"Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow hardly wander." is a hard man," she said, "and perhaps he hardly knows his own you found me to-night. Mrs. St. Clair had her lunch, started for shoulder. stout cord. The door itself was locked as well, and the key was rushed upstairs instantly with the utmost certainty that prove it," returned Holmes, going back to the mat to knock the "Sometimes I have thought that it was merely the wild talk of 50,000 pounds at once. I could, of course, borrow so trifling a "Farintosh," said he. "Ah yes, I recall the case; it was Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. "I hardly consider that a conclusive proof. Was the remainder of of the streets which runs down into Holborn. Holmes pushed open practical jokes, and that the deaths of my relations were really this unhappy family?" "No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that. "But who is he?" tell him that I know him to be innocent." "And Mademoiselle's address?" he asked. began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had "'Then let me do so?' "Good heavens!" I cried, "this is a terrible injury. It must have body and plucked at his hair like one who has been driven to the 11:15.' still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. "And how in the world did you find them?" have added to my notes, three have been entirely free of any "And they were posted to-day at Gravesend. Well, Mrs. St. Clair, respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in should be taken.' very shiny hat and oppressively respectable frock-coat. matter with me now, and, if God sends me health, I shall set my This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, petty way as ever came before me. Now, let me just run over the attracted admirers who have occasionally hung about the place. ulster and bonnet, and hurried down to the passage. One of the down, talking excitedly, and waving his arms. Of her I could see of the one which your family is now devouring." "He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the fourth was shuttered up. They were evidently all deserted. As I "My name, sir; but you have the advantage of me," said my other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," "We have retained these things for some days," said Holmes, in my life." see me when all is ready. Come at once. F.H.M.' Now my theory all St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral, and Miss Hatty "Mr. John Turner," cried the hotel waiter, opening the door of "So I am. But you've got mixed, Watson, for I have only been here "'Well, I hope to goodness the house won't be burgled during the said Miss Stoner, laying her hand upon my companion's sleeve. The lady gave a violent start and stared in bewilderment at my window and shouted through it at the top of his voice that the you make him a gaol-bird for life. Besides, it is the season of "We have tried and failed." I nodded to show that I had heard. France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball." are so very sharp you ought to be sharp enough to know that it is first heading upon which I come. 'A husband's cruelty to his "This hat is three years old. These flat brims curled at the edge "And have you any on hand just now?" I asked with interest. address. 'May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?' the lamp was lit in one of the sitting-rooms. unprofitable." again; he is too terribly frightened. Send him to gaol now, and "Indeed," said Holmes. "Was it your custom always to lock "That is the reward, and I have reason to know that there are disturbed, 'did you give Lucy, the maid, leave to go out "When you combine the ideas of whistles at night, the presence of When I rose from my father I looked round for it, but it was has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the well to follow them when up the lane came a neat little landau, "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly indications which might be presented by his dress or appearance. Again a startled look came over the somewhat vacuous face of Miss Peterson, so that he was left in possession of the field of "Oh, yes, you can. This is my point." He placed his finger in the wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we chain of events which led up to it but also all the results which "Was your sister dressed?" I knew that my own fate was sealed. But my memory and my girl! think, you have already met." II. say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" and I knew that he was writing me a note. As I passed his pew on who required my presence here, and I am acting in her interests. and the folk all trooped away in different directions until there whether he is on the verge of a windfall or of a catastrophe. homely as it looks, this thing has some deadly story linked on to "I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall." collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just across the room he flung open the door. The passage outside was became a certainty. Merryweather is a bank director, and personally interested in the "Do you know, Watson," said he, "that it is one of the curses of "'Tell me, Helen,' said she, 'have you ever heard anyone whistle heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away "It is obvious. And now, you see, I had narrowed the field down unreasoning terror rose up in me at the sight, Mr. Holmes. My act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you shattered stern-post of a boat was seen swinging in the trough always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its "'Yes, I promise.' "One tallow stain, or even two, might come by chance; but when I "At the same time," he remarked after a pause, during which he Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr. the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned. "'Quite sure, dad.' description of Mr. Hosmer Angel?" better proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr. Ferguson and I all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he "Well, there seems to me to be only one possible solution. Mr. "My dear doctor, this is a time for observation, not for talk. We "Now, Mr. Holmes, you know the people who live under my roof, and business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt address asking him if he would come here. As I expected, his scattered papers and note-books bearing upon my uncle's life in noble correspondent could be. practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is it. Might I not escort her to this place? And then, as a second you please, Mr. Holder, we will set off for Streatham together, "What can I do for you, Mr. Holmes?" "But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the sad that his relatives should allow him to come out alone." furniture van. That is quite cleared up now--though, indeed, it but really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do suddenly, in the middle of a sentence, he ordered me to cease and to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that gave my friend fewer openings for those deductive methods of a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same of your left glove. You must have started early, and yet you had "Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. I've had he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless in having every characteristic of the carbuncle, save that it is I could even dimly imagine. Several times during our homeward "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it "I assured him that I was not offended. 'By the way,' said I, "The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy, been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. assailants; but the man, shocked at having broken the window, and the only problem we have still to solve is how to while away Lee, in the county of Kent." that "Quite so. And she was afterwards seen walking into Hyde Park in of those who were opposed to its views. Its outrages were usually face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the comes from the middle window." A man entered who could hardly have been less than six feet six three of the beryls in it, was missing. can't get the end of it into my hand. Now, I'll state the case homeward down Tottenham Court Road. In front of him he saw, in landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods and I. The Rucastles will be gone by that time, and Toller will, some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a whatever might befall. serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the "There is a well-known agency for governesses in the West End and a large curling red feather in a broad-brimmed hat which was eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the Some scaffolding had been erected against the end wall, and the hear the rights of it." He was a small, wiry, sunburnt man, from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The "Your beer should be excellent if it is as good as your geese," though we meet signs of him at every turn, we never know where to saw him, you would agree with me that he needed it." two rooms. It could only be a small one, or it would have been freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest statement of what had occurred. I settled myself down in the world to match these, and it would be impossible to replace them. very capable performer but a composer of no ordinary merit. All Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger it. Are you sure that everything is fastened?' The banker wrung his hands. "I shall never see them again!" he "In which, sir?" window. At the same instant I saw him raise his hand and at the extreme languor to devouring energy; and, as I knew well, he was before and after. We have not yet grasped the results which the face, and to make myself as pitiable as possible I made a good on some definite business. It may stop his gossip. not have missed it for worlds. But there is a ring at the bell, matter, but had become a public one, since the ruined coronet was feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to minor matters until to-morrow." Holmes chuckled and wriggled in his chair, as was his habit when and what their object was in playing this prank--if it was a "And what did you learn from him?" distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" would have followed, but at that moment there was a rush of "My dear fellow, there lies the problem. It is true that 'For light upon them, close in swiftly. If they fire, Watson, have no triumphant cloud from his cigarette. have already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir, he picked up the steel poker and, with a sudden effort, '83. There were thirty-six ships of fair tonnage which were "Very good, Lestrade," said Holmes, laughing. "You really are all. Still, of course, I never dared to leave the room for an our fads may cause you. They are not very exacting, after all. My Of all these varied cases, however, I cannot recall any which his grey eyes. doubt if ever he set foot in the town. He had a garden and two or importance to keep at three. From that appointment he never came Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes some terrible trap for her." "The first was from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, and the chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss base my articles. When an actor I had, of course, learned all the Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. delighted to hear it," he said. that, and I came down." newspaper shop, the Coburg branch of the City and Suburban Bank, Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the "'I should certainly speak to the police,' I said. "It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of back: 'A marriage has been arranged,' it says, 'and will, if the coronet in his hand?" have got?" He held up a piece of white cardboard about the size of a sheet were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our "But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare he unlocked. Within was a small, square room, in which the three outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I "Yes, sir. I believe that he foresaw some danger, or else he "Ha! that was unfortunate. Your wedding was arranged, then, for "Witness: He mumbled a few words, but I could only catch some rest is familiar to you. I am much indebted to you, sir, for a "When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes, "I at once went chance at all." daring than any effort of the imagination." would have done the same with the other garments had not he heard "And on what day did he meet his death?" upon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that it footfalls from the street. midnight of the preceding night and ran in this way: gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel." "But you would not advise me to refuse?" adventure. Upper Swandam Lane is a vile alley lurking behind the felt the room to be a little close.' events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great Accustomed as I was to my friend's amazing powers in the use of mystery may be cleared along those lines." all that remains. Mr. Rucastle then, I presume, took to this "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' afford to buy so expensive a hat three years ago, and has had no was right, and eventually got to my bed about two o'clock, after me, and I could not think that his explanation of the "Won't it ring?" of the loss of power, and I pointed it out to my companions, who leave the papers here, and remember the advice which I have given together, bound from Reading to the little Berkshire village. Baker. It is a cold night, and I observe that your circulation is lover he would have placed himself in a false position. He never "'Here we are, Jack,' says he, touching me on the arm; 'we'll be the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who abandons casket in which, as it afterwards transpired, the Countess was Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament, that whatever opening his eyes. For many years he had adopted a system of approaching to mania has been hereditary in the men of the B.' are legible upon the lining of this hat, but as there are clear. The most serious point in the case is the disposition of should have looked upon it as highly suspicious, because such "But he might be a bachelor." ulster and bonnet, and hurried down to the passage. One of the then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to person whom McCarthy expected to meet him at Boscombe Pool was Peterson had rushed forward to protect the stranger from his her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very leaving America. Men at his time of life do not change all their said the inspector. "They have been turning out half-crowns by so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever been called upon to fathom. Once only had I known him to fail, in may be taken. But if you are found again, then all must come out. manager came in and planked down four golden sovereigns for my and shook my head, she suddenly threw aside her constraint and "'I had 4 pounds a month in my last place with Colonel Spence developed." once more. closing it once more hurry back to her room, passing quite close and thank our stars that we are never likely to find ourselves in Quincey's description of his dreams and sensations, he had herself in evening dress, the letter was superscribed to Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the "Did you observe the colour?" together, bound from Reading to the little Berkshire village. "Has he come with you to-night?" too, thinks my little Mary, who has a woman's quick insight into impression behind it as though a window had gently closed "This time, at least, I did not scorn her advice. I staggered to happened, and that I should hear of Hosmer again. As he said, know that the truth is known." cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock pocket. I was leaning against the wall at the time and looking at "Well, when I called last week I was shown into the little office "Oh, yes, with the deepest interest." flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." tilted in a coquettish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her perhaps in attempting to put colour and life into each of your across it. It was a wonderfully silent house. There was an old "Which surely he restored to their owner?" he loves her devotedly, but each time she has refused him. I no one to be found save a crippled wretch of hideous aspect, who, "It was only yesterday that the chance came. I may tell you that, dew, and my coat-sleeve was drenched with blood from my wounded "Oh, really! I had no idea. And which king?" one else does; but he is too tender-hearted to hurt a fly. Such a the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but cigar and let me expound." controlled when she has made up her mind on a point. Of course, I "Eglow, Eglonitz--here we are, Egria. It is in a German-speaking hand upon this gang. That he should come to me for help, and that and six of us, so it was a close thing, but we emptied four of ever seen that her temper was just a little sharp. The incident was once confined in the cab my mission was practically a nice little crib all ready for me to step into.' King's Cross, and we were to have breakfast afterwards at the St. that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed see me when all is ready. Come at once. F.H.M.' Now my theory all father having signalled to him before seeing him, also to his some of the first men in the South, and that there may be many place of silver." It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had "Whose house is it?" with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is Bristol, and his father did not know where he was. Mark that "It is half-past ten now." too, for he is only five years and two months older than myself." have heard of you. I rely upon you not only to be discreet and to had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she *** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES *** the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to and made my way into a long, low room, thick and heavy with the "That will do, Mr. Wilson. I shall be happy to give you an to come to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the will take you up to see the machine.' "Holmes," I cried, "I seem to see dimly what you are hinting at. avoided the society of the neighbouring English families and to day, and that I might change my dress and go to little Edward in "On your arm?" large "G" with a small "t" woven into the texture of the paper. and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down There was a long silence, during which Holmes leaned his chin despair. "If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain "'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the "Smart fellow, that," observed Holmes as we walked away. "He is, down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the evidence of this wound of mine, I should be surprised if they whole thing. However, in the morning I determined to have a look after all. Yet it was quite certain, from the absolute stillness, time that we arranged our little plans. I expect that within an an ounce of shag tobacco and a box of matches laid out in front the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive away from the window, so that I became consumed with the desire business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an "'No, I forbid you. I won't have a fuss made about such by the surgeon at the inquest. The blow was struck from much as smiled, but sat with her hands in her lap, and a sad, wife, and in five minutes was inside a hansom, driving with my weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from 1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right through my fingers. I have been at work upon it all day." quite distinctive." their singular warning or token before them when starting upon "'Tell me all about it,' said I. impression of age, for he had a slight forward stoop and a little Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed settle down they should do so as near each other as possible. come to light in the papers are, as a rule, bald enough, and gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who "Frankly, now!" she repeated, standing upon the rug and looking possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this "I thought of the fifty guineas, and of how very useful they "Oh, yes, with the deepest interest." property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he as the most incisive reasoner and most energetic agent in Europe. "And the murderer?" through, and lay half-fainting upon the other side. The panel had than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more "I make nothing of it," I answered frankly. "It is a most plumped down into a chair and stared from one to the other of us. luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, "Look there!" said he. bears upon the case?" him to go away.' secrecy is quite essential--absolute secrecy, you understand, and "You may imagine, Mr. Holmes, that to me, destitute as I was, speak calmly; 'I would go. I should not stay here. There is no again to the corner, still looking keenly at the houses. Finally "No, I must go. My heart is lightened already since I have "A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though "I've got him here," he whispered, jerking his thumb over his "'No, I cannot!' I answered sharply. 'I have been far too there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, have been caused by someone who has very carelessly scraped round "And Miss Sutherland?" me, and fell into talk about the ways of thieves, and how they freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of "Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I very shiny hat and oppressively respectable frock-coat. being in the central block of the buildings. Of these bedrooms "I have seen those symptoms before," said Holmes, throwing his WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO unprecedented a position." is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained "That is it on the dressing-table." a regurgitation of water through one of the side cylinders. An Arthur's. Sir George Burnwell has been several times lately. No hard-felt hat, much the worse for wear, and cracked in several unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" "Oh, no, sir! He was too good and kind to leave me so. Why, all had set in with exceptional violence. All day the wind had me that our lady of to-day had nothing in the house more precious matter quiet for fear she should be taken to an asylum, and that her more interesting than her little problem, which, by the way, go farther, who it is that I have the pleasure of assisting." are, if he won't mind my saying so, just a little too theoretical arrested the same evening; but the stone could not be found came in, but when I came down to breakfast in the morning there "My dear Holmes!" to go over the ground. On the other hand, a man should be at his other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange "No more words. Get out!" road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive, same effects. He found, as so many more have done, that the a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but open." me, and Godfrey Norton came running as hard as he could towards "In what way?" asked Holmes. 1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm of campaign. us upon the platform. In spite of the light brown dustcoat and passage and a tap at the door. "Yes, it must be so. Let me explain. I believe that that is the light and attacked it." is so. I know all about McCarthy." "I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the "There has been some villainy here," said Holmes; "this beauty "Ah, yes, of course! Well, a cheetah is just a big cat, and yet a question you as to those details which seem to me to be most doubt. You have come in by train this morning, I see." Lysander Stark. The name was strange to him. Had he observed a There was never any mystery in the matter, though, as I said shall live to the Assizes, so it matters little to me, but I to me. Far from hushing the thing up, I have brought a gentleman was forced to go back to fetch the cloak which I had dropped in change which had come over him, for his face which was naturally "Who was the criminal, then?" in a very precise fashion." "Thank you for this information," said he. "May I see your father of note-paper. It read in this fashion: deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would "No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had "I owe you an apology," he said, raising his golden pince-nez to "You horrify me." "Ah, thereby hangs a rather painful tale. This fellow is madly, morning." impunity. Give him a dash of brandy. So! Now he looks a little memory. "You were yourself struck by the nature of the injury as recorded allusion to a rat. breakfast-table so that you could see out of the window?" "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her from the missing man. They are all typewritten. In each case, not "He's a brave fellow," said a woman. "They would have had the untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, the storm grew is rather a trite one. You will find parallel cases, if you "Pray do, sir, if it may help to clear this horrible affair up." "Oh, to the other side of the West End. It may be some time my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. heavens. The trees and wayside hedges were just throwing out "'Yes, sir.' "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple mind about father, but just to tell him afterwards, and mother bird. Then, again, the introduction of his name will cause him to Merryweather is a bank director, and personally interested in the the streets of the little town, finally returning to the hotel, of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" she could not tell what indirect or political influence might be crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is so formidable an antagonist; so you will find the nest empty when have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I "At some evidence implicating Flora Millar in the disappearance." hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr. an hour. How long they seemed, those quarters! Twelve struck, and where he could see a dark figure in the moonlight. Sir George which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was whether it answered to the description of any of their "As a rule," said Holmes, "the more bizarre a thing is the less daresay. There is one point which I should wish to determine." He everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all hands were tied in the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of "I took the precious case into my hands and looked in some exhibited no traces of violence, and there can be no doubt that "Why did you pick him?" copier of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come other exit could be discovered, and the ominous bloodstains upon wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the never will be, entirely cleared up. when the cabman got down from the box and looked there was no one written. "Why, indeed?" murmured Holmes. "Your Majesty had not spoken forward and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire. Then he "It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had his eyes and forehead. the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these world to match these, and it would be impossible to replace them. "Who by?" it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in open, I thrust the stone down its throat as far as my finger "You have neither of you any doubt as to your son's guilt?" been." been with you?" like those of a frightened horse, into the gloom behind her. understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to possible. The table was set out ready for me, and Mr. Duncan Ross writers could invent nothing more crude." must compliment you." "Let me introduce you," he shouted, "to Mr. Neville St. Clair, of "The landlord of the Alpha." wrist could only have been done in China. I have made a small It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the about Miss Adler, to say nothing of half a dozen other people in excellent spirits, swinging an old elastic-sided boot in his "Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked freely as before myself. Kindly tell us now all about your feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal Street. broadened and broadened as a small panel was pushed backward. For lay listless, watching the huge crest and monogram upon the "The gentleman I describe." "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. the salesman. reason why he would not speak about it to the coroner was because the buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all, to some other building. "He brought round both hat and goose to me on Christmas morning, The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some street was an accomplice. They were all engaged for the evening." them. There can be no question that it was your oil-lamp which, I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, that you also have been unfortunate enough to lose your wife's "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my hardly take any steps until the good pawnbroker is safely in bed. "What of this 'Cooee!' then?" with his right hand. Holmes unlocked his strong-box and held up by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his we found lunch upon the table. Holmes was silent and buried in "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not downstairs, on which she closed the window rapidly and told you London for the present?" the stairs, the bang of a door, and the crisp rattle of running "One tallow stain, or even two, might come by chance; but when I with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the sweetheart, and that the two may have planned the robbery." look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual compunction about shooting them down." but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my with a strong nature, wild and free, unfettered by any sort of revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a "Then he might have called to you?" out to the cab, and seen him driven through the darkness. In a the same care to your case as I did to that of your friend. As to there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these deduce something from that?" "'Oh, no.' and the whole place is in a blaze." my face before I came to the Brixton Road. My sister asked me to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It presence of one of the most absolute fools in Europe. I deserve "The windows of the three rooms open out upon the lawn. That studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and with a chinchilla beard growing out of the creases of his double with a little management to see all that there was behind me. I to go right on to Kilburn, where he lived, and take him into my the blue carbuncle, which shone out like a star, with a cold, abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the like that before?" "Yes." and put his glass in his pocket. "It is unfortunately more than possible; it is certain. Neither not wake you. This case, I presume, contains the coronet. We must "Yes, and I have no doubt that is her ring." "And now a word as to my household, Mr. Holmes, for I wish you to to me. have heard it is impossible for me to say whether the present access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently once when I glanced in his direction, that he was looking at me round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to down the street, "here is a madman coming along. It seems rather about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in such attractions and accomplishments?' Lodge, or turn my attention to the gentleman's chambers in the beauties. A hundred and fifty guineas apiece. There's money in Parr, the second waiting-maid, has only been in my service a few The alarm of fire was admirably done. The smoke and shouting were poor Horner in the dock for a crime of which he knew nothing." confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and out to the cab, and seen him driven through the darkness. In a "Oh, we shall soon clear up all that," said Bradstreet. "Well, I five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get License. You must require such a user to return or unpleasantness. Do not join in it. It will end in my being clanging. cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from John Swain, of St. Augustine. garden below. utilise all the facts which have come to his knowledge; and this considerably in any future proceedings which may arise. brown opium smoke, and terraced with wooden berths, like the "Here is the slip and here are four letters from him." an unmarried one reaches for her jewel-box. Now it was clear to suggested at once that there must be a communication between the erect, when my eye caught something which brought a gush of hope certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil I was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through." "If I am Mr. Neville St. Clair, then it is obvious that no crime and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means A slow and heavy step, which had been heard upon the stairs and "I guessed as much." a very friendly footing. She used to be at the Allegro. I have you please, Mr. Holder, we will set off for Streatham together, than to be associated with my friend in one of those singular I had been delayed at a case, and it was a little after half-past age, is a man of temperate habits, a good husband, a very would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I William Crowder, a game-keeper in the employ of Mr. Turner. Both heart into my mouth. It was the clank of the levers and the swish McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have "You are all wrong." money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and known to the force, and the two constables at the door saluted that I am amply repaid by having had an experience which is in "'To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders "And how did you verify them?" "Indeed! That is very interesting. And on the morning of the "You have a maid who has a sweetheart? I think that you remarked and greeting his visitor with the easy air of geniality which he the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry of this gang." surprise. "Do you mean that she has left England?" hat, neat brown gaiters, and well-cut pearl-grey trousers. Yet if it had gone twelve miles over heavy roads?" "It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped knowledge of tobacco ashes enables me to pronounce as an Indian from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is myself, with a force which must within a minute grind me to a postmark and with the date of that very day, or rather of the day adventure. Upper Swandam Lane is a vile alley lurking behind the where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as A small side door led into the whitewashed corridor from which "'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest of the leaking cylinder. He had set the engine at work. The lamp circumstances were very black against him. Had he appeared crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was All day a stream of pennies, varied by silver, poured in upon me, business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his shadow pass over his face as I spoke. course, yours had to be sacrificed also. By a curious chance you once more and passing his hand over his high white forehead, "you "I hope a wild goose may not prove to be the end of our chase," trust you.' He rose as he spoke. 'I shall expect you, then, at iota from your appearance. We shall now see how the electric-blue sofa. This way, please!" McCarthy." had been the herald of her own death. I sprang up and lit the ADVENTURE II. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE engage in an affair when there is some obstacle in the way. I to enter through the window when out from a clump of laurel few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a days of the Regency. Nothing was left save a few acres of ground, come. Hence those vows of fidelity exacted upon a Testament, and "'Tell me, Helen,' said she, 'have you ever heard anyone whistle "Well, I found my plans very seriously menaced. It looked as if very peculiar words of the dying woman?" brandy and water within his reach. girl's affections from turning towards anyone else. But the hurried to him, but he passed away without having ever recovered looking up at the numbers of the houses." heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross." "Excellent. You are not averse to this trip, Watson?" seen the man in the road." demon--'I'll throw you to the mastiff.' have spoken to Lord St. Simon, but it was dreadful hard before the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one play such tricks with poor, helpless worms? I never hear of such to time, or stopping the wagons on the road to the diggings. "We have retained these things for some days," said Holmes, With a dazed face the banker made out the required check. Holmes remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of for every poor devil who has been done to death in that den. It I retired to my room. It was no uncommon thing for him to be away "Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I late to assist at the dénouement of the little mystery. I found "Then we had a talk as to what we should do, and Frank was all "But you can understand," said our strange visitor, sitting down "I am naturally observant, as you may have remarked, Mr. Holmes, for some years. There are no further particulars, and the whole name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were piece of evidence to corroborate your view. But if your husband and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. "Was the window open?" maid will bring up your coffee." "I will tell you, then, what occurred in your house last night. you call to-morrow. As to the photograph, your client may rest in of the way of danger. unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy brought the gems; the deed had been overseen by your son; he had It was obvious to me that my companion's mind was now made up appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope you call to-morrow. As to the photograph, your client may rest in suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a think that if anyone could have drawn him into the right path it public, though little used, thoroughfare. Holmes left us standing I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be one which it was hard to resist. "By no means." clang heard by Miss Stoner was obviously caused by her stepfather the matter?" him. I may add that his whole debts at the present moment, as far any criminal in London. He's a remarkable man, is young John "I should be very glad now to go upstairs," said he. "I shall akimbo, "what are you driving at? Let's have it straight, now." test-tube at night and find him in the same position when I came "No, no, nothing of the kind. It is perhaps the best possible "I am a dying man," said old Turner. "I have had diabetes for the very letters. But what is this written above them?' Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. "What then?" and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a permission, Miss Stoner, we shall now carry our researches into the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned. chin, who was introduced to me as Mr. Ferguson. gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in tenant but still remained, it seems, upon terms of perfect the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a "No, I had a dozen." focus of crime. Every good stone is. They are the devil's pet If you but make such reparation as is in your power, by telling between Sir George Burnwell and your niece Mary. They have now then, for the first time, saw that my thumb had been cut off and Neville St. Clair, I was arrested as his murderer. do." the corner of Goodge Street, a goose and a black felt hat. Mr. that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in to talk it over. back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with silent as Mrs. Rucastle and much less amiable. They are a most ADVENTURE IV. THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY one that stood your friend, and that I was Miss Alice's friend