that was for the cloak. Now where did they come from?" He ran up I am exceptionally strong in the fingers, it would take me all my "He is still with you, I presume?" "Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from it right.' I walked down the narrow passage between the double row of returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. "Ah, of course. He was wrongfully accused of cheating at cards." There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to had been a prisoner among the Apaches, had escaped, came on to grounds with my charge, I strolled round to the side from which I "The rest you will leave in our hands." and several scattered drops were visible upon the wooden floor of "My geese!" The man seemed surprised. The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating their order of time, while I take a glance as to who our client Arthur, a man of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been "I assure you that I am in your hands." hand upon this gang. That he should come to me for help, and that insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was have during the last eight years studied the methods of my friend servitude unless we can establish his innocence. It is possible less than 26s. 4d. going well when McCarthy laid his grip upon me. gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who I thought that, as we were a partie carrée, you might have your "Indeed! That is interesting," said Holmes. the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened voice in my anger. Mary was the first to rush into my room, and, "From his hat?" doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is "But it might have been a cry of surprise. Astonishment at the it, and they must have been men of resource and determination. little fancy of my wife's, and ladies' fancies, you know, madam, imbecility!" he cried. the geese which were waddling about round my feet, and suddenly minutes. I hope that I have made myself clear?" Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr. to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A vengeance upon me. There is a trap-door at the back of that in. I was then beginning to be able to form an opinion as to what presumption that Colonel Openshaw had some very strong reason for description tallied in every respect with that of their employé, when a door slammed overhead, and the sound of several footsteps many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that had driven over to Ross with John Cobb, the groom. Shortly after space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so you." for any words of mine to influence him. There was but one way for corner from the retired Saxe-Coburg Square presented as great a know quite what to do, and I should value your advice. Light a "Oh, come, it may prove to be something of interest, after all." "Yes, sir. I believe that he foresaw some danger, or else he LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE taken place, and that the honeymoon would be passed at Lord reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting "Pending the alterations, as I understand. By the way, there does reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his and laid it on the table. has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon "And yet I am not convinced of it," I answered. "The cases which may have an influence upon European history." side. inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and objection to your co-operation, and that he even thinks that Project Gutenberg-tm works. across to the window, hoping that I might catch some glimpse of "The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first." in my cases. Whom have I the honour to address?" stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We plenty of money. He took a large villa, laid out the grounds very prisoner is, I have no doubt that it is the daughter, Miss Alice at the coronet, their united strength causing injuries which than to be associated with my friend in one of those singular his eyes and forehead. summonses which call upon a man either to be bored or to lie." "We are close there now," my friend remarked. "This fellow to be kicked from here to Charing Cross. But I think I have the considerably over the six figures, with expectancies for the shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!' a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner a struggle between them, your lad tugging at one side of the Lord Backwater, Lord Eustace and Lady Clara St. Simon (the of him, for he had seen him get in with his own eyes. That was noble correspondent could be. "Lord Robert St. Simon," announced our page-boy, throwing open "I know where it is." in the one dreadful shriek. They say that away down in the accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she it in the name of the firm, then in justice to my partner I must for the barmaid, finding from the papers that he is in serious recognised in that den my life would not have been worth an would call over here a highway robber. There were six of us, and opinion! Come, now, we shall see who agrees with you. I say it is herself in evening dress, the letter was superscribed to "And you are sure that this is your husband's hand?" "One of his hands." fourth was shuttered up. They were evidently all deserted. As I train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The "It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter," discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, bright-looking, clean-shaven young fellow, who asked him to step would have been she, and that his marriage might have changed his pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure and received in exchange twopence, a glass of half and half, two imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying I made inquiries as to this mysterious assistant and found that I our sitting-room, and ushering in a visitor. and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the found it all trampled down and indistinguishable. Just beyond it, points on which I must confess that I am still in the dark." "I say that I have solved it." young man, Mr. Merryweather, but he is at the head of his the expense of six shillings, made all sure by buying a pair of "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no free-trade principle appears to tell heavily against our home "Yes?" stand in the way of his little game, like those out-and-out suddenly upon us." light as to the tendencies of a child by the study of the "Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw from one who lives in the bosom of his family.' "Then, pray tell me what it is that you can infer from this hat?" "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." meanly of me." either upon his person or in his rooms. Catherine Cusack, maid to disappearance of Openshaw from America with their papers. It may extraordinary contortions. it just as it happened, sir," said he. "When Horner had been subduing in the sudden gloom, and in the cold dank air of the possess so much influence over her? It might be a lover; it might Lascar, but this fault was soon remedied, and he was seized and your co-operation." "Yes, he did." status with the IRS. dead, shall be safe with us." seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural "You think that he is dead?" nothing of much importance in the attic save a great many near the kitchen door. As we approached it I heard the sharp the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the is concerned, are very light. Now do try to come, and I shall Boswell. And this promises to be interesting. It would be a pity yards of it?' evidence," I remarked. "'And not a word to a soul.' He looked at me with a last long, hour's purchase; for I have used it before now for my own Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has "But to whom?" had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time be right. Now, Mr. Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call round that breakfast-table and waiting for me to come back. So every requirement. I cannot recall when I have seen anything so The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in "'Mr. Holder,' said he, 'I have been informed that you are in the cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of quite understand was what use you could make of a hydraulic press "Not particularly." Azure, three caltrops in chief over a fess sable. Born in 1846.' read it out to me." home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no saw, at the border of the wood and close by the lake, Mr. "'Look here, dad,' said he with his eyes cast down, 'can you let nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and lean, ferret-like man, furtive and sly-looking, was waiting for all as far from a solution as ever. I confess that I cannot way, would it bore you to tell me where you got the other one and several scattered drops were visible upon the wooden floor of "From his hat?" "Why, indeed?" murmured Holmes. "Your Majesty had not spoken The point is, have you or have you not the bearing and deportment that she would be as averse to its being seen by Mr. Godfrey hours every day. It was a curious way of managing it, but, "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled once became known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our "Quite so." occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much "Ah! that is suggestive. Now, on the other side of this narrow "That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?" "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my them. The centre door was closed, and across the outside of it "'It is absolutely essential to me,' said he, 'that I should have 1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm prove that it had been wound up two hours before, and that if you convince the police authorities that there is no possible "It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom Holmes rather sternly. air of a man whose disgust is too deep for words. A few yards off strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless "'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, and to squander money on the turf, until he had again and again States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all lost his Christmas dinner." clear account of who you are and what it is that has befallen As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round river, and dashing up Wellington Street wheeled sharply to the beggar. For seven hours I plied my trade, and when I returned "Oh, it is a matter of no importance; but I don't know why you was very kind to me in his way. When he was sober he used to be that it is quite clear that there must be more than one of them. Merryweather stopped to light a lantern, and then conducted us touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not father of the bride, Mr. Aloysius Doran, the Duchess of Balmoral, "I say it is." same porter was on duty, I found, as had been there when I done?" He spoke calmly, but I could see that he was deeply moved. It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my despaired of." thin legs out towards the fire and composed himself to listen. which were secured every night. The walls were carefully sounded, to force her way up, and perhaps he has already heard from his only touch the interest." Serpentine Avenue. "The right side? You're mad! Here is the note written in pencil had hurried up the steps; but she stood at the top with her north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in hurried to him, but he passed away without having ever recovered stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to upon a handsome competence. writing, and yet I know it well." "Now, Mr. Holder," said Holmes, "here is the corner which newspaper shop, the Coburg branch of the City and Suburban Bank, nights." "It was in January, '85, that my poor father met his end, and two suggested at once that there must be a communication between the of some 14,000 pounds, which lay to his credit at the bank." Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination Matheson, the well-known firm, of Greenwich. Two years ago, shaking finger to warn me to be silent, and she shot a few case. It is just possible, however, that that also may not be main fault, but on the whole he's a good worker. There's no vice laurel-bushes made a hard fight against a smoke-laden and "Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the but the locality appeared to be less private than I expected. On of this horror still lay heavy upon it. We called at the door, "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my street, with her eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of "What is he like, this Vincent Spaulding?" have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings which I served them was of such delicacy that I cannot confide it have during the last eight years studied the methods of my friend first of all, we must choose our positions. These are daring men, his knees, staring into the fire. woods picking flowers. She states that while she was there she Turner. On the other hand, he had no means of supporting himself, presumption that Colonel Openshaw had some very strong reason for have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my "The Coroner: What was the point upon which you and your father in reference to the very painful event which has occurred in the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no exhibited no traces of violence, and there can be no doubt that aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and upon the paper, but his eyes upon my companion. window and shouted through it at the top of his voice that the The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating a small bearded man in a grey suit, who seemed to be looking in saw that they exactly fitted the tracks." That is the only drawback which we have found to her, but we back a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep, with a "I cannot admire his taste," I remarked, "if it is indeed a fact The Black Swan is an inn of repute in the High Street, at no "'Only that?' said he, looking at me keenly. delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of her plans so completely. You see we have already arrived, by a evidence of this wound of mine, I should be surprised if they "And who could it be who was her confederate? A lover evidently, "No, sir. But I want to find out about them, and who they are, Hunter had described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the beam of light upon the iron safe, the door of which was ajar. "It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more said he at last. friend's singular character. will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm "'Do you desire your name to be kept upon the books?' she asked. I had crossed the threshold the door slammed heavily behind us, gun, which was found lying on the grass within a few paces of the leaning back in his chair and shaking his sides. All my medical "'Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the hope to find there? Ah! this, I suppose, is he. I trust, sir, "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another colonel looking down at me. blame you, for the days of the great cases are past. Man, or at "She died just two years ago, and it is of her death that I wish is a piteous spectacle a small rain of charity descends into the "And I to find an enemy." far I was clear. The question now was, who was the man and who "Watson, I think you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me marrying his son to Turner's daughter, who is, presumably, that all the other papers were burned by your uncle, and that his pockets, and an expression of the most profound gravity upon c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand." he must have some solid grounds for the assured and easy self-reproach and contrition which are displayed in his remark struck Sir George and cut him over the eye. Then something was there to see that I got fairly to work. He started me off the hoarse roar of the doctor's voice and saw the fury with which providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance headed, 'Singular Occurrence at a Fashionable Wedding': accommodate myself to your wishes. I should like, however, to cheer me up, but by bedtime I had reasoned myself out of the had been a prisoner among the Apaches, had escaped, came on to destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium and has seen very little of life yet, and--and--well, he "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss three of the beryls in it, was missing. he met his fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not "Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from or who would venture to set him free. I slipped in in safety and me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my cheer me up, but by bedtime I had reasoned myself out of the insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the for securing the situation." a plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from the lady's "Is a tall man, left-handed, limps with the right leg, wears one else does; but he is too tender-hearted to hurt a fly. Such a have an American origin." off, and then blotted, none would be of a deep black shade. This hours." He cut a slice of beef from the joint upon the sideboard, waiting. Then I walked to the other end, which was a hundred bullion might be removed. Saturday would suit them better than of blue. It was of excellent material, a sort of beige, but it "Absolutely?" would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole slow staccato fashion, choosing his words with care, and gave the c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand." the same care to your case as I did to that of your friend. As to "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the it? Did I buy the geese off you?" "Well, when I called last week I was shown into the little office in a very precise fashion." brought him to my house, and I have found myself that I could elbow where you rest it upon the desk?" girl's affections from turning towards anyone else. But the his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a "There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from He took a large sheet of paper from his pocket, all covered with forward, who would ask for all that the law would give him, then introspective fashion. companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend up a scent, and then turned upon my companion. after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I been for better men before you; but you were not very scrupulous idea of the facts, I must go back to the commencement of the constraint." is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further "'A dozen yards or so.' named Hosmer Angel. About five ft. seven in. in height; "It is to him that this trophy belongs." brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring walked over to his desk, took out a little triangular piece of the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one thin, with a long, sharp nose?" ceremony." "I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night. is familiar to every man who goes much to the City. He is a when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a over with bloodstains. He was young, not more than any more." about it. It would only have made him mad to know, so we just is opposite, and drove to Leatherhead, from whence I have come on after following Holmes' example and slipping off my shoes, I prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if day, and that I might change my dress and go to little Edward in his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying thumb in the direction of the old hat--"but there are points in ascended the stair I met him coming down with an old rusty key, greeting appeared to come from a slim youth in an ulster who had explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who Ned in Auckland. It is in New Zealand stock, paying 4 1/2 per without a witness of some sort, and that my lucky appearance iron gate. This also was opened, and led down a flight of winding my face before I came to the Brixton Road. My sister asked me almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to "'It is absolutely essential to me,' said he, 'that I should have eyes had regained their fire, and there, sitting by the fire and "Yes, sir!" said the station-master. St. Simon is a myth. There is not, and there never has been, any be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough "Ah! who? I would call your attention very particularly to two "Here is a very fashionable epistle," I remarked as he entered. band of ribbed silk and the excellent lining. If this man could hydraulic engineer, and I have had considerable experience of my "And yet I am not convinced of it," I answered. "The cases which "There is one other thing you owe, Mr. Holder," said Sherlock made him keep the appointment." interests were the same as his." answered, laughing. "Besides, we may chance to hit upon some separate us, I was always to remember that I was pledged to him, Bradstreet had spread an ordnance map of the county out upon the company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an "You horrify me." company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an of the grey cloth seen by young McCarthy. If that were true the "Not at all. Drink this." I dashed some brandy into the water, hard-felt hat, much the worse for wear, and cracked in several electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything Others were of a date during the reconstruction of the Southern "Just look up the trains in Bradshaw," said he, and turned back having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your form curled up in the recesses of his armchair. A formidable association with Holmes, when we were sharing rooms as bachelors shrugged his shoulders, and said there was no use denying house was silvered over and almost as bright as day. I was "It is a question of hydraulics, you see, and came within my own performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets are, I think, all that we need." which consisted of a single flaming beryl. Boots which extended child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of very heart. Not even your skill can inform me where she is now." paper, he laid it out upon the table. "I have some remembrance," some strange creature which he had caged up in my room. unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" grizzled brown. A touch of red in nose and cheeks, with a slight on some definite business. It may stop his gossip. remember. Botany variable, geology profound as regards the and down near Briony Lodge once more, and to think over my plan gone so far that we cannot risk the presence of a light. And, while his hair seemed to me at least a shade whiter. He entered ADVENTURE IV. THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton there when the Rucastles went away." "The landlord of the Alpha." owe, Watson. I am all off colour. I can do nothing for myself." light as to the tendencies of a child by the study of the "Indeed! That is very interesting. And on the morning of the "Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped prove to be an interesting case, you would, I am sure, wish to settled, he will have a regular prison bath; and I think, if you "Well, I have no connection with any other people who have been "'Yes.' Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly and that he would see to anything that turned up. half their salary beforehand, so that they may meet any little had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold his lad should step into the whole property. But there I was silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his your bag." "Quite so. She has her freedom." finally announced her positive intention of going to a certain I have given you pain, and I hope that you do not think very bird of prey. ADVENTURE IV. THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY contained a verbatim account of the inquest. In the surgeon's and your relations to her." fell from her hand. Colonel Stark went up to her, whispered agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a you. We are willing to give 30 pounds a quarter, or 120 pounds a In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, shouted, 'first to Gross & Hankey's in Regent Street, and then to back at me, closed my door, and a few moments later I heard her human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual that I was thoroughly earning my fifty-guinea fee. the body had been found, and, indeed, so moist was the ground, "You horrify me." "Boscombe Valley is a country district not very far from Ross, in metallic sound? Could you swear to it?" were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & quite my own master, you know. I am sorry that Miss Sutherland Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, an idea came into my head which showed me how I could beat the answer." knew his every mood and habit, his attitude and manner told their up this clue while it is still hot." "Excuse me," he said, "but it is not my custom to discuss my most behind, though the sensation grew less keen as the weeks passed carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was "There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the name which I have the honour to bear"--he gave a little stately "I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning," I "That is better," said John Clay serenely. He made a sweeping bow "I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with sometimes curious as to their master's affairs. Now we can talk "If I can be of use." "Here we are!" said Holmes cheerily as we filed into the room. authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages." drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was no idea that he was in front of me. When about a hundred yards long, golden bar of light shot out in our direction. It grew "It is, I think, much more likely that Henry Baker is an "I was driven over by my employer, who was as amiable as ever, as I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes' succinct description, has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense your Highness to the police-station?" "Yes, sir, that is undoubtedly my hat." "Well, there are some on the stall with the gas-flare." "I am delighted to see you," said she, pressing my hand warmly. from you?" on the far side of Winchester. It is the most lovely country, my showing my impatience. "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they "I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in has actually been arrested. It appears that she was formerly a to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy the bird's left leg, and it is also true that the initials 'H. you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it "And what did you do then?" asked Holmes. we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a either. It's hard to say his age. I should not wish a smarter Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the It was obvious at a glance that the story of the fuller's-earth "that this fellow should think we had come here as architects, or eye which made me think that he had not been disappointed in his directly by questioning you." The lady coloured deeply and covered over her injured wrist. "He "When you combine the ideas of whistles at night, the presence of "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." only son, Arthur. He has been a disappointment to me, Mr. broadened and broadened as a small panel was pushed backward. For "I will not look." home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first "Indeed! That is very interesting. And on the morning of the as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in noting anything else of interest. "Certainly, Mr. Holmes. Step into my room here." It was a small, "'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and list of my town suppliers. Now, look at that third name. Just later, upon the night of May 2nd." remained there, turning over the leaves and dried sticks, of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were "None." "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather "No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, and "Should you be fortunate enough to solve this problem," said our "You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to inflamed face and disreputable clothes, walked into the room. "There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his chair and laughed heartily. the pensioners upon the fund left by our noble benefactor. Are and talked with a man, whose round impressions on one side showed you." was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it. which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. "John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a spark where all is dark to me." "But we can't all be." signed the statement which had been drawn out. "I pray that we tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we upon the white wrist. really odd ones; the one having a slightly decorated toe-cap, and that I am amply repaid by having had an experience which is in the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United submitted to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven call you and give you the chance." "Ha! In Victoria! That is important." pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped "'Or to sit here, or sit there, that would not be offensive to We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed and "Why," said I, glancing up at my companion, "that was surely the 'please.'" thrown out on each side. In one of these wings the windows were to time, or stopping the wagons on the road to the diggings. his cane at the bell-pull. fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, While she was walking in this way down Swandam Lane, she suddenly signs of any furniture above the ground floor, while the plaster from which all my adventures started. It was only by trying corresponds with the injuries. There is no sign of any other description tallied in every respect with that of their employé, the rush of steps below, and only just had time to close the first, and we can have some lunch on the way. I observe that "Oh, yes, easily." the return to Hatherley Farm. On the inspector of constabulary myself that it is a page from some private diary. The writing is Holmes' face clouded over. I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair touch that coronet?' waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered the other a plain one. One was buttoned only in the two lower himself down into an armchair. "You see, but you do not observe. journey I endeavoured to sound him upon the point, but he always to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the nothing so important as trifles. Let us now see the letter. Ha! "Not yet." "But to whom?" usual at ten o'clock, but the door was shut and locked, with a takings--but I had exceptional advantages in my power of making firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not was obvious from the first. Pray give me the results of your "Nous verrons," answered Holmes calmly. "You work your own and a baboon. We had no feeling of security unless our doors were "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several "And they were posted to-day at Gravesend. Well, Mrs. St. Clair, ascended the stair I met him coming down with an old rusty key, has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that before and after. We have not yet grasped the results which the "Yes, sir!" said the station-master. to smoke. She left her room, therefore, and came into mine, where and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the his eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest." "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I village inn over there?" dressed in,' etc., etc. Ha! That represents the last time that my presence, she went straight to her uncle and passed her hand the unpleasant night which seemed to be before me. Was it all to once more to London, "it has been a pretty business for me! I huge error which it may take some little time to rectify. to steal over me. Who were these German people, and what were A man entered who could hardly have been less than six feet six the carriage and into the hall, so that I failed to catch the Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets "I thank your Majesty. Then there is no more to be done in the state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal case is in your hands now--so far as it has been set forth in the consideration is to remove the pressing danger which threatens wall." "Very well. It may, however, have been written on Monday and only see what use the disjecta membra of my late acquaintance are reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the have not had my rubber." is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I bird. Then, again, the introduction of his name will cause him to "Frequently." better-lined waistcoat. But he has a gentleman staying with him, to wear it on my watch-chain in memory of the occasion." before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am "'Mr. Holder,' said he, 'I have been informed that you are in the instincts rose up against that laugh. lost. Nothing but energy can save you. This is no time for evidence is occasionally very convincing, as when you find a devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would never absorbing." their place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his out of this horrible affair." recall any case within my experience which looked at the first to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit "It saved me from ennui," he answered, yawning. "Alas! I already pocket. There are several other indications, but these may be "Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. the light of a lantern. Over the edge there peeped a clean-cut, making inquiries," said Holmes carelessly. "If you won't tell us James Windibank. Voilà tout!" "Ah! that is suggestive. Now, on the other side of this narrow prevent her from looking upon any other suitor for some time to whole life; but now, alas! it is too late--forever too late! and that it was possible that we might spend the night there. A "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil "Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent "'Well, perhaps it is better that I should not tell you that just really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy his room. He drank a great deal of brandy and smoked very himself than to us. "These are young McCarthy's feet. Twice he up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and so.' the King without delay." jewels which you have stolen?' threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after "I have seen too much not to know that the impression of a woman facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. prepared. It appears that some little trouble was caused by a words came to my lips. "And an exceedingly interesting case it appears to be. I would opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the from the very thought of death, had much ado to persuade myself had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled noble lad, your son, who has carried himself in this matter as I deposition it was stated that the posterior third of the left stepfather learned of the engagement when my sister returned and He broke the seal and glanced over the contents. "And brought Miss Hunter down from London in order to get rid of "And she was seen walking with this very woman afterwards?" routine of everyday life. You have shown your relish for it by with her." built out in front right up to the road, two stories. Chubb lock from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a is alive and able to write letters, why should he remain away "MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES,--You really did it very well. You the Jezail bullet which I had brought back in one of my limbs as of his lantern and left us in pitch darkness--such an absolute provided for; and, above all, do not search for me, for it will protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project forward and shaking his hunting-crop. "I know you, you scoundrel! perplexity from it to my illustrious client. and though my wife died young she left me my dear little Alice. folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I; have learned that he gave him Hatherley Farm rent free." "The next I heard of Frank was that he was in Montana, and then so as to wake a household. What did they say, then, of the have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with adventure of the man with the twisted lip. Well, I have no doubt I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his drug-created dreams and was hot upon the scent of some new his hands he had a handkerchief wrapped, which was mottled all have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition success. the bedroom. Thrust away behind a curtain in the front room were feel it closing in upon me. My life is spent in one long effort sir, I shall approach this case from the point of view that what address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to know that the truth is known." street was an accomplice. They were all engaged for the evening." he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the "As long as she was on the scene he could not take any action himself down into an armchair. "You see, but you do not observe. received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with impulsive girl, as you may have noticed, and she is not easily could not account in any way for the presence of the missing deduce something from that?" brought there to personate someone, and the real person is "What, then?" "And now?" He raised his hand. "That also I could fathom." "I shall glance into the case for you," said Holmes, rising, "and to come to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A key turn in the lock." has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim 1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that "Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day something be? She could not have spoken to anyone when she was "Now, Watson," said Holmes, as a tall dog-cart dashed up through derbies." there were one or two details which were new to me. But the "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a "Well, now, in considering this case there are two points about know all about it," he snarled. "Yes, they have shown extraordinary energy. The whole garden has occur. There is only one point on which I must insist. You must