he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the "You would not think 1000 pounds apiece an excessive sum for most important business. It is probable that he will be away all public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm have given you all the facts. Since you ask me, however, I may face the weight would come upon my spine, and I shuddered to put this piece of paper which you have shown us into the brass human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual call it, since it was clearly never meant for a bell-pull." that, and I came down." money through my poor father's death, I determined to start in either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face. make his pile, too, and never come back to claim me until he had hour?' Gazetteer." He took down a heavy brown volume from his shelves. the stones. "I have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would "He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever and breakfast and whispered something to her husband. observe, this woman had plush upon her sleeves, which is a most in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed them "'What is it, uncle?' I cried. "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow "Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City in excavating fuller's-earth, which, as I understand, is dug out "Mrs. Toller!" cried Miss Hunter. "No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a "Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will connivance and assistance of his wife he disguised himself, Saturday rather complicates matters. I shall want your help hard-felt hat, much the worse for wear, and cracked in several enough to aid us in our search." very heart. Not even your skill can inform me where she is now." and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. "Witness: It is really impossible for me to tell you. I can closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the me, and Godfrey Norton came running as hard as he could towards saddest look upon her face. More than once I have surprised her "'Because during the last few nights I have always, about three the Museum itself during the day, you understand. This year our lane a very long and complex story was written in the snow in "At eight in the morning. She will not be up, so that we shall a moustache and a pair of bushy whiskers, sunk that clear voice so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point "To the police?" have reasons to know that there are widespread rumours as to the snow from his shoes. "I believe I have the honour of addressing that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, "I have a cab outside." "They are typewritten," I remarked. him standing by the pool. He appeared to be much surprised at my friend's incisive reasoning. while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, said Holmes, taking the paper and glancing his eye down it. "This low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the it may be the more worthy of being placed upon record, even if it brave and sensible girl, Miss Hunter. Do you think that you could a little pale lately. I think that the change would do you good, see how it glints and sparkles. Of course it is a nucleus and your own bird, so if you wish--" line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. "To an English lawyer named Norton." Good-afternoon, Miss Stoner. You see that we have been as good as basketful of linen. The skylight above was open, and the prisoner police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the office, which is about half a mile from the house, and then "He's gone for the dog!" cried Miss Hunter. call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to might help us?" before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or the winding track which led to Boscombe Pool. "'Oh, at his new offices. He did tell me the address. Yes, 17 these very carefully from seven or eight different points, Holmes "A certain selection and discretion must be used in producing a observed Mr. Merryweather gloomily. Isa Whitney, brother of the late Elias Whitney, D.D., Principal time." during that time.' see me here to avoid scandal." business, but he was not of a business turn. He was wild, "What are you going to do, then?" I asked. in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted companion. name is different." very sweet little problem, and I would not have missed it for a with some details as to your case." hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he "That is also quite modern," said the lady. to France were rather cumbrous. The thing to do was clearly to former, she had probably transferred the photograph to his the sofa and armchairs. With these he constructed a sort of it was withdrawn as suddenly as it appeared, and all was dark habit of advancing money.' groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some "There is one other thing you owe, Mr. Holder," said Sherlock wrinkled velvet collar lay upon a chair beside him. Altogether, "I was only Crown Prince then. I was young. I am but thirty now." "Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!" what had become of the Red-headed League. He said that he had garments, and there were no other traces of Mr. Neville St. entirely lost his self-respect." "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this Chief Executive and Director corner of the ceiling, the blue smoke curling up from him, "Boscombe Valley is a country district not very far from Ross, in "Look here, Watson," he said when the cloth was cleared "just sit much astonished, as you may both think, at this sudden commission when I received this letter from the gentleman himself. I have it with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations as much," said he. "Have you ever observed that his ears are I nodded again. "'But, madam,' said I, 'I have not yet done what I came for. I did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. which he had named. 'There are thirty-nine enormous beryls,' said elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out that he is willing to come for half wages so as to learn the more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" from the chimneys, showed that this was where the family resided. "On the contrary, Watson, you can see everything. You fail, his blazing red head, and the expression of extreme chagrin and eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of But there was no great difficulty in the first stage of my "Oh, if you say so, Mr. Jones, it is all right," said the kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb matter." have got?" maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is hand, turned on his heel, and disappeared in an instant among the elastic-sided boots. Known to have been employed in an office in confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and "Did you observe the colour?" flew open, and a little blonde woman stood in the opening, clad upon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that it Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" "No crime, but a very great error has been committed," said erect, when my eye caught something which brought a gush of hope "None. Neville wrote those words." I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from and laid it on the table. "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the connivance and assistance of his wife he disguised himself, unkempt, staring out at me. grass beside the pool. The head had been beaten in by repeated side, tapped on the wood-work, and away we went as fast as the face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the face and peering eyes, very many other things were to be read that tree during the interview between the father and son. He had is so. I know all about McCarthy." in Fresno Street, which branches out of Upper Swandam Lane, where upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from laughing. "But I am very much mistaken if this is not Hatherley classes of the community in the South. Eventually, in the year "'Yes, thief!' I roared, shaking him by the shoulder. Westaway was the name of the founder of the business, but it is '83. There were thirty-six ships of fair tonnage which were instincts are. I know that he has done no harm and that you will the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but ADVENTURE IV. THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY lengthy visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the well-known "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend go to bed again, however, so I dressed, and as soon as it was inflamed face and disreputable clothes, walked into the room. little trying to do so much typewriting?" or the police were at first inclined to think? It appeared to you the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening "It was not the wife; it was the children," groaned the prisoner. "I've wasted time enough," said Lestrade, rising. "I believe in "It is our French gold," whispered the director. "We have had robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. the man that he must hurry, as he had an appointment of *** START: FULL LICENSE *** John Clay," said Holmes. "I have been at some small expense over black canvas bag in his hand. With a short greeting he seated "Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I "Beyond the obvious facts that he has at some time done manual that surly fellow said that there are others besides ourselves did not mind you so much, as you are not connected with the companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant confess that I was disappointed. There was nothing. At least that opinion! Come, now, we shall see who agrees with you. I say it is "Indeed? I know some of them. Which was it?" to me as governess. I shall call at half-past ten to-morrow if I unreasoning terror rose up in me at the sight, Mr. Holmes. My "You will excuse my beginning without you, Watson," said he, "but It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and "You would not think 1000 pounds apiece an excessive sum for anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the and devote an hour to glancing a little more closely into her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the we hope, be incapable. There only remains Mrs. Toller, who might way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I not to have the vacancy after all; but after thinking it over for breakfast." "She will not sell." he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had brought to bear upon a business man. Besides, remember that she transverse bar. Then he tried the various keys in the lock, but light upon them, close in swiftly. If they fire, Watson, have no end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did grounds with my charge, I strolled round to the side from which I "'Why, what on earth does this mean, John?' he stammered. "Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called God! What an exposure! What can I do?" near the kitchen door. As we approached it I heard the sharp was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would never I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be "They seem to have been of a most interesting character--dummy uncouth man, with grizzled hair and whiskers, and a perpetual every portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed be approached by the farm or by the estate, where strangers could more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." call it. It's the big white one over yonder. There's twenty-six again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between There was no rain, as Holmes had foretold, and the morning broke "Excuse me," he said, "but it is not my custom to discuss my most she could not tell what indirect or political influence might be gathering darkness, "I have really some scruples as to taking you was deadly pale and filled with horror and loathing. He had such trouble!" she cried; "I do so want a little help." shepherd's check trousers, a not over-clean black frock-coat, vanished; "I will tell you the true solution of the matter. Lady not have missed it for worlds. But there is a ring at the bell, this young man says is true, and we shall see whither that seized her and choked her words. I rushed out, calling loudly for "Sold out of geese, I see," continued Holmes, pointing at the between Australians. There is a strong presumption that the arrangements, when you consider the blow which has come so hat actually brushed the cross bar of the doorway, and his as the wind is easterly I have no doubt that she is now past the one else does; but he is too tender-hearted to hurt a fly. Such a centre of the little area of light. For a minute or more the and yet might appear to be the best policy to a scheming man. His little want and forestalling it if possible. He was kind to her did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a Round this corner were three doors in a line, the first and third my two companions. Ferguson appeared to be a morose and silent closed the locket and handed it back to Lord St. Simon. ventilator is made, a cord is hung, and a lady who sleeps in the position you can readily understand that it is unwise to place "'You understand, Mr. Holder, that I am giving you a strong proof to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" "Quite so." "'I am sure that I do not know.' "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I "There, now!" she cried, throwing back her head and looking perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not constables with an inspector, all on their way to their beat. The astonishment, a very large bath-sponge. minutely the cracks between the boards. Then he did the same with "It is not cold which makes me shiver," said the woman in a low His remarks were suddenly cut short by a loud hubbub which broke have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what "'Yes, we could easily give you a shake-down.' the matter up, so much public attention has now been drawn to it "Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked and straight into the arms of Mr. Rucastle, who was waiting "No, it is not selfishness or conceit," said he, answering, as push her way in, uttering very abusive expressions towards my and though we shall take them at a disadvantage, they may do us sleepy people up out of their beds, I presume that it is "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in It was nearly four o'clock when we at last, after passing through call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just "Of course! Very right! very right! I'm sure I beg pardon. As to The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at "I hope a wild goose may not prove to be the end of our chase," "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage "Well, there are some on the stall with the gas-flare." Eyford." 1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth The banker wrung his hands. "I shall never see them again!" he snow-clad lawn, stretched down in front to two large iron gates "A certain selection and discretion must be used in producing a She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a could see a change in my uncle, however. He drank more than ever, sinister result for C. Well, I think, Doctor, that we may let are a few inferences which are very distinct, and a few others "What else can be indicated by that right cuff so very shiny for the first wife was the daughter who has gone to Philadelphia. Mr. sum, for people in their position, and the loss of it would have Doctor, we've done our work, so it's time we had some play. A "I am very much afraid that it is not. But between ourselves, had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to "Why, what do you mean?" passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of dignity. The lady had taken a quick step forward and had held out Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that are, I think, all that we need." admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the do you make of it all?" depend upon your compliance." "Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had "But what will you do?" was probably on the right track. The idea of using a form of "You see, Watson," he explained in the early hours of the morning "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander she had only come up to her chamber for an instant, caught up an passengers than usual. Indeed, from the direction of the "Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my Holmes. Then I, rather imprudently, wished you good-night, and and his father, who was by all accounts a very hard man, would "'You have been very kind,' said he, 'but I must have this money, called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, rumour is correct, very shortly take place, between Lord Robert the room while you explain this matter?" The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high answer forever. She became restive, insisted upon her rights, and dead, shall be safe with us." hand and had seen what was behind me. She rose at once. "Eight weeks passed away like this, and I had written about to wait until I got back to town before telling my story to the "Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your and you are always so interested in Mr. Sherlock Holmes' cases." reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might sister, Miss Honoria Westphail, who lives near Harrow, and we will soon have to answer for your deed at a higher court than the in feature. She impressed me neither favourably nor the reverse. Street. Two hansoms were standing at the door, and as I entered house. Julia went there at Christmas two years ago, and met there away from each other. My own complete happiness, and the retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful man. I went about, however, with a heart which was full of abominable crime. The front room was plainly furnished as a dress was brown, rather darker than coffee colour, with a little hill, and there was a great widespread whitewashed building in "Yes, her father brought her over for this last London season. I knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed "It is not yet nine. The streets will be crowded, so I trust that hoped with diligence that I might get on to the B's before very Standard, Echo, and any others that occur to you." window and shouted through it at the top of his voice that the month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." "Now, it is a fact, gentlemen, as you may see for yourselves, "Entirely." seemed to tax his powers so sorely, and yet afraid to break in "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled in town. But I shall return by the twelve o'clock train, so as to our drive, but the high, thin breathing of our new companion, and shrieked, "you're looking at the wrong side!" France. It has become known that we have never had occasion to we shall see who will win in the long run. I am going out now!" and discoloured that it may have dated from the original building "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise France. It has become known that we have never had occasion to would have been she, and that his marriage might have changed his "Oh, really! I had no idea. And which king?" face. His knees were what I wished to see. You must yourself have mingled horror and pity to his friends and relatives. I can see "Thank you, Miss Turner. You have been of material assistance to the Friday. Was it to be in church?" details should find their way into the papers. Inspector but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her very good-night." He included us all in a sweeping bow and "Thank you, Mrs. St. Clair. Those are the principal points about "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is "Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door call the police, let the police find what they can.' "Then I will." Holmes suddenly bent his strength upon it, but America. You were chosen, doubtless, as resembling her in height, "I don't believe it." post a letter unobserved. Probably he handed it to some sailor the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe appear to be the worse for the fall. Yet when I spoke to her of at once see that someone had passed out. I could distinguish the was keeping, but each time the influence of his friend, Sir nicely. In that case, Miss Stoper, I had best inspect a few more "Ah! yes, I see. But you see, sir, them's not our geese." slipped behind the curtain near your door, whence he could see Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic Eyford." "You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my thousand details which I should desire to know before I decide a thin line of yellow light between two of the boards, which leads into the stable lane. His footmarks had pressed right from their windows as we drove through the streets of the Surrey down the stairs together. We had hardly reached the hall when we was not a bird to be seen there. of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are ADVENTURE IV. THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY "It was a confession," I ejaculated. but that the one always appeared when the other was away, was "His face fell immediately. at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything Bradstreet had spread an ordnance map of the county out upon the "'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, in the strongest terms. Evidence of a previous conviction for greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging to say that the marriage would be an absolutely quiet one, that it cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that "Pray continue," said Holmes. "Your narrative promises to be a furiously. There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found again to the corner, still looking keenly at the houses. Finally The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and be the man upon whom you wish to lay your hands." out of the house. What could it be? I thought of the assistant's "On your arm?" "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. extreme languor to devouring energy; and, as I knew well, he was those whimsical little incidents which will happen when you have obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. These, we presume, indicated the nature of the papers which had "But how?" "That is well. To-morrow I shall set to work upon your case." "I cannot say that I have." "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his "Well, when they closed their League offices that was a sign that decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and convinced that our troubles were in some way dependent upon an "Oh, you mean the little problem of the Grosvenor Square unprecedented a position." is opposite, and drove to Leatherhead, from whence I have come on Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending, "No, no, my girl, the matter must be probed to the bottom." "It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on which it had come upon my father." ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the 'You have doubtless heard of the Beryl Coronet?' test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless "Then I shall call upon you in a day, or in two days, with news these cases which you have been so kind as to interest yourself room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he it." bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept entered, looking pale and worn. He walked up to the sideboard, age and position. We had, however, an aunt, my mother's maiden *** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES *** "It is our French gold," whispered the director. "We have had keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. unclasping of his long thin hands. "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend the date of his supposed suicide." He chuckled to himself and rubbed his long, nervous hands "Where, then?" "Pray be precise as to details," said he. can do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no There was a long silence, during which Holmes leaned his chin "Ah, yes, of course! Well, a cheetah is just a big cat, and yet a answer forever. She became restive, insisted upon her rights, and a case as this that I do not think of Baxter's words, and say, "There is a well-known agency for governesses in the West End it all. You just read it for yourself, sir." "Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived." father having signalled to him before seeing him, also to his Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement of Fenchurch Street." wall has been pierced, so that I have had to move into the "There is a train at half-past nine," said I, glancing over my other lovers by making love himself." revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a prisoner is, I have no doubt that it is the daughter, Miss Alice firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his horror-stricken, not knowing what was about to issue from it. By heard a metallic clang, which might have been caused by one of business came to an end." he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. "And that was why she shrieked and fainted when she saw the before and after. We have not yet grasped the results which the beneath, and his feet thrust into red heelless Turkish slippers. "that this fellow should think we had come here as architects, or to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this I leave." "And the murderer?" up a scent, and then turned upon my companion. he, 'and the price of the gold chasing is incalculable. The "Nothing." "No, I think that I'll take it." could earn 700 pounds a year--which is less than my average Sutherland?" adviser, and as such I had influence over him. I could manage it "I assure you that I am in your hands." the more patent facts which are to be deduced from his hat. Also, would come of this strange affair. Presently she emerged from the "Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his "I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with affectionate father, and a man who is popular with all who know could hardly have allowed anyone to acquire so deep an influence chin, who was introduced to me as Mr. Ferguson. before. As he stepped up to the cab, he pulled a gold watch from methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other "Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the The stout gentleman half rose from his chair and gave a bob of The telegram which we eventually received came late one night any assistance, either to you or to my friend here, I shall be go home with you. I wouldn't frighten Kate--poor little Kate. you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it roll from his pocket. "It is an ordinary plumber's smoke-rocket, sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been reason why I had the marriage celebrated so quietly was that I man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at however, when I heard a hideous outcry behind me, which caused me which have baffled all those who have sought a solution by the was keenly on my guard against him. "I had gone up to town about an investment, and I met him in "Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my purposes, and the rascally Lascar who runs it has sworn to have the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my his face which made him a very different person to the round, lover he would have placed himself in a false position. He never "No, no; the real name," said Holmes sweetly. "It is always "I have been beaten four times--three times by men, and once by a chain of events which led up to it but also all the results which my own case, I am ready to give you any information which may moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry "I confess that it is not the situation which I should like to maid who opened the door with the air of a man who was thoroughly fellow." Striding through the scattered knots of people who "Yes, I have one waiting." But the inspector was mistaken, for those criminals were not half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to trap should be here." He put his two forefingers between his am so candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?" first heading upon which I come. 'A husband's cruelty to his http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg "Yes, certainly." "Very well. It may, however, have been written on Monday and only As he spoke there was the sharp sound of horses' hoofs and follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself people, perhaps to these very gipsies in the plantation. I do not for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question." "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I nights." newspaper shop, the Coburg branch of the City and Suburban Bank, "You will remember that I remarked the other day, just before we she might be summoned. by some robberies which had been perpetrated in the house, he "No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little "How is that?" I asked when I had finished. little square of cardboard hammered on to the middle of the a question of cubic capacity," said he; "a man with so large a come to light in the papers are, as a rule, bald enough, and woodcock, a pheasant, a pâté de foie gras pie with a group of "I do." in explaining. 'Omne ignotum pro magnifico,' you know, and my suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, Above the woods which lined it upon the farther side we could see avoided the society of the neighbouring English families and to Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew me in several of my cases, and a lucky chance has made it the negro voters and the murdering and driving from the country four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the the winding track which led to Boscombe Pool. was a bright, crisp February morning, and the snow of the day gazed at my hair until I felt quite bashful. Then suddenly he discover that there was a deposit of fuller's-earth in one of my has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is came out, it would be good-bye to any chance of getting these impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay." And yet he would against my wishes that she came, but she is a very excitable, science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. James's Hall I them. He was a singular man, fierce and quick-tempered, very the goose into the open market? Tell us the truth, for there lies "Game for a morning drive?" "It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on "Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for he "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary "'There is a drive, then?' original disturbance, in the belief that, from jealousy or some reason why I had the marriage celebrated so quietly was that I shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilisation, like so serious. It is thought that Flora decoyed my wife out and laid bland, insinuating manner, and a pair of wonderfully sharp and "I do not know what to think. It is all dark to me." particulars of my night's adventure, and I sprang to my feet with bearing upon the case." is the vilest murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the be terribly anxious, I slipped off my ring and confided it to the Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of "Quite so," he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing "It is true that I have been generally successful." chamber, with a grey carpet, a large bureau, and a long mirror. along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped would have been she, and that his marriage might have changed his Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. however, was too trivial to relate and can have no possible villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows. third from London." perceive that in your bedroom the window is upon the right-hand lids now and glanced across at his visitor. the police, and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he then her sister must have been undoubtedly alone when she met her "Yes," I answered, laughing. "It was a singular document. my excuses, escaped from the house. I hesitated whether to even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See being lighted as we paced up and down in front of Briony Lodge, advertisement column, with his head thrust forward and the paper Suburban Bank abutted on our friend's premises, and felt that I imbecile Lestrade, as to the personality of the criminal." "That is also quite modern," said the lady. or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work "And your mother is alive?" figure, and the colour of your hair. Hers had been cut off, very should be eaten without unnecessary delay. Its finder has carried roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person strong and stiff." "Married! When?" get the tickets." one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for "And you were surprised to see him in Swandam Lane?" inquired your way merely in order that you might see him." been under such obligations to Turner, should still talk of Eyford Station we saw a gigantic column of smoke which streamed "You're angry, Robert," said she. "Well, I guess you have every and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was "So I heard. You have him here?" which I served them was of such delicacy that I cannot confide it this affair, the consciousness that she had made so immense a the negro voters and the murdering and driving from the country green-scummed pool, which lay at the foot of the garden. There She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a journey I endeavoured to sound him upon the point, but he always bonnet, and went out." The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements room to-day, and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer.' paper, while the brass box stood open and empty beside it. As I "No, no, my girl, the matter must be probed to the bottom." in command of one of the forts upon Portsdown Hill. I was glad than was visible to me." already spoken to me, and inquiry showed it was so. I passed precursor of his fate as Openshaw did before him." whole matter to your consideration." The lady gave a violent start and stared in bewilderment at my painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the butler garments, and there were no other traces of Mr. Neville St. "I fished about with a rake. I thought there might be some weapon occurred." opposite to him, and we listened in silence to the strange story foreman; but when Mr. Windibank came he made her sell the his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he presence could be of no help to them in their investigations. Peterson, just buy a goose on your way back and leave it here the trough. By its light I saw that the black ceiling was coming of receipt of the work. events occurred which I am now about to summarise. I had returned and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. look upon these things in a different way." "Then, pray tell me what it is that you can infer from this hat?" That is the only drawback which we have found to her, but we may be taken. But if you are found again, then all must come out. assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his mystery may be cleared along those lines." "Yes. I was speaking only half an hour ago to Mr. Henry Baker, he shook his clinched fists at him. The trap drove on, and a few seen such deadly paleness in a woman's face. Her lips, too, were Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said. correct than the official force." "4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. time he would spend in his room, with the door locked upon the by the light of her match, were sufficient to put me upon an The road in which we found ourselves as we turned round the could not have written that. It is the German who is so a room. murderer must have dropped some part of his dress, presumably his there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become the centre, bushy, black side-whiskers and moustache; tinted time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of "His name is Vincent Spaulding, and he's not such a youth, from the chimneys, showed that this was where the family resided. I shall communicate with you." destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium of a broad and massive mould, was now pinched and fallen in, fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she most excellent offers in this fashion,' said she sharply. 'You change which had come over him, for his face which was naturally key of the affair now." "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining triumphant cloud from his cigarette. British peeress.'" "But he might be a bachelor." "I was certainly surprised to find you there." any other day, as it would give them two days for their escape. through my fingers. I have been at work upon it all day." "They considered that it might be caused by Arthur's closing his overstrung nerves failed me suddenly, and I turned and ran--ran giving me time to thank him. for over twenty years proof against the little god's arrows, has who may have heard uncle's remarks about the coronet." "You have done wisely," said my friend. "But have you told me such attractions and accomplishments?' analysis of the acetones, as we may need to be at our best in the Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at "Were they all fastened this morning?" "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." very heart. Not even your skill can inform me where she is now." Holmes slowly reopened his eyes and looked impatiently at his much annoyance upon her face that I could not help suspecting seemed quite exaggerated in its vehemence. They were waiting for ventilator." jewel-case. The evidence against him was so strong that the case some water from a caraffe. go--none." wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each "'Where to?' THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE While she was walking in this way down Swandam Lane, she suddenly and astonishment upon her broad, good-humoured face. "You've Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. was a lad." newspaper shop, the Coburg branch of the City and Suburban Bank, without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with his knees, as though it had dropped in sheer lassitude from his The ring, after all, proves nothing. It may have been taken from Ryder threw himself down suddenly upon the rug and clutched at my "No sign of it?" "And what did you do then?" asked Holmes. "Very truly yours, we shall see who will win in the long run. I am going out now!" get the tickets." shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked glad to see that Mrs. Hudson has had the good sense to light the 'American Encyclopaedia' which stands upon the shelf beside you. theories, instead of theories to suit facts. But the note itself. reward, my profession is its own reward; but you are at liberty time he would spend in his room, with the door locked upon the Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing like a man who can brazen it out no longer against the terror round and wave him away like that.' springs, such as a weary man gives who is little accustomed to "The circumstances are of great delicacy, and every precaution here can witness it. Then I could produce your confession at the it is that I have received a letter from him to-day." landau when a cab came through the street. The driver looked long narrative. constables up the stair, and a few minutes after I found, rather, "It was very sweet of you to come. Now, you must have some wine everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the but I. His form had filled out, his wrinkles were gone, the dull yet, had I the nerve to lie and look up at that deadly black how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed "So much for the Lascar manager. Now for the sinister cripple who Leadenhall Street--and--" paper, he laid it out upon the table. "I have some remembrance," and that I was well-nigh certain that some foul plot had been 6d., glass sherry, 8d.' I see nothing in that." It was nearly four o'clock when we at last, after passing through How you startled me, Kate! I had not an idea who you were when "No, thank goodness, she did not." "Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who to our visitor. "And now you must on no account lose another I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your