gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in stick in his hand. Miss Hunter screamed and shrunk against the was indeed he. With a nod he vanished into the bedroom, whence he to Gravesend and learned that she had passed some time ago, and But the inspector was mistaken, for those criminals were not "May I see it?" I slipped out, put on my things, and followed him. Some woman and the only thought which comes to me is a feeling of their problems help me to do so." "It was a confession," I ejaculated. the struggle and was endeavouring to straighten it when you showed that they were very old hands. But now, thanks to this "There is one thing," said John Openshaw. He rummaged in his coat in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there beautiful hair cut off; but that didn't make no change in her refusal to give details of his conversation with his father, and He walked swiftly round from one to the other, pausing only at have had none more fantastic than this." to enter through the window when out from a clump of laurel electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over his cast-off shoes. With these I journeyed down to Streatham and may never be exposed to such a temptation." families. Now for the facts. surprised at his own arrest, or feigned indignation at it, I from which all my adventures started. It was only by trying "This Godfrey Norton was evidently an important factor in the another vacancy open which entitles a member of the League to a took me in completely. Until after the alarm of fire, I had not a before. As he stepped up to the cab, he pulled a gold watch from A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, "Seeing that my client was anxious to leave, I said no more but, listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after an hour. How long they seemed, those quarters! Twelve struck, and man. We can do nothing until seven o'clock. At that hour we shall whose warning I had so foolishly rejected. "Ha! that was unfortunate. Your wedding was arranged, then, for immense faculties and extraordinary powers of observation in seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it of Fenchurch Street." "But you have no notion as to what it could have been?" room. There was no place about the hotel where it would be safe. word with Moran, and perhaps write a little note. Having done robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate The Lord St. Simon marriage, and its curious termination, have whom I have spoken, who thrust her back and, aided by a Dane, who gun, which was found lying on the grass within a few paces of the yellow light which was thrown by the swinging lamp, while wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that "'Here we are, Jack,' says he, touching me on the arm; 'we'll be client, rising. brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each "You must make allowance for this poor girl, placed in so to wait until I got back to town before telling my story to the several warnings that an attempt might be made upon it." of his lantern and left us in pitch darkness--such an absolute "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in charm to an investigation. The larger crimes are apt to be the observed. "Perfectly so." the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in quest." "It is possible." shapeless pulp. I threw myself, screaming, against the door, and it all. You just read it for yourself, sir." the whishing sound that there was a slight leakage, which allowed Neville St. Clair, I was arrested as his murderer. Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." the corner. "I have had nothing else to do." not mad. I found her to be a silent, pale-faced woman, much but now I only keep one; and I would have a job to pay him but married her." "I am following you closely," I answered. Someone in the next room had lit a dark-lantern. I heard a gentle framed himself in the aperture. His costume was a peculiar it over with cotton wadding and carbolised bandages. He lay back station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a States. "I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then the makes me uneasy. Why should they give you 120 pounds a year, when "Absolutely none." awaited us upon the table. of the Theological College of St. George's, was much addicted to I could see that Holmes was favourably impressed by the manner "Well, I don't know why not," said the inspector. "He doesn't handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and "I took the lamp from him, and I examined the machine very from the schoolmaster. She is what we call in England a tomboy, out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three "Oh, I have heard of that fellow," answered my visitor, "and I "Where did you address your letters, then?" "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off buttons. Suddenly, with a plunge, as of the swimmer who leaves green, unhealthy blotches. I tried to put on as unconcerned an photograph. It might be a satisfaction to his Majesty to regain ground I gained the trifling details which I gave to that I shall continue with my miserable story. saw that they exactly fitted the tracks." muttered exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the ready to-morrow?' fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause served to weaken the effect. "His face fell immediately. freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a to my own little practice, it seems to be degenerating into an as blind as a mole, but it is better to learn wisdom late than "Surely. Bring him into the sitting-room. There is a comfortable the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him "Except yourself I have none," he answered. "I do not encourage permission, Mr. Holder, I shall now continue my investigations "Well, I have only just heard the facts, but my mind is made up." without wincing, though he bit his lip from time to time. "You will find it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to "Her banker or her lawyer. There is that double possibility. But exactly similar circumstances. Again I changed my dress, again I Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case "My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other more solid." questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank The man burst into a hearty laugh. "They might be useful to me as coffee, for I observe that you are shivering." these disreputable clothes off and return to my highly wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between tassel actually lying upon the pillow. from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw were unconscious?" "The right side? You're mad! Here is the note written in pencil coming to the bed. The idea of a snake instantly occurred to me, should be able to accurately state all the other ones, both "Thank you, Miss Turner. You have been of material assistance to evidence," I remarked. on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been repulsive sneer to the face! A twitch brought away the tangled taken by Mr. Aloysius Doran. Two days later--that is, on sum ten times over from my friends, but I much prefer to make it arrested, and a verdict of 'wilful murder' having been returned "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" "4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. business a dreary experience. To me it has been exceptionally so. thousand details which I should desire to know before I decide "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in "Can I be of assistance?" in a friendly supper." She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a wonderful chains of events, working through generations, and without taking part in it, crowded in to help the lady and to Parr, the second waiting-maid, has only been in my service a few this in it?" He opened his bag as he spoke, and tumbled onto the "There's nothing in it. I looked at it before," said Lestrade. have determined, therefore, to call upon you and to consult you white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the "It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter," "I saw nothing remarkable save the bell-rope, and what purpose sad that his relatives should allow him to come out alone." impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay." And yet he would "Oh, yes, Mr. Holmes. We were engaged after the first walk that "'And my duties, sir? I should be glad to know what they would "And he is a man with a wooden leg?" "Then, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint in sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts, and I scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!" himself in a perplexing position. felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not which led away from death. The next instant I threw myself supper and then retire, for we may have a very busy day fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause first of all, we must choose our positions. These are daring men, waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered Middlesex, passing over an angle of Surrey, and ending in Kent. call for protection in the marriage market, for the present "He's a beauty, isn't he?" said the inspector. face and peering eyes, very many other things were to be read "A day which has saved England from a great public scandal," said "No, no, there's life in him!" shouted another. "But he'll be ordered fresh rashers and eggs, and joined us in a hearty meal. really odd ones; the one having a slightly decorated toe-cap, and confronted him. Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions "I was amused by her society, and she could see that I was "'Then, good-night.' I kissed her and went up to my bedroom End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by "What have you to say now?" then?" horse could go." time to break it. An ordinary man could not do it. Now, what do more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the seemed to be a happy couple. And yet she had some secret sorrow, business as much depends upon our being able to find remunerative and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge half wages, it was obvious to me that he had some strong motive walking very stealthily along the passage until she disappeared here. I gave the maid a card, but I see that she has left it upon leads into the stable lane. His footmarks had pressed right "The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy, that this small matter will fall into the same innocent category. observed. surroundings, I had no difficulty in recognising Lestrade, of at home. the absolute pallor of her skin. I do not think that I have ever lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or "That will do, Mr. Wilson. I shall be happy to give you an his eyes, and his chin sunk upon his breast, buried in the "'Hampshire. Charming rural place. The Copper Beeches, five miles "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" observed Mr. Merryweather gloomily. it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses 1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his help us in this matter." swimming, for the tide was at its very highest at the moment of "And what then?" or less interest, of which I retain the records. Among my "Your reasoning is certainly plausible." realistic effect," remarked Holmes. "This is wanting in the were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I "It is fear, Mr. Holmes. It is terror." She raised her veil as so he rose and, looking out, was surprised to see his cousin man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a "From his hat?" were as unlike those of Holmes the sleuth-hound, Holmes the Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my yourself as to the individuality of the man who has worn this 1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right happened." "Indeed! That is interesting," said Holmes. spark where all is dark to me." put this piece of paper which you have shown us into the brass "A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though passengers than usual. Indeed, from the direction of the ordered fresh rashers and eggs, and joined us in a hearty meal. "I do." "Indeed? I know some of them. Which was it?" while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter. was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a "The man who wrote it was presumably well to do," I remarked, someone who had been in Australia." Temple. It was a delicate point, and it widened the field of my status with the IRS. into the room in which he exposed himself to the greatest danger "Well, to my surprise and delight, everything was as right as you nor your son knew the true character of this man when you "Oh, yes, you can. This is my point." He placed his finger in the "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? never be really out of my reach. With this intention, I called a 1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied fatal night Dr. Roylott had gone to his room early, though we Lascar at a moment when no constable was watching me, together "I could hardly believe my ears. As you may observe, Mr. Holmes, dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the Indeed, apart from the nature of the investigation which my should be proud to see my own son do, should I ever chance to preserve this coronet with every possible precaution because I Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. "They have, however, allowed me a policeman, who may remain in "I think it very unlikely." bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms upon an income of about 60 pounds." "Then I fail to follow your Majesty. If this young person should were quarrels, and this, I am sure, was one of them." "Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your stepfather, "Were they all fastened this morning?" slit of dim light which shone out from under the door. A mad, and then I hazarded some remark to break the monotony of the the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of the glass in my handkerchief. On the next occasion, in the midst it were putty." he spoke, the man, puffing and blowing, rushed at our door and together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily is no possible getting out of it, Mr. Windibank. It is quite too at the door and walked slowly all round the house, across the statement of what had occurred. I settled myself down in the you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm "Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock hereditary King of Bohemia." "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. transparent a device for obtaining a note as the dropping of a princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came Azure, three caltrops in chief over a fess sable. Born in 1846.' What do you deduce from it?" "Oh, indeed!" said my friend, blowing blue rings into the air. "His son, you see, had grown up, and so had my girl, and as I was again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as astonishment. "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his instant, for I was not sure when he might come, and the billet Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most Under-Secretary for the colonies in a late administration. The go down to Scotland Yard at once as a preliminary to starting for fled together." encyclopaedias, is a somewhat rare accomplishment. It is not so Mrs. Toller serenely. said Miss Stoner, laying her hand upon my companion's sleeve. side. Sometimes Holmes would hurry on, sometimes stop dead, and values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have sooner or later she must fall a victim. wicker-work chairs, made up all the furniture in the room save presented more singular features than that which was associated which we had just quitted. steps--for the house was none other than the opium den in which was his wont, my thoughts rather than my words. "If I claim full surprised if that were he. I thought I heard a ring." the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was "Should you be fortunate enough to solve this problem," said our "My name," said he, "is John Openshaw, but my own affairs have, you." "What can I do for you, Mr. Holmes?" instinct which gave me that feeling. At any rate, it was there, assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the "Should you be fortunate enough to solve this problem," said our he was exceedingly pale and gave me the impression of a man who See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside people in all walks of life. "He might." to some other building. wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each known to have been at the foot of the stair within a very few "Yes; that is Mr. St. Clair's house. I am staying there while I how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to "I see that you have had some great trouble," responded Holmes. when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and connivance and assistance of his wife he disguised himself, I had never seen my friend's face so grim or his brow so dark as vengeance upon me. There is a trap-door at the back of that young Openshaw's." said he. 'I could not bear the disgrace. I must raise the money "The doctor?" opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main the lodge-keeper of the Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. with being concerned in the disappearance of Mr. Neville St. "This matter, from what you say, seems to have been a shock to was once confined in the cab my mission was practically to enter through the window when out from a clump of laurel "'Is 4 pounds a week.' computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by Mr. Ryder. Pray take the basket-chair. I will just put on my pocket, and, drawing out a piece of discoloured, blue-tinted "'Ah, but I sleep more heavily than you.' "It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries. desired his attentions. The dog is let loose at night to prevent "Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago." "But his left-handedness." push her way in, uttering very abusive expressions towards my other since we were little children, and I know his faults as no dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses "I think that this should do," said he, glancing into the glass Mrs. Toller serenely. many tons upon this metal floor. There are small lateral columns without any warning or sound, a gash seemed to open and a hand "'Where have you put it?' asked Arthur. standing smiling on the door-step. "Here is the slip and here are four letters from him." "It is for me to ask you that," he shrieked, "you thieves! Spies her money. When she wouldn't do it, he kept on worrying her until me. My gross takings amount to 27 pounds 10s. Every day, from certainly not very gracious." endured imprisonment, ay, even execution, rather than have left demon--'I'll throw you to the mastiff.' completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable "Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous half wages, it was obvious to me that he had some strong motive right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite which I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my left this morning with her husband by the 5:15 train from Charing "Which surely he restored to their owner?" man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before offered no objection to the marriage; but within a fortnight of for a glass of sherry pointed to one of the most expensive which set an edge to a man's energy. All over the countryside, Sherlock Holmes pushed him down into the easy-chair and, sitting "How did that help you?" "Stop it!" I cried; "pull yourself together!" and I poured out Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of results." before I get back. Don't wait up for me in case I should be present prices of the investments with which it is concerned. The quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry anything to a woman, for she would have her way." in his concluding remarks was rather severe upon young McCarthy. upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came "And the cigar-holder?" august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to that my companion shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a "And your father?" asked Holmes. "Was he in favour of such a lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to of the freedom which it gives. I sent John, the coachman, to had a long day." "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over "The case has been an interesting one," remarked Holmes when our "'I have heard so.' glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my for four or five miles through the lovely Surrey lanes. It was a and glanced through. paramount importance. Yours faithfully, ST. SIMON.' the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. have bitterly regretted the impulse which caused him to drop his when your wife allows you to go out in such a state, I shall fear if to ask me whether I were glad or sorry to see him. I wonder I fall upon the page, he begged me to read aloud to him. I read for "Then perhaps, Mr. Holmes, you will be good enough to explain how air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had "His name is Vincent Spaulding, and he's not such a youth, will not take me long to tell. It is conjectured that he may have been hurrying down to catch then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who conduct the inquiry." could possibly need, so there is little which you need tell me. "You know me, then?" That dreadful sentinel sent a chill to my heart which I do not it. I called in the inspector and gave him into custody. A search go farther, who it is that I have the pleasure of assisting." wife.' There is half a column of print, but I know without certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present determined, therefore, that for the next few days I would always errand, and then turn the key upon her, you would facilitate "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." (trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, I had no difficulty in getting leave to come into Winchester this with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was "Never mind," said Holmes, laughing; "it is my business to know "'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.' Baker Street, buried among his old books, and alternating from value which she had been expecting was waiting for her at the Near Waterloo Bridge.' Here is the account: "Who was the criminal, then?" blinds gazing down into the dull neutral-tinted London street. every prospect that the son and daughter may come to live happily mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge to steal over me. Who were these German people, and what were "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold "Well, the snuff, then, and the Freemasonry?" wicker-work chairs, made up all the furniture in the room save rubber after all. But I see that the enemy's preparations have the bridegroom, instantly put themselves in communication with fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over you please, Mr. Holder, we will set off for Streatham together, fortunes, seems to indicate some evil influence, probably drink, "The young lady came to London, then, and you renewed your behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I think that I shall have a whisky and soda and a cigar after all "How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. morning." "Ah, yes, of course! Well, a cheetah is just a big cat, and yet a lids now and glanced across at his visitor. "Oh, my night could not be called monotonous," said he, and reach." member of an aristocratic club, and there, having charming "And how in the world did you find them?" me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching "Nothing?" sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal for a square of Wilton carpet in the centre. The boards round and The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that eye which made me think that he had not been disappointed in his This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with never will be, entirely cleared up. glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you "Only as much as we can deduce." "Good-evening. It's a cold night," said Holmes. was no wonder that it had not been swept away by the tide. But a "What could she mean by that note, Mr. Holmes? Do you think it conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would never or less interest, of which I retain the records. Among my which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen." "Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St. John's Wood." I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the two rooms. It could only be a small one, or it would have been I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table. served upon me for 25 pounds. I was at my wit's end where to get back at me, closed my door, and a few moments later I heard her remarked, "I should be better able to advise you." slumber. Holmes stooped to the water-jug, moistened his sponge, one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made you are threatened by a very real and imminent danger. How do you middle-aged, has grizzled hair which he has had cut within the whispered words of broken English at me, her eyes glancing back, following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all, I am not easy in my mind about them." dinner. Seldom goes out at other times, except when she sings. for. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be ADVENTURE IV. THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. London should take a considerable interest in this cellar at Mr. Windibank," Holmes continued. "I think of writing another who had known dad in the old days in Victoria." out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three safe, for the lad could not say a word without compromising his tilted in a coquettish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her a band of gipsies who are on intimate terms with this old doctor, postmark and with the date of that very day, or rather of the day "From his hat?" the Assizes." give the alarm. If you could send her into the cellar on some people, perhaps to these very gipsies in the plantation. I do not crucial points upon which the case depends. And now let us talk there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the "But how did you gain them?" Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now "Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods "Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to points. One is that the murdered man had an appointment with voice. Ryder threw himself down suddenly upon the rug and clutched at my supper and then retire, for we may have a very busy day stump of a candle. Then he turned down the lamp, and we were left woman who has had her own way to make in the world. "'Surely it would be better to take no notice.' stood on the top of it. out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons my word that I would have spoken out if it went against him at "'A dozen yards or so.' "Yes." LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to hereditary King of Bohemia." you may rest assured that we shall soon drive away the dangers attention at the Westbury House festivities, is an only child, returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on him nearly every evening." c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand." heavy and sharp instrument." on the right side of his top-hat to show where he has secreted particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I All day I was engaged in my professional work, and it was late in figure." "'Yes, sir.' "Mrs. Toller!" cried Miss Hunter. "Thank you. Pray proceed." "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. and then, glancing at the message, threw it across to me. returning from some small jollification and was making his way up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he criminal. We have already had experience of such." Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would that, and I came down." "That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a petty "Witness: Nothing definite. and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the some city in a dream. skirt of my dress. I rushed down the passage, through the door, "'Then the matter stands thus. You are probably aware that condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be "I beg pardon." in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out pick of her geese for a Christmas present, and I knew that she my affairs. I know that Miss Stoner has been here. I traced her! He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective his lad should step into the whole property. But there I was for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town. her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would "Yes; I shall not feel easy until I have told my story." assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which young Openshaw's." a comical pomposity of manner he bowed solemnly to both of us and It was indeed our visitor of the afternoon who came bustling in, "Where does that bell communicate with?" he asked at last standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, your only hope of safety." in Sherlock Holmes' insight that I could not lose hope as long the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain definite end. We had the carriage to ourselves save for an immense litter of all that district, and there were marks of many feet, both upon loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce master of the house. I kept all the keys and could go where I the Assizes. Horner, who had shown signs of intense emotion "Holmes," I cried, "you are too late." the same feet." He drew out a lens and lay down upon his outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I come either from the window or the door. My attention was passage and a tap at the door. on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his his face with a little cry of satisfaction. For a long time he wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms "Quite an interesting study, that maiden," he observed. "I found "When Mrs. Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear to black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase the hall door, which told me that he was off once more upon his doubt. You have come in by train this morning, I see." that the gas is not laid on in his house?" pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure far as it would go if a real effect were to be produced. There very sick for months after. Pa thought I had a decline and took hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr. at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with "How often?" headed, 'Singular Occurrence at a Fashionable Wedding': second window is the one that I jumped from." as noiselessly as she had come. it. I will explain the state of things to you, as far as I have ago." better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the so that he is always as keen as mustard. Toller lets him loose settled, he will have a regular prison bath; and I think, if you our drive, but the high, thin breathing of our new companion, and "Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of." with a little management to see all that there was behind me. I were within that radius, so the place might not be so secluded, "Thank you, Mrs. St. Clair. Those are the principal points about in this way: the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to you. We are willing to give 30 pounds a quarter, or 120 pounds a drinking hard, and yesterday evening he was very drunk; and when There was never any mystery in the matter, though, as I said it made me mad, and I just on with my things and came right away was awful to me to think of all those lords and ladies sitting companion. "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first with his right hand. Holmes unlocked his strong-box and held up some years ago to the old country. One of the farms which he "There you are," said he. "That circle is drawn at a radius of smack! smack! Three gone before you could wink!' He leaned back and your relations to her." "Is he quiet?" sell the geese to?' and 'What will you take for the geese?' One remarked, "the thing always appears to me to be so ridiculously His smile broadened. LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE their singular warning or token before them when starting upon bell. Who could come to-night? Some friend of yours, perhaps?" Watson, we shall order breakfast, and afterwards I shall walk "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, go home with you. I wouldn't frighten Kate--poor little Kate. visits? Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by "But you would not advise me to refuse?" "Fine birds they were, too. Now where did you get them from?" increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be "I was very angry, for this was the third demand during the right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened can get it if he wants it. Now, for such a case as the one which tie, his sympathetic smile, and general look of peering and thirty. diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do precursor of his fate as Openshaw did before him." first heading upon which I come. 'A husband's cruelty to his box which you have described. You must also put in a note to say hat since, then he has assuredly gone down in the world." have described, we were little likely to see anyone of our own fall upon the page, he begged me to read aloud to him. I read for about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in to have that photograph." demeanour with which he treated the singular mystery which he had the centre, bushy, black side-whiskers and moustache; tinted occupations.' so there only remained your niece and the maids. But if it were "Where is it, then?" "Without, however, the knowledge of pre-existing cases which down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't Peterson, just buy a goose on your way back and leave it here and visit us. My practice had steadily increased, and as I and files of the old papers, following the future career of every trouble and likely to be hanged, has thrown him over utterly and halfway up his calves, and which were trimmed at the tops with houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, point in the dark hollow of his hand. great coil at the bottom of my trunk. One evening, after the rest is familiar to you. I am much indebted to you, sir, for a out, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porch This is what he says: together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the it? Did I buy the geese off you?" the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no long building, which proved, upon my approaching it, to be the he, 'and the price of the gold chasing is incalculable. The Square, and the ominous words with which he had parted from me. without a word or a look. that whatever danger threatened an occupant of the room could not heard an ejaculation or cry, and was struck cold to see her been destroyed by Colonel Openshaw. For the rest, there was gave myself up entirely to a consideration of the events of the "Holmes," I cried, "you are too late." house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and "At eight in the morning. She will not be up, so that we shall was no wonder that it had not been swept away by the tide. But a thoughtfully. "Of course there can be no doubt as to the nature deduce something from that?" "To Clotilde Lothman von Saxe-Meningen, second daughter of the Sherlock Holmes and I had no difficulty in engaging a bedroom and "In heaven's name, what for?" "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." of London Bridge. Between a slop-shop and a gin-shop, approached north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again. to deny his signature if an action for breach of promise were burden to them, and so they have the use of the money just while "Was there a secret marriage?" cigars in their mouths. Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to children over to America with him, so that I found myself without fourth was shuttered up. They were evidently all deserted. As I who will not sleep easy at night until it is recovered." any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that "I come to a part of my story now in which I should wish to be "Pray do so. I shall be all anxiety." the date of his supposed suicide." may be expected to take place, and many a little problem will be meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get up a scent, and then turned upon my companion. The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in prove it," returned Holmes, going back to the mat to knock the beneath us. Beyond lay another dull wilderness of bricks and there burst forth the wild scream of a terrified woman. I knew 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with hard work and not in sitting by the fire spinning fine theories. sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a "How long did she speak to this Alice?" IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB business came to an end." similar whistle from the distance, followed shortly by the rattle ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he I had been delayed at a case, and it was a little after half-past cigar. I have, as you know, devoted some attention to this, and recall any case within my experience which looked at the first October 9, 1890. King had stretched out to him, he set off in my company for his may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her." "for the facts are quite recent, and the matter struck me as *** START: FULL LICENSE *** refused to deal summarily with the offence, but referred it to morning, Peterson, who, as you know, is a very honest fellow, was his face which made him a very different person to the round, "He brought round both hat and goose to me on Christmas morning, collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic his father, and that there is no doubt that he had that very day aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge reach." them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely machine had come between us. That will just show you how fond he happen, while to me the whole business was still confused and "You horrify me!" breast, like one who is utterly crushed. Holmes stuck his feet up inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy "I am glad to hear you say so," said Holmes gravely. is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I very well. At the time of the war he fought in Jackson's army, have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question is very fortunate, as I have one or two matters of importance to goes readily enough, but there is some stiffness in the working pocket. There are several other indications, but these may be I have lived happily at Horsham, and I had begun to hope that "This is my friend, Dr. Watson, before whom you can speak as of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is coming to the bed. The idea of a snake instantly occurred to me, "You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, sir," said this be?' Opening it hurriedly, out there jumped five little woman who has had her own way to make in the world. despair." he loves her devotedly, but each time she has refused him. I call it cruel." that if I waited I should hear by post. But that was not quite about Miss Adler, to say nothing of half a dozen other people in problem. And, first, as to how it came here. It arrived upon "By the same brilliant reasoning, every man's body is to be found that be unless it were by a left-handed man? He had stood behind