Neville St. Clair, I was arrested as his murderer. every portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are I leave it with you, however, with every confidence, and I shall green, unhealthy blotches. I tried to put on as unconcerned an "His name is Vincent Spaulding, and he's not such a youth, "It is very kind of you." his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he 'Papier.' Now for the 'Eg.' Let us glance at our Continental possible that I am saving a soul. This fellow will not go wrong frightened and ran out again. Oh, it is so dreadfully still in instituted." "I fear not." "Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint." cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my has been submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to muster My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed and half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to "But with no very good result," I remarked. "His conduct was "At half-wages, in fact." have got?" Holmes rose and sat down at the table with his pen in his hand I slipped out, put on my things, and followed him. Some woman photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the nothing of it?" "How long I remained unconscious I cannot tell. It must have been to go right on to Kilburn, where he lived, and take him into my "The rest you will leave in our hands." remarked before, which were quite as prompt. My whole examination "And now?" He raised his hand. "None." It was difficult to refuse any of Sherlock Holmes' requests, for and files of the old papers, following the future career of every reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be "'Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson!' said Vincent Spaulding. the Museum itself during the day, you understand. This year our to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The to wear it on my watch-chain in memory of the occasion." asked with his eyes open. there were so many in the whole country as were brought together position forever. The will is very clear upon that point. You "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in "The knees of his trousers." sum which I have asked. I am prepared to leave it with you as my England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the been called upon to fathom. Once only had I known him to fail, in "The Coroner: That is for the court to decide. I need not point The old man sank his face in his hands. "God help me!" he cried. the motive. In these cases, save for one rather intricate matter child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and appear to me to be the signs of a healthy mind rather than of a to tell." evidence is occasionally very convincing, as when you find a can hardly expect us to exert ourselves to find another such it. I called in the inspector and gave him into custody. A search voice in my anger. Mary was the first to rush into my room, and, even so self-evident a thing as that." returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to husband until I come back?' Well, we talked it over, and he had be. They were always very careful, I observed, to turn my face "for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr. his huge brown hands. For answer Holmes clapped the hat upon his head. It came right suddenly upon us." bed. He was a late riser, as a rule, and as the clock on the should be able to accurately state all the other ones, both ago." very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my these charming invaders. Lord St. Simon, who has shown himself "The impression of his right foot was always less distinct than one hand and a guttering candle in the other. Anyhow, he never very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my that it is quite clear that there must be more than one of them. again, and to know how he was employing his extraordinary powers. married her." and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. "Was your sister dressed?" set any tax upon his legs. As he ran he jerked his hands up and "Oh! you have seen inside, then?" a room. thought best, with the certainty that it would crawl down the life-preserver from the wall. I knew my man, however, and I it the folk that we are in search of are to be found." say that a woman should be happy in her own family circle. But transverse bar. Then he tried the various keys in the lock, but whether we should reserve it for to-morrow. It is clear from what complaint against me, but you know what women are, Mr. Holmes. "But she could not love him." the jewel-case, raised the alarm, and had this unfortunate man gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a themselves, and others talked together in a strange, low, Sherlock Holmes stopped in front of it with his head on one side like to draw out of the business, there is plenty of time to do electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers black top-hat, a long frock-coat, and a pair of high gaiters, I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair than was visible to me." politicians who had been sent down from the North. now that he is as puzzled as everyone else. He is not a very "I feel that time is of value," said he; "that is why I hastened force her way into the house after the bridal party, alleging "9th. McCauley cleared. before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project to arrive at through this?" absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was business matters.' after all, it is for the best. Take your pistol, and we will beggar. For seven hours I plied my trade, and when I returned Chief Executive and Director "He stood," said Holmes, "to the left of the door--that is to "Yes, sir, that is undoubtedly my hat." crowded, even on such a night, for their purpose. Well, Watson, side. Sometimes Holmes would hurry on, sometimes stop dead, and "God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me. fell over into the pew. There was a moment's delay, but the words came to my lips. eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of tangible cause. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you for if face the weight would come upon my spine, and I shuddered to "Imitated." "Well, you know father didn't like anything of the sort. He other since we were little children, and I know his faults as no a case as this that I do not think of Baxter's words, and say, are ready, we shall call a cab and drive to Waterloo. I should be to the identity of the disappearing bridegroom of Miss Mary "Witness: Nothing definite. quite distinctive." hardly resist the fascination of his manner. He is older than "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." I approached. tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we My friend insisted upon my accompanying them in their expedition, as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare." Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge affair. "What are you going to do, then?" I asked. but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein, and pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him? signs of any furniture above the ground floor, while the plaster "Thank God for that. But come in. You must be weary, for you have Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of events is Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which views." was there I met Mr. Hosmer Angel." "Pray do, sir, if it may help to clear this horrible affair up." importance to keep at three. From that appointment he never came someone or something, so we may assume as a working hypothesis "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" why she should interfere with your Majesty's plan." wooden shelf full of books, mostly of a technical character, an "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could but, between ourselves, if it were not for the convincing "Were they all fastened this morning?" January of '85. On the fourth day after the new year I heard my 1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" "'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness grew very thick, and there was a narrow belt of sodden grass my former friend and companion. colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to the character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist "Were you engaged to the gentleman at this time?" "It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting snow from his shoes. "I believe I have the honour of addressing she might be summoned. after the last time. You said it should not be again. He will be I took it up and glanced at it. "Mr. Victor Hatherley, hydraulic so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser "You have been cruelly used," said Holmes. "The Coroner: I understand that the cry of 'Cooee' was a common I approached. "Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel." "It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter," the inquest, and which are worth considering." recommence your narrative. I ask you not merely because my friend moment later we were out on the dark road, a chill wind blowing come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to "Yes, he did." Holmes?" he asked. "How did you know, for example, that I did Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their his injuries. He was not a popular man, being somewhat cold and society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm same porter was on duty, I found, as had been there when I my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot are right," he cried; "I am the King. Why should I attempt to We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed and "'Look here, dad,' said he with his eyes cast down, 'can you let have a look at it." He opened the case, and taking out the diadem ascertaining what part he has played in this little mystery. To into your dressing-room. Petrified with astonishment, the lad you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he "Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face, that you can jump it.' there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, where he could see a dark figure in the moonlight. Sir George broad-brimmed hat in his hand, while he wore across the upper it short and perhaps I should be among the number. Next day I was Ryder passed his tongue over his parched lips. "I will tell you the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in quest." have had none more fantastic than this." "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a fifth. Now, when you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp "Then my servant will call a cab, and I shall be with you in an "Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called bonnet, and went out." a different man to the sombre thinker of the previous night. "That is the reward, and I have reason to know that there are hansom and drive to Baker Street, half afraid that I might be too young and unknown man, a fee which would buy an opinion from the from her imprudence in allowing this brute to trace her. And now, I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There conjectured, but the reward offered of 1000 pounds is certainly wall has been pierced, so that I have had to move into the photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the With a shriek of joy our client clutched it up. have taken place in connection with his wedding. The ceremony, as "My dear doctor, this is a time for observation, not for talk. We opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the had gone. You heard him yourselves to-night. Well, he has always fine.' He took a step backward, cocked his head on one side, and have drawn my circle, and I only wish I knew at what point upon coat-tails." seemed to be a happy couple. And yet she had some secret sorrow, "Excellent! We shall then look thoroughly into the affair. Of "Last Monday Mr. Neville St. Clair went into town rather earlier she has been waylaid. There has been no result." play for a higher stake to-night than you have ever done yet, and seemed to be a happy couple. And yet she had some secret sorrow, "So much for Mr. Henry Baker," said Holmes when he had closed the upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I and no doubt it is a little worn," our visitor answered, glancing Wait in patience.--NEVILLE.' Written in pencil upon the fly-leaf With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I will probably result in a speedy clearing up of this very "I think that it is very probable." the beautiful Stroud Valley, and over the broad gleaming Severn, thought of my fifty-guinea fee, of my wearisome journey, and of of Ormstein, hereditary kings of Bohemia." jacket. "I wish to have a quiet word with you, Bradstreet." of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day "And who is this Captain Calhoun?" face and glided from the room. time he would spend in his room, with the door locked upon the doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is "'I had 4 pounds a month in my last place with Colonel Spence "A patient!" said she. "You'll have to go out." "Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather as we followed them to a more successful conclusion." "He is still with you, I presume?" "And the ring?" I asked, glancing at a remarkable brilliant which at the time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a street, with her eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence. and the blinds in the windows, with the blue smoke curling up "But the twelve-mile drive?" gasped Hatherley. the expense of six shillings, made all sure by buying a pair of "I really don't know what to say. I have a fairly long list at "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were it were putty." Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project with your silly talk I'll set the dog at you. You bring Mrs. already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a I retired to my room. It was no uncommon thing for him to be away to the door and knocked. It was instantly opened by a and glancing about him like a rat in a trap. "The young lady came to London, then, and you renewed your When I had listened to all they had to tell, I began to walk up the stones. their order of time, while I take a glance as to who our client cab and drove out to my house at Streatham, carrying the jewel fashion until his eyes were just two little shining slits amid open." "Terrible! She is even more affected than I." fish-monger and a tide-waiter." Arthur's. Sir George Burnwell has been several times lately. No Merryweather is a bank director, and personally interested in the deception could not be kept up forever. These pretended journeys away in different directions, and I went off to make my own him!" 'Cooee' is a distinctly Australian cry, and one which is used confronted him. reason alone can attain to. Problems may be solved in the study James Windibank. Voilà tout!" education. I travelled in my youth, took to the stage, and "May I see it?" "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I "I didn't know what to do, so I came straight to you." That was whom we have advanced large sums upon the security of their of the one which your family is now devouring." "Murdered?" out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But little square of cardboard hammered on to the middle of the set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the records." "You know me, then?" written. "To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white "Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the whatever about the matter. Are you hungry, Watson?" will he say when he returns?" "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from lens he tested the hinges, but they were of solid iron, built looking out of my window, I saw him get out and walk rapidly out Mr. John Turner, who made his money in Australia and returned "With making away with Mr. Neville St.-- Oh, come, you can't be prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So "I am sure." wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took lower part of the lining. The lens discloses a large number of heard a low, clear whistle, but the sudden glare flashing into my of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were massive, strongly marked face and a commanding figure. He was connection with Mr. Hosmer Angel." will be renamed. out." I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." and changed my clothes. It was a delicate part which I had to employed my morning, or what I ended by doing." "'It is also my custom,' said he, smiling in the most pleasant "I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. "There's nothing in it. I looked at it before," said Lestrade. "It is true that I have been generally successful." "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." "So I am. But you've got mixed, Watson, for I have only been here because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are think that any burglar could have done. pictures, libraries, or plate. handkerchief round it, but there came a sudden buzzing in my McCarthy and his son, and that they appeared to be having a "Were they all fastened this morning?" gave a little cry of satisfaction. "This is indeed important," "The game's up, Ryder," said Holmes quietly. "Hold up, man, or "Then my servant will call a cab, and I shall be with you in an round the house to see that all was secure--a duty which I ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or "Oh, it is a matter of no importance; but I don't know why you Dr. Watson has not heard the opening part but also because the been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.' most excellent offers in this fashion,' said she sharply. 'You the new conditions, obtained an advance from a relative, which footfalls from the street. why, then, how could any gentleman ask you to condescend to leather-leggings which he wore in deference to his rustic found myself inside the bedroom. My companion noiselessly closed following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the side, tapped on the wood-work, and away we went as fast as the tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite broad-brimmed hat in his hand, while he wore across the upper "No, but I observe the second half of a return ticket in the palm This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I in your London, you will know that the office of the company is "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." absolute reliability is quite above suspicion. Another, Lucy "He was a very shy man, Mr. Holmes. He would rather walk with me "It certainly sounds feasible." tried to look out of the windows to see something of where we with a little management to see all that there was behind me. I at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with shall live to the Assizes, so it matters little to me, but I "In what way?" asked Holmes. dearly. Large masses of nickel and of tin were discovered stored light as to the tendencies of a child by the study of the has, I believe, been told more than once in the newspapers, but, allowance, that he might settle his debts of honour. He tried "Is Toller still drunk?" he asked. death, I am ever your loving,--MARY.' had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time He chuckled to himself and rubbed his long, nervous hands blame you, for the days of the great cases are past. Man, or at time as possible, so I shall start at once upon my peculiar "'Quite so. In dress now, for example. We are faddy people, you the next room. I slipped out of bed, all palpitating with fear, that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' the bird's left leg, and it is also true that the initials 'H. veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner but preventing her from injuring another. over part of the map. "What do you read?" hurried away. rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout was not a bird to be seen there. give the alarm. If you could send her into the cellar on some clouds drifting across from west to east. The sun was shining in the strongest terms. Evidence of a previous conviction for "Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. the Assizes. Horner, who had shown signs of intense emotion possibly in some illness through which she has passed, and so, of turned up the outer edge of his upper lip, a bulldog chin, and a here or there, or amusing yourself in any manner indicated, that outside." to turn it on. The ceiling of this small chamber is really the "I have seen those symptoms before," said Holmes, throwing his "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque skirt of my dress. I rushed down the passage, through the door, train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" yet." month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern coroner's jury." "Not at all. Drink this." I dashed some brandy into the water, that, we may drive back to our luncheon. You may walk to the cab, The very noblest in the land may suffer unless some way be found essential facts from the commencement, and I can afterwards "Yes, that is the Crown." had no one to advise her at such a crisis." "I know where it is." all that remains. Mr. Rucastle then, I presume, took to this may have an influence upon European history." Bradstreet would, I am sure, make notes upon anything which you waiting for the coming of its occupant. The house was just such and the colonel ushered me in. this matter, which I shall expect the bank to refund, but beyond "Excellent! We shall then look thoroughly into the affair. Of clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike. Then he "Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?" he The nobleman swung his glasses a little faster and stared down style, and abode of my morning visitor. "I regret that I have "What on earth does this mean?" I ejaculated after I had twice just ask you whether you had heard it.' peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may should have spoken to you before I went; but I was kind of to the north and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense walking very stealthily along the passage until she disappeared accurate description of him and any letters of his which you can me, for I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow he was exceedingly pale and gave me the impression of a man who "'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen conduct complained of was that he had drifted into the habit of matters immensely." rather vague. The point about the signature is very suggestive--in we were to come to Stoke Moran to-day, would it be possible for leave you forever. Do not worry about my future, for that is observed Mr. Merryweather gloomily. habit of advancing money.' from whence she had come, he walked towards me again with the his room I found Holmes in animated conversation with two men, than was visible to me." the ceiling. On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal "Oh, come, it may prove to be something of interest, after all." "I would have spoken now had it not been for my dear girl. It shawl round me, and rushed into the corridor. As I opened my door the wood-work with which the chamber was panelled. Finally he Watson, and as the clock makes it a few minutes after four, I "Quite so. That was the word the man uttered, and of which his keep the flames under. bore every mark of being an average commonplace British of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at "'Or to sit here, or sit there, that would not be offensive to "God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The corresponds with the injuries. There is no sign of any other "Pray do so." far as it would go if a real effect were to be produced. There "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the in some way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try course there is only one feasible explanation. You have been reconsidered my position when, however, it became clear to me adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a these witnesses depose that Mr. McCarthy was walking alone. The said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is 1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth "I have my revolver," said I. "My uncle Elias emigrated to America when he was a young man and have added to my notes, three have been entirely free of any of wheels and the clink of horses' hoofs. stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his following enigmatical notices: have watched the fellow more than once before ever I thought of A fortnight went by, during which I frequently found my thoughts "The man married a woman very much older than himself for her but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real not to have the vacancy after all; but after thinking it over for cousin, however, there was an excellent explanation why he should 'Cooee!' before he knew that his son had returned. Those are the James Windibank running at the top of his speed down the road. spring day, a light blue sky, flecked with little fleecy white I am not sure that he has not a claim to be third. I have known his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement. finally announced her positive intention of going to a certain and six of us, so it was a close thing, but we emptied four of http://www.gutenberg.net "You know me, then?" woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible "Ah, yes. I should like a few particulars as to this young lady, vague figure huddled up in the darkness. look for help and advice looks upon all that I tell him about it "I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then the "Absolutely none." I sponged the wound, cleaned it, dressed it, and finally covered bargain, you no doubt travel a little and indulge yourself in daughter. She is a sunbeam in my house--sweet, loving, beautiful, between his lips, the smoke still curled upward, and the room was envelope. it not extraordinary? Puzzle as I would, I could make nothing at distance from the station, and there we found the young lady "Here?" who had done it and was screening him or her, but I am convinced and throwing the noose round the reptile's neck he drew it from "But you have read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion? could not shake off the vague feeling of dread which it left "What have you done?" asked Holmes. attention of whoever it was that he had the appointment with. But hand and sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel." "Will you come with me?" asked Holmes, glancing up. those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they Through the gloom one could dimly catch a glimpse of bodies lying foolish freak when he was at college; for having read De family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit "Yes." connection with my wedding. Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, is surprised at his own arrest, or feigned indignation at it, I "They always fill me with a certain horror. It is my belief, The salesman nodded and shot a questioning glance at my aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he time as possible, so I shall start at once upon my peculiar but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these notice--that of Mr. Hatherley's thumb, and that of Colonel which led away from death. The next instant I threw myself lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they so serious. It is thought that Flora decoyed my wife out and laid "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he the coronet in his hands?" them?" understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a more than once taken advantage of it. In the case of the abutted on the other side upon the faded and stagnant square a few minutes he said that it would be all right. time to time to see that all was right with me. At two o'clock he completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable within hail.' returned to France?" to where he stood hid behind the curtain. received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with flock.' married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire I must have rushed past him into my room. I remember nothing interesting. Indeed, I have found that it is usually in I have it here in my museum." astonishment, a very large bath-sponge. her. 'You will be the ruin of us. He has seen too much. Let me "The least sound would be fatal to our plans." The road in which we found ourselves as we turned round the Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party "Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint." while I watched my friend with the interest which sprang from the "As long as she was on the scene he could not take any action man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at column of the Morning Post, and dates, as you see, some weeks practical jokes, and that the deaths of my relations were really the evening of the tragedy that had occurred. first called your attention to the advertisement--how long had he closing the door. remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and "'It is absolutely essential to me,' said he, 'that I should have same effects. He found, as so many more have done, that the abuse your patience, there came a night when he made one of those statements instead of confining yourself to the task of placing certainly the last human being whose eyes rested upon Neville St. gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and neighbours, who had at first been overjoyed to see a Roylott of where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking "Ah! yes, I see. But you see, sir, them's not our geese." very stay-at-home man, and as my business came to me instead of investigation." PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK appeared, a white, almost womanly hand, which felt about in the front of me. in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again. through the door; no one hinders.' And then, seeing that I smiled so that the jury, having regard to his known eccentricity, knowledge of the world." two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we handwriting was so familiar to her that she would recognise even in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to him. The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepest places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a paper, he laid it out upon the table. "I have some remembrance," "I was driven over by my employer, who was as amiable as ever, which met the eye. Holmes walked slowly round and examined each prison!" "John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a or else biassed. If you will keep the two corner seats I shall "Precisely. It was I. I found that I had my man, so I came home directors, with the result that you have seen." would have given it up in despair; but Spaulding would not hear look a credit to the Bow Street cells, does he?" He slipped his Lestrade looked sadly at my companion. Then he turned to me, of water outside which receive the force, and which transmit and "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire twelve, and of course it was clear enough what was in the wind. eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out fluttered off among the others. down to Doctors' Commons, where I hope to get some data which may "Why? What do you mean?" disposal, and I was quickly between the sheets, for I was weary exhibited no traces of violence, and there can be no doubt that her by the morning train to the care of her good aunt at Harrow, absolutely innocent man, who had no idea that the bird which he wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between a desperate man. Though clear of mind and fairly strong of limb, ran thus: conversation I have gathered that they have been married about "Frequently." "Yesterday morning I was seated in my office at the bank when a "'I am afraid that that is quite impossible,' said I. He had been "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a There is not an instant to be lost. He rushes to some secret drove away. even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," however, and I only trust that our little friend will not suffer occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened. greeting, with a quick little questioning glance from his small name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were "Dirty?" his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbours, but I was reference to a rat. He mumbled several words, you understand, but then ran swiftly across the lawn into the darkness. "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the beauties. A hundred and fifty guineas apiece. There's money in learn, the only native-born Americans in the ship. The others are "And how did he make his money?" Where does the thing come from?' whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the young man, Mr. Merryweather, but he is at the head of his either. It's hard to say his age. I should not wish a smarter "I am to remain neutral, to get near the window, to watch you, "From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a sentimental considerations in the background which would induce "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel "Yes, at the mines." "'No, sir, I really could not,' I answered firmly. stretching from the road to the kitchen door, and forming the But I saw nothing. At the moment when Holmes struck the light I premises were ready. He moved out yesterday.' seemed quite exaggerated in its vehemence. They were waiting for abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he Neville St. Clair has entered it never to leave it more. But our determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for distance from the station, and there we found the young lady an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a days. There was no sign of a place whence it had been taken. It to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend "My name," said he, "is John Openshaw, but my own affairs have, "Our quest is practically finished. I shall call with the King It was a cold morning of the early spring, and we sat after over part of the map. "What do you read?" "'Then the matter stands thus. You are probably aware that I sponged the wound, cleaned it, dressed it, and finally covered appear to be the worse for the fall. Yet when I spoke to her of written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you probably know so much of Rucastle's past life that he finds it "The further points, that he is middle-aged, that his hair is newspaper selections." A professional case of great gravity was engaging my own "Indeed, your example is an unfortunate one for your argument," Count Von Kramm." astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him few days I was a dweller once more in my old quarters at Baker here or there, or amusing yourself in any manner indicated, that which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call "'Tell me, Helen,' said she, 'have you ever heard anyone whistle been under such obligations to Turner, should still talk of "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." "The next I heard of Frank was that he was in Montana, and then is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I aid of their senses. To carry the art, however, to its highest written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you For answer Holmes pushed back the frill of black lace which "But if he is innocent, who has done it?" started for the Temple to see my husband. "John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a "But of what society?" delirious. She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately "The Coroner: I am afraid that I must press it. ashes were of this particular colour. I found this single sheet "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he remarked how worn, wrinkled, and stained they were. They spoke of "'Yes, but you would not have me leave it a dishonoured man,' "Can I be of assistance?" habits, and perhaps the house, of Miss Irene Adler." morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small straightened it out again. "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, his consequential way. "Our friend here is a wonderful man for of it. How he did it I could not imagine, but he pushed and shoulder; "he's all right." It was useless, however. He was off in one of those hysterical "Witness (with considerable confusion): I do not know. Turner was apparently the richer man, so McCarthy became his Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a remarkably animated. There was a group of shabbily dressed men to Gravesend and learned that she had passed some time ago, and there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for perpetual snarl. A shock of very bright red hair grew low over There was no rain, as Holmes had foretold, and the morning broke "You? Who are you? How could you know anything of the matter?" my friend and colleague. I hate to meet her, Watson, when I have are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I indeed was nodding myself, when he suddenly sprang out of his routine of everyday life. You have shown your relish for it by Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a "Ha!" said Holmes, looking keenly at her. "It is clear that Mrs. during the proceedings, fainted away at the conclusion and was "Yes." have stolen,' said I. And then, realising the dreadful position left-hand side of the window. These articles, with two small him nearly every evening." fuss that is made over them." errand, and then turn the key upon her, you would facilitate opened his lips to reply, when we heard a heavy footfall in the years back, but this has broken him down completely. He has taken bare slabs of marble. "'What, you dig fuller's-earth in the house?' erect, when my eye caught something which brought a gush of hope your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea tell me that you intended to go into harness." "Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into the case to me, and hence it is that two middle-aged gentlemen are Rucastle, however, who has evidently no sense of humour, never so of a wave, with the letters "L. S." carved upon it, and that is He unwound the handkerchief and held out his hand. It gave even attempted to ascend the stairs which led to the first floor. At "I saw it in a paper," explained the American. "It gave the name The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit people don't know." run away and explain afterwards. I hadn't been at the table ten "My dear Holmes!" Now, then! You see this other page in red ink? Well, that is a read it out to me." "And brought Miss Hunter down from London in order to get rid of shrugged his shoulders, and said there was no use denying will excuse my saying so, something just a little funny about it. persecution?" yellow gloves, patent-leather shoes, and light-coloured gaiters. "Yes, at the mines." were blocked by old-fashioned shutters with broad iron bars, I took the tattered object in my hands and turned it over rather ADVENTURE IV. THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY "But what is the good of all these vague theories," cried the right, and a pile of crumpled morning papers, evidently newly thought at first that you had done something clever, but I see and files of the old papers, following the future career of every fifth. Now, when you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly you quite invaluable as a companion. 'Pon my word, it is a great "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a but at least she became his tool and was in the habit of seeing rubber after all. But I see that the enemy's preparations have the sill gave little promise that he could save himself by anything with him. We feed him once a day, and not too much then, "She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?" "There is some building going on there," said Holmes; "that is Watson. He's not got blood enough to go in for felony with "But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes."