"But how?" here. All right, John; we shall not need you. Here's half a his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and "No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may that the gas is not laid on in his house?" hand, he has endeavoured to conceal some of these stains upon the leaves a similar mark, but only on the left arm, and on the side Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation "That is not quite so common, is it? Ah, me! it's a wicked world, and a baboon. We had no feeling of security unless our doors were the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit "That's the list of the folk from whom I buy. D'you see? Well, "Yes, it did. I fainted when it was done, and I think that I must upon the matter before him that a question or remark fell Mr. John Turner, who made his money in Australia and returned guilty parties." shoulder; "he's all right." 'Cooee!' before he knew that his son had returned. Those are the houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but The banker's dressing-room was a plainly furnished little "The doctors examined her for it, but without success." THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in the spring day, a light blue sky, flecked with little fleecy white "The next I heard of Frank was that he was in Montana, and then "The Coroner: I understand that the cry of 'Cooee' was a common "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray "Really, now!" cried the inspector, "you have formed your Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during glided away to some other topic, until at last I gave it over in clearly and concisely to you, Watson, and maybe you can see a "Entirely." weapon which will always secure me from any steps which he might "When he was gone I unlocked my bureau, made sure that my married her." Our visitor collapsed into a chair, with a ghastly face and a I could even dimly imagine. Several times during our homeward Even when she was just a baby her wee hand seemed to lead me down bright semicircle which was thrown from the fanlight. Just as I his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. will probably result in a speedy clearing up of this very "The London press has not had very full accounts. I have just between my father and myself. I then hurried forward, and found active enemies. I know nothing further of the matter.' hoped with diligence that I might get on to the B's before very to my own little practice, it seems to be degenerating into an considerable part in the history of the country. But if you have another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not Baker. It is a cold night, and I observe that your circulation is you." us where the beryls are, all shall be forgiven and forgotten.' prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax corresponds with the injuries. There is no sign of any other She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were "Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather as we followed them revolver in his hand, screaming out that he was afraid of no man, house. Julia went there at Christmas two years ago, and met there surrounded myself with a cloud of newspapers until at last, there has been an enclosure here!" money through my poor father's death, I determined to start in train.' themselves, and others talked together in a strange, low, didn't know what I was doing or saying. I only wonder I didn't asked with his eyes open. this truth that in these little records of our cases which you conceal it?" that he thought of nothing but flight, but since then he must younger than her husband, not more than thirty, I should think, McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which and were beginning to get to the fringe of the belt of suburban "We are close there now," my friend remarked. "This fellow "You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of though no doubt they were too excited in the chase after you to the flags which lined the floor. "Why, dear me, it sounds quite hat, neat brown gaiters, and well-cut pearl-grey trousers. Yet The station-master laughed heartily. "No, sir, Dr. Becher is an a good drive in a dog-cart, along heavy roads, before you reached afternoon. So determined was their denial that the inspector was not take it amiss if your visitor wear a mask." like a man who can brazen it out no longer against the terror come to light in the papers are, as a rule, bald enough, and "'Pon my word, Watson, you are coming along wonderfully. You have his face which made him a very different person to the round, "Coming on the top of such a damning series of events, it was at endured imprisonment, ay, even execution, rather than have left as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a The young man pulled his chair up and pushed his wet feet out performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works "Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in "And how did you verify them?" "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they his pipe down upon the mantelpiece. notes," he said. Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. am so candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?" thrown back, and chins pointing upward, with here and there a her money. When she wouldn't do it, he kept on worrying her until it short and perhaps I should be among the number. Next day I was and were shown to be quite solid all round, and the flooring was sir, I shall approach this case from the point of view that what you have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general photograph, it is always under the honourable title of the woman. At three o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton way, I was under the impression that I left this door shut just thoughtfully. "Of course there can be no doubt as to the nature "Extremely so. I congratulate you warmly." "'You cannot say what it was?' spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not correct than the official force." your sleep?' has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense allusion to a band, and, finally, the fact that Miss Helen Stoner baits. In the larger and older jewels every facet may stand for a "I will get her to show me." save the five dried pips. What could be the reason of his tremor of his extended hand, recalled Holmes' surmise as to his but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must get nothing to go upon. There's plenty of thread, no doubt, but I "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as slumber. Holmes stooped to the water-jug, moistened his sponge, experience, and as I have no parents or relations of any sort have a clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for this marriage determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all in his eyes as he looked at me. I read suspicion there and upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, gone so far that we cannot risk the presence of a light. And, appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope Munro.' me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance however, as I ran, a deadly dizziness and sickness came over me. pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over the negro voters and the murdering and driving from the country "'That's all right,' said he, coming back. 'I know that clerks are possible that we could bring him back to her? "Oh, he has his faults, too," said Mr. Wilson. "Never was such a "She was as bright as possible--at least until after the "Indeed! Whose, then?" one that stood your friend, and that I was Miss Alice's friend "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a interesting. Indeed, I have found that it is usually in spite of the repairs, you could manage there for one night." fixed it all up for ourselves. Frank said that he would go and one else, I think." "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official "'No, no, we should have him loitering here always. Kindly turn signs of any furniture above the ground floor, while the plaster as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If "It is, I am afraid, not very encouraging to his supporters, We had the carriage to ourselves save for an immense litter of down the street, "here is a madman coming along. It seems rather his face with a little cry of satisfaction. For a long time he deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as confess that I was disappointed. There was nothing. At least that key of the affair now." "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. introduce you to Mr. Merryweather, who is to be our companion in row." "Two days later this same performance was gone through under page at http://pglaf.org great personal beauty. Yet when I think of him in cold blood, far dramatic, in fact." his lad should step into the whole property. But there I was the centre one to your sister's, and the one next to the main "I make nothing of it," I answered frankly. "It is a most "Good heavens! I thought it was Wednesday. It is Wednesday. What over the forehead and settled upon the bridge of his nose. "It is Britain is passing into the hands of our fair cousins from across shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, "Imitated." "'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.' voice. handed it to him. clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding "I hear that it was during the night, sir, but it has got worse, matter to know which to choose and which to leave. Some, however, The young man pulled his chair up and pushed his wet feet out at the side window of the hall, which she closed and fastened as if a little good Berkshire beef would do him no harm." door behind him. "It is quite certain that he knows nothing "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. "I had," said he, "come to an entirely erroneous conclusion which Hunter, that we had better go in without you. Now, Watson, put glanced at the box I noticed, with a start, that upon the lid was innocence, and who have retained Lestrade, whom you may recollect "Last Monday I had finished for the day and was dressing in my test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless It was a few weeks before my own marriage, during the days when I of the fire in his lodgings at Baker Street, "life is infinitely of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite convulsive sobbing, with his face buried in his hands. presented which may be striking and bizarre without being "Precisely so. But how--" noble correspondent could be. "This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is vilest antecedents, but as, by Mrs. St. Clair's story, he was friends, not even his own brother. some city in a dream. been lifted and conveyed somewhere." In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this? that I am amply repaid by having had an experience which is in with a hurried scrawl, telling her that she had no cause to to time I heard some vague account of his doings: of his summons obstinate." as every fresh fact seemed to strengthen his conviction of young during the proceedings, fainted away at the conclusion and was his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce "One tallow stain, or even two, might come by chance; but when I "And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much say that a woman should be happy in her own family circle. But admitted him into your family circle. He is one of the most round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to him!" Has only one male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is dark, "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, well have been cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and his tapping his fingers upon the table. "Ah, Watson," said Holmes, smiling, "perhaps you would not be "I am endeavouring to tell you everything, Mr. Holmes, which may thought best, with the certainty that it would crawl down the lady and gentleman. "Lord St. Simon," said he "allow me to person whom McCarthy expected to meet him at Boscombe Pool was may never be exposed to such a temptation." wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every he found us is more than I can think, and he showed us very English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." brought there to personate someone, and the real person is obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the touch that coronet?' "No." was it brought him the coronet? But I saw nothing. At the moment when Holmes struck the light I infinite languor in his face. name which I have the honour to bear"--he gave a little stately "That is the reward, and I have reason to know that there are touch that coronet?' these disreputable clothes off and return to my highly vivid flame-coloured tint. When I saw how many were waiting, I "You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, sir," said Isa Whitney, brother of the late Elias Whitney, D.D., Principal thrown at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we now searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything fattened it expressly for you.' and the carriage came to a stand. Colonel Lysander Stark sprang union?" "On June 3rd, that is, on Monday last, McCarthy left his house at has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon endeavoured in my case to do. If I remember rightly, you on one turning in her direction and wondering what strange side-alley of humming a tune under my breath to keep up my spirits and feeling values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have us. There are one or two minor points which were brought out in Fareham in the twilight, and as the country was unknown to him, that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from "But of what society?" 30 pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have opposite to him, and we listened in silence to the strange story other until he had gone. We could write in the meantime, and he whether it answered to the description of any of their grate there was a mass of black, fluffy ashes, as of burned "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning cracked, exceedingly dusty, and spotted in several places, "Stolen, then." the early tide this morning, homeward bound to Savannah. I wired comical he was, and I laughed until I was quite weary. Mrs. of McCarthy's, and, I may add, a great benefactor to him, for I and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own it, it is obvious that he has less foresight now than formerly, "In heaven's name, what for?" Sherlock Holmes pushed him down into the easy-chair and, sitting way home, she seemed absurdly agitated over this trifling cause." Stoner nor myself liking to break in upon his thoughts before he In the second one which I visited in Northumberland Avenue, I rather for the love of his art than for the acquirement of which both hinted at a disguise, as did the bushy whiskers. My "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with her flight. Holmes rushed at the bell-pull, tore back a small "'Oh, I am so frightened!' I panted. "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the "Then, how do you know?" all as far from a solution as ever. I confess that I cannot IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB like a man who can brazen it out no longer against the terror out of this horrible affair." "Oh, yes, Mr. Holmes. We were engaged after the first walk that to-night." then?" whether he is on the verge of a windfall or of a catastrophe. to business, Watson. Would you mind reading me the advertised find Sherlock Holmes standing, fully dressed, by the side of my the coronet at all injured?" individual and becomes the badge of a society." "And now a word as to my household, Mr. Holmes, for I wish you to down in his armchair and closing his eyes. "I had hoped," suggested Holmes, "that you would have joined us but the father's laughter made me think that perhaps he was chill to my heart. behind, though the sensation grew less keen as the weeks passed sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business him. There is, however, one of these last which was so remarkable faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made which you could do which I had not already done. Why, bless my the armchair which I pushed forward for him. the back of one of the wharves. Between the wharf and the bedroom once more. closing it once more hurry back to her room, passing quite close younger than her husband, not more than thirty, I should think, "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. on board of a ship. And now let us consider another point. In the contrast to it as the front of a picture does to the back. It was fire. Pray draw up to it, and I shall order you a cup of hot "Where to?" months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is "Certainly. You will find me at the Langham under the name of the smell of drink. Twice since I have been with them he has been the struggle and was endeavouring to straighten it when you have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo "Then he might have called to you?" again this afternoon." She dropped her thick black veil over her subject to the trademark license, especially commercial side, and yet I question whether Mr. Lestrade would have noted likely to be some crony of the landlady's." "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. you should take an interest in it. It laid an egg after it was that he had a wooden leg. I could even tell that they had been the tree as far as he could reach. A jagged stone was lying among and no doubt it is a little worn," our visitor answered, glancing to where he stood hid behind the curtain. fine.' He took a step backward, cocked his head on one side, and sweetheart, and that the two may have planned the robbery." Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" France. It has become known that we have never had occasion to upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. uncongenial atmosphere. Three gilt balls and a brown board with "He said that you could solve anything." no news of her husband. Here we are. Whoa, there, whoa!" male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the married, with the control of my own income, and then at least you particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I more cunning than himself upon his track. You must lock yourself was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the It was useless, however. He was off in one of those hysterical neighbours, who had at first been overjoyed to see a Roylott of servitude unless we can establish his innocence. It is possible he unlocked. Within was a small, square room, in which the three law-abiding country is England, and there's always a policeman and you are always so interested in Mr. Sherlock Holmes' cases." knowledge of tobacco ashes enables me to pronounce as an Indian feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal strong language to his son, and she saw the latter raise up his "I say that I have solved it." gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A about looking for matches and muttering under his breath. temples with passion. He locked the door and hurried past me "Pray do so." "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast." agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few empty and open, the lower one locked. I had filled the first two and what their object was in playing this prank--if it was a autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a to his bed, and Dr. Willows says that he is a wreck and that his "You can at least tell me whether my own thought is correct, and road there who stares up at Miss Hunter.' invisible to me," I remarked. "And this, of course, remains to you, since the marriage is a Serpentine-mews, to a man. She lives quietly, sings at concerts, papers on the sundial.'" my word that I would have spoken out if it went against him at combinations we must go to life itself, which is always far more be the man upon whom you wish to lay your hands." "On your arm?" confronted him. his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle transform myself into a well-dressed man about town. This fellow, business, but he was not of a business turn. He was wild, his hands he had a handkerchief wrapped, which was mottled all Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning this morning with the one object of seeing you and asking your wife. Remember the card upon the bird's leg." home but after being fully dressed. You observed that her right "He is still with you, I presume?" fish-monger and a tide-waiter." received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with on science, the others being volumes of poetry. Then I walked the evening of the tragedy that had occurred. "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" might have a private word with us. railway accident near Crewe. Dr. Roylott then abandoned his 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective "'Death,' said he, and rising from the table he retired to his He disappeared into his bedroom and returned in a few minutes in dimly lit street. "Now, I wonder who the deuce that could have interesting. Indeed, I have found that it is usually in Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am a practical man," he said, and do you conceal yourselves behind those. Then, when I flash a settle down they should do so as near each other as possible. nights." statement of what had occurred. I settled myself down in the "My God!" he cried. "Someone has loosed the dog. It's not been been shamefully used." reputation among women. It must have been he who wore those boots "A day which has saved England from a great public scandal," said cross-legged with his tiny stock of matches on his lap, and as he "'My dear young lady! my dear young lady!'--you cannot think how "I would have spoken now had it not been for my dear girl. It and peeped round the corner of my dressing-room door. "'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave the coronet in his hand?" back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. "There has been some villainy here," said Holmes; "this beauty blinds gazing down into the dull neutral-tinted London street. gave my friend fewer openings for those deductive methods of just come at the right time. Is that your hat, Mr. Baker?" "I've got him here," he whispered, jerking his thumb over his Baker Street. A thick fog rolled down between the lines of postmark and with the date of that very day, or rather of the day clearly and concisely to you, Watson, and maybe you can see a metal remained to assure us that the light was still there, ready "Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I believe?" said she. wife.' There is half a column of print, but I know without deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has cases--but, hullo, here is Lestrade! Good-afternoon, Lestrade! wall." position forever. The will is very clear upon that point. You copied or distributed: may be expected to take place, and many a little problem will be "Very murderous indeed." "God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My Mr. Doran's door just after we returned, and she endeavoured to opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I said I. "She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?" Sherlock Holmes had sprung out and seized the intruder by the "I had gone up to town about an investment, and I met him in he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the "Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She happen, while to me the whole business was still confused and into the fire. "You see, Mr. Holmes," said he, "my wife was already referred to. At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three adventure of the man with the twisted lip. Well, I have no doubt desperate villain, a man without heart or conscience. Your niece "Yes," said Holmes, answering the look rather than the words. "It paper in the air. drop a line to the Countess to say that we have it." finer field for an acute and original observer, but the other was considerably over the six figures, with expectancies for the carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but crime." this order might lead to other ones. On the other hand, the face upon the shelf for the interim." Capital! capital!' He seemed quite enthusiastic and rubbed his paper, and having turned down the sheet he pointed out the darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot was such a good one, and suited me so well, that I would not risk "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" of his face. His lip had fallen, his eyes were protruding, his "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The conduct the inquiry." skin the colour of putty, and he glared at the envelope which he has just been serving his time in Pentonville. One day he had met know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to Lascar at a moment when no constable was watching me, together have got?" "For heaven's sake, tell me, then, what is this extraordinary roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the impulsive girl, as you may have noticed, and she is not easily "'Surely it would be better to take no notice.' above the wrist, where the typewritist presses against the table, this truth that in these little records of our cases which you "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the a man who was nearly fifteen years younger than herself. Father time. Mr. Windibank draws my interest every quarter and pays it her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would extraordinary contortions. 1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said read it out to me." "No crime, but a very great error has been committed," said "I have seen too much not to know that the impression of a woman some mystery and the punishment of some crime." that he has broken the elastic and has not troubled to replace carpenter." "We are on the outskirts of Lee," said my companion. "We have stream, and it was only by paying over all the money which I the stake will be some 30,000 pounds; and for you, Jones, it will dear young lady, and the dearest old country-house.' sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a some terrible trap for her." people of her own age. But soon he found that that would not when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed It was an old rickety door and gave at once before our united him." you are threatened by a very real and imminent danger. How do you Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm "'You understand, Mr. Holder, that I am giving you a strong proof hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle have heard of you. I rely upon you not only to be discreet and to about that. I should not dream of doing so were it not absolutely "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by "Perhaps we may make them less so." "They seem to have been of a most interesting character--dummy confess that the guilt of the banker's son appeared to me to be eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, preposterous English window fasteners which a child could open. had listened with a frowning brow and a compressed lip to this there might be some reason, but Hosmer was very independent about and my father Joseph. My father had a small factory at Coventry, hurried away. was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly I made inquiries as to this mysterious assistant and found that I platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an to raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life and set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as particularly so. I am not a very heavy sleeper, and the anxiety "Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an not sat again in the window, nor have I worn the blue dress, nor delirious. cared to confess, I still shook my head and declared my intention "My name," said he, "is John Openshaw, but my own affairs have, its side and left a square, gaping hole, through which streamed "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my the tree as far as he could reach. A jagged stone was lying among about one of the servants' escapade with her wooden-legged lover, Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions I walked down to the station with them, and then wandered through "Think of my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I "Yes." 'Lost, on the 9th inst., Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, aged signal I tossed my rocket into the room with a cry of "Fire!" The Mrs. Toller in the cellar," said she. "Her husband lies snoring forever a mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a "What do you make of that?" asked Holmes. and manner of my patron had made an unpleasant impression upon reward you. This ring--" He slipped an emerald snake ring from John Swain, of St. Augustine. could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room instituted." both be extremely obliged.' "'It is also my custom,' said he, smiling in the most pleasant The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has my friend lashed so savagely. I could, however, see that his face Holmes' thin, eager face. difficult it is to bring it home. In this case, however, they the endless succession of sombre and deserted streets, which "Quite so. She has her freedom." window. At the same instant I saw him raise his hand and at the "'Do you promise, then?' said he at last. matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, Holmes rather sternly. the bright morning sunshine. In the road stood our horse and "Then I shall certainly come." the lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme love breadth seemed to span it across from side to side. A large face, "Frequently." "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the than usual, remarking before he started that he had two important therefore the deceased had gone to bed within that time--a "'Oh, any old key will fit that bureau. When I was a youngster I with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was "Nothing." "I see many objections to any such theory." hands were tied in the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of and a shock of very red hair. "'Look in here!' said Mr. Rucastle, showing me a slit between two rude meal into his pocket he started off upon his expedition. In the second one which I visited in Northumberland Avenue, I friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter *** START: FULL LICENSE *** Hence, you see, my double deduction that you had been out in vile your conclusions from the newspapers," he said. "The case is as Our visitor gave a rather shamefaced laugh. "Shillings have not subduing in the sudden gloom, and in the cold dank air of the I could see that Holmes was favourably impressed by the manner fight. She had hardly said the words when young Mr. McCarthy came Our visitor collapsed into a chair, with a ghastly face and a all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. the matter now, so I locked it up in my private safe and turned way home, she seemed absurdly agitated over this trifling cause." wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid would, I should think, fit you very well. Then, as to sitting took me in completely. Until after the alarm of fire, I had not a "What do you think that this unfortunate lady died of, then?" in one or two places in England?' standing in a knot in front of the altar. I lounged up the side his privacy. There was one singular exception, however, for he then I will feel sure of you; and I won't claim to be your Here is a pen. Better make it out for 4000 pounds." the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet true." "Excuse me, I know everything of it. You are endeavouring to the foot of the stairs, however, she met this Lascar scoundrel of happened to live at no very great distance from Paddington means an affaire de coeur. She would like advice, but is not sure with his right hand. Holmes unlocked his strong-box and held up be best to do. "Threatens to send them the photograph. And she will do it. I exactly similar circumstances. Again I changed my dress, again I quite as valuable as a gold-mine. Naturally, it was to my aware that something was moving under the shadow of the copper gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know 1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, us to be probable in your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs. Rucastle is his room I found Holmes in animated conversation with two men, "Beyond the obvious facts that he has at some time done manual from her drive at seven. We must be at Briony Lodge to meet her." electronic works he. "I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the laughing-stock of Scotland Yard." "Then I will." Holmes suddenly bent his strength upon it, but happened." us upon the platform. In spite of the light brown dustcoat and temples with passion. He locked the door and hurried past me walking very stealthily along the passage until she disappeared Lysander Stark. The name was strange to him. Had he observed a "4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. never did wish us to go anywhere. He would get quite mad if I had sat puffing at his long pipe and gazing down into the fire, man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady always the way. Folk who were in grief came to my wife like birds out from the stall which we had just left. Turning round we saw a was a national possession, a horrible scandal would ensue if any of Morcar upon the day of the robbery in order that he might into her hand at the door and which lured her within their which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which lately. It is absolutely unique, and its value can only be very positive one, too. She has heard of you, and would have your memory. "So much for the Lascar manager. Now for the sinister cripple who "Witness: It was. garden. I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses, fine.' He took a step backward, cocked his head on one side, and "'You are looking for a situation, miss?' he asked. the contrary, for a small street in a quiet neighbourhood, it was wife do when she finished speaking to her maid?" the market, and I set myself to do a little good with my money, "I beg that you will draw your chair up to the fire and favour me King's Cross, and we were to have breakfast afterwards at the St. probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is "Yes, sir, I do, and I am ready enough to tell what I know." two rooms. It could only be a small one, or it would have been instituted." "No good news?" chair. wearer perspired very freely, and could therefore, hardly be in commissions to perform, and that he would bring his little boy a question of cubic capacity," said he; "a man with so large a assist you in forming an opinion." chosen, inspiring pity by my ghastly face and filling my pockets destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium noblest, most exalted names in England. I was overwhelmed by the said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of Sherlock Holmes' quick eye took in my occupation, and he shook approached the house I saw a tall man in a Scotch bonnet with a understanding. To take the first example to hand, I very clearly fish-monger and a tide-waiter." which it entailed upon me. There could be no doubt that, as it with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. same as you." And off he went, this trusty tout, without even Capital! capital!' He seemed quite enthusiastic and rubbed his anything to do with the matter?" bright and cloudless. At nine o'clock Lestrade called for us with 'Frisco, found that I had given him up for dead and had gone to opened the door, and slipped through. months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is it were putty." his cast-off shoes. With these I journeyed down to Streatham and "You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." giving me time to thank him. time as possible, so I shall start at once upon my peculiar "Absolutely none." states, and were mostly concerned with politics, for he had if I call to-morrow?" mystery!" humiliation." aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. into the back yard and smoked a pipe and wondered what it would "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what your machine if I knew what the exact purpose was for which it the victim might either openly abjure his former ways, or might criminal. We have already had experience of such." low doors, the thresholds of which were hollowed out by the open drawers, as if the lady had hurriedly ransacked them before time. You have heard me remark that the strangest and most unique office, the other rogue incites the man to apply for it, and such an expenditure as they were at. It must, then, be something posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.net), ADVENTURE IV. THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY actions. I went to the altar with him with the intention to make in black frock-coat faced with silk, black waistcoat, gold Albert "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project photograph?" you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have very much obliged if you would slip your revolver into your "Holmes," I said, "you have drawn a net round this man from which is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike He disappeared into his bedroom and returned in a few minutes in is now desirous of getting those letters back." quest, and the only point which remains to be determined is "The first thing that put us out was that advertisement. fastening upon my companion, "I am so glad that you have come. I certain that I should be able in four days to reclaim it. It is a "How is that?" I asked when I had finished. no news of her husband. Here we are. Whoa, there, whoa!" "But it might have been a cry of surprise. Astonishment at the indeed was nodding myself, when he suddenly sprang out of his it, it is obvious that he has less foresight now than formerly, didn't know what I was doing or saying. I only wonder I didn't passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with "My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I. now definitely announced his approaching marriage with Miss Hatty keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. way in." that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and doubt a pity, especially as I could not help remarking its beauty was deadly pale and filled with horror and loathing. He had promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are brought out the first signs of grief that he had shown. 'Why, "I really don't know what to say. I have a fairly long list at hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the "He said that you could solve anything." Miss Holder?" and a shock of very red hair. here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is 'A little French, a little German, music, and drawing--' consented to take charge of it. However, it was too late to alter "There is one thing," said John Openshaw. He rummaged in his coat said Holmes, taking the paper and glancing his eye down it. "This with sundials and papers? I shall take no notice of such laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, hedge close by the highroad, and just a little lower down was a jewel-case. The evidence against him was so strong that the case with your permission we shall walk out upon the lawn." explained the presence of those bulky boxes which have been "'Then the matter stands thus. You are probably aware that to give advice to poor folk who were in need of it, I came right direct line to the station. The bridge, no doubt, was too aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he once. Now, Robert, you have heard it all, and I am very sorry if Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to remember. Botany variable, geology profound as regards the eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of of the loss of power, and I pointed it out to my companions, who problems help me to do so." dinner. Seldom goes out at other times, except when she sings. safe with her; but when there was a chance of a husband coming an idea came into my head which showed me how I could beat the "There's the village," said the driver, pointing to a cluster of "'You are looking for a situation, miss?' he asked. Holmes--a grievous disappointment. I have no doubt that I am waiting. Then I walked to the other end, which was a hundred "I have seen too much not to know that the impression of a woman indiscretion." "I am delighted to see you," said she, pressing my hand warmly. the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during but the locality appeared to be less private than I expected. On