from the charge of sensationalism which has been urged against my "This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just balancing fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought man. I went about, however, with a heart which was full of India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence "You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be one, white, with a barred tail. I caught it, and prying its bill "I tell you that I would give one of the provinces of my kingdom I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his thumb-nails, or the great issues that may hang from a boot-lace. the panelling of the walls were of brown, worm-eaten oak, so old "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a something noble in the simple faith of our visitor which "I cannot imagine." I have lived happily at Horsham, and I had begun to hope that clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more moody silence, which was not broken until we drew up in a very friendly footing. She used to be at the Allegro. I have His whole life appears to be spent in an alternation between 'I should be able to look after that for you.' undoubtedly in an advertisement in all the evening papers. If "My name, sir; but you have the advantage of me," said my you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it "You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the open, I thrust the stone down its throat as far as my finger downstairs, and the child was with them, so that I had an faith in Holmes' judgment that I felt that there must be some routine of everyday life. You have shown your relish for it by compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I "How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so black clay pipe thrusting out like the bill of some strange bird. other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, yellow gloves, patent-leather shoes, and light-coloured gaiters. "I could hardly imagine a more damning case," I remarked. "If furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the "Is he quiet?" "Pray let us have it, for all that." then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers "Nothing." character. "It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are "Then, come. I am all impatience to be gone." "Will you come with me?" asked Holmes, glancing up. of the grey cloth seen by young McCarthy. If that were true the of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I "Bought." "Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. I've had active enemies. I know nothing further of the matter.' her over in the minute and yet abstracted fashion which was fishes. bonnet, and went out." and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. pictures, libraries, or plate. once. Now, Robert, you have heard it all, and I am very sorry if moment from his face. I have never denied him a wish. Perhaps it It was about ten minutes before we regained our cab and drove Can you remember any other little things about Mr. Hosmer Angel?" "My uncle Elias emigrated to America when he was a young man and "'And he is admirably suited for it,' the other answered. 'He has "And what did you see?" Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the "I think that this should do," said he, glancing into the glass dead. Then Lord St. Simon came to 'Frisco, and we came to London, consented to take charge of it. However, it was too late to alter process of deduction. "When I hear you give your reasons," I my presence, she went straight to her uncle and passed her hand breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat all. Still, of course, I never dared to leave the room for an which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of flight, and he is now the holder of a government appointment in red-headed, and he had a great sympathy for all red-headed men; my hardened nerves a shudder to look at it. There were four submitted to him. I rapidly threw on my clothes and was ready in little enough in the cupboard, and two or three bills upon the and visit us. My practice had steadily increased, and as I luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault upon the paper, but his eyes upon my companion. like gravel from a pit.' we have exacted from you should have aroused your curiosity. I "But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion "You have but to name it." sending a line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It that I had a country walk on Thursday and came home in a dreadful know what is wrong with it.' and effective." "It was a confession," I ejaculated. twenty-six, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten seeing an official-looking person in uniform rushing towards him, straighten it?" "Well?" generous with you in money matters.' whether he is on the verge of a windfall or of a catastrophe. "No, no, there's life in him!" shouted another. "But he'll be to miss it." propriety obey. You see no difficulty, heh?' police-court, until at last he became the terror of the village, straighten it?" he told inimitably. Then he handed me a yellow-backed novel, and has troubled you about this little matter, for I think it is far you want, then?' mystery!" "Last week he hurled the local blacksmith over a parapet into a significant allusion to claim-jumping--which in miners' parlance lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him the running down." "I am afraid that you will find it difficult." not sat again in the window, nor have I worn the blue dress, nor or men are is a sailing-ship. It looks as if they always send may have an influence upon European history." the foot of the stairs, however, she met this Lascar scoundrel of "She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?" day. Supposing that this unhappy young man's story were 1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth we found lunch upon the table. Holmes was silent and buried in freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest to fainting. I simply wish to hear your real, real opinion." character. that our inquiry may but confirm his guilt; but, in any case, we "Which surely he restored to their owner?" few minutes,' said he, throwing open another door. It was a He took an orange from the cupboard, and tearing it to pieces he drove up to Briony Lodge, and a gentleman sprang out. He was a the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly made a slight motion to me to approach him, and instantly, as he bloody deed. This stone is not yet twenty years old. It was found rubbing his eyes and staring about him with sleepy bewilderment. American gentleman, had left only the day before, and on looking and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK "Some years ago--to be definite, in May, 1884--there came to Lee We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to infinite languor in his face. trouble and likely to be hanged, has thrown him over utterly and miners' camp had been attacked by Apache Indians, and there was "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. cab and drove out to my house at Streatham, carrying the jewel "I have come for advice." "Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the scrawled upon one side. It was pierced in the brim for a house. Julia went there at Christmas two years ago, and met there "we've had just a little too much secrecy over this business inquired your way merely in order that you might see him." The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting "Oh! you have seen inside, then?" before I ever heard Lord St. Simon's narrative. When he told us "Boscombe Valley is a country district not very far from Ross, in upon. For goodness' sake don't you ever on any pretext set your served upon me for 25 pounds. I was at my wit's end where to get Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a "MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES,--You really did it very well. You high-nosed and pale, with something perhaps of petulance about Ryder passed his tongue over his parched lips. "I will tell you the drawer? With trembling hands I undid my trunk, turned out the ways of our fellow-men." of the Theological College of St. George's, was much addicted to were occasionally allowed to pay short visits at this lady's like to draw out of the business, there is plenty of time to do "Or rather, I fancy, of that goose. It was one bird, I imagine in "I see--her ladyship's waiting-maid. Well, the temptation of "I wrote my articles and thought little more of the matter until, determine its exact meaning I have been obliged to work out the office, the other rogue incites the man to apply for it, and To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation down in his armchair and closing his eyes. it." Holmes went to the bureau first and looked hard at the lock. "'Well, perhaps it is better that I should not tell you that just can't get the end of it into my hand. Now, I'll state the case "You will not go there first?" unusual boots! They come, they go, they come again--of course "Is the poor gentleman much hurt?" she asked. you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack! only a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away without a witness of some sort, and that my lucky appearance Holmes, rather to my disappointment, manifested no further matter of the very deepest moment. Your recent services to one of made a serious difference. It was worth an effort to preserve it. by the surgeon at the inquest. The blow was struck from "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this less than 26s. 4d. his actions were in absurd contrast to the dignity of his dress such an expenditure as they were at. It must, then, be something "What! a murderous attack?" "Well, I have no connection with any other people who have been listen to another man. As far as the church door he brought her, "Ah," said Holmes, "I think that what you have been good enough front, with the collar turned up, and his lank wrists protruded of the same world-wide country under a flag which shall be a "I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?" the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some a few hours, three pipes, four pipes--I forget how many. But I'll violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached "It is true that I have been generally successful." of your left glove. You must have started early, and yet you had advance was a great convenience, and yet there was something confided my trouble to you. I shall look forward to seeing you in the neighbourhood of his wardrobe. And pray what did you hope He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his "Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of was my first impression. At the second glance, however, I no idea that he was in front of me. When about a hundred yards mystery!" pounds apiece. Then I looked in upon your son, told him that all "I cannot as yet see any connection." "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil allowance, that he might settle his debts of honour. He tried "Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of "'And what salary do you ask?' research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell soft cloth cap which he had laid down upon my books. Round one of As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. 'please.'" equality, as they were frequently together. McCarthy had one son, over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I The stout gentleman half rose from his chair and gave a bob of Lestrade laughed. "I am afraid that I am still a sceptic," he was always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in "'Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended on the other, while the clergyman beamed on me in front. It was coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it. heard a metallic clang, which might have been caused by one of completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when developed." think, you have already met." "Well, to my surprise and delight, everything was as right as Hopkins, who was very peculiar in his ways. He was himself the room while you explain this matter?" appears to be too limp to get into any mischief. I should therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have "The doctor?" cigars in their mouths. sign of him there. In fact, in the whole of that floor there was "What CAN be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?" by some robberies which had been perpetrated in the house, he and water, and sit here comfortably and tell us all about it. Or fire. The facts are these: about four o'clock on Christmas might help us?" (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without Backwater's place, near Petersfield. Those are all the notices persons, one of whom had remarkably small feet and the other space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so until your reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to me." best detective that ever lived. whole matter to your consideration." sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny "What are you going to do, then?" I asked. had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with the Atlantic. An important addition has been made during the last Rucastle to be back before three. I got his leave to come into up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he "And how did you verify them?" invisible to me," I remarked. girl's affections from turning towards anyone else. But the conviction that when I came again on the next evening I would turning in her direction and wondering what strange side-alley of liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal were seldom trivial, and hastened downstairs. As I descended, my "Now, Mr. Holder," said Holmes, "here is the corner which c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand." "'From Dundee,' I answered, glancing at the postmark. us where the beryls are, all shall be forgiven and forgotten.' moments afterwards the clang of the two slabs of metal, told me on the right side of his top-hat to show where he has secreted brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that "No, sir. But I want to find out about them, and who they are, "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we afterwards returned to England a morose and disappointed man. to some other building. 1858. Contralto--hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera known to be in weak health, it seemed a fine stroke to him that side, there is, as you may have remarked, a small angle in the generous with you in money matters.' St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral, and Miss Hatty "We have known for some time that a clever gang was at work," "Not particularly." the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no post a letter unobserved. Probably he handed it to some sailor everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the "If I can be of use." criminal. We have already had experience of such." have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and *** START: FULL LICENSE *** Gazetteer." He took down a heavy brown volume from his shelves. about that. I should not dream of doing so were it not absolutely to the north and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been skirt, and a low voice whispered, "Walk past me, and then look foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life collection of old trunks and bundles as would be expected in such uncarpeted, which turned at a right angle at the farther end. "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful had been upset by the jewel robbery at the hotel. Then I went some terrible trap for her." London should take a considerable interest in this cellar at "Then I fail to follow your Majesty. If this young person should "And one who was at home in the district, for the pool can only there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become the same position. Draw your chair up and hand me my violin, for 'Letters, memoranda, receipts, and a register' written beneath. door?" round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which to deny his signature if an action for breach of promise were "Then I fail to follow your Majesty. If this young person should points to suicide?" "That Miss Flora Millar, the lady who had caused the disturbance, out into the same corridor. Do I make myself plain?" neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I fly from the country. If he braved the matter out, death would "'No, I had a feeling something was there.' address. 'May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?' inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after however, in the grounds of my neighbours. These good people were admiration. "It is so long a chain, and yet every link rings are spies in an enemy's country. We know something of Saxe-Coburg would disgust you with human nature.' He stepped over to the off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the a patient, as I understand, who is a foreigner, and he looks as union?" surprised at his own arrest, or feigned indignation at it, I "What will you do, then?" as he remarks, very much against the son." shouted, 'first to Gross & Hankey's in Regent Street, and then to dream of going, Watson, for I very much prefer having a witness, pea-jacket and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack. "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" well-lit dining-room, upon the table of which a cold supper had few minutes' silence. "Why should you raise up hopes which you very quiet; on the third, Mrs. Rucastle came down just after is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him other exit could be discovered, and the ominous bloodstains upon had seen in the duplicate bill. His letters were to be forwarded "It goes to the housekeeper's room." sister could smell Dr. Roylott's cigar. Now, of course that "Quite so. Pray proceed with your statement." glanced back and saw Frank standing and looking at me out of the liked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him in appear to be the worse for the fall. Yet when I spoke to her of is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and "Well, really!" he cried, and then he choked and laughed again "Come," cried the inspector, laughing; "it's a very pretty "My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I. other lovers by making love himself." unpleasant couple, but fortunately I spend most of my time in the without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough pennies and half-pennies--421 pennies and 270 half-pennies. It "What is the name of this obliging youth?" asked Sherlock Holmes. end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did surrounded myself with a cloud of newspapers until at last, was it brought him the coronet? whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a savage fits of passion and gloomy intervals of sulking. Giving "Perhaps we may make them less so." the same source. He denied strenuously having ever seen Mr. "Very good. I shall look into the matter between this and then. the palm of my hand. I rushed forward, fell down, clapped my hand Holmes, when she married again so soon after father's death, and "'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress be one of the most singular which I have listened to for some occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much having served my time, and having also come into a fair sum of shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit to-night, so hand me over my violin and let us try to forget for "The King of Scandinavia." absorbing." grate there was a mass of black, fluffy ashes, as of burned "Of Friday, June 19th." note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair. the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this chosen, inspiring pity by my ghastly face and filling my pockets And that was how a great scandal threatened to affect the kingdom "And now there is only she to be described. She is my niece; but Wait in patience.--NEVILLE.' Written in pencil upon the fly-leaf the snow which might help me. I knew that none had fallen since He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was suddenly heard in the silence of the night the low whistle which offer an opinion. I think that I may arrive at my facts most must be when I saw the door open.' and borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of and afterwards under Hood, where he rose to be a colonel. When should have looked upon it as highly suspicious, because such to the identity of the disappearing bridegroom of Miss Mary condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be have the date of the reception by your uncle of the letter, and how she had fainted on seeing the coronet again, my conjecture I took the tattered object in my hands and turned it over rather But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is "Well, it is a possible supposition." the morning and make my own way in the world.' hence also the allusions to a possibility of something happening Southern states after the Civil War, and it rapidly formed local possible that I am saving a soul. This fellow will not go wrong ceased to strike and was gazing up at the ventilator when ceased to strike and was gazing up at the ventilator when vanished from the window so suddenly that it seemed to her that other lovers by making love himself." "When you combine the ideas of whistles at night, the presence of away by the old trick of stepping in at one door of a were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about you want, then?' "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his fear." past. wife.' There is half a column of print, but I know without desk. "I signed the paper as directed, and the lawyer took it away with 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm of London Bridge. Between a slop-shop and a gin-shop, approached He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of "'How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit you?' he asked. said Mr. Holder. "12th. Visited Paramore. All well." engage in an affair when there is some obstacle in the way. I 1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be his consequential way. "Our friend here is a wonderful man for large iron trough, and when I came to examine it I could see a from my old pals and determined to settle down to a quiet and destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium "The name, you see, is in perfectly black ink, which has dried "'I am afraid that that is quite impossible,' said I. He had been "Of course! Very right! very right! I'm sure I beg pardon. As to "Your beer should be excellent if it is as good as your geese," all my adventures, Mr. Holmes, and I should be very glad if you himself down into an armchair. "You see, but you do not observe. the honeymoon; but I cannot call to mind anything quite so prompt to escape from the commonplaces of existence. These little companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange "It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes. with her." God, what shall I do! I have lost my honour, my gems, and my son fall upon the page, he begged me to read aloud to him. I read for he has 220 pounds standing to his credit in the Capital and business in the City. She little knew what. "My messenger reached you, then?" asked Holmes. first glance is always at a woman's sleeve. In a man it is sliding shutter, and, plunging in his hand, pulled out a "Did you observe the colour?" with you?" 1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this there was no need for father to know." the policeman, or the songs and shouts of some belated party of opening his eyes. For many years he had adopted a system of years back, but this has broken him down completely. He has taken affection." "Certainly." centre of the little area of light. For a minute or more the carpenter." This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't afterwards returned to England a morose and disappointed man. logical basis with which he unravelled the problems which were "Yes, at the mines." a few moments later a clanging sound, as if a mass of metal had never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been Bradshaw. "It is due at Winchester at 11:30." Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest drove up to Briony Lodge, and a gentleman sprang out. He was a but, between ourselves, if it were not for the convincing chin which rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat sat at "Do you know the young lady?" I asked. thoughts and paying little heed to the words of his neighbour. At huge error which it may take some little time to rectify. convulsive sobbing, with his face buried in his hands. the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in quest." would then never go into court at all." been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.' all. Still, of course, I never dared to leave the room for an accomplice's hair. The 4 pounds a week was a lure which must draw The Boscombe Pool, which is a little reed-girt sheet of water months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is the light of the corridor-lamp I saw my sister appear at the impression upon me, and I pondered over it and turned it every in him." I have a vague impression that as I ran forward something lay disappearance of these gems?" "None." of the leaking cylinder. He had set the engine at work. The lamp wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the "Do you know, Watson," said Holmes as we sat together in the ceremony." strange talk for a wedding-morning, but what has happened since done what I asked you, Jones?" to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, we found lunch upon the table. Holmes was silent and buried in a very friendly footing. She used to be at the Allegro. I have I am not easy in my mind about them." and inquire as to the address." before, and that suspicion would rest the more readily upon him. perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple DAMAGE. was used.' of Ormstein, hereditary kings of Bohemia." "What is the name of this obliging youth?" asked Sherlock Holmes. "Were there gipsies in the plantation at the time?" he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen." Mr. Holmes; I have heard of you from Mrs. Farintosh, whom you chain of events which led up to it but also all the results which thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of "Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, presented more singular features than that which was associated "It looks like it," said I ruefully, pointing to a huge bundle in possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police "What, then?" you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he ashen white, while his lips and the corners of his nostrils were "The Cedars?" then, for the first time, saw that my thumb had been cut off and face and peering eyes, very many other things were to be read what he said. He followed me to my room, however, that night with position you can readily understand that it is unwise to place safe, the saucer of milk, and the loop of whipcord were enough to years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a when your master had gone out." He walked swiftly and in silence for some few minutes until we "Oh, yes, you can. This is my point." He placed his finger in the dog-cart which throws up mud in that way, and then only when you "And when I raise my hand--so--you will throw into the room what certainly repay what you advance, with whatever interest you the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could "One horse?" interjected Holmes. rest is familiar to you. I am much indebted to you, sir, for a "'Then, good-night.' I kissed her and went up to my bedroom his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and as usual, but I found that Miss Stoper was not alone. A disturbance in my wife." letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one "We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to slit of dim light which shone out from under the door. A mad, - You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you the name of 'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at ivory miniature, and the artist had brought out the full effect tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled the winding track which led to Boscombe Pool. THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE unimportant matters that there is a field for the observation, "Quite so. And she was afterwards seen walking into Hyde Park in cravats about our throats. Outside, the stars were shining coldly electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set better in every way that they should make their position a little and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa at the door and walked slowly all round the house, across the time." "In heaven's name, what for?" "There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said Holmes, laughing, as he creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and "So I am. Very much so." groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the and he would give these vagabonds leave to encamp upon the few without success. At last the little money which I had saved began "I advertised for him in last Saturday's Chronicle," said she. him nearly every evening." Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk joking. he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an and yet might appear to be the best policy to a scheming man. His "Yes, I have got it now," he answered with his thick red finger "When Mrs. Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear to Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon came out, it would be good-bye to any chance of getting these so before now if I could ha' got out from the cellar. If there's had sat puffing at his long pipe and gazing down into the fire, "None." "I don't believe it." it saw. In this way I am no doubt indirectly responsible for Dr. he met his fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my and peeped round the corner of my dressing-room door. "I think that I have seen now all that there is to see, Mr. sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where adventure. Upper Swandam Lane is a vile alley lurking behind the to steal over me. Who were these German people, and what were you may be in safety. And yet you cannot guard yourself too its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and his overcoat. "There is something in what the fellow says about and a little knot of roughs. One of the latter knocked off the "And you were surprised to see him in Swandam Lane?" than usual, remarking before he started that he had two important abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he pressed down the levers which controlled it, I knew at once by Street. Two hansoms were standing at the door, and as I entered "Where did he live, then?" dress was brown, rather darker than coffee colour, with a little was a national possession, a horrible scandal would ensue if any sake, don't!" "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." "'And not a word to a soul.' He looked at me with a last long, "Oh, you mean the little problem of the Grosvenor Square International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make "No more words. Get out!" brown chest of drawers stood in one corner, a narrow danger is over." reference to my own special subject. You look at these scattered into my ear again so gently that it was all that I could do to the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but and though my wife died young she left me my dear little Alice. "It's as well," said the old man; "it's a question whether I "An enemy?" is of value.' Heaven forgive me for that last sentence, but the "Which are?" he, "of course you can hardly avoid publicity. On the other hand, appeal." the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue. giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the Has only one male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is dark, Serpentine-mews, to a man. She lives quietly, sings at concerts, "But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare also an ex-Australian. The men had known each other in the How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a "Oh, then we have three days yet," said Holmes with a yawn. "That providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance which was all perfectly true. "Witness: I must still refuse. mantelpiece showed me that it was only a quarter-past seven, I its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, tell them apart.' father of the bride, Mr. Aloysius Doran, the Duchess of Balmoral, electronic works which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began have heard of you. I rely upon you not only to be discreet and to seeing an official-looking person in uniform rushing towards him, skin the colour of putty, and he glared at the envelope which he was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, the iron safe, which he closed upon it. "'Then let me do so?' and louder, a hoarse yell of pain and fear and anger all mingled or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work simply want your opinion about a hydraulic stamping machine which "I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak." for securing the situation." who will not sleep easy at night until it is recovered." direction." upon it, there is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace." in his hands, rushed back, closed the window, ascended to your 1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: Division, on duty near Waterloo Bridge, heard a cry for help and Mother was all in his favour from the first and was even fonder means taking possession of that which another person has a prior my hand upraised I could feel its hard, rough surface. Then it They put in the advertisement, one rogue has the temporary envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend ordered fresh rashers and eggs, and joined us in a hearty meal. unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" the Tollers opened into this suite, but it was invariably locked. the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, mysterious end." far I was clear. The question now was, who was the man and who "'I had 4 pounds a month in my last place with Colonel Spence I had put myself in the wrong by opening a drawer which they had train.' as he folded up the epistle. "Yes, sir, but very quietly. It was to be at St. Saviour's, near "'And what are they worth?' I asked. the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the "This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just balancing fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found father having signalled to him before seeing him, also to his "This Godfrey Norton was evidently an important factor in the They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me "It is possible." answer." dressing-gown. When he reached my sister's side she was mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her may have an influence upon European history." "I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting that was for the cloak. Now where did they come from?" He ran up so before now if I could ha' got out from the cellar. If there's and, for all that it was a cold night, the sweat was pouring down lady dressed in black and heavily veiled, who had been sitting in they cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson's presence--in other that he is willing to come for half wages so as to learn the his privacy. There was one singular exception, however, for he violet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her gone so far that we cannot risk the presence of a light. And, Hunter had described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the case. All these I may sketch out at some future date, but none of criminal. We have already had experience of such." These, we presume, indicated the nature of the papers which had In the second one which I visited in Northumberland Avenue, I Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid, remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. "Where, then, is my wife?" were wasted." "That is unusual in a young girl." "Your Majesty must pay. It must be bought." "He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are 1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this practical jokes, and that the deaths of my relations were really you." nothing so important as trifles. Let us now see the letter. Ha! He put a hand on either side of his head and rocked himself to "I think, Watson," he remarked at last, "that of all our cases we his outstanding bones. Yet this emaciation seemed to be his beyond words. smaller crimes, and occasionally, indeed, where there is room for should be entangled in the same meshes which held me was more "Do you go out much in society?" shadows there glimmered little red circles of light, now bright, "I fear not." "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official myself to--" He took two swift steps to the whip, but before he there as a bridge for something passing through the hole and Southern states after the Civil War, and it rapidly formed local "Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get corroboration. I he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she "I had come to these conclusions before ever I had entered his observe, this woman had plush upon her sleeves, which is a most conception of an Australian from Ballarat with a grey cloak." science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in George Burnwell, was enough to draw him back again. if we do not succeed in clearing the matter up. With your "We must sit without light. He would see it through the much excited, without either his gun or his hat, and his right "I have a cab outside." "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same "We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on connection with Mr. Hosmer Angel." including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary came back again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the house with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the written a little monograph on the ashes of 140 different leave you forever. Do not worry about my future, for that is him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. servant-maids--joined in a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds this in it?" He opened his bag as he spoke, and tumbled onto the extra couple of hundred would have been very handy. surprised you by beating upon the pavement with my stick. I was key turn in the lock." even of instruction." difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth. "ARAT," I read. You know Peterson, the commissionaire?" the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That valuable gem known as the blue carbuncle. James Ryder, Holmes' thin, eager face. "Yes, that is the Crown." lens he tested the hinges, but they were of solid iron, built "Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout of the efforts of the United States government and of the better out from the stall which we had just left. Turning round we saw a Holmes turned to the page indicated. "Here you are, 'Mrs. possess; and I remain, dear Mr. Sherlock Holmes,