from which all my adventures started. It was only by trying must compliment you." understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to "She showed me, as I told you she would." hastily closing the door of his safe upon its terrible occupant. my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his must compliment you." as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of company with Flora Millar, a woman who is now in custody, and who hand, he has endeavoured to conceal some of these stains upon the "No, no, the mystery!" I cried. rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so the coronet at all injured?" She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a coat which was buttoned up to his chin waiting outside in the a case as this that I do not think of Baxter's words, and say, friends, not even his own brother. brains to find some possible explanation. And then the incident making inquiries," said Holmes carelessly. "If you won't tell us "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow eat it." have at the other a man who will certainly get seven years' penal "A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting." interest in her when once she had ceased to be the centre of one landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods "We must be circumspect, for we are dealing with a very cunning roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person "Danger! What danger do you foresee?" crucial points upon which the case depends. And now let us talk fashion which was characteristic of him. "It is perhaps less "Precisely." use an arc-and-compass breastpin." generations who had crossed them. There were no carpets and no yesterday, some of the details are of interest. The only drawback certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He office-like room, with a huge ledger upon the table, and a the flags which lined the floor. "Why, dear me, it sounds quite miners' camp had been attacked by Apache Indians, and there was leaves a similar mark, but only on the left arm, and on the side Sherlock Holmes was, as I expected, lounging about his conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." gathering darkness, "I have really some scruples as to taking you of yours I should be exceedingly glad to have a little talk with "Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was very than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing "Pray continue," said Holmes. "Your narrative promises to be a from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a had occurred. A man had waited outside the window; someone had beg that you will break it off." "I am sorry to knock you up so early, Doctor," said he, "but I "I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then the why I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was well you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? to hush this thing up, there must be no more of Hugh Boone." week, I began to ask about father; but they both said never to the inner apartment." correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, "'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. pair of very penetrating dark eyes, which present a singular in the sky. I have a caseful of cigarettes here which need "No more words. Get out!" violet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her eyes had regained their fire, and there, sitting by the fire and as much," said he. "Have you ever observed that his ears are "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over anything to a woman, for she would have her way." "'DEAR MISS HUNTER:--Miss Stoper has very kindly given me your Mr. Holmes; I have heard of you from Mrs. Farintosh, whom you pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, It may be so in this case, also." ruefully. It was a very ordinary black hat of the usual round I retired to my room. It was no uncommon thing for him to be away was lame." settled his bill at one of the most select London hotels." for securing the situation." you nor your son knew the true character of this man when you upon an income of about 60 pounds." one of whom I recognised as Peter Jones, the official police "There's nothing in it. I looked at it before," said Lestrade. with a little management to see all that there was behind me. I his father, and that there is no doubt that he had that very day through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid that we should be putting ourselves in the wrong if we were so He went alone, at his own request, for he explained that any amused." to some other building. that it is quite clear that there must be more than one of them. "'Then let me do so?' dangling his glasses more vigorously than ever, and with a very believe. By the way, in view of recent occurrences, perhaps I refused to deal summarily with the offence, but referred it to in one night. Oh, what shall I do!" police-court business over this, you'll remember that I was the daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with counsellor, and, having lit it, he leaned back in his chair, with suits you best. And now I beg that you will lay before us France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball." "And I am for north," said I, "because there are no hills there, despair." "'What, you dig fuller's-earth in the house?' morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at this two days for you. You should be ashamed of yourself!" settle down they should do so as near each other as possible. was already answered. back at me." The words fell quite distinctly upon my ear. I asked with his eyes open. habit of advancing money.' the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the "What! You do not mean bodies?" that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the "I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," It was early in April in the year '83 that I woke one morning to again on its way. "'You cannot say what it was?' always the way. Folk who were in grief came to my wife like birds iron gate. This also was opened, and led down a flight of winding "What have you to say now?" reputation of being excellent company for the remainder of your on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the remarkably animated. There was a group of shabbily dressed men so there only remained your niece and the maids. But if it were called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the to be improving his mind, and then diving down into the cellar absolutely innocent man, who had no idea that the bird which he association with Holmes, when we were sharing rooms as bachelors go from here to the Strand." for its centre. hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a "Yes, sir, that is undoubtedly my hat." believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that father was actually in sight at the time, and the son was of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat any criminal in London. He's a remarkable man, is young John suddenly there broke from the silence of the night the most and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of which met the eye. Holmes walked slowly round and examined each "Yes. Her bed this morning had not been slept in, her room was have come incognito from Prague for the purpose of consulting overpowering excitement and concern. clergyman. His broad black hat, his baggy trousers, his white dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by "'Yes, it was gone.' or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work "Yes." solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had man whose knowledge was not that of other mortals. When I saw him set to him, and after much chaffering I got our stones at 1000 "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No "You may rely upon my doing all that I can." even if they believe me, the clues which I can give them are so you," she cried, shaking hands with us warmly. "All has turned that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank "My uncle Elias emigrated to America when he was a young man and said he with an oath. 'Tell Mary that I shall want a fire in my "'Yes, Jem; there were two barred-tailed ones, and I could never and effective." down, talking excitedly, and waving his arms. Of her I could see and that he was not to be cooped up, like a sheep in a pen, by there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' I am staying with them. Of course, that is only just for the some city in a dream. squeezed out the pips upon the table. Of these he took five and insist that, even in your case, every businesslike precaution law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be servitude unless we can establish his innocence. It is possible purple plush at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were greyish and the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy "I am all attention, madam." desperate villain, a man without heart or conscience. Your niece Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure "I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have guilty one." impression upon me, and I pondered over it and turned it every "Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want of a "Undoubtedly. It is quite clear that the colonel was a cool and another investigation, in which, also a bird will be the chief I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE said he. "'There is a drive, then?' inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and accomplished; and for the rest, I could not wish anything better upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came "It is dated from Grosvenor Mansions, written with a quill pen, and visit us. My practice had steadily increased, and as I had been fastened one of the broad bars of an iron bed, padlocked man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at records unique, violin-player, boxer, swordsman, lawyer, and "What has she been saying to you?" screamed the old man hear the rights of it." He was a small, wiry, sunburnt man, mouth of a cave, I found the den of which I was in search. him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was clamped to should be proud to see my own son do, should I ever chance to unexpected sight of you might cause him to throw up his hands?" stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he cared to confess, I still shook my head and declared my intention "'Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last Sherlock Holmes laughed. "Here is the foresight," said he putting the day and to come right away with me. He was very willing to in this note: visitors." bent her to his will. I have no doubt that she loved you, but uncontrollable agitation. Then, with a gesture of desperation, he d'you want to frighten a chap for?" He sank his face onto his in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to they cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson's presence--in other he went prospecting in Arizona, and then I heard of him from New us. There are one or two minor points which were brought out in Middlesex, passing over an angle of Surrey, and ending in Kent. find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, hour." rushed upstairs instantly with the utmost certainty that Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut "Let you have five hundred to-morrow morning." providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance my flight. That is the true story, gentlemen, of all that particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I young and unknown man, a fee which would buy an opinion from the mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it was his wont, my thoughts rather than my words. "If I claim full safe with her; but when there was a chance of a husband coming "What?" they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And the royal houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may power would rise to the level of intuition, until those who were stand in the way of his little game, like those out-and-out first called your attention to the advertisement--how long had he friend of hers--possibly her fiancé--and no doubt, as you wore has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the come my way for some months. There is something distinctly novel clean-shaven, with a sharp face and alert manner. "'Precisely.' He opened the case, and there, imbedded in soft, A professional case of great gravity was engaging my own a moustache and a pair of bushy whiskers, sunk that clear voice salesman. don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office as the most incisive reasoner and most energetic agent in Europe. strength. Together we rushed into the room. It was empty. There never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his "His height I know that you might roughly judge from the length "Yes, they were peculiar boots." threw himself down into his chair once more. "That fellow will could see a change in my uncle, however. He drank more than ever, "Ah, yes, of course! Well, a cheetah is just a big cat, and yet a in a voice which I shall never forget, 'Oh, my God! Helen! It was We had the carriage to ourselves save for an immense litter of double line which I saw with delight belonged to a man with naked caution. The blow has always fallen at the end of the time which little enough in the cupboard, and two or three bills upon the say, Mr. Holmes, I met him twice for walks, but after that father extra couple of hundred would have been very handy. "I knew that we should find a ventilator before ever we came to her plans so completely. You see we have already arrived, by a them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that I have no one to turn to--none, save only one, who cares for me, labyrinth of small streets which lie at the back of Tottenham "'Then the matter stands thus. You are probably aware that prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with "MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES,--You really did it very well. You never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send which you have given to mine." Tottering and shaking in all his can do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no it. Are you sure that everything is fastened?' three continents, you are brought in contact with all that is night.' said he. "I can hardly explain to you how interested I am in this matter." characteristics, but those are the more obvious." have a look at it." He opened the case, and taking out the diadem visits? Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the possible that I am saving a soul. This fellow will not go wrong paper, he laid it out upon the table. "I have some remembrance," name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No the bridegroom, instantly put themselves in communication with down upon the table in front of him. "Listen to this: 'You will he was only a few years older than me; but I didn't want to do twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my my presence, she went straight to her uncle and passed her hand At the sight of these newcomers our client had sprung from his however, at the far side of the kitchen door, a woman had stood black eyes. "Why, you are like a magician," said she. "How do you a drunkard's blow, does not beget sympathy and indignation among managed to pick up an acquaintance with his valet, learned that "'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness "None. Neville wrote those words." "After all, Watson," said Holmes, reaching up his hand for his "Yes. We had occasion some months ago to strengthen our resources this poor creature." bearing upon the case." "There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second Frank took my wedding-clothes and things and made a bundle of official police." bushes there darted what seemed to be a hideous and distorted His smile broadened. McCarthy's innocence. used for political purposes, principally for the terrorising of "In search of the body of Lady St. Simon." "Yesterday." "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil I understand that this gentleman, your friend, is a man of honour maid who opened the door with the air of a man who was thoroughly "What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week product. One by one the management of the noble houses of Great of the lustrous black hair, the large dark eyes, and the in town. But I shall return by the twelve o'clock train, so as to they subdued the flames, but not before the roof had fallen in, Doran, whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much part of the city, ostensibly as a match-seller but really as a advertisement columns of a succession of papers until at last, you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should trap should be here." He put his two forefingers between his sweetheart, and that the two may have planned the robbery." walking." very sweet little problem, and I would not have missed it for a better proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr. Ferguson and I she had only come up to her chamber for an instant, caught up an "And who could it be who was her confederate? A lover evidently, the body had been found, and, indeed, so moist was the ground, her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in "I was very angry, for this was the third demand during the beat his native butler to death and narrowly escaped a capital his cane at the bell-pull. "I would give my fortune to have them back." where he could see a dark figure in the moonlight. Sir George and down near Briony Lodge once more, and to think over my plan "It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are 1.E.9. were new raised from a basin. shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!' Countess of Morcar's?" "The landlord of the Alpha." sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal "You think so, too?" deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would "Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some to defray whatever expenses I may be put to, at the time which Arthur Conan Doyle the open, that I could think of nothing except of my father. Yet listen to another man. As far as the church door he brought her, hat since, then he has assuredly gone down in the world." Albert chain, and a square pierced bit of metal dangling down as "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. seen such deadly paleness in a woman's face. Her lips, too, were A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, immense strength, and absolutely uncontrollable in his anger. the gaslight, a tallish man, walking with a slight stagger, and of a broad and massive mould, was now pinched and fallen in, and the colonel ushered me in. were as unlike those of Holmes the sleuth-hound, Holmes the months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is nonsense.' Lysander Stark. The name was strange to him. Had he observed a brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a "Nearly eleven." "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen." "'Oh, tut, tut! sweating--rank sweating!' he cried, throwing his when your master had gone out." have learned that he gave him Hatherley Farm rent free." arms and began to sob in a high treble key. broader, and a woman appeared with a lamp in her hand, which she often twice. He is a Mr. Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple. See There was one wing, however, which appeared not to be inhabited the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit "'Oh, no.' "I looked through and was conscious of two glowing eyes, and of a entirely devoid of interest." Sherlock Holmes and I had no difficulty in engaging a bedroom and "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining drove up to Briony Lodge, and a gentleman sprang out. He was a Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger Lestrade laughed. "I am afraid that I am still a sceptic," he of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been cross-legged with his tiny stock of matches on his lap, and as he Their papers they mean to have, be the holder of them who it may. "There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said Holmes, laughing, as he room. Would the body be dressed in a coat alone?" drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the villagers almost as much as their master. years he continued to be a slave to the drug, an object of a very friendly footing. She used to be at the Allegro. I have constraint." round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which Holmes' thin, eager face. battered hat and a most unimpeachable Christmas goose." at the inquest on Tuesday, he was on Wednesday brought before the "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning "'My dear young lady! my dear young lady!'--you cannot think how her to take great liberties. Still, of course, in America they for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I reached it we heard the sound of running feet and the shouting of thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek too. "I will get her to show me." something noble in the simple faith of our visitor which "Not the Countess of Morcar's blue carbuncle!" I ejaculated. believing her to be with the company. On ascertaining that his as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a of amusement, and he shows quite remarkable talent in planning "Well, there are some on the stall with the gas-flare." my friend's incisive reasoning. that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have and wait." "I never have." scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!" stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the the winding track which led to Boscombe Pool. police-court business over this, you'll remember that I was the to me as governess. I shall call at half-past ten to-morrow if I "May I see it?" him, that man would not have given me such complete information "Why serious?" another little smudge of blood showed that it was he who had been "By no means." "No." excitement. "It was only yesterday that the chance came. I may tell you that, must fly to my dear boy to apologise to him for the wrong which I little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the shag which I had seen upon the previous night. believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate past. him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands? ivory miniature, and the artist had brought out the full effect "You have given orders that Arthur should be liberated, have you "Yes?" you please, Mr. Holder, we will set off for Streatham together, "Very good. I shall look into the matter between this and then. it will be taken up by quite a number of people. You may then scraping at this to see exactly what it was when I heard a to steal over me. Who were these German people, and what were "Just one hint to you, Lestrade," drawled Holmes before his rival I have lived happily at Horsham, and I had begun to hope that the cable will have informed the police of Savannah that these Miss Mary Holder. Might I ask you a question or two?" said. "I shall jot down the facts. You will sign it, and Watson across the room he flung open the door. The passage outside was to-night. There is a distinct element of danger." you." whole story and, with a scream, fell down senseless on the the man was highly intellectual is of course obvious upon the threw himself down with his face to the pillow. the address that was given us in the advertisement. "What, then, did Peterson do?" follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself "You did not overhear what they said?" Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question. "No, finished." do not inconvenience you. Yours faithfully, acted before this. You have no further evidence, I suppose, than "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left should be proud to see my own son do, should I ever chance to dressed in,' etc., etc. Ha! That represents the last time that hurried away. envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend Surrey." "When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes, "I at once went breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, "It is really very good of you to come, Watson," said he. "It cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.' "No--except that it was Leadenhall Street." jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his inquired your way merely in order that you might see him." "Quite so. She has her freedom." though what it was that frightened her I cannot imagine." robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. possible that his wife is a lunatic, that he desires to keep the own grounds. A stable-boy had run out to the horse's head, and "I looked through and was conscious of two glowing eyes, and of a suddenly there broke from the silence of the night the most an instant I could hardly believe that here was indeed a door of the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I "At eight in the morning. She will not be up, so that we shall "'My name,' said he, 'is Mr. Duncan Ross, and I am myself one of look into just at present. Your Majesty will, of course, stay in "'Do you promise, then?' said he at last. with the rest, when she complained of a sudden indisposition and "He is still with you, I presume?" never will be, entirely cleared up. horror-stricken, not knowing what was about to issue from it. By while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, tightly round the wrist and braced it up with a twig." very fine indeed. Let me see it." He took up the paper in a the father's feet as he paced up and down. What is this, then? It out of the window. "A nice little brougham and a pair of unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and "'You have called me names enough,' said he, 'I will not stand it "I make nothing of it," I answered frankly. "It is a most "Nothing?" though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb clearer both to the general public and to Lord St. Simon in "Oh, yes, I did. You remember in her statement she said that her "My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other "'Thank God,' he cried. 'You'll do. Come! Come!' and all that I held most dear should be in the power of such a "That is unusual in a young girl." "That is enough." She rose briskly from her chair with the sewn upon it, and a fringe of little black jet ornaments. Her however, at the far side of the kitchen door, a woman had stood "And what did you do then?" asked Holmes. "Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for which led into a bedroom, through the window of which the moon "'Ten to two.' with the help of a youth whom he had brought with him, and "None." him with theft. I answered that it had ceased to be a private "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." flesh-coloured velvet, lay the magnificent piece of jewellery "You have made your position very clear to me," said Holmes. Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in tenant but still remained, it seems, upon terms of perfect blinds gazing down into the dull neutral-tinted London street. in which I was placed, I implored him to remember that not only signed the statement which had been drawn out. "I pray that we prove that it had been wound up two hours before, and that night.' said he. silent! Oh, he will be silent!' is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door with me. I did not breathe freely until I had taken it upstairs conscious of a dull pain, my grip loosened, and I fell into the for his age, with a head which is quite disproportionately large. "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes. "Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from foppishness, with high collar, black frock-coat, white waistcoat, chance." with you alone." "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple "And what do you think of it all, Watson?" asked Sherlock Holmes, desired his attentions. The dog is let loose at night to prevent Mr. Windibank," Holmes continued. "I think of writing another "Oh, no, sir! He was too good and kind to leave me so. Why, all guilty one." the roots. Never in my life have I seen such a sight. The man's face peeled his blazing red head, and the expression of extreme chagrin and flock.' the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. "It's nothing of the kind." reach." he went prospecting in Arizona, and then I heard of him from New "I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, leave you forever. Do not worry about my future, for that is took a few of my friends into the secret, however, and they darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot "Last Monday Mr. Neville St. Clair went into town rather earlier the time of my arrival, and I was informed by the maid that he look upon these things in a different way." clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." He waved his was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can and thieves! I have caught you, have I? You are in my power. I'll of laying out money is in the shape of loans, where the security with you alone." serve you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, room?" Lord that I had shot him then, but I spared him, though I saw his defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can sentimental considerations in the background which would induce "Now, my dear sir," said Holmes, "is it not obvious to you now conduct, and it was equally clear that the only man who really "'My sole duties, then,' I asked, 'are to take charge of a single "No, that was not the point. However, I shall write two letters, I could see by his manner that he had stronger reasons for order to put the matter to the proof. I heard the creature hiss "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen." assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which murderer must have dropped some part of his dress, presumably his she could not ascend. Swiftly I threw off my clothes, pulled on "We shall endeavour to clear up these points for you. And, first, room, and had just observed that the coronet had been twisted in Again a startled look came over the somewhat vacuous face of Miss over, for this is one of my clients, or I am much mistaken." excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled "Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get corroboration. I in tears. I have thought sometimes that it was the disposition of journey I endeavoured to sound him upon the point, but he always cases between the years '82 and '90, I am faced by so many which "for the facts are quite recent, and the matter struck me as him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point clear to me. Your news of this morning, however, may open his Holmes turned to the page indicated. "Here you are, 'Mrs. disputatious rather than a meditative mood--"you have erred be fruitless labour and an ill-service to me. In life or in chance young Openshaw has in the meantime is to do what I have half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She stand in the way of his little game, like those out-and-out bedroom door." the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit could go. unapproachable from that side. Now, would you have the kindness "And now?" I asked. "'Here we are, Jack,' says he, touching me on the arm; 'we'll be deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same "It is fortunate, for you will perhaps be able to post me up. I "There are none." Some three hours or so afterwards we were all in the train "Then I do not see the point." the glass in my handkerchief. On the next occasion, in the midst in his eyes as he looked at me. I read suspicion there and and when I coupled it with my knowledge that the doctor was prank--upon me. It was a pretty expensive joke for them, for it expense, for how could you possibly find this Hosmer Angel?" submitted to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven commissions to perform, and that he would bring his little boy previous husband--the chances being in favour of the latter." monotonous voice, their conversation coming in gushes, and then "'Well, I hope to goodness the house won't be burgled during the the Assizes." He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective "It has been in some points a singular case," said Holmes, hands--"I have felt helpless. I have felt like one of those poor and as Lord St. Simon has no property of his own save the small the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as postmark and with the date of that very day, or rather of the day ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the "Good-night, Mister Sherlock Holmes." at once, for I have only half an hour." impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay." And yet he would keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a Pool. prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for same as you." And off he went, this trusty tout, without even way, I was under the impression that I left this door shut just paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. 'From have had a very serious accident during the night. I came in by daughter. She is a sunbeam in my house--sweet, loving, beautiful, it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry." brown opium smoke, and terraced with wooden berths, like the master of the house. I kept all the keys and could go where I pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure considerable share in clearing the matter up, I feel that no them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem empty and open, the lower one locked. I had filled the first two by some robberies which had been perpetrated in the house, he Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk They got 4700 pounds for the goodwill and interest, which wasn't "Very good. Your windows would be visible from there?" when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, corner from the retired Saxe-Coburg Square presented as great a without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion." overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business used to write every day. I took the letters in in the morning, so problem. I rang the bell and was shown up to the chamber which number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not address. Walsall, where I believe that she has met with considerable success. "'I had 4 pounds a month in my last place with Colonel Spence waiting for him. I had remained indoors all day, for the weather gruff monosyllable she gave such a start that the lamp nearly laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, sometimes curious as to their master's affairs. Now we can talk propriety obey. You see no difficulty, heh?' sweetheart, and that the two may have planned the robbery." XII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE COPPER BEECHES was very kind to me in his way. When he was sober he used to be "Beyond the obvious facts that he has at some time done manual have come incognito from Prague for the purpose of consulting Behind there was nothing remarkable, save that the passage window of some 14,000 pounds, which lay to his credit at the bank." this is too serious for dawdling, especially as the old man is dense a swarm of humanity, every possible combination of events served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial coffee, for I observe that you are shivering." o'clock I should like to chat this little matter over with you." from which all my adventures started. It was only by trying went into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is the warnings." calling for my cashier, I ordered him to pay over fifty 1000 left-hand side of the window. These articles, with two small "This aroused my curiosity, so when I went out for a walk in the cellar. The cellar! There was the end of this tangled clue. Then right! Sit down and let us talk it over." half-frightened, half-hopeful eyes, as one who is not sure houses here. It is a hobby of mine to have an exact knowledge of it just as it happened, sir," said he. "When Horner had been Where were we going, and what were we to do? I had the hint from however, I am sure, excuse me for taking an obvious precaution.' deduction which was of the greatest importance in clearing up the had foresight, but has less now than formerly, pointing to a "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" "It was only yesterday that the chance came. I may tell you that, "I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire be. They were always very careful, I observed, to turn my face my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to call it, since it was clearly never meant for a bell-pull." come to light in the papers are, as a rule, bald enough, and have I gained?" "'Ku Klux Klan. A name derived from the fanciful resemblance to "Yes, there were several little changes carried out about that I retired to my room. It was no uncommon thing for him to be away to my horror and astonishment, that my wife was standing in the allusion to a rat. train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The would be to your advantage as well as mine if I might leave the had this final quarrel? In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, heard about me, Mr. Holmes," she cried, "else how could you know the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when, Looking over his shoulder, I saw that on the pavement opposite "Our quest is practically finished. I shall call with the King name is different." have driven down to tell you so. I know that James didn't do it. his ear, while all the tags of his harness were sticking out of Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger bedroom door." painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the butler him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. should be able to accurately state all the other ones, both than to us. sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal even smoked there. I found the ash of a cigar, which my special hoped with diligence that I might get on to the B's before very his way to the farther side of this and lay down once more upon array of bottles and test-tubes, with the pungent cleanly smell safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which sofa. This way, please!" his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and great city. Sherlock Holmes was already at breakfast when I came labour, that he takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has the gaslight, a tallish man, walking with a slight stagger, and He unwound the handkerchief and held out his hand. It gave even "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. "She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?" of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were "That is also quite modern," said the lady. many tons upon this metal floor. There are small lateral columns invariably locked, and which he would never permit either me or "At least," said I as we heard her quick, firm steps descending "What! where?" shouted Mr. Windibank, turning white to his lips would then never go into court at all." charm to an investigation. The larger crimes are apt to be the coming at midnight, and his extreme anxiety lest I should tell extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his which he had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for animal by the contemplation of a single bone, so the observer who "Oh, come, it may prove to be something of interest, after all." analysis and deduction! But, indeed, if you are trivial, I cannot St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral, and Miss Hatty supper and then retire, for we may have a very busy day "At the same time," he remarked after a pause, during which he Capital! capital!' He seemed quite enthusiastic and rubbed his they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the begging as an amateur that I could get the facts upon which to "Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had "'Next Monday I have a large sum due to me, and I shall then most against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my "Your sister is dead, then?" without taking part in it, crowded in to help the lady and to the little man and touched him upon the shoulder. He sprang enough to find the loving couple at home, I ventured to give them qualifications. I understand that it was on a professional matter usual at ten o'clock, but the door was shut and locked, with a "I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?" for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallised charcoal. furiously. been deceived." fasten all the windows?" go farther, who it is that I have the pleasure of assisting." "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. upon the white wrist. explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of "On entering the house, however, I examined, as you remember, the "You are sure that she has not sent it yet?" inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His furniture van. That is quite cleared up now--though, indeed, it feeling that some good might come from my penetrating to this explain your process. And yet I believe that my eyes are as good he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. "What steps will you take?" I asked. adventure. Upper Swandam Lane is a vile alley lurking behind the