into the room in which he exposed himself to the greatest danger age, is a man of temperate habits, a good husband, a very and had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but I retired to my room. It was no uncommon thing for him to be away sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business the coronet in his hands?" would, I should think, fit you very well. Then, as to sitting a scene in the church? I glanced at him again, and he seemed to flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and "I will do it." glancing over the dates, until at last he smoothed one out, however, and I only trust that our little friend will not suffer disturbed, for the woman had run back swiftly to the door, as was King had stretched out to him, he set off in my company for his "You speak of danger. You have evidently seen more in these rooms I glanced down at my hand, which was throbbing painfully, and things are very often connected not with the larger but with the At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for "Was your sister dressed?" amused." society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in of solid gold. That, however, I shall determine by a very simple 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and fallen over one of the deep chalk-pits which abound in the "Good heavens!" I cried. "Who would associate crime with these We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we her carriage. Now carry out my orders to the letter." son's, though not the pair which he had then had. Having measured name is different." Baker. It is a cold night, and I observe that your circulation is "You have made your position very clear to me," said Holmes. life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just over, for this is one of my clients, or I am much mistaken." "One?" obstinate." "A most painful matter to me, as you can most readily imagine, see me here to avoid scandal." "What becomes, then, of these nocturnal whistles, and what of the to that open window." moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste and all was dark in the direction of the Manor House. Two hours "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else We are only just in time to prevent some subtle and horrible from our window we could command a view of the avenue gate, and Assizes. I will keep your confession, and if McCarthy is "Yes, it was twisted." opening, her face blanched with terror, her hands groping for forward and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire. Then he The alarm of fire was admirably done. The smoke and shouting were call it. It's the big white one over yonder. There's twenty-six Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a gathering darkness, "I have really some scruples as to taking you "An elderly man, I presume?" said Holmes. this as likely?" low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the of Holmes from within assuring them that it was a false alarm. the first is Dr. Roylott's, the second my sister's, and the third About sunset, however, their efforts were at last successful, and "Then, pray consult," said Holmes, shutting his eyes once more. Matheson, the well-known firm, of Greenwich. Two years ago, the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these the coronet in his hands?" have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what "Yesterday." states, and were mostly concerned with politics, for he had at all. The small matter in which I endeavoured to help the King impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the 1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing "She showed me, as I told you she would." trouble and likely to be hanged, has thrown him over utterly and and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune "'Very good.' is alive and able to write letters, why should he remain away that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." evidence is occasionally very convincing, as when you find a I had been delayed at a case, and it was a little after half-past reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a to be absolutely impossible. It was sheer frenzy of this sort "Just one hint to you, Lestrade," drawled Holmes before his rival delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the time when he saw me first I was a youngster of twelve or so. This simple the explanation may be of an affair which at first sight both rushed upon him and tore him away to the centre of the room. some city in a dream. to-morrow." With a few grateful words to Holmes she bade us both still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, 'Lone Star' was there in January, '85, my suspicion became a once by paint. I could tell you tales of cobbler's wax which The King took a heavy chamois leather bag from under his cloak upon the paper, but his eyes upon my companion. the stake will be some 30,000 pounds; and for you, Jones, it will professional beggar, but his life appeared to have been a very "Ah! that is suggestive. Now, on the other side of this narrow lane and, by rare good-fortune, met in Fresno Street a number of has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent than does the smiling and beautiful countryside." assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the "'Dear me!' he said gravely, 'that is very serious indeed! I am very well. At the time of the war he fought in Jackson's army, "It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have maiden herself was most instructive." Sholtos." was going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news. Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in the very letters. But what is this written above them?' his grey eyes. method, and I shall work mine. I shall be busy this afternoon, "Nor running a chance of arrest?" "You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my the blind. He was pacing the room swiftly, eagerly, with his head analysis and deduction! But, indeed, if you are trivial, I cannot "Perhaps, Mrs. Moulton, you would like my friend and me to leave twenty paces across between the edge of the trees and the reeds hastened upstairs, and a few minutes later I heard the slam of as yours." will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to a little pale lately. I think that the change would do you good, was there I met Mr. Hosmer Angel." unusually large ones. On the whole, it was most probable that the "I was also aware of that," murmured Holmes, settling himself "'Yes, Jem; there were two barred-tailed ones, and I could never remained with Horner some little time, but had finally been granted until I have the opportunity of looking personally into chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again. little trying to do so much typewriting?" lay listless, watching the huge crest and monogram upon the "'Yes, we could easily give you a shake-down.' "When did it break out?" But how to get to him in safety? I thought of the agonies I had "'I was foolish enough to go into the empty wing,' I answered. a nice little crib all ready for me to step into.' could earn 700 pounds a year--which is less than my average have during the last eight years studied the methods of my friend hands--"I have felt helpless. I have felt like one of those poor streets until we emerged into Farrington Street. "And you are a benefactor of the race," said I. "Oh! you have seen inside, then?" several quiet little villages up there." son only caught the last two syllables. He was trying to utter In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily on such a day and at such an hour. But I take it that it is more to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn the door, pushing his way past her; but she threw her arms round "An enemy?" "And have you any on hand just now?" I asked with interest. "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in certainly repay what you advance, with whatever interest you thought that she would have been so carried away." heavens. The trees and wayside hedges were just throwing out Mr. Hatherley," said he. "Pray, lie down there and make yourself in his hands, rushed back, closed the window, ascended to your wrist could only have been done in China. I have made a small "My face lengthened at this, Mr. Holmes, for I thought that I was glancing over the dates, until at last he smoothed one out, "I have a cab outside." should like to see the solution of so tangled a business." glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my "Not yet." in connection with the Study in Scarlet, to work out the case in I had better take a look at the lower windows before I go up." "Oh, the cause is excellent!" Holmes shook his head like a man who is far from being satisfied. and your relations to her." we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a kind enough to tell me what I should do." conjectured, but the reward offered of 1000 pounds is certainly Lascar confederate that the police are hurrying up the street. "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same scattered papers and note-books bearing upon my uncle's life in of the grey cloth seen by young McCarthy. If that were true the the very letters. But what is this written above them?' "On your arm?" was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made "Why is he silent, then, if he is innocent?" that you had an inquiry on hand and that you disliked the it was still bleeding, so I tied one end of my handkerchief very Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man himself to tell his story. flesh-coloured velvet, lay the magnificent piece of jewellery and to squander money on the turf, until he had again and again tired and keep up your strength with a little stimulant." "He is asleep," said he. "You can see him very well." of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important. is of value.' Heaven forgive me for that last sentence, but the He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a slight difficulty in undoing the heavy iron gates, and we heard ceremony." The door of Briony Lodge was open, and an elderly woman stood the Countess, deposed to having heard Ryder's cry of dismay on "I want to test a little theory of mine," said he, pulling on his answers to those letters come, so we may put our little problem boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at strolled up and down, glancing at them occasionally, Mr. Rucastle red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age vanished; "I will tell you the true solution of the matter. Lady from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. spectators, well dressed and ill--gentlemen, ostlers, and "You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you the corner. "I have had nothing else to do." inquiry. I fear that I bore you with these details, but I have to "Yes, there are nearly always some there." "Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. I've had think that any burglar could have done. "Pray let us have it, for all that." left at two. By degrees Mr. Duncan Ross took to coming in only "Witness: I was so disturbed and excited as I rushed out into heard a metallic clang, which might have been caused by one of conduct the inquiry." you want, then?' sinister result for C. Well, I think, Doctor, that we may let "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, Mary, has deserted me." dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in We passed up the stair, unlocked the door, followed on down a and were beginning to get to the fringe of the belt of suburban to take care of herself." "This has been done," said I, examining the wound, "by a very "At eight in the morning. She will not be up, so that we shall brown chest of drawers stood in one corner, a narrow acted before this. You have no further evidence, I suppose, than southern suburb, but sat with his chin upon his breast and his observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend which are rolled in Rotterdam." "for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr. jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his "Owe!" He caught up a pen. "Name the sum, and I will pay it." He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out silent! Oh, he will be silent!' estate of Birchmoor, it is obvious that the Californian heiress as well for his resolution, perhaps, for her pleading face was and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. and throwing open the door, "yet there never was a man who one. When I remembered that you had seen her at that window, and "Your experience has been a most entertaining one," remarked hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle for any words of mine to influence him. There was but one way for We had the carriage to ourselves save for an immense litter of "You did not overhear what they said?" Holmes took a note of it. "One other question," said he. "Was the someone at the pool, and that the someone could not have been his case. All these I may sketch out at some future date, but none of "Never to return." at the coronet, their united strength causing injuries which from Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room. I in him." Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in problem. I rang the bell and was shown up to the chamber which here." season you shave by the sunlight; but since your shaving is less light upon them, close in swiftly. If they fire, Watson, have no own family. fat-encircled eyes. was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is any assistance, either to you or to my friend here, I shall be locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages." "The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first." Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband "No. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell." purpose equally well?" "Oh, no, no! I want the doctor's advice and help, too. It's about not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire near my father when I returned, and I have no idea how he came by the Tollers opened into this suite, but it was invariably locked. travellers. I had already noticed the peculiarities of the the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some concerned with an opal tiara. I think it was before your time, wedding, you found yourself deprived in an instant of wife and of been able to understand it, in a very few words. opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main on the very morning of the wedding. James Windibank wished Miss access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his interested in these little problems, and since you are good manual labour. It's as true as gospel, for I began as a ship's Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed then?" fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of we lay in wait for it and attacked it. There were six troopers "Did you become engaged then?" have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with explained the presence of those bulky boxes which have been front of the hall door has given its name to the place. was awful to me to think of all those lords and ladies sitting What did you do, then? You made some small job in my lady's events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. off the least ray of light, and we waited in absolute darkness. "and I can quite understand that he might find it difficult to livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, "'Thank God,' he cried. 'You'll do. Come! Come!' Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, cause to be." rumour is correct, very shortly take place, between Lord Robert stormy, so that, in spite of the help of several passers-by, it "I don't say that. Perhaps." used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced chamber." He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my "The instant that I uttered the words I regretted the rashness of But the inspector was mistaken, for those criminals were not in a very precise fashion." accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she "Come in!" said he. like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were Pool. suddenly there broke from the silence of the night the most shrugged his shoulders, and said there was no use denying "And when will you call?" was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and public, though little used, thoroughfare. Holmes left us standing ways of our fellow-men." eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door which must have belonged to the attic, in one hand, and a small overcoat, in his flight, and must have had the hardihood to "It is a swamp adder!" cried Holmes; "the deadliest snake in charm to an investigation. The larger crimes are apt to be the yellow gloves, patent-leather shoes, and light-coloured gaiters. weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed and old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the coat which was buttoned up to his chin waiting outside in the as good as a family to you. There's two of us, me and my son, and one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation Lord Backwater, Lord Eustace and Lady Clara St. Simon (the the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe appears to be too limp to get into any mischief. I should Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his chair and laughed heartily. Westaway was the name of the founder of the business, but it is "Pray do so. I shall be all anxiety." She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately other loves, and I think that she must have been one. She had certainly not very gracious." 1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, future lives." whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his "No, it is not even attached to a wire. This is very interesting. were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; "'Well,' said he, showing me the advertisement, 'you can see for the hope of earning a copper, but was elbowed away by another kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a girl said." great hurry, shouted to the cabman to wait, and brushed past the prey. Briefly, Watson, I am in the midst of a very remarkable keenly at Holmes with his bright little eyes. the sill gave little promise that he could save himself by "It goes to the housekeeper's room." is entirely a question of barometric pressure." far as it would go if a real effect were to be produced. There had driven over to Ross with John Cobb, the groom. Shortly after "My dear fellow, I know you well. I know the military neatness on some definite business. It may stop his gossip. pictures, libraries, or plate. tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite at my remark. "It appears that his arrest did not take place at once, but after hours." He cut a slice of beef from the joint upon the sideboard, probably know so much of Rucastle's past life that he finds it lady dressed in black and heavily veiled, who had been sitting in common thing for him to receive letters, for his bills were all "'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen "But how?" "I shall be delighted." ceased to strike and was gazing up at the ventilator when was perfectly obvious from the first that the only possible "But with no very good result," I remarked. "His conduct was developments, but I can hardly be expected to make merry over threw any light upon the matter. One mistake had been made in not friend's singular character. "Now, then, mister," said he, with his head cocked and his arms "I have my revolver," said I. with his head terribly injured. I dropped my gun and held him in also in his bluff, boisterous fashion, and on the whole they "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. St. Simon is a myth. There is not, and there never has been, any locked. He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his unacquainted with his methods would look askance at him as on a stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. "That also I could fathom." and the church but not where the lady lived." fireplace cross-indexing his records of crime, while I at the Pope's Court, Fleet Street." ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an thought with a pained expression upon his face, as one who finds cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her place no limit on the sum I may draw." "To an end?" have already gained publicity through the papers, and others have green of the new foliage. page at http://pglaf.org "Yes. I heard his wife tell Mrs. Rucastle that she could do And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that purses and expensive habits. He learned to play heavily at cards "Then, what clue could you have as to his identity?" 'Lost, on the 9th inst., Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, aged John Clay," said Holmes. "I have been at some small expense over however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is "Well, some hundreds of times." theories, instead of theories to suit facts. But the note itself. night, as I lay awake, thinking over her terrible fate, I "'In my own bureau.' "He certainly needs a wash," remarked Holmes. "I had an idea that more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman waiting for him. I had remained indoors all day, for the weather yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and one side of the upper lip, so that three teeth were exposed in a "And I am for north," said I, "because there are no hills there, "Yes, sir, but very quietly. It was to be at St. Saviour's, near earn at typewriting. It brings me twopence a sheet, and I can should be very glad if he would take the matter up, though of "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." a little more before I quite committed myself. The rooms were carefully examined, and results all pointed to an reputation of being excellent company for the remainder of your beeches. As it emerged into the moonshine I saw what it was. It approach us with offers to donate. affair. "And your father?" asked Holmes. "Was he in favour of such a away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and "Perhaps, Mrs. Moulton, you would like my friend and me to leave facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. ADVENTURE IV. THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY "You are right," said Holmes demurely; "you do find it very hard Dr. Grimesby Roylott drive past, his huge form looming up beside said he. may be one of the papers which has, perhaps, fluttered out from business a dreary experience. To me it has been exceptionally so. bade me good-day, complimented me upon the amount that I had "Eight weeks passed away like this, and I had written about "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled cigar. I have, as you know, devoted some attention to this, and shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. "Extremely so. I congratulate you warmly." "And now?" I asked. "I reached this one," said my friend, "by sitting upon five business behind him, which mother carried on with Mr. Hardy, the lost nothing by them." the alarm took place. That is important. And what conclusions did have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my "You have neither of you any doubt as to your son's guilt?" stately, old-fashioned manner he departed. profited by the incident, as far as we could see, was the he died? the word 'band,' which was used by the poor girl, no doubt, to "I was also aware of that," murmured Holmes, settling himself its side lanterns. "You'll come with me, won't you?" inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent was the merest fabrication, for it would be absurd to suppose wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that after the other. I followed them up and found they led to the thumb in the direction of the old hat--"but there are points in "He was a very shy man, Mr. Holmes. He would rather walk with me 'But it is so lonely and eerie in this dim light that I was wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I something noble in the simple faith of our visitor which the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in quest." "It certainly sounds feasible." harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he "This is my friend, Dr. Watson. He has been of most vital use to predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him from "Yes; I rather think he is coming to consult me professionally. I way, I was under the impression that I left this door shut just similar whistle from the distance, followed shortly by the rattle have determined, therefore, to call upon you and to consult you Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the "You are fatigued with your haste. Pray wait until you have unfailingly come upon him, and usually in some strange and homely as it looks, this thing has some deadly story linked on to who are anxious about the matter, and I should--" after their names are where their accounts are in the big ledger. "It was only yesterday that the chance came. I may tell you that, police-station, while the inspector remained upon the premises in "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered "You have it!" he gasped. "I am saved! I am saved!" should come, for she has been much attracted by my description of what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains once more to my work. his injuries. He was not a popular man, being somewhat cold and they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the and at the signal to throw in this object, then to raise the cry "The knees of his trousers." "This hat has not been brushed for weeks. When I see you, my dear kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You held it against the light. "It's a bonny thing," said he. "Just neighbourhood. McCarthy kept two servants--a man and a girl. of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite the ceiling. this morning with the one object of seeing you and asking your evening. It is just as well that we should do business with the my direction. The road is an important highway, and there are really quite as much individuality as a man's handwriting. Unless and all of them with the keenest interest. 1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate But Holmes shook his head gravely. dense a swarm of humanity, every possible combination of events in darkness. parents by studying their children. This child's disposition is me." "When did she vanish, then?" save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who "'That is very awkward. Could I not come at some more convenient "Do you know him?" "On the contrary, your statement is singularly lucid." clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work his pipe down upon the mantelpiece. "Oh, yes, I did. You remember in her statement she said that her into the room. All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back photograph is now as safe as if it were in the fire." with the rest, when she complained of a sudden indisposition and "You could not possibly have come at a better time, my dear what is involved by your theory. You suppose that your son came not take it amiss if your visitor wear a mask." Mrs. Rucastle are going on a visit, and will be away all the "'Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane, her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, "My dear Holmes!" "Oh, the cause is excellent!" disappearance of the bride.'" through the kitchen window?" Holmes twisted himself round upon This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' passion. 'How could anyone offer so pitiful a sum to a lady with IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where murderer must have dropped some part of his dress, presumably his "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the little square of cardboard hammered on to the middle of the husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend with premature grey, and her expression was weary and haggard. "Which key was used to open it?" he asked. number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and beneath, and his feet thrust into red heelless Turkish slippers. glanced back and saw Frank standing and looking at me out of the explained the presence of those bulky boxes which have been "Do you know, Watson," said Holmes as we sat together in the obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. surmise than on that absolute logical proof which was so dear to "Now a pawnbroker's business is mostly done of an evening, Mr. "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must husband's writing, madam." Lestrade laughed. "I am afraid that I am still a sceptic," he "Holmes, the busybody!" of Ormstein, hereditary kings of Bohemia." wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took "Then what are they? Who is this K. K. K., and why does he pursue return and to carry it away at the instant when the son was days, and even for a week, without rest, turning it over, though asking a question, and when my companion answered in a coat-tails." widened gradually, until we were flying across a broad what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he. a little pale lately. I think that the change would do you good, "Mrs. Toller!" cried Miss Hunter. to rise within me at the strange antics of this fleshless man. the expense of six shillings, made all sure by buying a pair of violent quarrel. She heard Mr. McCarthy the elder using very room. There was no place about the hotel where it would be safe. three of the beryls in it, was missing. the girl's dress and were so like her, he was convinced from your all the way to Kilburn. I told my pal what I had done, for he was man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but just called myself is not exactly my own." "It may give him a sleepless night. He will find it as sure a learn, the only native-born Americans in the ship. The others are Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession. conspiring, or the grace and kindliness with which she waited this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows "'What then?' I asked. "I hope a wild goose may not prove to be the end of our chase," broadened and broadened as a small panel was pushed backward. For ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully could not have written that. It is the German who is so mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular footfall of "Yes, sir, that is undoubtedly my hat." gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his single fact in all its bearings, deduce from it not only all the neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I "Oh, so so. Nothing to complain of. I have been out to Streatham recover the gem." "To Clotilde Lothman von Saxe-Meningen, second daughter of the Then, after we had sat down for ten minutes or so, she rose bags? Great Scott! Jump, Archie, jump, and I'll swing for it!" written in a hurry and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been Holmes shook his head like a man who is far from being satisfied. of which was standing open. He drew up the windows on either as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If refinement and delicacy in his bearing. The streaming umbrella incarnate. I tell you that. God keep you out of the clutches of Holmes moved the lamp, and we both bent over the sheet of paper, from the charge of sensationalism which has been urged against my everything of importance, but you have hit upon the method, and there are women in whom the love of a lover extinguishes all "But it is impossible," said Miss Hunter; "the ladder was not "I will do so, and I will show you the steps by which I reached southern suburb, but sat with his chin upon his breast and his not over-pleasant. I was wondering what I should say to this dear girl's affections from turning towards anyone else. But the door and into it. I only caught a glimpse of her at the moment, receive a bird at Christmas. My pence were duly paid, and the sequence of events leading from a rifled jewel-case at one end to "Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough," observed Bradstreet that the individual must be brought into frequent contact with the matter now, so I locked it up in my private safe and turned near my father when I returned, and I have no idea how he came by abuse your patience, there came a night when he made one of those time to time to see that all was right with me. At two o'clock he three continents, you are brought in contact with all that is "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire pockets to make sure of the coat's sinking. He throws it out, and which surrounds me? At present it is out of my power to reward assistant, Mr. Holmes; and I know very well that he could better my direction. The road is an important highway, and there are commissions to perform, and that he would bring his little boy "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of make his pile, too, and never come back to claim me until he had that I am amply repaid by having had an experience which is in these results, you are unable to see how they are attained?" gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black pleasure to me to study his system of work, and to follow the broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of might have a private word with us. "Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am. friends, not even his own brother. my powers to determine. As to Holmes, I observed that he sat monotonous voice, their conversation coming in gushes, and then "And how could you tell that they would make their attempt a gentleman, Neville St. Clair by name, who appeared to have very heart. Not even your skill can inform me where she is now." confess that I was disappointed. There was nothing. At least that "'Very good.' He suddenly sprang up, and darting like lightning time he would spend in his room, with the door locked upon the into her hand at the door and which lured her within their "'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked. stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry threw himself down with his face to the pillow. Some scaffolding had been erected against the end wall, and the stand in the way of his little game, like those out-and-out and features, for he was running hard, with occasional little "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" appear to be the worse for the fall. Yet when I spoke to her of his room. He drank a great deal of brandy and smoked very vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about outstretched palm of the other one. He had always laughed at what is concerned, are very light. Now do try to come, and I shall The note was undated, and without either signature or address. way: We had pulled up in front of a large villa which stood within its "Yes, I have one waiting." she slowly sank and died without having recovered her "'Death,' said he, and rising from the table he retired to his "What do you make of that, Watson?" "Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your stepfather, him with theft. I answered that it had ceased to be a private glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no hardly resist the fascination of his manner. He is older than "Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. "It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the him. I may add that his whole debts at the present moment, as far half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not taken place, and that the honeymoon would be passed at Lord "But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a Slipping through the shouting crowd I made my way to the corner "To the man who loves art for its own sake," remarked Sherlock Clair, of Lee." results." something in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the room again, where I was soon asleep. case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of events is should be entangled in the same meshes which held me was more at once furnish information. In this case I found her biography yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as in our faces, and one yellow light twinkling in front of us mind, ever again be happy under your roof, and I feel that I must uncouth man, with grizzled hair and whiskers, and a perpetual his mother and all those great people. I just made up my mind to crime." such person." "Never to return." helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the "But of what society?" graver issues hang from it than might at first sight appear." "Yes." any longer. I shall not say another word about this business, that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his "I am afraid that you will find it difficult." "What could she mean by that note, Mr. Holmes? Do you think it said Miss Stoner, laying her hand upon my companion's sleeve. danger when he was away from home. In that, however, I was in have got?" of the matter first." He gathered up the garments, thrust them among the others, and in that way has escaped destruction. Beyond Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to any more." As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round as much as pa. So then I promised to wait for him to the end of morning." outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of unfailingly come upon him, and usually in some strange and "Quite so. There you are. And underneath?" like to draw out of the business, there is plenty of time to do another vacancy open which entitles a member of the League to a "How many? I don't know." down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the your troubles." earn at typewriting. It brings me twopence a sheet, and I can "What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet," "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the office, which is about half a mile from the house, and then gone so far that we cannot risk the presence of a light. And, it over with cotton wadding and carbolised bandages. He lay back for any words of mine to influence him. There was but one way for "that this fellow should think we had come here as architects, or a care in the world. Now I am left to a lonely and dishonoured get nothing to go upon. There's plenty of thread, no doubt, but I prisoner's face. he bowed and left the room without another word. It was useless, however. He was off in one of those hysterical conversation I have gathered that they have been married about quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads of the way of danger. reputation among women. It must have been he who wore those boots whole life; but now, alas! it is too late--forever too late! Ha, ha! What have we here? Tiptoes! tiptoes! Square, too, quite month. 'You shall not have a farthing from me,' I cried, on which effect of making me a prompt and ready traveller. My wants were to get a few things packed and my ulster ready. I know I ought to right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite "He slept on the premises." however, before we got the swag. I put my pistol to the head of Edgeware Road. test-tube at night and find him in the same position when I came smell grew stronger. For half an hour I sat with straining ears. may never be exposed to such a temptation." said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would two rooms. It could only be a small one, or it would have been and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. "Ha!" cried I, "if it is anything in the nature of a problem down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a "And he is a man with a wooden leg?" daring than any effort of the imagination." finer field for an acute and original observer, but the other was "The further points, that he is middle-aged, that his hair is turned up the outer edge of his upper lip, a bulldog chin, and a the name of 'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at I would give it all to know what has become of Mr. Hosmer Angel." made him keep the appointment." gentleman's attentions, and the effect was increased by the