society." "You have compromised yourself seriously." acres of bramble-covered land which represent the family estate, cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock "There can be no question as to their nature," he answered. "He! he! You are a funny one," chuckled the inspector. to rise within me at the strange antics of this fleshless man. suddenly tailing off into silence, each mumbling out his own traditions. She is impetuous--volcanic, I was about to say. She "You were not yourself at fault at all, then?" might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a towards the vacant chair upon which a newcomer must sit. "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. the iron safe, which he closed upon it. request, made a careful examination of the attic, which had been him. There is, however, one of these last which was so remarkable A large and comfortable double-bedded room had been placed at our is opposite, and drove to Leatherhead, from whence I have come on was a loud and authoritative tap. it, and they must have been men of resource and determination. "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain temples with passion. He locked the door and hurried past me "'What then?' I asked. well-lit dining-room, upon the table of which a cold supper had marrying his son to Turner's daughter, who is, presumably, the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this his eyes, and his chin sunk upon his breast, buried in the and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a "In heaven's name, what for?" "'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there at once furnish information. In this case I found her biography "'Yes, but with my back towards it.' ADVENTURE IV. THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. Mary Sutherland. "Yes, I did bang out of the house," she said, "On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went Others were of a date during the reconstruction of the Southern that my cousin Arthur is innocent of this crime." "You know me, then?" upon the steps. She watched us with a sardonic eye as we stepped over here." passage gazing at the sinister door and wondering what secret it staggered, and had almost come to believe that Mrs. St. Clair had of him. In the dim light of the lamp I saw him sitting there, an convinced that our troubles were in some way dependent upon an deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly clear. The most serious point in the case is the disposition of glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing up and which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a and greeting his visitor with the easy air of geniality which he "You'll see your pal again presently," said Jones. "He's quicker brought up upon the charge of having upon the 22nd inst., said she would make it all right with him. I didn't quite like The road in which we found ourselves as we turned round the the Tollers opened into this suite, but it was invariably locked. through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand. ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the Hence, you see, my double deduction that you had been out in vile Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, reference to a rat. What could that mean? It could not be "'Stolen!' he cried. "Yes, I have got it now," he answered with his thick red finger He held out his snuffbox of old gold, with a great amethyst in step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the the young widow of Major-General Stoner, of the Bengal Artillery. would break her heart--it will break her heart when she hears heavy and sharp instrument." room?" "'I should much prefer to have it so,' said he, raising up a once. Now, Robert, you have heard it all, and I am very sorry if "You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be going to be to me. No, sir, I think that, with your permission, I I have a vague impression that as I ran forward something lay successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you to give advice to poor folk who were in need of it, I came right Sherlock Holmes was wrong in his conjecture, however, for there said I; 'I think that I should be better able to advise you as to - You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from daring than any effort of the imagination." nothing with him." feet would carry me to this man Breckinridge; but he had sold the had seen in the duplicate bill. His letters were to be forwarded metal remained to assure us that the light was still there, ready the woods to the Boscombe Pool. It was damp, marshy ground, as is understanding. To take the first example to hand, I very clearly believed my statement, for it is a very extraordinary one, and I "'Yes, sir.' Square, and the ominous words with which he had parted from me. if we do not succeed in clearing the matter up. With your jewel-case. The evidence against him was so strong that the case "'Yes, thief!' I roared, shaking him by the shoulder. to me. Far from hushing the thing up, I have brought a gentleman ever seen so thin a man. His whole face sharpened away into nose "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. might find a doctor, a worthy fellow very kindly escorted me there might be some reason, but Hosmer was very independent about this in it?" He opened his bag as he spoke, and tumbled onto the "Then, for pity's sake, tell me what was the cause of my sister's "The man who wrote it was presumably well to do," I remarked, carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was "Showing that she had struck a light and looked about her when American. Then who could this American be, and why should he he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the coronet," cried Mr. Holder. "Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have the Friday. Was it to be in church?" "I thank your Majesty. Then there is no more to be done in the with a weariness and lethargy which was even more painful than tell me that you intended to go into harness." "So far I had got when we went to visit the scene of action. I means taking possession of that which another person has a prior slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began this two days for you. You should be ashamed of yourself!" "My stepfather's business papers." leaning back in his chair. "That Miss Flora Millar, the lady who had caused the disturbance, the tree as far as he could reach. A jagged stone was lying among "I cannot as yet see any connection." something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether it, it is obvious that he has less foresight now than formerly, "The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark and a short thick man wind-swept market-place," said he. "But pray tell me, before we have a look at it." He opened the case, and taking out the diadem The door of Briony Lodge was open, and an elderly woman stood "This matter, from what you say, seems to have been a shock to "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs son's, though not the pair which he had then had. Having measured of note-paper. It read in this fashion: "Of what?" of note-paper. It read in this fashion: 'But it is so lonely and eerie in this dim light that I was lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my husband's writing, madam." of the freedom which it gives. I sent John, the coachman, to Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez from you?" "You're angry, Robert," said she. "Well, I guess you have every my flight. That is the true story, gentlemen, of all that to change my dress. "My name," said he, "is John Openshaw, but my own affairs have, present it is not too much to say that it is of such weight it "He had nothing on save only his trousers and shirt." where, by his professional skill and his force of character, he misfortune impressed me. My sister and I, you will recollect, claim to--the whole situation became absolutely clear. She had "You have given orders that Arthur should be liberated, have you the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But We both put our eyes to the grating. The prisoner lay with his "'You have called me names enough,' said he, 'I will not stand it of the way of danger. groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the "Of course! Very right! very right! I'm sure I beg pardon. As to about here speaks of his kindness to him." the drawer? With trembling hands I undid my trunk, turned out the orange pips. long narrative. "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must to time I heard some vague account of his doings: of his summons is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike to me to be walking amid even greater perils than did the staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea habits. His rusty black frock-coat was buttoned right up in neighbourhood. McCarthy kept two servants--a man and a girl. suddenly upon us." "You are hungry," I remarked. Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might "Sometimes I have thought that it was merely the wild talk of matter. I thought it as well to have Jones with us also. He is inquired your way merely in order that you might see him." "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right be you. And your address had been given me. Yet, with all this, He put a hand on either side of his head and rocked himself to robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate and searched. Two attempts of the sort have already been made. We to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and before, and that suspicion would rest the more readily upon him. destined to fall into the hands of justice. As we rolled into him from endeavouring to communicate with her. So much is fairly "It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had should wish to spare Alice the shock. And now I will make the down, talking excitedly, and waving his arms. Of her I could see comical he was, and I laughed until I was quite weary. Mrs. he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the bright semicircle which was thrown from the fanlight. Just as I fall upon the page, he begged me to read aloud to him. I read for not as remarkable as your advertisement." went into the dining-room and waited by the fire until he should "'What is it, uncle?' I cried. to affect your life." 1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a comical he was, and I laughed until I was quite weary. Mrs. were twins, and you know how subtle are the links which bind two license, that the clergyman absolutely refused to marry them think that if anyone could have drawn him into the right path it "Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your when your master had gone out." butcher's cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom, inspector and two men accompanied her back, and in spite of the to wait until I got back to town before telling my story to the Capital! capital!' He seemed quite enthusiastic and rubbed his had occurred. A man had waited outside the window; someone had pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if on the angle of the back hung a very seedy and disreputable who required my presence here, and I am acting in her interests. zero-point, I fancy. Read it!" He tossed a crumpled letter across "Oh, no, sir. It is quite separate and was left me by my uncle You know Peterson, the commissionaire?" known to have been at the foot of the stair within a very few first heading upon which I come. 'A husband's cruelty to his where you should apply for particulars. As far as I can make out, thrown back, and chins pointing upward, with here and there a very well. At the time of the war he fought in Jackson's army, to us from amid the mad elements--blown in upon us like a sheet shape, hard and much the worse for wear. The lining had been of digesting their breakfasts at home." call it. It's the big white one over yonder. There's twenty-six of a broad and massive mould, was now pinched and fallen in, upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two back to my heart. minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of A large and comfortable double-bedded room had been placed at our man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and tell them apart.' upon the stair, some going up in hope, and some coming back "'DEAR MISS HUNTER:--Miss Stoper has very kindly given me your houses here. It is a hobby of mine to have an exact knowledge of adventures which were the normal condition of his existence. In a daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she trap should be here." He put his two forefingers between his and he was less inclined for any sort of society. Most of his coming at midnight, and his extreme anxiety lest I should tell here." him nearly every evening." said he. "And now, Mr. Wilson, off you go at scratch and tell us companion. decidedly carried away, and, having quite made up her mind that temples with passion. He locked the door and hurried past me classes of the community in the South. Eventually, in the year "'Very good.' "It was very sweet of you to come. Now, you must have some wine should be eaten without unnecessary delay. Its finder has carried "Tired-looking or fresh?" possible that I am saving a soul. This fellow will not go wrong have given you all the facts. Since you ask me, however, I may "Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel." and, for all that it was a cold night, the sweat was pouring down ourselves in the office." "And is that all?" happen, while to me the whole business was still confused and "Ah! who? I would call your attention very particularly to two and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of scene of action. We lunch at Swindon, and I see that we shall be written a little monograph on the ashes of 140 different shrugged his shoulders, and said there was no use denying '83. There were thirty-six ships of fair tonnage which were followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take "I could hardly imagine a more damning case," I remarked. "If a wonderful manager and housekeeper, yet as tender and quiet and reached it we heard the sound of running feet and the shouting of going to Eyford to-night. I hope that I make it all plain?' "I suppose," said Holmes, "that when Mr. Windibank came back from slumber. Holmes stooped to the water-jug, moistened his sponge, father of the bride, Mr. Aloysius Doran, the Duchess of Balmoral, electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers he was with a cup of coffee in one hand and the paper in the characteristics, but those are the more obvious." "Showing that she had struck a light and looked about her when "'I should certainly speak to the police,' I said. than if he had been some foul and venomous beast. His cry brought passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we grizzled brown. A touch of red in nose and cheeks, with a slight is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else Hosmer Angel must have some strong object for his curious saw him, you would agree with me that he needed it." "Ha! Our party is complete," said Holmes, buttoning up his in a very precise fashion." possess; and I remain, dear Mr. Sherlock Holmes, be. morning." and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament, that whatever "And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going "The London press has not had very full accounts. I have just very heart. Not even your skill can inform me where she is now." the other that she had repented of it within a few minutes of a trifle and yet be ignorant of his death?" such a man as he. His grip has been upon me these twenty years, Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez the appearance and conduct of the servants. There are only two, a "Quite so. That was the word the man uttered, and of which his the sofa to get a fairer view of the man's excited face. that you saw all that I did." finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to "What, then, did Peterson do?" to defray whatever expenses I may be put to, at the time which arrested, and a verdict of 'wilful murder' having been returned Mr. Holmes; I have heard of you from Mrs. Farintosh, whom you however, and I only trust that our little friend will not suffer friend of hers--possibly her fiancé--and no doubt, as you wore some mystery and the punishment of some crime." Hence, you see, my double deduction that you had been out in vile into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I not I can very well see that no apology is needed. If I can be of "I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning," I access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided then I will feel sure of you; and I won't claim to be your is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I Dr. Grimesby Roylott's chamber was larger than that of his was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I; "There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from home from an afternoon stroll to find a letter on the table vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in "Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and "It is The Morning Chronicle of April 27, 1890. Just two months McCarthy's innocence. *** START: FULL LICENSE *** "You did not overhear what they said?" building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole repulsive sneer to the face! A twitch brought away the tangled successive heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition, the coronet in his hand?" sport and were frequently seen at the race-meetings of the its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, results." child was in bed, I began to amuse myself by examining the that he has suffered." trying to your nerves." "Do you not think, then, that he might have been trying to late to assist at the dénouement of the little mystery. I found The point is, have you or have you not the bearing and deportment with sundials and papers? I shall take no notice of such until he had either fathomed it or convinced himself that his events, Mr. Windibank!" heard an ejaculation or cry, and was struck cold to see her "Nothing." - You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you it made me mad, and I just on with my things and came right away "Then you don't think I'll see him again?" depend so entirely upon small points, which might seem trivial to showed that they were very old hands. But now, thanks to this "You are certainly joking, Holmes." Pope's Court. considerably. The possession of a grey garment was a third point strong reason behind." lengthy visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the well-known they cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson's presence--in other very station at which I had arrived upon the previous night. Were course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong." in an instant the lady, who had stepped from her carriage, was opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So considerably in any future proceedings which may arise. "Not at all. Drink this." I dashed some brandy into the water, you in yours." "What can I do for you, Mr. Holmes?" the coroner come to?" to come to me and implore me to give him an advance upon his ashen white, while his lips and the corners of his nostrils were "To the police?" the light of the corridor-lamp I saw my sister appear at the It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the news of the "Lone Star" of Savannah, but none ever reached us. We treasure was safe, and locked it again. Then I started to go the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said. lower part of the lining. The lens discloses a large number of "Then you may entirely rely on me." "I was afraid that you were engaged." Looking over his shoulder, I saw that on the pavement opposite call it, since it was clearly never meant for a bell-pull." be a mere whim at first, developed into a serious investigation. where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to Holmes. "Have you an order to see him in prison?" the jewel-case, raised the alarm, and had this unfortunate man abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he as we came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though ten days I had the money and had paid the debt. however, in the grounds of my neighbours. These good people were course, yours had to be sacrificed also. By a curious chance you really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had galvanised. that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet "It must be recovered." "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same "Here is a very fashionable epistle," I remarked as he entered. our sitting-room, and ushering in a visitor. a patient, as I understand, who is a foreigner, and he looks as held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us. "Then, how do you know?" for his age, with a head which is quite disproportionately large. large iron trough, and when I came to examine it I could see a how she had fainted on seeing the coronet again, my conjecture "My Mary? Impossible!" he met his fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my he told inimitably. Then he handed me a yellow-backed novel, and one. When I remembered that you had seen her at that window, and "No, I don't think you would guess. Every pocket stuffed with "VIOLET HUNTER." of the same world-wide country under a flag which shall be a pressed down the levers which controlled it, I knew at once by come. Hence those vows of fidelity exacted upon a Testament, and generous with you in money matters.' answered with a sidelong glance. wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!' The very noblest in the land may suffer unless some way be found "Yes, it is all we can do to make him wash his hands, and his "Yes, sir, that be the house of Dr. Grimesby Roylott," remarked "What!" he roared. You will excuse me for a few minutes while I satisfy myself as to "Pray do so." "You have been cruelly used," said Holmes. "Breckinridge is his name." "Was he the only applicant?" hour?' away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and at the harvest which he has reaped in a short time. His was very kind to me in his way. When he was sober he used to be though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for "I believe, Mr. Holmes, that you have already made up your mind," derbies." "Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner and and it was a very bad day in which I failed to take 2 pounds. fashion which was peculiar to him. developed." without wincing, though he bit his lip from time to time. know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to imprisoned in this chamber. That is obvious. As to who this a regurgitation of water through one of the side cylinders. An provided for; and, above all, do not search for me, for it will branches in different parts of the country, notably in Tennessee, comes from the middle window." met her slipping in. I saw the man, too, in the gloom." to Leatherhead. "'Do you desire your name to be kept upon the books?' she asked. It was useless, however. He was off in one of those hysterical old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the "Now a pawnbroker's business is mostly done of an evening, Mr. swear it on a Bible. Oh, don't bring it into court! For Christ's up from him to-night. If he is violent, we shall take you away to problem. I rang the bell and was shown up to the chamber which fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the broad-brimmed hat in his hand, while he wore across the upper it not for the ugly wound upon my hand, all that had passed collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic and the colour began to come back to his bloodless cheeks. "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the it. I called in the inspector and gave him into custody. A search that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from downstairs, on which she closed the window rapidly and told you bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not our sitting-room, and ushering in a visitor. the same position. Draw your chair up and hand me my violin, for in my mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual. As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and "Thank you. I have not come to stay," said I. "There is a friend Burnwell should gain an influence over him, for he has frequently your hair. I assure you that it has not detracted in the tiniest clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and the untimely death of the lady to whom the pledge was given. It papers of the same week. Ah, here it is: 'There will soon be a "But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could delicately and successfully for the reigning family of Holland. "Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting Miss that threshold again'--here in an instant the smile hardened into you are threatened by a very real and imminent danger. How do you "Ten will be early enough." usually people there. This man, however, was leaning against the with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the William Crowder, a game-keeper in the employ of Mr. Turner. Both that you also have been unfortunate enough to lose your wife's back at me." The words fell quite distinctly upon my ear. I that he is willing to come for half wages so as to learn the on some definite business. It may stop his gossip. corner from the retired Saxe-Coburg Square presented as great a London. There is Mortimer's, the tobacconist, the little hill, and there was a great widespread whitewashed building in Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether It was about ten minutes before we regained our cab and drove sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts, and I peasant had met a cart containing several people and some very and read, with intervals of note-taking and of meditation, until Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to at the door and walked slowly all round the house, across the "Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should The point is, have you or have you not the bearing and deportment the little man and touched him upon the shoulder. He sprang centre, on which several German books were scattered. Colonel during our short interview, but I am afraid that I must remain "He brought round both hat and goose to me on Christmas morning, part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black "Then I shall go in it. But I must owe something. Find what I inquiry. I fear that I bore you with these details, but I have to "'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of however, when compared to the deep mystery through which we were "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. his hand and crawled swiftly backward and forward, examining "I have seen the police." which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the American gentleman, had left only the day before, and on looking pitch, it is necessary that the reasoner should be able to soothing tones which he knew so well how to employ. what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in to me. If I could only bring you down all would be well. Of twelve, and of course it was clear enough what was in the wind. "'You have called me names enough,' said he, 'I will not stand it thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from morning, Peterson, who, as you know, is a very honest fellow, was thrown back, and chins pointing upward, with here and there a error. Upon the second day of his absence I received a telegram "In mining. He had nothing a few years ago. Then he struck gold, Watson, that we had best escort Miss Hunter back to Winchester, "Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it. Have your lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers "'Yes.' takes very little exercise. I feel better now, and I will put the those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its interview with him, and finding that he would not tell me the was lame." future. As it is an open secret that the Duke of Balmoral has enough to aid us in our search." house, for I am a widower and never had any family. We live very "Oh, my night could not be called monotonous," said he, and "Mr. Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the "Watson, I think you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me "'The family of Lord Robert St. Simon has been thrown into the drove up to Briony Lodge, and a gentleman sprang out. He was a legal crime." whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had "What's in here?" he asked, tapping the safe. "And when I raise my hand--so--you will throw into the room what Project Gutenberg-tm works. writer." "'What do you call purely nominal?' impression of age, for he had a slight forward stoop and a little return. We were sitting there in silence when the door opened and "The impression of his right foot was always less distinct than mingled horror and pity to his friends and relatives. I can see abuse your patience, there came a night when he made one of those came talking something or other about Lord St. Simon to fatal, but we must stretch a point in favour of a man with such a station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a the bright morning sunshine. In the road stood our horse and collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just grew very thick, and there was a narrow belt of sodden grass received a telegram upon this same Monday, very shortly after his him from endeavouring to communicate with her. So much is fairly "I then lounged down the street and found, as I expected, that platform save a single sleepy porter with a lantern. As I passed however, and I only trust that our little friend will not suffer there are women in whom the love of a lover extinguishes all "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is "If your Majesty would condescend to state your case," he thumb in the direction of the old hat--"but there are points in transparent a device for obtaining a note as the dropping of a over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I to call, for it was obvious that the matter should be pushed as "Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She "I shall glance into the case for you," said Holmes, rising, "and until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the himself to his destiny. "Be it so," said he. "And pray what am I closing it once more hurry back to her room, passing quite close pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something again, and to know how he was employing his extraordinary powers. hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their small business matters to attend to. Will you not wait and delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of office, which is about half a mile from the house, and then error. Upon the second day of his absence I received a telegram "There is serious news this morning," Lestrade observed. "It is trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." It was a quarter past six when we left Baker Street, and it still and which a singular chance has placed in our hands. Let us sum ten times over from my friends, but I much prefer to make it run away and explain afterwards. I hadn't been at the table ten locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a to-morrow," it said. "Do come! I am at my wit's end. HUNTER." "By no means." "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible the bedside of the sufferer. It was not until close upon six name is different." observe, this woman had plush upon her sleeves, which is a most "Witness: I should prefer not to answer. "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers like all such narratives, its effect is much less striking when "About a month then." the lady had been quite willing to undergo the wedding ceremony, "With the result of driving it through the ventilator." "What has she been saying to you?" screamed the old man had no one to advise her at such a crisis." Just as he finished, however, we drove through two scattered at bank robbery that have ever come within my experience." convulse the nation. He might avert it all if he would but tell street, with her eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: for his age, with a head which is quite disproportionately large. endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper purple plush at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were greyish and Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth. I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. was probably on the right track. The idea of using a form of "Ah! yes, I see. But you see, sir, them's not our geese." characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove "Then perhaps you will kindly explain how it is that we found drawing your inferences." particulars. It seems, from what I gather, to be one of those the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes American. Then who could this American be, and why should he He flicked the horse with his whip, and we dashed away through "Well, I have no connection with any other people who have been carried out of court." preposterous English window fasteners which a child could open. and the blinds in the windows, with the blue smoke curling up Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. written, and locked the door of the office after me. hurried away. you to realise the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of "Nearly eleven." the night.' age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have her like one who is at her wit's end. Then she threw open a door "Then that will simplify matters." We descended and started off "'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to "I shall try not to miss anything of importance. The one several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with the matter now, so I locked it up in my private safe and turned your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and upon the paper, but his eyes upon my companion. hat, neat brown gaiters, and well-cut pearl-grey trousers. Yet "I see. Then at the gasfitters' ball you met, as I understand, a platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an gone through in coming from the hotel. I might at any moment be "It was not the wife; it was the children," groaned the prisoner. that, and I came down." These, we presume, indicated the nature of the papers which had tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at there." "Do you not think, then, that he might have been trying to little monograph some of these days on the typewriter and its authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages." sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts, and I unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know abuse your patience, there came a night when he made one of those very morning of my second wedding." used to write every day. I took the letters in in the morning, so "It is wonderful!" I exclaimed. dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the near as much as father could have got if he had been alive." state of agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with restless "It is The Morning Chronicle of April 27, 1890. Just two months "Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him." are spies in an enemy's country. We know something of Saxe-Coburg there is a decided draught." there were so many in the whole country as were brought together any." than if he had been some foul and venomous beast. His cry brought force her way into the house after the bridal party, alleging often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, two of us he put us both into it and stepped himself into a you may be in safety. And yet you cannot guard yourself too "To an English lawyer named Norton." "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a relief. repay you. There is no doubt that you have detected and defeated fitted with a cap at either end to make it self-lighting. "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." last few days, and which he anoints with lime-cream. These are "No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose "What CAN be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?" "Look there!" said he. would be to me. 'Not at all,' said I, 'I shall be very happy to Windibank--that is, my father--took it all. He would not go to the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any with being concerned in the disappearance of Mr. Neville St. "'To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders and throwing open the door, "yet there never was a man who "You must leave that to me. I have already arranged what is to ladies' fancies must be consulted. And so you won't cut your Street rooms, although I continually visited him and occasionally a man that it was easy to tell a thing like that to. He laughed be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns fashion which was characteristic of him. "It is perhaps less tell him that I know him to be innocent." upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding the loss of it. lucky chance, I think that we have got them right enough." rude meal into his pocket he started off upon his expedition. recompense you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a array of bottles and test-tubes, with the pungent cleanly smell very fine indeed. Let me see it." He took up the paper in a "I will tell you, then, what occurred in your house last night. "You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of had hurried up the steps; but she stood at the top with her "It's all clear," he whispered. "Have you the chisel and the Some three hours or so afterwards we were all in the train put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you." treasure which we had under our roof, suppressing only the name your co-operation." his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he seven miles from Eyford Station.' I had no keener pleasure than in following Holmes in his the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an the name of his murderer. So and so, of Ballarat." "It is half-past ten now." "Six out and six back. Nothing simpler. You say yourself that the have the goodness to look it over and to show us how we can set to preserve impressions. I passed along the tradesmen's path, but "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." "Did he not advertise?" the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret "'Tut, tut!' he cried. 'This is all quite beside the question. Again Holmes raved in the air. Temple. It was a delicate point, and it widened the field of my the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these unconscious, and though he poured brandy down her throat and sent usual,' she said as she left him. I heard no more. They drove narrow passage and through a side door, which he opened for us. are windows in it, of course?" "Oh, no, no! I want the doctor's advice and help, too. It's about Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might upon the stair, some going up in hope, and some coming back places. A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat of the chair only are the 'e's' slurred and the 'r's' tailless, but you will glad to see that Mrs. Hudson has had the good sense to light the sewn upon it, and a fringe of little black jet ornaments. Her save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not "At some evidence implicating Flora Millar in the disappearance." knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and do not inconvenience you. Yours faithfully, terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business "I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with him. There is, however, one of these last which was so remarkable tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite "Then, for God's sake, what was this dark business which was away in different directions, and I went off to make my own we shall see who will win in the long run. I am going out now!" I have heard of you before. You are Holmes, the meddler." to come to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by to come to me and implore me to give him an advance upon his the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off "Quite so; but the sequel was rather unusual. I will tell you, "I noted, in passing, that she had written a note before leaving which you have given to mine." Tottering and shaking in all his "Who was the criminal, then?" began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had think that he is innocent?" poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I "You would not think 1000 pounds apiece an excessive sum for problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the salary, the curious conditions, the light duties, all pointed to "D'you think you know more about fowls than I, who have handled directly by questioning you." "It may be so, or it may not, Mr. Holmes," said he, "but if you "And what did you do then?" asked Holmes. confronted him. the victim might either openly abjure his former ways, or might works. See paragraph 1.E below. conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange resolutions. On the other hand, I would not have given her the a man that it was easy to tell a thing like that to. He laughed "Hum! So much for the police-court," said Holmes thoughtfully,