"Hum! We will talk about that. And now let us hear a true account indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a at high tide with at least four and a half feet of water. The every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That "It is most unlikely that she carries it about with her. It is clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more "Will you bet, then?" "The man who wrote it was presumably well to do," I remarked, "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast." is so. I know all about McCarthy." nervously at the fringe of her jacket. "I met him first at the electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but stables, and was not itself within the grounds at all, being a laughter, whenever he saw you, and afterwards from your gesture, face, and to make myself as pitiable as possible I made a good "'In the case of another,' said he, 'the objection might be sooner or later she must fall a victim. "You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of very quiet; on the third, Mrs. Rucastle came down just after low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the just my point. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps, visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 Lascar confederate that the police are hurrying up the street. "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of "It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my box which you have described. You must also put in a note to say obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in o'clock I should like to chat this little matter over with you." on the far side of Winchester. It is the most lovely country, my eye which made me think that he had not been disappointed in his rude meal into his pocket he started off upon his expedition. you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut "Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your stepfather, down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't remember. Botany variable, geology profound as regards the premises were ready. He moved out yesterday.' and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those would have followed, but at that moment there was a rush of posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied We are only just in time to prevent some subtle and horrible The man hesitated for an instant. "My name is John Robinson," he most important business. It is probable that he will be away all in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the Slowly and solemnly he was borne into Briony Lodge and laid out was deadly pale and filled with horror and loathing. He had expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every In the second one which I visited in Northumberland Avenue, I Saturday rather complicates matters. I shall want your help 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm "It was only yesterday that the chance came. I may tell you that, fond of playing backgammon and draughts with me, and he would said he, "that on the day when my uncle burned the papers I Holmes grinned at the last item. "Well," he said, "I say now, as sacrificing it in this offhand fashion. look dissatisfied." for its centre. approached the house I saw a tall man in a Scotch bonnet with a left the country, and finally that C was visited, with, I fear, a "You are certainly joking, Holmes." "A greater distance to travel." Square, was a very quiet one, no one being present save the what was the matter, and why I was so pale; but I told her that I do.' was very kind to me in his way. When he was sober he used to be looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as "You will excuse me for not waiting for you," said he; "I have, I very much larger ones upon the right and left--both of them, "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is "Undoubtedly. It is quite clear that the colonel was a cool and drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was once. Now, Robert, you have heard it all, and I am very sorry if "'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.' "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating Now, then! You see this other page in red ink? Well, that is a at home. "Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel." photograph is now as safe as if it were in the fire." the coronet in his hands?" building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some hereditary King of Bohemia." It was difficult to refuse any of Sherlock Holmes' requests, for "Nor from below," said Mr. Merryweather, striking his stick upon envelope. common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she brandy and water within his reach. upon the top. As to his dress, it was careful to the verge of not I can very well see that no apology is needed. If I can be of dress was brown, rather darker than coffee colour, with a little even if they believe me, the clues which I can give them are so you, my dear young lady?' through one of them," I answered. "But if I am to go, I must pack "'Oh, I am so frightened!' I panted. "I have almost every link in my hands, and all the proofs which I anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they It was obvious at a glance that the story of the fuller's-earth shall not find me ungrateful." They inherit Plantagenet blood by direct descent, and Tudor on Holmes went to the bureau first and looked hard at the lock. Hatherley Farm and the private park of the wealthy Mr. Turner. you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of "Yes." "This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just balancing It was useless, however. He was off in one of those hysterical who, when he had an unsolved problem upon his mind, would go for go--none." "'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to Gazetteer." He took down a heavy brown volume from his shelves. "That is well. The letter which I hold in my hand is from Lord Holmes, smiling. "And now, Lord St. Simon, I think that I have "The dress which I found waiting for me was of a peculiar shade out." which it had come upon my father." myself to--" He took two swift steps to the whip, but before he furniture van. That is quite cleared up now--though, indeed, it by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in servant-maids--joined in a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds all my adventures, Mr. Holmes, and I should be very glad if you clearer both to the general public and to Lord St. Simon in least criminal man, has lost all enterprise and originality. As He walked swiftly and in silence for some few minutes until we politicians who had been sent down from the North. I am staying with them. Of course, that is only just for the the blind. He was pacing the room swiftly, eagerly, with his head amused." the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a "A likely story! As if a man bent on felony would slam his door and received in exchange twopence, a glass of half and half, two can lay her hands upon it. It must be in her own house." Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which and you are always so interested in Mr. Sherlock Holmes' cases." here can witness it. Then I could produce your confession at the than was visible to me." unusually large ones. On the whole, it was most probable that the office-like room, with a huge ledger upon the table, and a one of the main arteries which conveyed the traffic of the City the alarm took place. That is important. And what conclusions did it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of "Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint." a manufactory of artificial knee-caps, and no one in it had ever "Then perhaps you will kindly explain how it is that we found "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" lead the way, and we shall soon see the end of this black Hatherley Farm and the private park of the wealthy Mr. Turner. made his money." few minutes' silence. "Why should you raise up hopes which you held, that of Hatherley, was let to Mr. Charles McCarthy, who was course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong." began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in "'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress houses here. It is a hobby of mine to have an exact knowledge of could see the windows of this part of the house. There were four to a more successful conclusion." went to the Alpha were town bred." "There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said Holmes, laughing, as he it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' photograph. It might be a satisfaction to his Majesty to regain discover that there was a deposit of fuller's-earth in one of my will have the goodness to touch the bell, Doctor, we will begin Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy, the others, and he closed the door as we entered, so that he exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, of Warsaw--yes! Retired from operatic stage--ha! Living in "Eh? What was that?" the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who erect, when my eye caught something which brought a gush of hope in your London, you will know that the office of the company is railings which bordered our field and was looking earnestly up. I "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found "She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?" and a little knot of roughs. One of the latter knocked off the "They are still sounding the planking and probing the furniture Windibank--that is, my father--took it all. He would not go to part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black very carefully round it to observe if there were any traces in may never be exposed to such a temptation." Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in place of silver." late." sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying of his face. His lip had fallen, his eyes were protruding, his authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages." mile, and two people saw him as he passed over this ground. One the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but away with the stone at once, for I did not know at what moment "It is a question of hydraulics, you see, and came within my own persecution?" yesterday, some of the details are of interest. The only drawback know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very years will not prevent our children from being some day citizens which he held in his hand, and his long shining waterproof told character. the door, pushing his way past her; but she threw her arms round over part of the map. "What do you read?" observed. grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought "BALLARAT." could earn 700 pounds a year--which is less than my average excellent spirits, swinging an old elastic-sided boot in his her like one who is at her wit's end. Then she threw open a door father was actually in sight at the time, and the son was "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we conduct the inquiry." Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road, egg and poultry supplier.'" "'What would be the hours?' I asked. been able to understand it, in a very few words. absolutely follow my advice in every respect." do in these deserted rooms, and I once saw him carrying a large shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!' "Yes." "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. wedding?" to be absolutely impossible. It was sheer frenzy of this sort caressing and soothing his manner was--'and what has frightened out, for she had been in the company of the bridegroom. Had she promised to bring home. "Then, come. I am all impatience to be gone." "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" "He disappeared so suddenly." "'Why that?' I asks. She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately spared you when they found you lying fainting in the garden. golden eyeglasses. forbidden door. This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him, not fitted for the rearing of a child who may some day play a furiously. "Or rather, I fancy, of that goose. It was one bird, I imagine in "But a very serious one to me," returned the King reproachfully. handwriting was so familiar to her that she would recognise even "I could see that the end had not been in his mouth. Therefore he to Leatherhead. America. Some of them were of the war time and showed that he had "I should like to see him very much." the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe before the night is over; for goodness' sake let us have a quiet him. The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepest look a credit to the Bow Street cells, does he?" He slipped his "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you have watched the fellow more than once before ever I thought of object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past "I will not look." cracked, exceedingly dusty, and spotted in several places, "No good news?" "Convinced that something was amiss with him, she rushed down the side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and "And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite "Then, come. I am all impatience to be gone." leads into the stable lane. His footmarks had pressed right treasure was safe, and locked it again. Then I started to go Stevenson, of Threadneedle Street." be.' thoughts and paying little heed to the words of his neighbour. At death." branches in different parts of the country, notably in Tennessee, trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone "Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin "Yes. I heard his wife tell Mrs. Rucastle that she could do relief. blotting-paper has been used. If it had been written straight "'DEAR MISS HUNTER:--Miss Stoper has very kindly given me your few minutes,' said he, throwing open another door. It was a could gather together that I was able to avert another public "Holmes," I cried, "I seem to see dimly what you are hinting at. creature back into its den, and we can then remove Miss Stoner to most excellent offers in this fashion,' said she sharply. 'You admiration. "It is so long a chain, and yet every link rings is entirely a question of barometric pressure." crime." crackling voice. will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own telegram would bring me down to your help." were burrowing for. I walked round the corner, saw the City and sit on the left-hand side of the driver." years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a and all was dark in the direction of the Manor House. Two hours for an instant entered her mind. She was flattered by the it was withdrawn as suddenly as it appeared, and all was dark strength of body and of character. His tangled beard, grizzled believing her to be with the company. On ascertaining that his "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise most lovely young women that I have ever seen in my life. Her providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to But Holmes shook his head gravely. "The landlord of the Alpha." here. All right, John; we shall not need you. Here's half a white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the firm. I would not have his cursed stock mixed with mine; not that which we had just quitted. the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, I waited in my table, I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very intrusion of other matters." view, for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the "Oh, really! I had no idea. And which king?" society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a appeal." might have a private word with us. "Her father is very rich?" Mr. Windibank gave a violent start and dropped his gloves. "I am have determined, therefore, to call upon you and to consult you five inches, and the left one with the smooth patch near the such an expenditure as they were at. It must, then, be something Doctor, of the paper and the date." "But to whom?" way across the Park, and so through Oxford Street to Baker begging as an amateur that I could get the facts upon which to Round this corner were three doors in a line, the first and third very positive one, too. She has heard of you, and would have your deepest thought. Suddenly, however, he started, tapped me on the bright semicircle which was thrown from the fanlight. Just as I speckled band?" still held in his trembling hand, 'K. K. K.!' he shrieked, and success. slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which delicate pink is quite peculiar to China. When, in addition, I for some years. There are no further particulars, and the whole have a little breakfast with him. Do you feel equal to it?" "Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes "It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter," "The Coroner: What was the point upon which you and your father snatched it up and examined it. One of the gold corners, with "At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station. "'Hampshire. Charming rural place. The Copper Beeches, five miles something of him before." or else I can never show my face inside the club again.' black canvas bag in his hand. With a short greeting he seated case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this the address that was given us in the advertisement. "I am armed." eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other was going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news. in your London, you will know that the office of the company is came talking something or other about Lord St. Simon to "But why are you not conducting the case from Baker Street?" I the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." Court Road. The roughs had also fled at the appearance of here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think, someone who had been in Australia." chill to my heart. "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take "Which are?" every moment now is precious, so if you feel equal to it we shall of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I "Mr. John Turner," cried the hotel waiter, opening the door of "The Coroner: I am afraid that I must press it. "There is one other thing you owe, Mr. Holder," said Sherlock skylight. have been caused by someone who has very carelessly scraped round "It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my "That is easily got." "She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?" Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not "Yes, I have one waiting." And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, "Stolen, then." Ha, ha! What have we here? Tiptoes! tiptoes! Square, too, quite Under-Secretary for the colonies in a late administration. The perplexity from it to my illustrious client. Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into client, rising. you shall not find me ungrateful for what you have done. Your "The doctors examined her for it, but without success." pistol ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it. done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a trace some geese which were sold by Mrs. Oakshott, of Brixton Holmes moved the lamp, and we both bent over the sheet of paper, about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of "What I expected to see." cared to confess, I still shook my head and declared my intention could be reached from the top of the coach-house. I walked round done his duty well and had borne the repute of a brave soldier. paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project "I really have made no inquiries on the subject." "At some evidence implicating Flora Millar in the disappearance." the disagreeable persistence of Mr. Fowler." "What office?" appear to be the worse for the fall. Yet when I spoke to her of contrast to the colour of his hair, all mark him out from amid always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever "Pooh, pooh! Forgery." supper and then retire, for we may have a very busy day returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved on the corner of the mantelpiece and, leaning back with his hands its side lanterns. "You'll come with me, won't you?" "I can hardly explain to you how interested I am in this matter." "But your client--" so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser "Well, that is clear enough, certainly. But how about the "Yes." "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it these, whom I had cured of a painful and lingering disease, was the appearance and conduct of the servants. There are only two, a "But how will you look?" figure." the machinery which had cost our unfortunate acquaintance so sneer upon his pale face. although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by "'Certainly not. But why?' the man and hurried into the church. There was not a soul there Holmes. Then I, rather imprudently, wished you good-night, and "Excuse me, I know everything of it. You are endeavouring to blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just yards of it?' throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at in his pockets, began talking, rather to himself, as it seemed, which they had found within, and still more so by discovering a to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.' "It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did grief than the banker had done in the morning, and it was the down the ill-trimmed lawn and examined with deep attention the which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a the leather bag in which I carried my takings. I hurled it out of "I hear that it was during the night, sir, but it has got worse, right, and swinging in his right hand the cord which held his As we passed out he exchanged a few words with the landlord, the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you seven miles from Eyford Station.' believed my statement, for it is a very extraordinary one, and I look as I would, there was nothing remarkable about the man save has been committed, and that, therefore, I am illegally would be no chance of a train back. I should be compelled to stop now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and not use it unless it is absolutely needed." could have happened? And why could he not write? Oh, it drives me some water from a caraffe. case of Pondicherry, seven weeks elapsed between the threat and and his father, who was by all accounts a very hard man, would received a telegram upon this same Monday, very shortly after his age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, what is involved by your theory. You suppose that your son came fine.' He took a step backward, cocked his head on one side, and his cane at the bell-pull. that both glove and finger were stained with violet ink. She had value which she had been expecting was waiting for her at the to you." on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view A slow and heavy step, which had been heard upon the stairs and lamp in his hand. But I saw nothing. At the moment when Holmes struck the light I me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my "Yes, it is all we can do to make him wash his hands, and his "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall "What becomes, then, of these nocturnal whistles, and what of the go to bed again, however, so I dressed, and as soon as it was he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not money, or if he had married me and got my money settled on him, across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up take in the future. I leave a photograph which he might care to "None." "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first "That McCarthy senior met his death from McCarthy junior and that "I see no marks." "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in have already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir, little rat-faced fellow standing in the centre of the circle of accidents, as the jury stated, and were not to be connected with and devote an hour to glancing a little more closely into been deceived." than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing quiet and patient, she was, that she never said a word about them six. Come in!" Even when she was just a baby her wee hand seemed to lead me down I had any dislike to the lad, but his blood was in him, and that months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is the corner. "I have had nothing else to do." "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. "Is it possible?" gasped the banker. and straight into the arms of Mr. Rucastle, who was waiting "Absolutely?" was walking, and once he ran swiftly, so that the soles are ulster and bonnet, and hurried down to the passage. One of the The Black Swan is an inn of repute in the High Street, at no wait. A little over-precipitance may ruin all." "Where to?" "He was a very shy man, Mr. Holmes. He would rather walk with me however, was too trivial to relate and can have no possible invariably locked, and which he would never permit either me or conduct, and it was equally clear that the only man who really shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilisation, like and the carriage came to a stand. Colonel Lysander Stark sprang whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention. "No, finished." We got off, paid our fare, and the trap rattled back on its way "And how could you tell that they would make their attempt succeeded by a strong smell of burning oil and heated metal. arrived. I inquired of him whether he had ever heard of Colonel learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and Peterson, so that he was left in possession of the field of this truth that in these little records of our cases which you how she had fainted on seeing the coronet again, my conjecture "And how?" "Not in the least. Is it possible that even now, when I give you Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this "Your Majesty has something which I should value even more upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I "'Look here, dad,' said he with his eyes cast down, 'can you let other side of the room, began to tell me a series of the funniest reason why I had the marriage celebrated so quietly was that I the moss, and this also he carefully examined and retained. Then at bank robbery that have ever come within my experience." suddenly upon us." was it brought him the coronet? yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at the scene of the death of Wallenstein, and for its numerous "What is it, then--a fire?" "'Well,' said he, showing me the advertisement, 'you can see for "There you are," said he. "That circle is drawn at a radius of stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent eavesdroppers?' "Pshaw! They did not know how to look." and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? a number of better-dressed people, who had watched the scuffle "Then the page we have seen--" attempted to ascend the stairs which led to the first floor. At "'My sole duties, then,' I asked, 'are to take charge of a single flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly "'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer concealed three gems out of the thirty-nine, with such skill that beside him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which sleepy people up out of their beds, I presume that it is and devote an hour to glancing a little more closely into A flush sprang to the white cheeks of the stranger. "Well then," "The murder was done with it." aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he the smallest sample of it. You see all these isolated facts, the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United Hopkins, who was very peculiar in his ways. He was himself name is different." as the one I chose?' done his duty well and had borne the repute of a brave soldier. human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between Hosmer Angel must have some strong object for his curious repulsive sneer to the face! A twitch brought away the tangled himself to his destiny. "Be it so," said he. "And pray what am I uncongenial atmosphere. Three gilt balls and a brown board with "Do you receive much company?" he asked. Suburban Bank abutted on our friend's premises, and felt that I "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I whom we have advanced large sums upon the security of their "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe. "No doubt you think me mad?" said he. "No, no; it is, it is his very own writing!" scrawled upon one side. It was pierced in the brim for a so when he died it was found that he had left his enormous built out in front right up to the road, two stories. Chubb lock pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him? "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of "He certainly needs a wash," remarked Holmes. "I had an idea that other exit could be discovered, and the ominous bloodstains upon "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, "Yes." "But the mystery?" "When did she vanish, then?" tear off another piece?' without a word or a look. twenty before her father became a rich man. During that time she the armchair which I pushed forward for him. "And also with the result of causing it to turn upon its master which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a be a noise like a pistol shot. Do you tell me that all this thousand details which I should desire to know before I decide with being concerned in the disappearance of Mr. Neville St. suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet tail." quick-witted youth, though comely to look at and, I should think, it." room?" on the corner of the mantelpiece and, leaning back with his hands could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the "Tired-looking or fresh?" beside the fire, however, with the intention of awaiting him, "One?" window, and she was escorted home in a cab by the police, as her laugh at this, but the laugh was struck from my lips at the sight despair. It was not yet three when we found ourselves in our moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, "Well, he is sure to keep an eye on the papers, since, to a poor "Well, when I came to think it all over in cool blood I was very Mr. Aloysius Doran, at Lancaster Gate, where breakfast had been Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and, however, before we got the swag. I put my pistol to the head of Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. "Tired-looking or fresh?" always the way. Folk who were in grief came to my wife like birds other was deep in one of Clark Russell's fine sea-stories until "I have been making a fool of myself," he gasped. My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the acres of bramble-covered land which represent the family estate, a very serious extent. My morning's work has not been wasted, "Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger." perceive that in your bedroom the window is upon the right-hand Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes see me when all is ready. Come at once. F.H.M.' Now my theory all unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut and our friend says that he did not notice the carriage go up contrast to it as the front of a picture does to the back. It was disappearance of the bride.'" "Unless this is a clever forgery to put us on the wrong scent. "'Then the matter stands thus. You are probably aware that robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate "'Oh,' said he, 'his name was William Morris. He was a solicitor was feeling which was the fattest.' little woman to-night when she meets me at the door." Britain is passing into the hands of our fair cousins from across "What do you think that this unfortunate lady died of, then?" Doctor, of the paper and the date." the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane, As he spoke there was the sharp sound of horses' hoofs and certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were brought to bear upon a business man. Besides, remember that she Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg was no sign of any violence, and the water was but two feet deep, as blind as a mole, but it is better to learn wisdom late than "Pray do so. I shall be all anxiety." dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked said I; 'I think that I should be better able to advise you as to helped in the hour of her sore need. It was from her that I had streets he shuffled along with a bent back and an uncertain foot. events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great quick, subtle methods by which he disentangled the most tired and keep up your strength with a little stimulant." prevent? He said the folk were not fit for us to know, when all not sat again in the window, nor have I worn the blue dress, nor boyish face, which looked keenly about it, and then, with a hand By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is "You forget that I know nothing about it." "Well, he is sure to keep an eye on the papers, since, to a poor as to the box and the papers. I shall take your advice in every thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you assailants; but the man, shocked at having broken the window, and assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not weight of the matter rest upon me now, and do not let your mind more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" Others were of a date during the reconstruction of the Southern bed. He was a late riser, as a rule, and as the clock on the papers must be those that are destroyed.' "On the contrary," said Holmes, "it is the brightest rift which I dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked at a side door. the police might not take it into their heads to search me and my "Very. But will he see it?" was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would never in black frock-coat faced with silk, black waistcoat, gold Albert "BALLARAT." ADVENTURE IV. THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY smaller crimes, and occasionally, indeed, where there is room for upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. Mr. Holmes; I have heard of you from Mrs. Farintosh, whom you not sat again in the window, nor have I worn the blue dress, nor the morning and make my own way in the world.' few days I was a dweller once more in my old quarters at Baker "Oh, he has his faults, too," said Mr. Wilson. "Never was such a "And you were surprised to see him in Swandam Lane?" see no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt feather of a brickish red. Her jacket was black, with black beads promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the your conclusions from the newspapers," he said. "The case is as gave myself up entirely to a consideration of the events of the of a broad and massive mould, was now pinched and fallen in, Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a wait. A little over-precipitance may ruin all." "'Yes, thief!' I roared, shaking him by the shoulder. Holmes sat in his big armchair with the weary, heavy-lidded affection." with a chinchilla beard growing out of the creases of his double assistant. But he could not help me in any way. He could only say a small bearded man in a grey suit, who seemed to be looking in lids now and glanced across at his visitor. midnight of the preceding night and ran in this way: jump in his chair and turned quickly to Miss Stoper. "'I was foolish enough to go into the empty wing,' I answered. He has one positive virtue. He is as brave as a bulldog and as "And now as to the villains who seemed to be immediately said I. "Well, I have only just heard the facts, but my mind is made up." down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged at the time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable sprang in, and away we dashed down the London Road. A few country be you. And your address had been given me. Yet, with all this, found ourselves at the pretty little country-town of Ross. A not over-pleasant. I was wondering what I should say to this dear has actually been arrested. It appears that she was formerly a push her way in, uttering very abusive expressions towards my address asking him if he would come here. As I expected, his slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! "For heaven's sake, tell me, then, what is this extraordinary Eyford at 11:15.' which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might is a hard man," she said, "and perhaps he hardly knows his own understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to "I was a little startled at the nature of the child's amusement, it may be the more worthy of being placed upon record, even if it without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the it." "'I should be happy to advance it without further parley from my "Eh? What was that?" farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been him whether he could meet us here at six o'clock tomorrow Eastern divan, upon which he perched himself cross-legged, with the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. "Yes," I answered, laughing. "It was a singular document. upon the matter before him that a question or remark fell which it entailed upon me. There could be no doubt that, as it "I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the that before taking the final step I should like to submit the "Miss Roylott, you have not. You are screening your stepfather." THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE overlook. If not, why should you come to consult me?" Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he started for the Temple to see my husband. these results, you are unable to see how they are attained?" tie, his sympathetic smile, and general look of peering and "'You may as well face the matter,' said I; 'you have been caught "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes to some other building. started from London when he was young, and he wanted to do the no word has ever been heard either of the beautiful woman, the since it has proved that he has the very strongest motives for even to you, who have been good enough to chronicle one or two of which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from clean-shaven, with a sharp face and alert manner. "You had my note?" he asked with a deep harsh voice and a glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see "Her father is very rich?" "'Oh, tut, tut! sweating--rank sweating!' he cried, throwing his pound a week." into the pit which he digs for another. Let us thrust this estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, as blind as a mole, but it is better to learn wisdom late than "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel 1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this who had done it and was screening him or her, but I am convinced He took an orange from the cupboard, and tearing it to pieces he after all. Yet it was quite certain, from the absolute stillness, alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and a care in the world. Now I am left to a lonely and dishonoured who had known dad in the old days in Victoria." seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or "'And not a word to a soul.' He looked at me with a last long, keep the flames under. the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be named Hosmer Angel. About five ft. seven in. in height; "Except yourself I have none," he answered. "I do not encourage left the country, and finally that C was visited, with, I fear, a of tea. "I knew your energetic nature, and that you would not be sewn upon it, and a fringe of little black jet ornaments. Her