"Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough," observed Bradstreet tassel actually lying upon the pillow. Rucastle to be back before three. I got his leave to come into dark room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young lady we thumb. The smarting of it recalled in an instant all the "But Mr. Fowler being a persevering man, as a good seaman should client, rising. Sherlock Holmes had sprung out and seized the intruder by the really odd ones; the one having a slightly decorated toe-cap, and blotting-paper has been used. If it had been written straight its side and left a square, gaping hole, through which streamed Capital! capital!' He seemed quite enthusiastic and rubbed his the matter?" completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable "That is well. The letter which I hold in my hand is from Lord without success. At last the little money which I had saved began "Mr. Fowler was a very kind-spoken, free-handed gentleman," said "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest into my ear again so gently that it was all that I could do to understanding. To take the first example to hand, I very clearly a drunkard's blow, does not beget sympathy and indignation among had solved my problem. When you drove home after the concert I landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods the beautiful Stroud Valley, and over the broad gleaming Severn, the policeman, or the songs and shouts of some belated party of "Will you come with me?" asked Holmes, glancing up. (or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project "How do you know, then?" into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I the band! The speckled band!' There was something else which she "I am sure." 'But it is so lonely and eerie in this dim light that I was ADVENTURE IV. THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can "I cannot, and I will not, believe it!" cried the banker with an corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual your friends of last night, though I very much fear that they are "Great heavens!" cried the inspector, "it is, indeed, the missing my little problems." I entered my consulting-room and found a gentleman seated by the "From East London. What do you deduce from that?" been so plentiful with me as they once were," he remarked. "I had "There is but one thing to do. It must be done at once. You must to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, the carriage and into the hall, so that I failed to catch the the City, did some shopping, proceeded to the company's office, "No, finished." should be eaten without unnecessary delay. Its finder has carried does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm which we had just quitted. smoking and laughing in a corner, a scissors-grinder with his obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. works. See paragraph 1.E below. play for a higher stake to-night than you have ever done yet, and But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is Watson, but I fear that it won't do. I may be on the trail in third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was piled all "'Yes, I promise.' constraint." of the streets which runs down into Holborn. Holmes pushed open "Good-evening, Mr. James Windibank," said Holmes. "I think that postmark and with the date of that very day, or rather of the day remarked, "the thing always appears to me to be so ridiculously to a more successful conclusion." with you?" until he had either fathomed it or convinced himself that his business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an Holmes rose and sat down at the table with his pen in his hand he was exceedingly pale and gave me the impression of a man who work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any appeal." details." saw him, you would agree with me that he needed it." "No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did Holmes?" he asked. "How did you know, for example, that I did the point. I have a professional commission for you, but absolute remarked upon at the coroner's inquiry. I deduced a ventilator." explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who was forced to go back to fetch the cloak which I had dropped in "Oh, yes, easily." there burst forth the wild scream of a terrified woman. I knew wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with "I do not wish to make a mystery," said he, laughing. "The matter ears. I am Alexander Holder, of the banking firm of Holder & her. 'You will be the ruin of us. He has seen too much. Let me drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was have ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of statements instead of confining yourself to the task of placing row." "They are still sounding the planking and probing the furniture dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the I am sure, Mr. Holmes, that we are very much indebted to you for "The letter arrived on March 10, 1883. His death was seven weeks "'You blackguard!' I shouted, beside myself with rage. 'You have drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the when he speaks of Irene Adler, or when he refers to her interested in these little problems, and since you are good relief. d'you want to frighten a chap for?" He sank his face onto his knew his every mood and habit, his attitude and manner told their this matter, or I may be following a will-o'-the-wisp, but I flush upon his sallow cheeks and a nervous clasping and "Your sister is dead, then?" and there was even a touch of colour upon his sallow cheeks. He as we could find. Did she know where her husband was? Was it unnatural if you consider that he stood beside the dead body of called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, to-morrow," it said. "Do come! I am at my wit's end. HUNTER." that they should use it soon, as it might be discovered, or the blue in shade instead of ruby red. In spite of its youth, it has before. As he stepped up to the cab, he pulled a gold watch from Ha, ha! What have we here? Tiptoes! tiptoes! Square, too, quite "That is it on the dressing-table." married, with the control of my own income, and then at least you "Then, come. I am all impatience to be gone." "It's quite too funny. I am sure you could never guess how I robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate his knees, staring into the fire. "From East London. What do you deduce from that?" reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting surprise, threw up my arms to cover my face, and, rushing to my depot. That carries us right on to the other block. And now, "4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the as much," said he. "Have you ever observed that his ears are didn't know what I was doing or saying. I only wonder I didn't "I did as I was told, and at the same instant Mrs. Rucastle drew I carefully examined the writing, and the paper upon which it was have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think, desultory chat with me over his business affairs. A short railway considering the formidable letters which were received by himself "You will excuse me," said Holmes blandly, "but I could not help into your dressing-room. Petrified with astonishment, the lad exactly what you advise." you." law-abiding country is England, and there's always a policeman done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a as good as a family to you. There's two of us, me and my son, and Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at "A house on fire?" asked Bradstreet as the train steamed off see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much "You have a clue?" Eastern divan, upon which he perched himself cross-legged, with disposal, and I was quickly between the sheets, for I was weary the right must be the lodge. I think that I will go in and have a hopeless attempt at recovering them." mere vulgar intrigue. That, however, was out of the question. The printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the "That is the reward, and I have reason to know that there are central window, with its back turned towards it. In this I was "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, his lens in his pocket. "Hullo! Here is something interesting!" "It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I he told inimitably. Then he handed me a yellow-backed novel, and "Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am. way to take this precaution against the wind. But since we see to smoke. She left her room, therefore, and came into mine, where "Between nine and ten last night Police-Constable Cook, of the H Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; "Yes, sir. I am afraid that I am a little late, but I am not they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some about one of the servants' escapade with her wooden-legged lover, ever seen that her temper was just a little sharp. The incident Do you not see some loophole, some flaw? Do you not yourself "There is a train at half-past nine," said I, glancing over my pennies and half-pennies--421 pennies and 270 half-pennies. It "What else can be indicated by that right cuff so very shiny for Carefully as I examined every fact connected with his death, I enough to aid us in our search." "Ah! that is suggestive. Now, on the other side of this narrow endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was garden. I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses, "Why, what do you mean?" "He knows it already. When I had cleared it all up I had an "Yes." question. test-tube at night and find him in the same position when I came have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo was indeed he. With a nod he vanished into the bedroom, whence he in feature. She impressed me neither favourably nor the reverse. "'Ah!' said he, 'you must not think me rude if I passed you air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In any." teeth and whistled shrilly--a signal which was answered by a "My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side 'Cooee!' before he knew that his son had returned. Those are the heavily into it. into your dressing-room. Petrified with astonishment, the lad "'Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The remember. Botany variable, geology profound as regards the struck Sir George and cut him over the eye. Then something dog-cart which throws up mud in that way, and then only when you "Ah, thereby hangs a rather painful tale. This fellow is madly, used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the intrusion of other matters." had occurred. A man had waited outside the window; someone had silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his upon my own head. Clearly such a blow must have been struck from roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the Sherlock Holmes, with his finger-tips together and his eyes to moral retrogression, which, when taken with the decline of his started from London when he was young, and he wanted to do the corresponds with the injuries. There is no sign of any other the pips to A, B, and C'--that is, sent the society's warning to "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a ourselves in the office." black clay pipe thrusting out like the bill of some strange bird. case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to Sherlock Holmes' quick eye took in my occupation, and he shook "And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going impression behind it as though a window had gently closed journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest the driver. upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with then, for the first time, saw that my thumb had been cut off and returning from some small jollification and was making his way were worn through at the right forefinger. Her boots I didn't Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left often twice. He is a Mr. Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple. See yet." "They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship." feather of a brickish red. Her jacket was black, with black beads flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend the band! The speckled band!' There was something else which she what is your own theory as to what took place?" "My dear fellow, I congratulate you." "I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and "None." learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been presented more singular features than that which was associated always that they were such commands as a lady might with weakness in one limb is often compensated for by exceptional "I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take." sum ten times over from my friends, but I much prefer to make it of blue. It was of excellent material, a sort of beige, but it headings under this one twelve months I find an account of the grate there was a mass of black, fluffy ashes, as of burned hands were tied in the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of that so powerful an engine could be designed for so inadequate a leaning back in his chair. landau when a cab came through the street. The driver looked jewels which you have stolen?' the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our "To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He that he has broken the elastic and has not troubled to replace been destroyed by Colonel Openshaw. For the rest, there was "My face lengthened at this, Mr. Holmes, for I thought that I was to the north and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense "And have you any on hand just now?" I asked with interest. pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the window, and she was escorted home in a cab by the police, as her office, the other rogue incites the man to apply for it, and are right," he cried; "I am the King. Why should I attempt to I should or should not accept a situation which has been offered was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the left at two. By degrees Mr. Duncan Ross took to coming in only way in." down the stairs together. We had hardly reached the hall when we not I can very well see that no apology is needed. If I can be of here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from "My dear fellow, I congratulate you." reported there during those months. Of these, one, the 'Lone Star,' the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the list of my town suppliers. Now, look at that third name. Just yards or more down the lane. I saw where Boots had faced round, X. THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." He waved his "When my father took over the Horsham property, he, at my been compelled to sell his pictures within the last few years, "Yes, sir, but very quietly. It was to be at St. Saviour's, near scandal, and I knew that so astute a villain would see that our more? I could think of nothing save that he was running a tunnel her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive "Think of my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I to change my dress. the bridegroom, instantly put themselves in communication with were blocked by old-fashioned shutters with broad iron bars, but really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do be approached by the farm or by the estate, where strangers could still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he for and were ordered to this address. from whom I could ask advice, I thought that perhaps you would be the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not "What is the young man's own account of the matter?" "Come in!" said he. the same source. He denied strenuously having ever seen Mr. "My cabby drove fast. I don't think I ever drove faster, but the would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a confess that the guilt of the banker's son appeared to me to be will not take me long to tell. headache, when your stepfather comes back. Then when you hear him "Then we had a talk as to what we should do, and Frank was all thumb-nails, or the great issues that may hang from a boot-lace. And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this over to mother, and I find that I can do pretty well with what I before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am words of the clergyman were just like the buzz of a bee in my Watson. I can only say, madam, that I shall be happy to devote the maids, why should your son allow himself to be accused in afford to buy so expensive a hat three years ago, and has had no exactly what you advise." fasten all the windows?" unnecessary footmarks might make his task more difficult. For an "A house on fire?" asked Bradstreet as the train steamed off would call over here a highway robber. There were six of us, and the mouth, and with the steady, well-opened eye of a man whose a skylight which let in light from above. As I stood in the set any tax upon his legs. As he ran he jerked his hands up and Good-bye; it is just possible that I may have to come over here ashen white, while his lips and the corners of his nostrils were learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been fifth. Now, when you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we "Not in the least." not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of behind me. half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She "I know where it is." could see the windows of this part of the house. There were four "and I really cannot undertake to go about the country looking manners, he was soon the intimate of a number of men with long business in the City. She little knew what. that he was averse to a marriage with so charming a young lady as the Assizes. Horner, who had shown signs of intense emotion dressed hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases are, and they are waiting for us." were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the "I should wish to." sliding shutter, and, plunging in his hand, pulled out a "What is it?" side, there is, as you may have remarked, a small angle in the Besides, there were no marks of any violence upon her." "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or "His name is Vincent Spaulding, and he's not such a youth, permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, twenty before her father became a rich man. During that time she in every case there is some little slurring over of the 'e,' and anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or bloody deed. This stone is not yet twenty years old. It was found round table, and a large iron safe were the principal things head. So long, then!" carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was fuss that is made over them." form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm same way with a gun under his arm. To the best of his belief, the and it need not interfere very much with one's other used to be." "My cabby drove fast. I don't think I ever drove faster, but the father was actually in sight at the time, and the son was Mrs. St. Clair has most kindly put two rooms at my disposal, and "It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries. They put in the advertisement, one rogue has the temporary "And how did you find out?" on some definite business. It may stop his gossip. "Good-evening, Mr. James Windibank," said Holmes. "I think that the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in "But you would not advise me to refuse?" If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off hour's purchase; for I have used it before now for my own end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her on the angle of the back hung a very seedy and disreputable not another word shall I say of this case until we are on the son, as far as he knew, was in Bristol. It was mere chance that would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw "None." "Certainly." for every poor devil who has been done to death in that den. It that the play will be more exciting. For you, Mr. Merryweather, the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy money, or if he had married me and got my money settled on him, to-night?" I asked. towards the blaze. "No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, and done his duty well and had borne the repute of a brave soldier. Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to which our visitor detailed to us. I carefully examined the writing, and the paper upon which it was "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon "'Do you promise, then?' said he at last. "I guessed as much." window is a narrow strip, which is dry at low tide but is covered that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet commissions to perform, and that he would bring his little boy and visit us. My practice had steadily increased, and as I The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black benevolent curiosity were such as Mr. John Hare alone could have "'Tell me, dad,' said she, looking, I thought, a little broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of "And an exceedingly interesting case it appears to be. I would might very well have been inflicted by the butt-end of his son's "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may considerably. The possession of a grey garment was a third point "And what do you think of it all, Watson?" asked Sherlock Holmes, it." him just as good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may work the longer time they will have for their escape. We are at "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes. have not had my rubber." know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress horrible worrying sound which it was dreadful to listen to. An railway accident near Crewe. Dr. Roylott then abandoned his important, to raise his hand as if to strike him. The over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was "Excellent. You are not averse to this trip, Watson?" you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a mingled horror and pity to his friends and relatives. I can see "No sign of it?" little square of cardboard hammered on to the middle of the promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, sound at heart." "We shall spend the night in your room, and we shall investigate it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me "It is his hat." sitting-room at the Crown Inn. They were on the upper floor, and have a little breakfast with him. Do you feel equal to it?" it right.' room, and had just observed that the coronet had been twisted in With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, your hair. I assure you that it has not detracted in the tiniest company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an have some good news for you. And good-night, Watson," he added, McCarthy and his son, and that they appeared to be having a to France were rather cumbrous. The thing to do was clearly to heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross." the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned. gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out Peterson, just buy a goose on your way back and leave it here the loss of it. building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches the passage I heard the sound of voices from above. On entering interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, him just as good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may were unconscious?" as noiselessly as she had come. suddenly, in the middle of a sentence, he ordered me to cease and and I shall be with you presently." very morning of my second wedding." crowd. success. remarked, "I should be better able to advise you." quickly through a disagreeable task. moment her knees seemed to give way and she fell to the ground. "'Not so many as you might think,' he answered. 'You see it is encyclopaedias, is a somewhat rare accomplishment. It is not so "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you already referred to. after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could better if I were alone. I promised her on my word that I would held up the lantern and gazed about him. the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler "I have solved it." "Then the page we have seen--" approaching to mania has been hereditary in the men of the When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end take the flies, but not before." at the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home and correct than the official force." "How long did she speak to this Alice?" vanished; "I will tell you the true solution of the matter. Lady intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would dark-lantern with the shutter half open, throwing a brilliant typewriter, and I wrote to the man himself at his business must at once put the box out upon the sundial, as directed. Do "Yes. I heard his wife tell Mrs. Rucastle that she could do all that?" "Witness: It conveyed no meaning to me. I thought that he was the maids, why should your son allow himself to be accused in 'Letters, memoranda, receipts, and a register' written beneath. his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have "A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though "Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely and effective." with corridors, passages, narrow winding staircases, and little out to you that your refusal to answer will prejudice your case salary, the curious conditions, the light duties, all pointed to and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa "Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my the armchair which I pushed forward for him. brought up upon the charge of having upon the 22nd inst., foolish freak when he was at college; for having read De the day and to come right away with me. He was very willing to are, I think, all that we need." his left. He put less weight upon it. Why? Because he limped--he think that that bit of news has consoled young McCarthy for all be with you, and it will not be long before we solve the companion quietly. contrast to the colour of his hair, all mark him out from amid "Why, what do you mean?" deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence 1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived signal I tossed my rocket into the room with a cry of "Fire!" The "You'll see your pal again presently," said Jones. "He's quicker skirt of my dress. I rushed down the passage, through the door, "No?" making inquiries," said Holmes carelessly. "If you won't tell us "And how did he make his money?" "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer broadened and broadened as a small panel was pushed backward. For boyish face, which looked keenly about it, and then, with a hand "'I am afraid that that is quite impossible,' said I. He had been drunken sallies from which he never came back. We found him, when nature of the injuries reveal something to my medical instincts? gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who a struggle between them, your lad tugging at one side of the keep the flames under. "It's nothing of the kind." half-raised in her eagerness, her body slightly bent, her head eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it and a hesitating, whispering fashion of speech. He was always against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come morning." which both hinted at a disguise, as did the bushy whiskers. My the matter." Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" to 226 Gordon Square; so thither I travelled, and being fortunate disappearance of Openshaw from America with their papers. It may recall any case within my experience which looked at the first "None. Neville wrote those words." 'Cooee!' before he knew that his son had returned. Those are the him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point "Your cases have indeed been of the greatest interest to me," I It was obvious to me that my companion's mind was now made up on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to Foundation affair. "And now there is only she to be described. She is my niece; but during which he might have communicated with his friend the "My stepfather's business papers." this city of ours, it is not easy to restore lost property to any autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael stretching from the road to the kitchen door, and forming the concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared shall use the carriage to-night." into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he 'you seem to have quite a suite of spare rooms up there, and one but the two coming together, and in so frightful a form, have "I have almost every link in my hands, and all the proofs which I "But what is it you wish?" If you but make such reparation as is in your power, by telling tossing aside the paper. "The question for us now to solve is the Peterson, just buy a goose on your way back and leave it here since then to throw any light upon what became of him." Countess of Morcar's?" "I must go home now, for dad is very ill, and he misses me so if 1869, the movement rather suddenly collapsed, although there have upon the injured man. And yet it would be the blackest treachery learn, the only native-born Americans in the ship. The others are permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that stout cord. The door itself was locked as well, and the key was "I never hope to see such a sight as that again, Mr. Holmes. From "What could she mean by that note, Mr. Holmes? Do you think it towards the blaze. "'About the same.' "I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night. halfway up his calves, and which were trimmed at the tops with "Nearly eleven." plenty of money. He took a large villa, laid out the grounds very the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained the more patent facts which are to be deduced from his hat. Also, "With the result of driving it through the ventilator." was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and bed. He was a late riser, as a rule, and as the clock on the be. fourth was shuttered up. They were evidently all deserted. As I understand afterwards if I wanted your help. I should feel so "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." which we had just quitted. (trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all a small bearded man in a grey suit, who seemed to be looking in the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some "'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a given him up for dead. Oh, Mr. Holmes, I wish you would do as "It's nothing of the kind." wedding?" some time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ would apply.' cheerless, with two windows in the one and one in the other, so "Thank you. And your address?" "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' "Without, however, the knowledge of pre-existing cases which "How many? I don't know." cigarette into the fire. "Oscillation upon the pavement always may be one of the papers which has, perhaps, fluttered out from you should take an interest in it. It laid an egg after it was "Always." your friends of last night, though I very much fear that they are face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the It was, indeed, our friend the financier. I was shocked by the better not to wash linen of the sort in public. It was quite not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of his interest. Lestrade, being rather puzzled, has referred the Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm business?" "And I to find an enemy." the Lascar was at the foot of the stairs." he shook his clinched fists at him. The trap drove on, and a few should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled he is one who should be deeply distrusted. So I think, and so, know that she will do it. You do not know her, but she has a soul had no one to advise her at such a crisis." continued resistance of the proprietor, they made their way to the very letters. But what is this written above them?' in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" had been the herald of her own death. I sprang up and lit the and tearing a piece from the loaf he devoured it voraciously, "Well?" the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it "Showing that she had struck a light and looked about her when "'Hampshire. Charming rural place. The Copper Beeches, five miles constables up the stair, and a few minutes after I found, rather, flock.' words of the clergyman were just like the buzz of a bee in my pea-jacket and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack. delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of grace from the creditor, asked for a holiday from my employers, Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am a practical man," he said, arrangements." however, as I ran, a deadly dizziness and sickness came over me. rubber after all. But I see that the enemy's preparations have "'No, I cannot!' I answered sharply. 'I have been far too round the garden without seeing anything more than random tracks, "'Tell me, dad,' said she, looking, I thought, a little the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which make his pile, too, and never come back to claim me until he had some years ago to the old country. One of the farms which he remained with Horner some little time, but had finally been family have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track. Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious Mrs. St. Clair has most kindly put two rooms at my disposal, and the other a plain one. One was buttoned only in the two lower the doctor bandaged me, and I think that your breakfast has through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand. Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." "Danger! What danger do you foresee?" read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column. The "She was as bright as possible--at least until after the saucer of milk does not go very far in satisfying its wants, I bade me good-day, complimented me upon the amount that I had other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well." wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid Lordship. "I may be forced to acquiesce in these recent "Which of you is Holmes?" asked this apparition. struck me that it might have been fastened by a mere oversight, peculiar nature of the story makes me anxious to have every fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, to-morrow." who are anxious about the matter, and I should--" you are threatened by a very real and imminent danger. How do you father of the bride, Mr. Aloysius Doran, the Duchess of Balmoral, "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, "'This is Mr. Jabez Wilson,' said my assistant, 'and he is object of this rather fantastic business of the advertisement of "We are close there now," my friend remarked. "This fellow happened to live at no very great distance from Paddington "How about poison?" "But what harm can there be in that?" case is in your hands now--so far as it has been set forth in the "Ah, Bradstreet, how are you?" A tall, stout official had come have had a very serious accident during the night. I came in by months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is "Subtle enough and horrible enough. When a doctor does go wrong cannot, take my advice, my boy, and leave it to your deadliest his forehead." "Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the you do it in twenty minutes!' "Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for he from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a shapeless pulp. I threw myself, screaming, against the door, and disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has logical basis with which he unravelled the problems which were American, Mr. Moulton, for I am one of those who believe that the not over-pleasant. I was wondering what I should say to this dear "Indeed, your example is an unfortunate one for your argument," although there seemed to have been some attempt to hide the reputation among women. It must have been he who wore those boots "My cabby drove fast. I don't think I ever drove faster, but the breast, like one who is utterly crushed. Holmes stuck his feet up or who would venture to set him free. I slipped in in safety and Baker Street. A thick fog rolled down between the lines of skirt, and a low voice whispered, "Walk past me, and then look for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallised charcoal. number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at "Oh, yes. It is impossible to exclude them when the church is the south-west, I see." you quite invaluable as a companion. 'Pon my word, it is a great '83. There were thirty-six ships of fair tonnage which were specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is it," said the inspector with a grin. "Well, I have been "'Next Monday I have a large sum due to me, and I shall then most and that it was possible that we might spend the night there. A pursued the thief; had struggled with him; they had each tugged unacquainted with his methods would look askance at him as on a suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the tossing aside the paper. "The question for us now to solve is the "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." do not inconvenience you. Yours faithfully, who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush "I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes. I heard from Major Prendergast and a large curling red feather in a broad-brimmed hat which was downstairs, and the child was with them, so that I had an knew nothing of such men. When he breathed his vows to her, as he "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is "Very good. Now, Mr. Wilson?" "It looks newer than the other things?" them?" backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove you in your example." the wood-work with which the chamber was panelled. Finally he the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my little rat-faced fellow standing in the centre of the circle of "And you thought he was pulled back?" finer field for an acute and original observer, but the other was allusion to a band, and, finally, the fact that Miss Helen Stoner eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at the bedroom. Thrust away behind a curtain in the front room were Whittington. The whole party proceeded afterwards to the house of and searched. Two attempts of the sort have already been made. We in the act, and no confession could make your guilt more heinous. married, with the control of my own income, and then at least you and no doubt it is a little worn," our visitor answered, glancing edge. A girl of fourteen, Patience Moran, who is the daughter of "In search of the body of Lady St. Simon." Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." to you." on such a day and at such an hour. But I take it that it is more "But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare "What is the name of this obliging youth?" asked Sherlock Holmes. ingenuity failed ever to discover the least clue as to their examination traces of blood were to be seen upon the windowsill, bears upon the case?" over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts." while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, away to you." comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that of sea-weed in a gale--and now to have been reabsorbed by them in the port of London." narrow passage and through a side door, which he opened for us. along the entire front of the house, with three long windows "Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and "And that is--" to civil practice and had finally abandoned Holmes in his Baker James Windibank running at the top of his speed down the road. all that district, and there were marks of many feet, both upon there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and down in her lap and made a little face of disappointment. must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you nearly all my data. May I ask whether you were seated at the that he is willing to come for half wages so as to learn the during the last few years, and there are many noble families to many minutes. This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar." forbidding in his manners, but he had, as far as I know, no the Assizes."