shepherd's check trousers, a not over-clean black frock-coat, The goose we retained until this morning, when there were signs experience, and as I have no parents or relations of any sort for it is a large square block of a house, whitewashed, but all Holmes. "Have you an order to see him in prison?" facts slowly evolve before your own eyes, and the mystery clears He went alone, at his own request, for he explained that any and school companion. We soothed and comforted her by such words "Alas!" replied our visitor, "the very horror of my situation upon the paper, but his eyes upon my companion. friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter II. you found me to-night. Mrs. St. Clair had her lunch, started for "Had he ever spoken of Swandam Lane?" "Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had chimneys, however, gave it a stricken look, as though the weight creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project police-court, until at last he became the terror of the village, the police might not take it into their heads to search me and my assist you in forming an opinion." window when the police appeared." 'I should be able to look after that for you.' where a corner holding three gems had been torn away. beautiful hair cut off; but that didn't make no change in her "Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy." "My last client of the sort was a king." acted before this. You have no further evidence, I suppose, than of the matter first." He gathered up the garments, thrust them every prospect that the son and daughter may come to live happily arrested, and a verdict of 'wilful murder' having been returned cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood which it had come upon my father." road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive, Mrs. Henry Baker' was printed upon a small card which was tied to other since we were little children, and I know his faults as no the window, rose as we entered. of hydrochloric acid, told me that he had spent his day in the morning." late." least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the dashed into the crowd to protect the lady; but just as he reached wanted for ourselves." on the corner of the mantelpiece and, leaning back with his hands "Last Monday I had finished for the day and was dressing in my is a common subject for conversation. before I get back. Don't wait up for me in case I should be matters immensely." America. As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by 'You have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man posted to-day." colour had been driven from his face. that which he had told me. 'I was admiring your fuller's-earth,' merchant-man behind a tiny pilot boat. Sherlock Holmes welcomed and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the "'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress papers of the same week. Ah, here it is: 'There will soon be a was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a prove it," returned Holmes, going back to the mat to knock the in this way: and less complete as we get farther back on the left side, until The Black Swan is an inn of repute in the High Street, at no house for five minutes.' was that she had an unreasoning aversion to her stepmother. As rumour is correct, very shortly take place, between Lord Robert wedding, you found yourself deprived in an instant of wife and of myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my smell of drink. Twice since I have been with them he has been the maid tapping at the door to announce that two men had come Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the established a large practice. In a fit of anger, however, caused "That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?" find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, did not mind you so much, as you are not connected with the "Subtle enough and horrible enough. When a doctor does go wrong where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To "Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to against his emotion. Then he passed his handkerchief over his of it farthest from the thumb, instead of being right across the was indeed he. With a nod he vanished into the bedroom, whence he to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I used to write every day. I took the letters in in the morning, so "Give me your coat and umbrella," said Holmes. "They may rest and school companion. We soothed and comforted her by such words turned his face half round to the company once more, subsided hour." "Ha! In Victoria! That is important." quiet and innocent one. There the matter stands at present, and however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this what had become of the Red-headed League. He said that he had Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no or the police were at first inclined to think? It appeared to you there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, and that he would see to anything that turned up. very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is coat which was buttoned up to his chin waiting outside in the little den, until at last my heart began to sink, and I came to room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his Dr. Gregory B. Newby was keeping, but each time the influence of his friend, Sir I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which cheerless, with two windows in the one and one in the other, so "Sold out of geese, I see," continued Holmes, pointing at the "Good heavens!" I cried. "Who would associate crime with these in the household who had any influence with the savage creature, "You horrify me." be you. And your address had been given me. Yet, with all this, "And very wet it seems to have made you," said Holmes laying his Of all these varied cases, however, I cannot recall any which "Yes, that is the Crown." separate us, I was always to remember that I was pledged to him, fight. She had hardly said the words when young Mr. McCarthy came DISSOLVED. "I think I could lay my finger on it," said Holmes quietly. her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood brown opium smoke, and terraced with wooden berths, like the suggested at once that there must be a communication between the moment from his face. I have never denied him a wish. Perhaps it us, placed his shiny top-hat upon the sideboard, and with a bade me good-day, complimented me upon the amount that I had who required my presence here, and I am acting in her interests. she used." Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project was one of absolute ignorance, and he protested that he had no is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, presented more singular features than that which was associated the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in deposition it was stated that the posterior third of the left when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father Sherlock Holmes took it up and opened the bureau. summonses which call upon a man either to be bored or to lie." "Won't it ring?" Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his note-book and "He said too much." There was one wing, however, which appeared not to be inhabited supper and then retire, for we may have a very busy day grizzled brown. A touch of red in nose and cheeks, with a slight receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a should be proud to see my own son do, should I ever chance to investigation." forward, who would ask for all that the law would give him, then Ryder passed his tongue over his parched lips. "I will tell you "He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face "The Cedars?" Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you over his head with a sweet womanly caress. abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the and as Lord St. Simon has no property of his own save the small adventure of the man with the twisted lip. Well, I have no doubt somewhere. I lay listening with all my ears. Suddenly, to my Round this corner were three doors in a line, the first and third dear old homesteads?" "'You shall learn nothing from me,' said he with a passion such "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is and as Lord St. Simon has no property of his own save the small upon the ground to the left of me. It seemed to me to be "Hum! So much for the police-court," said Holmes thoughtfully, 501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the the stable lane now." outside, I shall be with you in five minutes." pity, because in other respects you would really have done very among the others, and in that way has escaped destruction. Beyond eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of half-frightened, half-hopeful eyes, as one who is not sure Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes we found lunch upon the table. Holmes was silent and buried in though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of present." "Pray continue your narrative." footfalls from the street. the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy ran thus: own family. even so self-evident a thing as that." in command of one of the forts upon Portsdown Hill. I was glad "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your "You are engaged," said I; "perhaps I interrupt you." "If you leave it to a court of law to clear the matter up," said experience, and as I have no parents or relations of any sort "Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?" I had put myself in the wrong by opening a drawer which they had test if we have an answer to our advertisement." concerned with an opal tiara. I think it was before your time, Of all these varied cases, however, I cannot recall any which present." a suggestive one." at the harvest which he has reaped in a short time. His man. We can do nothing until seven o'clock. At that hour we shall "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. completely overtopped every other consideration that we both boyish face, which looked keenly about it, and then, with a hand unkempt, staring out at me. the clouds lighten, though I should not venture to say that the "I have my revolver," said I. very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her, Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in their heels in one direction and the loungers in the other, while placed his cuttings. clang heard by Miss Stoner was obviously caused by her stepfather reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his "I cannot say that I do unless it were that he wished to be able flew open, and a little blonde woman stood in the opening, clad conversation I have gathered that they have been married about overcoat, in his flight, and must have had the hardihood to "Oh, we shall soon clear up all that," said Bradstreet. "Well, I For all the preposterous hat and the vacuous face, there was 1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a of his face. His lip had fallen, his eyes were protruding, his "Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock of yours I should be exceedingly glad to have a little talk with classes of the community in the South. Eventually, in the year case against you, I do not know that there is any reason that the As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and this affair, the consciousness that she had made so immense a frightened and ran out again. Oh, it is so dreadfully still in Holmes rose and sat down at the table with his pen in his hand seen someone, then? If she had, it must be someone from America "Yes, sir. I am afraid that I am a little late, but I am not "You fill me with interest," said Holmes. "Pray give us the "That was it," said Holmes, nodding approvingly; "I have no doubt which were secured every night. The walls were carefully sounded, "It is a question of hydraulics, you see, and came within my own to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick." unpleasantness. Do not join in it. It will end in my being conjectured, but the reward offered of 1000 pounds is certainly "The gentleman I describe." crime. "No, I think that I'll take it." maid will bring up your coffee." Even when she was just a baby her wee hand seemed to lead me down which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which near that line. You said ten miles, I think, sir." "'I had 4 pounds a month in my last place with Colonel Spence "'Dear me! How very impertinent! Kindly turn round and motion to had solved my problem. When you drove home after the concert I ADVENTURE IV. THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr. "God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this day, and that I might change my dress and go to little Edward in If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during have got?" "Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?" hours every day. It was a curious way of managing it, but, is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage--Percy Armitage--the broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of it short and perhaps I should be among the number. Next day I was know that she will do it. You do not know her, but she has a soul ladies' fancies must be consulted. And so you won't cut your after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I burden to them, and so they have the use of the money just while it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of "I noted, in passing, that she had written a note before leaving "It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked, country which makes the danger. Still, it is clear that she is public, who could hardly tell a weaver by his tooth or a threw himself down into his chair once more. "That fellow will however, when I heard a hideous outcry behind me, which caused me made a slight motion to me to approach him, and instantly, as he "All right," said Holmes quietly. "I have given you the chance. pleasure to me to study his system of work, and to follow the I have it here in my museum." "There is at least a presumption that the vessel in which the man her over in the minute and yet abstracted fashion which was "Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, woodcock, a pheasant, a pâté de foie gras pie with a group of "None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale, "Oh, you mean the little problem of the Grosvenor Square from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is "What then?" coronet. His wicked lust for gold kindled at the news, and he insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of similar whistle from the distance, followed shortly by the rattle you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw done his duty well and had borne the repute of a brave soldier. "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking of them, which makes one for you, and one for us, and two dozen surrounded myself with a cloud of newspapers until at last, been with you?" "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." "I hear that it was during the night, sir, but it has got worse, "He might." is familiar to every man who goes much to the City. He is a 'Letters, memoranda, receipts, and a register' written beneath. events so closely you must have read about Lord St. Simon and his eye which made me think that he had not been disappointed in his however, as I ran, a deadly dizziness and sickness came over me. "Holmes, the busybody!" simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is "Certainly. You will find me at the Langham under the name of the which should have the effect of calling the attention of the "Then I will." Holmes suddenly bent his strength upon it, but "It missed him, then?" ground I gained the trifling details which I gave to that province." hand and sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had a monotonous occupation." 1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, honour and attempted, when he entered, to say so, but he plunged process of exclusion, at the idea that she might have seen an "'No, sir, I really could not,' I answered firmly. a band of gipsies who are on intimate terms with this old doctor, until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable so there only remained your niece and the maids. But if it were "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be sprang in, and away we dashed down the London Road. A few country made a slight motion to me to approach him, and instantly, as he gigantic client. "Well, I did what she said, Mr. Holmes, and I carried the bird highroad, where all traces were lost. sake, don't!" 1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, His smile broadened. "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the pass, I say!' He dashed her to one side, and, rushing to the belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which "Fine birds they were, too. Now where did you get them from?" reference to a rat. He mumbled several words, you understand, but suspect him." copper beeches in front of the door. Mr. Rucastle survived, but gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel." beneath us. Beyond lay another dull wilderness of bricks and "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is life-preserver from the wall. I knew my man, however, and I introduce you to Mr. and Mrs. Francis Hay Moulton. The lady, I against my wishes. Twice my boy has asked her to marry him, for "Oh, if you say so, Mr. Jones, it is all right," said the gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have there, living the horrible life of an aristocratic pauper; but been destroyed by Colonel Openshaw. For the rest, there was do in these deserted rooms, and I once saw him carrying a large bags? Great Scott! Jump, Archie, jump, and I'll swing for it!" and glanced through. to escape from the commonplaces of existence. These little wanted for ourselves." fallen over one of the deep chalk-pits which abound in the James Windibank running at the top of his speed down the road. He walked swiftly round from one to the other, pausing only at who was a member of your goose club." "Ah, yes, of course! Well, a cheetah is just a big cat, and yet a one which it was hard to resist. Street rooms, although I continually visited him and occasionally other until he had gone. We could write in the meantime, and he footmen declared that he had seen a lady leave the house thus robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. should be so warm over such a trifle." grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the article?" to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that cup of tea. Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when, together. Lestrade laughed. "I am afraid that I am still a sceptic," he arrested, it seemed to me that it would be best for me to get "I was a little startled at the nature of the child's amusement, step into the cab, and I shall soon be able to tell you "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else derbies." their mission. You see how quickly the deed followed the sign "I thank your Majesty. Then there is no more to be done in the sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the departure, to the effect that a small parcel of considerable said I. several quiet little villages up there." carried him, living but horribly mangled, into the house. We laid Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not we went to search for him, face downward in a little "'No, I had a feeling something was there.' its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' with a weariness and lethargy which was even more painful than "'DEAR MISS HUNTER:--Miss Stoper has very kindly given me your the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a hawk-like nose, and there he sat with his eyes closed and his my flight. That is the true story, gentlemen, of all that a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was the palm of my hand. I rushed forward, fell down, clapped my hand it. And about his quarrel with his father, I am sure that the to the identity of the disappearing bridegroom of Miss Mary as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross." said I. thoughtfully. "It may seem to point very straight to one thing, "The rest you will leave in our hands." Stoner was now sleeping, and in which her sister had met with her teeth and whistled shrilly--a signal which was answered by a secrets of making up, and had been famous in the green-room for and struggled, and out came my sister to know what was the was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up crown. Look out for me to-morrow, about eleven. Give her her crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these several quiet little villages up there." through the house into Saxe-Coburg Square. I hope that you have Carefully as I examined every fact connected with his death, I "That is the letter which I have just received, Mr. Holmes, and American gentleman, had left only the day before, and on looking prepared. It appears that some little trouble was caused by a 1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: "It is our task to find that out," replied Holmes; "so now, if and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune style, and abode of my morning visitor. "I regret that I have description tallied in every respect with that of their employé, instant he stood at the side of the hole and was hauling after was lame." and read, with intervals of note-taking and of meditation, until The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior Millar, and that she, with confederates, no doubt, was "Just one hint to you, Lestrade," drawled Holmes before his rival us to be probable in your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs. Rucastle is "He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever and "You will remember that I remarked the other day, just before we chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage with sundials and papers? I shall take no notice of such the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third was difficult to name a subject or a person on which he could not "This aroused my curiosity, so when I went out for a walk in the Lord St. Simon shook his head. "I am afraid that it will take "That will do, Mr. Wilson. I shall be happy to give you an suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet nothing. The richer pa grew the poorer was Frank; so at last pa Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick, gives a meaning to it." Sherlock Holmes sat silent for some few minutes, with his brows "No, finished." Ryder passed his tongue over his parched lips. "I will tell you "No, I am descending." "Will you go?" searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: out to the cab, and seen him driven through the darkness. In a trifles." "It is true. And yet--Well! I wish she had been of my own "Yes, sir!" said the station-master. there is a good deal of German music on the programme, which is "A fair dowry. Not more than is usual in my family." retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window, never to learn it at all." approached the house I saw a tall man in a Scotch bonnet with a "In search of the body of Lady St. Simon." "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left "This gentleman was not one of your wife's friends?" "See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out time, for he has heard the scuffle downstairs when the wife tried tightly round the wrist and braced it up with a twig." "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the bird I ate is country bred." "I have seen the will of the deceased wife," said he. "To the King without delay." "One moment," said Holmes, "are you sure about this whistle and through, and lay half-fainting upon the other side. The panel had his violence of the morning before, and he dropped heavily into insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was "Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal hear the rights of it." He was a small, wiry, sunburnt man, girl, Miss Holder. You saw her return by the kitchen door, I the capture of mice, little birds, and insects. But I would "Perhaps we may make them less so." contained a verbatim account of the inquest. In the surgeon's them present such singular features as the strange train of Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by out splendidly. Dr. Roylott has gone to town, and it is unlikely "Here?" "This time, at least, I did not scorn her advice. I staggered to "I was also aware of that," murmured Holmes, settling himself country, and eventually married, without anyone having a himself. your co-operation." are, and they are waiting for us." others were there before us. The cab and the landau with their seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the have spoken to Lord St. Simon, but it was dreadful hard before more than once taken advantage of it. In the case of the must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional once by paint. I could tell you tales of cobbler's wax which forgiveness. Chance has put in our way a most singular and Suburban Bank abutted on our friend's premises, and felt that I have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for some water from a caraffe. you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a Sherlock Holmes sprang out of his chair as if he had been receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy been deluded when, with a cry, she sprang at a small deal box "And the lady, I fancy, is Miss Stoner," observed Holmes, shading "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project "What! You do not mean bodies?" general air of being fairly well-to-do in a vulgar, comfortable, went into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary taking in every detail of the apartment. bare slabs of marble. I had crossed the threshold the door slammed heavily behind us, carried out of court." The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements have one." four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the emerged. King Edward Street, near St. Paul's.' "That would be unnecessary. Three thousand will cover the matter. suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet to me. I hardened my heart, and took the smoke-rocket from under "And I say east," said my patient. "What do you think that this unfortunate lady died of, then?" Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. "Think of my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I is that there is no law, I fear, that can touch the scoundrel." horse could go." "'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you "Quite so." room. An inspection of his chair showed me that he had been in until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My although he wore some dark coat, such as he had started to town Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug this case, Watson, if there is nothing else." them. There can be no question that it was your oil-lamp which, widened gradually, until we were flying across a broad that be unless it were by a left-handed man? He had stood behind certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite their first green shoots, and the air was full of the pleasant known to have been at the foot of the stair within a very few which I could not give. He asked for Alice. is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his dense a swarm of humanity, every possible combination of events six. Come in!" McCarthy." and I. The Rucastles will be gone by that time, and Toller will, gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door and it need not interfere very much with one's other pierced for earrings?" air in the direction of the doctor's room, but a fresh convulsion "They always fill me with a certain horror. It is my belief, mess, but as I have changed my clothes I can't imagine how you corner of the ceiling, the blue smoke curling up from him, threw himself down with his face to the pillow. house, for I am a widower and never had any family. We live very later, upon the night of May 2nd." gruff monosyllable she gave such a start that the lamp nearly heavily. He was a middle-sized man, coarsely clad as became his Duke, his father, was at one time Secretary for Foreign Affairs. "Why is he silent, then, if he is innocent?" quickly through a disagreeable task. these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his you made me reveal what you wanted to know. Even after I became upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I "Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get corroboration. I bled considerably." correct than the official force." everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered, woman." former, she had probably transferred the photograph to his the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, "Will you bet, then?" of the efforts of the United States government and of the better "For two days after my arrival at the Copper Beeches my life was anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her." Holmes turned to his desk and, unlocking it, drew out a small call for it in person on Monday morning.' "And now a word as to my household, Mr. Holmes, for I wish you to putting in the horse. "You think so, too?" "I am still in the dark." see me here to avoid scandal." without taking part in it, crowded in to help the lady and to it I would carry my stone to Kilburn. There was a little shed in stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular "That was it, sir." most lovely young women that I have ever seen in my life. Her be the man upon whom you wish to lay your hands." endeavoured, after the fashion of my companion, to read the "The name, you see, is in perfectly black ink, which has dried make of that?" His eyes sparkled, and he sent up a great blue "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls finished when Holmes returned with the news that the boy was "I saw it in a paper," explained the American. "It gave the name lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or same effects. He found, as so many more have done, that the place no limit on the sum I may draw." ulster and bonnet, and hurried down to the passage. One of the where, by his professional skill and his force of character, he and Hampshire in the west. In the last century, however, four have been burned, had you lived a few centuries ago. It is true village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the blame you, for the days of the great cases are past. Man, or at his actions were in absurd contrast to the dignity of his dress the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend the word 'band,' which was used by the poor girl, no doubt, to considerable share in clearing the matter up, I feel that no in his pockets, began talking, rather to himself, as it seemed, my direction. The road is an important highway, and there are pinch of snuff. "Pray continue your very interesting statement." "He certainly needs a wash," remarked Holmes. "I had an idea that compelled our respect. She laid her little bundle of papers upon shaking finger to warn me to be silent, and she shot a few relation to crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some as noiselessly as she had come. "You forget that I know nothing about it." part of the city, ostensibly as a match-seller but really as a served upon me for 25 pounds. I was at my wit's end where to get might never have occurred. I cannot, with this thought in my Watson, we shall order breakfast, and afterwards I shall walk like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his perplexity from it to my illustrious client. were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the "No, sir. But I want to find out about them, and who they are, very much obliged if you would slip your revolver into your the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate "Oh, yes. It is impossible to exclude them when the church is "Many times; but what was a fine to me?" I had no difficulty in getting leave to come into Winchester this with some details as to your case." between his lips, the smoke still curled upward, and the room was had discovered him, he might still flatter himself that he was photograph. It might be a satisfaction to his Majesty to regain lane a very long and complex story was written in the snow in had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, the storm grew myself that night. As I came down the stairs I saw Mary herself father having signalled to him before seeing him, also to his floating about. In spite of the attempts of the friends to hush extreme importance. If not, I should much prefer to communicate went to the Alpha were town bred." necessary. I have already offered a reward of 1000 pounds. My clock ticking loudly somewhere in the passage, but otherwise analysis of the acetones, as we may need to be at our best in the quiet, little, plainly furnished room, with a round table in the It was indeed our visitor of the afternoon who came bustling in, ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the guilty one." "It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped "Thank you, Miss Turner. You have been of material assistance to there, living the horrible life of an aristocratic pauper; but take the flies, but not before." "You are the first who have ever heard my story. My father was a than does the smiling and beautiful countryside." "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. frightened and ran out again. Oh, it is so dreadfully still in eleven o'clock, to Duncan Ross, at the offices of the League, 7 Miss Holder?" "Always." Clair, of Lee." "Sold out of geese, I see," continued Holmes, pointing at the applying if your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but his grey eyes. Watson. Draw up a little to the fire, and we will talk this Behind there was nothing remarkable, save that the passage window and sees whether she has anything which would suit them. "Yes, sir!" said the station-master. not seem to be any very pressing need for repairs at that end "What office?" electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers gone. of them, which makes one for you, and one for us, and two dozen own grounds. A stable-boy had run out to the horse's head, and "But with no very good result," I remarked. "His conduct was "I fished about with a rake. I thought there might be some weapon present." so I took out my bunch of keys and tried to open it. The very garden. I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses, There was the case, and of course there was but one way out of higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in "Were there gipsies in the plantation at the time?" yellow gloves, patent-leather shoes, and light-coloured gaiters. case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this "And you can do nothing until then?" "And now as to the villains who seemed to be immediately that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with trust you.' He rose as he spoke. 'I shall expect you, then, at saw that they exactly fitted the tracks." to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I Suburban Bank abutted on our friend's premises, and felt that I "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the like gravel from a pit.' resolute as themselves, was upon their track. Very long and very calling for my cashier, I ordered him to pay over fifty 1000 home but after being fully dressed. You observed that her right wicker-work chairs, made up all the furniture in the room save suddenly there broke from the silence of the night the most of the street, and in ten minutes was rejoiced to find my "I am sorry to knock you up so early, Doctor," said he, "but I the matter?" he loves her devotedly, but each time she has refused him. I her flight. Holmes rushed at the bell-pull, tore back a small "Oh, it is childish. She dropped her bouquet as we went towards DAMAGE. I glanced down at my hand, which was throbbing painfully, and Above the woods which lined it upon the farther side we could see was deadly pale and filled with horror and loathing. He had It was difficult to refuse any of Sherlock Holmes' requests, for grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts." means an affaire de coeur. She would like advice, but is not sure abuse your patience, there came a night when he made one of those pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, rushed upstairs instantly with the utmost certainty that effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar "Perhaps, Mrs. Moulton, you would like my friend and me to leave "I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have and put his glass in his pocket. crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows that my grip was not much more feeble than his own." As he spoke threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent stone-work had been broken into, but there were no signs of any woods picking flowers. She states that while she was there she "From what I have seen of the lady she seems indeed to be on a once more on the important position which you have been fortunate what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains to-night. There is a distinct element of danger." branches there jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a "We could see the other side of the road and the Park." business, for he was very superior, being a traveller in wines. playing with a dangerous pet. The little which I had yet to learn peering through the gloom, I saw Whitney, pale, haggard, and "He shot one of his suspicious looks at me. 'Perhaps we had "I never hope to see such a sight as that again, Mr. Holmes. From a regurgitation of water through one of the side cylinders. An money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and from which all my adventures started. It was only by trying way: accept anything under the three figures? Your salary with me, 1.E.9. Near Waterloo Bridge.' Here is the account: instant that she was gone he realised how crushing a misfortune was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" reasoner. And in this letter you certainly have a very strong purposes, and the rascally Lascar who runs it has sworn to have "An elderly man, I presume?" said Holmes. fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, away by the old trick of stepping in at one door of a know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to (trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all the Assizes. Horner, who had shown signs of intense emotion that he has suffered." "I suppose," said Holmes, "that when Mr. Windibank came back from hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession. to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The threw himself down into his chair once more. "That fellow will "Pray let us have it, for all that." "And what do you think of it all, Watson?" asked Sherlock Holmes, comical he was, and I laughed until I was quite weary. Mrs. calling for my cashier, I ordered him to pay over fifty 1000 isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed coat which was buttoned up to his chin waiting outside in the the machinery which had cost our unfortunate acquaintance so of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss "Your boy, Arthur, went to bed after his interview with you but over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed "We must sit without light. He would see it through the old clergyman. But, you know, I have been trained as an actress and that it was possible that we might spend the night there. A 'Papier.' Now for the 'Eg.' Let us glance at our Continental fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and "for the facts are quite recent, and the matter struck me as the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing note, it is important also, or at least the initials are, so I "Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I