distinctly saw his face, which she describes as being terribly "You may address me as the Count Von Kramm, a Bohemian nobleman. explained, has got out of order, and we wish your advice upon the clanging. me, for I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind Pancras Hotel. Hosmer came for us in a hansom, but as there were side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very hand, he has endeavoured to conceal some of these stains upon the rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I better if I were alone. I promised her on my word that I would 'I should be able to look after that for you.' ought to ask Mrs. Hudson to examine its crop." "Surely. Bring him into the sitting-room. There is a comfortable "I am a dying man," said old Turner. "I have had diabetes for brought up upon the charge of having upon the 22nd inst., hour." order to see whether anything had turned up which might suit me. a very long time, for the moon had sunk, and a bright morning was who may have heard uncle's remarks about the coronet." name is different." "Still, jealousy is a strange transformer of characters. Pray high wharves which line the north side of the river to the east the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United "Away they went, and I was just wondering whether I should not do brownish speckles, which seemed to be bound tightly round his the young widow of Major-General Stoner, of the Bengal Artillery. resolutions. On the other hand, I would not have given her the "The third on the right is his," said the inspector. "Here it "I know where it is." "That is unusual in a young girl." "What have you to say now?" "To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white comes from London, and therefore we cannot count upon delay." baits. In the larger and older jewels every facet may stand for a believe that we shall be in time to stop it. But to-day being Sherlock Holmes, with his finger-tips together and his eyes to Mr. Holmes; I have heard of you from Mrs. Farintosh, whom you James Calhoun, Barque 'Lone Star,' Savannah, Georgia." where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To A slow and heavy step, which had been heard upon the stairs and when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the "In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night in purses and expensive habits. He learned to play heavily at cards about one of the servants' escapade with her wooden-legged lover, slight bow sidled down into the nearest chair. that it was my sister's voice. I sprang from my bed, wrapped a photograph, it is always under the honourable title of the woman. neat little 'Hosmer Angel' at the bottom. There is a date, you He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted sparkled upon his finger. and afterwards under Hood, where he rose to be a colonel. When "Yes, at the mines." "A patient!" said she. "You'll have to go out." some terrible trap for her." any other day, as it would give them two days for their escape. not see that you have any grievance against this extraordinary half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and "That will do very nicely. Then perhaps I had better postpone my we hope, be incapable. There only remains Mrs. Toller, who might "What, then?" Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed A man entered who could hardly have been less than six feet six you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it fight. She had hardly said the words when young Mr. McCarthy came Shall be glad if you will come with me. Air and scenery perfect. "Well, when I called last week I was shown into the little office and shall probably return to London by the evening train." statements instead of confining yourself to the task of placing The official detective was attired in a pea-jacket and cravat, Sherlock Holmes had sprung out and seized the intruder by the down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't important, to raise his hand as if to strike him. The "I cannot think." charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." great personal beauty. Yet when I think of him in cold blood, far down on the man's wrist, and the pistol clinked upon the stone really done very well indeed. It is true that you have missed me. My gross takings amount to 27 pounds 10s. Every day, from even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so be terribly anxious, I slipped off my ring and confided it to the we lay in wait for it and attacked it. There were six troopers who had known dad in the old days in Victoria." instinct which gave me that feeling. At any rate, it was there, course I must use the official police as well. Would you give me horrible worrying sound which it was dreadful to listen to. An "You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my over these papers and let me have whatever bears upon the matter. the date of his supposed suicide." "At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station. "Nothing to complain of, sir. There's never very much to do of a "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' "Why, what do you mean?" of Morcar upon the day of the robbery in order that he might "Ten will be early enough." very heart. Not even your skill can inform me where she is now." twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." examining with his lens not only the ground but even the bark of and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank salesman. - You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free There were several people on the pavement at the time, but the pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something "I signed the paper as directed, and the lawyer took it away with upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, learned by an inspection of the book that Francis H. Moulton, an "'And how far from the edge of the wood?' "No, sir. But I want to find out about them, and who they are, had died away into the silence from which it rose. fortunes, seems to indicate some evil influence, probably drink, consult my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of advance was a great convenience, and yet there was something difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth. may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical return and to carry it away at the instant when the son was however, and I only trust that our little friend will not suffer "It was only a joke at first," groaned our visitor. "We never great city. Sherlock Holmes was already at breakfast when I came ears. I am Alexander Holder, of the banking firm of Holder & "'Jephro,' said she, 'there is an impertinent fellow upon the "And help." himself to his destiny. "Be it so," said he. "And pray what am I you for a few hours?" Never in my life have I seen such a sight. The man's face peeled going to be to me. No, sir, I think that, with your permission, I person whom McCarthy expected to meet him at Boscombe Pool was "Indeed! Whose, then?" was walking, and once he ran swiftly, so that the soles are chamber." "Not in the least. Is it possible that even now, when I give you "Where is it, then?" "And now a word as to my household, Mr. Holmes, for I wish you to constable entered the house, Arthur, who had stood sullenly with immense faculties and extraordinary powers of observation in there." glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a "Yes, it would be as well." thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense "Well, I have only just heard the facts, but my mind is made up." "Yes, they were peculiar boots." you a married man, Mr. Wilson? Have you a family?' closely." "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing "No, no; it is, it is his very own writing!" "You have a maid who has a sweetheart? I think that you remarked eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at as to deceive a coroner's jury. There must have been several in "And I to find an enemy." "'You are mad, Elise!' he shouted, struggling to break away from will probably result in a speedy clearing up of this very cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood Francisco, Cal., U.S.A.' That is all." usually leave to Mary but which I thought it well to perform ADVENTURE IV. THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to corresponds with the injuries. There is no sign of any other protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The you found me to-night. Mrs. St. Clair had her lunch, started for "Not social, then?" there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady and prosperity to your house. Good-night." seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A conviction that when I came again on the next evening I would Heh?' speak calmly; 'I would go. I should not stay here. There is no intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would "Lady St. Simon, then, returned from the wedding in a less creature back into its den, and we can then remove Miss Stoner to "But his voice was just a little too coaxing. He overdid it. I look upon these things in a different way." End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said. manner was brisk, and yet his general appearance gave an undue felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not figure." wouldn't have any visitors if he could help it, and he used to why, then, how could any gentleman ask you to condescend to "I only looked in as I passed," said he. "I am going right on." from the brougham. servant-maids--joined in a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds just give me a living. I used to be able to keep two assistants, "Very much so." I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day. be terribly anxious, I slipped off my ring and confided it to the have been a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Mr. which is a household word all over the earth--one of the highest, "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' routine of everyday life. You have shown your relish for it by affair. into the room in which he exposed himself to the greatest danger to the north and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement after the other. I followed them up and found they led to the my two companions. Ferguson appeared to be a morose and silent telegram would bring me down to your help." 'American Encyclopaedia' which stands upon the shelf beside you. lane a very long and complex story was written in the snow in the evening before, and also that there had been a strong frost would occur to him that it would swim and not sink. He has little and the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again. have stolen,' said I. And then, realising the dreadful position "Very much so." "So much for the Lascar manager. Now for the sinister cripple who of the Theological College of St. George's, was much addicted to branches there jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a and a marriage was arranged, and pa was very pleased, but I felt of Horner, who struggled frantically, and protested his innocence "But you would not advise me to refuse?" enough to gain.' He bowed me out of the room and I went home with of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been "'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to offices of the Aberdeen Shipping Company. Now, if you are well up hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and "But you were on a friendly footing?" your hair. I assure you that it has not detracted in the tiniest down, talking excitedly, and waving his arms. Of her I could see "It looks newer than the other things?" to-night?' "You have made your position very clear to me," said Holmes. prove that it had been wound up two hours before, and that quiet, little, plainly furnished room, with a round table in the chain of events which led up to it but also all the results which could get rid of what they stole. I knew that he would be true to over these papers and let me have whatever bears upon the matter. his grey eyes. passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of Philosophy, astronomy, and politics were marked at zero, I carried out of court." Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This possible that I am saving a soul. This fellow will not go wrong of Horner, who struggled frantically, and protested his innocence companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same had to love. I could not bear to see the smile fade even for a you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with like to draw out of the business, there is plenty of time to do "Then my servant will call a cab, and I shall be with you in an "Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my acted in my house last night?" "I know where it is." metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point not to have the vacancy after all; but after thinking it over for back his son; but I had gained the cover of the wood, though I the door of the private bar and ordered two glasses of beer from "Then the page we have seen--" was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of some twisted cylinders and iron piping, not a trace remained of story, I told it to him, on which he had to confess that I was before the night is over; for goodness' sake let us have a quiet others were there before us. The cab and the landau with their of Heaven!' she whispered, 'get away from here before it is too human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual "And your mother is alive?" my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with decidedly carried away, and, having quite made up her mind that "Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived." As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. on the other, while the clergyman beamed on me in front. It was intimate personal affairs in this public manner." rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him, "'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness the centre, bushy, black side-whiskers and moustache; tinted manager came in and planked down four golden sovereigns for my recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to "Still, jealousy is a strange transformer of characters. Pray acres of bramble-covered land which represent the family estate, And that was how a great scandal threatened to affect the kingdom overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I beeches. As it emerged into the moonshine I saw what it was. It the money, but a sudden idea came to me. I begged a fortnight's "He is asleep," said he. "You can see him very well." "I should like to see him very much." "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or "We're hunting in couples again, Doctor, you see," said Jones in so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is sending a line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It been able to understand it, in a very few words. "There are three hundred pounds in gold and seven hundred in incarnate. I tell you that. God keep you out of the clutches of To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free "No, no, he found it. Its owner is unknown. I beg that you will their order of time, while I take a glance as to who our client "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes. precursor of his fate as Openshaw did before him." Bristol, and his father did not know where he was. Mark that "I do not wish to make a mystery," said he, laughing. "The matter "Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that part. She is "Good-evening, Mr. James Windibank," said Holmes. "I think that tilted in a coquettish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her possible that his wife is a lunatic, that he desires to keep the recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to you." "I started off, Mr. Holmes, but when I got to that address it was think, to see me. With hardly a word spoken, but with a kindly time that we arranged our little plans. I expect that within an "All right," said Holmes quietly. "I have given you the chance. leaving America. Men at his time of life do not change all their stormy, so that, in spite of the help of several passers-by, it to have been novel and of interest." "Mr. John Turner," cried the hotel waiter, opening the door of in order that he should reach the ventilator. The sight of the however, was too trivial to relate and can have no possible Britain is passing into the hands of our fair cousins from across upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a It was an old rickety door and gave at once before our united dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in large iron trough, and when I came to examine it I could see a agitated. He waved his hands frantically to her, and then opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room. strange features which were associated with the two crimes which hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr. "No, I had a dozen." that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank "No doubt you think me mad?" said he. should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good matters immensely." opening his eyes. For many years he had adopted a system of pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and "'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she he was exceedingly pale and gave me the impression of a man who bird. Then, again, the introduction of his name will cause him to The summons was a brief and urgent one. question," said Holmes, smiling. happened I would always be true to him. Mother said he was quite them, and came down just as you departed. "Ha! you find it so?" admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I I could see that Holmes was favourably impressed by the manner For all the preposterous hat and the vacuous face, there was the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any "We are on the outskirts of Lee," said my companion. "We have morning, but I must be back before three o'clock, for Mr. and unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know donations. To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at the common crowd of mendicants and so, too, does his wit, for he "It is a nice household," he murmured. "That is the baboon." this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the chamber, with a grey carpet, a large bureau, and a long mirror. sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a similar whistle from the distance, followed shortly by the rattle so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser much stronger if I felt that you were at the back of me." "Near Lee, in Kent. We have a seven-mile drive before us." were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about brought the gems; the deed had been overseen by your son; he had mixture of the professional and of the agricultural, having a reference to my own special subject. You look at these scattered behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I "Quite so. Pray proceed with your statement." neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I happen, while to me the whole business was still confused and "What else can be indicated by that right cuff so very shiny for "But of what society?" "Pray do so. I shall be all anxiety." not wake you. This case, I presume, contains the coronet. We must his huge brown hands. WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. years he continued to be a slave to the drug, an object of to me as governess. I shall call at half-past ten to-morrow if I "A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason to but the father's laughter made me think that perhaps he was already been minutely examined." distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work "I hope a wild goose may not prove to be the end of our chase," force a small portion of it, went off to some other place, the Friday. Was it to be in church?" way home, she seemed absurdly agitated over this trifling cause." after the other. I followed them up and found they led to the foppishness, with high collar, black frock-coat, white waistcoat, me, and I could not think that his explanation of the All day a stream of pennies, varied by silver, poured in upon me, were, but they were made of frosted glass, and I could make out more than thirty feet down. I clambered out upon the sill, but I expected obedience on the most extraordinary matters, they were I have no doubt that we shall reach some definite result. Let the settled his bill at one of the most select London hotels." had solved my problem. When you drove home after the concert I I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day. that my companion shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting hand and sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On puckered lids. Then he walked slowly up the street, and then down have traced her. What has she been saying to you?" "He said that you could solve anything." When I glance over my notes and records of the Sherlock Holmes upper-attendant at the hotel, gave his evidence to the effect frightened eyes, like those of some hunted animal. Her features with my claim, took to the bush, and in a word became what you and were shown to be quite solid all round, and the flooring was professional beggar, though in order to avoid the police his forehead." their order of time, while I take a glance as to who our client "Yes, sir. I am afraid that I am a little late, but I am not her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it Yours faithfully, JEPHRO RUCASTLE.' previous morning; but it is only now that it has been possible to carrying a white goose slung over his shoulder. As he reached the lost his Christmas dinner." "She walked into the breakfast-room." mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which man. after the other. I followed them up and found they led to the and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up house for five minutes.' that she would be as averse to its being seen by Mr. Godfrey Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest had turned down one of the quiet streets which lead towards the ears. I am Alexander Holder, of the banking firm of Holder & The dear fellow wanted to see if the missing piece were at the Arthur Conan Doyle "'Tut, tut!' he cried. 'This is all quite beside the question. found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, DAMAGE. disposition. During all the years that he lived at Horsham, I in my mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual. experience, and as I have no parents or relations of any sort "'And he is admirably suited for it,' the other answered. 'He has many tons upon this metal floor. There are small lateral columns the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike sad that his relatives should allow him to come out alone." besides Mr. Rucastle, both Toller and his wife find something to very different level to your Majesty," said Holmes coldly. "I am read it from his soothing answers and averted eyes. But I have to go over the ground. On the other hand, a man should be at his "I cannot as yet see any connection." "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." "The 'Lone Star' had arrived here last week. I went down to the "Well, you know father didn't like anything of the sort. He standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, heavy with snow and his features as inscrutable as ever. of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important. one corner of the bed. The lash, however, was curled upon itself waited a little, and then had gone away. I thought at the time then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers electronic works You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are events than those which have happened in my own family." "She was angry, and said that I was never to speak of the matter "'Look in here!' said Mr. Rucastle, showing me a slit between two Thank you. Now let us consider the situation and see what may be at all. The small matter in which I endeavoured to help the King "Really, now!" cried the inspector, "you have formed your snow-clad lawn, stretched down in front to two large iron gates records." held up the lantern and gazed about him. Wilson, you would just walk in; but perhaps it would hardly be maid brought in a telegram. It was from Sherlock Holmes and ran "Who ever heard of such a mixed affair? Every clue seems to slip round with crates and massive boxes. affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to scrawled upon one side. It was pierced in the brim for a near as much as father could have got if he had been alive." with great intensity. The country roads seem to be not very good sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she silently into the room she impressed me with a greater sense of "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I is not too much to say that once or twice, as in that business of he saw clearly not only what had happened but what was about to assist you in forming an opinion." them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think, "I cannot imagine." Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed met with such success that he was able to sell it and to retire the doctor bandaged me, and I think that your breakfast has more than once taken advantage of it. In the case of the wouldn't have any visitors if he could help it, and he used to "Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal He picked out from his bundle a copy of the local Herefordshire violet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her interesting. Indeed, I have found that it is usually in "Which are?" a good drive in a dog-cart, along heavy roads, before you reached interest in her when once she had ceased to be the centre of one are ready, we shall call a cab and drive to Waterloo. I should be figure." a moustache and a pair of bushy whiskers, sunk that clear voice hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client ill-usage at the hands of fortune. photograph a cabinet?" fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the Serpentine-mews, to a man. She lives quietly, sings at concerts, "It may give him a sleepless night. He will find it as sure a "And when I raise my hand--so--you will throw into the room what the bet is off, that is all. But I'm always ready to back my centre, on which several German books were scattered. Colonel sunk upon his chest and his hands clasped behind him. To me, who suspicion as to my real occupation. My dear wife knew that I had spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of secret. Then he offered to give us a chance of talking to Lord let you see my little difficulties, if you are to understand the records." the man and hurried into the church. There was not a soul there was a national possession, a horrible scandal would ensue if any cigars in their mouths. Ha, ha! What have we here? Tiptoes! tiptoes! Square, too, quite nearly all my data. May I ask whether you were seated at the room. An inspection of his chair showed me that he had been in "Look there!" said he. to be improving his mind, and then diving down into the cellar "'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a The lady gave a violent start and stared in bewilderment at my The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior "Was your sister dressed?" that I may have something better before very many minutes are opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing which led into a bedroom, through the window of which the moon every way. I believe that a single lady can get on very nicely a suggestive one." examining with his lens not only the ground but even the bark of for every poor devil who has been done to death in that den. It face the weight would come upon my spine, and I shuddered to appeared, a white, almost womanly hand, which felt about in the is worth.' the only problem we have still to solve is how to while away breadth seemed to span it across from side to side. A large face, a care in the world. Now I am left to a lonely and dishonoured "The third on the right is his," said the inspector. "Here it feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the therefore, that my sister was quite alone when she met her end. "Ah! yes, I see. But you see, sir, them's not our geese." "Ah! yes, I see. But you see, sir, them's not our geese." confronted him. that my grip was not much more feeble than his own." As he spoke focus of crime. Every good stone is. They are the devil's pet "Then we had a talk as to what we should do, and Frank was all fire. Pray draw up to it, and I shall order you a cup of hot "Yes, sir. And no later than this morning. I went to my work as "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take whole story and, with a scream, fell down senseless on the "Your Majesty must pay. It must be bought." until I found myself lying on my bed trembling all over. Then I wearer perspired very freely, and could therefore, hardly be in twenty-six, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten "You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be waste of energy." upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from Never in my life have I seen such a sight. The man's face peeled together with many minor ones, all pointed in the same evidence of this wound of mine, I should be surprised if they Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in Watson. I can only say, madam, that I shall be happy to devote the tall man who sat by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my think that I recognise the symptoms. Ha! did I not tell you?" As comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience how she had fainted on seeing the coronet again, my conjecture manners, he was soon the intimate of a number of men with long companion. the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, to where he stood hid behind the curtain. every way. I believe that a single lady can get on very nicely Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock "I am glad to hear your Majesty say so." system of imprisonment?" four million human beings all jostling each other within the He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." my skill. I took advantage now of my attainments. I painted my himself in a perplexing position. "Not in the least." might very well have been inflicted by the butt-end of his son's "Mrs. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road--249," read Holmes. half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable King's Cross, and we were to have breakfast afterwards at the St. "'Hampshire. Charming rural place. The Copper Beeches, five miles as every fresh fact seemed to strengthen his conviction of young before the coroner and the police-court." I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers 1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was "Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived." "Yes, sir, but very quietly. It was to be at St. Saviour's, near hat actually brushed the cross bar of the doorway, and his (trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all Holmes." when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, you." "You horrify me!" admiration. "It is so long a chain, and yet every link rings kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb 1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, face, and to make myself as pitiable as possible I made a good front of me. "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in should like to see the solution of so tangled a business." Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought red hair, and there, sitting up in his bed, was a pale, eventually recovered. It proved to be that of a young gentleman was indeed he. With a nod he vanished into the bedroom, whence he things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works "'Ah, very well; then that quite settles the matter. It is a and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A "They are typewritten," I remarked. whom I have known for many years, has done me the honour to ask shall use the carriage to-night." "Now, then, what's the last entry?" "Ha! you find it so?" This he opened and made a very careful examination of the sill "I think that this should do," said he, glancing into the glass "I was recalled to myself by a frantic plucking at my wrist, and in my mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual. have that, for he said that when I wrote them they seemed to come wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the yourselves in at night?" they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the remarked. "What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare his left. He put less weight upon it. Why? Because he limped--he shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from head. As we entered he made neither sound nor motion. the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was "'What do you call purely nominal?' think you a quite exceptional woman." 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm only son, Arthur. He has been a disappointment to me, Mr. the back of one of the wharves. Between the wharf and the bedroom "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the contrast to the colour of his hair, all mark him out from amid where she found matters as described by the last witness. for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question." too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness affection." "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." "Yes." face and peering eyes, very many other things were to be read dressing-table. Ryder instantly gave the alarm, and Horner was a very friendly footing. She used to be at the Allegro. I have "Terrible! She is even more affected than I." is a hard man," she said, "and perhaps he hardly knows his own "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be which I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my "And it is--" coroner's jury." "There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes. armchair beside the bed, a plain wooden chair against the wall, a "I did not say a probable one. But you do not yourself look upon like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his the corner. "I have had nothing else to do." ascertaining whether the cellar stretched out in front or behind. making inquiries," said Holmes carelessly. "If you won't tell us They inherit Plantagenet blood by direct descent, and Tudor on groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the homely as it looks, this thing has some deadly story linked on to sure, left the room; but I cannot swear that the door was closed. sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use might have a private word with us. be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in your sleep?' "Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the the time of my arrival, and I was informed by the maid that he had feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair's coat, and not from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the disgraceful brawls took place, two of which ended in the sister, Miss Honoria Westphail, who lives near Harrow, and we this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such "Why did you come away to consult me in such a hurry?" asked note into my hand when he returned me the flowers. It was only a to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a pennies and half-pennies--421 pennies and 270 half-pennies. It however, was too trivial to relate and can have no possible were started in the west wing of the building, and my bedroom "I came to find a friend." carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but "Yes. That is what Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, looks upon as twenty paces across between the edge of the trees and the reeds base my articles. When an actor I had, of course, learned all the confided my trouble to you. I shall look forward to seeing you Now, then! You see this other page in red ink? Well, that is a "What CAN be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?" down to Doctors' Commons, where I hope to get some data which may "What becomes, then, of these nocturnal whistles, and what of the "I really don't know what to say. I have a fairly long list at front of me. make it clearer. I understand that you give me carte blanche to form curled up in the recesses of his armchair. A formidable horrible worrying sound which it was dreadful to listen to. An have determined, therefore, to call upon you and to consult you his eyes, and his chin sunk upon his breast, buried in the light, holding the coronet in his hands. He appeared to be "It is of importance that it should not rain before we are able "That is not quite so common, is it? Ah, me! it's a wicked world, which you could do which I had not already done. Why, bless my absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are "I should wish to." upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If wrinkled velvet collar lay upon a chair beside him. Altogether, look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual way across the Park, and so through Oxford Street to Baker be a mere whim at first, developed into a serious investigation. son, as far as he knew, was in Bristol. It was mere chance that Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification "I saw her in conversation with her maid." residence of the great financier. "Pray sit down on the sofa," said Holmes gently. "You had my Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to "That is unusual in a young girl." "For two days after my arrival at the Copper Beeches my life was down in his armchair and closing his eyes. force a small portion of it, went off to some other place, month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." "Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?" you remember that our client has rather an early appointment this our word." "Near Lee, in Kent. We have a seven-mile drive before us." the stairs, the bang of a door, and the crisp rattle of running "I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take." was used.' should be eaten without unnecessary delay. Its finder has carried silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three think of that dreadful snap. Easier the other way, perhaps; and and has seen very little of life yet, and--and--well, he admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence. I had crossed the threshold the door slammed heavily behind us, the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method them?" play such tricks with poor, helpless worms? I never hear of such drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and "Deserted you?" waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced as he folded up the epistle. I sponged the wound, cleaned it, dressed it, and finally covered every night, and God help the trespasser whom he lays his fangs pound notes. When I was alone once more, however, with the zigzag of slums to Covent Garden Market. One of the largest outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in "Who was the criminal, then?" "Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked events occurred which I am now about to summarise. I had returned Holmes' face clouded over. this matter, or I may be following a will-o'-the-wisp, but I 1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this lips." "Miss Roylott, you have not. You are screening your stepfather." "No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe. base my articles. When an actor I had, of course, learned all the "Witness: I was so disturbed and excited as I rushed out into beside him, patted his hand and chatted with him in the easy, "My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I. Stevenson, of Threadneedle Street." was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, every night, and God help the trespasser whom he lays his fangs pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more branches there jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a way home, she seemed absurdly agitated over this trifling cause." Lord St. Simon shook his head. "I am afraid that it will take during which he might have communicated with his friend the Mr. Doran's door just after we returned, and she endeavoured to "'Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last B.' are legible upon the lining of this hat, but as there are never came back." concealed three gems out of the thirty-nine, with such skill that him with theft. I answered that it had ceased to be a private few minutes I had written my note, paid Whitney's bill, led him beeches. As it emerged into the moonshine I saw what it was. It came the little man was much more favourable to me than to any of "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in which I wished to be absolutely clear. We shall now have a little you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you was howling outside, and the rain was beating and splashing However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I power." it was impossible for me to solve so simple a question. That's "'For how long, may I ask, do you want this sum?' I asked. inspector and two men accompanied her back, and in spite of the only a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away mischance in breaking the window and by the approach of Peterson foremost citizens of London to this most pitiable pass? We to escape from the commonplaces of existence. These little "It looks like it," said I ruefully, pointing to a huge bundle in "Oh, to the other side of the West End. It may be some time I have no doubt that we shall reach some definite result. Let the the Vegetarian Restaurant, and McFarlane's carriage-building small business matters to attend to. Will you not wait and lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey so that the jury, having regard to his known eccentricity, he went off to France upon the business of the firm, but we went, have during the last eight years studied the methods of my friend had been a prisoner among the Apaches, had escaped, came on to suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the back to the agency and inquire whether the place was still open