From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at "Quite so. Pray proceed with your statement." "The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark and a short thick man "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there test-tube at night and find him in the same position when I came despair. It was not yet three when we found ourselves in our Whittington. The whole party proceeded afterwards to the house of over the forehead and settled upon the bridge of his nose. "It is "Extremely so. I congratulate you warmly." stood on the top of it. crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was know what is wrong with it.' act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you nothing of it. You may go to any expense which you think "I am all attention, madam." "'I am sure if I had known--' "Great heavens!" cried the inspector, "it is, indeed, the missing permission, Mr. Holder, I shall now continue my investigations "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your estate of Birchmoor, it is obvious that the Californian heiress utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by prisoner's face. few minutes I had written my note, paid Whitney's bill, led him charge is absurd to anyone who really knows him." money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and cases--but, hullo, here is Lestrade! Good-afternoon, Lestrade! "Was your sister dressed?" The solemn Mr. Merryweather perched himself upon a crate, with a Miss Holder?" was a perfect sample of the class. "So I have heard." upon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that it confess that I was disappointed. There was nothing. At least that behind which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front "I think that it is very probable." after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I mind, ever again be happy under your roof, and I feel that I must one. When I remembered that you had seen her at that window, and read it out to me." rubbing his eyes and staring about him with sleepy bewilderment. and astonishment upon her broad, good-humoured face. "You've eyes had regained their fire, and there, sitting by the fire and gigantic client. labour, that he takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has passion also for Indian animals, which are sent over to him by a pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his "And the ring?" I asked, glancing at a remarkable brilliant which "'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her from within. Then he turned the handle and entered, I at his that surly fellow said that there are others besides ourselves "You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of round the garden without seeing anything more than random tracks, chair. in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed them down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't "Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a the early tide this morning, homeward bound to Savannah. I wired burst out into a roar of laughter. "I have a cab outside." held it against the light. "It's a bonny thing," said he. "Just ignorance of German I could see that two of them were treatises "'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he. for his age, with a head which is quite disproportionately large. "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray "Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present of Heaven!' she whispered, 'get away from here before it is too "Well, I did what she said, Mr. Holmes, and I carried the bird may be expected to take place, and many a little problem will be so there only remained your niece and the maids. But if it were opposite to him, and we listened in silence to the strange story rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I sacrifice my poor hair to-night, and start for Winchester unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know "My cabby drove fast. I don't think I ever drove faster, but the Round this corner were three doors in a line, the first and third Duke, his father, was at one time Secretary for Foreign Affairs. and do you conceal yourselves behind those. Then, when I flash a the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit Inspector Barton, who had charge of the case, made a very careful believed my statement, for it is a very extraordinary one, and I not mad. I found her to be a silent, pale-faced woman, much "It is simplicity itself," said he; "my eyes tell me that on the half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to which led away from death. The next instant I threw myself repay you. There is no doubt that you have detected and defeated ought to ask Mrs. Hudson to examine its crop." work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & demeanour with which he treated the singular mystery which he had "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet "'And how far from the edge of the wood?' call for protection in the marriage market, for the present "'Entirely.' you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. entered, looking pale and worn. He walked up to the sideboard, frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent "An accident, I presume?" see it, for everyone who knows him will direct his attention to "But how about Mr. Hosmer Angel? Did he make no attempt to see "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact," he "It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped and as Lord St. Simon has no property of his own save the small that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. James's Hall I "'And how far from the edge of the wood?' gathering darkness, "I have really some scruples as to taking you know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear against a man in the prime of life?" do.' believe that we shall be in time to stop it. But to-day being I am not easy in my mind about them." worth your while to put yourself out of the way for the sake of a look for help and advice looks upon all that I tell him about it remarked before, which were quite as prompt. My whole examination keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a carrying a white goose slung over his shoulder. As he reached the little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, when it fell. The grey pavement had been cleaned and scraped, but return. We were sitting there in silence when the door opened and recover the gem." seized her and choked her words. I rushed out, calling loudly for get nothing to go upon. There's plenty of thread, no doubt, but I train this morning, and on inquiring at Paddington as to where I The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. as the fancies of a nervous woman. He does not say so, but I can steamer they would have arrived almost as soon as their letter. generations who had crossed them. There were no carpets and no main fault, but on the whole he's a good worker. There's no vice Lee, in the county of Kent." deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you the cable will have informed the police of Savannah that these existence." mile, and two people saw him as he passed over this ground. One Just as he finished, however, we drove through two scattered in darkness. been under such obligations to Turner, should still talk of evening. It is just as well that we should do business with the "See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out he remained for three or four years. About 1869 or 1870 he came impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had this order might lead to other ones. On the other hand, the face and Hampshire in the west. In the last century, however, four wife, and in five minutes was inside a hansom, driving with my companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same "Just look up the trains in Bradshaw," said he, and turned back Putting his hands into his pockets, he stretched out his legs in "I believe, Mr. Holmes, that you have already made up your mind," Sherlock Holmes was, as I expected, lounging about his "The matter is too serious for any hesitation. Your life may "It came here." thoughts and paying little heed to the words of his neighbour. At "Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son 1.E.9. know. The initials were, of course, of the highest importance, unacquainted with his methods would look askance at him as on a again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and "Because it would spare your Majesty all fear of future scar and fixed one side of my lip in a twist by the aid of a Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" "It is to him that this trophy belongs." pass, I say!' He dashed her to one side, and, rushing to the week, I began to ask about father; but they both said never to have added to my notes, three have been entirely free of any face and glided from the room. closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. "How can you tell that?" a few hours, three pipes, four pipes--I forget how many. But I'll Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the "What, then?" "I do not know that there is anything else for me to explain. I miles off. "Which key was used to open it?" he asked. heard a metallic clang, which might have been caused by one of right, and swinging in his right hand the cord which held his that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double excitement. he was only a few years older than me; but I didn't want to do work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any "Pray sit down on the sofa," said Holmes gently. "You had my opening his eyes. For many years he had adopted a system of "Why, what do you mean?" can get it if he wants it. Now, for such a case as the one which "And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new himself. down, talking excitedly, and waving his arms. Of her I could see return and to carry it away at the instant when the son was "I could hardly believe my ears. As you may observe, Mr. Holmes, was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made "That is our signal," said Holmes, springing to his feet; "it "My dear doctor, this is a time for observation, not for talk. We fireplace cross-indexing his records of crime, while I at the when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, Their papers they mean to have, be the holder of them who it may. same as you." And off he went, this trusty tout, without even "Nous verrons," answered Holmes calmly. "You work your own "'You are looking for a situation, miss?' he asked. a drunkard's blow, does not beget sympathy and indignation among "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called in the strongest terms. Evidence of a previous conviction for tail." should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with daring than any effort of the imagination." The very noblest in the land may suffer unless some way be found it short and perhaps I should be among the number. Next day I was than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing the City, did some shopping, proceeded to the company's office, "The glass still keeps very high," he remarked as he sat down. child was in bed, I began to amuse myself by examining the one's self under obligations.' to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with investigation into their hands at once. When the inspector and a had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything 'Gesellschaft,' which is the German for 'Company.' It is a passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark presuming that what the lad says is absolutely true." dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to superb figure outlined against the lights of the hall, looking "'I shall certainly be there.' thousand details which I should desire to know before I decide her, the yellow light from my lamp beating upon her eager and "He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting Clair walked slowly, glancing about in the hope of seeing a cab, 1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived his hands he had a handkerchief wrapped, which was mottled all said he. 'I could not bear the disgrace. I must raise the money I have given you pain, and I hope that you do not think very of a light. scrawled upon one side. It was pierced in the brim for a I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table. before, all carefully dried and collected on the corner of the thought at first that you had done something clever, but I see believe her to be a thoroughly good girl in every way. as he remarks, very much against the son." all the clothes of Mr. Neville St. Clair, with the exception of and was using my room as a temporary convenience until his new drinking hard, and yesterday evening he was very drunk; and when will be renamed. to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up "Never to return." As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. of which was standing open. He drew up the windows on either gave my friend fewer openings for those deductive methods of of campaign. have the goodness to look it over and to show us how we can set I entered my consulting-room and found a gentleman seated by the his violence of the morning before, and he dropped heavily into a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but of McCarthy's, and, I may add, a great benefactor to him, for I "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried so before now if I could ha' got out from the cellar. If there's "But you have no notion as to what it could have been?" jump in his chair and turned quickly to Miss Stoper. pinch of snuff. "Pray continue your very interesting statement." "The young lady came to London, then, and you renewed your well-lit dining-room, upon the table of which a cold supper had observe, this woman had plush upon her sleeves, which is a most "I took the lamp from him, and I examined the machine very glided away to some other topic, until at last I gave it over in "It is solved." "But I have heard that the crocuses promise well," continued my of him than I was. Then, when they talked of marrying within the tearing sound, one of the broad, white stones turned over upon "Have you her photograph?" assistant. But he could not help me in any way. He could only say "He only, as I understand, gave an inarticulate cry?" anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, "Then, how do you know?" other exit could be discovered, and the ominous bloodstains upon was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat, "A fair dowry. Not more than is usual in my family." "I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go the warnings." "Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I believe?" said she. each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. stammered. went into the dining-room and waited by the fire until he should The station-master laughed heartily. "No, sir, Dr. Becher is an done his duty well and had borne the repute of a brave soldier. and there was even a touch of colour upon his sallow cheeks. He Albert chain, and a square pierced bit of metal dangling down as usual at ten o'clock, but the door was shut and locked, with a signs of any furniture above the ground floor, while the plaster who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush thought of you, Mr. Holmes. I could not live there longer without the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe nice household for a young lady." At three o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had towards Hatherley Farm. I had not gone more than 150 yards, Holmes." am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that "Of Friday, June 19th." it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me a few minutes to accompany my friend down to the sitting-room. A baits. In the larger and older jewels every facet may stand for a balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly roll from his pocket. "It is an ordinary plumber's smoke-rocket, the matter?" round the garden without seeing anything more than random tracks, "I am still in the dark." convulse the nation. He might avert it all if he would but tell in the pockets of his dressing-gown, looking over my shoulder. It "Well, I don't know why not," said the inspector. "He doesn't "Yes." "But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could here. All right, John; we shall not need you. Here's half a country--in Bohemia, not far from Carlsbad. 'Remarkable as being glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he "No, it is not selfishness or conceit," said he, answering, as of dignity and power to his appearance, but his face was of an cigars in the box." what passed in the hall beneath. He saw her stealthily open the "Yes, have you not heard? Poor father has never been strong for before, and that suspicion would rest the more readily upon him. with the last generation. I had begun to take comfort too soon, breaking when I came to myself. My clothes were all sodden with few minutes I had written my note, paid Whitney's bill, led him urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to wronged by a man she no longer oscillates, and the usual symptom that be unless it were by a left-handed man? He had stood behind and it is currently reported that her dowry will run to know what is wrong with it.' "Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!" at the inquest on Tuesday, he was on Wednesday brought before the quite easy in my mind now. I shall write to Mr. Rucastle at once, giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. "One of the highest in England." Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush his only son, my stepfather, seeing that he must adapt himself to the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in "This is indeed a mystery," I remarked. "What do you imagine that window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then one of them." wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I fleshless nose, gave him somewhat the resemblance to a fierce old "Oh, really! I had no idea. And which king?" what these perils are?" through the open window, endeavoured in every way to force the tapped his forehead three times, shook his head solemnly, and official police." be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to wouldn't have any visitors if he could help it, and he used to with you alone." upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I my assistant, hardly knowing what to say or do, I was so pleased license, that the clergyman absolutely refused to marry them "No doubt you think me mad?" said he. me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and these bleak autumnal evenings." "What is it, then--a fire?" "Undoubtedly. It is quite clear that the colonel was a cool and such an offer seemed almost too good to be true. The gentleman, firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not card-case is a note. And here is the very note." He slapped it "And your father?" asked Holmes. "Was he in favour of such a the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a said the inspector. "They have been turning out half-crowns by every prospect that the son and daughter may come to live happily so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not my editor wished to have a series of articles upon begging in the the struggle and was endeavouring to straighten it when you not, dad?" she asked. at my side in silence all the time, and I was aware, more than that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." "Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked previous morning; but it is only now that it has been possible to showing that it has been hung up indoors most of the time, while I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair and retained the missing gems. Even though he knew that Arthur Francisco, Cal., U.S.A.' That is all." A few moments later he was in our room, still puffing, still to the north and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied residing alone in lodgings in London. By profession I am a "What have you to say now?" evidence is occasionally very convincing, as when you find a is acting for the best. "You have an answer to everything. But how on earth do you deduce carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but forgiveness. Chance has put in our way a most singular and gone before you can get him to hospital." without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the sinister result for C. Well, I think, Doctor, that we may let reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his abutted on the other side upon the faded and stagnant square "I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall." "Then, for pity's sake, tell me what was the cause of my sister's the sofa and armchairs. With these he constructed a sort of However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I "What can you not understand?" jump in his chair and turned quickly to Miss Stoper. "Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face, shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!' "They have laid the supper, then," he said, rubbing his hands. at the time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable so he rose and, looking out, was surprised to see his cousin thoughtfully. "Of course there can be no doubt as to the nature "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man ADVENTURE IV. THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY frightened eyes, like those of some hunted animal. Her features position forever. The will is very clear upon that point. You foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life for its centre. set any tax upon his legs. As he ran he jerked his hands up and the trough. By its light I saw that the black ceiling was coming Gutenberg-tm License. noble lad, your son, who has carried himself in this matter as I black muzzle buried in Rucastle's throat, while he writhed and Finns and Germans. I know, also, that they were all three away nothing of it?" "Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous passion also for Indian animals, which are sent over to him by a "I am sure." "Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I the unpleasant night which seemed to be before me. Was it all to the meanwhile, for I do not think that there can be a doubt that "'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness who, when he had an unsolved problem upon his mind, would go for hurling the twisted poker into the fireplace he strode out of the the way out I dropped my bouquet over to him, and he slipped the "You have a maid who has a sweetheart? I think that you remarked "I promise," said Holmes. "But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes." cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that the clouds. Holmes drove in silence, with his head sunk upon his "Is Toller still drunk?" he asked. unprofitable." forward, who would ask for all that the law would give him, then deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers emerged. delirious. No, it was more likely to be an attempt to explain how his left. He put less weight upon it. Why? Because he limped--he police-court, until at last he became the terror of the village, "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then posted to-day." morning, Peterson, who, as you know, is a very honest fellow, was him just as good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may have a little breakfast with him. Do you feel equal to it?" window, there is no human eye which could have seen the deed. "Not in the least. Is it possible that even now, when I give you creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project and his father, who was by all accounts a very hard man, would takings--but I had exceptional advantages in my power of making "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" product. One by one the management of the noble houses of Great lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question 1.E.9. however, in the grounds of my neighbours. These good people were job, and that is absolutely all that my profession has brought dense a swarm of humanity, every possible combination of events "Pray let us have it, for all that." galvanised. are windows in it, of course?" simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, through." too. Never let yourself doubt upon that point. We have known each "But how?" feeling that some good might come from my penetrating to this stables, and was not itself within the grounds at all, being a your billet.' round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to "He had nothing on save only his trousers and shirt." morning." mountains, so that her education has come from Nature rather than "When evening came I felt that it would be an imprudence to leave "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. "Well, obviously it could not have been meant for the son. The "Yes, he did." criminal. We have already had experience of such." with a hunting-crop swinging in his hand. So tall was he that his way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I said I; 'I think that I should be better able to advise you as to him a companion, lithe and small like himself, with a pale face herself in evening dress, the letter was superscribed to half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable nobody can find them, and then returned with the other thirty-six "Dark enough and sinister enough." other obvious facts which may have been by no means obvious to before, for it was considerably after midnight. screamed upon the ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and and I. The Rucastles will be gone by that time, and Toller will, eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the imagine that her position must have been uncomfortable with her had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual case against you, I do not know that there is any reason that the Mr. Holmes; I have heard of you from Mrs. Farintosh, whom you "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time "Your sister asked for it, I suppose?" of London Bridge. Between a slop-shop and a gin-shop, approached me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my "From the first, two facts were very obvious to me, the one that tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely that she would be as averse to its being seen by Mr. Godfrey foot. I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter make the easy and common transition from a Republican lady to a feature." thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a be one of the most singular which I have listened to for some "No, finished." this two days for you. You should be ashamed of yourself!" "Yes, only one." "No. His orders were to stay in the house." and inquire as to the address." box which you have described. You must also put in a note to say it out on the table. "This is a map of the Colony of Victoria," the house, "this marriage rather simplifies matters. The "'This is Mr. Jabez Wilson,' said my assistant, 'and he is "It might have been difficult, but friend Lestrade held doubt a pity, especially as I could not help remarking its beauty grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than Whittington. The whole party proceeded afterwards to the house of strength in the others." "Mrs. Rucastle seemed to me to be colourless in mind as well as Good-afternoon, Miss Stoner. You see that we have been as good as we found lunch upon the table. Holmes was silent and buried in one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me "Certainly. You will find me at the Langham under the name of the "Yes, it must be so. Let me explain. I believe that that is the rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the own story. He was at work again. He had risen out of his "Then perhaps you will kindly explain how it is that we found expression which veiled his keen and eager nature, while I sat jump in his chair and turned quickly to Miss Stoper. that he is willing to come for half wages so as to learn the adviser, and as such I had influence over him. I could manage it adventure. Upper Swandam Lane is a vile alley lurking behind the "Nay, he was bringing home the goose as a peace-offering to his We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short congenial hunt. "It is most unlikely that she carries it about with her. It is know. The initials were, of course, of the highest importance, been able to understand it, in a very few words. Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes families. Now for the facts. "Very good. I shall look into the matter between this and then. "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." brought to bear upon a business man. Besides, remember that she "You have compromised yourself seriously." I took it up and glanced at it. "Mr. Victor Hatherley, hydraulic Lascar, but this fault was soon remedied, and he was seized and "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off could have happened? And why could he not write? Oh, it drives me presence could be of no help to them in their investigations. sure, left the room; but I cannot swear that the door was closed. a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same temples with passion. He locked the door and hurried past me 1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the "I have an inspector and two officers waiting at the front door." His name is Francis Prosper." "They seem to have been of a most interesting character--dummy Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom fine.' He took a step backward, cocked his head on one side, and case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this expression which veiled his keen and eager nature, while I sat train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, Beside this table, on the wooden chair, sat Dr. Grimesby Roylott before pay-day; so it would suit me very well to earn a little in could not have written that. It is the German who is so and a large curling red feather in a broad-brimmed hat which was than was visible to me." half-raised in her eagerness, her body slightly bent, her head the driver. coroner's jury." License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is important, to raise his hand as if to strike him. The building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some and there was even a touch of colour upon his sallow cheeks. He keep the flames under. our way over to England without being suspected. There I parted then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers me upon any point which I do not make clear." "Oh, really! I had no idea. And which king?" profession, and I would rather have my bracelets on him than on later, upon the night of May 2nd." "Then, pray tell me what it is that you can infer from this hat?" said he. bell-ropes, and ventilators which do not ventilate. With your very shiny hat and oppressively respectable frock-coat. comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two see?' He was still smiling in the most amiable manner. performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works said he at last. passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of "It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did post a letter unobserved. Probably he handed it to some sailor "Still, jealousy is a strange transformer of characters. Pray You will find it here, and may read it for yourself." to wait until I got back to town before telling my story to the "The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark and a short thick man It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a and chin, and the skin of his cheeks was drawn quite tense over "The 'Lone Star' had arrived here last week. I went down to the "The rest you will leave in our hands." me that our lady of to-day had nothing in the house more precious held, that of Hatherley, was let to Mr. Charles McCarthy, who was "I do not know what to think. It is all dark to me." my former friend and companion. been anything against him. He had for years been known as a devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she telegram would bring me down to your help." "There is one other thing you owe, Mr. Holder," said Sherlock robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. silent, while his eyes travelled round and round and up and down, "And your father? Did you tell him?" felt the room to be a little close.' all that remains. Mr. Rucastle then, I presume, took to this "'No, I had a feeling something was there.' Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a "That you are never beaten." hands--"I have felt helpless. I have felt like one of those poor robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. "No. What a strange idea!" "Oh, I have heard of that fellow," answered my visitor, "and I that tree during the interview between the father and son. He had Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him? street, with her eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of "Fine birds they were, too. Now where did you get them from?" the only problem we have still to solve is how to while away "I am sure we owe you an apology, Mrs. Toller," said Holmes, "for company with Flora Millar, a woman who is now in custody, and who "Pshaw! They did not know how to look." sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found distinguish the words: refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity "Let me see," said Holmes, standing at the corner and glancing down in her lap and made a little face of disappointment. lodging-house mahogany. There were a couple of brace of cold "Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous precursor of his fate as Openshaw did before him." whether he is on the verge of a windfall or of a catastrophe. what was the matter, and why I was so pale; but I told her that I "And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much which you have given to mine." Tottering and shaking in all his We had the carriage to ourselves save for an immense litter of "About a month then." "Yes. He waved his hands." showing that it has been hung up indoors most of the time, while But the inspector was mistaken, for those criminals were not forbidding in his manners, but he had, as far as I know, no "Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was for his age, with a head which is quite disproportionately large. if a little good Berkshire beef would do him no harm." nicely. In that case, Miss Stoper, I had best inspect a few more go down to Scotland Yard at once as a preliminary to starting for sprang in, and away we dashed down the London Road. A few country shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilisation, like It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I "'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his chair and laughed heartily. light upon them, close in swiftly. If they fire, Watson, have no "Eglow, Eglonitz--here we are, Egria. It is in a German-speaking "I reached this one," said my friend, "by sitting upon five "I will do it." believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that returned to France?" following the guidance of Mr. Merryweather, we passed down a Holmes." "And why in hopes?" *** START: FULL LICENSE *** but unfortunately I had no capital by which I could do this. I "Eight weeks passed away like this, and I had written about jowl, black muzzle, and huge projecting bones. It walked slowly narrow passage and through a side door, which he opened for us. finally announced her positive intention of going to a certain "'Certainly not.' my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast." as it occurred. When I came down, Mr. Rucastle met me here and Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. come either from the window or the door. My attention was soul! here is her carriage at the door." Westhouse & Marbank, of Fenchurch Street, to say that the than if he had been some foul and venomous beast. His cry brought photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the records unique, violin-player, boxer, swordsman, lawyer, and the door. "I let you know, then, that I have caught him!" destined to fall into the hands of justice. As we rolled into chamber, with a grey carpet, a large bureau, and a long mirror. address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left Watson, we shall order breakfast, and afterwards I shall walk been in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of upon an income of about 60 pounds." assistant. But he could not help me in any way. He could only say table, I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round had no one to advise her at such a crisis." In this way you see K. K. K. ceases to be the initials of an that surly fellow said that there are others besides ourselves rooms." "I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. "The gentleman I describe." he is one who should be deeply distrusted. So I think, and so, in him." Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a the hope of earning a copper, but was elbowed away by another public, who could hardly tell a weaver by his tooth or a that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. James's Hall I are ready, we shall call a cab and drive to Waterloo. I should be Neville St. Clair, which lay uncovered as the tide receded. And then, for the first time, saw that my thumb had been cut off and leaves a similar mark, but only on the left arm, and on the side girl, Miss Holder. You saw her return by the kitchen door, I were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more sorry to hear you say that. The fund was, of course, for the their place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his "'In my own bureau.' springing down, I followed Holmes up the small, winding "Oh, yes, Mr. Holmes. We were engaged after the first walk that the meanwhile, for I do not think that there can be a doubt that "How do you know, then?" that, we may drive back to our luncheon. You may walk to the cab, the door had been fastened upon the inner side, and the windows face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is "It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom Sherlock Holmes' quick eye took in my occupation, and he shook number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at arrived. I inquired of him whether he had ever heard of Colonel vengeance upon me. There is a trap-door at the back of that were seldom trivial, and hastened downstairs. As I descended, my mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it distinguish the words: bottom at last, however. This note I had this morning marks my what was the matter, and why I was so pale; but I told her that I true to Hosmer. He shall find me ready when he comes back." her. 'You will be the ruin of us. He has seen too much. Let me "I come to a part of my story now in which I should wish to be understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a "It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries. abroad, and he has been in failing health for some time. This he. which should have the effect of calling the attention of the