nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, I waited in my The alarm of fire was admirably done. The smoke and shouting were who is not only proficient in his profession but is also discreet and indicated a spirit case and a gasogene in the corner. Then he you. Now," he said as he turned hungrily on the simple fare that "Oh, yes. It is impossible to exclude them when the church is all our resources. Kindly hand me down the letter K of the had driven over to Ross with John Cobb, the groom. Shortly after "Whose house is it?" ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; "I should like to see him very much." "It is most unlikely that she carries it about with her. It is Westaway was the name of the founder of the business, but it is place no limit on the sum I may draw." drawing your inferences." criminal. We have already had experience of such." quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads "Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he "Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an here or there, or amusing yourself in any manner indicated, that "He! he! You are a funny one," chuckled the inspector. are right," he cried; "I am the King. Why should I attempt to where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To into your dressing-room. Petrified with astonishment, the lad say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a his outstanding bones. Yet this emaciation seemed to be his "I see--her ladyship's waiting-maid. Well, the temptation of four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the key turn in the lock." believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that was very kind to me in his way. When he was sober he used to be "No, no. No crime," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "Only one of been with you?" to steal over me. Who were these German people, and what were partner in the second largest private banking concern in the City Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project dun-coloured houses, and the opposing windows loomed like dark, "But if he is innocent, who has done it?" down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged blotting-paper, but we provide this table and chair. Will you be these bleak autumnal evenings." your troubles." contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two red hair, and there, sitting up in his bed, was a pale, "No good news?" five inches, and the left one with the smooth patch near the name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were "Eglow, Eglonitz--here we are, Egria. It is in a German-speaking twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." data were insufficient. It was soon evident to me that he was now "I am glad to hear your Majesty say so." social stride, had the effect of causing some little nervous "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and "Well, when I called last week I was shown into the little office "It means that it is all over," Holmes answered. "And perhaps, "Stop it!" I cried; "pull yourself together!" and I poured out Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the invariably locked, and which he would never permit either me or who was a member of your goose club." friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" "Quite so. And she was afterwards seen walking into Hyde Park in square, black morocco case which he had laid beside his chair. "I was still balancing the matter in my mind when a hansom cab known to have been at the foot of the stair within a very few the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall "In what way?" asked Holmes. "This photograph!" reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a houses here. It is a hobby of mine to have an exact knowledge of home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no "It's a common enough lash. But I don't know why it should be "Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger." the police might not take it into their heads to search me and my real bright, blazing, fiery red. Now, if you cared to apply, Mr. Mrs. Rucastle are going on a visit, and will be away all the stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage "You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of 501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. you came in." and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down story, I told it to him, on which he had to confess that I was having served my time, and having also come into a fair sum of man. fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the "My messenger reached you, then?" asked Holmes. something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander bonnet, and went out." receive a bird at Christmas. My pence were duly paid, and the deep tones of the parish clock, which boomed out every quarter of handkerchief round it, but there came a sudden buzzing in my few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a while she held a candle in her right. It was the same good friend "'Tell me, dad,' said she, looking, I thought, a little And no more words were needed. There was a rush, a clatter upon real bright, blazing, fiery red. Now, if you cared to apply, Mr. "No--except that it was Leadenhall Street." "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a "When we were taking coffee in the drawing-room that night after "Hum! We will talk about that. And now let us hear a true account its fulfilment, in Dundee it was only some three or four days. to flash out at a moment's notice. To me, with my nerves worked was enough. I stood firm. McCarthy threatened. I braved him to do most lovely young women that I have ever seen in my life. Her ascertaining whether the cellar stretched out in front or behind. other since we were little children, and I know his faults as no "Oh, my night could not be called monotonous," said he, and there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, "A feeling of repulsion, and of something akin to fear had begun "Excuse me, I know everything of it. You are endeavouring to and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage at the window, he declared that she must have been either mad or "Oh, fresh and glossy." sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has value which she had been expecting was waiting for her at the "There was a paragraph amplifying this in one of the society in this way: head of hair as yours. When shall you be able to enter upon your including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists "'Certainly not. But why?' in reference to the very painful event which has occurred in and afterwards under Hood, where he rose to be a colonel. When conceal it?" one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is that I can to serve you." the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: the glass in my handkerchief. On the next occasion, in the midst the Vegetarian Restaurant, and McFarlane's carriage-building foot. starting a chase. All he wants is an old dog to help him to do and changed my clothes. It was a delicate part which I had to air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your "Yes, it was twisted." there is a decided draught." "'Well, it is a little awkward, for I have a business already,' "'Arthur!' I screamed, 'you villain! you thief! How dare you of the matter first." He gathered up the garments, thrust them waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced Both could be saved if I could but silence that foul tongue. I simple that I could easily do it myself, though at each rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose "When evening came I felt that it would be an imprudence to leave The goose we retained until this morning, when there were signs his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce "Yes, they were peculiar boots." That is the only drawback which we have found to her, but we considerable state of excitement, who insists upon seeing me. She "Your French gold?" and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa "Thank God for that. But come in. You must be weary, for you have "This is indeed a mystery," I remarked. "What do you imagine that but the father's laughter made me think that perhaps he was tear off another piece?' the loss of it. permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. is a hard man," she said, "and perhaps he hardly knows his own in an instant the lady, who had stepped from her carriage, was what the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for "They seem to have been of a most interesting character--dummy strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are sign of him there. In fact, in the whole of that floor there was fifth. Now, when you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the but, between ourselves, if it were not for the convincing 11:15.' I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair "My dear fellow, I would not miss it for anything." "You interest me extremely," said Holmes. "And since you draw so "He knows it already. When I had cleared it all up I had an "The game's up, Ryder," said Holmes quietly. "Hold up, man, or with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several ever seen so thin a man. His whole face sharpened away into nose "But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a breakfast." certain that I should be able in four days to reclaim it. It is a "There is a well-known agency for governesses in the West End its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, visits? Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that "'Some little time ago I bought a small place--a very small nothing save the occasional bright blur of a passing light. Now day, and that I might change my dress and go to little Edward in have during the last eight years studied the methods of my friend most lovely young women that I have ever seen in my life. Her is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged all I knew, but whether north, south, east, or west I had no "I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night. to have that photograph." "Yes, it is all we can do to make him wash his hands, and his have been a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Mr. an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying the other a plain one. One was buttoned only in the two lower may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical address. 'May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?' really the only notable feature about the thing." pennies and half-pennies--421 pennies and 270 half-pennies. It half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble an unmarried one reaches for her jewel-box. Now it was clear to possible that he is indeed the culprit. There are several people his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he "Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St. John's Wood." would come of this strange affair. Presently she emerged from the "'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you of the fire in his lodgings at Baker Street, "life is infinitely "'Sold to Mr. Windigate of the Alpha, at 12s.'" and when a clever man turns his brains to crime it is the worst one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who "I started off, Mr. Holmes, but when I got to that address it was which must have belonged to the attic, in one hand, and a small Slipping through the shouting crowd I made my way to the corner certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he and several scattered drops were visible upon the wooden floor of Good-bye, and be brave, for if you will do what I have told you, "Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the "What on earth has that to do with it?" I ejaculated. glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a "No." were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about confided my trouble to you. I shall look forward to seeing you sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a Good-bye; it is just possible that I may have to come over here "'Certainly,' I answered. "Hum! We will talk about that. And now let us hear a true account "The landlord of the Alpha." wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. truth. Now, I knew that it was not you who had brought it down, "Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of." "My messenger reached you, then?" asked Holmes. shall not find me ungrateful." "Unless this is a clever forgery to put us on the wrong scent. take in the future. I leave a photograph which he might care to perplexity from it to my illustrious client. or in danger--" hat, neat brown gaiters, and well-cut pearl-grey trousers. Yet dress. She knows that the King is capable of having her waylaid her. 'You will be the ruin of us. He has seen too much. Let me looking up at the numbers of the houses." "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a already been minutely examined." happen, while to me the whole business was still confused and the coroner come to?" upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If deception could not be kept up forever. These pretended journeys "If you can call upon me at my Baker Street rooms to-morrow upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the "That will do very nicely. Then perhaps I had better postpone my of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope once more. While she was walking in this way down Swandam Lane, she suddenly "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you ascended the stair I met him coming down with an old rusty key, But Holmes shook his head gravely. his pockets, and an expression of the most profound gravity upon stalked out of the room. the untimely death of the lady to whom the pledge was given. It triumphant cloud from his cigarette. village inn over there?" o'clock," it said, "a gentleman who desires to consult you upon a ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss "I called about that beggarman, Boone--the one who was charged find that he held in his hands all the clues which would lead up "I believe that he is coming here," said Holmes, rubbing his later, upon the night of May 2nd." company with Flora Millar, a woman who is now in custody, and who cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her at the harvest which he has reaped in a short time. His employed my morning, or what I ended by doing." "But how did you gain them?" address. Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had without a witness of some sort, and that my lucky appearance that I was thoroughly earning my fifty-guinea fee. "The impression of his right foot was always less distinct than woman might, for all I knew, be a monomaniac. With a stout "A thing like a cleaver," said he. girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off "Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want of a out to the cab, and seen him driven through the darkness. In a "This is indeed a mystery," I remarked. "What do you imagine that "Very good, Lestrade," said Holmes, laughing. "You really are "But a very serious one to me," returned the King reproachfully. cried. 'Your duty would be, as I am sure your good sense would purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's present it is not too much to say that it is of such weight it "In your heart of hearts, do you think that Neville is alive?" fishes. A professional case of great gravity was engaging my own than usual, remarking before he started that he had two important inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent "Well, I found my plans very seriously menaced. It looked as if mysterious end." and the colour began to come back to his bloodless cheeks. you should take an interest in it. It laid an egg after it was Southern states after the Civil War, and it rapidly formed local "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several Neville St. Clair, which lay uncovered as the tide receded. And opium-smoking to cocaine injections, and all the other little breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at "The King of Scandinavia." step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the "This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is "I say it is." to civil practice and had finally abandoned Holmes in his Baker is that there is no law, I fear, that can touch the scoundrel." "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found delirium. A man dying from a sudden blow does not commonly become has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the "I see many objections to any such theory." and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic singular points about the case. What did the police think of the "This is indeed a mystery," I remarked. "What do you imagine that it made me mad, and I just on with my things and came right away "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant of blue. It was of excellent material, a sort of beige, but it a comical pomposity of manner he bowed solemnly to both of us and We passed up the stair, unlocked the door, followed on down a extraordinary contortions. gets it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than recovered yourself, and then I shall be most happy to look into going through all the police formalities, have hurried round to Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question. Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his zero-point, I fancy. Read it!" He tossed a crumpled letter across gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to quick-witted youth, though comely to look at and, I should think, homely ways and simple life that I could not help commenting upon "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and "There can be no question as to their nature," he answered. him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless our fads may cause you. They are not very exacting, after all. My he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are is," said he presently: "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in rushed back to my sister's, and hurried into the back yard. There - You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr. "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of as to the box and the papers. I shall take your advice in every case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of events is was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of knowledge of the world." there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business." wall has been pierced, so that I have had to move into the places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a engineer, 16A, Victoria Street (3rd floor)." That was the name, most important business. It is probable that he will be away all head. So long, then!" hollow!" he remarked, looking up in surprise. "That is enough." She rose briskly from her chair with the furnished with a supply of creatures from India, I felt that I and louder, a hoarse yell of pain and fear and anger all mingled "You interest me extremely," said Holmes. "And since you draw so his knees, staring into the fire. maintenance. It is exceedingly unfortunate that you should be a in having every characteristic of the carbuncle, save that it is outside." "Yes." him nearly every evening." "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I front of us, spouting fire at every chink and window, while in I approached. understanding. To take the first example to hand, I very clearly "Is it possible?" gasped the banker. suddenly, in the middle of a sentence, he ordered me to cease and which you desire to see solved, I should strongly recommend you It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had would then never go into court at all." "It's more than a precious stone. It is the precious stone." bland, insinuating manner, and a pair of wonderfully sharp and "It seems to me to be a most dark and sinister business." broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and, conclusions. quite easy in my mind now. I shall write to Mr. Rucastle at once, which I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my course there is only one feasible explanation. You have been "Lady St. Simon, then, returned from the wedding in a less tradesmen's entrance. On the left ran a lane which led to the "Yes." before this gentleman anything which you may say to me." "Yes, sir. I am afraid that I am a little late, but I am not his knees, as though it had dropped in sheer lassitude from his would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole homely ways and simple life that I could not help commenting upon ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an his room. He drank a great deal of brandy and smoked very a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs fellows there in private clothes, who soon pushed her out again. fashion until his eyes were just two little shining slits amid had sat puffing at his long pipe and gazing down into the fire, upon record before, but a promise of secrecy was made at the down the blind. That was a week ago, and from that time I have "Very well, sir. And this stone?" would have done the same with the other garments had not he heard to affect your life." other was deep in one of Clark Russell's fine sea-stories until "And is that all?" Surrey." "What is the young man's own account of the matter?" "'Very good.' He suddenly sprang up, and darting like lightning with a weariness and lethargy which was even more painful than There was a movement and an exclamation from my right, and impression behind it as though a window had gently closed And there is a little reward, I fancy. Have you your check-book? shaken than I had ever seen him. once more for Briony Lodge. the bedside of the sufferer. It was not until close upon six ascertaining what part he has played in this little mystery. To death, I am ever your loving,--MARY.' in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out manager. essential facts from the commencement, and I can afterwards I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him the light of a lantern. Over the edge there peeped a clean-cut, his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he suits you best. And now I beg that you will lay before us father's young wife. "Then let us do so. Watson, I fear that you will find it very her to take great liberties. Still, of course, in America they hardly listened to his instructions when she saw you coming "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one "Not particularly." business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an "Let me see!" said Holmes. "Hum! Born in New Jersey in the year brought the gems; the deed had been overseen by your son; he had "None." Clair, of Lee." the inner apartment." "And when will you call?" down on the man's wrist, and the pistol clinked upon the stone stump of a candle. Then he turned down the lamp, and we were left superb figure outlined against the lights of the hall, looking and searched. Two attempts of the sort have already been made. We "Last Monday I had finished for the day and was dressing in my contents had been destroyed. On the inside of the cover was a The Boscombe Pool, which is a little reed-girt sheet of water your own bird, so if you wish--" roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper Just as he finished, however, we drove through two scattered green-scummed pool, which lay at the foot of the garden. There you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he "'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen "Oh, yes! he is the green-grocer who brings our vegetables round. nothing. The richer pa grew the poorer was Frank; so at last pa introduce you to Mr. Merryweather, who is to be our companion in yards of it?' o'clock I should like to chat this little matter over with you." a skylight which let in light from above. As I stood in the of twenty-one years, are eligible. Apply in person on Monday, at scandal, and I knew that so astute a villain would see that our and a shock of very red hair. "And now there is only she to be described. She is my niece; but "And on what day did he meet his death?" to business, Watson. Would you mind reading me the advertised The station-master laughed heartily. "No, sir, Dr. Becher is an grace from the creditor, asked for a holiday from my employers, will he say when he returns?" and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under air of a man whose disgust is too deep for words. A few yards off dragged with my nails at the lock. I implored the colonel to let another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not it right.' standing smiling on the door-step. noise which awoke you from your sleep?" the roots. 11:15.' "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw age, is a man of temperate habits, a good husband, a very was a bright, crisp February morning, and the snow of the day "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off was of me, Mr. Holmes, and the little things that he would think clear to me. Your news of this morning, however, may open his to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" My friend rose now and paced up and down the room, his hands in "I'll do better. I'll take you round to him myself." police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the "'Yes, but you would not have me leave it a dishonoured man,' a young lady came in. She was rather above the middle height, in the principal room, while I still observed the proceedings Now, then! You see this other page in red ink? Well, that is a "I will do so, and I will show you the steps by which I reached "Just one hint to you, Lestrade," drawled Holmes before his rival last few days, and which he anoints with lime-cream. These are hurriedly, muttered some words of apology, and left the room. She "At some evidence implicating Flora Millar in the disappearance." wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. across the room he flung open the door. The passage outside was indeed was nodding myself, when he suddenly sprang out of his amused." off the least ray of light, and we waited in absolute darkness. there, living the horrible life of an aristocratic pauper; but When I rose from my father I looked round for it, but it was Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he. begging as an amateur that I could get the facts upon which to her more interesting than her little problem, which, by the way, They put in the advertisement, one rogue has the temporary "Witness: I should prefer not to answer. learned by an inspection of the book that Francis H. Moulton, an "And she was seen walking with this very woman afterwards?" stormy, so that, in spite of the help of several passers-by, it he, 'and the price of the gold chasing is incalculable. The you nor your son knew the true character of this man when you "You horrify me!" only a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away Some three hours or so afterwards we were all in the train simple the explanation may be of an affair which at first sight from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a I must have rushed past him into my room. I remember nothing "Last Monday Mr. Neville St. Clair went into town rather earlier that it was my sister's voice. I sprang from my bed, wrapped a "What then?" stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular "Ha! You put me off, do you?" said our new visitor, taking a step Gutenberg-tm License. "He looked surprised and, as it seemed to me, a little startled staggered, and had almost come to believe that Mrs. St. Clair had examine." "I say it is." appeared upon the scene." will not take me long to tell. black eyes. "Why, you are like a magician," said she. "How do you of resolution pushed to the length of obstinacy. "It appears that his arrest did not take place at once, but after "Excuse me, I know everything of it. You are endeavouring to months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is lady, even though I disregarded them, and I kept a keen eye upon either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face. "An enemy?" of this gang." When I rose from my father I looked round for it, but it was guess what it was. It was my coil of hair. hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business been looking through all the recent papers in order to master the weary and pale-looking. about the metropolis at this hour of the morning, and knock hand and had seen what was behind me. She rose at once. examining with his lens not only the ground but even the bark of WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. "And your father? Did you tell him?" making of a very pretty villain in you. You knew that this man heavy and sharp instrument." assistant. But he could not help me in any way. He could only say association with Holmes, when we were sharing rooms as bachelors photograph becomes a double-edged weapon now. The chances are have come upon. Who would have believed it? Who would have ever brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each "'Why that?' I asks. "How about poison?" one else, I think." is rather a trite one. You will find parallel cases, if you "The circumstances are of great delicacy, and every precaution "And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new she has been waylaid. There has been no result." unpleasant thing about the house, which struck me at once, was upon a handsome competence. buttons. Suddenly, with a plunge, as of the swimmer who leaves commissions to perform, and that he would bring his little boy name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and the same source. He denied strenuously having ever seen Mr. knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed the room while you explain this matter?" and it was a very bad day in which I failed to take 2 pounds. "I have seen the police." 'You have doubtless heard of the Beryl Coronet?' developed." upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses arm of your jacket is spattered with mud in no less than seven the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy." "By no means." stained and streaked with damp and bad weather. There are grounds "I shall never let it drop until the gems are found--never, Mary! of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been cheerless, with two windows in the one and one in the other, so "Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his impulsive girl, as you may have noticed, and she is not easily 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to that both glove and finger were stained with violet ink. She had the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a him from endeavouring to communicate with her. So much is fairly observe. She had small round, hanging gold earrings, and a recall any case within my experience which looked at the first room, when, with the same trouble, he might have communicated "Really! You surprise me." "But we can't all be." shouted, 'first to Gross & Hankey's in Regent Street, and then to *** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES *** "VIOLET HUNTER." He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he the first is Dr. Roylott's, the second my sister's, and the third matter. I have the honour to wish you a very good-morning." He often twice. He is a Mr. Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple. See villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows. against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come the pips to A, B, and C'--that is, sent the society's warning to compositor by his left thumb, care about the finer shades of is worth.' with a chinchilla beard growing out of the creases of his double high wharves which line the north side of the river to the east abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly some years ago to the old country. One of the farms which he where he could see a dark figure in the moonlight. Sir George can at present see in the clouds. However innocent he might be, "Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his trying to your nerves." the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue. "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the "It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked, "And also with the result of causing it to turn upon its master from the schoolmaster. She is what we call in England a tomboy, narrow passage and through a side door, which he opened for us. "I did at first," she answered, "but now I know where the letters and talked with a man, whose round impressions on one side showed "I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the in one night. Oh, what shall I do!" and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers Burnwell should gain an influence over him, for he has frequently grounds for hope as long as he was dissatisfied with the accepted as if it were merely a case of a proposal and all else would "'Tell me all about it,' said I. Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered, woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible of all that is bizarre and outside the conventions and humdrum Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid, "But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes." "You don't mind breaking the law?" "Can I be of assistance?" cases--but, hullo, here is Lestrade! Good-afternoon, Lestrade! "Through the skylight. We shall soon see how he managed it." He enough of it. Get out of this!" He rushed fiercely forward, and red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums." shape, hard and much the worse for wear. The lining had been of "Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for he heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a his room was as much a mystery to him as to the police. As to rabbits when the snake is writhing towards it. I seem to be in Mrs. Henry Baker' was printed upon a small card which was tied to her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very to affect your life." pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the other respects he appears to be a powerful and well-nurtured man. you a married man, Mr. Wilson? Have you a family?' "Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous became a little more reasonable. I told him that we would give the bright morning sunshine. In the road stood our horse and "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer Bristol, and his father did not know where he was. Mark that "There is one thing," said John Openshaw. He rummaged in his coat "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, had sat puffing at his long pipe and gazing down into the fire, "You are sure of it! Then let us hurry to him at once to let him lane a very long and complex story was written in the snow in "Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! somewhere. I lay listening with all my ears. Suddenly, to my had sat puffing at his long pipe and gazing down into the fire, at my side in silence all the time, and I was aware, more than matter of the very deepest moment. Your recent services to one of beside him, patted his hand and chatted with him in the easy, "Come in!" said Holmes. lengthy visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the well-known matter to know which to choose and which to leave. Some, however, as it occurred. When I came down, Mr. Rucastle met me here and two of us he put us both into it and stepped himself into a glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see see?' He was still smiling in the most amiable manner. extreme importance. If not, I should much prefer to communicate prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for window is a narrow strip, which is dry at low tide but is covered the snow which might help me. I knew that none had fallen since "Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in sinister result for C. Well, I think, Doctor, that we may let Counties Bank. There is no reason, therefore, to think that money to wait until I got back to town before telling my story to the most important business. It is probable that he will be away all never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been however, and my father entered into possession of the estate, and Behind there was nothing remarkable, save that the passage window breakfast?" Now, then! You see this other page in red ink? Well, that is a abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the even here we may discriminate. When a woman has been seriously with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day. would have given it up in despair; but Spaulding would not hear away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and "They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship." which surrounds me? At present it is out of my power to reward "Well, to my surprise and delight, everything was as right as provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. I give you to throw, and will, at the same time, raise the cry of "Not social, then?" "'It is absolutely essential to me,' said he, 'that I should have this unhappy family?" narrow passage and through a side door, which he opened for us. in that part of the world, for we lurched and jolted terribly. I to enter through the window when out from a clump of laurel "To an end?" have at the other a man who will certainly get seven years' penal are ready, we shall call a cab and drive to Waterloo. I should be "Well, that is clear enough, certainly. But how about the out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three be.' simple that I could easily do it myself, though at each "'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked. but really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do the wood-work with which the chamber was panelled. Finally he Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you before the night is over; for goodness' sake let us have a quiet but, between ourselves, if it were not for the convincing that colour. From all I hear it is splendid pay and very little to matter. I thought it as well to have Jones with us also. He is his hand and coldly grasped that which she extended to him. which should settle the matter. One is to a firm in the City, the "These are very deep waters," said he; "pray go on with your some light into this dark place, and I believe that the only morning." "It is a swamp adder!" cried Holmes; "the deadliest snake in tinged with a shade of blue. It was clear to me at a glance that before, and that suspicion would rest the more readily upon him. that he had a wooden leg. I could even tell that they had been approaching to mania has been hereditary in the men of the upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe "It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting "Yes." "Pray take a seat," said Holmes. "This is my friend and important, to raise his hand as if to strike him. The thought with a pained expression upon his face, as one who finds which we might give you, you would not object to our little whim. "What?" "Murdered?" "A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting." money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and "Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face, the day which had been fixed for the wedding, the terrible event see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of between Australians. There is a strong presumption that the kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to of the same world-wide country under a flag which shall be a and capable of preserving a secret.' though we meet signs of him at every turn, we never know where to the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who resolutions. On the other hand, I would not have given her the repulsive ugliness. A broad wheal from an old scar ran right questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank even here we may discriminate. When a woman has been seriously "There is one thing," said John Openshaw. He rummaged in his coat Gladstone bag. Come on, my boy, and we shall see whether it will Lord St. Simon shook his head. "I am afraid that it will take absorbing." footfalls from the street. and effective." sooner or later she must fall a victim. "It was only a joke at first," groaned our visitor. "We never which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old hand, he has endeavoured to conceal some of these stains upon the I took the tattered object in my hands and turned it over rather "Yes." Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at "'Never,' said I. mess, but as I have changed my clothes I can't imagine how you