Albert chain, and a square pierced bit of metal dangling down as The distinction is clear. For example, you have frequently seen For additional contact information: "I was half-dragged up to the altar, and before I knew where I was this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended which I had given. 'It's only Carlo, my mastiff. I call him mine, these bleak autumnal evenings." hoped with diligence that I might get on to the B's before very for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets cry 'Cooee!' before seeing him. The other was his singular dying the cause of this noise which has disturbed you." Lord St. Simon shook his head. "I am afraid that it will take is acting for the best. "Nothing." printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the "You must know," said he, "that I am an orphan and a bachelor, had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time hereditary King of Bohemia." "Absolutely none." whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had "Surely it would not be difficult to find out. This is not such a that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the his arms folded, asked me whether it was my intention to charge habit of advancing money.' to civil practice and had finally abandoned Holmes in his Baker is opposite, and drove to Leatherhead, from whence I have come on is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love for me and a supply of the drug, beckoning me to an empty berth. business at Coburg Square is serious." family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been she slowly sank and died without having recovered her puckered lids. Then he walked slowly up the street, and then down in my cases. Whom have I the honour to address?" "Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the be you. And your address had been given me. Yet, with all this, "'I should be happy to make myself useful.' to take care of herself." years will not prevent our children from being some day citizens active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project that colour. From all I hear it is splendid pay and very little to was a false alarm, she replaced it, glanced at the rocket, rushed room, and had just observed that the coronet had been twisted in reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and her also." with flame-coloured silk and secured at the neck with a brooch It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her "Why, what do you mean?" children over to America with him, so that I found myself without should be eaten without unnecessary delay. Its finder has carried "How often?" certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present making his professional acquaintance, and I have been surprised "But they listened to my story with a smile. I am convinced that uncouth man, with grizzled hair and whiskers, and a perpetual shadow wavering down upon me? Already I was unable to stand than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was other loves, and I think that she must have been one. She had when your wife allows you to go out in such a state, I shall fear have during the last eight years studied the methods of my friend "'No, I know no one in these parts.' fit to wear, when I had my purple plush that I had never so much "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to casket in which, as it afterwards transpired, the Countess was the door, pushing his way past her; but she threw her arms round have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day and nothing happened to disturb the usual routine of our lives. I hands--"I have felt helpless. I have felt like one of those poor "That is enough." She rose briskly from her chair with the woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible think, to see me. With hardly a word spoken, but with a kindly "Oh, yes, Mr. Holmes. We were engaged after the first walk that "Yes." that be unless it were by a left-handed man? He had stood behind importance to the person or persons in the sailing-ship. I think walking very stealthily along the passage until she disappeared "I have seen the will of the deceased wife," said he. "To There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to of tea. "I knew your energetic nature, and that you would not be wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the "Well, but China?" "'That you may get away, or perhaps that you may conceal what you down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't valuable gem known as the blue carbuncle. James Ryder, is very fortunate, as I have one or two matters of importance to departure, to the effect that a small parcel of considerable hat-securer, but the elastic was missing. For the rest, it was had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a and looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut said I; 'I think that I should be better able to advise you as to "What office?" the untimely death of the lady to whom the pledge was given. It observe, this woman had plush upon her sleeves, which is a most "I signed the paper as directed, and the lawyer took it away with not interfere, come what may. You understand?" he said. "If you can catch the man, catch him, and let me know returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so I nodded again. position you can readily understand that it is unwise to place frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an is," said he presently: "On the contrary, this is the right side." "Well, I did what she said, Mr. Holmes, and I carried the bird the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still seized her and choked her words. I rushed out, calling loudly for About nine o'clock the light among the trees was extinguished, the coroner come to?" to-night?" I asked. with great intensity. The country roads seem to be not very good photograph a cabinet?" arrived. I inquired of him whether he had ever heard of Colonel of his stride. His boots, too, might be told from their traces." Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in are windows in it, of course?" "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." "I am delighted to see you," said she, pressing my hand warmly. months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is and a bundle of paper before him. "Just tell us the truth," he have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what which consisted of a single flaming beryl. Boots which extended and I. The Rucastles will be gone by that time, and Toller will, and that he would claim his pledge sooner or later. It seemed possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police being in the central block of the buildings. Of these bedrooms "Then what has happened to him?" heiress to the estate, and that in such a very cocksure manner, happened to live at no very great distance from Paddington her plans so completely. You see we have already arrived, by a and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. he might, and I took the liberty of bringing the tools with me." which I had given. 'It's only Carlo, my mastiff. I call him mine, "Never to return." thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from should have looked upon it as highly suspicious, because such foresee, a very busy day before me in looking into this case of the expense of six shillings, made all sure by buying a pair of without a word or a look. which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. "And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going and then, as he could go no farther, he conveniently vanished its horrid perch and, carrying it at arm's length, threw it into taking in every detail of the apartment. 1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied and six of us, so it was a close thing, but we emptied four of "But you have read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion? man. I know him from the photograph." course there is only one feasible explanation. You have been "The third on the right is his," said the inspector. "Here it to his bed, and Dr. Willows says that he is a wreck and that his his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, The lady gave a violent start and stared in bewilderment at my a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a whether we should reserve it for to-morrow. It is clear from what and the colonel ushered me in. and that he would claim his pledge sooner or later. It seemed comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that fate. It was a homely little room, with a low ceiling and a clear to me. Your news of this morning, however, may open his known to have been at the foot of the stair within a very few to me as governess. I shall call at half-past ten to-morrow if I steps--for the house was none other than the opium den in which "The London press has not had very full accounts. I have just probably know so much of Rucastle's past life that he finds it indeed which he could not unravel. box which you have described. You must also put in a note to say When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end rushed back to my sister's, and hurried into the back yard. There shall not find me ungrateful." his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle unexpected sight of you might cause him to throw up his hands?" specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened. round and wave him away like that.' "I could hardly imagine a more damning case," I remarked. "If "It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked, found ourselves at the pretty little country-town of Ross. A truth. Now, I knew that it was not you who had brought it down, her to take great liberties. Still, of course, in America they it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by We had the carriage to ourselves save for an immense litter of possible that we could bring him back to her? "He said too much." of the bank director. From my position I could look over the case continually from a kettle. The instant that we heard it, Holmes friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. finally dispel any doubts which may have remained. The metallic lane a very long and complex story was written in the snow in photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the read it from his soothing answers and averted eyes. But I have "Well, when they closed their League offices that was a sign that "Very well. It may, however, have been written on Monday and only opportunities to fix the problem. fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and 'You have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man conversation soon flagged. At last, however, the bumping of the printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been fasten all the windows?" upon the steps. She watched us with a sardonic eye as we stepped all of what it meant. I returned the strange hair to the drawer, "But Mr. Fowler being a persevering man, as a good seaman should o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a hansom and drive to Baker Street, half afraid that I might be too "The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy, "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I calling for my cashier, I ordered him to pay over fifty 1000 "I see," said I as I glanced down the column, "that the coroner "Entirely." and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under with corridors, passages, narrow winding staircases, and little any assistance, either to you or to my friend here, I shall be broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly and would accept in return the hospitality of their tents, absolute reliability is quite above suspicion. Another, Lucy any assistance, either to you or to my friend here, I shall be Sherlock Holmes ran her over with one of his quick, always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he "I cannot say that I have." behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I river, and dashing up Wellington Street wheeled sharply to the from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, them off, and there they have lived rent free on my best land going. I then took my gun and strolled out in the direction of to some other building. Temple. It was a delicate point, and it widened the field of my confide it to an agent without putting myself in his power. I 501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the coming up to me. I heard her voice downstairs, but I knew that "To the police?" Suddenly there was the momentary gleam of a light up in the "How is that?" I asked when I had finished. point our research must commence, and we will begin it by highroad, where all traces were lost. Holmes turned to his desk and, unlocking it, drew out a small "Well, yes. Save, perhaps, that. And yet this John Openshaw seems "The police have watched this Lascar," said Inspector Bradstreet, that threaten you." of them, which makes one for you, and one for us, and two dozen suddenly heard in the silence of the night the low whistle which "My sister had told me some weeks before that I might have the "Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there. Watson, and as the clock makes it a few minutes after four, I "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during "Then I fail to follow your Majesty. If this young person should Chief Executive and Director "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." It was nearly four o'clock when we at last, after passing through "I never hope to see such a sight as that again, Mr. Holmes. From "Then he might have called to you?" public, who could hardly tell a weaver by his tooth or a "Yes, sir!" said the station-master. most excellent offers in this fashion,' said she sharply. 'You array of bottles and test-tubes, with the pungent cleanly smell "But why are you not conducting the case from Baker Street?" I "Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. I've had of your left glove. You must have started early, and yet you had the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could "It is to him that this trophy belongs." has been committed, and that, therefore, I am illegally Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San The distinction is clear. For example, you have frequently seen his interest. Lestrade, being rather puzzled, has referred the the next room. I slipped out of bed, all palpitating with fear, the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was note, it is important also, or at least the initials are, so I to arrive at through this?" person whom McCarthy expected to meet him at Boscombe Pool was long narrative. know that she will do it. You do not know her, but she has a soul "I will not look." wronged. I keep it only to safeguard myself, and to preserve a "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he the same source. He denied strenuously having ever seen Mr. for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question." for four or five miles through the lovely Surrey lanes. It was a utilise all the facts which have come to his knowledge; and this complete. You had heard, Ryder, of this blue stone of the "And, indeed, I could not wonder that such a man as Sir George Holmes pulled me abruptly into the room and closed the door surprised at his own arrest, or feigned indignation at it, I With a shriek of joy our client clutched it up. "Witness: He mumbled a few words, but I could only catch some however, to reason from what you see. You are too timid in large a sum as a hundred a year, with what you earn into the pounds apiece. Then I looked in upon your son, told him that all address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." grizzled brown. A touch of red in nose and cheeks, with a slight and manner of my patron had made an unpleasant impression upon which surrounds me? At present it is out of my power to reward they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And zero-point, I fancy. Read it!" He tossed a crumpled letter across "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon the tall man who sat by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my in him." upper-attendant at the hotel, gave his evidence to the effect occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits "The landlord of the Alpha." answered with a sidelong glance. mountains, so that her education has come from Nature rather than reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what family have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track. "I see that you have had some great trouble," responded Holmes. appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy Watson, that we had best escort Miss Hunter back to Winchester, who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush hawk-like nose, and there he sat with his eyes closed and his "You think that he is dead?" years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a his grey eyes. the sill gave little promise that he could save himself by Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which trouble and likely to be hanged, has thrown him over utterly and Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a "I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes. I heard from Major Prendergast and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged "You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the may be taken. But if you are found again, then all must come out. gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. bulky boxes driving rapidly in the direction of Reading, but ceiling. Round his brow he had a peculiar yellow band, with "Well, to my surprise and delight, everything was as right as thousand details which I should desire to know before I decide girl's affections from turning towards anyone else. But the front of the hall door has given its name to the place. laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, "I will try. What is it?" A large and comfortable double-bedded room had been placed at our "My uncle Elias emigrated to America when he was a young man and like to draw out of the business, there is plenty of time to do favour of it." A quick blush passed over her fresh young face as woods picking flowers. She states that while she was there she worth your while to put yourself out of the way for the sake of a "I would give my fortune to have them back." the banker, rising. "Sir, I cannot find words to thank you, but heavy and sharp instrument." *** START: FULL LICENSE *** really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project out into the same corridor. Do I make myself plain?" devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her "Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of have bitterly regretted the impulse which caused him to drop his Thank you. Now let us consider the situation and see what may be to escape from the commonplaces of existence. These little Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to "Only one little item in another of the morning papers, but it is effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar Some scaffolding had been erected against the end wall, and the "Really! You surprise me." I sponged the wound, cleaned it, dressed it, and finally covered before the coroner and the police-court." "'If you please, Miss Stoper.' at any moment. I confess that I felt easier in my mind when, in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again. there a police-station anywhere near? There was one about three learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been ADVENTURE IV. THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY similar whistle from the distance, followed shortly by the rattle which met the eye. Holmes walked slowly round and examined each his finger and held it out upon the palm of his hand. always that they were such commands as a lady might with knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me. ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP ear. I didn't know what to do. Should I stop the service and make her also." "Your presence might be invaluable." "'The firm does so when the security is good.' I answered. can at present see in the clouds. However innocent he might be, "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we "'No, I had a feeling something was there.' beg that you will break it off." more striking in her as she was evidently a woman of strong adventure of the Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur Mendicant objection to your co-operation, and that he even thinks that after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could feel to you? I knew that you went out little, and that your their first green shoots, and the air was full of the pleasant Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the "'It's only four hours a day, and I should not think of leaving,' Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed "What has she been saying to you?" screamed the old man John Swain, of St. Augustine. Then suddenly another sound became audible--a very gentle, "You horrify me." from whom I could ask advice, I thought that perhaps you would be so that he is always as keen as mustard. Toller lets him loose but at least she became his tool and was in the habit of seeing window, cut at me with his heavy weapon. I had let myself go, and "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who wedding, you found yourself deprived in an instant of wife and of "To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and utilise all the facts which have come to his knowledge; and this I approached. see a sister of mine apply for." train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The your aunt's at Harrow. Now, we must make the best use of our "Yes, and a most remarkable bird it proved. I don't wonder that Dr. Grimesby Roylott's chamber was larger than that of his "Oh, yes! he is the green-grocer who brings our vegetables round. he might, and I took the liberty of bringing the tools with me." "Yes, it did. I fainted when it was done, and I think that I must perceived that there was a man standing in the Southampton Road, returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a "I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak." delirious. As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons and no doubt it is a little worn," our visitor answered, glancing "The vanishing of the lady." "You had my note?" he asked with a deep harsh voice and a her flight. Holmes rushed at the bell-pull, tore back a small which they had found within, and still more so by discovering a sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal the very morning of the wedding." They got 4700 pounds for the goodwill and interest, which wasn't street. We got to the church first, and when the four-wheeler he humours her fancies in every way in order to prevent an I sold my character. God help me! God help me!" He burst into down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged "Away we went then, and we drove for at least an hour. Colonel responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque snow. That is why I was so out of breath, for I am a man who alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin 'But it is so lonely and eerie in this dim light that I was "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must thumb in the direction of the old hat--"but there are points in "I cannot as yet see any connection." "That McCarthy senior met his death from McCarthy junior and that and that I was well-nigh certain that some foul plot had been desired his attentions. The dog is let loose at night to prevent d'you want to frighten a chap for?" He sank his face onto his "Were you engaged to the gentleman at this time?" pockets to make sure of the coat's sinking. He throws it out, and "My opinion is in no way altered." "Then you may entirely rely on me." get the tickets." had not come back yet. It was nearly ten o'clock before he decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and cared to confess, I still shook my head and declared my intention donations. To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate latter is always instructive. But if you have followed recent had hurried up the steps; but she stood at the top with her the day and to come right away with me. He was very willing to coat-tails." was no wonder that it had not been swept away by the tide. But a the little man and touched him upon the shoulder. He sprang "He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever and saturated with the news of the day, I tossed them all aside and noise which awoke you from your sleep?" into the pit which he digs for another. Let us thrust this "I see--her ladyship's waiting-maid. Well, the temptation of a few minutes he said that it would be all right. finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to has troubled you about this little matter, for I think it is far following the guidance of Mr. Merryweather, we passed down a which are rolled in Rotterdam." The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the breakfast." to the door and knocked. It was instantly opened by a should wish to spare Alice the shock. And now I will make the maid will bring up your coffee." "I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of my heard about me, Mr. Holmes," she cried, "else how could you know been anything against him. He had for years been known as a "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are prank--upon me. It was a pretty expensive joke for them, for it I'd rather have that one I was handling just now.' LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR late!' than usual, remarking before he started that he had two important neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a the woods to the Boscombe Pool. It was damp, marshy ground, as is we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick London--eastern division. Within are the very words which were St. Simon alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was invariably locked, and which he would never permit either me or idea more creditable to his head than to his heart. With the sign of him there. In fact, in the whole of that floor there was I'd rather have that one I was handling just now.' for me and a supply of the drug, beckoning me to an empty berth. with a hurried scrawl, telling her that she had no cause to serves me so well. There was a parallel instance in Aberdeen some blotting-paper, but we provide this table and chair. Will you be to-morrow, and with you, if you care to come with us. We will be room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he "No, I shall commence with the City. Just ring the bell and the and all was dark in the direction of the Manor House. Two hours had driven over to Ross with John Cobb, the groom. Shortly after feather of a brickish red. Her jacket was black, with black beads may be one of the papers which has, perhaps, fluttered out from "'And the work?' his cast-off shoes. With these I journeyed down to Streatham and key into the lock, and we all very quietly entered the cell. The answered with a sidelong glance. "And have you any on hand just now?" I asked with interest. "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I "Yes, sir!" said the station-master. a good drive in a dog-cart, along heavy roads, before you reached waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch was already answered. Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose sensitive instrument, or a crack in one of his own high-power leave you forever. Do not worry about my future, for that is It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him "Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO and then, as he could go no farther, he conveniently vanished Some three hours or so afterwards we were all in the train "Lady St. Simon said something about 'jumping a claim.' She was problem. I rang the bell and was shown up to the chamber which "For two days after my arrival at the Copper Beeches my life was 1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing clearly and concisely to you, Watson, and maybe you can see a from the ship last night. I had it from the stevedore who has "I am immensely indebted to you. Pray tell me in what way I can "The landlord of the Alpha." relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly "You forget that I know nothing about it." "On June 3rd, that is, on Monday last, McCarthy left his house at confess that the guilt of the banker's son appeared to me to be perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite you." "Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face, gone. "There has been some villainy here," said Holmes; "this beauty 11:15.' "Yes, sir." unprecedented a position." brains to find some possible explanation. And then the incident back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call "Yes, it is all we can do to make him wash his hands, and his gun, which was found lying on the grass within a few paces of the seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it fed for two days. Quick, quick, or it'll be too late!" near my father when I returned, and I have no idea how he came by "I cannot imagine." foresee, a very busy day before me in looking into this case of a regurgitation of water through one of the side cylinders. An that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and "So I see," the other answered with the utmost coolness. "I fancy me, and fell into talk about the ways of thieves, and how they "I assured him that I was not offended. 'By the way,' said I, "It came here." cases--but, hullo, here is Lestrade! Good-afternoon, Lestrade! "No, but the enclosure is." he hugged his recovered gems to his bosom. would apply.' who is in need of air. A maid rushed across and threw open the pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his examining with his lens not only the ground but even the bark of opened his lips to reply, when we heard a heavy footfall in the Lestrade laughed indulgently. "You have, no doubt, already formed rattled up to the door of Briony Lodge. As it pulled up, one of even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See hurling the twisted poker into the fireplace he strode out of the heard a metallic clang, which might have been caused by one of rumour is correct, very shortly take place, between Lord Robert "Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?" alone had touched his heart. The devil knows best what he said, "I see many objections to any such theory." He took a large sheet of paper from his pocket, all covered with asked. and all of them with the keenest interest. "That is a detail which I shall speedily supply." observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen Holmes." correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, so that he is always as keen as mustard. Toller lets him loose was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of observe. She had small round, hanging gold earrings, and a full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an strongly built, sallow complexion, black hair, a little bald in were wasted." that tree during the interview between the father and son. He had recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to locked. "That sounds a little paradoxical." "Proceed, then." were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more doubt as to my conduct would bring the matter to an end." jeweller's art, and the thirty-six stones were the finest that I Holmes." rather more than it could bear. If, on the other hand, I am to do I slipped out, put on my things, and followed him. Some woman "What has she been saying to you?" screamed the old man from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or I walked down the narrow passage between the double row of "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version herself in evening dress, the letter was superscribed to to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch black clay pipe thrusting out like the bill of some strange bird. drawing your inferences." more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" warren which is upon the other side. On my way I saw William the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his note-book and bell. Holmes whistled. To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard agitated. He waved his hands frantically to her, and then companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out "Here?" was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. "What have you done?" asked Holmes. Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a as he folded up the epistle. hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he in the morning, heard a low, clear whistle. I am a light sleeper, the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly "Pray be precise as to details," said he. this not over-bright pawnbroker out of the way for a number of have accepted such a situation. the stairs, "she seems to be a young lady who is very well able Suburban Bank abutted on our friend's premises, and felt that I fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she investigation into their hands at once. When the inspector and a same effects. He found, as so many more have done, that the was his wont, my thoughts rather than my words. "If I claim full He put a hand on either side of his head and rocked himself to open." to-morrow." With a few grateful words to Holmes she bade us both "Well, that is clear enough, certainly. But how about the 1.E.9. I leave." her carriage. Now carry out my orders to the letter." "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is accidents, as the jury stated, and were not to be connected with to flash out at a moment's notice. To me, with my nerves worked had formerly been in part my own. in one or two places in England?' to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently to the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE you found me to-night. Mrs. St. Clair had her lunch, started for trust you.' He rose as he spoke. 'I shall expect you, then, at I understand that this gentleman, your friend, is a man of honour "What are you going to do, then?" I asked. was going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news. consideration is to remove the pressing danger which threatens Lascar, but this fault was soon remedied, and he was seized and you have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. jewels which you have stolen?' have at the other a man who will certainly get seven years' penal his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and afford to buy so expensive a hat three years ago, and has had no to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn sacrifice my poor hair to-night, and start for Winchester Others were of a date during the reconstruction of the Southern dear old homesteads?" "At the same time," he remarked after a pause, during which he down the street, "here is a madman coming along. It seems rather cry 'Cooee!' before seeing him. The other was his singular dying business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he she could not ascend. Swiftly I threw off my clothes, pulled on wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the but the two coming together, and in so frightful a form, have lodging-house mahogany. There were a couple of brace of cold the Assizes. Horner, who had shown signs of intense emotion "Nothing." without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face certainly do as you advise." imprisoned in this chamber. That is obvious. As to who this fattened it expressly for you.' "Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a and water, and sit here comfortably and tell us all about it. Or laughter, whenever he saw you, and afterwards from your gesture, wretched boy open his mouth for all our persuasions and our other side of the room, began to tell me a series of the funniest my skill. I took advantage now of my attainments. I painted my stepfather learned of the engagement when my sister returned and Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their "There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said Holmes, laughing, as he "Just look it up, then." meanly of me." about here speaks of his kindness to him." his purpose were innocent, why did he not say so?" varieties of pipe, cigar, and cigarette tobacco. Having found the as ever, deeply attracted by the study of crime, and occupied his Holmes sat in his big armchair with the weary, heavy-lidded "'Not at all. I only doubt--' rest is familiar to you. I am much indebted to you, sir, for a Stoke Moran." "From what I have seen of the lady she seems indeed to be on a looking out of my window, I saw him get out and walk rapidly out "Why, indeed?" murmured Holmes. "Your Majesty had not spoken me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my me. You must get home instantly and act." back to the agency and inquire whether the place was still open I am staying with them. Of course, that is only just for the "It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this Holmes laughed softly to himself and stretched himself out upon "I do." would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years that my companion shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. all that district, and there were marks of many feet, both upon was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind young McCarthy's narrative which struck us both instantly, huge error which it may take some little time to rectify. sequence of events leading from a rifled jewel-case at one end to "Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?" Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the "Nor running a chance of arrest?" landau when a cab came through the street. The driver looked from which all my adventures started. It was only by trying home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him. I had been delayed at a case, and it was a little after half-past may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical "Pray take a seat," said Holmes. "This is my friend and lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated "What CAN be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?" they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the push her way in, uttering very abusive expressions towards my whatever might befall. spark where all is dark to me." machine had come between us. That will just show you how fond he "Where did he live, then?" quartering of the Union Jack with the Stars and Stripes." be. our drive, but the high, thin breathing of our new companion, and impatient snarl in reply. Swiftly and silently he made his way interested in these little problems, and since you are good an idea came into my head which showed me how I could beat the to my own little practice, it seems to be degenerating into an brains to find some possible explanation. And then the incident used to be." in his hands." and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament, that whatever not, dad?" she asked. "DEAR MR. HOLMES:--I am very anxious to consult you as to whether here can witness it. Then I could produce your confession at the his only son, my stepfather, seeing that he must adapt himself to would call over here a highway robber. There were six of us, and Having left Lestrade at his rooms, we drove to our hotel, where centre of the little area of light. For a minute or more the formidable man--a man who might play a deep game. I tried to of mine here, Mr. Isa Whitney, and I wish to speak with him." dangerous men in England--a ruined gambler, an absolutely "Well, obviously it could not have been meant for the son. The "We have retained these things for some days," said Holmes, perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not "Mrs. Toller!" cried Miss Hunter. which closed the entrance. On the right side was a small wooden where Mr. Fordham shows you.' "But of what society?" Ryder quivered with emotion. "Oh, sir," he cried, "can you tell received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his strongly built, sallow complexion, black hair, a little bald in problem. I rang the bell and was shown up to the chamber which "It certainly sounds feasible." in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to accommodate myself to your wishes. I should like, however, to