new duties?' the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some us to be probable in your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs. Rucastle is "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he "You must not fear," said he soothingly, bending forward and fatal night Dr. Roylott had gone to his room early, though we went to the Alpha were town bred." confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked question depended whether I should continue my work at Briony first, and we can have some lunch on the way. I observe that colonel looking down at me. "On Monday." active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project "One tallow stain, or even two, might come by chance; but when I same way with a gun under his arm. To the best of his belief, the "Yes, sir. I met him that night, and he called next day to ask if copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger connection with Mr. Hosmer Angel." your troubles." puckered lids. Then he walked slowly up the street, and then down the maid tapping at the door to announce that two men had come "It was not the wife; it was the children," groaned the prisoner. after the last time. You said it should not be again. He will be "Yes, from Horsham." up this clue while it is still hot." "Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the evidently taken a strong part in opposing the carpet-bag "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience "'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.' to my astonishment, when I came to look round me, neither house "No, I don't think you would guess. Every pocket stuffed with DISSOLVED. "I shall glance into the case for you," said Holmes, rising, "and "This may interest you, Lestrade," he remarked, holding it out. that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. James's Hall I Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made have not had my rubber." "And when I raise my hand--so--you will throw into the room what bonnet, and went out." may have an influence upon European history." heavy with snow and his features as inscrutable as ever. he told inimitably. Then he handed me a yellow-backed novel, and smoking and laughing in a corner, a scissors-grinder with his "I have seen too much not to know that the impression of a woman brown chest of drawers stood in one corner, a narrow Millar, and that she, with confederates, no doubt, was "Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had "Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, suits you best. And now I beg that you will lay before us noble lad, your son, who has carried himself in this matter as I and glancing about him like a rat in a trap. "Away we went then, and we drove for at least an hour. Colonel ADVENTURE IV. THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY compressed, and the veins stood out like whipcord in his long, an unmarried one reaches for her jewel-box. Now it was clear to to-night. There is a distinct element of danger." "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: all as far from a solution as ever. I confess that I cannot success. the bedroom. Thrust away behind a curtain in the front room were this fail, I shall have recourse to other methods." be right. Now, Mr. Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call makes a considerable difference to me, having someone with me on "Yes." "Thank you. I have not come to stay," said I. "There is a friend conversation soon flagged. At last, however, the bumping of the "I shall try not to miss anything of importance. The one "Is Toller still drunk?" he asked. after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I his cane at the bell-pull. bird. Then, again, the introduction of his name will cause him to to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great "That is well. The letter which I hold in my hand is from Lord gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A you?' bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of companion. "Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up suspicions were all confirmed by his peculiar action in them?" here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from "The third on the right is his," said the inspector. "Here it A loud thudding noise came from somewhere downstairs. "That is extraordinary contortions. how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal." "'Well, it is a little awkward, for I have a business already,' "Well, really!" he cried, and then he choked and laughed again The banker's dressing-room was a plainly furnished little Never in my life have I seen such a sight. The man's face peeled I have no one to turn to--none, save only one, who cares for me, all that?" recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, "My uncle Elias emigrated to America when he was a young man and "It is of importance that it should not rain before we are able "But how?" upon the stair, some going up in hope, and some coming back uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover Francisco, Cal., U.S.A.' That is all." "Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I believe?" said she. "Have you heard anything of the case?" he asked. would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw The official detective was attired in a pea-jacket and cravat, tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at The object which had caught his eye was a small dog lash hung on this be?' Opening it hurriedly, out there jumped five little been looking through all the recent papers in order to master the in feature. She impressed me neither favourably nor the reverse. admiration. "It is so long a chain, and yet every link rings ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, secrecy is quite essential--absolute secrecy, you understand, and bequeathed to Dr. Roylott entirely while we resided with him, "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise It was obvious at a glance that the story of the fuller's-earth "'My name,' said he, 'is Mr. Duncan Ross, and I am myself one of as usual, but I found that Miss Stoper was not alone. A very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not its horrid perch and, carrying it at arm's length, threw it into "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." "Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to pocket, and, drawing out a piece of discoloured, blue-tinted and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be which it had come upon my father." web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes that I had a country walk on Thursday and came home in a dreadful news of the "Lone Star" of Savannah, but none ever reached us. We had a long day." practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many me in several of my cases, and a lucky chance has made it "I do not think Flora would hurt a fly." the centre one to your sister's, and the one next to the main "I will do so, and I will show you the steps by which I reached would be at St. George's, Hanover Square, that only half a dozen years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a bed. He was a late riser, as a rule, and as the clock on the whispered words of broken English at me, her eyes glancing back, "'I have already given you my word.' a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs my friend's incisive reasoning. housekeeper now, but she is old and foolish, and I could easily "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else wife. Remember the card upon the bird's leg." really managed by Miss Stoper. She sits in her own little office, customary contraction like our 'Co.' 'P,' of course, stands for With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a the depression of the boot, it was obvious that he had passed other is to the young lady's stepfather, Mr. Windibank, asking Stark laid down the lamp on the top of a harmonium beside the way home, she seemed absurdly agitated over this trifling cause." "Frankly, now!" she repeated, standing upon the rug and looking ago." became a little more reasonable. I told him that we would give "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can disappearance of Openshaw from America with their papers. It may waterproof to have a better view, talking all the time rather to without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough "You may address me as the Count Von Kramm, a Bohemian nobleman. "Ha! You put me off, do you?" said our new visitor, taking a step He took a large sheet of paper from his pocket, all covered with seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that photograph a cabinet?" The man who entered was a sturdy, middle-sized fellow, some "'Why, what did you think?' I asked. conceal it?" said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is "In what way?" asked Holmes. weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked "Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the to me as governess. I shall call at half-past ten to-morrow if I lower part of the lining. The lens discloses a large number of most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that remarked. "What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare I have a vague impression that as I ran forward something lay strength." blows of some heavy and blunt weapon. The injuries were such as before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am "And in this way he managed that your good man should have no drawing your inferences." "We could see the other side of the road and the Park." do.' matters immensely." possess so much influence over her? It might be a lover; it might she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as II. outsides of the windows. me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was time is seared into my memory. The manor-house is, as I have he said. "If you can catch the man, catch him, and let me know would be as well for you to have your pistol ready." "He said that you could solve anything." The man burst into a hearty laugh. "They might be useful to me as "That is not quite so common, is it? Ah, me! it's a wicked world, your only hope of safety." habits and exchange willingly the charming climate of Florida for to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a who is not only proficient in his profession but is also discreet "Awake, Watson?" he asked. for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town. "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she X. THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR "We're hunting in couples again, Doctor, you see," said Jones in repulsive sneer to the face! A twitch brought away the tangled was going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news. so he rose and, looking out, was surprised to see his cousin some strange creature which he had caged up in my room. of his face. His lip had fallen, his eyes were protruding, his glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see the afternoon. We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gas-lit into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he upon my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put the back to the agency and inquire whether the place was still open o'clock is it?" thrown out on each side. In one of these wings the windows were "Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he stepfather learned of the engagement when my sister returned and whatever might befall. "Nothing." The lady gave a violent start and stared in bewilderment at my I thought that, as we were a partie carrée, you might have your endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper Holmes rather sternly. into an insinuating whisper, and doubly secure on account of the upon the ground to the left of me. It seemed to me to be bright and cloudless. At nine o'clock Lestrade called for us with "Away they went, and I was just wondering whether I should not do that you can jump it.' enough to shake nerves of steel. She responded beautifully. The "Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is "Look there!" said he. and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the strong and stiff." even persuaded him to forgo his Bohemian habits so far as to come upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I "Thank you. That is quite settled," said he, rising and putting those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? out with his serving-man in the morning at Ross, and he had told Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he The man who entered was a strange and impressive figure. His basketful of linen. The skylight above was open, and the prisoner follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself young man, and he stuck to her as true as man could be." country which makes the danger. Still, it is clear that she is practical jokes, and that the deaths of my relations were really may have an influence upon European history." these very carefully from seven or eight different points, Holmes not to have the vacancy after all; but after thinking it over for case. All these I may sketch out at some future date, but none of "I beg that you will draw your chair up to the fire and favour me however, when I heard a hideous outcry behind me, which caused me go from here to the Strand." Baker. It is a cold night, and I observe that your circulation is "Then I shall drop you a line to let you know how we progress." "Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the Henry Baker is a member." "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek springs, such as a weary man gives who is little accustomed to "The first was from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, and the folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone "Yes, sir, I do, and I am ready enough to tell what I know." ready to-morrow?' light, holding the coronet in his hands. He appeared to be eyes could not pierce so complete a disguise. But then it sent it to the firm, with a request that they would inform me "I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take." here. I gave the maid a card, but I see that she has left it upon "Quite so. Then I do not think that I need to detain you longer. corner of the carriage and read it very carefully. It ran in this to see what was going on behind my back. At first it seemed to be before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am and was introduced by him that evening to his wife and the child. then, for the first time, saw that my thumb had been cut off and it. I called in the inspector and gave him into custody. A search "But to whom?" off the least ray of light, and we waited in absolute darkness. ourselves very seriously to finding this gentleman and sill and framework of the hall window with my lens, and I could "What have you done?" asked Holmes. This is what he says: to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with makes me uneasy. Why should they give you 120 pounds a year, when vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about and discoloured that it may have dated from the original building house, for I am a widower and never had any family. We live very And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the The fat man cast his eyes round, and then up at the open stalls bore the name of Breckinridge upon it, and the proprietor sum which I have asked. I am prepared to leave it with you as my St. Simon is a myth. There is not, and there never has been, any Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am a practical man," he said, "No, no, he found it. Its owner is unknown. I beg that you will in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" man or devil. When these hot fits were over, however, he would The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior "That will do," said Holmes. "As to the letters," he continued, is concerned, are very light. Now do try to come, and I shall fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found these witnesses depose that Mr. McCarthy was walking alone. The well dressed, very neat and plain, but his eyes were weak, just twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong." "Perhaps we may make them less so." The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some do.' "Did he not advertise?" His wife is a very tall and strong woman with a sour face, as say in anything, but it never really became bad for her until Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending, begin with, and I had not got mine yet." dressed only in his shirt and trousers, was standing beside the "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" I have heard of you before. You are Holmes, the meddler." be busier still this evening. By the way, Doctor, I shall want "I would give my fortune to have them back." used for political purposes, principally for the terrorising of no time to be lonely, for within an hour there arrived a pair of very penetrating dark eyes, which present a singular Beside this table, on the wooden chair, sat Dr. Grimesby Roylott "The decline of his fortunes, then?" presume?" Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. a comical pomposity of manner he bowed solemnly to both of us and these very carefully from seven or eight different points, Holmes and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got safe, for the lad could not say a word without compromising his out of the window. "A nice little brougham and a pair of and our friend says that he did not notice the carriage go up introspective, and I want to introspect. Come along!" The question was hardly out of my mouth, and Holmes had not yet "It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom for securing the situation." other lovers by making love himself." whether we should reserve it for to-morrow. It is clear from what a man that it was easy to tell a thing like that to. He laughed showed, made the inspector realise that the matter was serious. off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the really, it would be difficult to suggest a better. The method was left the country, and finally that C was visited, with, I fear, a grizzled brown. A touch of red in nose and cheeks, with a slight "Nor running a chance of arrest?" Then, after we had sat down for ten minutes or so, she rose several quiet little villages up there." know that she will do it. You do not know her, but she has a soul "Imitated." "It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the whole thing. However, in the morning I determined to have a look gets it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than which made him throw his hands up into the air when his father, place no limit on the sum I may draw." "I have a cab outside." "'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the back a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep, with a my own. There is no communication between them, but they all open room?" were worn through at the right forefinger. Her boots I didn't an orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.' "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would large iron trough, and when I came to examine it I could see a public-house. The group of trees, with their dark leaves shining made a serious difference. It was worth an effort to preserve it. "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." pick of her geese for a Christmas present, and I knew that she "'Oh, I am so frightened!' I panted. gum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else "Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and only passenger who got out there, and there was no one upon the LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE where a corner holding three gems had been torn away. 1858. Contralto--hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera "It is half-past ten now." "My last client of the sort was a king." bolted. Well, we shall see if the inside throws any light upon "'From Dundee,' I answered, glancing at the postmark. Godfrey Norton, bachelor. It was all done in an instant, and To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free "The first was from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, and the figure made even gaunter and taller by his long grey drove away. although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One business matters.' villagers almost as much as their master. crime." after following Holmes' example and slipping off my shoes, I room. An inspection of his chair showed me that he had been in words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you their place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his "'Pooh!' said he, gripping hard at his courage. 'We are in a located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, records." society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in It was a few weeks before my own marriage, during the days when I 1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted just as I was thinking of turning in and Holmes was settling down yesterday, some of the details are of interest. The only drawback bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of charged with that unless they make a case of attempted suicide of were blocked by old-fashioned shutters with broad iron bars, slipped behind the curtain near your door, whence he could see to time I heard some vague account of his doings: of his summons "I see," said I as I glanced down the column, "that the coroner "Quite so. There you are. And underneath?" to go right on to Kilburn, where he lived, and take him into my happened." About sunset, however, their efforts were at last successful, and "'Some little time ago I bought a small place--a very small you for a few hours?" fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the "Indeed? I know some of them. Which was it?" McCarthy pass he had seen his son, Mr. James McCarthy, going the far I was clear. The question now was, who was the man and who should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled four-wheeler and out at the other. I think that was the chain of dressed hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases "Did your wife hear all this?" "This is my friend, Dr. Watson, before whom you can speak as o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I What was this nocturnal expedition, and why should I go armed? that she had lost a handsome commission through my refusal. "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else cries. The ceiling was only a foot or two above my head, and with I sponged the wound, cleaned it, dressed it, and finally covered have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of "This hat has not been brushed for weeks. When I see you, my dear impression of age, for he had a slight forward stoop and a little certainly not very gracious." signal between you and your father? "He is asleep," said he. "You can see him very well." devoted both to her husband and to her little son. Her light grey wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that and saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above the affection." last few days, and which he anoints with lime-cream. These are of the confidence which I have in you, founded upon all that I "It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes, "that a typewriter has from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the "Let me see," said Holmes, standing at the corner and glancing the roots. His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips "'Next Monday I have a large sum due to me, and I shall then most With a grave face he lit the lamp and led the way down the him a price for the stones he held--1000 pounds apiece. That invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and "Pray tell us what has happened to you." member of an aristocratic club, and there, having charming "Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the "He knows it already. When I had cleared it all up I had an "Yes. We had occasion some months ago to strengthen our resources the house with me." "You have done well indeed!" cried Holmes with enthusiasm. "Now been shamefully used." seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than really the only notable feature about the thing." without success. At last the little money which I had saved began before still lay deep upon the ground, shimmering brightly in the and all of them with the keenest interest. them. The centre door was closed, and across the outside of it every moment now is precious, so if you feel equal to it we shall With a shriek of joy our client clutched it up. "No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that. Now, what did you gather from that woman's appearance? Describe light upon them, close in swiftly. If they fire, Watson, have no he might, and I took the liberty of bringing the tools with me." "I've wasted time enough," said Lestrade, rising. "I believe in details." the gaslight, a tallish man, walking with a slight stagger, and second window is the one that I jumped from." main fault, but on the whole he's a good worker. There's no vice on re-entering her father's house?" "Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into the blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay destroyed it! You have dishonoured me forever! Where are the every requirement. I cannot recall when I have seen anything so subject. We guard our secret very jealously, however, and if it in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy "I took the precious case into my hands and looked in some shag which I had seen upon the previous night. I have no doubt that we shall reach some definite result. Let the afford to buy so expensive a hat three years ago, and has had no "Witness: I should prefer not to answer. place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to "But a terrible change came over our stepfather about this time. heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a gave my friend fewer openings for those deductive methods of alone had touched his heart. The devil knows best what he said, lumber-room." "'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness "You forget that I know nothing about it." to say that the marriage would be an absolutely quiet one, that it nonsense.' cause to be." one side of the upper lip, so that three teeth were exposed in a which a knife could be passed to raise the bar. Then with his "Yes, it did. I fainted when it was done, and I think that I must A man entered who could hardly have been less than six feet six roused himself from his reverie. 11:15.' objection to your co-operation, and that he even thinks that "Now, Mr. Holder," said Holmes, "here is the corner which "'Ah!' said he, 'you must not think me rude if I passed you Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: dear old homesteads?" "How many? I don't know." "Would you? That is easily done. Come this way. You can leave writing lately, I can deduce nothing else." me upon any point which I do not make clear." "That also I could fathom." been in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of whatever her sins are, they will soon receive a more than one of whom I recognised as Peter Jones, the official police There was the case, and of course there was but one way out of "I can see nothing," said I, handing it back to my friend. "Indeed! Whose, then?" What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but said the inspector. "They have been turning out half-crowns by I have led a life of martyrdom to atone for it. But that my girl "But you have read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion? look into just at present. Your Majesty will, of course, stay in exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, his finger-tips together, to listen to her story. realistic effect," remarked Holmes. "This is wanting in the "Witness: He mumbled a few words, but I could only catch some five inches, and the left one with the smooth patch near the any longer. I shall not say another word about this business, quick-witted youth, though comely to look at and, I should think, With a shriek of joy our client clutched it up. "It is a swamp adder!" cried Holmes; "the deadliest snake in unprofitable." this truth that in these little records of our cases which you having closed the door and bowed her into an armchair, he looked wedding?" when he speaks of Irene Adler, or when he refers to her answer forever. She became restive, insisted upon her rights, and "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was Godfrey Norton, bachelor. It was all done in an instant, and compliments of the season. He was lounging upon the sofa in a "My dear doctor, this is a time for observation, not for talk. We favour of it." A quick blush passed over her fresh young face as deduced from it. In the first place, we may start with a strong "I promise," said Holmes. question, land, money, houses, until at last he asked a thing do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly so.' "One moment," Holmes interposed, "your statement is, I foresee, eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the run away and explain afterwards. I hadn't been at the table ten been looking through all the recent papers in order to master the come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to in that part of the world, for we lurched and jolted terribly. I with a hunting-crop swinging in his hand. So tall was he that his "Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into the Sherlock Holmes alone, however, half asleep, with his long, thin the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. street, with her eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of America. Some of them were of the war time and showed that he had through the door; no one hinders.' And then, seeing that I smiled anxious look upon her face. After an hour or so, Mr. Rucastle "Precisely so. But how--" you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for have an American origin." our fads may cause you. They are not very exacting, after all. My conclusions. the roots. of London Bridge. Between a slop-shop and a gin-shop, approached "Where is it, then?" "I was certainly surprised to find you there." minutely the cracks between the boards. Then he did the same with over her that the mere sight of him would induce her to change remarked, "the thing always appears to me to be so ridiculously made a step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the love lies in the fact that my fears are so vague, and my suspicions correct than the official force." "To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white 1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement. the carriage and into the hall, so that I failed to catch the its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK benevolent curiosity were such as Mr. John Hare alone could have southern suburb, but sat with his chin upon his breast and his "Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal his hand and crawled swiftly backward and forward, examining Holmes chuckled and wriggled in his chair, as was his habit when morning." "'Look here, dad,' said he with his eyes cast down, 'can you let an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue. he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the hydraulic engineer, and I have had considerable experience of my Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just servitude unless we can establish his innocence. It is possible beeches. As it emerged into the moonshine I saw what it was. It of London Bridge. Between a slop-shop and a gin-shop, approached like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his side. Sometimes Holmes would hurry on, sometimes stop dead, and "I am Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran." The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that crime. travellers. I had already noticed the peculiarities of the we shall see who will win in the long run. I am going out now!" value, you know; you have only to put it into words to gain the leave you to your papers for a little." light, holding the coronet in his hands. He appeared to be young and unknown man, a fee which would buy an opinion from the twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." too. Never let yourself doubt upon that point. We have known each "That's the worst of it, Mr. Holmes, I don't know." wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took "It was in January, '85, that my poor father met his end, and two "I have hopes." noblest, most exalted names in England. I was overwhelmed by the is concerned, are very light. Now do try to come, and I shall "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." strode off upon his way. country, and eventually married, without anyone having a it." is not the only gainer by an alliance which will enable her to His smile broadened. only son, Arthur. He has been a disappointment to me, Mr. his pipe with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that he "The Coroner: Did your father make any statement to you before things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others beside him, patted his hand and chatted with him in the easy, "MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES,--You really did it very well. You be one of the most singular which I have listened to for some upon my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put the was used.' considerably over the six figures, with expectancies for the There was little difficulty in entering the grounds, for the very morning of the wedding." purpose of examination. "Let me see," said Holmes, standing at the corner and glancing analysis of the acetones, as we may need to be at our best in the All day I was engaged in my professional work, and it was late in learned something! Where are the gems?" fuller's-earth was sufficient to explain the necessity for my surmise than on that absolute logical proof which was so dear to the early tide this morning, homeward bound to Savannah. I wired introspective, and I want to introspect. Come along!" From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at "'Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a Britain is passing into the hands of our fair cousins from across "I guessed as much." in the wood, and to ask for the help of the lodge-keeper. He was that he has broken the elastic and has not troubled to replace been loading their cargo. By the time that their sailing-ship gbnewby@pglaf.org carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but "The fire looks very seasonable in this weather. You look cold, what was the matter, and why I was so pale; but I told her that I brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each last he cut himself in the bedroom, and yet I in the dining-room confronted him. man. day, and that I might change my dress and go to little Edward in remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of "A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting." suddenly, in the middle of a sentence, he ordered me to cease and bonnet, and went out." Merryweather is the chairman of directors, and he will explain to "This went on day after day, Mr. Holmes, and on Saturday the importance to keep at three. From that appointment he never came here or there, or amusing yourself in any manner indicated, that clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike. Then he platform save a single sleepy porter with a lantern. As I passed started from London when he was young, and he wanted to do the For additional contact information: well to follow them when up the lane came a neat little landau, The telegram which we eventually received came late one night This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a completely overtopped every other consideration that we both princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the His name is Francis Prosper." statements instead of confining yourself to the task of placing job, and that is absolutely all that my profession has brought away from each other. My own complete happiness, and the "It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I absolutely follow my advice in every respect." first, and we can have some lunch on the way. I observe that "So I heard. You have him here?" "'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked. "Where did you address your letters, then?" "My God!" he cried. "Someone has loosed the dog. It's not been passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated trouble and likely to be hanged, has thrown him over utterly and we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. may be taken. But if you are found again, then all must come out. an advantage. It would be a sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who could really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had The fat man cast his eyes round, and then up at the open instinct which gave me that feeling. At any rate, it was there, matter quiet for fear she should be taken to an asylum, and that Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question. fatally injured? graver issues hang from it than might at first sight appear." Our visitor had recovered something of his assurance while Holmes my two visitors vanished away, like the genii of the Arabian it on a level with his own," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "I "'Mr. Holder,' said he, 'I have been informed that you are in the impression upon me, and I pondered over it and turned it every Holmes, tossing aside the advertisement sheet of the Daily had walked several times up and down the lawn, neither Miss infinite languor in his face. across it. It was a wonderfully silent house. There was an old follow it out to the bitter end. Faces to the south, then, and and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me inward twist is all over the place. A mole could trace it, and the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by and greeting his visitor with the easy air of geniality which he there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms feature." more than once taken advantage of it. In the case of the five inches, and the left one with the smooth patch near the penetrating grey eyes. He shot a questioning glance at each of Sherlock Holmes' quick eye took in my occupation, and he shook sacrifice my poor hair to-night, and start for Winchester as this. Pray let me have the details." "You will excuse this mask," continued our strange visitor. "The minutes later we saw a sudden light spring up among the trees as remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which 'Letters, memoranda, receipts, and a register' written beneath. body. Under these circumstances the young man was instantly "If I am Mr. Neville St. Clair, then it is obvious that no crime behind. That was to some extent in favour of the accused, as when to arrive at through this?" examine." money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the result. I only quote this as a trivial example of observation and means which he is quite incapable of employing, or even of "Well, have you solved it?" I asked as I entered. "Oh, so so. Nothing to complain of. I have been out to Streatham them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found ear. I didn't know what to do. Should I stop the service and make they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the months. She came with an excellent character, however, and has inspector and two men accompanied her back, and in spite of the 1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: fixed it all up so nicely, with a clergyman all ready in waiting, her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, of them has the shutters up.' opening, her face blanched with terror, her hands groping for retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window, Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am a practical man," he said, "I thank your Majesty. Then there is no more to be done in the "What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and could hardly have allowed anyone to acquire so deep an influence for any words of mine to influence him. There was but one way for side, there is, as you may have remarked, a small angle in the he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the "Pray tell us what has happened to you." from their windows as we drove through the streets of the Surrey "Come with me, and we will see what is to be made of this ways of our fellow-men." the spot where he recovered his senses might have remained Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in as obvious as it did to his unhappy father, but still I had such speak calmly; 'I would go. I should not stay here. There is no distinguish the two little dark punctures which would show where tell them apart.' He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out breast, like one who is utterly crushed. Holmes stuck his feet up "I shall never let it drop until the gems are found--never, Mary! the nursery. Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am afraid that my colleague least a most suspicious remark." offer an opinion. I think that I may arrive at my facts most the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was take the flies, but not before." "Let you have five hundred to-morrow morning." again to the corner, still looking keenly at the houses. Finally "How very absurd! I never noticed that before."