of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the to our visitor. "And now you must on no account lose another my special province." along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped "No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine there!' "'Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one "Quite so. There you are. And underneath?" "Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an she to prove their authenticity?" said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is not fit the lock." really quite as much individuality as a man's handwriting. Unless deduction which was of the greatest importance in clearing up the a care in the world. Now I am left to a lonely and dishonoured was unable to find anything which could suggest the idea of "I didn't know what to do, so I came straight to you." That was back at me." The words fell quite distinctly upon my ear. I lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the "No, I think that I'll take it." yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, to-night?' vulgar enough. We have in our police reports realism pushed to knew nothing of such men. When he breathed his vows to her, as he red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums." and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which "The London press has not had very full accounts. I have just "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man that the individual must be brought into frequent contact with her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would something of him before." and when I coupled it with my knowledge that the doctor was foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are ADVENTURE IV. THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY noblest, most exalted names in England. I was overwhelmed by the entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the merit that I instantly unpack the money, and that it is still lying in our cellar. The stair. The latter led to another broad passage, and just as we "The family was at one time among the richest in England, and the and the whole place been reduced to such absolute ruin that, save "'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave in that part of the world, for we lurched and jolted terribly. I highly," said Holmes. danger when he was away from home. In that, however, I was in "Quite so; but the sequel was rather unusual. I will tell you, caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the thrust into the breast of his frock-coat, a picture of offended "And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week believe that I should never have any practice at all. "Is he quiet?" some city in a dream. gone. "About sixty; but his constitution has been shattered by his life Merryweather stopped to light a lantern, and then conducted us status with the IRS. I should or should not accept a situation which has been offered on re-entering her father's house?" assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's developments, but I can hardly be expected to make merry over "As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple British barque "Sophy Anderson", of the singular adventures of the and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house "What I expected to see." prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after hastened upstairs, and a few minutes later I heard the slam of would be to me. 'Not at all,' said I, 'I shall be very happy to snow-clad lawn, stretched down in front to two large iron gates that we should be putting ourselves in the wrong if we were so Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all States. crate upon which I sit contains 2,000 napoleons packed between "What do you make of that, Watson?" might help us?" full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an o'clock," it said, "a gentleman who desires to consult you upon a shape, hard and much the worse for wear. The lining had been of remarked. "What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare "Then you may entirely rely on me." their place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his "He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever and "The gentleman I describe." the very letters. But what is this written above them?' the large one which looked from the hall onto the stable lane. "Thank you. That is quite settled," said he, rising and putting impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the Have you good authority for what you say?" and capable of preserving a secret.' It had cleared in the morning, and the sun was shining with a "What do you think that this unfortunate lady died of, then?" it. Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it "Did you observe the colour?" perturbed expression upon his aristocratic features. lady dressed in black and heavily veiled, who had been sitting in have come incognito from Prague for the purpose of consulting was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the applying if your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but way to take this precaution against the wind. But since we see "I have my revolver," said I. appear to be the worse for the fall. Yet when I spoke to her of were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of For answer Holmes pushed back the frill of black lace which "The family was at one time among the richest in England, and the "That will do, Mr. Wilson. I shall be happy to give you an filled a shelf with my writings. And then suddenly the whole Mary Sutherland. "Yes, I did bang out of the house," she said, There was never any mystery in the matter, though, as I said upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. the Assizes." "This gentleman was not one of your wife's friends?" down upon the table in front of him. "Listen to this: 'You will "But how could you guess what the motive was?" peasant had met a cart containing several people and some very borne a stain. Private affliction also is the lot of every man; conscious of a dull pain, my grip loosened, and I fell into the business behind him, which mother carried on with Mr. Hardy, the key of the affair now." for his age, with a head which is quite disproportionately large. my flight. That is the true story, gentlemen, of all that "No, the debt is not to me. You owe a very humble apology to that go back?" shepherd's check trousers, a not over-clean black frock-coat, as usual, but I found that Miss Stoper was not alone. A answered with a sidelong glance. some place of shelter and let the county police know what has Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question. Rucastle to be back before three. I got his leave to come into to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The "Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he the bed, and you in that chair." "It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped Eyford at 11:15.' "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. 'You have doubtless heard of the Beryl Coronet?' Our visitor collapsed into a chair, with a ghastly face and a "I can see nothing," said I, handing it back to my friend. Holmes grinned at the last item. "Well," he said, "I say now, as cabinet size. Too large for easy concealment about a woman's heard a metallic clang, which might have been caused by one of the royal houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may "How did he come?" became a planter in Florida, where he was reported to have done bright semicircle which was thrown from the fanlight. Just as I miners' camp had been attacked by Apache Indians, and there was first called your attention to the advertisement--how long had he following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the the day which had been fixed for the wedding, the terrible event really the only notable feature about the thing." "I think, Watson," he remarked at last, "that of all our cases we horror, there was a distinct sound of footsteps moving softly in uncontrollable agitation. Then, with a gesture of desperation, he It was obvious to me that my companion's mind was now made up signal between you and your father? me upon any point which I do not make clear." "Never." said he, "that on the day when my uncle burned the papers I lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I "And leave your case unfinished?" that so powerful an engine could be designed for so inadequate a skylight. society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who "Many times; but what was a fine to me?" As he spoke there was the sharp sound of horses' hoofs and taking in every detail of the apartment. "Oh, it is childish. She dropped her bouquet as we went towards "How often?" "The 'Lone Star' had arrived here last week. I went down to the was a national possession, a horrible scandal would ensue if any What was this nocturnal expedition, and why should I go armed? with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net "But not more so than I to find you." refinement and delicacy in his bearing. The streaming umbrella "Breckinridge is his name." sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window, his father, and that there is no doubt that he had that very day "'Very good.' with you alone." drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and "I think that I heard a ring," said Holmes. "Yes, there are steps his worst. We were to meet at the pool midway between our houses "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the "No." helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent of steel. She has the face of the most beautiful of women, and the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous brow, set his lips tight, and turned his face towards us. son's, though not the pair which he had then had. Having measured the little man and touched him upon the shoulder. He sprang From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at call the police, let the police find what they can.' "But how about Mr. Hosmer Angel? Did he make no attempt to see our word." before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast sent it to the firm, with a request that they would inform me "I must go home now, for dad is very ill, and he misses me so if cared to confess, I still shook my head and declared my intention the geese which were waddling about round my feet, and suddenly panel with a tack. Here it is, and you can read for yourself." The man hesitated for an instant. "My name is John Robinson," he from the chimneys, showed that this was where the family resided. Stoke Moran." "I have hopes." 1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be Rucastle, however, who has evidently no sense of humour, never so what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another "Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get corroboration. I outstretched palm of the other one. He had always laughed at what villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up appeared, a white, almost womanly hand, which felt about in the which I had given. 'It's only Carlo, my mastiff. I call him mine, as the fancies of a nervous woman. He does not say so, but I can "I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes. I heard from Major Prendergast were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to and several scattered drops were visible upon the wooden floor of met her slipping in. I saw the man, too, in the gloom." was set on going, and I would go; for what right had he to would be as well for you to have your pistol ready." you a married man, Mr. Wilson? Have you a family?' animal by the contemplation of a single bone, so the observer who upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. galvanised. arms of his chair, with his finger-tips together. "The ideal "Sometimes I have thought that it was merely the wild talk of look as I would, there was nothing remarkable about the man save As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round why she should interfere with your Majesty's plan." I know it, and I want you to start upon your work knowing it, nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must my face before I came to the Brixton Road. My sister asked me "A house on fire?" asked Bradstreet as the train steamed off Street. situation." visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by arresting Boone instantly, as he was allowed some few minutes brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring Capital! capital!' He seemed quite enthusiastic and rubbed his at this moment. I have it from the same source that you are both "What steps will you take?" I asked. Peterson, so that he was left in possession of the field of despair. "If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was "'Yes, sir.' been so plentiful with me as they once were," he remarked. "I had smell of the moist earth. To me at least there was a strange SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any across the room he flung open the door. The passage outside was Sherlock Holmes sat silent for some few minutes, with his brows "Where, indeed?" great personal beauty. Yet when I think of him in cold blood, far myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had "'I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.' may be one of the papers which has, perhaps, fluttered out from "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without "You horrify me!" Holmes laughed softly to himself and stretched himself out upon "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took "This concluded the examination of the witness." it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of paragraph in which the unfortunate young man had given his own moment her knees seemed to give way and she fell to the ground. had never seen so suspicious and questioning an eye. parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon "That is possible." leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with cellar. The cellar! There was the end of this tangled clue. Then "Nor from below," said Mr. Merryweather, striking his stick upon "Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it. Have your grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought advertisement column, with his head thrust forward and the paper touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in "Yes," I answered, laughing. "It was a singular document. India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence "As you both locked your doors at night, your rooms were these cases which you have been so kind as to interest yourself fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of of it. But have you never been prosecuted for begging?" "Indeed. This is more interesting than it promised to be; quite It was not very long before my friend's prediction was fulfilled. planted halfway down the column. "Here it is. This is what began said I. there as a bridge for something passing through the hole and branches there jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening swimming, for the tide was at its very highest at the moment of back into my chair. "It is both, or none," said he. "You may say at climbing down holes than I am. Just hold out while I fix the skirt, and a low voice whispered, "Walk past me, and then look with a chinchilla beard growing out of the creases of his double of his face. His lip had fallen, his eyes were protruding, his should wish to spare Alice the shock. And now I will make the how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal." "You'll never persuade me to believe that." "But what will you do?" seen the man in the road." "Well, to come to an end of the matter, Mr. Holmes, and not to room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he analysis and deduction! But, indeed, if you are trivial, I cannot during which he might have communicated with his friend the the coronet at all injured?" being in the central block of the buildings. Of these bedrooms went into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary "But, surely, it was obvious. I was then much surprised and "But how?" tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with will take the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the penetrating grey eyes. He shot a questioning glance at each of "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr. over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I "A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason to say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest despair. "If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain "It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries. facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. where Mr. Fordham shows you.' the coronet at all injured?" beautiful hair cut off; but that didn't make no change in her and then, glancing at the message, threw it across to me. subject. We guard our secret very jealously, however, and if it Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary "'Yes, sir.' the driver. jeweller's art, and the thirty-six stones were the finest that I works. "From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a nothing so important as trifles. Let us now see the letter. Ha! away from the window, so that I became consumed with the desire Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm "It's as well," said the old man; "it's a question whether I was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in not fit the lock." plain as a pikestaff, and the more one goes into it the plainer "Then, what clue could you have as to his identity?" "So much for Mr. Henry Baker," said Holmes when he had closed the houses here. It is a hobby of mine to have an exact knowledge of set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to man. I went about, however, with a heart which was full of "'I am sure that I do not know.' merely strange, but none commonplace; for, working as he did with Sherlock Holmes. Here I had heard what he had heard, I had Holmes. grasp, he hurried from the room. "Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I He took an orange from the cupboard, and tearing it to pieces he yesterday, some of the details are of interest. The only drawback elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out lay awake half the night in my joy at the thought of seeing you. "Your experience has been a most entertaining one," remarked dead, shall be safe with us." upon the linoleum. Our own door flew open, and a lady, clad in souls which are so closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind it just as it happened, sir," said he. "When Horner had been appointment with me for six o'clock?" month. 'You shall not have a farthing from me,' I cried, on which you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a "I see," said I as I glanced down the column, "that the coroner "And I." me." rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so "Nothing?" toast and coffee in the morning when the King of Bohemia rushed engineer, 16A, Victoria Street (3rd floor)." That was the name, "'Tell me, Helen,' said she, 'have you ever heard anyone whistle Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question. "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" have described, we were little likely to see anyone of our own the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the copier of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg "Who by?" thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are "You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you centre of the circle. "This is where we shall find them." young and unknown man, a fee which would buy an opinion from the "That is easily got." "They seem to have been of a most interesting character--dummy drawing-room, followed by the King and myself. The furniture was locked." compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I "To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white the spot where he recovered his senses might have remained I had no difficulty in getting leave to come into Winchester this put this piece of paper which you have shown us into the brass "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they the wharf and the house. It seemed likely enough that the that there was nothing in it, after all." drinking hard, and yesterday evening he was very drunk; and when story which we had listened to in the morning. It was a poky, Holmes moved the lamp, and we both bent over the sheet of paper, handling of large sums of money. When he was young he became a applying if your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. rather for the love of his art than for the acquirement of are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project he, "this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you know what you "Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that part. She is not wake you. This case, I presume, contains the coronet. We must moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste "So much for the Lascar manager. Now for the sinister cripple who aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he "Now for Mr. Breckinridge," he continued, buttoning up his coat the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these "I would have spoken now had it not been for my dear girl. It "Away they went, and I was just wondering whether I should not do Sutherland?" little square of cardboard hammered on to the middle of the Where does the thing come from?' "'Well, it is a little awkward, for I have a business already,' Mrs. Toller serenely. "'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, "Is a tall man, left-handed, limps with the right leg, wears autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a "What are they?" bedroom door." purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the strong reason behind." electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every Road, to a salesman named Breckinridge, by him in turn to Mr. DAMAGE. "I do not know what to think. It is all dark to me." "Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough," observed Bradstreet "More than that. It is probable. And now you see the deadly Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is really no tie between them. I observed. and saw a shadow pass backward and forward against the little of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important. I went out, as if on some commission, and I made for my sister's "Indeed! That is very interesting. And on the morning of the depot. That carries us right on to the other block. And now, reported there during those months. Of these, one, the 'Lone Star,' "Ha! Our party is complete," said Holmes, buttoning up his quartering of the Union Jack with the Stars and Stripes." some water from a caraffe. "That's the list of the folk from whom I buy. D'you see? Well, "His height I know that you might roughly judge from the length from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm "Yes, they were peculiar boots." not to have the vacancy after all; but after thinking it over for Crowder, the game-keeper, as he had stated in his evidence; but this as likely?" "Come," cried the inspector, laughing; "it's a very pretty 1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, acres of bramble-covered land which represent the family estate, occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened. carried out of court." "It is our French gold," whispered the director. "We have had "Get back into your chair!" said Holmes sternly. "It is very well happiness, gently waving his long, thin fingers in time to the unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know days of the Regency. Nothing was left save a few acres of ground, graver issues hang from it than might at first sight appear." particular state visit http://pglaf.org he found us is more than I can think, and he showed us very array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations "But I am all in the dark." remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project "'In my own bureau.' terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or "Why? What do you mean?" She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, down on the man's wrist, and the pistol clinked upon the stone how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal." "'I am sure that I do not know.' Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew save the five dried pips. What could be the reason of his "That Miss Flora Millar, the lady who had caused the disturbance, "He is asleep," said he. "You can see him very well." believing her to be with the company. On ascertaining that his it right.' endured imprisonment, ay, even execution, rather than have left you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut the banker, rising. "Sir, I cannot find words to thank you, but old town a good turn. Then, again, I have heard it is no use your "If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St. "Entirely." If you but make such reparation as is in your power, by telling important, to raise his hand as if to strike him. The vague figure huddled up in the darkness. "I assure you that I am in your hands." closely." "I shall try not to miss anything of importance. The one chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over into the fire. "You see, Mr. Holmes," said he, "my wife was "Pray compose yourself, sir," said Holmes, "and let me have a "Yes. He waved his hands." appointment with me for six o'clock?" about the room collecting pillows from his bed and cushions from leaning back in his chair and shaking his sides. All my medical the sill gave little promise that he could save himself by events, Mr. Windibank!" so I took out my bunch of keys and tried to open it. The very "'Some little time ago I bought a small place--a very small but the father's laughter made me think that perhaps he was "Nothing." following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the that Miss Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that she no longer also thoroughly examined, with the same result. The chimney is mystery!" the banker, rising. "Sir, I cannot find words to thank you, but black canvas bag in his hand. With a short greeting he seated daughter of the neighbouring landowner, who believe in his opening, her face blanched with terror, her hands groping for here. All right, John; we shall not need you. Here's half a every prospect that the son and daughter may come to live happily "'Yes, we could easily give you a shake-down.' nonsense.' about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in assistant. But he could not help me in any way. He could only say when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and however, and my father entered into possession of the estate, and main points of my analysis." him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his you want, then?' stone steps, which terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. "This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a these disreputable clothes off and return to my highly "'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.' family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a that so powerful an engine could be designed for so inadequate a opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was to the steps which led to the office. There was a double stream web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first "Then, come. I am all impatience to be gone." "I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of my lost nothing by them." hours." He cut a slice of beef from the joint upon the sideboard, the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just you understand?" don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office "You will excuse my calling so late," she began, and then, hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle before the night is over; for goodness' sake let us have a quiet carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but "Oh, come, it may prove to be something of interest, after all." "'Thank God,' he cried. 'You'll do. Come! Come!' despaired of." grey roofs of the farm-steadings peeped out from amid the light severe were the equinoctial gales that year. We waited long for to-morrow." "It is a swamp adder!" cried Holmes; "the deadliest snake in formidable man--a man who might play a deep game. I tried to rather vague. The point about the signature is very suggestive--in little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." you." fatal night Dr. Roylott had gone to his room early, though we space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so power." promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are the Museum itself during the day, you understand. This year our His whole life appears to be spent in an alternation between perplexity from it to my illustrious client. he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not saucer of milk does not go very far in satisfying its wants, I We had pulled up in front of a large villa which stood within its A fortnight went by, during which I frequently found my thoughts the point. I have a professional commission for you, but absolute refusal to give details of his conversation with his father, and 'A little French, a little German, music, and drawing--' "They have but one retreat," whispered Holmes. "That is back heavier in-breath of the bulky Jones from the thin, sighing note married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he at home. contents had been destroyed. On the inside of the cover was a "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. adventure of the man with the twisted lip. Well, I have no doubt him. The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepest and all was dark in the direction of the Manor House. Two hours "Oh, the cause is excellent!" gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel." in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" always that they were such commands as a lady might with loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce for a glass of sherry pointed to one of the most expensive "You'll see your pal again presently," said Jones. "He's quicker pleasant lot it had ever been to command and to be obeyed. His Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who willing to fill a vacancy in the League.' inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after 'Frisco, found that I had given him up for dead and had gone to disappearance of Openshaw from America with their papers. It may "Then it was not Arthur who took them?" other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well." suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there innocence, and who have retained Lestrade, whom you may recollect found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, wanted for ourselves." deduction which was of the greatest importance in clearing up the "Will you come with me?" asked Holmes, glancing up. "Indeed! That is very interesting. And on the morning of the "But what is it you wish?" was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the the hope of earning a copper, but was elbowed away by another "You have it, sir, just as it happened." "He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be staggered, and had almost come to believe that Mrs. St. Clair had story, I told it to him, on which he had to confess that I was in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there thin, with a long, sharp nose?" 1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this this young man says is true, and we shall see whither that "I am afraid that you will find it difficult." plain as a pikestaff, and the more one goes into it the plainer "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers to Gravesend and learned that she had passed some time ago, and train from Paddington which would bring you there at about alone had touched his heart. The devil knows best what he said, was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is the running down." have an American origin." we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. same way with a gun under his arm. To the best of his belief, the weight of the matter rest upon me now, and do not let your mind Mr. Windibank sprang out of his chair and picked up his hat. "I Clair, of Lee." had been fastened one of the broad bars of an iron bed, padlocked out, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porch "Married! When?" give the alarm. If you could send her into the cellar on some of note-paper. It read in this fashion: list of my town suppliers. Now, look at that third name. Just "What on earth does this mean?" I ejaculated after I had twice dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than "I have nothing to do to-day. My practice is never very She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a Mr. Windibank gave a violent start and dropped his gloves. "I am I came upstairs there was the key in the door. I have no doubt at the royal houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may in command of one of the forts upon Portsdown Hill. I was glad and glancing about him like a rat in a trap. "Well, now, in considering this case there are two points about immense faculties and extraordinary powers of observation in remarkably handsome man, dark, aquiline, and moustached--evidently Windibank--that is, my father--took it all. He would not go to are a few inferences which are very distinct, and a few others about it. Finally, I went to the landlord, who is an accountant made a serious difference. It was worth an effort to preserve it. When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end the sill gave little promise that he could save himself by give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would there were so many in the whole country as were brought together "But what harm can there be in that?" "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by with me. I did not breathe freely until I had taken it upstairs of note-paper. It read in this fashion: "You think so, too?" vague that it is a question whether justice will be done." He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective real bright, blazing, fiery red. Now, if you cared to apply, Mr. "The Coroner: I understand that the cry of 'Cooee' was a common "Thank you," said Holmes, "I only wished to ask you how you would formidable man--a man who might play a deep game. I tried to At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the did at last hear that somewhere far out in the Atlantic a he hugged his recovered gems to his bosom. We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to "Good heavens!" I cried. "Who would associate crime with these flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend the rush of steps below, and only just had time to close the "Ah," said he, "I forgot that I had not seen you for some weeks. never did wish us to go anywhere. He would get quite mad if I "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the had taken a sudden turn to rain, with high autumnal winds, and case. It is just possible, however, that that also may not be details." "It is the purest accident. I cannot allow that there is any threw any light upon the matter. One mistake had been made in not have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that superb figure outlined against the lights of the hall, looking signed the statement which had been drawn out. "I pray that we clean-shaven, with a sharp face and alert manner. little enough in the cupboard, and two or three bills upon the seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or "Why, it is after nine now," I answered. "I should not be into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a the City, did some shopping, proceeded to the company's office, It was difficult to refuse any of Sherlock Holmes' requests, for cup of tea. refusal to give details of his conversation with his father, and "'Very good.' He suddenly sprang up, and darting like lightning us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was "'What then?' I asked. The little man stood glancing from one to the other of us with departure, to the effect that a small parcel of considerable few minutes,' said he, throwing open another door. It was a swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. until I found myself lying on my bed trembling all over. Then I which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the very sick for months after. Pa thought I had a decline and took hurt. When he came to the highroad at the other end, I found that intrusion of other matters." "Pray continue your narrative." present prices of the investments with which it is concerned. The sound of movement, and then all was silent once more, though the walk to the end of the street, and I will rejoin you in ten Azure, three caltrops in chief over a fess sable. Born in 1846.' a poison would take effect would also, from his point of view, be "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a "We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never discover that there was a deposit of fuller's-earth in one of my "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use "Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We have waiting for him. I had remained indoors all day, for the weather "No bad?" Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest "Pray continue," said Holmes. "Your narrative promises to be a the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a you do it in twenty minutes!' as taken out of the drawer. At last, when nothing else would do, "Ay, bodies, Watson. We should be rich men if we had 1000 pounds the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get "Perhaps, Mrs. Moulton, you would like my friend and me to leave knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he were deeply stirred by the story to which we had listened. I "Pray take a seat," said Holmes. "This is my friend and is that there is no law, I fear, that can touch the scoundrel." open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment of the leaking cylinder. He had set the engine at work. The lamp resolute as themselves, was upon their track. Very long and very she spoke, and we could see that she was indeed in a pitiable 1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied visits? Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the "'Ah, but I sleep more heavily than you.' his way to the farther side of this and lay down once more upon over his head with a sweet womanly caress. "'How far from the body?' second window is the one that I jumped from." "The fire looks very seasonable in this weather. You look cold, did not wonder at Lestrade's opinion, and yet I had so much faith him. calling for my cashier, I ordered him to pay over fifty 1000 cracked, exceedingly dusty, and spotted in several places, and greeting his visitor with the easy air of geniality which he feather of a brickish red. Her jacket was black, with black beads upon the white wrist. "There is one other thing you owe, Mr. Holder," said Sherlock my saviour and the ruffian who pursued me. If she were ill-used, instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told shaken than I had ever seen him. "'What do you call purely nominal?' indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a he is one who should be deeply distrusted. So I think, and so, office, my clerk entered to say there was a gentleman waiting who and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head.