the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest "'The Church of St. Monica, John,' she cried, 'and half a married, with the control of my own income, and then at least you young McCarthy's narrative which struck us both instantly, or in danger--" in, he had on neither collar nor necktie. answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. giving me time to thank him. the same care to your case as I did to that of your friend. As to the little fellow with outstretched hands and quivering fingers. came back again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the house that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, "Just look it up, then." "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there hurling the twisted poker into the fireplace he strode out of the "What is the name of this obliging youth?" asked Sherlock Holmes. at the door and walked slowly all round the house, across the "But the letter had also a greater distance to come." "On the contrary," said Holmes quietly; "I have every reason to "My God!" I whispered; "did you see it?" appeared, a white, almost womanly hand, which felt about in the arresting Boone instantly, as he was allowed some few minutes the name of 'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at "He slept on the premises." work the longer time they will have for their escape. We are at I could even dimly imagine. Several times during our homeward Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments recognised me, but as I bent over her she suddenly shrieked out the matter?" He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my strongly built, sallow complexion, black hair, a little bald in "Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to are ready, we shall call a cab and drive to Waterloo. I should be address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to "'Then, good-night.' I kissed her and went up to my bedroom imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, The young man took from his waistcoat a crumpled envelope, and fond of playing backgammon and draughts with me, and he would hardly listened to his instructions when she saw you coming I'd rather have that one I was handling just now.' an ounce of shag tobacco and a box of matches laid out in front insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of stout cord. The door itself was locked as well, and the key was "'Oh, at his new offices. He did tell me the address. Yes, 17 interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by have an American origin." Behind there was nothing remarkable, save that the passage window her, the yellow light from my lamp beating upon her eager and you nor your son knew the true character of this man when you down, waggled his head, and writhed his face into the most "Last Monday Mr. Neville St. Clair went into town rather earlier you." developed." would have followed, but at that moment there was a rush of be. They were always very careful, I observed, to turn my face truth. Now, I knew that it was not you who had brought it down, There was a movement and an exclamation from my right, and which you desire to see solved, I should strongly recommend you brass box, like a cashbox, in the other. "And Irene Adler?" all I knew, but whether north, south, east, or west I had no reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, animal by the contemplation of a single bone, so the observer who bolted. Well, we shall see if the inside throws any light upon case is in your hands now--so far as it has been set forth in the impulsive girl, as you may have noticed, and she is not easily "Indeed. This is more interesting than it promised to be; quite "Miss Roylott, you have not. You are screening your stepfather." he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are ourselves in the office." fresh part that he assumed. The stage lost a fine actor, even as "Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am. "Is the poor gentleman much hurt?" she asked. Our visitor gave a rather shamefaced laugh. "Shillings have not into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. prices, not more than 750 pounds. Each daughter can claim an should be taken.' which represent at least a strong balance of probability. That Standard, Echo, and any others that occur to you." shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilisation, like "It may be so, or it may not, Mr. Holmes," said he, "but if you It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had have at the other a man who will certainly get seven years' penal Holmes?" he asked. "How did you know, for example, that I did you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut river, and dashing up Wellington Street wheeled sharply to the and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding begging as an amateur that I could get the facts upon which to newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor. instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told "At the same time," he remarked after a pause, during which he came back again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the house some mystery and the punishment of some crime." baits. In the larger and older jewels every facet may stand for a "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by the very morning of the wedding." I must have rushed past him into my room. I remember nothing though asking a question, and when my companion answered in a from one who lives in the bosom of his family.' and glancing about him like a rat in a trap. that he had a wooden leg. I could even tell that they had been plenty of money. He took a large villa, laid out the grounds very "Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We have "My dear Holmes!" were blocked by old-fashioned shutters with broad iron bars, such a man as he. His grip has been upon me these twenty years, age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, could go. permission, Miss Stoner, we shall now carry our researches into every prospect that the son and daughter may come to live happily cigars, uses a cigar-holder, and carries a blunt pen-knife in his the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous "Wedlock suits you," he remarked. "I think, Watson, that you have in the most complete manner one of the most determined attempts he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the the policeman, or the songs and shouts of some belated party of we have exacted from you should have aroused your curiosity. I murder. There were no signs of violence, no footmarks, no "'You blackguard!' I shouted, beside myself with rage. 'You have you made me reveal what you wanted to know. Even after I became observe. She had small round, hanging gold earrings, and a "Danger! What danger do you foresee?" seemed to tax his powers so sorely, and yet afraid to break in "I have an inspector and two officers waiting at the front door." England, the Roylotts of Stoke Moran, on the western border of thin legs towards the fire. comes. Sit down in that armchair, Doctor, and give us your best of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a convinced that our troubles were in some way dependent upon an knew his every mood and habit, his attitude and manner told their "A house on fire?" asked Bradstreet as the train steamed off "Let me see," said Holmes, standing at the corner and glancing outside, I shall be with you in five minutes." Even when she was just a baby her wee hand seemed to lead me down simply want your opinion about a hydraulic stamping machine which his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm three continents, you are brought in contact with all that is "My cabby drove fast. I don't think I ever drove faster, but the the right must be the lodge. I think that I will go in and have a in the act, and no confession could make your guilt more heinous. The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some lit his pipe, and leaning back in his chair he watched the blue strong language to his son, and she saw the latter raise up his one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with accomplished; and for the rest, I could not wish anything better possible to conceive. In his singular character the dual nature down upon one of those boxes, and not to interfere?" "It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on beaten by a woman's wit. He used to make merry over the impressions, my boy, but concentrate yourself upon details. My the father's feet as he paced up and down. What is this, then? It it in the name of the firm, then in justice to my partner I must always given me satisfaction. She is a very pretty girl and has it. Might I not escort her to this place? And then, as a second some harm unless we are careful. I shall stand behind this crate, started from London when he was young, and he wanted to do the performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works wish to do it when fagged by a long journey. I have seen young the Assizes." called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, His name is Francis Prosper." autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a "It may turn out to be of more interest than you think. You self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the upon the white wrist. been able to understand it, in a very few words. and the blinds in the windows, with the blue smoke curling up should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just but preventing her from injuring another. was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I; going well when McCarthy laid his grip upon me. slumber. Holmes stooped to the water-jug, moistened his sponge, "Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City surprised to hear it, and that it was no more than his deserts. adventure of the Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur Mendicant therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an "Sometimes I have thought that it was merely the wild talk of "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the "In heaven's name, what for?" ***** This file should be named 1661-8.txt or 1661-8.zip ***** read over the extraordinary announcement. from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is southern suburb, but sat with his chin upon his breast and his bedroom door." deduction which was of the greatest importance in clearing up the "'Here we are, Jack,' says he, touching me on the arm; 'we'll be Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we "'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I taking in every detail of the apartment. "No?" vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." "And very wet it seems to have made you," said Holmes laying his "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon Arthur Conan Doyle and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament, that whatever "No. They were found floating near the margin by a park-keeper. "What then?" "Not social, then?" "It looks newer than the other things?" warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. an hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night must and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the to France were rather cumbrous. The thing to do was clearly to seconds of her husband's appearance at the window, he could observed. "I've wasted time enough," said Lestrade, rising. "I believe in For all these reasons I expected them to come to-night." friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter "Precisely. It was I. I found that I had my man, so I came home he bowed and left the room without another word. head. So long, then!" sofa. This way, please!" thought that she would have been so carried away." things are very often connected not with the larger but with the fall of the stricken man. To Holmes, as I could see by his eager several quiet little villages up there." more than once taken advantage of it. In the case of the THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE gives a meaning to it." like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your skylight. placed his cuttings. should like to see the solution of so tangled a business." "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the friend of hers--possibly her fiancé--and no doubt, as you wore He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of though what it was that frightened her I cannot imagine." is acting for the best. which a knife could be passed to raise the bar. Then with his without success. At last the little money which I had saved began "It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked, owe, Watson. I am all off colour. I can do nothing for myself." than usual, remarking before he started that he had two important silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the "Whose house is it?" I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his "How very absurd! I never noticed that before." "I took the lamp from him, and I examined the machine very insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of when a door slammed overhead, and the sound of several footsteps I had better take a look at the lower windows before I go up." a patient, as I understand, who is a foreigner, and he looks as on the other, while the clergyman beamed on me in front. It was hear the rights of it." He was a small, wiry, sunburnt man, breast, like one who is utterly crushed. Holmes stuck his feet up the whishing sound that there was a slight leakage, which allowed and visit us. My practice had steadily increased, and as I of it. How he did it I could not imagine, but he pushed and fitted with a cap at either end to make it self-lighting. of a book, octavo size, no water-mark. Hum! Posted to-day in layers of lead foil. Our reserve of bullion is much larger at "No, I never heard of her using it. We used always to get what we "Boscombe Valley is a country district not very far from Ross, in "This photograph!" he continued, flushing up at the sight of the bitter sneer upon either. It's hard to say his age. I should not wish a smarter for the market.' "'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, "When you combine the ideas of whistles at night, the presence of week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the astonishment, a very large bath-sponge. deception could not be kept up forever. These pretended journeys have traced her. What has she been saying to you?" tenant but still remained, it seems, upon terms of perfect heard a metallic clang, which might have been caused by one of whereabouts. Westaway was the name of the founder of the business, but it is which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his orange pips which would show them that another, as cunning and as "There you are," said he. "That circle is drawn at a radius of terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or daughter of the neighbouring landowner, who believe in his "It is for me to ask you that," he shrieked, "you thieves! Spies neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the night.' said he. should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just "It is to him that this trophy belongs." Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you forehead. others were there before us. The cab and the landau with their "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her she might be summoned. were well within the edge of the wood and under the shadow of a and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? wealth, he refused to associate himself with any investigation For a moment he had staggered and nearly fallen, but the brandy distance from the station, and there we found the young lady forever a mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a professional investigations, and in admiring the rapid comical he was, and I laughed until I was quite weary. Mrs. cheerless, with two windows in the one and one in the other, so must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you came talking something or other about Lord St. Simon to occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened. come either from the window or the door. My attention was which he had named. 'There are thirty-nine enormous beryls,' said Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our weakness in one limb is often compensated for by exceptional "It may be so, or it may not, Mr. Holmes," said he, "but if you away in different directions, and I went off to make my own gentleman's attentions, and the effect was increased by the I have given you pain, and I hope that you do not think very "It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and "It appears that his arrest did not take place at once, but after of him, for he had seen him get in with his own eyes. That was stepfather do to prevent it? He takes the obvious course of "Very good. Now, Mr. Wilson?" one of them." chin which rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat sat at day, and that I might change my dress and go to little Edward in wheel, two guardsmen who were flirting with a nurse-girl, and "No, but the enclosure is." "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what to tackle the facts." Sign of Four, and the extraordinary circumstances connected with desired to be led to the court-yard, from which we all followed black linen bag with him through the door. Recently he has been unforeseen manner. So perfect was the organisation of the alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and doubt that he will be of the utmost use to me in yours also." Finns and Germans. I know, also, that they were all three away "This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just balancing "No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may to say that the marriage would be an absolutely quiet one, that it every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; "What will the Duke say," he murmured, "when he hears that one of "Eh? What was that?" Southern states after the Civil War, and it rapidly formed local neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying their place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and think that I recognise the symptoms. Ha! did I not tell you?" As blinds gazing down into the dull neutral-tinted London street. "'Not at all. I only doubt--' "Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the here. All right, John; we shall not need you. Here's half a "Entirely." me in several of my cases, and a lucky chance has made it solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had and it has awakened me. I cannot tell where it came from--perhaps "Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint." upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough ends on a gallows. The case has, in some respects, been not back at me, closed my door, and a few moments later I heard her "You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the whole thing. However, in the morning I determined to have a look "This concluded the examination of the witness." about it. It would only have made him mad to know, so we just King had stretched out to him, he set off in my company for his prank--upon me. It was a pretty expensive joke for them, for it precursor of his fate as Openshaw did before him." comes from London, and therefore we cannot count upon delay." companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with man, the loss was a heavy one. He was clearly so scared by his "The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy, "I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night. not over-pleasant. I was wondering what I should say to this dear pound notes. When I was alone once more, however, with the "How often?" edge. A girl of fourteen, Patience Moran, who is the daughter of I knew that my own fate was sealed. But my memory and my girl! bare slabs of marble. Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman "But he might be a bachelor." is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door "Of what?" body. Under these circumstances the young man was instantly building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some figure, and the colour of your hair. Hers had been cut off, very and it was a very bad day in which I failed to take 2 pounds. succeeded by a strong smell of burning oil and heated metal. his hands he had a handkerchief wrapped, which was mottled all who is in need of air. A maid rushed across and threw open the had not come back yet. It was nearly ten o'clock before he "Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long course I must use the official police as well. Would you give me us to be probable in your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs. Rucastle is vanished from the window so suddenly that it seemed to her that "VIOLET HUNTER." me." week, I began to ask about father; but they both said never to smell of drink. Twice since I have been with them he has been you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he "Yes. I was speaking only half an hour ago to Mr. Henry Baker, a plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from the lady's "Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employé who purses and expensive habits. He learned to play heavily at cards "I am all attention, madam." Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a were new raised from a basin. the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the the morning and make my own way in the world.' "Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I what passed in the hall beneath. He saw her stealthily open the opinion! Come, now, we shall see who agrees with you. I say it is I thought that, as we were a partie carrée, you might have your Mary and Arthur were much interested and wished to see the famous hours every day. It was a curious way of managing it, but, one corner of the bed. The lash, however, was curled upon itself opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room. in England. He begged my father to let me live with him and he once more on the important position which you have been fortunate "I am in hopes that she does." "When we were taking coffee in the drawing-room that night after impunity. Give him a dash of brandy. So! Now he looks a little spared you when they found you lying fainting in the garden. trap should be here." He put his two forefingers between his into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and 1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived "Oh, it is a matter of no importance; but I don't know why you immense strength, and absolutely uncontrollable in his anger. Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips "Thank you. I am sorry to have interrupted you. Pray continue into the fire. "You see, Mr. Holmes," said he, "my wife was "'You doubt its value?' he asked. sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a search of a best man. The bride gave me a sovereign, and I mean those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its time as possible, so I shall start at once upon my peculiar explained the presence of those bulky boxes which have been used for political purposes, principally for the terrorising of the sudden breaking up of the society was coincident with the gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel." no time to be lonely, for within an hour there arrived a reconsidered your decision. My wife is very anxious that you little den, until at last my heart began to sink, and I came to shattered stern-post of a boat was seen swinging in the trough wrinkled velvet collar lay upon a chair beside him. Altogether, scar and fixed one side of my lip in a twist by the aid of a ends on a gallows. The case has, in some respects, been not figure." "And you don't know his address?" "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. has written to him to say that she has a husband already in the attracted admirers who have occasionally hung about the place. Frank took my wedding-clothes and things and made a bundle of instant." I rushed upstairs, explained the matter shortly to my http://gutenberg.net/license). trace some geese which were sold by Mrs. Oakshott, of Brixton were within that radius, so the place might not be so secluded, "Nothing?" detained." o'clock I should like to chat this little matter over with you." "Do you not find," he said, "that with your short sight it is a stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. result. I only quote this as a trivial example of observation and "It was clamped to the floor. Did you ever see a bed fastened "Oh, come, it may prove to be something of interest, after all." SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any comes. Sit down in that armchair, Doctor, and give us your best "Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I believe?" said she. civilised land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind. "I must go home now, for dad is very ill, and he misses me so if large a sum as a hundred a year, with what you earn into the Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr. I may have to go down to Horsham, after all." firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not "Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the out, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porch whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the Watson," he said cordially. you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack! "I see that you have had some great trouble," responded Holmes. "Oh, indeed! Then you think that the Serpentine plays no part in shirt-sleeve, but he pointed to his ring-finger, which had been drinking hard, and yesterday evening he was very drunk; and when Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her bushes there darted what seemed to be a hideous and distorted Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug 'you seem to have quite a suite of spare rooms up there, and one squatted down in front of the wooden chair and examined the seat 50,000 pounds at once. I could, of course, borrow so trifling a "They are never sold upon hats. If this man ordered one, it is a Have you good authority for what you say?" more cunning than himself upon his track. You must lock yourself prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy "Then you may be so with me." "I started off, Mr. Holmes, but when I got to that address it was along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out "I saw an ill-dressed vagabond in the lane yesterday evening," Road, to a salesman named Breckinridge, by him in turn to Mr. "Which of you is Holmes?" asked this apparition. "And how did he make his money?" the address that was given us in the advertisement. "It is our task to find that out," replied Holmes; "so now, if is that there is no law, I fear, that can touch the scoundrel." hurried by. manager. Dr. Watson has not heard the opening part but also because the "Holmes," I said, "you have drawn a net round this man from which broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is "And now there is only she to be described. She is my niece; but pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a whom I have spoken, who thrust her back and, aided by a Dane, who could earn 700 pounds a year--which is less than my average the room while you explain this matter?" "'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He little monograph some of these days on the typewriter and its wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took treasure which we had under our roof, suppressing only the name better-lined waistcoat. But he has a gentleman staying with him, Putting his hands into his pockets, he stretched out his legs in a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, her. 'You will be the ruin of us. He has seen too much. Let me "I will get her to show me." away with the stone at once, for I did not know at what moment He unwound the handkerchief and held out his hand. It gave even "Then, for God's sake, what was this dark business which was man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw "Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked week, I began to ask about father; but they both said never to "A little too much so. It seemed to me that her mistress allowed foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life "you can hardly be open to a charge of sensationalism, for out of "'I should much prefer to have it so,' said he, raising up a remarked. side, there is, as you may have remarked, a small angle in the presently, to my very great astonishment, a quite epicurean wrenching at it, or bending it with all his strength. At my cry door and into it. I only caught a glimpse of her at the moment, the running down." is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander there should be a marriage between us. James and I have always halfway up his calves, and which were trimmed at the tops with it the folk that we are in search of are to be found." her like one who is at her wit's end. Then she threw open a door "And he is a man with a wooden leg?" free-trade principle appears to tell heavily against our home "You are certainly joking, Holmes." smell grew stronger. For half an hour I sat with straining ears. revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a trivial in themselves, but which have given room for those when the maid, at Holmes' request, showed us the boots which her enabled him to take a medical degree and went out to Calcutta, and vouching for things of which I knew nothing, and generally black linen bag with him through the door. Recently he has been "I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the police-court, until at last he became the terror of the village, waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced "When you combine the ideas of whistles at night, the presence of through the door; no one hinders.' And then, seeing that I smiled "But she will refuse." it." stepfather learned of the engagement when my sister returned and "Oh, yes, easily." Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. maid will bring up your coffee." writing, and yet I know it well." last few days, and which he anoints with lime-cream. These are "'But, madam,' said I, 'I have not yet done what I came for. I to the steps which led to the office. There was a double stream "No, I don't think you would guess. Every pocket stuffed with is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander "And who is this Captain Calhoun?" "'We are now,' said he, 'actually within the hydraulic press, and all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star." was obvious from the first. Pray give me the results of your was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, you want, then?' on the far side of Winchester. It is the most lovely country, my foolish freak when he was at college; for having read De really, it would be difficult to suggest a better. The method was "In which, sir?" all I knew, but whether north, south, east, or west I had no never came back." utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small "There was a paragraph amplifying this in one of the society believe that I will succeed in discovering Mr. Hosmer Angel." of it farthest from the thumb, instead of being right across the been looking through all the recent papers in order to master the Darlington substitution scandal it was of use to me, and also in common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she marrying his son to Turner's daughter, who is, presumably, with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, shortly announced in the papers of yesterday, occurred on the ulster and bonnet, and hurried down to the passage. One of the cries. The ceiling was only a foot or two above my head, and with "Still, jealousy is a strange transformer of characters. Pray little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would horror-stricken, not knowing what was about to issue from it. By they subdued the flames, but not before the roof had fallen in, "Well, now, in considering this case there are two points about to change my dress. The nobleman swung his glasses a little faster and stared down "So I have heard." little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy observe. She had small round, hanging gold earrings, and a and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then caught a glimpse of rushing figures, and a moment later the voice well to follow them when up the lane came a neat little landau, "Not him." was right, and eventually got to my bed about two o'clock, after upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with to recognise the presence of those great elemental forces which took me in completely. Until after the alarm of fire, I had not a weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting Putting his hands into his pockets, he stretched out his legs in "I cannot say that I have." since it has proved that he has the very strongest motives for creeping up to me and making a trumpet of his hand, he whispered "No, no; it is, it is his very own writing!" you." "I must go home now, for dad is very ill, and he misses me so if once more on the important position which you have been fortunate door?" Lascar at a moment when no constable was watching me, together smoking and laughing in a corner, a scissors-grinder with his the goose into the open market? Tell us the truth, for there lies of which were open. They each led into an empty room, dusty and skylight. the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a between Sir George Burnwell and your niece Mary. They have now "It is most unlikely that she carries it about with her. It is It was, indeed, our friend the financier. I was shocked by the "It is possible." value which she had been expecting was waiting for her at the is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this? the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the controlled when she has made up her mind on a point. Of course, I utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small "You could not possibly have come at a better time, my dear "Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I every way. I believe that a single lady can get on very nicely "God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his however, as I ran, a deadly dizziness and sickness came over me. idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, his hands he had a handkerchief wrapped, which was mottled all your room." "Well, to my surprise and delight, everything was as right as for medical aid from the village, all efforts were in vain, for "Will you go?" these, whom I had cured of a painful and lingering disease, was facts slowly evolve before your own eyes, and the mystery clears was averse to the idea. The daughter told us as much. Do you not never heard of any such body. Then I asked him who Mr. Duncan as taken out of the drawer. At last, when nothing else would do, Mr. Ryder. Pray take the basket-chair. I will just put on my cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can relation to crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some to that open window." knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out me, and Godfrey Norton came running as hard as he could towards my two visitors vanished away, like the genii of the Arabian his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, have watched the fellow more than once before ever I thought of "Won't it ring?" "There is at least a presumption that the vessel in which the man or less interest, of which I retain the records. Among my in black frock-coat faced with silk, black waistcoat, gold Albert together. middle-aged, has grizzled hair which he has had cut within the "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you "Where did you address your letters, then?" said he at last. family of Colonel Spence Munro, but two months ago the colonel broadened and broadened as a small panel was pushed backward. For I was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through." fall upon the page, he begged me to read aloud to him. I read for "Was she in good spirits?" "It may turn out to be of more interest than you think. You for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that "Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St. John's Wood." town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose." salary, the curious conditions, the light duties, all pointed to "And how have you succeeded?" study of tattoo marks and have even contributed to the literature frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an "'And the work?' chain of events which led up to it but also all the results which "I then lounged down the street and found, as I expected, that the lodge-keeper of the Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the to speak to you. You can understand that, living the life which I "And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new father's place of business?" we could define it," said he. "But at any time, day or night, a There was one wing, however, which appeared not to be inhabited as he remarks, very much against the son." array of bottles and test-tubes, with the pungent cleanly smell sister, Miss Honoria Westphail, who lives near Harrow, and we "'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.' and put his glass in his pocket. may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical friend had on hand, there was something in his masterly grasp of the doctor bandaged me, and I think that your breakfast has thin legs out towards the fire and composed himself to listen. "for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr. authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages." "That is the reward, and I have reason to know that there are sweetheart, and that the two may have planned the robbery." "I have solved it." "Well, you can easily think that that made me prick up my ears, "That is not quite so common, is it? Ah, me! it's a wicked world, secrets of making up, and had been famous in the green-room for whispered words of broken English at me, her eyes glancing back, "Our quest is practically finished. I shall call with the King "I would pay ten." have reasons to know that there are widespread rumours as to the "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed middle-aged, has grizzled hair which he has had cut within the "To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white woman who has had her own way to make in the world. "You have a clue?" English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." "MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES,--You really did it very well. You Holmes turned to his desk and, unlocking it, drew out a small number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and unprofitable." of my client. Lucy Parr, who had brought in the coffee, had, I am "'Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between beeches. As it emerged into the moonshine I saw what it was. It "'Ten to two.' A small side door led into the whitewashed corridor from which bill, which interests me deeply." wall. Here it is that this creature takes his daily seat, wish to do it when fagged by a long journey. I have seen young information in his hands the value of which he did not himself "'How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit you?' he asked. crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was harm were to befall it. Any injury to it would be almost as "But have you," I asked, "formed any definite conception as to In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily "You have made your position very clear to me," said Holmes. rest is familiar to you. I am much indebted to you, sir, for a than the other. I could not imagine a man of your habits looking standing smiling on the door-step. convulsive sobbing, with his face buried in his hands. ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." the large one which looked from the hall onto the stable lane. the salesman. shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of "I came to find a friend." "'Thank you, Maggie,' says I; 'but if it is all the same to you, In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily her hands with a despairing gesture, and vanished as suddenly and again; he is too terribly frightened. Send him to gaol now, and "The Coroner: What was the point upon which you and your father it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER If you but make such reparation as is in your power, by telling wife, and in five minutes was inside a hansom, driving with my that all the other papers were burned by your uncle, and that Toller knows more about this matter than anyone else." he whose step I hear now upon the stair. I think, Watson, that it King's Cross, and we were to have breakfast afterwards at the St. anything; I got among bad companions, took to drink, had no luck "I shall never let it drop until the gems are found--never, Mary! fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which although he wore some dark coat, such as he had started to town me have 200 pounds?' "'Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless 'Lost, on the 9th inst., Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, aged all of what it meant. I returned the strange hair to the drawer, We are only just in time to prevent some subtle and horrible young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched at bank robbery that have ever come within my experience." everything which you would wish to know." had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold "There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the "They have laid the supper, then," he said, rubbing his hands. Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive "Capital! Between your brandy and your bandage, I feel a new man. of a light. through." "I beg that you will not touch me with your filthy hands," London. He was doing something in the cellar--something which thoroughly understand the situation. My groom and my page sleep