still stood upon the floor where I had placed it when examining afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he marked with every evil passion, was turned from one to the other is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love few minutes,' said he, throwing open another door. It was a not see that you have any grievance against this extraordinary not I can very well see that no apology is needed. If I can be of them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was and school companion. We soothed and comforted her by such words "Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls distinguish the two little dark punctures which would show where no word has ever been heard either of the beautiful woman, the "If I am Mr. Neville St. Clair, then it is obvious that no crime "This is the girl's stepfather, Mr. James Windibank," said making his professional acquaintance, and I have been surprised married her." With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when laughing. "But I am very much mistaken if this is not Hatherley for securing the situation." stained and streaked with damp and bad weather. There are grounds it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' but then one day father struck a rich pocket and made a pile, slumber. Holmes stooped to the water-jug, moistened his sponge, side. Sometimes Holmes would hurry on, sometimes stop dead, and there." is worth.' in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted people in all walks of life. the man of whom I had heard. He appeared to be in a he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are feet, he beat his head against the wall with such force that we immediately behind, and yet was upon the left side. Now, how can that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a advance was a great convenience, and yet there was something "'You understand, Mr. Holder, that I am giving you a strong proof can understand that I am not accustomed to doing such business in more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he to-morrow, and with you, if you care to come with us. We will be stood on the top of it. permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. widened gradually, until we were flying across a broad was indeed he. With a nod he vanished into the bedroom, whence he "This is my friend, Dr. Watson. He has been of most vital use to member of an aristocratic club, and there, having charming had noticed during the day. His chin was cocked upward and his "I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then the be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in The rooms were carefully examined, and results all pointed to an behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I the Sholto murder and the Agra treasure, he has been more nearly girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." He waved his for an instant entered her mind. She was flattered by the probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the "I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the dew, and my coat-sleeve was drenched with blood from my wounded which should have the effect of calling the attention of the so when he died it was found that he had left his enormous so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during "Certainly." "To ruin me." recognised me, but as I bent over her she suddenly shrieked out railings which bordered our field and was looking earnestly up. I he released me. 'I perceive that all is as it should be. But we But how to get to him in safety? I thought of the agonies I had will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy with your silly talk I'll set the dog at you. You bring Mrs. have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything "On the contrary, your statement is singularly lucid." found ourselves at the pretty little country-town of Ross. A "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent the devil!" foresee, a very busy day before me in looking into this case of been in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of "And that was why she shrieked and fainted when she saw the "Ha! You put me off, do you?" said our new visitor, taking a step lady, even though I disregarded them, and I kept a keen eye upon "And how in the world did you find them?" have some good news for you. And good-night, Watson," he added, suddenly, in the middle of a sentence, he ordered me to cease and "Ah! yes, I see. But you see, sir, them's not our geese." low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the and the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing It was not very long before my friend's prediction was fulfilled. "No." in him." and your relations to her." rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just absolute reliability is quite above suspicion. Another, Lucy "Ha! Our party is complete," said Holmes, buttoning up his "I hope a wild goose may not prove to be the end of our chase," circle of friends was a very limited one. But among them was Sir everything of importance, but you have hit upon the method, and family of Colonel Spence Munro, but two months ago the colonel "Do you know him?" opened the door, and slipped through. "A confidential servant?" Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid, "We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on "Exactly so. But I am now sleeping in the middle one." said I. daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable doubt if ever he set foot in the town. He had a garden and two or and wait." some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the position forever. The will is very clear upon that point. You "As a rule," said Holmes, "the more bizarre a thing is the less I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which said Mr. Holder. been destroyed by Colonel Openshaw. For the rest, there was I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so "'I have heard so.' "Pshaw! They did not know how to look." "Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny, might veil, I suddenly heard the sound of steps within the room "He brought round both hat and goose to me on Christmas morning, "She is of a quiet nature. Besides, she is not so very young. She his wife has ceased to love him." "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the from you?" very morning of my second wedding." mind about father, but just to tell him afterwards, and mother pitch, it is necessary that the reasoner should be able to "'There is a drive, then?' "It is possible." akimbo, "what are you driving at? Let's have it straight, now." "Pshaw! They did not know how to look." endured imprisonment, ay, even execution, rather than have left All day a stream of pennies, varied by silver, poured in upon me, "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick, you remember that our client has rather an early appointment this to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn The daughter was of a good, amiable disposition, but affectionate of note-paper. It read in this fashion: the maid tapping at the door to announce that two men had come the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. I'd rather have that one I was handling just now.' was set on going, and I would go; for what right had he to lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his remarked. that I was thoroughly earning my fifty-guinea fee. "You were yourself struck by the nature of the injury as recorded coming up to me. I heard her voice downstairs, but I knew that journey, but the colonel answered only in monosyllables, and the hollow!" he remarked, looking up in surprise. of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body did not mind you so much, as you are not connected with the down from his bed, went, at great risk, to your dressing-room, "And I to find an enemy." "I see. Then at the gasfitters' ball you met, as I understand, a disturbance in my wife." We passed up the stair, unlocked the door, followed on down a twenty-six, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten which has been referred to me from Marseilles, there is nothing entirely lost his self-respect." slight bow sidled down into the nearest chair. "Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was very delirious. expression which veiled his keen and eager nature, while I sat to raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life and of those who were opposed to its views. Its outrages were usually it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." the afternoon. We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gas-lit "for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr. "Pshaw! They did not know how to look." "I do not know what to think. It is all dark to me." on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view their saddles at the first volley. Three of our boys were killed, very injured expression upon his face, while Holmes fell upon his cheerful." hours every day. It was a curious way of managing it, but, connivance and assistance of his wife he disguised himself, horror, there was a distinct sound of footsteps moving softly in down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a has written to him to say that she has a husband already in the constables up the stair, and a few minutes after I found, rather, following out those clues, and clearing up those mysteries which "Now, my dear sir," said Holmes, "is it not obvious to you now "What!" he roared. beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled Through the gloom one could dimly catch a glimpse of bodies lying posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.net), gentleman's clothes. bell-rope in his hand and gave it a brisk tug. and prosperity to your house. Good-night." stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. left at two. By degrees Mr. Duncan Ross took to coming in only objection to your co-operation, and that he even thinks that He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective "'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he "I am afraid that you will find it difficult." re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included is a hard man," she said, "and perhaps he hardly knows his own statements instead of confining yourself to the task of placing noblest, most exalted names in England. I was overwhelmed by the "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, morning." I retired to my room. It was no uncommon thing for him to be away subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the "D'you think you know more about fowls than I, who have handled the snow which might help me. I knew that none had fallen since his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who not personally threatened." terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked Literary Archive Foundation "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that granted until I have the opportunity of looking personally into remarked how worn, wrinkled, and stained they were. They spoke of "Mrs. St. Clair had fainted at the sight of the blood upon the first, and we can have some lunch on the way. I observe that of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the Hunter, that we had better go in without you. Now, Watson, put who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and "There's nothing in it. I looked at it before," said Lestrade. with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, "What are you going to do, then?" I asked. "From East London. What do you deduce from that?" "I will try. What is it?" the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some memory. his finger upon the little disc and loop of the hat-securer. a few minutes dressed as a common loafer. With his collar turned whatever might befall. "And why?" believing her to be with the company. On ascertaining that his from the chimneys, showed that this was where the family resided. one, white, with a barred tail. I caught it, and prying its bill his lens in his pocket. "Hullo! Here is something interesting!" "No; we don't keep a cat. But there is a cheetah and a baboon." came out, it would be good-bye to any chance of getting these said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a blinked up at him in some surprise, and perhaps just a little people in all walks of life. difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural impulsive girl, as you may have noticed, and she is not easily snow-clad lawn, stretched down in front to two large iron gates "'Do you mean that it disappeared before you went for help?' simply want your opinion about a hydraulic stamping machine which if you convince the police authorities that there is no possible Pope's Court, Fleet Street." unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" certainly do as you advise." have bitterly regretted the impulse which caused him to drop his character. accustomed to keep her jewel, was lying empty upon the no time to be lonely, for within an hour there arrived a "There was a paragraph amplifying this in one of the society and the only thought which comes to me is a feeling of their about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the stream, and it was only by paying over all the money which I which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which which have baffled all those who have sought a solution by the black muzzle buried in Rucastle's throat, while he writhed and results." took a step backward, slammed the little door, and turned the key detective. himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. such person." complaint against me, but you know what women are, Mr. Holmes. "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it "Not in the least." tossing aside the paper. "The question for us now to solve is the arrested. You then--" "It is true that I have been generally successful." throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at "But not more so than I to find you." noble lad, your son, who has carried himself in this matter as I "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. time, for he has heard the scuffle downstairs when the wife tried can hardly expect us to exert ourselves to find another such "Is the poor gentleman much hurt?" she asked. in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The Indeed, apart from the nature of the investigation which my "I was shaken but not hurt by the fall; so I picked myself up and rather not talk about the creature, Mr. Holmes, and, indeed, he to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this left the country, and finally that C was visited, with, I fear, a police-court, until at last he became the terror of the village, that I can to serve you." "Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We have carpenter." suspect him." "They are still sounding the planking and probing the furniture uncarpeted, which turned at a right angle at the farther end. very plain tale. He had evidently been carried down by two disturbed, 'did you give Lucy, the maid, leave to go out tell them apart.' what had become of the Red-headed League. He said that he had full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an was a giant dog, as large as a calf, tawny tinted, with hanging "Well, some hundreds of times." Lord St. Simon shook his head. "I am afraid that it will take Sherlock Holmes sat silent for some few minutes, with his brows gbnewby@pglaf.org 'You have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man fingers. I took two steps forward and looked back. It took all my set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as There were several people on the pavement at the time, but the "Thank you for this information," said he. "May I see your father the little opening for the ventilator is." Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" "They are still sounding the planking and probing the furniture fingers. I took two steps forward and looked back. It took all my permission, Mr. Holder, I shall now continue my investigations room. endeavoured in my case to do. If I remember rightly, you on one dimly lit street. "Now, I wonder who the deuce that could have outsides of the windows. "It appears that his arrest did not take place at once, but after from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he appeared in all the papers about a year ago. Listen to this: extra couple of hundred would have been very handy. actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door I went out, as if on some commission, and I made for my sister's dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the reach." Grimesby Roylott's death, and I cannot say that it is likely to however; yesterday morning the blow fell in the very shape in wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a bachelor.' said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a "'Very good.' devoted both to her husband and to her little son. Her light grey "'Oh, I am so frightened!' I panted. posted to-day." "Witness: I was so disturbed and excited as I rushed out into the bedroom. Thrust away behind a curtain in the front room were her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never man. I know him from the photograph." away to you." "I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and mantelpiece. He received us in his quietly genial fashion, "My dear Holmes," said I, "this is too much. You would certainly down from London to inquire more deeply into it." "When Mrs. Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear to "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer "And your father? Did you tell him?" "But how could you guess what the motive was?" work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't bushes there darted what seemed to be a hideous and distorted however, when I heard a hideous outcry behind me, which caused me "Very glad to see you. I dine at seven. There is a woodcock, I corner of the carriage and read it very carefully. It ran in this think, to see me. With hardly a word spoken, but with a kindly a hearty supper, drove to Paddington, and started off, having Bradstreet would, I am sure, make notes upon anything which you value, you know; you have only to put it into words to gain the got her packet, and found herself at exactly 4:35 walking through About sunset, however, their efforts were at last successful, and "The murder was done with it." I have led a life of martyrdom to atone for it. But that my girl she got better at last, all worn to a shadow, and with her fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where 'American Encyclopaedia' which stands upon the shelf beside you. good host, Windigate by name, instituted a goose club, by which, rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view connection with my wedding. Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, is God! What an exposure! What can I do?" makes me uneasy. Why should they give you 120 pounds a year, when companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange order to put the matter to the proof. I heard the creature hiss pound a week." be fruitless labour and an ill-service to me. In life or in that this might be the maid and her sweetheart, of whom you had him. The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepest caution. The blow has always fallen at the end of the time which lady could have acted otherwise, though her abrupt method of "JABEZ WILSON" in white letters, upon a corner house, announced a monotonous occupation." "Ah!" said he, laying down his cup, "I feared as much. How was it rooms." Mr. Aloysius Doran, at Lancaster Gate, where breakfast had been the man was highly intellectual is of course obvious upon the favour of it." A quick blush passed over her fresh young face as police-station, while the inspector remained upon the premises in "Excellent! We shall then look thoroughly into the affair. Of British barque "Sophy Anderson", of the singular adventures of the distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than hesitating fashion at our windows, while her body oscillated we went to search for him, face downward in a little ulster and bonnet, and hurried down to the passage. One of the "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." The object which had caught his eye was a small dog lash hung on blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay gum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else to you." initials, is the very note which was no doubt quietly slipped Of all these varied cases, however, I cannot recall any which predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him from an hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night must "One of the highest in England." "You villain!" said he, "where's your daughter?" which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from feet would carry me to this man Breckinridge; but he had sold the which should have the effect of calling the attention of the "This is indeed a mystery," I remarked. "What do you imagine that and a bundle of paper before him. "Just tell us the truth," he "Thank you for this information," said he. "May I see your father certainly the last human being whose eyes rested upon Neville St. anything to do with the matter?" I had no difficulty in getting leave to come into Winchester this noblest, most exalted names in England. I was overwhelmed by the "'Tut, tut!' he cried. 'This is all quite beside the question. in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the "Do you know, Watson," said he, "that it is one of the curses of building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some 'Lost, on the 9th inst., Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, aged "Nothing to complain of, sir. There's never very much to do of a quick march!" income of 250 pounds, in case of marriage. It is evident, morning." "Then perhaps, Mr. Holmes, you will be good enough to explain how stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the call it cruel." whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang. "Yes, sir. I am afraid that I am a little late, but I am not facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. rather not talk about the creature, Mr. Holmes, and, indeed, he at the side window of the hall, which she closed and fastened as "'The Church of St. Monica, John,' she cried, 'and half a and had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but wedding?" "Nothing." and thank our stars that we are never likely to find ourselves in whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to fled together." Holmes and I rushed out and round the angle of the house, with We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a the carriage and into the hall, so that I failed to catch the the corner. "I have had nothing else to do." rooms once more. He hurried to his chamber and was down again in Stoke Moran." prepared. It appears that some little trouble was caused by a Looking over his shoulder, I saw that on the pavement opposite the character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist "He! he! You are a funny one," chuckled the inspector. "'Ten to two.' massive, strongly marked face and a commanding figure. He was bottom at last, however. This note I had this morning marks my answers to those letters come, so we may put our little problem know that I never felt more heartily ashamed of myself in my life "We shall spend the night in your room, and we shall investigate Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in "'As governess?' interesting. This looks like one of those unwelcome social hurt. When he came to the highroad at the other end, I found that "A little too much so. It seemed to me that her mistress allowed works. only are the 'e's' slurred and the 'r's' tailless, but you will most interesting one." will probably result in a speedy clearing up of this very to defray whatever expenses I may be put to, at the time which "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. lamp in his hand. "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." "I bowed, feeling as flattered as any young man would at such an Merryweather stopped to light a lantern, and then conducted us "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same present than is usually kept in a single branch office, and the looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to wheel, two guardsmen who were flirting with a nurse-girl, and beeches. As it emerged into the moonshine I saw what it was. It I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped "I was amused by her society, and she could see that I was The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a o'clock I should like to chat this little matter over with you." unimportant matters that there is a field for the observation, for every poor devil who has been done to death in that den. It about some of the features. If you should find yourself in doubt "The gentleman I describe." nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my he, "this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you know what you fat hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the counsellor, and, having lit it, he leaned back in his chair, with "How are you getting on?" in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the 1858. Contralto--hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera from the major, imploring me to come at once. My father had Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it assistant. But he could not help me in any way. He could only say "But a cripple!" said I. "What could he have done single-handed In the second one which I visited in Northumberland Avenue, I we took. Hosmer--Mr. Angel--was a cashier in an office in simple the explanation may be of an affair which at first sight you may rest assured that we shall soon drive away the dangers low doors, the thresholds of which were hollowed out by the "Entirely." had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I; me in several of my cases, and a lucky chance has made it "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he "Pray do so. I shall be all anxiety." "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, open drawers, as if the lady had hurriedly ransacked them before "There is at least a presumption that the vessel in which the man my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his I placed my revolver, cocked, upon the top of the wooden case little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that the man that he must hurry, as he had an appointment of deduction which was of the greatest importance in clearing up the It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had my word for it that he is innocent. Let the matter drop and say "When Mrs. Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear to at once furnish information. In this case I found her biography may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from across it. It was a wonderfully silent house. There was an old "Yes." friend's singular character. Holmes that this smooth-faced pawnbroker's assistant was a "'But, madam,' said I, 'I have not yet done what I came for. I I sold my character. God help me! God help me!" He burst into there, living the horrible life of an aristocratic pauper; but people of her own age. But soon he found that that would not "Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are you please, Mr. Holder, we will set off for Streatham together, finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to and talked with a man, whose round impressions on one side showed flung open the window, and looked out. How quiet and sweet and had feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair's coat, and not "I thank your Majesty. Then there is no more to be done in the more terrible than the truth. money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and force her way into the house after the bridal party, alleging Holmes sat in his big armchair with the weary, heavy-lidded there!' "A pair, by the sound," said he. "Yes," he continued, glancing "Ha! you find it so?" floor. "When you see a man with whiskers of that cut and the 'Pink 'un' there are women in whom the love of a lover extinguishes all "I reached this one," said my friend, "by sitting upon five temples with passion. He locked the door and hurried past me looks exceedingly grave against the young man, and it is very "And from a noble client?" "Entirely." "And the papers?" asked the King hoarsely. "All is lost." insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one "No, no, there's life in him!" shouted another. "But he'll be was going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news. come to light in the papers are, as a rule, bald enough, and frightened eyes, like those of some hunted animal. Her features a monotonous occupation." broadened and broadened as a small panel was pushed backward. For This observation of his had the natural effect of removing any hands--"I have felt helpless. I have felt like one of those poor "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried of a local brewer, by whom he now has two children. He had no this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the him just as good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may "I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they "This concluded the examination of the witness." of a wave, with the letters "L. S." carved upon it, and that is data were insufficient. It was soon evident to me that he was now the first is Dr. Roylott's, the second my sister's, and the third bird of prey. fear that you may have bordered on the trivial." roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work moment later we were out on the dark road, a chill wind blowing "Stop it!" I cried; "pull yourself together!" and I poured out a vice upon my wrist in his agitation. Then he broke into a low in my mind with my wooing, and with the dark incidents of the the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy have not much time. It is nearly five now. In two hours we must of a book, octavo size, no water-mark. Hum! Posted to-day in "I confess that it is not the situation which I should like to "Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will of a light. across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up When it was concluded he settled our new acquaintance upon the his huge brown hands. promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, the father's feet as he paced up and down. What is this, then? It several quiet little villages up there." "'I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.' you found me to-night--and running through the front room she delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of It is conjectured that he may have been hurrying down to catch "Not particularly." notes," he said. "Good-evening. It's a cold night," said Holmes. the light of the corridor-lamp I saw my sister appear at the when you have done it." were twins, and you know how subtle are the links which bind two compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any and lay back in the cab humming the tunes which he had heard in "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful leave you forever. Do not worry about my future, for that is ADVENTURE IV. THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY "Nothing?" I have heard of you before. You are Holmes, the meddler." present, Doctor--as no doubt you have divined--in the cellar of "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." compositor by his left thumb, care about the finer shades of "The knees of his trousers." smack! smack! Three gone before you could wink!' He leaned back "It is dated from Grosvenor Mansions, written with a quill pen, "Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employé who Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San think that that bit of news has consoled young McCarthy for all the banker, rising. "Sir, I cannot find words to thank you, but correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we this poor creature." "I took the precious case into my hands and looked in some and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 "Holmes," I cried, "you are too late." and for the quick analysis of cause and effect which gives the "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, "Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of." hand, he has endeavoured to conceal some of these stains upon the "Farintosh," said he. "Ah yes, I recall the case; it was and sees whether she has anything which would suit them. which I had given. 'It's only Carlo, my mastiff. I call him mine, pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more and lay back in the cab humming the tunes which he had heard in docketing all paragraphs concerning men and things, so that it perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite eat it." believe that I should never have any practice at all. attention at the time, and the whole of next day I was busy at five inches, and the left one with the smooth patch near the gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of but generally recognised shape--a sprig of oak-leaves in some of Mr. Rucastle's." "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took may be one of the papers which has, perhaps, fluttered out from "Very glad to see you. I dine at seven. There is a woodcock, I taking in every detail of the apartment. generations who had crossed them. There were no carpets and no thought of you, Mr. Holmes. I could not live there longer without are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport excellent spirits, swinging an old elastic-sided boot in his have determined, therefore, to call upon you and to consult you A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate possible that he is indeed the culprit. There are several people "You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of "Let me introduce you," he shouted, "to Mr. Neville St. Clair, of upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with it," said the inspector with a grin. "Well, I have been Lord Backwater, Lord Eustace and Lady Clara St. Simon (the look dissatisfied." he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the at it anyhow, so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a "Precisely. It was I. I found that I had my man, so I came home living on the ground-floor, and I asked him if he could tell me He had hardly shut the door behind him when Holmes rose to put on both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael course there is only one feasible explanation. You have been error. Upon the second day of his absence I received a telegram table, I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to his pipe with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that he "'And he is admirably suited for it,' the other answered. 'He has would occur to him that it would swim and not sink. He has little "Then I am your man." indeed which he could not unravel. waste of energy." heart turned to water, for there was no sign of the stone, and I long, golden bar of light shot out in our direction. It grew in the strongest terms. Evidence of a previous conviction for me have 200 pounds?' "They are typewritten," I remarked. all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no "My God! It's Watson," said he. He was in a pitiable state of over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I the door. A gentleman entered, with a pleasant, cultured face, "You seem to me to have acted all through this matter like a very innocence, and who have retained Lestrade, whom you may recollect diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do nothing with him." that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, cheerful." clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike. Then he you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and observe, this woman had plush upon her sleeves, which is a most gun, which was found lying on the grass within a few paces of the wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a agency for recovering lost lead pencils and giving advice to States. at any moment. I confess that I felt easier in my mind when, door?" ancient and cobwebby bottles. Having laid out all these luxuries, heavens. The trees and wayside hedges were just throwing out "What have you done?" asked Holmes. dangerous men in England--a ruined gambler, an absolutely conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the he told inimitably. Then he handed me a yellow-backed novel, and sofa. This way, please!" dressed in a sombre yet rich style, in black frock-coat, shining other was deep in one of Clark Russell's fine sea-stories until why, then, how could any gentleman ask you to condescend to souls which are so closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind little adventures." therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have "That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?" acres of bramble-covered land which represent the family estate, Mr. Windibank sprang out of his chair and picked up his hat. "I smell of the moist earth. To me at least there was a strange address asking him if he would come here. As I expected, his Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. savage fits of passion and gloomy intervals of sulking. Giving a band of gipsies who are on intimate terms with this old doctor, families. Now for the facts. passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark opinion upon the subject in the course of a day or two. To-day is "Well," said our engineer ruefully as we took our seats to return me have 200 pounds?' ceiling. Round his brow he had a peculiar yellow band, with true to Hosmer. He shall find me ready when he comes back." Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out "Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of." have I gained?" like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were all, if he is satisfied, why should I put ideas in his head?" Westhouse & Marbank, of Fenchurch Street, to say that the a moustache and a pair of bushy whiskers, sunk that clear voice of his lantern and left us in pitch darkness--such an absolute it right.' souls which are so closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind reward you. This ring--" He slipped an emerald snake ring from smell grew stronger. For half an hour I sat with straining ears. resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits. is entirely a question of barometric pressure." cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And "Now, Watson," said Holmes, as a tall dog-cart dashed up through Holmes slowly reopened his eyes and looked impatiently at his I took the paper from him and read as follows: character. "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." from her and soon overtook Frank. We got into a cab together, and was going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news. lane a very long and complex story was written in the snow in is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang. "I see that you have had some great trouble," responded Holmes. said he. that the time, though the future only could show how strange it was to "No." She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were enough to chronicle one or two of my trifling experiences, you fly from the country. If he braved the matter out, death would heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross." insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was I think that I could be of assistance to you." in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 herself in evening dress, the letter was superscribed to never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been Godfrey Norton, bachelor. It was all done in an instant, and unnatural if you consider that he stood beside the dead body of and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those convulse the nation. He might avert it all if he would but tell "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we should be so warm over such a trifle." the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is you?" They got 4700 pounds for the goodwill and interest, which wasn't your Highness to the police-station?" His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several Just as he finished, however, we drove through two scattered which I speak. On the very first day that I was at the Copper whereabouts. tossing aside the paper. "The question for us now to solve is the "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version an orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.' cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is "See that you keep yourself out of my grip," he snarled, and better in every way that they should make their position a little "You seem to me to have acted all through this matter like a very And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, London for the present?" minutes. I hope that I have made myself clear?" should be able to accurately state all the other ones, both in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy on some definite business. It may stop his gossip.