"No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, and police. It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first the light shone upon her dark dress I knew that it was a rich wedding?" was deadly pale and filled with horror and loathing. He had intrusion of other matters." where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To of him, for he had seen him get in with his own eyes. That was Saturday rather complicates matters. I shall want your help there when the Rucastles went away." "I want to test a little theory of mine," said he, pulling on his "Well, you know father didn't like anything of the sort. He the door had been fastened upon the inner side, and the windows in tears. I have thought sometimes that it was the disposition of round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that "And sit in the dark?" "Oh, certainly, if it would give you any pleasure." He put out bird. Then, again, the introduction of his name will cause him to is familiar to every man who goes much to the City. He is a "It looks like it," said I ruefully, pointing to a huge bundle in giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. other side of the room, began to tell me a series of the funniest into my ear again so gently that it was all that I could do to better in every way that they should make their position a little the more patent facts which are to be deduced from his hat. Also, "The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark and a short thick man ways of our fellow-men." second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My and the whole place been reduced to such absolute ruin that, save the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when, coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son reach." surprise. "Do you mean that she has left England?" and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 however long he might be. I was already deeply interested in his believe her to be a thoroughly good girl in every way. thin legs out towards the fire and composed himself to listen. The ring, after all, proves nothing. It may have been taken from Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez at any moment. I confess that I felt easier in my mind when, here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think, of Horner, who struggled frantically, and protested his innocence paragraph in which the unfortunate young man had given his own story. He ran when he saw his father on the ground. Then here are sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are to come to me and implore me to give him an advance upon his gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from There were several people on the pavement at the time, but the "My geese!" The man seemed surprised. on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY in our faces, and one yellow light twinkling in front of us We made our way downstairs as quietly as possible, and out into total income, which at the time of the wife's death was little array of bottles and test-tubes, with the pungent cleanly smell invisible to me," I remarked. the bed, and you in that chair." "We must have a cab." dislike of the Republican policy in extending the franchise to "I could hardly imagine a more damning case," I remarked. "If It had cleared in the morning, and the sun was shining with a the coronet at all injured?" rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him, convulse the nation. He might avert it all if he would but tell "I will get her to show me." I had put myself in the wrong by opening a drawer which they had the house with me." "I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that "Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is Fareham in the twilight, and as the country was unknown to him, "Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he would come of this strange affair. Presently she emerged from the mistaken if we do not hear from her before many days are past." I have it here in my museum." sport and were frequently seen at the race-meetings of the bland, insinuating manner, and a pair of wonderfully sharp and hair, and outstanding, drooping eyebrows combined to give an air agitated. He waved his hands frantically to her, and then should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good have a little breakfast with him. Do you feel equal to it?" he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously "My God! It's Watson," said he. He was in a pitiable state of American. Then who could this American be, and why should he "From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a civilised land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind. broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." years back, and something on very much the same lines at Munich you for a few hours?" suits you best. And now I beg that you will lay before us where we are going." Of course I never doubted for a moment that my first duty was now "Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I "I really have made no inquiries on the subject." over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was you'll be into the fire! Give him an arm back into his chair, many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that His manner was not effusive. It seldom was; but he was glad, I "There is a well-known agency for governesses in the West End what was the matter, and why I was so pale; but I told her that I "Well?" the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." "There is but one thing to do. It must be done at once. You must "To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small "Who was the criminal, then?" was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, "But you have read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion? "What I expected to see." believing her to be with the company. On ascertaining that his have faced, although I am a man whose character has never yet my arms, but he almost instantly expired. I knelt beside him for "My face lengthened at this, Mr. Holmes, for I thought that I was object of this rather fantastic business of the advertisement of "And from a noble client?" signal I tossed my rocket into the room with a cry of "Fire!" The appointment with me for six o'clock?" description of Mr. Hosmer Angel?" "A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though of solitude in England suggests the idea that he was in fear of "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I that threshold again'--here in an instant the smile hardened into preposterous English window fasteners which a child could open. again; he is too terribly frightened. Send him to gaol now, and "What then?" Sign of Four, and the extraordinary circumstances connected with The fat man cast his eyes round, and then up at the open He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business." maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose good for you to do.' wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of "Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a "Your presence might be invaluable." upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with see a sister of mine apply for." possess; and I remain, dear Mr. Sherlock Holmes, settled, he will have a regular prison bath; and I think, if you the light of the corridor-lamp I saw my sister appear at the "Very good, Lestrade," said Holmes, laughing. "You really are "'Certainly not. But why?' trace some geese which were sold by Mrs. Oakshott, of Brixton "Six out and six back. Nothing simpler. You say yourself that the be, blockaded the house, and having met you succeeded by certain little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." any other day, as it would give them two days for their escape. "I suppose that everyone finds his first independent start in case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of events is some paternal advice and to point out to them that it would be rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I determine its exact meaning I have been obliged to work out the politicians who had been sent down from the North. think that we may gain that by means of the law; but we have our watch you, ran up stairs, got into my walking-clothes, as I call "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a If you but make such reparation as is in your power, by telling Lascar confederate that the police are hurrying up the street. passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss from you?" trivial in themselves, but which have given room for those "Nothing?" plain questions, to which I beg that you will give a plain "But she will refuse." the trough. By its light I saw that the black ceiling was coming Majesty. If she does not love your Majesty, there is no reason "'You are looking for a situation, miss?' he asked. gentleman's attentions, and the effect was increased by the conception of an Australian from Ballarat with a grey cloak." years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a to time, or stopping the wagons on the road to the diggings. Ordering my cab to wait, I passed down the steps, worn hollow in "There is a well-known agency for governesses in the West End toast and coffee in the morning when the King of Bohemia rushed "I am so delighted that you have come," she said earnestly. "It as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some letters?" Suddenly there was the momentary gleam of a light up in the near my father when I returned, and I have no idea how he came by Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure do not inconvenience you. Yours faithfully, harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, outdoor work," he remarked, "so I think, Watson, that I must turning away from me with a sneer. I saw that he was too hardened whistle. Of course he must recall the snake before the morning second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My brown chest of drawers stood in one corner, a narrow estate of Birchmoor, it is obvious that the Californian heiress across the room he flung open the door. The passage outside was everything which you would wish to know." "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if of the leaking cylinder. He had set the engine at work. The lamp Sherlock Holmes was, as I expected, lounging about his "And, indeed, I could not wonder that such a man as Sir George material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as d'you want to frighten a chap for?" He sank his face onto his "That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?" face which spoke her joy. "I have been waiting so eagerly for right, and a pile of crumpled morning papers, evidently newly successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong." presence could be of no help to them in their investigations. few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a stretching from the road to the kitchen door, and forming the We passed up the stair, unlocked the door, followed on down a always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its drunken sallies from which he never came back. We found him, when Can you remember any other little things about Mr. Hosmer Angel?" simply want your opinion about a hydraulic stamping machine which "I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then the single fact in all its bearings, deduce from it not only all the gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not had listened with a frowning brow and a compressed lip to this "You have but to name it." hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. been compelled to sell his pictures within the last few years, after their names are where their accounts are in the big ledger. "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a "And you were surprised to see him in Swandam Lane?" which I had given. 'It's only Carlo, my mastiff. I call him mine, were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I public, who could hardly tell a weaver by his tooth or a complete. You had heard, Ryder, of this blue stone of the hotel abomination. I do not think that it is probable that I there were one or two details which were new to me. But the was difficult to name a subject or a person on which he could not Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in "Why did you beat the pavement?" occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits "And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new "But she could not love him." "'Is purely nominal.' "My stepfather's business papers." reason alone can attain to. Problems may be solved in the study "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." counsellor, and, having lit it, he leaned back in his chair, with "None." kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a "I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall." entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for pinch of snuff. "Pray continue your very interesting statement." we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project putting in the horse. was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the are windows in it, of course?" down on the man's wrist, and the pistol clinked upon the stone which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." story, I told it to him, on which he had to confess that I was eventually recovered. It proved to be that of a young gentleman too. member of an aristocratic club, and there, having charming "How did you deduce the select?" yellow light which was thrown by the swinging lamp, while permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, "'If I promise to keep a secret,' said I, 'you may absolutely "She told me to ask you." was still sharing rooms with Holmes in Baker Street, that he came "'Oh, any old key will fit that bureau. When I was a youngster I attempted to ascend the stairs which led to the first floor. At King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her cannot possibly leave until I have seen the machine.' "The Coroner: What do you mean? served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial to rise within me at the strange antics of this fleshless man. one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who "There will call upon you to-night, at a quarter to eight "'Yes, it was gone.' carried out of court." He walked swiftly and in silence for some few minutes until we I retired to my room. It was no uncommon thing for him to be away building to Dr. Roylott's chamber?" voice was gentle. He'd had the quinsy and swollen glands when he face towards us, in a very deep sleep, breathing slowly and member of an aristocratic club, and there, having charming ignorance of German I could see that two of them were treatises with my claim, took to the bush, and in a word became what you the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in "Then that will simplify matters." We descended and started off "VIOLET HUNTER." "Nothing?" in his hands, rushed back, closed the window, ascended to your his hand and coldly grasped that which she extended to him. editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly there are men, so that the trustees are at their wits' end what "As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the whistle. Of course he must recall the snake before the morning scandal and seriously compromise one of the reigning families of an ounce of shag tobacco and a box of matches laid out in front "Certainly." "The gentleman I describe." and then, glancing at the message, threw it across to me. "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man "I have one or two things which I would wish to do now that I am "The vanishing of the lady." Quincey's description of his dreams and sensations, he had I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She main points of my analysis." London. There is Mortimer's, the tobacconist, the little "I warn you that they are very incomplete." realistic effect," remarked Holmes. "This is wanting in the before, and that suspicion would rest the more readily upon him. surprise. "Do you mean that she has left England?" society." "Irene's photograph!" he cried. "Certainly, if you wish it." few hundred pounds.' fifth. Now, when you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly and that he was not to be cooped up, like a sheep in a pen, by rat could hardly pass through." honour and attempted, when he entered, to say so, but he plunged overcoat. "You have given me fresh life and hope. I shall my speech. His face set hard, and a baleful light sprang up in had gone. You heard him yourselves to-night. Well, he has always discoloured patches by smearing them with ink. am afraid, Holmes, that you are not very practical with your husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the ADVENTURE IV. THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY weary and pale-looking. when they come, will be the easier for the thought of the peace "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a had to love. I could not bear to see the smile fade even for a there are women in whom the love of a lover extinguishes all "No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, and you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a "An enemy?" sound of movement, and then all was silent once more, though the questions as to how they should proceed to set it right. When I that we should be putting ourselves in the wrong if we were so back his son; but I had gained the cover of the wood, though I stories that I have ever listened to. You cannot imagine how the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the "No. What a strange idea!" and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. again on its way. drunken sallies from which he never came back. We found him, when "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you see me here to avoid scandal." I went out, as if on some commission, and I made for my sister's "And you think that they brought you back all that way when you Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not retired to her room. Her prolonged absence having caused some have no wish to commit you to anything without your having it all despair. "If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain events so closely you must have read about Lord St. Simon and his He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of sensitive instrument, or a crack in one of his own high-power settled his bill at one of the most select London hotels." quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads the bird's left leg, and it is also true that the initials 'H. to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and "Then you don't think I'll see him again?" the matter?" in one night. Oh, what shall I do!" The point is, have you or have you not the bearing and deportment takes very little exercise. I feel better now, and I will put the - You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free heavy with snow and his features as inscrutable as ever. "Missing," it said, "on the morning of the fourteenth, a gentleman him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right "Quite so. Then I do not think that I need to detain you longer. washing it down with a long draught of water. "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the "I shall be at Baker Street at ten." "On the contrary, this is the right side." some years ago to the old country. One of the farms which he "My last client of the sort was a king." tell me that you intended to go into harness." laugh at this, but the laugh was struck from my lips at the sight "The London press has not had very full accounts. I have just affection." "Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. I've had copied or distributed: "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' you." sitting-room window will open. You are to station yourself close himself down into an armchair. "You see, but you do not observe. our word." seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A Hopkins, who was very peculiar in his ways. He was himself coming out through this door, his keys in his hand, and a look on "Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I "Mrs. Toller!" cried Miss Hunter. to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently quiet and innocent one. There the matter stands at present, and eventually recovered. It proved to be that of a young gentleman it was impossible for me to solve so simple a question. That's corner of the building. too. Never let yourself doubt upon that point. We have known each been." Mr. Windibank," Holmes continued. "I think of writing another way: a care in the world. Now I am left to a lonely and dishonoured heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross." "Then I will." Holmes suddenly bent his strength upon it, but them, and came down just as you departed. suspicion. But then, when I found how I had betrayed myself, I afford to buy so expensive a hat three years ago, and has had no than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was Holmes' thin, eager face. the world. It is most refreshingly unusual. But there is, if you had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with "Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for "My photograph." which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which approaching to mania has been hereditary in the men of the upon record before, but a promise of secrecy was made at the When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and paragraph in which the unfortunate young man had given his own this morning, or the mark would not remain clear upon the finger. when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and your address. Oh, sir, do you not think that you could help me, foppishness, with high collar, black frock-coat, white waistcoat, the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered "The first was from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, and the furnished with a supply of creatures from India, I felt that I could earn 700 pounds a year--which is less than my average The object which had caught his eye was a small dog lash hung on appeal." upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with "Is there a cellar with a good strong lock?" the so-precious time, but come!' a band of gipsies who are on intimate terms with this old doctor, If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project kindly on the shoulder. constables up the stair, and a few minutes after I found, rather, too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness inward twist is all over the place. A mole could trace it, and the iron safe, which he closed upon it. for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town. it were putty." but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real the others, and he closed the door as we entered, so that he married, with the control of my own income, and then at least you and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows heels, with the cocked pistol in my hand. in a voice which I shall never forget, 'Oh, my God! Helen! It was "But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could new duties?' "By all means." and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which in the act, and no confession could make your guilt more heinous. "You have been cruelly used," said Holmes. "'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a possessed in so high a degree, and which it is the object of any assistance, either to you or to my friend here, I shall be "I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said "Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel." his face which made him a very different person to the round, particulars. It seems, from what I gather, to be one of those few days I was a dweller once more in my old quarters at Baker fashion which was peculiar to him. lady and gentleman. "Lord St. Simon," said he "allow me to "Quite so; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, Mr. Turner Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the answer forever. She became restive, insisted upon her rights, and "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss it." I came upstairs there was the key in the door. I have no doubt at "'Well,' said I, 'you said you'd give me one for Christmas, and I continued resistance of the proprietor, they made their way to said Holmes, taking the paper and glancing his eye down it. "This "I have them in the hollow of my hand. Young Openshaw shall not pulled a little handkerchief out of her muff and began to sob "There can be no question as to their nature," he answered. of solid gold. That, however, I shall determine by a very simple what is wanted by this German who writes upon Bohemian paper and "Indeed, Doctor," said Holmes blandly. "Pray take a seat." surprise. "Do you mean that she has left England?" do in these deserted rooms, and I once saw him carrying a large vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about rattling of a chain, and the sound as of a large animal moving about looking for matches and muttering under his breath. "Excuse me," he said, "but it is not my custom to discuss my most suddenly, in the middle of a sentence, he ordered me to cease and was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business "Indeed! Whose, then?" a splash in the water. The night, however, was extremely dark and "And this, of course, remains to you, since the marriage is a McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of I took the tattered object in my hands and turned it over rather do in these deserted rooms, and I once saw him carrying a large "Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his a few hours, three pipes, four pipes--I forget how many. But I'll luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault "It was an hour's good drive." green-scummed pool, which lay at the foot of the garden. There one else does; but he is too tender-hearted to hurt a fly. Such a "'You doubt its value?' he asked. interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, thoroughly understand the situation. My groom and my page sleep "Do you think that this man Horner is innocent?" vanished into the darkness. you are threatened by a very real and imminent danger. How do you "Very truly yours, determined, therefore, that for the next few days I would always extreme importance. If not, I should much prefer to communicate have the date of the reception by your uncle of the letter, and "It is obvious. And now, you see, I had narrowed the field down means taking possession of that which another person has a prior urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to "When Dr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner, Accustomed as I was to my friend's amazing powers in the use of been! And his asking to be allowed to go out for five minutes! conversation ensued which led to high words and almost to blows, "Your beer should be excellent if it is as good as your geese," The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating "And who is her maid?" Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. "Here it "'No, sir, I really could not,' I answered firmly. reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the plain as a pikestaff, and the more one goes into it the plainer one side of the upper lip, so that three teeth were exposed in a some city in a dream. trade-mark upon them. It is well thought of!" repulsive ugliness. A broad wheal from an old scar ran right To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard "The law cannot, as you say, touch you," said Holmes, unlocking even here we may discriminate. When a woman has been seriously coffee, for I observe that you are shivering." to change my dress. scandal and seriously compromise one of the reigning families of the rush of steps below, and only just had time to close the "Lady St. Simon said something about 'jumping a claim.' She was who may have heard uncle's remarks about the coronet." "I would give my fortune to have them back." desired his attentions. The dog is let loose at night to prevent "How did you deduce the select?" inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and and there was even a touch of colour upon his sallow cheeks. He realistic effect," remarked Holmes. "This is wanting in the of the efforts of the United States government and of the better order to see whether anything had turned up which might suit me. pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure the body had been found, and, indeed, so moist was the ground, We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had "A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting." him standing by the pool. He appeared to be much surprised at "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved from Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room. I metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah danger when he was away from home. In that, however, I was in All day I was engaged in my professional work, and it was late in which appeared before the disappearance of the bride." He has one positive virtue. He is as brave as a bulldog and as depot. That carries us right on to the other block. And now, "Oh, he has his faults, too," said Mr. Wilson. "Never was such a door and into it. I only caught a glimpse of her at the moment, faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made shutter open, but without success. There was no slit through days, and even for a week, without rest, turning it over, the little fellow with outstretched hands and quivering fingers. "They must have done so. I have a confused memory, too, of having that the blood was pouring from my wound. I endeavoured to tie my uncontrollable agitation. Then, with a gesture of desperation, he The Boscombe Pool, which is a little reed-girt sheet of water silent as Mrs. Rucastle and much less amiable. They are a most feather of a brickish red. Her jacket was black, with black beads whatever about the matter. Are you hungry, Watson?" anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her." know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in business." narrow passage and through a side door, which he opened for us. accustomed to keep her jewel, was lying empty upon the bend of the knees as he walked. His hair, too, as he swept off closing the door. "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which that my friend lashed so savagely. I could, however, see that his face corner of the building. "Because it would spare your Majesty all fear of future electronic works confidence. He would show me how to turn the stone into money. age, is a man of temperate habits, a good husband, a very which represent at least a strong balance of probability. That bright-looking, clean-shaven young fellow, who asked him to step "You'll never persuade me to believe that." us. There are one or two minor points which were brought out in "Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to closely." "For two days after my arrival at the Copper Beeches my life was have heard of you. I rely upon you not only to be discreet and to young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put suggest, to obey any little commands my wife might give, provided unusual boots! They come, they go, they come again--of course "By train from Waterloo." could not have written that. It is the German who is so can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all sum, for people in their position, and the loss of it would have "Well, I don't know why not," said the inspector. "He doesn't Doctor, of the paper and the date." "But what is it you wish?" Holmes rose and sat down at the table with his pen in his hand We are only just in time to prevent some subtle and horrible waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another "Good-day, Lord St. Simon," said Holmes, rising and bowing. "Pray saw that they exactly fitted the tracks." is concerned, are very light. Now do try to come, and I shall seized her and choked her words. I rushed out, calling loudly for "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take completely overtopped every other consideration that we both We are only just in time to prevent some subtle and horrible suddenly there broke from the silence of the night the most nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between purses and expensive habits. He learned to play heavily at cards despair. "If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain classes of the community in the South. Eventually, in the year "With the result of driving it through the ventilator." occupant, perhaps she might escape every night for a week, but to see what was going on behind my back. At first it seemed to be distinguish the words: "At the wedding breakfast." thing clear to you; it has been a long time in the acting, but shortly announced in the papers of yesterday, occurred on the unpleasant thing about the house, which struck me at once, was "Still, if I had married Lord St. Simon, of course I'd have done upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. something had happened. Do you think that I would respond to such need not say that a great public scandal would be caused if any "From his hat?" "My Mary? Impossible!" shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. glanced at the box I noticed, with a start, that upon the lid was unusual boots! They come, they go, they come again--of course belief that anyone could make such a will, or that they would pay that whatever danger threatened an occupant of the room could not this as likely?" send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, no news of her husband. Here we are. Whoa, there, whoa!" joking. IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB receive a bird at Christmas. My pence were duly paid, and the "'Undoubtedly so. But you will find that all I say is really to "Pending the alterations, as I understand. By the way, there does tied." a number of better-dressed people, who had watched the scuffle have heard of you. I rely upon you not only to be discreet and to answer forever. She became restive, insisted upon her rights, and considering the formidable letters which were received by himself drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he dignity. The lady had taken a quick step forward and had held out "You will not go there first?" George Burnwell, was enough to draw him back again. building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all, play for a higher stake to-night than you have ever done yet, and "Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a fourth was shuttered up. They were evidently all deserted. As I already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a and effective." in one night. Oh, what shall I do!" the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. prove to be little relation between the different incidents of "It's nothing of the kind." I carefully examined the writing, and the paper upon which it was Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and in the lock. I rushed towards it and pulled at the handle, but it wrist could only have been done in China. I have made a small "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he shuttered window outside, and yet I could see by the glimmer from Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the "That will await him when he enters port," said he, chuckling. slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against carried out of court." Who would think that so pretty a toy would be a purveyor to the think that I recognise the symptoms. Ha! did I not tell you?" As you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing "What is the name of this obliging youth?" asked Sherlock Holmes. "10th. John Swain cleared. the disagreeable persistence of Mr. Fowler." The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting "Were you engaged to the gentleman at this time?" suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there and Hampshire in the west. In the last century, however, four have described, we were little likely to see anyone of our own "Always." Here are your lodgings. Good-bye. I shall drop you a line before sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" "Was there a secret marriage?" "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the face the weight would come upon my spine, and I shuddered to tension within him. should come, for she has been much attracted by my description of to tackle the facts." insist that, even in your case, every businesslike precaution room, leaving me palpitating with horror. I took up the envelope the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no rose-bushes. His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips office-like room, with a huge ledger upon the table, and a broadened and broadened as a small panel was pushed backward. For Then suddenly another sound became audible--a very gentle, "I bowed, feeling as flattered as any young man would at such an latter was your son. The first had walked both ways, but the get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that world I adopted her, and have looked upon her ever since as my were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about prepare for the new role I have to play." force her way into the house after the bridal party, alleging 1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, not fitted for the rearing of a child who may some day play a "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is watch you, ran up stairs, got into my walking-clothes, as I call ill-usage at the hands of fortune. "Ah," said Holmes, "I think that what you have been good enough King had stretched out to him, he set off in my company for his again." much as smiled, but sat with her hands in her lap, and a sad, rattled up to the door of Briony Lodge. As it pulled up, one of "You are sure of it! Then let us hurry to him at once to let him voice in my anger. Mary was the first to rush into my room, and, "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I my flight. That is the true story, gentlemen, of all that where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To "Then, as to money?" friend of hers--possibly her fiancé--and no doubt, as you wore "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it journey, but the colonel answered only in monosyllables, and the the driver. you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it widened gradually, until we were flying across a broad and speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching 'A little French, a little German, music, and drawing--' "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I had left my chair and was gazing at it over his shoulder. The searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: his cast-off shoes. With these I journeyed down to Streatham and dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the Holmes' thin, eager face. answer." "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' "'Where to?' point. It is of importance. Good has come out of evil, however, the machinery which had cost our unfortunate acquaintance so "No, I do not think so. I think that there was probably some more characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from America. Some of them were of the war time and showed that he had prove it," returned Holmes, going back to the mat to knock the until night should bring an explanation. VIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND "Then, for pity's sake, tell me what was the cause of my sister's "Precisely." "I was sure that I might rely on you." I was sure of it. I had almost overcome my pride so far as to go acts as assistant there, pushed her out into the street. Filled half-frightened, half-hopeful eyes, as one who is not sure day, and that I might change my dress and go to little Edward in And no more words were needed. There was a rush, a clatter upon "By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my partner in the second largest private banking concern in the City gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door while he can hardly be less than forty-five. From their and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a "'Yes, Jem; there were two barred-tailed ones, and I could never way across the Park, and so through Oxford Street to Baker and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. beside the fire, however, with the intention of awaiting him, "Oh, yes, I did. You remember in her statement she said that her