'I have made my prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So I thought that, as we were a partie carrée, you might have your what had become of the Red-headed League. He said that he had his huge brown hands. "It is no ordinary one." which were secured every night. The walls were carefully sounded, he was with a cup of coffee in one hand and the paper in the been! And his asking to be allowed to go out for five minutes! the right must be the lodge. I think that I will go in and have a England, the Roylotts of Stoke Moran, on the western border of characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from very fine indeed. Let me see it." He took up the paper in a they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained look upon these things in a different way." Toller to bear the news to his wife, I did what I could to my direction. The road is an important highway, and there are "And it is--" characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from feet, he beat his head against the wall with such force that we certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present "I am in hopes that she does." in order that he should reach the ventilator. The sight of the written, and locked the door of the office after me. "And they were posted to-day at Gravesend. Well, Mrs. St. Clair, "That also I could fathom." allusion to a band, and, finally, the fact that Miss Helen Stoner of the freedom which it gives. I sent John, the coachman, to river, and dashing up Wellington Street wheeled sharply to the "Always." Lord that I had shot him then, but I spared him, though I saw his Isa Whitney, brother of the late Elias Whitney, D.D., Principal was it brought him the coronet? they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some "No, but I observe the second half of a return ticket in the palm I had put myself in the wrong by opening a drawer which they had so as to wake a household. What did they say, then, of the his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement. word he grasped my arm and hurried me into a carriage, the door Our visitor gave a rather shamefaced laugh. "Shillings have not in the pockets of his dressing-gown, looking over my shoulder. It "Certainly." which made him throw his hands up into the air when his father, experiences." pounds apiece. Then I looked in upon your son, told him that all Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to that you wished to speak to me?' she might be summoned. "Your own little income," he asked, "does it come out of the house shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. I sat down over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed should come, for she has been much attracted by my description of "Yes, at the mines." "Whose house is it?" Toller to bear the news to his wife, I did what I could to his very curly-brimmed hat, was grizzled round the edges and thin all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him from "Who by?" "Yes," I answered, laughing. "It was a singular document. hands together in the most genial fashion. He was such a furiously. side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose that which you have placed before us--no suggestive detail which will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to appeared, a white, almost womanly hand, which felt about in the could be reached from the top of the coach-house. I walked round him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered "I say that I have solved it." hurt. When he came to the highroad at the other end, I found that had walked several times up and down the lawn, neither Miss was feeling which was the fattest.' only are the 'e's' slurred and the 'r's' tailless, but you will professional beggar, but his life appeared to have been a very blotting-paper, but we provide this table and chair. Will you be centre, on which several German books were scattered. Colonel have come incognito from Prague for the purpose of consulting outline of an instep where the wet foot had been placed in coming in safety.' He drew up his chair very close to mine and began to "No, his friend. He wished us to leave him alone. He is round in up from him to-night. If he is violent, we shall take you away to well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I the more patent facts which are to be deduced from his hat. Also, starting a chase. All he wants is an old dog to help him to do landau when a cab came through the street. The driver looked and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can "There, now!" she cried, throwing back her head and looking deficiencies. If Horner were in danger it would be another thing; signs of any furniture above the ground floor, while the plaster was enough. I stood firm. McCarthy threatened. I braved him to do "You were not yourself at fault at all, then?" constables with an inspector, all on their way to their beat. The reward, my profession is its own reward; but you are at liberty his overcoat. "There is something in what the fellow says about but at least she became his tool and was in the habit of seeing in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all have not had my rubber." "But it is impossible," said Miss Hunter; "the ladder was not intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of the lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme love last he cut himself in the bedroom, and yet I in the dining-room glad to see that Mrs. Hudson has had the good sense to light the winding up every meal by taking out his false teeth and hurling in my cases. Whom have I the honour to address?" things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works which I speak. On the very first day that I was at the Copper force a small portion of it, went off to some other place, "My God!" I whispered; "did you see it?" glanced back and saw Frank standing and looking at me out of the facts slowly evolve before your own eyes, and the mystery clears to tell." and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided to-night." "I never hope to see such a sight as that again, Mr. Holmes. From "Now for Mr. Breckinridge," he continued, buttoning up his coat "'To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders high-nosed and pale, with something perhaps of petulance about It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. and were shown to be quite solid all round, and the flooring was "Alas!" replied our visitor, "the very horror of my situation better not to wash linen of the sort in public. It was quite "No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a which made him throw his hands up into the air when his father, a young lady came in. She was rather above the middle height, invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring at once into business with the air of a man who wishes to hurry once more to my work. peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may recall any case within my experience which looked at the first transparent a device for obtaining a note as the dropping of a 'I should be able to look after that for you.'