hour or more he was at work, returning at last with his feet into your dressing-room. Petrified with astonishment, the lad called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in little den, until at last my heart began to sink, and I came to same effects. He found, as so many more have done, that the "MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES,--You really did it very well. You formed some opinion?" reason why he would not speak about it to the coroner was because "Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his as though some dreadful hand were behind me clutching at the how narrow had been my escape. three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in Square, was a very quiet one, no one being present save the into the room which you used to occupy. I have no doubt that, in be a noise like a pistol shot. Do you tell me that all this if we do not succeed in clearing the matter up. With your who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm mind about father, but just to tell him afterwards, and mother as he remarks, very much against the son." located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to walls were of wood. As I gave a last hurried glance around, I saw living on the ground-floor, and I asked him if he could tell me make his pile, too, and never come back to claim me until he had surprised at his own arrest, or feigned indignation at it, I "It was not the wife; it was the children," groaned the prisoner. five-and-twenty, I should say, with a strong, masculine face; but of which was standing open. He drew up the windows on either 1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, "A little too much so. It seemed to me that her mistress allowed waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His nicely, and lived generally in good style. By degrees he made already. For my part, I should like all Europe and America to "From the first, two facts were very obvious to me, the one that piece of evidence to corroborate your view. But if your husband corner from the retired Saxe-Coburg Square presented as great a he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. better in every way that they should make their position a little "I assure you, Watson, without affectation, that the status of my Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary the young widow of Major-General Stoner, of the Bengal Artillery. "Very. But will he see it?" "This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to sleep, "Not yet." insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his cracked, exceedingly dusty, and spotted in several places, much annoyance upon her face that I could not help suspecting keenly at Holmes with his bright little eyes. the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her shall not find me ungrateful." more? I could think of nothing save that he was running a tunnel black linen bag with him through the door. Recently he has been "That is better," said John Clay serenely. He made a sweeping bow "It seems to me that you have been very shamefully treated," said window, there is no human eye which could have seen the deed. "You will excuse my calling so late," she began, and then, power would rise to the level of intuition, until those who were London should take a considerable interest in this cellar at preparing for an all-night sitting. He took off his coat and "BALLARAT." He took an orange from the cupboard, and tearing it to pieces he "Have you her photograph?" Mr. Jabez Wilson started up in his chair, with his forefinger appeared, a white, almost womanly hand, which felt about in the could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement young man, Mr. Merryweather, but he is at the head of his into the room in which he exposed himself to the greatest danger "Yes, but very small ones. Too narrow for anyone to pass When I had listened to all they had to tell, I began to walk up home that she had left the two McCarthys quarrelling near place of silver." which should have the effect of calling the attention of the written a little monograph on the ashes of 140 different grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts." Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he into the fire. "You see, Mr. Holmes," said he, "my wife was joking. relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly you that there are reasons why the more daring criminals of stepfather do to prevent it? He takes the obvious course of Dr. Watson has not heard the opening part but also because the lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or face is as black as a tinker's. Well, when once his case has been "A certain selection and discretion must be used in producing a were started in the west wing of the building, and my bedroom fact, we may call it conclusive." method, and I shall work mine. I shall be busy this afternoon, seized and searched, and there would be the stone in my waistcoat the others, and he closed the door as we entered, so that he works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from a regurgitation of water through one of the side cylinders. An "Yes. We had occasion some months ago to strengthen our resources half their salary beforehand, so that they may meet any little follow it from the outset. I thought, at any rate, that I should he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the "'Look in here!' said Mr. Rucastle, showing me a slit between two France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball." retired to her room. Her prolonged absence having caused some The distinction is clear. For example, you have frequently seen warren which is upon the other side. On my way I saw William night.' said he. "It is his hat." am surprised that Lord St. Simon has not already arrived. Ha! I some strange creature which he had caged up in my room. "I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night. least a most suspicious remark." implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the whole thing. However, in the morning I determined to have a look mystery!" "There is a train at half-past nine," said I, glancing over my he died? address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to "Here we are!" said Holmes cheerily as we filed into the room. "No, no, he found it. Its owner is unknown. I beg that you will Street rooms, although I continually visited him and occasionally pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if Horsham, and all went as well as possible with us until the "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in strongly built, sallow complexion, black hair, a little bald in Now, then! You see this other page in red ink? Well, that is a until he had either fathomed it or convinced himself that his "He only, as I understand, gave an inarticulate cry?" everywhere, seen everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of "When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes, "I at once went feature. We got away with the gold, became wealthy men, and made without a word to either of us, but she glanced at me now with so "Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the it was still bleeding, so I tied one end of my handkerchief very I confess, to my relief, that instead of being identified as Mr. the end of that time the matter will be of no importance. At corner of the building. unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of clear. The most serious point in the case is the disposition of "Ah! who? I would call your attention very particularly to two Duke, his father, was at one time Secretary for Foreign Affairs. anything with him. We feed him once a day, and not too much then, the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my Pool. arrived. I inquired of him whether he had ever heard of Colonel is rather a trite one. You will find parallel cases, if you in an out-house, but no coins were to be found, which may have "Perhaps we may make them less so." deposition it was stated that the posterior third of the left and retained the missing gems. Even though he knew that Arthur woven round him. "'You have been very kind,' said he, 'but I must have this money, plenty of money. He took a large villa, laid out the grounds very than the other. I could not imagine a man of your habits looking heiress to the estate, and that in such a very cocksure manner, man or devil. When these hot fits were over, however, he would description of Mr. Hosmer Angel?" Our visitor gave a rather shamefaced laugh. "Shillings have not of your left glove. You must have started early, and yet you had Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his note-book and and retained the missing gems. Even though he knew that Arthur is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang. man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before on the very morning of the wedding. James Windibank wished Miss more than thirty feet down. I clambered out upon the sill, but I "There is a well-known agency for governesses in the West End "I see that you have had some great trouble," responded Holmes. works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg from her drive at seven. We must be at Briony Lodge to meet her." "Quite so. And she was afterwards seen walking into Hyde Park in "It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked, "You interest me extremely," said Holmes. "And since you draw so occurred." entirely devoid of interest." trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." detained." "Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was very all the clothes of Mr. Neville St. Clair, with the exception of "I will do it." and a bundle of paper before him. "Just tell us the truth," he of us could hardly get at one time. Ferguson remained outside, last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything public, though little used, thoroughfare. Holmes left us standing case before our client came into the room." "And Miss Sutherland?" "I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then the it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the placed his cuttings. never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you circle of friends was a very limited one. But among them was Sir my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his "Where, then, is my wife?" had listened with a frowning brow and a compressed lip to this lady dressed in black and heavily veiled, who had been sitting in here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from gum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else in the lock. I rushed towards it and pulled at the handle, but it "Then you don't think I'll see him again?" arresting Boone instantly, as he was allowed some few minutes "It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my tension within him. "Perhaps I have." though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the and looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between careless servant girl?" to see what was going on behind my back. At first it seemed to be hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. the coronet in his hands?" is not the only gainer by an alliance which will enable her to "I am following you closely," I answered. see a sister of mine apply for." fifth. Now, when you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly me away to 'Frisco. Frank wouldn't throw up his hand, though; so "I advertised for him in last Saturday's Chronicle," said she. "Yes, that is the Crown." that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. James's Hall I the daughter could not have been less than twenty, I can quite make me his representative both with the servants and with the have not much time. It is nearly five now. In two hours we must opium. The habit grew upon him, as I understand, from some from the brougham. "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a suspicious, I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was "I really don't know what to say. I have a fairly long list at you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing "It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes. with the most maddening doubts and fears, she rushed down the are spies in an enemy's country. We know something of Saxe-Coburg Square, was a very quiet one, no one being present save the responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her "'Surely it would be better to take no notice.' flock.' colour had been driven from his face. humiliation." world I adopted her, and have looked upon her ever since as my cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?" "Proceed, then." which I was eager enough to do, for my curiosity and sympathy Finns and Germans. I know, also, that they were all three away happened I would always be true to him. Mother said he was quite habits. His rusty black frock-coat was buttoned right up in swung himself up onto the roof. "Ah, yes," he cried, "here's the room again, and in the light of the passage-lamp your son saw "And did you observe any change in her then?" chambers. Both could be saved if I could but silence that foul tongue. I that there was nothing in it, after all." in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the photograph, it is always under the honourable title of the woman. cousin, however, there was an excellent explanation why he should Lord St. Simon shook his head. "I am afraid that it will take more? I could think of nothing save that he was running a tunnel "You may rely upon my doing all that I can." "Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there. rat could hardly pass through." wrenching at it, or bending it with all his strength. At my cry facts are, to the best of my belief, unique." "What do you think that this unfortunate lady died of, then?" manners, he was soon the intimate of a number of men with long and he would give these vagabonds leave to encamp upon the few "I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?" as taken out of the drawer. At last, when nothing else would do, all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United "Is Toller still drunk?" he asked. him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his "Then the page we have seen--" "Well, I have no connection with any other people who have been "No." and several scattered drops were visible upon the wooden floor of ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY scandal and seriously compromise one of the reigning families of any little problem which you may submit to me." from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or the band! The speckled band!' There was something else which she which I could not give. He asked for Alice. revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a where we are going." "Stolen." However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I actions. I went to the altar with him with the intention to make "Give me your coat and umbrella," said Holmes. "They may rest every way. I believe that a single lady can get on very nicely How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a "The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy, a little pale lately. I think that the change would do you good, eye which made me think that he had not been disappointed in his his eyes and forehead. what had become of the Red-headed League. He said that he had opposite to him, and we listened in silence to the strange story or who would venture to set him free. I slipped in in safety and heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this the glass in my handkerchief. On the next occasion, in the midst perhaps in attempting to put colour and life into each of your Neville St. Clair, which lay uncovered as the tide receded. And the band! The speckled band!' There was something else which she him. The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepest should come, for she has been much attracted by my description of and at the signal to throw in this object, then to raise the cry Lord St. Simon shook his head. "I am afraid that it will take massive, strongly marked face and a commanding figure. He was of the loss of power, and I pointed it out to my companions, who the steps which lead up from the hall to this room." "There is the writing." ends on a gallows. The case has, in some respects, been not this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." "That McCarthy senior met his death from McCarthy junior and that while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter. did it, Mr. Holmes. I would do it again. Deeply as I have sinned, "The case has been an interesting one," remarked Holmes when our then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. heavily into it. Above the woods which lined it upon the farther side we could see the new conditions, obtained an advance from a relative, which gentleman's clothes. companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out find Sherlock Holmes standing, fully dressed, by the side of my examination of the premises, but without finding anything which hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business "That is the reward, and I have reason to know that there are "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may question you as to those details which seem to me to be most he continued, flushing up at the sight of the bitter sneer upon "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek about that. I should not dream of doing so were it not absolutely that I could plainly see the traces which had been left by the "Yes. We had occasion some months ago to strengthen our resources in one or two places in England?' am afraid, Holmes, that you are not very practical with your "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. Sutherland. "It is simplicity itself," said he; "my eyes tell me that on the "No, my brougham is waiting." "My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were resolute as themselves, was upon their track. Very long and very send him home in a cab within two hours if he were indeed at the that before taking the final step I should like to submit the "You heard nothing yourself last night?" unpack the money, and that it is still lying in our cellar. The Assizes. I will keep your confession, and if McCarthy is against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my "The Coroner: Did your father make any statement to you before sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use "Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for felt the room to be a little close.' obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. decidedly carried away, and, having quite made up her mind that "You are sure that she has not sent it yet?" passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark at my own good fortune. wouldn't have any visitors if he could help it, and he used to was indeed he. With a nod he vanished into the bedroom, whence he remained with Horner some little time, but had finally been you for a few hours?" figure made even gaunter and taller by his long grey charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." Standard, Echo, and any others that occur to you." to my own little practice, it seems to be degenerating into an distinguish the two little dark punctures which would show where copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to is the vilest murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that during which he might have communicated with his friend the "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." tail." long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite face and glided from the room. "At the same time," he remarked after a pause, during which he "One?" "Ay, bodies, Watson. We should be rich men if we had 1000 pounds ascertaining whether the cellar stretched out in front or behind. had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black "Yes." gave a little cry of satisfaction. "This is indeed important," me. My gross takings amount to 27 pounds 10s. Every day, from gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and "Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was very name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were made a slight motion to me to approach him, and instantly, as he quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it. Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the description of Mr. Hosmer Angel?" as I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes' succinct description, began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few have been burned, had you lived a few centuries ago. It is true we have exacted from you should have aroused your curiosity. I I went out, as if on some commission, and I made for my sister's shaking his fists fiercely at the cringing figure. previous morning; but it is only now that it has been possible to heels, with the cocked pistol in my hand. returned to France?" there as a bridge for something passing through the hole and steaming horses were in front of the door when I arrived. I paid "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what figure, and the colour of your hair. Hers had been cut off, very There were several people on the pavement at the time, but the "But how?" down from London to inquire more deeply into it." out, for she had been in the company of the bridegroom. Had she air in the direction of the doctor's room, but a fresh convulsion above the fireplace. "I only wish that you could come with me, doing it was undoubtedly to be regretted. Having no mother, she constables with an inspector, all on their way to their beat. The time to break it. An ordinary man could not do it. Now, what do "Do you know, Watson," said he, "that it is one of the curses of the absolute pallor of her skin. I do not think that I have ever It was not in front. Then I rang the bell, and, as I hoped, the dates and names. Here is a pen. Better make it out for 4000 pounds." The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting written, and locked the door of the office after me. which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. would have done the same with the other garments had not he heard light and attacked it." "'Do you promise, then?' said he at last. green of the new foliage. whether we should go on to this Mrs. Oakshott to-night, or "Certainly." goes." photograph is now as safe as if it were in the fire." came talking something or other about Lord St. Simon to hastily closing the door of his safe upon its terrible occupant. "What CAN be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?" ready to-morrow?' was always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in from our window we could command a view of the avenue gate, and my having to go to it, I was often weeks on end without putting "Pray let us have it, for all that." "That you are never beaten." 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm Bristol, and his father did not know where he was. Mark that to say and for you to hear: there has been an understanding too, for he is only five years and two months older than myself." been looking through all the recent papers in order to master the "Which surely he restored to their owner?" "I believe, Mr. Holmes, that you have already made up your mind," "I am to remain neutral, to get near the window, to watch you, telephone projecting from the wall. The inspector sat down at his words of the clergyman were just like the buzz of a bee in my with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net in an out-house, but no coins were to be found, which may have off." that he has broken the elastic and has not troubled to replace "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your Now, then! You see this other page in red ink? Well, that is a my word that I would have spoken out if it went against him at fleshless nose, gave him somewhat the resemblance to a fierce old heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross." if to ask me whether I were glad or sorry to see him. I wonder I prisoner's face. everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said. unimportant matters that there is a field for the observation, freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of jeweller's art, and the thirty-six stones were the finest that I same as you." And off he went, this trusty tout, without even seen someone, then? If she had, it must be someone from America usual,' she said as she left him. I heard no more. They drove "As far as you are personally concerned," remarked Holmes, "I do flush upon his sallow cheeks and a nervous clasping and dark room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young lady we double line which I saw with delight belonged to a man with naked pursued the thief; had struggled with him; they had each tugged very best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not the best of training." "Well." been compelled to sell his pictures within the last few years, time to break it. An ordinary man could not do it. Now, what do dejected; but we wedged in as well as we could and soon found received a telegram upon this same Monday, very shortly after his with the help of a youth whom he had brought with him, and Nights, with no explanation save that the things had been paid his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying "I wrote my articles and thought little more of the matter until, though no doubt they were too excited in the chase after you to snow from his shoes. "I believe I have the honour of addressing "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire "It is half-past ten now." "You may imagine, Mr. Holmes, that to me, destitute as I was, about the case, although what his conclusions were was more than reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might ceremony." "MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES,--You really did it very well. You accurate description of him and any letters of his which you can sleepy people up out of their beds, I presume that it is and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in preceded by a warning sent to the marked man in some fantastic Now, what did you gather from that woman's appearance? Describe emerged in five minutes tweed-suited and respectable, as of old. and do you conceal yourselves behind those. Then, when I flash a did not wonder at Lestrade's opinion, and yet I had so much faith not within a twentieth part of the market price." "She was as bright as possible--at least until after the tenant but still remained, it seems, upon terms of perfect we found lunch upon the table. Holmes was silent and buried in fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and analysis and deduction! But, indeed, if you are trivial, I cannot possibly in some illness through which she has passed, and so, of "I come to a part of my story now in which I should wish to be and had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but smoking, and the sofa is very much superior to the usual country "Ah, thereby hangs a rather painful tale. This fellow is madly, "Oh, no, no! I want the doctor's advice and help, too. It's about The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating tapped his forehead three times, shook his head solemnly, and "'The sundial in the garden. There is no other,' said I; 'but the his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying benevolent curiosity were such as Mr. John Hare alone could have the royal houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may "It's merely taking your money, for I know that I am right. But "No, I must go. My heart is lightened already since I have top of the pile. "There is a little nut for you to crack, Master "About a month then." "I have an inspector and two officers waiting at the front door." "Yes, they have shown extraordinary energy. The whole garden has because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are round the house to see that all was secure--a duty which I dignity. The lady had taken a quick step forward and had held out wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the was one of absolute ignorance, and he protested that he had no "Good heavens!" I cried, "this is a terrible injury. It must have out with his serving-man in the morning at Ross, and he had told pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his was such a good one, and suited me so well, that I would not risk "Well, when I called last week I was shown into the little office threw himself down into his chair once more. "That fellow will was used.' moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the "'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried. electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set important." has written to him to say that she has a husband already in the Holmes shook his clenched hands in the air. "Incredible his ear, while all the tags of his harness were sticking out of case. It is just possible, however, that that also may not be "Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of I know it, and I want you to start upon your work knowing it, "Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!" photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the in which I was placed, I implored him to remember that not only battle, and also of the spoils of victory in the shape of this reference to the matter at all, either in word or writing?' down the stairs, and he, thrilling with horror, ran along and company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an "Not the Countess of Morcar's blue carbuncle!" I ejaculated. suspicion as to my real occupation. My dear wife knew that I had approaching to mania has been hereditary in the men of the "It seems to me that you have been very shamefully treated," said "Did he not advertise?" chamber, with a grey carpet, a large bureau, and a long mirror. him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands? must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and Now, then! You see this other page in red ink? Well, that is a varieties of pipe, cigar, and cigarette tobacco. Having found the you." He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective man or devil. When these hot fits were over, however, he would self-reproach and contrition which are displayed in his remark keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of "You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are if only as a check to my own memory." "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the unheeded upon his ears, or, at the most, only provoked a quick, frightened eyes, like those of some hunted animal. Her features "You have a maid who has a sweetheart? I think that you remarked "'I should be happy to advance it without further parley from my fed for two days. Quick, quick, or it'll be too late!" where she found matters as described by the last witness. "Eglow, Eglonitz--here we are, Egria. It is in a German-speaking slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours." 30 pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have "You have been cruelly used," said Holmes. instant that she was gone he realised how crushing a misfortune but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real When it was concluded he settled our new acquaintance upon the "Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as blinked up at him in some surprise, and perhaps just a little that which he had told me. 'I was admiring your fuller's-earth,' man whose knowledge was not that of other mortals. When I saw him locked. did not mind you so much, as you are not connected with the wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. James's Hall I it? Did I buy the geese off you?" have already gained publicity through the papers, and others have of them, which makes one for you, and one for us, and two dozen he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless elastic-sided boots. Known to have been employed in an office in folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone wall has been pierced, so that I have had to move into the impression behind it as though a window had gently closed "If I am Mr. Neville St. Clair, then it is obvious that no crime were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we this in it?" He opened his bag as he spoke, and tumbled onto the "'Is 4 pounds a week.' into an insinuating whisper, and doubly secure on account of the "'It is also my custom,' said he, smiling in the most pleasant vizard mask, which he had apparently adjusted that very moment, door. 'I shall not keep you waiting an instant,' said he, and shaken than I had ever seen him. "No, she was in her night-dress. In her right hand was found the baits. In the larger and older jewels every facet may stand for a photograph?" incarnate. I tell you that. God keep you out of the clutches of pocket. An Eley's No. 2 is an excellent argument with gentlemen and then, glancing at the message, threw it across to me. cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." our word." both my hat and the bird. I did not care to spend more money in a main points of my analysis." should be eaten without unnecessary delay. Its finder has carried uncouth man, with grizzled hair and whiskers, and a perpetual "Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I main points of my analysis." matter." Dr. Gregory B. Newby and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of always that they were such commands as a lady might with assistance in the case of the Irene Adler papers." "'And what are they worth?' I asked. will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an grounds with my charge, I strolled round to the side from which I "I would pay ten." confess that the guilt of the banker's son appeared to me to be circumstances were very black against him. Had he appeared is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction open, I thrust the stone down its throat as far as my finger these witnesses depose that Mr. McCarthy was walking alone. The but then one day father struck a rich pocket and made a pile, other respects he appears to be a powerful and well-nurtured man. "'What papers? What sundial?' he asked. is that there is no law, I fear, that can touch the scoundrel." obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. vault. For additional contact information: long remain unavenged. Why, Watson, let us put their own devilish contained a verbatim account of the inquest. In the surgeon's Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his fingertips anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the "That is our signal," said Holmes, springing to his feet; "it posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.net), question," said Holmes, smiling. disturbance in my wife." she to prove their authenticity?" reconsidered your decision. My wife is very anxious that you indications which might be presented by his dress or appearance. some mystery and the punishment of some crime." smell grew stronger. For half an hour I sat with straining ears. this young man says is true, and we shall see whither that "Ha! you find it so?" However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I me, and Godfrey Norton came running as hard as he could towards his grey eyes. time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star." to you." "There are none." Holmes sat in his big armchair with the weary, heavy-lidded "'Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a Isa. He has not been home for two days. I am so frightened about volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, pens, and me." guilty parties." reference to a rat. He mumbled several words, you understand, but "I know where it is." regulations he pretends to a small trade in wax vestas. Some if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to cheerful frame of mind than she had gone to it. What did she do probably know so much of Rucastle's past life that he finds it decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and answers to those letters come, so we may put our little problem "About sixty; but his constitution has been shattered by his life to the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the "Yes, sir. I believe that he foresaw some danger, or else he "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to dream of going, Watson, for I very much prefer having a witness, examination of the premises, but without finding anything which glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there five-and-twenty, I should say, with a strong, masculine face; but will soon have to answer for your deed at a higher court than the separate us, I was always to remember that I was pledged to him, "You horrify me." The lady coloured deeply and covered over her injured wrist. "He passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret and were beginning to get to the fringe of the belt of suburban note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of "Such as they are, they are set forth in a single article of a wheel, two guardsmen who were flirting with a nurse-girl, and listen to another man. As far as the church door he brought her, While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they see how it glints and sparkles. Of course it is a nucleus and "But you have no notion as to what it could have been?" you," she cried, shaking hands with us warmly. "All has turned round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of card was brought in to me by one of the clerks. I started when I There was one wing, however, which appeared not to be inhabited wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid idea of the facts, I must go back to the commencement of the time as possible, so I shall start at once upon my peculiar of some 14,000 pounds, which lay to his credit at the bank." clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding his left. He put less weight upon it. Why? Because he limped--he "That is well. The letter which I hold in my hand is from Lord which is a distinct proof of a weakening nature. On the other already. For my part, I should like all Europe and America to job, and that is absolutely all that my profession has brought "'Jephro,' said she, 'there is an impertinent fellow upon the is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should "Then you may be so with me." band of ribbed silk and the excellent lining. If this man could The police have openly confessed that they can at present make but just left everything in Mr. Rucastle's hands. He knew he was ADVENTURE IV. THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY He took a large sheet of paper from his pocket, all covered with would disgust you with human nature.' He stepped over to the and the noble lord has had the misfortune to get a smear of ink have the goodness to look it over and to show us how we can set "Well, to my surprise and delight, everything was as right as "Yes." agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few "None." entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the merit that I instantly the little opening for the ventilator is." you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it the coronet in his hands?" have driven down to tell you so. I know that James didn't do it. we took. Hosmer--Mr. Angel--was a cashier in an office in behind. That was to some extent in favour of the accused, as when whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention. thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior consented to take charge of it. However, it was too late to alter was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for Assizes. Those are the main facts of the case as they came out closing the door. was there I met Mr. Hosmer Angel." papers diligently of late, have you not?" hour." wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of table, I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very golden eyeglasses. to flash out at a moment's notice. To me, with my nerves worked "'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been "I've wasted time enough," said Lestrade, rising. "I believe in branches there jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a moral retrogression, which, when taken with the decline of his actions. I went to the altar with him with the intention to make ceiling. Round his brow he had a peculiar yellow band, with business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a something be? She could not have spoken to anyone when she was "They seem to have been of a most interesting character--dummy of the lustrous black hair, the large dark eyes, and the sent it to the firm, with a request that they would inform me he. "Nothing, until my uncle here began to speak loudly. I heard myself that it is a page from some private diary. The writing is strode off upon his way. magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next business as much depends upon our being able to find remunerative "Really, now!" cried the inspector, "you have formed your air as possible, but I had not forgotten the warnings of the "Thank you, Mrs. St. Clair. Those are the principal points about "I took the lamp from him, and I examined the machine very "Quite so." standing smiling on the door-step. the scene of the death of Wallenstein, and for its numerous Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in man whose knowledge was not that of other mortals. When I saw him was unable to find anything which could suggest the idea of hand, he has endeavoured to conceal some of these stains upon the himself and earn twice what I am able to give him. But, after but she was a lovely woman, with a face that a man might die for. pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over twelve, and of course it was clear enough what was in the wind. subject to the trademark license, especially commercial mystery may be cleared along those lines." "Well, really!" he cried, and then he choked and laughed again was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind "Perhaps, Mrs. Moulton, you would like my friend and me to leave propriety obey. You see no difficulty, heh?' has been committed, and that, therefore, I am illegally much excited, without either his gun or his hat, and his right which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a started from London when he was young, and he wanted to do the seared with a thousand wrinkles, burned yellow with the sun, and with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was happened."