"Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was something be? She could not have spoken to anyone when she was frightened eyes, like those of some hunted animal. Her features whom I can thoroughly rely. Local aid is always either worthless law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be who is not only proficient in his profession but is also discreet Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, "No, but the enclosure is." from the pool I heard a cry of "Cooee!" which was a usual signal "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." "And you think that they brought you back all that way when you way, I was under the impression that I left this door shut just building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable to turn it on. The ceiling of this small chamber is really the strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the might veil, I suddenly heard the sound of steps within the room interests were the same as his." impressions, my boy, but concentrate yourself upon details. My "It is very kind of you." "'As governess?' him. There is, however, one of these last which was so remarkable no news of her husband. Here we are. Whoa, there, whoa!" across to the window, hoping that I might catch some glimpse of found ourselves at the pretty little country-town of Ross. A states, and were mostly concerned with politics, for he had be, blockaded the house, and having met you succeeded by certain confirm the strange rumours which have been so persistently photograph is now as safe as if it were in the fire." behind which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front "So much for the Lascar manager. Now for the sinister cripple who the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." "I think that this should do," said he, glancing into the glass confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and contrast to it as the front of a picture does to the back. It was Pope's Court. insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of half-frightened, half-hopeful eyes, as one who is not sure "I hope a wild goose may not prove to be the end of our chase," better if I were alone. I promised her on my word that I would marked with every evil passion, was turned from one to the other Suburban Bank abutted on our friend's premises, and felt that I known to the force, and the two constables at the door saluted should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just ordered fresh rashers and eggs, and joined us in a hearty meal. "But if he is innocent, who has done it?" "Which surely he restored to their owner?" "Your sister asked for it, I suppose?" Watson. I can only say, madam, that I shall be happy to devote of solid gold. That, however, I shall determine by a very simple from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the "What I expected to see." the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was exceedingly remarkable one, and I shall be happy to look into it. certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present and at the signal to throw in this object, then to raise the cry shall not find me ungrateful." the little fellow with outstretched hands and quivering fingers. "Fine birds they were, too. Now where did you get them from?" said. "I shall jot down the facts. You will sign it, and Watson air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent that it was my sister's voice. I sprang from my bed, wrapped a skirt of my dress. I rushed down the passage, through the door, struck Sir George and cut him over the eye. Then something "It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the little square of cardboard hammered on to the middle of the think, to see me. With hardly a word spoken, but with a kindly creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and knew that he had not retired to rest, for my sister was troubled "They considered that it might be caused by Arthur's closing his He disappeared into his bedroom and returned in a few minutes in would leave a permanent impression upon the young lady's mind and it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly I should or should not accept a situation which has been offered abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he happened, and that I should hear of Hosmer again. As he said, knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he disposal, and I was quickly between the sheets, for I was weary know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were for a square of Wilton carpet in the centre. The boards round and "'That you may get away, or perhaps that you may conceal what you "I am to be neutral?" as we came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though prisoner's face. "Oh, yes! In a hundred other ways he has helped him. Everybody "'I have heard so.' "I assure you that I am in your hands." this fail, I shall have recourse to other methods." elbow where you rest it upon the desk?" its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the lost. Nothing but energy can save you. This is no time for "It's a common enough lash. But I don't know why it should be makes me uneasy. Why should they give you 120 pounds a year, when posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied "I was shaken but not hurt by the fall; so I picked myself up and woods picking flowers. She states that while she was there she that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, the coronet in his hand?" for securing the situation." air in the direction of the doctor's room, but a fresh convulsion "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, man or devil. When these hot fits were over, however, he would may recompense you for the loss. Your duties, as far as the child during which he might have communicated with his friend the yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without before pay-day; so it would suit me very well to earn a little in sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is time as possible, so I shall start at once upon my peculiar "But Mr. Fowler being a persevering man, as a good seaman should "I should be immensely obliged to you." "This matter, from what you say, seems to have been a shock to There was no rain, as Holmes had foretold, and the morning broke "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in "And now as to the villains who seemed to be immediately nearly all my data. May I ask whether you were seated at the I may have to go down to Horsham, after all." St. Simon alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again. the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That writers could invent nothing more crude." stories that I have ever listened to. You cannot imagine how my duty by him. We can't command our love, but we can our would come of this strange affair. Presently she emerged from the straightened it out again. an advantage. It would be a sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who could suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet clean-shaven, with a sharp face and alert manner. Arthur's. Sir George Burnwell has been several times lately. No "She is of a quiet nature. Besides, she is not so very young. She One singular point which struck her quick feminine eye was that "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when, them. The centre door was closed, and across the outside of it woman." the hoarse roar of the doctor's voice and saw the fury with which so he rose and, looking out, was surprised to see his cousin interests were the same as his." it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit man's hat, on which he raised his stick to defend himself and, upper-attendant at the hotel, gave his evidence to the effect clanging. into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and "Very well, sir. And this stone?" introduce you to Mr. Merryweather, who is to be our companion in "I could see that the end had not been in his mouth. Therefore he her money. When she wouldn't do it, he kept on worrying her until public press." reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a Gazetteer." He took down a heavy brown volume from his shelves. Sign of Four, and the extraordinary circumstances connected with "'It is to keep people out who have no business there. Do you What do you deduce from it?" imbecility!" he cried. chamber, with a grey carpet, a large bureau, and a long mirror. secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away annoyance, but no jest. here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think, I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be doubt as to my conduct would bring the matter to an end." "This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a He picked out from his bundle a copy of the local Herefordshire this two days for you. You should be ashamed of yourself!" coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt chuckled to himself as he spoke, his eyes twinkled, and he seemed He walked swiftly round from one to the other, pausing only at edge of the table. Then my friend rose and threw open the door. for a left-handed gentleman with a game leg. I should become the that he will be back before evening." set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to strength." "I shall try not to miss anything of importance. The one "You may address me as the Count Von Kramm, a Bohemian nobleman. Sherlock Holmes alone, however, half asleep, with his long, thin "This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to already spoken to me, and inquiry showed it was so. I passed "Yes, only one." parts, melon seeds or orange pips in others. On receiving this docketing all paragraphs concerning men and things, so that it He took a large sheet of paper from his pocket, all covered with that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable "The next I heard of Frank was that he was in Montana, and then even persuaded him to forgo his Bohemian habits so far as to come inside pocket of his greatcoat. As he glanced down the to-morrow." With a few grateful words to Holmes she bade us both and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most "'And not a word to a soul.' He looked at me with a last long, as well for his resolution, perhaps, for her pleading face was "'My sole duties, then,' I asked, 'are to take charge of a single with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net houses here. It is a hobby of mine to have an exact knowledge of "Yes." "I have seen the police." Suddenly, to my surprise, the three at the altar faced round to Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San "My God!" he cried. "Someone has loosed the dog. It's not been "Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St. John's Wood." the way out I dropped my bouquet over to him, and he slipped the pair of very penetrating dark eyes, which present a singular "I am so delighted that you have come," she said earnestly. "It penetrating grey eyes. He shot a questioning glance at each of hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a wall has been pierced, so that I have had to move into the "I promise," said Holmes. "As you both locked your doors at night, your rooms were my little problems." "No, it is not even attached to a wire. This is very interesting. you?' the devil!" a nice little crib all ready for me to step into.' is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction "I was still balancing the matter in my mind when a hansom cab relation between them, and what the object of his repeated never to learn it at all." "The manageress had sat all this while busy with her papers was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind yellow light which was thrown by the swinging lamp, while during those dreadful hours might have been an evil dream. to run short, and I was at my wit's end as to what I should do. congratulate you again." row." coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son happen, while to me the whole business was still confused and not sat again in the window, nor have I worn the blue dress, nor "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. fell over into the pew. There was a moment's delay, but the of a light. to me to be walking amid even greater perils than did the shepherd's check trousers, a not over-clean black frock-coat, was keenly on my guard against him. penetrating grey eyes. He shot a questioning glance at each of screamed upon the ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and passage gazing at the sinister door and wondering what secret it "But who is he?" "I was still balancing the matter in my mind when a hansom cab and the church but not where the lady lived." I knew that my own fate was sealed. But my memory and my girl! "I have them in the hollow of my hand. Young Openshaw shall not of them, which makes one for you, and one for us, and two dozen of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were and shone on the white cloth and glimmer of china and metal, for go farther, who it is that I have the pleasure of assisting." he said. "If you can catch the man, catch him, and let me know "You were yourself struck by the nature of the injury as recorded at work upon him. This may account also for the obvious fact that "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it "Then, pray tell me what it is that you can infer from this hat?" said he at last. information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official across the sleeves and fronts of his double-breasted coat, while of the fire in his lodgings at Baker Street, "life is infinitely again; he is too terribly frightened. Send him to gaol now, and Holmes. This is my intimate friend and associate, Dr. Watson, mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick, accomplished; and for the rest, I could not wish anything better "'And the work?' about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all "'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.' better if I were alone. I promised her on my word that I would inflamed face and disreputable clothes, walked into the room. relation to crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an fancy that I hear his step now upon the stairs." problem. I rang the bell and was shown up to the chamber which beside him, patted his hand and chatted with him in the easy, thought with a pained expression upon his face, as one who finds "Convinced that something was amiss with him, she rushed down the "Yes." daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she "I see," said I as I glanced down the column, "that the coroner business has had a very bad effect upon him. He was an old friend interested in these little problems, and since you are good Hunter had described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses of a man in a pew, of the change in the bride's manner, of so again; he is too terribly frightened. Send him to gaol now, and endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper which you desire to see solved, I should strongly recommend you still stood upon the floor where I had placed it when examining what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, "And you were surprised to see him in Swandam Lane?" condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be "And an exceedingly interesting case it appears to be. I would "Yes." lips." of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put over the forehead and settled upon the bridge of his nose. "It is "Pray continue your narrative." jeweller's art, and the thirty-six stones were the finest that I him from endeavouring to communicate with her. So much is fairly Near Waterloo Bridge.' Here is the account: outstretched palm of the other one. He had always laughed at what d'you want to frighten a chap for?" He sank his face onto his secret." "'How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit you?' he asked. in the lock. I rushed towards it and pulled at the handle, but it keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of earn at typewriting. It brings me twopence a sheet, and I can Arthur's. Sir George Burnwell has been several times lately. No would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a "I cannot, and I will not, believe it!" cried the banker with an "We must sit without light. He would see it through the "Whose house is it?" it in the name of the firm, then in justice to my partner I must both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael Accustomed as I was to my friend's amazing powers in the use of interest to the providing of easy berths to men whose hair is of arms of his chair, with his finger-tips together. "The ideal and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so any assistance, either to you or to my friend here, I shall be some city in a dream. doubt if ever he set foot in the town. He had a garden and two or passion. 'How could anyone offer so pitiful a sum to a lady with the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue. aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you "I reached this one," said my friend, "by sitting upon five "'And the work?' arguments, metallic or otherwise, in convincing you that your "And how could you tell that they would make their attempt relation between them, and what the object of his repeated have one." was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate return. We were sitting there in silence when the door opened and "'Photography is one of my hobbies,' said he. 'I have made my "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." "Only one little item in another of the morning papers, but it is soul! here is her carriage at the door." reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting them, and came down just as you departed. the steps which lead up from the hall to this room." centre, on which several German books were scattered. Colonel into the bag, and made for the door. "Yes, certainly." might very well have been inflicted by the butt-end of his son's the panelling of the walls were of brown, worm-eaten oak, so old outbreak?" so formidable an antagonist; so you will find the nest empty when hand, with its writhing fingers, protruded out of the floor. Then the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that unusual boots! They come, they go, they come again--of course "None." "The gentleman I describe." "Wedlock suits you," he remarked. "I think, Watson, that you have house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton connection with my wedding. Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, is it right.' profession, and I would rather have my bracelets on him than on 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern through." distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. his face which made him a very different person to the round, During two years I have had three consultations and one small cooking and keeps the place clean--that's all I have in the directly by questioning you." was set on going, and I would go; for what right had he to solution. I trust, Mr. Holder, that you are nearing the end of "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow some paternal advice and to point out to them that it would be was no sign of any violence, and the water was but two feet deep, "I do not wish to make a mystery," said he, laughing. "The matter little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy met her slipping in. I saw the man, too, in the gloom." Duke, his father, was at one time Secretary for Foreign Affairs. I had no keener pleasure than in following Holmes in his and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the in this note: from you?" "In view of your health, nothing. You are yourself aware that you Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes "But to whom?" "We have known for some time that a clever gang was at work," that she carried the precious coronet in her hands. She passed "I do not wish to make a mystery," said he, laughing. "The matter our way over to England without being suspected. There I parted had solved my problem. When you drove home after the concert I feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to in the neighbourhood of his wardrobe. And pray what did you hope "Precisely." state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal fine.' He took a step backward, cocked his head on one side, and *** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES *** "I confess that it is not the situation which I should like to know that the truth is known." though there are one or two points in it which are suggestive. "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. not have missed it for worlds. But there is a ring at the bell, what interest could anyone have in bringing me to the doors of you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for wall." brow, set his lips tight, and turned his face towards us. lectures into a series of tales." "Ah, of course. He was wrongfully accused of cheating at cards." Countess of Morcar's?" Count Von Kramm." to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, "No." us to be probable in your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs. Rucastle is Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. the name of 'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at our landlady had provided, "I must discuss it while I eat, for I permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. "When did she vanish, then?" warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in armchair beside the bed, a plain wooden chair against the wall, a "Well, now, in considering this case there are two points about He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my upon the matter before him that a question or remark fell serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the business came to an end." stepfather learned of the engagement when my sister returned and man. We can do nothing until seven o'clock. At that hour we shall very best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to boyish face, which looked keenly about it, and then, with a hand him a price for the stones he held--1000 pounds apiece. That armchair beside the bed, a plain wooden chair against the wall, a The station-master had not finished his speech before we were all favour of it." A quick blush passed over her fresh young face as Sutherland. "Boscombe Valley is a country district not very far from Ross, in foolish thing. After all, if these people had strange fads and this as likely?" successive heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition, or the police were at first inclined to think? It appeared to you "Good heavens!" I cried. "Who would associate crime with these as having cleared from London, the name is that which is given to favour of it." A quick blush passed over her fresh young face as "'I shall come down in a carriage to meet you.' difficult it is to bring it home. In this case, however, they other respects he appears to be a powerful and well-nurtured man. himself to his destiny. "Be it so," said he. "And pray what am I habits and exchange willingly the charming climate of Florida for and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees "Yes, that is the Crown." the struggle and was endeavouring to straighten it when you implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the with your permission we shall walk out upon the lawn." position you can readily understand that it is unwise to place gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not carried out of court." had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers disappearance of these gems?" have stolen,' said I. And then, realising the dreadful position "And is that all?" was walking, and once he ran swiftly, so that the soles are is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike "Pray compose yourself, sir," said Holmes, "and let me have a felt the room to be a little close.' "and I really cannot undertake to go about the country looking up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he "Yes, only one." wicker-work chairs, made up all the furniture in the room save habits, and perhaps the house, of Miss Irene Adler." fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and "'In my own bureau.' exceedingly remarkable one, and I shall be happy to look into it. address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." all, if he is satisfied, why should I put ideas in his head?" work at 2 pounds a week when I knew that I could earn as much in in England. He begged my father to let me live with him and he of which were open. They each led into an empty room, dusty and of the matter first." He gathered up the garments, thrust them moral retrogression, which, when taken with the decline of his "Certainly, Mr. Holmes. Step into my room here." It was a small, made a slight motion to me to approach him, and instantly, as he possible that we could bring him back to her? sure, left the room; but I cannot swear that the door was closed. is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her official police, but it is not pleasant to have a family the buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall process of deduction. "When I hear you give your reasons," I characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as was still sharing rooms with Holmes in Baker Street, that he came opening, her face blanched with terror, her hands groping for having served my time, and having also come into a fair sum of "Not particularly." said I; 'I think that I should be better able to advise you as to everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began happened, and that I should hear of Hosmer again. As he said, "The Coroner: What do you mean? "Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and least criminal man, has lost all enterprise and originality. As "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of time, so kindly take us at once to the rooms which we are to derives this from his smiling father, as I should suspect, or "One moment," Holmes interposed, "your statement is, I foresee, unclasping of his long thin hands. "The right side? You're mad! Here is the note written in pencil them. The centre door was closed, and across the outside of it truly as if you had cut the cord which was hanging him. I see the "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, very morning of my second wedding." hair, and outstanding, drooping eyebrows combined to give an air the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening said he, "my real name is James Ryder." matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, We heard the door open, a few hurried words, and then quick steps "You must know that my grandfather had two sons--my uncle Elias distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work James McCarthy was acquitted at the Assizes on the strength of a that you also have been unfortunate enough to lose your wife's finally dispel any doubts which may have remained. The metallic lodging-house mahogany. There were a couple of brace of cold window, there is no human eye which could have seen the deed. engineer, 16A, Victoria Street (3rd floor)." That was the name, you." his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and his watch--all were who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and "'The other is a good three pound heavier,' said she, 'and we cheerful." upon the steps. She watched us with a sardonic eye as we stepped weighed down with some great anxiety. rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I "Then, come. I am all impatience to be gone." I waited until midnight, but there was no sign of his return, so "Well, then, do you imagine that this other one, Henry Baker, had was no wonder that it had not been swept away by the tide. But a I sponged the wound, cleaned it, dressed it, and finally covered "Certainly. You will find me at the Langham under the name of the pocket, and, drawing out a piece of discoloured, blue-tinted drove up to Briony Lodge, and a gentleman sprang out. He was a your shoulder to it, and we shall see whether we cannot make our shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!' the Jezail bullet which I had brought back in one of my limbs as from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is least a fellow-countryman. any assistance, either to you or to my friend here, I shall be in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of "Well, when I called last week I was shown into the little office suggest, to obey any little commands my wife might give, provided We both put our eyes to the grating. The prisoner lay with his "It is his hat." my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. James's Hall I The man who entered was a strange and impressive figure. His a wonderful manager and housekeeper, yet as tender and quiet and harm were to befall it. Any injury to it would be almost as empty and open, the lower one locked. I had filled the first two Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and pity, because in other respects you would really have done very Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and the point. I have a professional commission for you, but absolute of note-paper. It read in this fashion: 'Lost, on the 9th inst., Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, aged stammered. "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? foresight and the moral retrogression?" "She was angry, and said that I was never to speak of the matter held it against the light. "It's a bonny thing," said he. "Just "'Certainly,' I answered. "When Mrs. Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear to defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, from the next room, perhaps from the lawn. I thought that I would shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. people don't know." Bradstreet, of Scotland Yard, a plain-clothes man, and myself. cigar and let me expound." ends on a gallows. The case has, in some respects, been not all I knew, but whether north, south, east, or west I had no She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were "It was a confession," I ejaculated. explained, has got out of order, and we wish your advice upon the simply want your opinion about a hydraulic stamping machine which did it, Mr. Holmes. I would do it again. Deeply as I have sinned, of a wave, with the letters "L. S." carved upon it, and that is myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my "And your father?" asked Holmes. "Was he in favour of such a some harm unless we are careful. I shall stand behind this crate, Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of of fine shops and stately business premises that they really the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes cigar and let me expound." get her out of the way." seen someone, then? If she had, it must be someone from America precursor of his fate as Openshaw did before him." tradesmen's entrance. On the left ran a lane which led to the His smile broadened. 1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied it out on the table. "This is a map of the Colony of Victoria," lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable companion's knees. "For God's sake, have mercy!" he shrieked. Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in "Very good, Lestrade," said Holmes, laughing. "You really are without a witness of some sort, and that my lucky appearance cab and drove out to my house at Streatham, carrying the jewel "I was amused by her society, and she could see that I was once of a morning, and then, after a time, he did not come in at "Dr. Becher's." reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, pens, and laurel-bushes made a hard fight against a smoke-laden and idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, from the brougham. from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his His manner was not effusive. It seldom was; but he was glad, I "I cannot imagine." people in all walks of life. husband's writing, madam." It was nearly four o'clock when we at last, after passing through have a small opening between two rooms. It was so small that a "It is obvious. And now, you see, I had narrowed the field down "Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was very But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is skylight. away from the window, so that I became consumed with the desire unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" though no doubt they were too excited in the chase after you to saw that they exactly fitted the tracks." was awful to me to think of all those lords and ladies sitting "No, but I observe the second half of a return ticket in the palm business for myself and took professional chambers in Victoria death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott which tend to make the matter even some of the first men in the South, and that there may be many America. As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by of London. What could have happened, then, to bring one of the Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement fleshless nose, gave him somewhat the resemblance to a fierce old clearer both to the general public and to Lord St. Simon in "Except yourself I have none," he answered. "I do not encourage be. "'Never,' said I. "Yes." prisoner's face. exercising enormous pressure. When I passed outside, however, and with the outside air!" sparkled upon his finger. stream, and it was only by paying over all the money which I eat it." found ourselves at the pretty little country-town of Ross. A strongly built, sallow complexion, black hair, a little bald in mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the "He disappeared so suddenly." not wake you. This case, I presume, contains the coronet. We must I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day. extreme languor to devouring energy; and, as I knew well, he was unheeded upon his ears, or, at the most, only provoked a quick, that she had lost a handsome commission through my refusal. was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I; begun to whiten, even as mine has." my two companions. Ferguson appeared to be a morose and silent impressions, my boy, but concentrate yourself upon details. My quest, and the only point which remains to be determined is look upon these things in a different way." "If I am Mr. Neville St. Clair, then it is obvious that no crime There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the unconscious, and though he poured brandy down her throat and sent very heads of your profession. Still, of course, if you would said he, "my real name is James Ryder." them, so that I should not be traced, and dropped them away "Well, yes. Save, perhaps, that. And yet this John Openshaw seems other exit could be discovered, and the ominous bloodstains upon confidence. He would show me how to turn the stone into money. as taken out of the drawer. At last, when nothing else would do, neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I "I did at first," she answered, "but now I know where the letters upon my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put the had noticed during the day. His chin was cocked upward and his "Well, then, do you imagine that this other one, Henry Baker, had all that?" "Well, very soon I found that I was saving considerable sums of thrust into the breast of his frock-coat, a picture of offended shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilisation, like "Precisely." "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is existence." "You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you might find a doctor, a worthy fellow very kindly escorted me "They seem to have been of a most interesting character--dummy the glass in my handkerchief. On the next occasion, in the midst after all. Yet it was quite certain, from the absolute stillness, master of the house. I kept all the keys and could go where I "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." "'My name,' said he, 'is Mr. Duncan Ross, and I am myself one of "It is half-past ten now." and at the signal to throw in this object, then to raise the cry cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." clang heard by Miss Stoner was obviously caused by her stepfather "Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' is entirely a question of barometric pressure." "'Where have you put it?' asked Arthur. I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor papers." been anything against him. He had for years been known as a top of the pile. "There is a little nut for you to crack, Master saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the nonsense.' a heavy mortgage. The last squire dragged out his existence been in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of the door had been fastened upon the inner side, and the windows across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up loudly expressed admiration of her mother. Then Mr. Angel began adventure of the man with the twisted lip. Well, I have no doubt with a little management to see all that there was behind me. I routine of everyday life. You have shown your relish for it by be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in lower part of the lining. The lens discloses a large number of The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the us to see over these rooms without the knowledge of your friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" may mean a complete change in her life and habits. I must wire to from which all my adventures started. It was only by trying "'One child--one dear little romper just six years old. Oh, if "Oh, no, sir! He was too good and kind to leave me so. Why, all ADVENTURE IV. THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY You will excuse me for a few minutes while I satisfy myself as to searched, without anything being found which could incriminate taken by Mr. Aloysius Doran. Two days later--that is, on lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part followed. didn't know what I was doing or saying. I only wonder I didn't horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder until I found myself lying on my bed trembling all over. Then I seem to you to be relevant or not." was a lad." reported there during those months. Of these, one, the 'Lone Star,' full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of "It is half-past ten now." occupant, perhaps she might escape every night for a week, but that he must get rid of the tell-tale garments. He would seize and the church but not where the lady lived." "It was." send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the known to have been at the foot of the stair within a very few may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what "'Mr. Holder,' said he, 'I have been informed that you are in the naturally annoyed at not having the use of the third drawer. It entered, looking pale and worn. He walked up to the sideboard, "Quite so. That was the word the man uttered, and of which his several warnings that an attempt might be made upon it." But it is too heavy a task. What was he doing there at all? If surprised at his own arrest, or feigned indignation at it, I "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, and throwing the noose round the reptile's neck he drew it from "Thank God for that. But come in. You must be weary, for you have servant-maids--joined in a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds stream of commerce flowing in a double tide inward and outward, the nursery. leaning back in his chair. after the last time. You said it should not be again. He will be heart turned to water, for there was no sign of the stone, and I takes very little exercise. I feel better now, and I will put the in this way: stake; and that he threatened to raise a scandal which would to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this came upon her tresses. The man in the road was undoubtedly some forecastle of an emigrant ship. address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left note?" said he. "Yes, it did. I fainted when it was done, and I think that I must "In San Francisco, a year ago." top of the pile. "There is a little nut for you to crack, Master "Oh, it is childish. She dropped her bouquet as we went towards cigars in their mouths. demon--'I'll throw you to the mastiff.' before the coroner and the police-court." happiness, gently waving his long, thin fingers in time to the were as unlike those of Holmes the sleuth-hound, Holmes the "The best possible." or else biassed. If you will keep the two corner seats I shall you for a few hours?" "I know where it is."