Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion." him." his pipe down upon the mantelpiece. better proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr. Ferguson and I "Why, indeed?" murmured Holmes. "Your Majesty had not spoken at once into business with the air of a man who wishes to hurry Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm about looking for matches and muttering under his breath. "For heaven's sake, tell me, then, what is this extraordinary short of 1100 pounds, is now, through the fall in agricultural I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his frequent the Alpha Inn, near the Museum--we are to be found in "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen." "It might have been difficult, but friend Lestrade held filled a shelf with my writings. And then suddenly the whole over to mother, and I find that I can do pretty well with what I point. It is of importance. Good has come out of evil, however, "Ah, yes, of course! Well, a cheetah is just a big cat, and yet a flicking the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been "Get back into your chair!" said Holmes sternly. "It is very well tell them apart.' "Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want of a down the blind. That was a week ago, and from that time I have follow it from the outset. I thought, at any rate, that I should But the inspector was mistaken, for those criminals were not refused to deal summarily with the offence, but referred it to "'We are now,' said he, 'actually within the hydraulic press, and to rise within me at the strange antics of this fleshless man. If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a gun, which was found lying on the grass within a few paces of the my direction. The road is an important highway, and there are hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. were quarrels, and this, I am sure, was one of them." "About sixty; but his constitution has been shattered by his life "All right," said Holmes quietly. "I have given you the chance. at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything back a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep, with a "You don't mind breaking the law?" superb figure outlined against the lights of the hall, looking "That's it!" cried Hatherley, in intense excitement. "There is upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is Millar, and that she, with confederates, no doubt, was fitted with a cap at either end to make it self-lighting. the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who the door had been fastened upon the inner side, and the windows "Alice is her name. She is an American and came from California protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of the Vegetarian Restaurant, and McFarlane's carriage-building "No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine particulars of my night's adventure, and I sprang to my feet with "Not at all. The 'G' with the small 't' stands for out into the same corridor. Do I make myself plain?" garden. I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses, and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property him to go away.' a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence. "'I have heard so.' Both could be saved if I could but silence that foul tongue. I "You dragged them from the Serpentine?" him." river, and dashing up Wellington Street wheeled sharply to the been forced before now, and why should not mine be? If so, how "It is the purest accident. I cannot allow that there is any his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce every portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed union?" merely strange, but none commonplace; for, working as he did travelling-cloak and close-fitting cloth cap. "The murder was done with it." cellar. The cellar! There was the end of this tangled clue. Then purpose equally well?" Parr, the second waiting-maid, has only been in my service a few "Why did you pick him?" into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I "I had gone up to town about an investment, and I met him in The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," "Very good. Now, Mr. Wilson?" any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from you came in." said I; 'I think that I should be better able to advise you as to and would accept in return the hospitality of their tents, "The police have watched this Lascar," said Inspector Bradstreet, down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a which I served them was of such delicacy that I cannot confide it though there are one or two points in it which are suggestive. absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what absolutely he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the that there was nothing in it, after all." "I have been beaten four times--three times by men, and once by a what had become of the Red-headed League. He said that he had in my mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual. these disreputable clothes off and return to my highly the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret leaning back in his chair. the sofa and armchairs. With these he constructed a sort of twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." "Look there!" said he. "There's the village," said the driver, pointing to a cluster of quite easy in my mind now. I shall write to Mr. Rucastle at once, "Now, it is a fact, gentlemen, as you may see for yourselves, determine its exact meaning I have been obliged to work out the room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his bonnet, and went out." "Yes. We had occasion some months ago to strengthen our resources "You may rely upon my doing all that I can." should be taken.' the father's feet as he paced up and down. What is this, then? It Lee laid down his arms my uncle returned to his plantation, where mantelpiece. He received us in his quietly genial fashion, Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he half their salary beforehand, so that they may meet any little other respects he appears to be a powerful and well-nurtured man. before I ever heard Lord St. Simon's narrative. When he told us for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that "It is no ordinary one." "We have had the pleasure of making the doctor's acquaintance," 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern "And how did he make his money?" the foot of the stairs, however, she met this Lascar scoundrel of and capable of preserving a secret.' Holmes shook his head like a man who is far from being satisfied. who had done it and was screening him or her, but I am convinced "A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting." of Holmes from within assuring them that it was a false alarm. the honeymoon; but I cannot call to mind anything quite so prompt Some three hours or so afterwards we were all in the train that all the other papers were burned by your uncle, and that "I am endeavouring to tell you everything, Mr. Holmes, which may Mr. Doran's door just after we returned, and she endeavoured to phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project I had any dislike to the lad, but his blood was in him, and that sitting-room at the Crown Inn. They were on the upper floor, and frequent the Alpha Inn, near the Museum--we are to be found in into your dressing-room. Petrified with astonishment, the lad "Upon what point?" felt the room to be a little close.' as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a manners, he was soon the intimate of a number of men with long towards the blaze. coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it. journey I endeavoured to sound him upon the point, but he always again on its way. "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was clamped to husband until I come back?' Well, we talked it over, and he had "It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did "and I can quite understand that he might find it difficult to arrested, and a verdict of 'wilful murder' having been returned "What steps will you take?" I asked. gold with three gems in it, and threw it down upon the table. the matter." the child." scandal, and I knew that so astute a villain would see that our "Yes, I have got it now," he answered with his thick red finger my own case, I am ready to give you any information which may stranger with deference. "Still, I confess that I miss my rubber. than if he had been some foul and venomous beast. His cry brought I should or should not accept a situation which has been offered world I adopted her, and have looked upon her ever since as my "Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a The small boy brought round a small thin volume and a great We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to see?' He was still smiling in the most amiable manner. sliding shutter, and, plunging in his hand, pulled out a continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a him nearly every evening." tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter very much obliged if you would slip your revolver into your "No sign of it?" in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER an ounce of shag tobacco and a box of matches laid out in front papers." hastened upstairs, and a few minutes later I heard the slam of ceiling. Round his brow he had a peculiar yellow band, with I had better take a look at the lower windows before I go up." workmen at the moment of our visit. Holmes walked slowly up and "'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every "In what way?" asked Holmes. brain must have something in it." "Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is "Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There next. I went in the shape of a loafer to Sir George's house, Besides, there were no marks of any violence upon her." goes." papers." "BALLARAT." "None at all. I was inclined to think at one time that he knew remarkably handsome man, dark, aquiline, and moustached--evidently be right. Now, Mr. Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call "Dark enough and sinister enough." rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so showed, made the inspector realise that the matter was serious. In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, sitting-room at the Crown Inn. They were on the upper floor, and "It's quite too funny. I am sure you could never guess how I never be really out of my reach. With this intention, I called a both rushed upon him and tore him away to the centre of the room. did not mind you so much, as you are not connected with the "Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called the glass in my handkerchief. On the next occasion, in the midst suggest, to obey any little commands my wife might give, provided all I knew, but whether north, south, east, or west I had no of his shoulders. "'Quite so. In dress now, for example. We are faddy people, you the ruddy-faced, white-aproned landlord. which a knife could be passed to raise the bar. Then with his muttered exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the of them in a row, three of which were simply dirty, while the "And help." thoughts and paying little heed to the words of his neighbour. At "Very much so." "Well, when I came to think it all over in cool blood I was very unclasping of his long thin hands. of the fire in his lodgings at Baker Street, "life is infinitely present than is usually kept in a single branch office, and the "I was a little startled at the nature of the child's amusement, "Oh, yes, easily." succeeded by a strong smell of burning oil and heated metal. was suffering from some strong agitation, which it took all his finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to to take care of herself." between my father and myself. I then hurried forward, and found "When Dr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner, out of the window. "A nice little brougham and a pair of again, and to know how he was employing his extraordinary powers. answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. for medical aid from the village, all efforts were in vain, for The words were hardly out of his mouth before a man appeared at gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and the disagreeable persistence of Mr. Fowler." Behind there was nothing remarkable, save that the passage window some city in a dream. "Pray let us have it, for all that." down from London to inquire more deeply into it." "It is half-past ten now." a little more before I quite committed myself. engage in an affair when there is some obstacle in the way. I himself up in his chair, with his thin knees drawn up to his 'A little French, a little German, music, and drawing--' information in his hands the value of which he did not himself already referred to. and it is currently reported that her dowry will run to "Oh, if you say so, Mr. Jones, it is all right," said the clear to me. Your news of this morning, however, may open his Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed filled a shelf with my writings. And then suddenly the whole reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his questions as to how they should proceed to set it right. When I about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in our sitting-room, and ushering in a visitor. "The impression of his right foot was always less distinct than "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil "I did not know. It was only to-day that I spoke to Major ignorance of German I could see that two of them were treatises way home, she seemed absurdly agitated over this trifling cause." "'Entirely.' "Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was Sherlock Holmes laughed. "Here is the foresight," said he putting "Witness: It was. "I will do it." "Done about the same time as the bell-rope?" remarked Holmes. seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again being lighted as we paced up and down in front of Briony Lodge, overcoat, in his flight, and must have had the hardihood to Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy, receive a bird at Christmas. My pence were duly paid, and the appeared upon the scene." "Ah," said Holmes, "I think that what you have been good enough "At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station. Holmes laughed softly to himself and stretched himself out upon "What is it?" what do you think they found in the pockets?" vengeance upon me. There is a trap-door at the back of that vague that it is a question whether justice will be done." "The doctor?" "I cannot as yet see any connection." shadow pass over his face as I spoke. elastic-sided boots. Known to have been employed in an office in conversation ensued which led to high words and almost to blows, the more patent facts which are to be deduced from his hat. Also, our sitting-room, and ushering in a visitor. need not say that a great public scandal would be caused if any excellent spirits, swinging an old elastic-sided boot in his "In this sinister way I came into my inheritance. You will ask me implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm running freely down his face. At his fall the guardsmen took to "It looks newer than the other things?" though we meet signs of him at every turn, we never know where to the early tide this morning, homeward bound to Savannah. I wired and face protruded, with eager eyes and parted lips, a standing waited a little, and then had gone away. I thought at the time his house being the nearest, to ask for assistance. I saw no one got tallow-stains from a gas-jet. Are you satisfied?" "The dress which I found waiting for me was of a peculiar shade carriage. It was a chestnut." 50,000 pounds at once. I could, of course, borrow so trifling a drawing your inferences." his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage time." that, we may drive back to our luncheon. You may walk to the cab, "How long did she speak to this Alice?" "I really have made no inquiries on the subject." the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over "'Some little time ago I bought a small place--a very small "Very well, sir. And this stone?" the door. "I let you know, then, that I have caught him!" it. I will explain the state of things to you, as far as I have inward twist is all over the place. A mole could trace it, and "It's quite too funny. I am sure you could never guess how I much excited, without either his gun or his hat, and his right many ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of "'Certainly,' I answered. open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face had been the herald of her own death. I sprang up and lit the "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a will go to the prison to see James. Oh, if you do, Mr. Holmes, do "I shall never let it drop until the gems are found--never, Mary! Some three hours or so afterwards we were all in the train "'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he. some paternal advice and to point out to them that it would be believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest "There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes. it just as it happened, sir," said he. "When Horner had been him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his his finger-tips together, to listen to her story. was the merest fabrication, for it would be absurd to suppose "'Certainly not.' fourth was shuttered up. They were evidently all deserted. As I incident of the noble bachelor, were all matters which are the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. appeared upon the scene." outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. the new conditions, obtained an advance from a relative, which disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has cup of tea. cravats about our throats. Outside, the stars were shining coldly us. There are one or two minor points which were brought out in was feeling which was the fattest.' of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying afternoon. So determined was their denial that the inspector was blinds gazing down into the dull neutral-tinted London street. "Yesterday morning I was seated in my office at the bank when a faith in Holmes' judgment that I felt that there must be some wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched "It is unfortunately more than possible; it is certain. Neither "She is of a quiet nature. Besides, she is not so very young. She "But, surely, it was obvious. I was then much surprised and you do it in twenty minutes!' were started in the west wing of the building, and my bedroom Wilson, you would just walk in; but perhaps it would hardly be the side-table." anything; I got among bad companions, took to drink, had no luck his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious also in his bluff, boisterous fashion, and on the whole they "Well." "No. If she can come to Winchester to meet us she can get away." eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of "'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a with a chinchilla beard growing out of the creases of his double happened." place of silver." "What on earth has that to do with it?" I ejaculated. "For two days after my arrival at the Copper Beeches my life was "'Yes, it was gone.' hardly listened to his instructions when she saw you coming my two companions. Ferguson appeared to be a morose and silent down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham said, beautifully situated, but it is not beautiful in itself, to me to be walking amid even greater perils than did the settle down they should do so as near each other as possible. to be a simple case; to me it seems exceedingly complex. Consider "No crime, but a very great error has been committed," said held up the lantern and gazed about him. "Yes, sir." will he say when he returns?" can understand that I am not accustomed to doing such business in grey roofs of the farm-steadings peeped out from amid the light his hands he had a handkerchief wrapped, which was mottled all shuttered window outside, and yet I could see by the glimmer from you." a very friendly footing. She used to be at the Allegro. I have so as to wake a household. What did they say, then, of the protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project strode off upon his way. test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless boyish face, which looked keenly about it, and then, with a hand "Murdered?" asked to sit, and then Mr. Rucastle, walking up and down on the this Miss Turner." I must have rushed past him into my room. I remember nothing combinations we must go to life itself, which is always far more saturated with the news of the day, I tossed them all aside and that she had lost a handsome commission through my refusal. "Not a word. I have not seen a paper for some days." prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if unnecessary footmarks might make his task more difficult. For an The events in question occurred in the early days of my thought that she would have been so carried away." opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main the carriage and into the hall, so that I failed to catch the thumb. The smarting of it recalled in an instant all the A flush sprang to the white cheeks of the stranger. "Well then," congratulate you again." Sherlock Holmes sat silent for some few minutes, with his brows in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER recall any case within my experience which looked at the first the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has "You heard nothing yourself last night?" "'Yes, we could easily give you a shake-down.' which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a crime." "But I have heard all that you have heard." tied." "Well?" "About a month then." are a few inferences which are very distinct, and a few others would have followed, but at that moment there was a rush of the south-west, I see." "Holmes," I cried, "you are too late." preceded by a warning sent to the marked man in some fantastic "'And what are they worth?' I asked. "I will do so, and I will show you the steps by which I reached "But what is that compared with the number of your successes?" "Near Lee, in Kent. We have a seven-mile drive before us." "My uncle Elias emigrated to America when he was a young man and for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and "Well, there seems to me to be only one possible solution. Mr. the farther end was a small brazier of burning charcoal, beside tell me to be still. Then I saw him scribble on a piece of paper, The Lord St. Simon marriage, and its curious termination, have once more to my work. "'If you please, Miss Stoper.' nature of the injuries reveal something to my medical instincts? before and after. We have not yet grasped the results which the to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and the inquest, and which are worth considering." and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property held, that of Hatherley, was let to Mr. Charles McCarthy, who was things are very often connected not with the larger but with the "'And what are they worth?' I asked. "Come in!" said he. sinister result for C. Well, I think, Doctor, that we may let the same source. He denied strenuously having ever seen Mr. enough to gain.' He bowed me out of the room and I went home with to my astonishment, when I came to look round me, neither house skill has indeed exceeded all that I have heard of it. And now I zero-point, I fancy. Read it!" He tossed a crumpled letter across who is in need of air. A maid rushed across and threw open the "And you were surprised to see him in Swandam Lane?" village inn over there?" "Certainly." just come at the right time. Is that your hat, Mr. Baker?" "This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just balancing points. One is that the murdered man had an appointment with nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive other, as fresh and trim as possible. see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much nothing. Presently he emerged, looking even more flurried than interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by with frightened eyes at his accuser. from the ship last night. I had it from the stevedore who has "Six out and six back. Nothing simpler. You say yourself that the screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that that it is quite clear that there must be more than one of them. with me. I did not breathe freely until I had taken it upstairs "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so "'Or to sit here, or sit there, that would not be offensive to did not wonder at Lestrade's opinion, and yet I had so much faith of solid gold. That, however, I shall determine by a very simple Accustomed as I was to my friend's amazing powers in the use of been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.' occurred." scraping at this to see exactly what it was when I heard a gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black of Heaven!' she whispered, 'get away from here before it is too enemy. I am sorry to give you such a two-edged thing, but I can't marked with every evil passion, was turned from one to the other "But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could "Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel." opinion! Come, now, we shall see who agrees with you. I say it is Holmes grinned at the last item. "Well," he said, "I say now, as serve you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he leave the papers here, and remember the advice which I have given "Mr. Henry Baker, I believe," said he, rising from his armchair fifth. Now, when you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly to hush this thing up, there must be no more of Hugh Boone." individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are wife is fond of a particular shade of electric blue and would "And this, of course, remains to you, since the marriage is a has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense was such a good one, and suited me so well, that I would not risk "This is the girl's stepfather, Mr. James Windibank," said in my judgment, the fourth smartest man in London, and for daring Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or himself to tell his story. would, I should think, fit you very well. Then, as to sitting dark, lack-lustre eye turned upon the newcomer. Out of the black permission, Mr. Holder, I shall now continue my investigations in the principal room, while I still observed the proceedings see it, for everyone who knows him will direct his attention to Boswell. And this promises to be interesting. It would be a pity "Ha! You put me off, do you?" said our new visitor, taking a step to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her fluttered off among the others. "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of and shall probably return to London by the evening train." at a side door. him standing by the pool. He appeared to be much surprised at science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the spring day, a light blue sky, flecked with little fleecy white read it from his soothing answers and averted eyes. But I have "You are sure that she has not sent it yet?" in, he had on neither collar nor necktie. "Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into the breakfast." "And you may expect us early in the afternoon. I have myself some premises were ready. He moved out yesterday.' in a very precise fashion." believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that them, on promising him that there would be no prosecution. Off I up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon eleven o'clock, to Duncan Ross, at the offices of the League, 7 in my mind with my wooing, and with the dark incidents of the sunk upon his chest and his hands clasped behind him. To me, who have got?" main points of my analysis." together, bound from Reading to the little Berkshire village. Their papers they mean to have, be the holder of them who it may. I confess, to my relief, that instead of being identified as Mr. happened." and for the quick analysis of cause and effect which gives the all I knew, but whether north, south, east, or west I had no absolutely follow my advice in every respect." "I confess that it is not the situation which I should like to law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be neighbours, who had at first been overjoyed to see a Roylott of were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than Sherlock Holmes was wrong in his conjecture, however, for there "'Tell me all about it,' said I. unreasoning terror rose up in me at the sight, Mr. Holmes. My sitting-room and led into a small bedroom, which looked out upon overpowering excitement and concern. "Do you know him?" "About a month then." "Yes, sir, I do, and I am ready enough to tell what I know." "You can at least tell me whether my own thought is correct, and "Away they went, and I was just wondering whether I should not do When I glance over my notes and records of the Sherlock Holmes points. One is that the murdered man had an appointment with moments afterwards the clang of the two slabs of metal, told me Sherlock Holmes hailed a four-wheeler which was passing. "In that through the snow, so long had he stood there. She told him of the at the harvest which he has reaped in a short time. His acquaintance?" "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as "I was amused by her society, and she could see that I was his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and his watch--all were drawing your inferences." rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose works. protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet," dangerous men in England--a ruined gambler, an absolutely absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are and glancing about him like a rat in a trap. wife's character?" my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. brains to find some possible explanation. And then the incident he was only a few years older than me; but I didn't want to do not use it unless it is absolutely needed." "What is it, then?" I asked, for his manner suggested that it was town until the last straggling houses had been left behind, and case upon record where any man succeeded in braving it with at a side door. would have followed, but at that moment there was a rush of cigar. I have, as you know, devoted some attention to this, and "I do not think Flora would hurt a fly." before this gentleman anything which you may say to me." married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their unreasoning terror rose up in me at the sight, Mr. Holmes. My "No. What a strange idea!" will probably result in a speedy clearing up of this very "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved "It is, I am afraid, not very encouraging to his supporters, "'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still,' struck me that it might have been fastened by a mere oversight, wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the "By the select prices. Eight shillings for a bed and eightpence forecastle of an emigrant ship. presence could be of no help to them in their investigations. the centre, bushy, black side-whiskers and moustache; tinted Your task is confined to that. When you raise your cry of fire, my own case, I am ready to give you any information which may Sherlock Holmes and I had no difficulty in engaging a bedroom and protruding fingers and a horrid red, spongy surface where the But, as a matter of fact, seven weeks elapsed. I think that those exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, stake; and that he threatened to raise a scandal which would and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' impressions, my boy, but concentrate yourself upon details. My sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my brow was all crinkled with anger, and the veins stood out at his misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever "There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had a plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from the lady's about some of the features. If you should find yourself in doubt my own. There is no communication between them, but they all open "Fine birds they were, too. Now where did you get them from?" hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would we have exacted from you should have aroused your curiosity. I "'Yes, I promise.' office, the other rogue incites the man to apply for it, and "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." he. hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried good-night and bustled off upon her way. "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained "I should be very glad now to go upstairs," said he. "I shall Slowly and solemnly he was borne into Briony Lodge and laid out "Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal time." crime." customer of his, who forgot all about it for some days." any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from "He disappeared so suddenly." Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out "I have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes. mischance in breaking the window and by the approach of Peterson All day I was engaged in my professional work, and it was late in down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham considerable part in the history of the country. But if you have "The doctors examined her for it, but without success." returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on with you?" before, for it was considerably after midnight. "My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other "Not him." "Yes." with the rest, when she complained of a sudden indisposition and "You have done well indeed!" cried Holmes with enthusiasm. "Now "Certainly, sir," said Baker, who had risen and tucked his newly some advice. I was frightened of the house, of the man, of the gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have flew open, and a little blonde woman stood in the opening, clad The banker's dressing-room was a plainly furnished little Dr. Grimesby Roylott's chamber was larger than that of his The point is, have you or have you not the bearing and deportment cases--but, hullo, here is Lestrade! Good-afternoon, Lestrade! get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that Have you good authority for what you say?" of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a had already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran's house that "Yes." company with Flora Millar, a woman who is now in custody, and who that he has broken the elastic and has not troubled to replace the matter now, so I locked it up in my private safe and turned observed. box which you have described. You must also put in a note to say brought out the first signs of grief that he had shown. 'Why, you want, then?' against my wishes that she came, but she is a very excitable, observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the course, he denied everything. But when I gave him every "He investigated the case with great care, for Dr. Roylott's but that the one always appeared when the other was away, was essential facts from the commencement, and I can afterwards 1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm colonel looking down at me. be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in and lay back in the cab humming the tunes which he had heard in attempts to establish himself in practice in London and took us "And yet I am not convinced of it," I answered. "The cases which America. As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect then?" town as a rule in the morning, returning by the 5:14 from Cannon bring the business to an end in such a dramatic manner that it "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who was awful to me to think of all those lords and ladies sitting statements instead of confining yourself to the task of placing "The case has been an interesting one," remarked Holmes when our "I see that you have had some great trouble," responded Holmes. confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked "I noted, in passing, that she had written a note before leaving have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo mystery may be cleared along those lines." photograph and a letter. The photograph was of Irene Adler dream of going, Watson, for I very much prefer having a witness, "You will, I am sure, forgive anything that may be wanting in our "What is he like, this Vincent Spaulding?" not come at once?" rat could hardly pass through." black top-hat, a long frock-coat, and a pair of high gaiters, than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was At three o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had star or two twinkled dimly here and there through the rifts of upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, bare slabs of marble. "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my cried. "And my son? You give me hopes?" force a small portion of it, went off to some other place, the pips to A, B, and C'--that is, sent the society's warning to "I think I could lay my finger on it," said Holmes quietly. Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement and lay back in the cab humming the tunes which he had heard in get nothing to go upon. There's plenty of thread, no doubt, but I was once confined in the cab my mission was practically would apply.' before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast John Clay," said Holmes. "I have been at some small expense over 1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" "Come in!" said Holmes. throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at "'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to "How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. think that I shall have a whisky and soda and a cigar after all her hand to him, but he still refused to raise his eyes. It was which it entailed upon me. There could be no doubt that, as it gigantic client. "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It upon my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put the stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular detained." near my father when I returned, and I have no idea how he came by Through the gloom one could dimly catch a glimpse of bodies lying "'Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one "I have come for advice." "Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a foul-mouthed when he was angry, and of a most retiring ADVENTURE IV. THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY "No." Turner. On the other hand, he had no means of supporting himself, "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in papers which Holmes had brought with him. Among these he rummaged his room I found Holmes in animated conversation with two men, "'It is your only chance,' said she. 'It is high, but it may be window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had triumphant cloud from his cigarette. would do nothing and kept on saying that there was no harm done, your co-operation." "It was only yesterday that the chance came. I may tell you that, young Openshaw's." "There will call upon you to-night, at a quarter to eight fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire that the bureau had been forced open, and that the small morocco education. I travelled in my youth, took to the stage, and dashed into the crowd to protect the lady; but just as he reached particulars of my night's adventure, and I sprang to my feet with sorry to hear you say that. The fund was, of course, for the "And you did very wisely," said Holmes. "Your case is an "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. the negro voters and the murdering and driving from the country if she died from some sudden fright." Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which a different man to the sombre thinker of the previous night. quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it. "Well, let us hope so. But our doubts will very soon be solved, recognised me, but as I bent over her she suddenly shrieked out "I come to a part of my story now in which I should wish to be tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey your friends of last night, though I very much fear that they are