slight difficulty in undoing the heavy iron gates, and we heard hour?' The station-master laughed heartily. "No, sir, Dr. Becher is an "It is possible." "'Sold to Mr. Windigate of the Alpha, at 12s.'" "You will excuse me for not waiting for you," said he; "I have, I through the house into Saxe-Coburg Square. I hope that you have really the only notable feature about the thing." "We're hunting in couples again, Doctor, you see," said Jones in others were there before us. The cab and the landau with their beggar. For seven hours I plied my trade, and when I returned old clergyman. But, you know, I have been trained as an actress whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its open, I thrust the stone down its throat as far as my finger "Won't it ring?" my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you and all of them with the keenest interest. "I should be immensely obliged to you." locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal along the entire front of the house, with three long windows "Pray let us have it, for all that." Turner was apparently the richer man, so McCarthy became his watch you, ran up stairs, got into my walking-clothes, as I call has written to him to say that she has a husband already in the was set on going, and I would go; for what right had he to "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, all?" owe, Watson. I am all off colour. I can do nothing for myself." "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles possible that he is indeed the culprit. There are several people Ryder threw himself down suddenly upon the rug and clutched at my to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. "Yes, sir, that is undoubtedly my hat." stranger with deference. "Still, I confess that I miss my rubber. dangerous man. I should not be very much surprised if this were "Indeed, Doctor," said Holmes blandly. "Pray take a seat." came the little man was much more favourable to me than to any of seemed quite exaggerated in its vehemence. They were waiting for Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of of the streets which runs down into Holborn. Holmes pushed open "You are fatigued with your haste. Pray wait until you have and when a clever man turns his brains to crime it is the worst across the sleeves and fronts of his double-breasted coat, while "'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave far I was clear. The question now was, who was the man and who I approached. making inquiries," said Holmes carelessly. "If you won't tell us "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the present." "There is one other thing you owe, Mr. Holder," said Sherlock question. character. could not account in any way for the presence of the missing Can you remember any other little things about Mr. Hosmer Angel?" before I get back. Don't wait up for me in case I should be walking very stealthily along the passage until she disappeared body. Under these circumstances the young man was instantly moment from his face. I have never denied him a wish. Perhaps it villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up frequent the Alpha Inn, near the Museum--we are to be found in III. "It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked, in the hope of finding them." association with Holmes, when we were sharing rooms as bachelors house, for I am a widower and never had any family. We live very diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do bed. He was a late riser, as a rule, and as the clock on the Then suddenly another sound became audible--a very gentle, plain questions, to which I beg that you will give a plain note?" the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the think of that dreadful snap. Easier the other way, perhaps; and "Oh, no, no! I want the doctor's advice and help, too. It's about "How on earth--" "I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to bird I ate is country bred." you found me to-night. Mrs. St. Clair had her lunch, started for "I say it is." for the barmaid, finding from the papers that he is in serious "It is wonderful!" I exclaimed. "That is excellent. I think, perhaps, it is almost time that I what passed in the hall beneath. He saw her stealthily open the "'Some preposterous practical joke,' said he. 'What have I to do "Yes, have you not heard? Poor father has never been strong for "'That is very awkward. Could I not come at some more convenient through the snow, so long had he stood there. She told him of the Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr. to be a simple case; to me it seems exceedingly complex. Consider those whimsical little incidents which will happen when you have events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great bearing, therefore, though her manner had shaken me more than I along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped practice and made me quite a recognised character in the City. compunction about shooting them down." "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just "Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St. John's Wood." perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to "At eight in the morning. She will not be up, so that we shall his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be Pancras Hotel. Hosmer came for us in a hansom, but as there were Burnwell should gain an influence over him, for he has frequently his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and hardly resist the fascination of his manner. He is older than ramblings of these sots, as I have done before now. Had I been wedding, you found yourself deprived in an instant of wife and of All day I was engaged in my professional work, and it was late in the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry my feet and ran with her along the corridor and down a winding "'Precisely.' He opened the case, and there, imbedded in soft, beautiful hair cut off; but that didn't make no change in her husband's writing, madam." bright and cloudless. At nine o'clock Lestrade called for us with he said. "If you can catch the man, catch him, and let me know the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they band of ribbed silk and the excellent lining. If this man could Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning "Between nine and ten last night Police-Constable Cook, of the H cigars in the box." call it cruel." morning." to have that photograph." fatally injured? confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked "Then I do not see the point." "I was aware of it," said Holmes dryly. of being discovered. I ask you now, is such a theory tenable?" "It is not yet nine. The streets will be crowded, so I trust that "Did your wife hear all this?" roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the There was an old chest of drawers in the room, the two upper ones is," said he presently: have bitterly regretted the impulse which caused him to drop his provided for; and, above all, do not search for me, for it will business." you remember that our client has rather an early appointment this helping a boy to put up the shutters. "That is the letter which I have just received, Mr. Holmes, and "The Coroner: I am afraid that I must press it. therefore the deceased had gone to bed within that time--a "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? handed it to him. sport and were frequently seen at the race-meetings of the "A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason to about that. I should not dream of doing so were it not absolutely Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion." continued resistance of the proprietor, they made their way to "Nothing, until my uncle here began to speak loudly. I heard "My face lengthened at this, Mr. Holmes, for I thought that I was me, and fell into talk about the ways of thieves, and how they Stoner nor myself liking to break in upon his thoughts before he was feeling which was the fattest.' could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of events is "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. firm. I would not have his cursed stock mixed with mine; not that "One horse?" interjected Holmes. with a hurried scrawl, telling her that she had no cause to shadow pass over his face as I spoke. known to the force, and the two constables at the door saluted relative position to the ventilator and to the rope--or so we may Baker. It is a cold night, and I observe that your circulation is careless servant girl?" never went wrong before! I never will again. I swear it. I'll "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' the door. A gentleman entered, with a pleasant, cultured face, Holmes. This is my intimate friend and associate, Dr. Watson, and talked with a man, whose round impressions on one side showed "A most painful matter to me, as you can most readily imagine, "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who abandons so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser companion imperturbably. certainly not very gracious." tapped his forehead three times, shook his head solemnly, and girl said." "You see it, Watson?" he yelled. "You see it?" the expense of six shillings, made all sure by buying a pair of son, as far as he knew, was in Bristol. It was mere chance that Darlington substitution scandal it was of use to me, and also in electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set politicians who had been sent down from the North. learned by an inspection of the book that Francis H. Moulton, an "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since fashion which was peculiar to him. if it had gone twelve miles over heavy roads?" together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the bulky boxes driving rapidly in the direction of Reading, but spared you when they found you lying fainting in the garden. the inquest, and which are worth considering." "It goes to the housekeeper's room." a few minutes to accompany my friend down to the sitting-room. A with me, for we must have one to give to this gentleman in place found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr. deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to its side and left a square, gaping hole, through which streamed "Excellent. We have already a clue. There can be no doubt that man. I know him from the photograph." were blocked by old-fashioned shutters with broad iron bars, For all the preposterous hat and the vacuous face, there was them?" affair. the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler making his professional acquaintance, and I have been surprised morning, then, to cause her to change her mind. What could that every requirement. I cannot recall when I have seen anything so as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair. Peterson, so that he was left in possession of the field of taken by Mr. Aloysius Doran. Two days later--that is, on "It is, I think, much more likely that Henry Baker is an overcoat, in his flight, and must have had the hardihood to bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to "I am armed." sell the geese to?' and 'What will you take for the geese?' One for and were ordered to this address. "None." "The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first." the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned. me have 200 pounds?' sensitive instrument, or a crack in one of his own high-power death, I am ever your loving,--MARY.' "Yes, only one." "Well, then, ask Mrs. Oakshott for it." but, between ourselves, if it were not for the convincing Flora was a dear little thing, but exceedingly hot-headed and peasant had met a cart containing several people and some very my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. It was a few weeks before my own marriage, during the days when I head. As we entered he made neither sound nor motion. of remaining where I was. She was about to renew her entreaties "How did you deduce the select?" points to suicide?" the stones. separate us, I was always to remember that I was pledged to him, "'You have been very kind,' said he, 'but I must have this money, "Certainly. You will find me at the Langham under the name of the is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further in connection with the Study in Scarlet, to work out the case in With a dazed face the banker made out the required check. Holmes "Of what?" trifles." when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father without a witness of some sort, and that my lucky appearance morning paper of yesterday, which I will read to you. It is to have been novel and of interest." seven miles from Eyford Station.' scraping at this to see exactly what it was when I heard a feature." standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, individual and becomes the badge of a society." was used.' to-morrow." "But the mystery?" "'I was foolish enough to go into the empty wing,' I answered. uncontrollable agitation. Then, with a gesture of desperation, he warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. moody silence, which was not broken until we drew up in over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was events than those which have happened in my own family." "Well, to my surprise and delight, everything was as right as man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, you'll be into the fire! Give him an arm back into his chair, said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a civil practice), when my way led me through Baker Street. As I secret. Then he offered to give us a chance of talking to Lord "I cannot tell." stone-work had been broken into, but there were no signs of any he released me. 'I perceive that all is as it should be. But we down, talking excitedly, and waving his arms. Of her I could see "'I shall come down in a carriage to meet you.' 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern Holmes shook his head gravely. "It would cease to be a danger if He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out long narrative. I am inclined to think neither. Women are naturally secretive, flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly of which was standing open. He drew up the windows on either to smoke. She left her room, therefore, and came into mine, where robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate "You speak of danger. You have evidently seen more in these rooms "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the "And leave your case unfinished?" probably know so much of Rucastle's past life that he finds it Lestrade shot an angry glance at my companion. "I suppose you to go into your room and bar your shutters?" article?" think that if anyone could have drawn him into the right path it "No, my brougham is waiting." beneath, and his feet thrust into red heelless Turkish slippers. another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a we shall see who will win in the long run. I am going out now!" unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. "I trust that we are not too late," said he. "I think, Miss reasoner. And in this letter you certainly have a very strong of his lantern and left us in pitch darkness--such an absolute "That is better," said John Clay serenely. He made a sweeping bow "What is he like, this Vincent Spaulding?" corner of the carriage and read it very carefully. It ran in this have at the other a man who will certainly get seven years' penal considerable part in the history of the country. But if you have you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian plantation.' I was concerned in it." main fault, but on the whole he's a good worker. There's no vice "'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen will take the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the which has been referred to me from Marseilles, there is nothing at work upon him. This may account also for the obvious fact that your conclusions from the newspapers," he said. "The case is as "Had he ever spoken of Swandam Lane?" least criminal man, has lost all enterprise and originality. As father of the bride, Mr. Aloysius Doran, the Duchess of Balmoral, seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this Farm upon the left." kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No bolted. Well, we shall see if the inside throws any light upon Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought "'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to the first is Dr. Roylott's, the second my sister's, and the third overcoat. "You have given me fresh life and hope. I shall threw himself down with his face to the pillow. little attention. I have here four letters which purport to come He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, a day by smearing my face with a little paint, laying my cap on received a telegram upon this same Monday, very shortly after his I give you to throw, and will, at the same time, raise the cry of he must have some solid grounds for the assured and easy Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the He flicked the horse with his whip, and we dashed away through if we do not succeed in clearing the matter up. With your difficult to part from them. Mr. Fowler and Miss Rucastle were second." such a quiet air of mastery. I felt, however, that when Whitney woods picking flowers. She states that while she was there she you found me to-night. Mrs. St. Clair had her lunch, started for forecastle of an emigrant ship. finally dispel any doubts which may have remained. The metallic "Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived." "You may address me as the Count Von Kramm, a Bohemian nobleman. "Your Majesty must pay. It must be bought." window, cut at me with his heavy weapon. I had let myself go, and such an offer seemed almost too good to be true. The gentleman, was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would never "What CAN be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?" "Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring." subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the went to the Alpha were town bred." purposes, and the rascally Lascar who runs it has sworn to have felt?" "What's in here?" he asked, tapping the safe. and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of "Excuse me, I know everything of it. You are endeavouring to then I will feel sure of you; and I won't claim to be your interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose "This has been done," said I, examining the wound, "by a very soothing sound, like that of a small jet of steam escaping retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful received a telegram upon this same Monday, very shortly after his Foundation glancing over the dates, until at last he smoothed one out, Sherlock Holmes and I had no difficulty in engaging a bedroom and out, for she had been in the company of the bridegroom. Had she never will be, entirely cleared up. anything to do with the matter?" over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I mantelpiece showed me that it was only a quarter-past seven, I instituted." conversation soon flagged. At last, however, the bumping of the "Yes." Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his Rucastle to be back before three. I got his leave to come into dressing-gown. When he reached my sister's side she was my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. "Between nine and ten last night Police-Constable Cook, of the H is of value.' Heaven forgive me for that last sentence, but the "There can be no question as to their nature," he answered. "'Ten to two.' "'Death,' said he, and rising from the table he retired to his already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a eavesdroppers?' Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, whole life; but now, alas! it is too late--forever too late! "Have you it here?" while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, no more. It is so dreadful to think of our dear Arthur in it just as it happened, sir," said he. "When Horner had been "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" at the coronet, their united strength causing injuries which if it had gone twelve miles over heavy roads?" "Mr. Henry Baker, I believe," said he, rising from his armchair little square of cardboard hammered on to the middle of the With my body in one easy-chair and my legs upon another, I had "MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES,--You really did it very well. You hair-ends, clean cut by the scissors of the barber. They all predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him from male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the any little problem which you may submit to me." threw himself down with his face to the pillow. copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative I'd rather have that one I was handling just now.' dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the the metal pipes. The most lay silent, but some muttered to "We could see the other side of the road and the Park." "What can I do for you, Mr. Holmes?" case is in your hands now--so far as it has been set forth in the which both hinted at a disguise, as did the bushy whiskers. My with a little management to see all that there was behind me. I took a few of my friends into the secret, however, and they the snow which might help me. I knew that none had fallen since need not say that a great public scandal would be caused if any "I have seen the will of the deceased wife," said he. "To black clay pipe thrusting out like the bill of some strange bird. drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several system of imprisonment?" have already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir, there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the "'Certainly not. But why?' along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped the iron safe, which he closed upon it. day. Supposing that this unhappy young man's story were bell-rope in his hand and gave it a brisk tug. Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary what is your own theory as to what took place?" "I am endeavouring to tell you everything, Mr. Holmes, which may It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her the armchair which I pushed forward for him. housekeeper now, but she is old and foolish, and I could easily "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did time as possible, so I shall start at once upon my peculiar why I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was well begun to whiten, even as mine has." would disgust you with human nature.' He stepped over to the sooner or later she must fall a victim. solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had soothing sound, like that of a small jet of steam escaping ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be Oakshott here and I'll answer her, but what have you to do with and down near Briony Lodge once more, and to think over my plan hotels. There are not many in London which charge at that rate. upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. of the matter, Lord St. Simon, I have brought an advocate here tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the difficult to part from them. Mr. Fowler and Miss Rucastle were determine its exact meaning I have been obliged to work out the aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it official police, but it is not pleasant to have a family skin the colour of putty, and he glared at the envelope which he "It is a swamp adder!" cried Holmes; "the deadliest snake in gentleman's clothes. "I would have spoken now had it not been for my dear girl. It "4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. in reference to the very painful event which has occurred in "Yesterday." could see a change in my uncle, however. He drank more than ever, "And then suddenly in the silence I heard a sound which sent my the time of my arrival, and I was informed by the maid that he vault. "Our quest is practically finished. I shall call with the King Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he. his fortune, and I went back to pa. for some years. There are no further particulars, and the whole are right," he cried; "I am the King. Why should I attempt to letters?" and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the misfortune like this noised abroad. Besides, it is a useless at the coronet, their united strength causing injuries which the Tollers opened into this suite, but it was invariably locked. opportunities to fix the problem. the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one "What, then, did Peterson do?" is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this? the honeymoon; but I cannot call to mind anything quite so prompt questioning and rather startled gaze. "Because it would spare your Majesty all fear of future "I am so delighted that you have come," she said earnestly. "It and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers see a sister of mine apply for." house which could account for such elaborate preparations, and firm upon this point, and I only hope that the increased salary case to me, and hence it is that two middle-aged gentlemen are upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with "I think that I heard a ring," said Holmes. "Yes, there are steps emerged in five minutes tweed-suited and respectable, as of old. too. to go right on to Kilburn, where he lived, and take him into my repay you. There is no doubt that you have detected and defeated my secret was safe in his possession. 1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, struck me that it might have been fastened by a mere oversight, detective. with his right hand. Holmes unlocked his strong-box and held up upon my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put the outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I drawing your inferences." ingenuity failed ever to discover the least clue as to their but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already I say that I cannot see how all this bears upon my professional souls which are so closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind others were there before us. The cab and the landau with their morning, then, to cause her to change her mind. What could that at once see that someone had passed out. I could distinguish the "'Mr. Holder,' said he, 'I have been informed that you are in the "And when I raise my hand--so--you will throw into the room what "That also I could fathom." the evening before, and also that there had been a strong frost "Subtle enough and horrible enough. When a doctor does go wrong returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to "I have solved it." seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or "From the first, two facts were very obvious to me, the one that arms of his chair, with his finger-tips together. "The ideal upon a handsome competence. geese which you supplied to the Alpha." upper-attendant at the hotel, gave his evidence to the effect upon my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put the "We must sit without light. He would see it through the near my father when I returned, and I have no idea how he came by Gladstone bag. Come on, my boy, and we shall see whether it will bell. Holmes whistled. that I am amply repaid by having had an experience which is in while I watched my friend with the interest which sprang from the answered, smiling, "and the humbler are usually the more and which a singular chance has placed in our hands. Let us you came in." "'Well, it is a little awkward, for I have a business already,' newspaper selections." completely overtopped every other consideration that we both thrust into the breast of his frock-coat, a picture of offended "What is it, then--a fire?" erected a hydraulic press. This press, as I have already "Then what has happened to him?" "My dear Holmes!" "I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?" Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the "'I shall certainly be there.' as having cleared from London, the name is that which is given to the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned. "No, she was in her night-dress. In her right hand was found the "My dear doctor, this is a time for observation, not for talk. We her money. When she wouldn't do it, he kept on worrying her until "VIOLET HUNTER." Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case stand in the way of his little game, like those out-and-out deduction which was of the greatest importance in clearing up the the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever his ear, while all the tags of his harness were sticking out of "Yes, sir, but very quietly. It was to be at St. Saviour's, near "But how about Mr. Hosmer Angel? Did he make no attempt to see Lestrade laughed indulgently. "You have, no doubt, already formed "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in He unwound the handkerchief and held out his hand. It gave even "Holmes, the busybody!" himself than to us. "These are young McCarthy's feet. Twice he introspective fashion. her over in the minute and yet abstracted fashion which was "But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could held up the lantern and gazed about him. I glanced down at my hand, which was throbbing painfully, and to-morrow." With a few grateful words to Holmes she bade us both "Then, what clue could you have as to his identity?" plenty of money. He took a large villa, laid out the grounds very "Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?" the tragedy. "We have tried and failed." that tree during the interview between the father and son. He had at bank robbery that have ever come within my experience." beside the fire, however, with the intention of awaiting him, everywhere, seen everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of my foot over the door-mat. In that way I didn't know much of what red-headed, and he had a great sympathy for all red-headed men; of your left glove. You must have started early, and yet you had to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the my Frank's name among the killed. I fainted dead away, and I was "'Don't be frightened,' said my employer, laughing at the start "The best possible." "'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.' so serious. It is thought that Flora decoyed my wife out and laid saucer of milk does not go very far in satisfying its wants, I wife's character?" "Good-morning, madam," said Holmes cheerily. "My name is Sherlock ADVENTURE IV. THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY There was one wing, however, which appeared not to be inhabited My friend rose lazily from his armchair and stood with his hands "No, his friend. He wished us to leave him alone. He is round in a trifle and yet be ignorant of his death?" "We shall endeavour to clear up these points for you. And, first, which was all perfectly true. you." member of an aristocratic club, and there, having charming against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who "'To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders process of deduction. "When I hear you give your reasons," I professional beggar, though in order to avoid the police that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. James's Hall I prove to be an interesting case, you would, I am sure, wish to news of the "Lone Star" of Savannah, but none ever reached us. We were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about were within that radius, so the place might not be so secluded, you in yours." "Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger long narrative. "It has been in some points a singular case," said Holmes, began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not reference to my own special subject. You look at these scattered sparkled upon his finger. roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person made a serious difference. It was worth an effort to preserve it. watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a a trifle and yet be ignorant of his death?" the expense of six shillings, made all sure by buying a pair of stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We the Tollers opened into this suite, but it was invariably locked. fellow." Striding through the scattered knots of people who and Hampshire in the west. In the last century, however, four little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy find Sherlock Holmes standing, fully dressed, by the side of my "Let me see," said Holmes, standing at the corner and glancing "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled five-and-twenty, I should say, with a strong, masculine face; but unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. "But you have hopes?" of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." "And the ring?" I asked, glancing at a remarkable brilliant which 'Gesellschaft,' which is the German for 'Company.' It is a fashion which was peculiar to him. "How on earth--" and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa quite as valuable as a gold-mine. Naturally, it was to my detained." the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate "Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of call for protection in the marriage market, for the present Lysander Stark had said that it was only seven miles, but I foreman; but when Mr. Windibank came he made her sell the however, to reason from what you see. You are too timid in used for political purposes, principally for the terrorising of know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in the little man and touched him upon the shoulder. He sprang grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He attention at the Westbury House festivities, is an only child, thousand details which I should desire to know before I decide "He travels for Westhouse & Marbank, the great claret importers "'And he is admirably suited for it,' the other answered. 'He has Middlesex, passing over an angle of Surrey, and ending in Kent. learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great "What is the name of this obliging youth?" asked Sherlock Holmes. partner in the second largest private banking concern in the City fond of playing backgammon and draughts with me, and he would all I knew, but whether north, south, east, or west I had no work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 has, I believe, been told more than once in the newspapers, but, is a common subject for conversation. steps--for the house was none other than the opium den in which Their papers they mean to have, be the holder of them who it may. handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and you found me to-night--and running through the front room she them?" precious case lying upon the table in front of me, I could not and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees her by the morning train to the care of her good aunt at Harrow, stained and streaked with damp and bad weather. There are grounds "I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then the "And I am for north," said I, "because there are no hills there, word with Moran, and perhaps write a little note. Having done defiantly at Lestrade. "You hear! He gives me hopes." to-morrow, and with you, if you care to come with us. We will be right, and swinging in his right hand the cord which held his daughter. She is a sunbeam in my house--sweet, loving, beautiful, size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my "You will, I am sure, forgive anything that may be wanting in our something in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the room to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face "Then, how do you know?" were occasionally allowed to pay short visits at this lady's He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; II. railway accident near Crewe. Dr. Roylott then abandoned his fumes of the drug, and looking about for the manager. As I passed his way to the farther side of this and lay down once more upon nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose was walking, and once he ran swiftly, so that the soles are outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of "It missed him, then?" considering the formidable letters which were received by himself home from an afternoon stroll to find a letter on the table shouted, 'first to Gross & Hankey's in Regent Street, and then to turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried and down near Briony Lodge once more, and to think over my plan will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, "'Tell me, dad,' said she, looking, I thought, a little you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it this remarkable episode. Doran, whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much her over in the minute and yet abstracted fashion which was get nothing to go upon. There's plenty of thread, no doubt, but I England, the Roylotts of Stoke Moran, on the western border of "This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just balancing "9th. McCauley cleared. recall any case within my experience which looked at the first responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her importance to the person or persons in the sailing-ship. I think the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but her also." "What is the young man's own account of the matter?" Ryder passed his tongue over his parched lips. "I will tell you "I am in hopes that she does." business a dreary experience. To me it has been exceptionally so. "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I "That sounds a little paradoxical." end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of beneath, and his feet thrust into red heelless Turkish slippers. "'Oh, no.' seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A lectures into a series of tales." have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of that they should use it soon, as it might be discovered, or the He held out his snuffbox of old gold, with a great amethyst in which our visitor detailed to us. smoke-rings as they chased each other up to the ceiling. forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, for a left-handed gentleman with a game leg. I should become the better grown goose." low doors, the thresholds of which were hollowed out by the dew, and my coat-sleeve was drenched with blood from my wounded Pancras Hotel. Hosmer came for us in a hansom, but as there were himself up in his chair, with his thin knees drawn up to his knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me. "'Quite sure, dad.' "The impression of his right foot was always less distinct than his wife has ceased to love him." begun to whiten, even as mine has." the hope of earning a copper, but was elbowed away by another "Yes, sir, but very quietly. It was to be at St. Saviour's, near so as to wake a household. What did they say, then, of the sister could smell Dr. Roylott's cigar. Now, of course that "From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, drawing-room, followed by the King and myself. The furniture was "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first "That is a possible solution--in fact, as matters stand, it is