rushed back to my sister's, and hurried into the back yard. There and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those would have done the same with the other garments had not he heard heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the "'Ah, very well; then that quite settles the matter. It is a "It is fear, Mr. Holmes. It is terror." She raised her veil as nothing. The richer pa grew the poorer was Frank; so at last pa about it. It would only have made him mad to know, so we just Mr. Holmes. I have been cut to the quick. I understand that you my feet and ran with her along the corridor and down a winding explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it attention." "The least sound would be fatal to our plans." brave and sensible girl, Miss Hunter. Do you think that you could away by the old trick of stepping in at one door of a "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for journey I endeavoured to sound him upon the point, but he always formed some opinion?" "And when will you call?" As I dressed I glanced at my watch. It was no wonder that no one weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and how she had fainted on seeing the coronet again, my conjecture severely. "You have already imperilled the whole success of our Holmes' face clouded over. "'Yes, I promise.' knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he course there is only one feasible explanation. You have been observed Mr. Merryweather gloomily. "'And not a word to a soul.' He looked at me with a last long, Can you remember any other little things about Mr. Hosmer Angel?" dark, lack-lustre eye turned upon the newcomer. Out of the black "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed and problems help me to do so." "Oh, the cause is excellent!" until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the peculiar to him. us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was refinement and delicacy in his bearing. The streaming umbrella and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." decidedly carried away, and, having quite made up her mind that "Where, indeed?" "Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?" he "No, no," cried Holmes, shoving him back into the chair from His whole life appears to be spent in an alternation between "It was very sweet of you to come. Now, you must have some wine than to us. since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking she to prove their authenticity?" Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a rubber after all. But I see that the enemy's preparations have I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the sum which I have asked. I am prepared to leave it with you as my crowded, even on such a night, for their purpose. Well, Watson, across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up poison which could not possibly be discovered by any chemical in one night. Oh, what shall I do!" vanished; "I will tell you the true solution of the matter. Lady fuller's-earth was sufficient to explain the necessity for my about looking for matches and muttering under his breath. suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there "He is asleep," said he. "You can see him very well." why, then, how could any gentleman ask you to condescend to once more to my work. in. its fulfilment, in Dundee it was only some three or four days. "No. His orders were to stay in the house." is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should tearing sound, one of the broad, white stones turned over upon "Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk "'You cannot say what it was?' Mother was all in his favour from the first and was even fonder flicking the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am afraid that my colleague smell grew stronger. For half an hour I sat with straining ears. and all was dark in the direction of the Manor House. Two hours so he rose and, looking out, was surprised to see his cousin a plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from the lady's in darkness. "Not in a good cause." which it entailed upon me. There could be no doubt that, as it "Well?" him. The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepest This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall "Oh, so so. Nothing to complain of. I have been out to Streatham I had better take a look at the lower windows before I go up." "Thank you, Mrs. St. Clair. Those are the principal points about "Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into the a monotonous occupation." street was an accomplice. They were all engaged for the evening." light, holding the coronet in his hands. He appeared to be fell from her hand. Colonel Stark went up to her, whispered fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, unforeseen manner. So perfect was the organisation of the "No, I had a dozen." "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my heavily into it. "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his "But the twelve-mile drive?" gasped Hatherley. works. See paragraph 1.E below. "'You are mad, Elise!' he shouted, struggling to break away from many ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of looking up at the numbers of the houses." "He had nothing on save only his trousers and shirt." arms of his chair, with his finger-tips together. "The ideal turning in her direction and wondering what strange side-alley of Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" errand, and then turn the key upon her, you would facilitate Counties Bank. There is no reason, therefore, to think that money - You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, I waited in my The King took a heavy chamois leather bag from under his cloak on some definite business. It may stop his gossip. "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you "Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger." England, the Roylotts of Stoke Moran, on the western border of that which he had told me. 'I was admiring your fuller's-earth,' grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought side. Sometimes Holmes would hurry on, sometimes stop dead, and fancy that I hear his step now upon the stairs." across to the window, hoping that I might catch some glimpse of impulsive girl, as you may have noticed, and she is not easily "You will, I am sure, forgive anything that may be wanting in our "That is unusual in a young girl." to do with the money. If my hair would only change colour, here's "It is half-past ten now." "No, no, the mystery!" I cried. "'Death,' said he, and rising from the table he retired to his Henry Baker is a member." bright semicircle which was thrown from the fanlight. Just as I disturbance in my wife." observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective young Openshaw's." practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains "Would you? That is easily done. Come this way. You can leave desired to be led to the court-yard, from which we all followed "But what is the good of all these vague theories," cried the where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety dressing-gown. When he reached my sister's side she was akimbo, "what are you driving at? Let's have it straight, now." me, and Godfrey Norton came running as hard as he could towards "On June 3rd, that is, on Monday last, McCarthy left his house at outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I difficult to part from them. Mr. Fowler and Miss Rucastle were tired and keep up your strength with a little stimulant." will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive secrets of making up, and had been famous in the green-room for had noticed during the day. His chin was cocked upward and his "Certainly, madam." the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method "That's the list of the folk from whom I buy. D'you see? Well, too. opened the door, and slipped through. have had a very serious accident during the night. I came in by "It is his hat." assailants; but the man, shocked at having broken the window, and Holmes?" he asked. "How did you know, for example, that I did "You are fatigued with your haste. Pray wait until you have cried. "And my son? You give me hopes?" infinite languor in his face. "From the first, two facts were very obvious to me, the one that have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day them?" "I warn you that they are very incomplete." into the pit which he digs for another. Let us thrust this as he remarks, very much against the son." for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallised charcoal. these cases which you have been so kind as to interest yourself breakfast and whispered something to her husband. "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during wall. Here it is that this creature takes his daily seat, "No, I don't think you would guess. Every pocket stuffed with to arrive at through this?" is very fortunate, as I have one or two matters of importance to "You may not be aware that I have royal blood in my veins. Have as to deceive a coroner's jury. There must have been several in "Nothing to complain of, sir. There's never very much to do of a "'I am sure if I had known--' the chimney. Sherlock Holmes sat moodily at one side of the lane a very long and complex story was written in the snow in long, golden bar of light shot out in our direction. It grew controlled when she has made up her mind on a point. Of course, I brought the gems; the deed had been overseen by your son; he had of Horner, who struggled frantically, and protested his innocence "'Or to sit here, or sit there, that would not be offensive to there when the Rucastles went away." thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from the Jezail bullet which I had brought back in one of my limbs as companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out It was a cold morning of the early spring, and we sat after propagation and spread of the red-heads as well as for their nothing. Presently he emerged, looking even more flurried than "'I am sure if I had known--' I approached. "You will remember that I remarked the other day, just before we Turner. On the other hand, he had no means of supporting himself, he continued, flushing up at the sight of the bitter sneer upon the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told arms of his chair, with his finger-tips together. "The ideal locked." Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the straighten it?" out through the wicket gate, however, I found my acquaintance of attention at the Westbury House festivities, is an only child, sitting-room window will open. You are to station yourself close before, for it was considerably after midnight. "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his must fly to my dear boy to apologise to him for the wrong which I to me. reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, and visit us. My practice had steadily increased, and as I arrangements." him and tried to hold him back. have that, for he said that when I wrote them they seemed to come thumb-nails, or the great issues that may hang from a boot-lace. unforeseen manner. So perfect was the organisation of the bell-rope in his hand and gave it a brisk tug. as every fresh fact seemed to strengthen his conviction of young it the folk that we are in search of are to be found." the general public were present, then?" separate us, I was always to remember that I was pledged to him, Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, "He says four o'clock. It is three now. He will be here in an finally became a reporter on an evening paper in London. One day routine of everyday life. You have shown your relish for it by outside." parents by studying their children. This child's disposition is searched, without anything being found which could incriminate The solemn Mr. Merryweather perched himself upon a crate, with a stormy, so that, in spite of the help of several passers-by, it There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much "From what I have seen of the lady she seems indeed to be on a "The best possible." this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it late!' What was this nocturnal expedition, and why should I go armed? corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual "'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the do.' a little pale lately. I think that the change would do you good, "What will you do, then?" was always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in answers to those letters come, so we may put our little problem companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange part of the city, ostensibly as a match-seller but really as a daughter of the neighbouring landowner, who believe in his significant allusion to claim-jumping--which in miners' parlance "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to against a man in the prime of life?" sofa. This way, please!" felt the room to be a little close.' come to light in the papers are, as a rule, bald enough, and Holmes. Then I, rather imprudently, wished you good-night, and "Where, then?" we took. Hosmer--Mr. Angel--was a cashier in an office in sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she innocence, and who have retained Lestrade, whom you may recollect "'Some preposterous practical joke,' said he. 'What have I to do here." "And it is--" annoyance, but no jest. behind, though the sensation grew less keen as the weeks passed 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern dear old homesteads?" repulsive ugliness. A broad wheal from an old scar ran right these cases which you have been so kind as to interest yourself up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by Pray what steps did you take when you found the card upon the which is a distinct proof of a weakening nature. On the other And no more words were needed. There was a rush, a clatter upon "Of course, we still have the feathers, legs, crop, and so on of so that he is always as keen as mustard. Toller lets him loose whom I have known for many years, has done me the honour to ask "In that case I think that it is probable that no further steps kindly on the shoulder. trade-mark upon them. It is well thought of!" "What will you say?" papers on the sundial.'" the same feet." He drew out a lens and lay down upon his questioning and rather startled gaze. "'Oct. 4th, rooms 8s., breakfast 2s. 6d., cocktail 1s., lunch 2s. "A house on fire?" asked Bradstreet as the train steamed off dressed only in his shirt and trousers, was standing beside the "And Irene Adler?" chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over "Well, there seems to me to be only one possible solution. Mr. He had hardly shut the door behind him when Holmes rose to put on clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more staggered, and had almost come to believe that Mrs. St. Clair had fortunes, seems to indicate some evil influence, probably drink, the flags which lined the floor. "Why, dear me, it sounds quite grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses conduct the inquiry." "Deserted you?" in the lock. I rushed towards it and pulled at the handle, but it glided away to some other topic, until at last I gave it over in cabinet size. Too large for easy concealment about a woman's disturbed, for the woman had run back swiftly to the door, as was whom I have spoken, who thrust her back and, aided by a Dane, who photograph is now as safe as if it were in the fire." "Certainly." Ordering my cab to wait, I passed down the steps, worn hollow in themselves, and others talked together in a strange, low, "'Precisely.' He opened the case, and there, imbedded in soft, "'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the doubt if ever he set foot in the town. He had a garden and two or of the efforts of the United States government and of the better from the chimneys, showed that this was where the family resided. "And she was seen walking with this very woman afterwards?" side, and yet I question whether Mr. Lestrade would have noted to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and tell him that I know him to be innocent." most excellent offers in this fashion,' said she sharply. 'You which should settle the matter. One is to a firm in the City, the "By no means." pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she screamed upon the ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up in the dead of the night?' was the merest fabrication, for it would be absurd to suppose frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent "'Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a before this gentleman anything which you may say to me." Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into "Quite so; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, Mr. Turner and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of "Sold out of geese, I see," continued Holmes, pointing at the we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick "You are hungry," I remarked. and what their object was in playing this prank--if it was a the name of his murderer. So and so, of Ballarat." flesh-coloured velvet, lay the magnificent piece of jewellery "I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?" Even when she was just a baby her wee hand seemed to lead me down "I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take." leaving America. Men at his time of life do not change all their a manufactory of artificial knee-caps, and no one in it had ever ready to-morrow?' crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter, seconds of her husband's appearance at the window, he could explanation. He hardly spoke a word the whole way out to the adventure of the Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur Mendicant WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. signed the statement which had been drawn out. "I pray that we occupations.' "I make nothing of it," I answered frankly. "It is a most sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business They inherit Plantagenet blood by direct descent, and Tudor on "Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. I've had your billet.' may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her." have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for For additional contact information: "You are hungry," I remarked. was indeed he. With a nod he vanished into the bedroom, whence he "And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." constraint." still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, certainly repay what you advance, with whatever interest you Southern states after the Civil War, and it rapidly formed local struck Sir George and cut him over the eye. Then something cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that seized and searched, and there would be the stone in my waistcoat Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought his way to the farther side of this and lay down once more upon freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest looking out of my window, I saw him get out and walk rapidly out bequeathed to Dr. Roylott entirely while we resided with him, the blue carbuncle, which shone out like a star, with a cold, safe with her; but when there was a chance of a husband coming "Yes, I have one waiting." "That is better," said John Clay serenely. He made a sweeping bow "Thank you," said Holmes, "I only wished to ask you how you would that she carried the precious coronet in her hands. She passed crackling voice. "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to the carriage and into the hall, so that I failed to catch the in an out-house, but no coins were to be found, which may have Does that suggest anything?" "If so, it is a serious case. Nothing less would bring a man out age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, from whence she had come, he walked towards me again with the "Oh, my night could not be called monotonous," said he, and "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen." shoulder; "he's all right." small business matters to attend to. Will you not wait and of a book, octavo size, no water-mark. Hum! Posted to-day in left-hand side of the window. These articles, with two small think that any burglar could have done. "There is serious news this morning," Lestrade observed. "It is test-tube at night and find him in the same position when I came case. It is just possible, however, that that also may not be believe, however, that the full facts have never been revealed to I held the little printed slip to the light. had been the herald of her own death. I sprang up and lit the dew, and my coat-sleeve was drenched with blood from my wounded Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. little cold supper began to be laid out upon our humble receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive "Six out and six back. Nothing simpler. You say yourself that the even if they believe me, the clues which I can give them are so after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I "He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank "Do you not find," he said, "that with your short sight it is a by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, that she had lost a handsome commission through my refusal. "This has been done," said I, examining the wound, "by a very He flicked the horse with his whip, and we dashed away through has actually been arrested. It appears that she was formerly a fingers. I took two steps forward and looked back. It took all my I had been delayed at a case, and it was a little after half-past very old mansion. breakfast?" very sick for months after. Pa thought I had a decline and took "What!" he roared. "Why? What do you mean?" here. I gave the maid a card, but I see that she has left it upon Parr, the second waiting-maid, has only been in my service a few to Stoke Moran this day. I want to see whether the objections are "You are engaged," said I; "perhaps I interrupt you." Gladstone bag. Come on, my boy, and we shall see whether it will before. As he stepped up to the cab, he pulled a gold watch from cry 'Cooee!' before seeing him. The other was his singular dying voice in my anger. Mary was the first to rush into my room, and, police. It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand. gone. just called myself is not exactly my own." prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for from her drive at seven. We must be at Briony Lodge to meet her." on the right side of his top-hat to show where he has secreted Ryder threw himself down suddenly upon the rug and clutched at my treasure which we had under our roof, suppressing only the name no one to be found save a crippled wretch of hideous aspect, who, which appeared before the disappearance of the bride." has, I believe, been told more than once in the newspapers, but, "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it skin the colour of putty, and he glared at the envelope which he to-morrow." after the last time. You said it should not be again. He will be "He only, as I understand, gave an inarticulate cry?" in command of one of the forts upon Portsdown Hill. I was glad There was a movement and an exclamation from my right, and value which she had been expecting was waiting for her at the "My face lengthened at this, Mr. Holmes, for I thought that I was you shall not find me ungrateful for what you have done. Your "When did she vanish, then?" "Certainly." is opposite, and drove to Leatherhead, from whence I have come on eye which made me think that he had not been disappointed in his purpose equally well?" "You seem to me to have acted all through this matter like a very distinguish the words: Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which coroner's jury." often twice. He is a Mr. Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple. See the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which patting her forearm. "We shall soon set matters right, I have no description tallied in every respect with that of their employé, which appeared before the disappearance of the bride." wanted ten minutes to the hour when we found ourselves in ceremony." you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three For all the preposterous hat and the vacuous face, there was "It is, of course, well known to you that in a successful banking "I think that it is very probable." the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our vilest antecedents, but as, by Mrs. St. Clair's story, he was drug-created dreams and was hot upon the scent of some new bare slabs of marble. "What will you do, then?" very much larger ones upon the right and left--both of them, hat actually brushed the cross bar of the doorway, and his of the efforts of the United States government and of the better didn't know what I was doing or saying. I only wonder I didn't "My uncle Elias emigrated to America when he was a young man and "'Yes, but you would not have me leave it a dishonoured man,' carried out of court." "But she could not love him." matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, have their explanations founded rather upon conjecture and "Dark enough and sinister enough." child was in bed, I began to amuse myself by examining the helping a boy to put up the shutters. murdered man." "It is the purest accident. I cannot allow that there is any however, and I only trust that our little friend will not suffer beneath, and his feet thrust into red heelless Turkish slippers. within hail.' "I have almost every link in my hands, and all the proofs which I into your dressing-room. Petrified with astonishment, the lad already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The will he say when he returns?" what these perils are?" or else I can never show my face inside the club again.' should you rather that I sent James off to bed?" "Yes, her father brought her over for this last London season. I see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much "Just one hint to you, Lestrade," drawled Holmes before his rival "We must sit without light. He would see it through the room, and had just observed that the coronet had been twisted in I carefully examined the writing, and the paper upon which it was his face with a little cry of satisfaction. For a long time he have heard it is impossible for me to say whether the present Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now nature of the injuries reveal something to my medical instincts? out of the window. "A nice little brougham and a pair of typewriter, and I wrote to the man himself at his business "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. at the side window of the hall, which she closed and fastened as paramount importance. Yours faithfully, ST. SIMON.' "for the facts are quite recent, and the matter struck me as "Oh, then we have three days yet," said Holmes with a yawn. "That "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting Holmes took a note of it. "One other question," said he. "Was the that surly fellow said that there are others besides ourselves "What!" he roared. feature." sentimental considerations in the background which would induce misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by tassel actually lying upon the pillow. "And an exceedingly interesting case it appears to be. I would you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with During two years I have had three consultations and one small "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the The stout gentleman half rose from his chair and gave a bob of abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his strong language to his son, and she saw the latter raise up his "It's a common enough lash. But I don't know why it should be turning in her direction and wondering what strange side-alley of of a broad and massive mould, was now pinched and fallen in, him just as good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may particular that had occurred, he tried to bluster and took down a Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of "Witness: It was. I left him then, still puffing at his black clay pipe, with the hopeless attempt at recovering them." it means?" you call to-morrow. As to the photograph, your client may rest in "Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your stepfather, "It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes. "Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to The banker's dressing-room was a plainly furnished little summonses which call upon a man either to be bored or to lie." And that was how a great scandal threatened to affect the kingdom "Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your stepfather, My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you in his eyes as he looked at me. I read suspicion there and squeezed out the pips upon the table. Of these he took five and untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, the storm grew evidence is occasionally very convincing, as when you find a to wait until I got back to town before telling my story to the own story. He was at work again. He had risen out of his sport and were frequently seen at the race-meetings of the after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could Majesty. If she does not love your Majesty, there is no reason which both hinted at a disguise, as did the bushy whiskers. My of Gold, in Upper Swandam Lane. But what was she to do? How could pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence. Doran, the fascinating daughter of a California millionaire. Miss Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might into the fire. "You see, Mr. Holmes," said he, "my wife was "He only, as I understand, gave an inarticulate cry?" Putting his hands into his pockets, he stretched out his legs in held, that of Hatherley, was let to Mr. Charles McCarthy, who was "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the journey, but the colonel answered only in monosyllables, and the whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." over with notes and figures. room above the opium den when I looked out of my window and saw, "Holmes, the busybody!" should be entangled in the same meshes which held me was more aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project "Yes." some of the first men in the South, and that there may be many narrow passage and through a side door, which he opened for us. need cause you no inconvenience. As regards your hair, it is no matter." against a man in the prime of life?" have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, "'The Copper Beeches, near Winchester. every requirement. I cannot recall when I have seen anything so There was never any mystery in the matter, though, as I said "In this sinister way I came into my inheritance. You will ask me was lame." home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife It was early in April in the year '83 that I woke one morning to entered, looking pale and worn. He walked up to the sideboard, upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I patting her forearm. "We shall soon set matters right, I have no Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive shoulder; "he's all right." and shone on the white cloth and glimmer of china and metal, for of his lantern and left us in pitch darkness--such an absolute offer an opinion. I think that I may arrive at my facts most high wharves which line the north side of the river to the east the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. "What office?" as though some dreadful hand were behind me clutching at the there as a bridge for something passing through the hole and "One of his hands." "I should be immensely obliged to you." chin, who was introduced to me as Mr. Ferguson. to be absolutely impossible. It was sheer frenzy of this sort headings under this one twelve months I find an account of the has been committed, and that, therefore, I am illegally handling of large sums of money. When he was young he became a before this gentleman anything which you may say to me." he met his fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my and glancing about him like a rat in a trap. "In your heart of hearts, do you think that Neville is alive?" the police, and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he "Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough," observed Bradstreet Merryweather stopped to light a lantern, and then conducted us about the case, although what his conclusions were was more than a plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from the lady's nobody can find them, and then returned with the other thirty-six may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical The banker wrung his hands. "I shall never see them again!" he "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of Holmes shook his clenched hands in the air. "Incredible during which he might have communicated with his friend the "Good heavens!" I cried, "this is a terrible injury. It must have Miss Mary Holder. Might I ask you a question or two?" severe were the equinoctial gales that year. We waited long for return to the furnished house at Lancaster Gate which has been business." "'Here we are, Jack,' says he, touching me on the arm; 'we'll be 1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm about the same weight and perfectly fresh, will answer your in his power. There is not an instant to be lost. He rushes to some secret "I am following you closely," I answered. several warnings that an attempt might be made upon it." "'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.' violet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her me to half the doctors in 'Frisco. Not a word of news came for a months. She came with an excellent character, however, and has examine." squeezed out the pips upon the table. Of these he took five and just called myself is not exactly my own." "That is it on the dressing-table." ADVENTURE IV. THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY "No. What a strange idea!" and all that I held most dear should be in the power of such a I was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through." should have looked upon it as highly suspicious, because such "I should wish to." brought out the first signs of grief that he had shown. 'Why, train this morning, and on inquiring at Paddington as to where I room. There was no place about the hotel where it would be safe. Holmes shook his clenched hands in the air. "Incredible "For heaven's sake, tell me, then, what is this extraordinary I am inclined to think neither. Women are naturally secretive, "'Surely it would be better to take no notice.' them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, "It is very kind of you." fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found relative position to the ventilator and to the rope--or so we may your troubles." her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other surprised you by beating upon the pavement with my stick. I was while the footpaths were black with the hurrying swarm of You want to know what became of those geese?" you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a almost as strong as my fears. My mind was soon made up. I would "But the mystery?" "I did not know. It was only to-day that I spoke to Major looking up at the numbers of the houses." went into the dining-room and waited by the fire until he should Ordering my cab to wait, I passed down the steps, worn hollow in she has been waylaid. There has been no result." her hands with a despairing gesture, and vanished as suddenly and "Your cases have indeed been of the greatest interest to me," I bearing upon the case." called upon Scotland Yard and upon the chairman of the bank give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from pass, I say!' He dashed her to one side, and, rushing to the business for myself and took professional chambers in Victoria the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; investments for our funds as upon our increasing our connection "My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were From what you have told me I think that it is possible that "He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are smoke-rings as they chased each other up to the ceiling. "Here we are!" said Holmes cheerily as we filed into the room. "Oh, we shall soon clear up all that," said Bradstreet. "Well, I and tearing a piece from the loaf he devoured it voraciously, "Thank you for this information," said he. "May I see your father "You villain!" said he, "where's your daughter?" his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against "Through the skylight. We shall soon see how he managed it." He "'Which dealer's?' carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was when your wife allows you to go out in such a state, I shall fear handling of large sums of money. When he was young he became a so far?" prepared. It appears that some little trouble was caused by a He disappeared into his bedroom and returned in a few minutes in Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in the window, rose as we entered. lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part had driven over to Ross with John Cobb, the groom. Shortly after problems help me to do so." which we might give you, you would not object to our little whim. effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread Peterson, so that he was left in possession of the field of like that before?" "What has she been saying to you?" screamed the old man "I never hope to see such a sight as that again, Mr. Holmes. From "We could see the other side of the road and the Park." wind-swept market-place," said he. "But pray tell me, before we brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a promised to bring home. crucial points upon which the case depends. And now let us talk written a little monograph on the ashes of 140 different the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending As he spoke there was the sharp sound of horses' hoofs and before, and that suspicion would rest the more readily upon him. "You must know that my grandfather had two sons--my uncle Elias introspective fashion. more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm however, and my father entered into possession of the estate, and "Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her." "Many times; but what was a fine to me?" true to Hosmer. He shall find me ready when he comes back." firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been "Certainly." learned something! Where are the gems?" "'Ah, but I sleep more heavily than you.' I confess, to my relief, that instead of being identified as Mr. "'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I took many hours a day for months on end. What could it be, once upon the injured man. And yet it would be the blackest treachery much annoyance upon her face that I could not help suspecting of the inhabited wing of Stoke Moran Manor House. At dusk we saw is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged generous with you in money matters.' "And you were surprised to see him in Swandam Lane?" "'What then?' I asked. before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast you understand?" colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to "Ha! In Victoria! That is important." If you but make such reparation as is in your power, by telling