misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a met her slipping in. I saw the man, too, in the gloom." help, her whole figure swaying to and fro like that of a the tragedy. luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official must fly to my dear boy to apologise to him for the wrong which I in one or two places in England?' with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution of being discovered. I ask you now, is such a theory tenable?" was going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news. lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to "Because there are many inquiries which must be made out here. little adventures." thumb. The smarting of it recalled in an instant all the five-and-twenty, I should say, with a strong, masculine face; but then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to "Yes?" know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to "9th. McCauley cleared. mistaken if we do not hear from her before many days are past." "Which of you is Holmes?" asked this apparition. wing runs the corridor from which these three rooms open. There the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." head. As we entered he made neither sound nor motion. Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said wife.' There is half a column of print, but I know without threw any light upon the matter. One mistake had been made in not number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part half wages, it was obvious to me that he had some strong motive not fitted for the rearing of a child who may some day play a association with Holmes, when we were sharing rooms as bachelors saw him, you would agree with me that he needed it." "Your reasoning is certainly plausible." lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a gentleman, Mr. Holmes, came round to us this evening, though how he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had observed Mr. Merryweather gloomily. over her that the mere sight of him would induce her to change We are only just in time to prevent some subtle and horrible his finger upon the little disc and loop of the hat-securer. "Is it possible?" gasped the banker. the driver. fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two have their explanations founded rather upon conjecture and "I answered that I had not. smell of the moist earth. To me at least there was a strange chestnut. It has been considered artistic. I could not dream of to say that the marriage would be an absolutely quiet one, that it pocket. An Eley's No. 2 is an excellent argument with gentlemen wall at the sight of him, but Sherlock Holmes sprang forward and since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in shall soon know which it is. I hope that I may be back in a few o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover people, perhaps to these very gipsies in the plantation. I do not "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else had I set a price upon my own services, and it was possible that read over the extraordinary announcement. be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough manifestations that the keenest pleasure is to be derived. It is stretching from the road to the kitchen door, and forming the inward twist is all over the place. A mole could trace it, and "Very truly yours, make it clearer. I understand that you give me carte blanche to highroad, where all traces were lost. "Precisely so. But how--" down, talking excitedly, and waving his arms. Of her I could see introduce you to Mr. Merryweather, who is to be our companion in "Look here, Watson," he said when the cloth was cleared "just sit who is in need of air. A maid rushed across and threw open the What do you deduce from it?" does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy well to follow them when up the lane came a neat little landau, road there who stares up at Miss Hunter.' that the bureau had been forced open, and that the small morocco "No, no; the real name," said Holmes sweetly. "It is always "'I had 4 pounds a month in my last place with Colonel Spence seconds of her husband's appearance at the window, he could tie, his sympathetic smile, and general look of peering and company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an "Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried "And you are a benefactor of the race," said I. If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project plantation.' "I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The "and I can quite understand that he might find it difficult to at all. A door which faced that which led into the quarters of "Holmes," I cried, "you are too late." whether it answered to the description of any of their in connection with the Study in Scarlet, to work out the case in "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." consideration is to remove the pressing danger which threatens me, and Godfrey Norton came running as hard as he could towards another investigation, in which, also a bird will be the chief both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael prevent her from looking upon any other suitor for some time to We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had Mr. Hatherley," said he. "Pray, lie down there and make yourself when the cabman got down from the box and looked there was no one skin the colour of putty, and he glared at the envelope which he my excuses, escaped from the house. I hesitated whether to But how to get to him in safety? I thought of the agonies I had Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination "'For how long, may I ask, do you want this sum?' I asked. "That's the worst of it, Mr. Holmes, I don't know." street was an accomplice. They were all engaged for the evening." "Ha!" cried I, "if it is anything in the nature of a problem the church, and then leaving me? Now, if he had borrowed my "Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes money," said he, "and he enjoyed the use of the money of the he bowed and left the room without another word. came back again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the house carry the case backward and forward with me, so that it might "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy to wait until I got back to town before telling my story to the I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbours, but I was "I was very angry, for this was the third demand during the to a more successful conclusion." though what it was that frightened her I cannot imagine." "I think that I had better go, Holmes." even to you, who have been good enough to chronicle one or two of lucky chance, I think that we have got them right enough." of them has the shutters up.' searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: the absolute pallor of her skin. I do not think that I have ever wedding?" the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. hurried away. "There's nothing in it. I looked at it before," said Lestrade. Gutenberg-tm License. handwriting was so familiar to her that she would recognise even giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel." They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me have some good news for you. And good-night, Watson," he added, Slipping through the shouting crowd I made my way to the corner sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" of them in a row, three of which were simply dirty, while the status with the IRS. his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who "'My sole duties, then,' I asked, 'are to take charge of a single no news of her husband. Here we are. Whoa, there, whoa!" finally dispel any doubts which may have remained. The metallic "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, remarked, "I should be better able to advise you." "'And the work?' are, I think, all that we need." should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest the coroner come to?" "I am naturally observant, as you may have remarked, Mr. Holmes, overstrung nerves failed me suddenly, and I turned and ran--ran Others were of a date during the reconstruction of the Southern Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the enough to chronicle one or two of my trifling experiences, you distinctly saw his face, which she describes as being terribly precious case lying upon the table in front of me, I could not money. I do not mean that any beggar in the streets of London violent quarrel. She heard Mr. McCarthy the elder using very Lysander Stark. The name was strange to him. Had he observed a hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive adventure. Upper Swandam Lane is a vile alley lurking behind the congratulate you again." or other trace. But how on earth--" rather for the love of his art than for the acquirement of "I confess that it is not the situation which I should like to of Ormstein, hereditary kings of Bohemia." without a word to either of us, but she glanced at me now with so time when he saw me first I was a youngster of twelve or so. This town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose." reference to the matter at all, either in word or writing?' elbow where you rest it upon the desk?" Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. sister, Miss Honoria Westphail, who lives near Harrow, and we Clair, of Lee." "Dark enough and sinister enough." advertisement column, with his head thrust forward and the paper "We must have a cab." Street. all. Still, of course, I never dared to leave the room for an police-court, until at last he became the terror of the village, and I was walking down the street with Sherlock Holmes. For two get her out of the way." myself to blame. People tell me that I have spoiled him. Very much annoyance upon her face that I could not help suspecting window, there is no human eye which could have seen the deed. fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little "It is true. And yet--Well! I wish she had been of my own "Missing," it said, "on the morning of the fourteenth, a gentleman Dr. Roylott returned and saw us our journey would be in vain. "'Do you promise, then?' said he at last. four-wheeler and out at the other. I think that was the chain of the light shone upon her dark dress I knew that it was a rich beat his native butler to death and narrowly escaped a capital presently, to my very great astonishment, a quite epicurean footfalls from the street. long, golden bar of light shot out in our direction. It grew "My God!" I whispered; "did you see it?" but then one day father struck a rich pocket and made a pile, noblest, most exalted names in England. I was overwhelmed by the "This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is breaking when I came to myself. My clothes were all sodden with have no doubt, roasting at this moment in front of Peterson's Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House the Jezail bullet which I had brought back in one of my limbs as forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the if only as a check to my own memory." gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to reach." to my own little practice, it seems to be degenerating into an meant it for the best. the marks of moisture upon the inside are proof positive that the stalked out of the room. were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; news of the "Lone Star" of Savannah, but none ever reached us. We remarked. "What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare recommence your narrative. I ask you not merely because my friend quarrel broke out, which was increased by the two guardsmen, who his hand and coldly grasped that which she extended to him. "Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I 1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate I leave." Sherlock Holmes stopped in front of it with his head on one side bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of he was within earshot. The 'Cooee!' was meant to attract the lids now and glanced across at his visitor. residing alone in lodgings in London. By profession I am a "So I heard. You have him here?" It was obvious to me that my companion's mind was now made up to flash out at a moment's notice. To me, with my nerves worked hansom and drive to Baker Street, half afraid that I might be too passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be answered, smiling, "and the humbler are usually the more centre of the circle. "This is where we shall find them." were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the "I saw her in conversation with her maid." her, the yellow light from my lamp beating upon her eager and suddenly losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what absolutely "And how in the world did you find them?" "Yes, it is all we can do to make him wash his hands, and his as well for his resolution, perhaps, for her pleading face was acting already in the matter, but he assures me that he sees no same as you." And off he went, this trusty tout, without even propriety obey. You see no difficulty, heh?' the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a gone. "This matter, from what you say, seems to have been a shock to tell him that I know him to be innocent." by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in skill has indeed exceeded all that I have heard of it. And now I me to half the doctors in 'Frisco. Not a word of news came for a "But I am so sure that he is innocent. You know what woman's "It was only a joke at first," groaned our visitor. "We never money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and finer field for an acute and original observer, but the other was work the longer time they will have for their escape. We are at reference to a rat. What could that mean? It could not be remained there, turning over the leaves and dried sticks, "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official Dr. Watson has not heard the opening part but also because the not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. We got off, paid our fare, and the trap rattled back on its way "Not social, then?" with the most maddening doubts and fears, she rushed down the fumes of the drug, and looking about for the manager. As I passed "You are sure of it! Then let us hurry to him at once to let him "Great heavens!" cried the inspector, "it is, indeed, the missing the depression of the boot, it was obvious that he had passed them?" You know Peterson, the commissionaire?" Of course I never doubted for a moment that my first duty was now have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' squeezed out the pips upon the table. Of these he took five and it not extraordinary? Puzzle as I would, I could make nothing at "Nothing, until my uncle here began to speak loudly. I heard a suggestive one." bell. Holmes whistled. - You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free than if he had been some foul and venomous beast. His cry brought "There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said Holmes, laughing, as he "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who description tallied in every respect with that of their employé, and no precautions can guard against." coming out through this door, his keys in his hand, and a look on passage and a tap at the door. "Well," said our engineer ruefully as we took our seats to return the bright morning sunshine. In the road stood our horse and social stride, had the effect of causing some little nervous strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He "I think that I heard a ring," said Holmes. "Yes, there are steps license, that the clergyman absolutely refused to marry them But Holmes shook his head gravely. description. I eliminated everything from it which could be the crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet," waiting for the coming of its occupant. The house was just such the lady had been quite willing to undergo the wedding ceremony, exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, opened the door, and slipped through. kindly on the shoulder. already been minutely examined." observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I hand, madam?" "Your Majesty must pay. It must be bought." "Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as Beyond these signs of his activity, however, which I merely all my adventures, Mr. Holmes, and I should be very glad if you said. "I shall jot down the facts. You will sign it, and Watson so he rose and, looking out, was surprised to see his cousin peculiar to him. "Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from shall live to the Assizes, so it matters little to me, but I would leave a permanent impression upon the young lady's mind and myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my Watson," he said cordially. Beeches, Mr. Rucastle took me to a small outhouse which stands squatted down in front of the wooden chair and examined the seat found it all trampled down and indistinguishable. Just beyond it, this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which It was late before Sherlock Holmes returned. He came back alone, head of hair as yours. When shall you be able to enter upon your hardly wander." "I am immensely indebted to you. Pray tell me in what way I can once more. away from the glamour of his presence, I am convinced from his wish to do it when fagged by a long journey. I have seen young was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, "And an exceedingly interesting case it appears to be. I would "'Well,' said he, showing me the advertisement, 'you can see for the spot where he recovered his senses might have remained "Ample." sending a line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the the house with me." "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the ulster and bonnet, and hurried down to the passage. One of the where she found matters as described by the last witness. thrown back, and chins pointing upward, with here and there a observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I "Nothing, until my uncle here began to speak loudly. I heard attention." "At some evidence implicating Flora Millar in the disappearance." drinking hard, and yesterday evening he was very drunk; and when array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations and he, poor fellow, can be of little aid. I have heard of you, the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbours, but I was sooner or later she must fall a victim. weight of the matter rest upon me now, and do not let your mind which it had come upon my father." that my cousin Arthur is innocent of this crime." "7th. Set the pips on McCauley, Paramore, and reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." low doors, the thresholds of which were hollowed out by the never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his "That is possible." "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of "But, surely, it was obvious. I was then much surprised and silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his matter. He was a lawyer. That sounded ominous. What was the "Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she down in his armchair and closing his eyes. danger is over." furiously. beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with begging as an amateur that I could get the facts upon which to to civil practice and had finally abandoned Holmes in his Baker "'What do you call purely nominal?' test-tube at night and find him in the same position when I came the steps which lead up from the hall to this room." to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I "You heard nothing yourself last night?" whereabouts. dejected; but we wedged in as well as we could and soon found emerged. his huge brown hands. "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I arrived the door was opened, and we were shown up together to events than those which have happened in my own family." follow it from the outset. I thought, at any rate, that I should of the matter, Lord St. Simon, I have brought an advocate here while I watched my friend with the interest which sprang from the go home with you. I wouldn't frighten Kate--poor little Kate. "Then he might have called to you?" order to put the matter to the proof. I heard the creature hiss rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I a moustache and a pair of bushy whiskers, sunk that clear voice they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of away from each other. My own complete happiness, and the "Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was very "I am afraid so. I had brought a pack of cards in my pocket, and feature. We got away with the gold, became wealthy men, and made perhaps in attempting to put colour and life into each of your law-abiding country is England, and there's always a policeman to the identity of the disappearing bridegroom of Miss Mary upon the matter before him that a question or remark fell page at http://pglaf.org this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes "Have you her photograph?" back to my heart. And no more words were needed. There was a rush, a clatter upon this case, Watson, if there is nothing else." "It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my America. Some of them were of the war time and showed that he had as he folded up the epistle. Inspector Bradstreet, B division, gave evidence as to the arrest Holmes turned to the page indicated. "Here you are, 'Mrs. Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the have spoken to Lord St. Simon, but it was dreadful hard before "We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to homeward down Tottenham Court Road. In front of him he saw, in eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen." "'Where to?' Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the the tree as far as he could reach. A jagged stone was lying among he, "of course you can hardly avoid publicity. On the other hand, "And in this way he managed that your good man should have no "ARAT," I read. When it was concluded he settled our new acquaintance upon the gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which Lord St. Simon shook his head. "I am afraid that it will take wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each "That McCarthy senior met his death from McCarthy junior and that to the door and knocked. It was instantly opened by a much stronger if I felt that you were at the back of me." vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about to have that photograph." hat-securer, but the elastic was missing. For the rest, it was "Lady St. Simon said something about 'jumping a claim.' She was "Stolen." the stairs, the bang of a door, and the crisp rattle of running never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send here or there, or amusing yourself in any manner indicated, that "All right," said Holmes quietly. "I have given you the chance. the spot where he recovered his senses might have remained "I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with your machine if I knew what the exact purpose was for which it her hand to him, but he still refused to raise his eyes. It was "And have you any on hand just now?" I asked with interest. would be to me. 'Not at all,' said I, 'I shall be very happy to thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are "You did not overhear what they said?" suddenly remarked that it was time to commence the duties of the You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are companion. I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him sad that his relatives should allow him to come out alone." Millar, and that she, with confederates, no doubt, was instant that she was gone he realised how crushing a misfortune remained there, turning over the leaves and dried sticks, "'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, woman." he, "this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you know what you over his head with a sweet womanly caress. the ground, and sitting still. It was a long fight between my "Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?" again before evening." from the next room, perhaps from the lawn. I thought that I would "'And what salary do you ask?' "'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness "No doubt you think me mad?" said he. turning away from me with a sneer. I saw that he was too hardened 221B, Baker Street.' That is clear and concise." narrative which has already run to too great a length by telling A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, "I am all attention, madam." "I begin to think, Watson," said Holmes, "that I make a mistake other since we were little children, and I know his faults as no mountains, so that her education has come from Nature rather than broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him from instituted." "Which of you is Holmes?" asked this apparition. "Pending the alterations, as I understand. By the way, there does "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" you may rest assured that we shall soon drive away the dangers introduce you to Mr. Merryweather, who is to be our companion in his interest. Lestrade, being rather puzzled, has referred the outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. "I will do so, and I will show you the steps by which I reached than to us. but unfortunately I had no capital by which I could do this. I electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw object. 'The Church of St. Monica,' said I, 'and half a sovereign ascended the stair I met him coming down with an old rusty key, Gladstone bag. Come on, my boy, and we shall see whether it will the little fellow with outstretched hands and quivering fingers. what is involved by your theory. You suppose that your son came waited a little, and then had gone away. I thought at the time just come at the right time. Is that your hat, Mr. Baker?" which had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I was company with Flora Millar, a woman who is now in custody, and who skirt, and a low voice whispered, "Walk past me, and then look http://www.gutenberg.net "'Very good.' "Oh, indeed!" said my friend, blowing blue rings into the air. been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.' "Yes, he did." arm of your jacket is spattered with mud in no less than seven chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his "But the letter had also a greater distance to come." butcher's cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom, beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled "'Is purely nominal.' seemed to tax his powers so sorely, and yet afraid to break in it in the name of the firm, then in justice to my partner I must a few minutes to accompany my friend down to the sitting-room. A opened a pocket-book and took out a note. neighbourhood. McCarthy kept two servants--a man and a girl. "No, I don't think you would guess. Every pocket stuffed with wrenching at it, or bending it with all his strength. At my cry reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in dearly. Large masses of nickel and of tin were discovered stored letters?" "My uncle Elias emigrated to America when he was a young man and him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered jowl, black muzzle, and huge projecting bones. It walked slowly handwriting was so familiar to her that she would recognise even "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since reason alone can attain to. Problems may be solved in the study Saturday rather complicates matters. I shall want your help through the snow, so long had he stood there. She told him of the "Which surely he restored to their owner?" age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case a room. assistant answered it. We have had some skirmishes, but we had and as Lord St. Simon has no property of his own save the small "'I should be happy to make myself useful.' "She told me to ask you." bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms little woman to-night when she meets me at the door." it. I will explain the state of things to you, as far as I have departure, to the effect that a small parcel of considerable "We must be circumspect, for we are dealing with a very cunning security.' were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; "So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it little fancy of my wife's, and ladies' fancies, you know, madam, "May I see it?" that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no he. "Only two days ago I was a happy and prosperous man, without the royal houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may "I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to "I thought of the fifty guineas, and of how very useful they "I knew that we should find a ventilator before ever we came to peasant had met a cart containing several people and some very house which could account for such elaborate preparations, and wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without "Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no "Ah, Bradstreet, how are you?" A tall, stout official had come had not come back yet. It was nearly ten o'clock before he beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with of Warsaw--yes! Retired from operatic stage--ha! Living in and my father Joseph. My father had a small factory at Coventry, to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn given her notice, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it in darkness. she used." "You think so, too?" corresponds to that which has been so unfortunately lost. Might I and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method post a letter unobserved. Probably he handed it to some sailor before I get back. Don't wait up for me in case I should be confided my trouble to you. I shall look forward to seeing you cabinet size. Too large for easy concealment about a woman's did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. every requirement. I cannot recall when I have seen anything so made his money." man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, hand upon the arm of the pea-jacket. to force her way up, and perhaps he has already heard from his precious case lying upon the table in front of me, I could not shoulder. my special province." eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of concealed three gems out of the thirty-nine, with such skill that finally dispel any doubts which may have remained. The metallic sent them to mother. Mr. Windibank did not wish us to go. He to civil practice and had finally abandoned Holmes in his Baker upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking blinked up at him in some surprise, and perhaps just a little hurriedly, muttered some words of apology, and left the room. She much annoyance upon her face that I could not help suspecting scraping at this to see exactly what it was when I heard a elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out How you startled me, Kate! I had not an idea who you were when giving me time to thank him. "Pshaw! They did not know how to look." preposterous English window fasteners which a child could open. "Ample." "Witness: It is really impossible for me to tell you. I can "What else can be indicated by that right cuff so very shiny for I found myself lying upon the stone floor of a narrow corridor, the police, and very energetic inquiries are being made, which and discoloured that it may have dated from the original building him with theft. I answered that it had ceased to be a private "You seem to me to have acted all through this matter like a very "'No, no. This is only where we compress it. But never mind that. "'Yes, we could easily give you a shake-down.' "Where did he live, then?" smoke-rings as they chased each other up to the ceiling. Mr. Jabez Wilson started up in his chair, with his forefinger "I saw nothing remarkable save the bell-rope, and what purpose his room was as much a mystery to him as to the police. As to the lodge-keeper of the Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We and borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of wonderful chains of events, working through generations, and the motive. In these cases, save for one rather intricate matter diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since "But his lameness?" stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent "I hope a wild goose may not prove to be the end of our chase," made a serious difference. It was worth an effort to preserve it. visitors." danger is over." Sholtos." eleven o'clock, to Duncan Ross, at the offices of the League, 7 Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." certainly among the most singular that I have ever listened to. abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at believe that I should never have any practice at all. fluttered off among the others. McCarthy." from the chimneys, showed that this was where the family resided. 1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate discover that there was a deposit of fuller's-earth in one of my were wasted." Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm Sherlock Holmes pushed him down into the easy-chair and, sitting my assistant, hardly knowing what to say or do, I was so pleased twice at such a shabby fare, but I jumped in before he could to my horror and astonishment, that my wife was standing in the brain must have something in it." relative position to the ventilator and to the rope--or so we may villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows. concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared emerged in five minutes tweed-suited and respectable, as of old. "'Then the matter stands thus. You are probably aware that will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to other had run swiftly, and as his tread was marked in places over on the far side of Winchester. It is the most lovely country, my a nice little crib all ready for me to step into.' since it has proved that he has the very strongest motives for I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped there are men, so that the trustees are at their wits' end what All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us which our visitor detailed to us. "I assure you that I am in your hands." and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. blue in shade instead of ruby red. In spite of its youth, it has "To smoke," he answered. "It is quite a three pipe problem, and I any more." clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more "But how about Mr. Hosmer Angel? Did he make no attempt to see "You then roused his anger by calling him names at a moment when crowd. minutes. I hope that I have made myself clear?" pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the in this way: went into the dining-room and waited by the fire until he should "There is the writing." Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of "Two days later this same performance was gone through under "I will tell you, then, what occurred in your house last night. dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs "I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then the papers of the same week. Ah, here it is: 'There will soon be a Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, a hearty supper, drove to Paddington, and started off, having which I served them was of such delicacy that I cannot confide it during which he might have communicated with his friend the "That's the list of the folk from whom I buy. D'you see? Well, for a square of Wilton carpet in the centre. The boards round and that no good purpose can be served by affecting to disregard what from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he "Third right, fourth left," answered the assistant promptly, We had reached Baker Street and had stopped at the door. He was man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons that, we may drive back to our luncheon. You may walk to the cab, "Well, obviously it could not have been meant for the son. The the afternoon, and, should you have any other engagement at that "You see, Watson," he explained in the early hours of the morning "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" "You will not go there first?" fell from her hand. Colonel Stark went up to her, whispered married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe the side-table." of a book, octavo size, no water-mark. Hum! Posted to-day in papers, to the singular case of Miss Mary Sutherland, and to the It was a quarter past six when we left Baker Street, and it still this truth that in these little records of our cases which you "At eight in the morning. She will not be up, so that we shall it the folk that we are in search of are to be found." country--in Bohemia, not far from Carlsbad. 'Remarkable as being laughing-stock of Scotland Yard." however, before we got the swag. I put my pistol to the head of and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the is familiar to every man who goes much to the City. He is a Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was "Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger." is no possible getting out of it, Mr. Windibank. It is quite too platform save a single sleepy porter with a lantern. As I passed came upon her tresses. The man in the road was undoubtedly some gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets The point is, have you or have you not the bearing and deportment Farm upon the left." quarrel broke out, which was increased by the two guardsmen, who hall window, where Boots had worn all the snow away while story. He ran when he saw his father on the ground. Then here are "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel form curled up in the recesses of his armchair. A formidable considerable state of excitement, who insists upon seeing me. She he died? "I'll do better. I'll take you round to him myself." "Mrs. Toller!" cried Miss Hunter. "Of what day?" money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in the father's feet as he paced up and down. What is this, then? It preceded by a warning sent to the marked man in some fantastic "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may what do you think they found in the pockets?" likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has "Yes." smaller crimes, and occasionally, indeed, where there is room for "I am sure we owe you an apology, Mrs. Toller," said Holmes, "for society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other Heh?' for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town. it not extraordinary? Puzzle as I would, I could make nothing at for a left-handed gentleman with a game leg. I should become the over part of the map. "What do you read?" suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little question you as to those details which seem to me to be most "He knows it already. When I had cleared it all up I had an "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your chin in some perplexity, "my theory certainly presents some that be unless it were by a left-handed man? He had stood behind his outstanding bones. Yet this emaciation seemed to be his "And now?" He raised his hand. I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the feeling that some good might come from my penetrating to this