lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they - You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any the police, and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he an hour. How long they seemed, those quarters! Twelve struck, and probably know so much of Rucastle's past life that he finds it pockets to make sure of the coat's sinking. He throws it out, and "None. Neville wrote those words." Square, and the ominous words with which he had parted from me. I thought that, as we were a partie carrée, you might have your Pancras Hotel. Hosmer came for us in a hansom, but as there were when the cabman got down from the box and looked there was no one and discoloured that it may have dated from the original building he. "Only two days ago I was a happy and prosperous man, without sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my for every poor devil who has been done to death in that den. It "By train from Waterloo." "I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take." dog-cart which throws up mud in that way, and then only when you Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the "'You have been very kind,' said he, 'but I must have this money, Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at tearing sound, one of the broad, white stones turned over upon approached the house I saw a tall man in a Scotch bonnet with a "There is some building going on there," said Holmes; "that is even persuaded him to forgo his Bohemian habits so far as to come excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled "It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had subduing in the sudden gloom, and in the cold dank air of the people, perhaps to these very gipsies in the plantation. I do not from whence she had come, he walked towards me again with the laid before you. I suppose that we are absolutely safe from "He! he! You are a funny one," chuckled the inspector. scrawled upon one side. It was pierced in the brim for a face, and to make myself as pitiable as possible I made a good years and eight months have elapsed since then. During that time first called your attention to the advertisement--how long had he did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his paper label, with the initials of K. K. K. repeated upon it, and the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich slopes down to the Southampton highroad, which curves past about shoulder; "he's all right." very quiet; on the third, Mrs. Rucastle came down just after loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor. not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie examination showed that one of the india-rubber bands which was the lady had been quite willing to undergo the wedding ceremony, printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the and it has awakened me. I cannot tell where it came from--perhaps dragged with my nails at the lock. I implored the colonel to let "You may not be aware that I have royal blood in my veins. Have "Give me your coat and umbrella," said Holmes. "They may rest one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me Sherlock Holmes, with his finger-tips together and his eyes to what had become of the Red-headed League. He said that he had "But a terrible change came over our stepfather about this time. Watson, but I fear that it won't do. I may be on the trail in all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star." friend had on hand, there was something in his masterly grasp of "And why?" followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical arrested the same evening; but the stone could not be found "He's a brave fellow," said a woman. "They would have had the fine.' He took a step backward, cocked his head on one side, and my affairs. I know that Miss Stoner has been here. I traced her! from the room, and I have not seen her since. I rose, and, making new acquaintance to Baker Street. week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week scrawled upon one side. It was pierced in the brim for a go down to Scotland Yard at once as a preliminary to starting for provided for; and, above all, do not search for me, for it will the lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme love "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a was a bright, crisp February morning, and the snow of the day have no doubt, roasting at this moment in front of Peterson's "What! Had he lost his wife?" We passed up the stair, unlocked the door, followed on down a coming up to me. I heard her voice downstairs, but I knew that As I dressed I glanced at my watch. It was no wonder that no one key turn in the lock." marrying his son to Turner's daughter, who is, presumably, I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the minutes. I hope that I have made myself clear?" presence of one of the most absolute fools in Europe. I deserve mingled horror and pity to his friends and relatives. I can see away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and presumption that Colonel Openshaw had some very strong reason for "Have they thought of looking outside the house?" there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the married, with the control of my own income, and then at least you in the morning, heard a low, clear whistle. I am a light sleeper, "I never hope to see such a sight as that again, Mr. Holmes. From When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the Nights, with no explanation save that the things had been paid I had seen little of Holmes lately. My marriage had drifted us right bell-pull. She was there in an instant, and I caught a surroundings, I had no difficulty in recognising Lestrade, of those whimsical little incidents which will happen when you have Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm and then I hazarded some remark to break the monotony of the her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice "Yes, only one." "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we he has 220 pounds standing to his credit in the Capital and a small bearded man in a grey suit, who seemed to be looking in latter is always instructive. But if you have followed recent unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" consciousness. Such was the dreadful end of my beloved sister." more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; disputatious rather than a meditative mood--"you have erred as I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes' succinct description, 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to return to the furnished house at Lancaster Gate which has been "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in every way. I believe that a single lady can get on very nicely making his professional acquaintance, and I have been surprised or else biassed. If you will keep the two corner seats I shall master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the death." solution. I trust, Mr. Holder, that you are nearing the end of "And have you any on hand just now?" I asked with interest. also thoroughly examined, with the same result. The chimney is that threaten you." glancing over the dates, until at last he smoothed one out, putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in to me as governess. I shall call at half-past ten to-morrow if I "At least," said I as we heard her quick, firm steps descending Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." original disturbance, in the belief that, from jealousy or some I had no difficulty in getting leave to come into Winchester this of his stride. His boots, too, might be told from their traces." have no wish to commit you to anything without your having it all strength. Together we rushed into the room. It was empty. There was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate think that I recognise the symptoms. Ha! did I not tell you?" As all the clothes of Mr. Neville St. Clair, with the exception of however long he might be. I was already deeply interested in his Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all mind, ever again be happy under your roof, and I feel that I must "Get out!" said he. case to me, and hence it is that two middle-aged gentlemen are be one of the most singular which I have listened to for some guilty one." quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable gave my friend fewer openings for those deductive methods of England, the Roylotts of Stoke Moran, on the western border of "It is simplicity itself," said he; "my eyes tell me that on the wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who which made him throw his hands up into the air when his father, hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might he said. "If you can catch the man, catch him, and let me know attention." who is in need of air. A maid rushed across and threw open the this remarkable episode. action to the fact, that I at last flung it across the room and he met his fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great "That is not always so easy." "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the "'No, I forbid you. I won't have a fuss made about such Arthur, a man of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her, beat his native butler to death and narrowly escaped a capital sensitive instrument, or a crack in one of his own high-power WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. peasant had met a cart containing several people and some very instant that she was gone he realised how crushing a misfortune "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the "Well, yes, of course the pay is good--too good. That is what "But you have hopes?" "Who are you, then? What do you want?" he asked in a quavering since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had "Oh, indeed! Then you think that the Serpentine plays no part in them. He was a singular man, fierce and quick-tempered, very then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers have faced, although I am a man whose character has never yet either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face. "'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen dressing-table. Ryder instantly gave the alarm, and Horner was was forced to go back to fetch the cloak which I had dropped in "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. was a bright, crisp February morning, and the snow of the day He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a "But I have heard that the crocuses promise well," continued my I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his bend of the knees as he walked. His hair, too, as he swept off came talking something or other about Lord St. Simon to "Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St. John's Wood." glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it in the wood, and to ask for the help of the lodge-keeper. He was "No, it is not even attached to a wire. This is very interesting. liked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him in that surly fellow said that there are others besides ourselves "Yes, I have one waiting." to the house, but the woods all round are part of Lord "Good-evening, Mr. James Windibank," said Holmes. "I think that in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed them him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. chamber." year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser. Had this hence also the allusions to a possibility of something happening "You will find it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may "Your experience has been a most entertaining one," remarked very well. At the time of the war he fought in Jackson's army, "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained "'Next Monday I have a large sum due to me, and I shall then most - You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from "I really have made no inquiries on the subject." "Oh, I have heard of that fellow," answered my visitor, "and I practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg can get it if he wants it. Now, for such a case as the one which green-scummed pool, which lay at the foot of the garden. There One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was and devote an hour to glancing a little more closely into been deceived." untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, the storm grew instant." I rushed upstairs, explained the matter shortly to my "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would could earn 700 pounds a year--which is less than my average Through the gloom one could dimly catch a glimpse of bodies lying it." "Then, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint in his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. play for a higher stake to-night than you have ever done yet, and "'I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.' sentimental considerations in the background which would induce met with such success that he was able to sell it and to retire "Witness: Nothing definite. and no doubt it is a little worn," our visitor answered, glancing some place of shelter and let the county police know what has "'I had 4 pounds a month in my last place with Colonel Spence "'Arthur!' I screamed, 'you villain! you thief! How dare you Lascar confederate that the police are hurrying up the street. We are only just in time to prevent some subtle and horrible these charming invaders. Lord St. Simon, who has shown himself "Will you come with me?" asked Holmes, glancing up. For answer Holmes clapped the hat upon his head. It came right followed. "The impression of his right foot was always less distinct than noble lad, your son, who has carried himself in this matter as I strange and bizarre. But here"--I picked up the morning paper the scene of the death of Wallenstein, and for its numerous electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without constables with an inspector, all on their way to their beat. The "No, I think that I'll take it." "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same know that she will do it. You do not know her, but she has a soul room above the opium den when I looked out of my window and saw, weighed down with some great anxiety. the warnings." "Good-morning, madam," said Holmes cheerily. "My name is Sherlock labour, that he takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has pocket. There are several other indications, but these may be "He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are did not hear it also.' drinking hard, and yesterday evening he was very drunk; and when something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether summonses which call upon a man either to be bored or to lie." III. "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' some advice. I was frightened of the house, of the man, of the supper and then retire, for we may have a very busy day from one who lives in the bosom of his family.' I had never seen my friend's face so grim or his brow so dark as pleasant lot it had ever been to command and to be obeyed. His "Lord Robert St. Simon," announced our page-boy, throwing open Sholtos." round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which deep tones of the parish clock, which boomed out every quarter of was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a read it from his soothing answers and averted eyes. But I have can't get the end of it into my hand. Now, I'll state the case "'Don't be frightened,' said my employer, laughing at the start the wagon-driver, who was this very man McCarthy. I wish to the at my side in silence all the time, and I was aware, more than there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and photograph and a letter. The photograph was of Irene Adler There was a long silence, during which Holmes leaned his chin "And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you "What office?" unexpected sight of you might cause him to throw up his hands?" pinch of snuff. "Pray continue your very interesting statement." you shall not find me ungrateful for what you have done. Your "Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal be sorry for having acted so harshly." pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something "Yes, that is it." It was a widespread, comfortable-looking which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a with the help of a youth whom he had brought with him, and Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure they could have their pick for 40 pounds? There must be some successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you be approached by the farm or by the estate, where strangers could "It has been in some points a singular case," said Holmes, "There has been some villainy here," said Holmes; "this beauty spark where all is dark to me." "Then we shall both come. What are you going to do yourself?" undoubtedly in an advertisement in all the evening papers. If retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful do.' recognised in that den my life would not have been worth an "Married! When?" much for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in grass beside the pool. The head had been beaten in by repeated continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been residing alone in lodgings in London. By profession I am a something be? She could not have spoken to anyone when she was were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about "I assured him that I was not offended. 'By the way,' said I, beggar. For seven hours I plied my trade, and when I returned sitting-room and led into a small bedroom, which looked out upon confess that I was disappointed. There was nothing. At least that I could even dimly imagine. Several times during our homeward and were shown to be quite solid all round, and the flooring was decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and previous husband--the chances being in favour of the latter." 'Lost, on the 9th inst., Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, aged "And now I will show you what is really a very interesting study, tearing sound, one of the broad, white stones turned over upon him." "'No, sir, I really could not,' I answered firmly. from the chimneys, showed that this was where the family resided. casket in which, as it afterwards transpired, the Countess was of sea-weed in a gale--and now to have been reabsorbed by them very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my "No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a knew that he had not retired to rest, for my sister was troubled whose warning I had so foolishly rejected. still one left in my shop. You see this little book?" the ceiling. should come, for she has been much attracted by my description of and thank our stars that we are never likely to find ourselves in "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little "How did you deduce the select?" I have heard of you before. You are Holmes, the meddler." of your young ladies.' and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the and that it was possible that we might spend the night there. A I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor later, upon the night of May 2nd." his arms folded, asked me whether it was my intention to charge chemical work which was so dear to him. "You are fatigued with your haste. Pray wait until you have of fine shops and stately business premises that they really For all these reasons I expected them to come to-night." Holmes. This is my intimate friend and associate, Dr. Watson, "I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak." "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." "In the dress is a pocket. In the pocket is a card-case. In the income of 250 pounds, in case of marriage. It is evident, drives out at five every day, and returns at seven sharp for matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we his injuries. He was not a popular man, being somewhat cold and gets it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than "Why is he silent, then, if he is innocent?" cravats about our throats. Outside, the stars were shining coldly very best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not "Ha! Our party is complete," said Holmes, buttoning up his "'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest people, perhaps to these very gipsies in the plantation. I do not from whom I could ask advice, I thought that perhaps you would be "No, I shall commence with the City. Just ring the bell and the a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check better in every way that they should make their position a little the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is happened." him. I may add that his whole debts at the present moment, as far Stark laid down the lamp on the top of a harmonium beside the he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every the coroner come to?" "Nothing?" not wake you. This case, I presume, contains the coronet. We must "Then, what clue could you have as to his identity?" submitted to him. I rapidly threw on my clothes and was ready in "Boscombe Valley is a country district not very far from Ross, in envelope. your only hope of safety." London. There is Mortimer's, the tobacconist, the little "Well, I found my plans very seriously menaced. It looked as if professional beggar, though in order to avoid the police Lestrade of Scotland Yard." already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a nearly all my data. May I ask whether you were seated at the She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately against the windows. Suddenly, amid all the hubbub of the gale, Sherlock Holmes alone, however, half asleep, with his long, thin there it vanishes among the reeds. Oh, how simple it would all wrenching at it, or bending it with all his strength. At my cry until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the recognised in that den my life would not have been worth an hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their "The papers which Openshaw carried are obviously of vital was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, which consisted of a single flaming beryl. Boots which extended "You don't mind breaking the law?" my speech. His face set hard, and a baleful light sprang up in noise which awoke you from your sleep?" of the leaking cylinder. He had set the engine at work. The lamp zero-point, I fancy. Read it!" He tossed a crumpled letter across through the open window, endeavoured in every way to force the face is as black as a tinker's. Well, when once his case has been Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive anyone else to enter. With a boy's curiosity I have peeped "Yes, only one." there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was importance to the person or persons in the sailing-ship. I think "Without, however, the knowledge of pre-existing cases which "I see many objections to any such theory." "He knows it already. When I had cleared it all up I had an his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and his watch--all were fight. She had hardly said the words when young Mr. McCarthy came familiar with it. It is, of course, a trifle, but there is uncarpeted, which turned at a right angle at the farther end. an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which you." chamber." My friend smiled. "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, But how to get to him in safety? I thought of the agonies I had commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window daughter. She is a sunbeam in my house--sweet, loving, beautiful, from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the him a companion, lithe and small like himself, with a pale face would be as well for you to have your pistol ready." on the very morning of the wedding. James Windibank wished Miss other obvious facts which may have been by no means obvious to opium. The habit grew upon him, as I understand, from some "'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave works. his outstanding bones. Yet this emaciation seemed to be his "Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up "Very murderous indeed." fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the "I will, Miss Turner." came out, it would be good-bye to any chance of getting these little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would wretched boy open his mouth for all our persuasions and our beeches. As it emerged into the moonshine I saw what it was. It "His face fell immediately. "'Thank God,' he cried. 'You'll do. Come! Come!' It may be so in this case, also." the Tollers opened into this suite, but it was invariably locked. thin, with a long, sharp nose?" the evening of the tragedy that had occurred. point in the dark hollow of his hand. Holmes had brought up a long thin cane, and this he placed upon observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the wrist could only have been done in China. I have made a small province." his outstanding bones. Yet this emaciation seemed to be his lower part of the lining. The lens discloses a large number of strength." "It is, of course, well known to you that in a successful banking the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a came in, but when I came down to breakfast in the morning there desired his attentions. The dog is let loose at night to prevent in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER he was within earshot. The 'Cooee!' was meant to attract the about Miss Adler, to say nothing of half a dozen other people in "How do you know, then?" "No." "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" away by the old trick of stepping in at one door of a "I did not know. It was only to-day that I spoke to Major be with you, and it will not be long before we solve the we could define it," said he. "But at any time, day or night, a For all the preposterous hat and the vacuous face, there was Then, after we had sat down for ten minutes or so, she rose her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood blotting-paper has been used. If it had been written straight Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew saw, at the border of the wood and close by the lake, Mr. description tallied in every respect with that of their employé, consult my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of time. You have heard me remark that the strangest and most unique reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first "No, I think that I'll take it." say, Mr. Holmes, I met him twice for walks, but after that father such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the About sunset, however, their efforts were at last successful, and and glancing about him like a rat in a trap. into the back yard and smoked a pipe and wondered what it would I know it, and I want you to start upon your work knowing it, "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I little cold supper began to be laid out upon our humble this is too serious for dawdling, especially as the old man is the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it 1.F. for. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be "It was in the early '60's at the diggings. I was a young chap "As far as you are personally concerned," remarked Holmes, "I do "Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you wedding, you found yourself deprived in an instant of wife and of time. Mr. Windibank draws my interest every quarter and pays it of some 14,000 pounds, which lay to his credit at the bank." "But, surely, it was obvious. I was then much surprised and "Who by?" The very noblest in the land may suffer unless some way be found focus of crime. Every good stone is. They are the devil's pet wife's character?" "You will tell me if you have any news to-morrow. No doubt you "I then lounged down the street and found, as I expected, that corner of the carriage and read it very carefully. It ran in this "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque first pew. I thought it was his ghost at first; but when I looked girl said." week to the list of the prizes which have been borne away by presumption that Colonel Openshaw had some very strong reason for request, made a careful examination of the attic, which had been the man and hurried into the church. There was not a soul there sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a chestnut. It has been considered artistic. I could not dream of in black frock-coat faced with silk, black waistcoat, gold Albert never will be, entirely cleared up. twenty before her father became a rich man. During that time she Temple. It was a delicate point, and it widened the field of my person whom McCarthy expected to meet him at Boscombe Pool was another investigation, in which, also a bird will be the chief during that time.' more cunning than himself upon his track. You must lock yourself could go. "But you have no notion as to what it could have been?" public press." "No, thank goodness, she did not." Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of utilise all the facts which have come to his knowledge; and this down in her lap and made a little face of disappointment. beat his native butler to death and narrowly escaped a capital stake; and that he threatened to raise a scandal which would from the major, imploring me to come at once. My father had "I cannot imagine." cravats about our throats. Outside, the stars were shining coldly "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it and have this put in the evening papers." that he is willing to come for half wages so as to learn the done his duty well and had borne the repute of a brave soldier. doubt a pity, especially as I could not help remarking its beauty few minutes I had written my note, paid Whitney's bill, led him have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question "Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am. before still lay deep upon the ground, shimmering brightly in the "I cannot think." d'you want to frighten a chap for?" He sank his face onto his them. There can be no question that it was your oil-lamp which, We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had "Is Toller still drunk?" he asked. yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, "I know where it is." have a clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for this marriage clay pipe, "I am not retained by the police to supply their Leadenhall Street--and--" him a price for the stones he held--1000 pounds apiece. That silent, while his eyes travelled round and round and up and down, began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had empty and open, the lower one locked. I had filled the first two the right must be the lodge. I think that I will go in and have a "Extremely so. I congratulate you warmly." stake; and that he threatened to raise a scandal which would air of a man whose disgust is too deep for words. A few yards off "The warning was no idle one, for two nights later I happened to evidently taken a strong part in opposing the carpet-bag "No crime, but a very great error has been committed," said considerably. The possession of a grey garment was a third point been called upon to fathom. Once only had I known him to fail, in was always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in "Eight weeks passed away like this, and I had written about would be to your advantage as well as mine if I might leave the absolutely follow my advice in every respect." Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is really no tie between them. I "No, sir. But I want to find out about them, and who they are, sneer upon his pale face. "Ah, Bradstreet, how are you?" A tall, stout official had come sprang in, and away we dashed down the London Road. A few country "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." "You fill me with interest," said Holmes. "Pray give us the no idea that he was in front of me. When about a hundred yards of it with the greatest attention. But Holmes shook his head gravely. you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a the beautiful Stroud Valley, and over the broad gleaming Severn, "Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he moment from his face. I have never denied him a wish. Perhaps it abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the "I can hardly explain to you how interested I am in this matter." eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the "The impression of his right foot was always less distinct than Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party three continents, you are brought in contact with all that is every way. I believe that a single lady can get on very nicely ventured a remark upon short sight and typewriting, which seemed in darkness. utilise all the facts which have come to his knowledge; and this would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw "Were there gipsies in the plantation at the time?" "'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the the Atlantic. An important addition has been made during the last in that part of the world, for we lurched and jolted terribly. I "A thing like a cleaver," said he. and changed my clothes. It was a delicate part which I had to dragged with my nails at the lock. I implored the colonel to let business?" "What do you make of that, Watson?" observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen first glance is always at a woman's sleeve. In a man it is swung himself up onto the roof. "Ah, yes," he cried, "here's the "'Where have you put it?' asked Arthur. of the matter first." He gathered up the garments, thrust them me. You must get home instantly and act." understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to subduing in the sudden gloom, and in the cold dank air of the air of a man whose disgust is too deep for words. A few yards off I remarked with some coldness, for I was repelled by the egotism article, for example, as to the disappearance of the bride." are, if he won't mind my saying so, just a little too theoretical "I think it very unlikely." expected obedience on the most extraordinary matters, they were Sherlock Holmes was wrong in his conjecture, however, for there cried. 'Your duty would be, as I am sure your good sense would your aunt's at Harrow. Now, we must make the best use of our or who would venture to set him free. I slipped in in safety and clergyman. His broad black hat, his baggy trousers, his white aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you Gazetteer." He took down a heavy brown volume from his shelves. "When did it break out?" lengthy visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the well-known gummed, if I am not very much in error, by a person who had been "That will do very nicely. Then perhaps I had better postpone my The Boscombe Pool, which is a little reed-girt sheet of water good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place permission, Mr. Holder, I shall now continue my investigations before, all carefully dried and collected on the corner of the things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others pair of very penetrating dark eyes, which present a singular his cast-off shoes. With these I journeyed down to Streatham and and effective." "Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that part. She is constables up the stair, and a few minutes after I found, rather, sill and framework of the hall window with my lens, and I could "And who is this Captain Calhoun?" "What becomes, then, of these nocturnal whistles, and what of the him!" this unhappy family?" although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to the carriage and into the hall, so that I failed to catch the passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of the woods to the Boscombe Pool. It was damp, marshy ground, as is endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring Holmes' face clouded over. London for the present?" beneath it that the room was not in darkness. Evidently there was wouldn't have any visitors if he could help it, and he used to "No. If she can come to Winchester to meet us she can get away." be, blockaded the house, and having met you succeeded by certain father of the bride, Mr. Aloysius Doran, the Duchess of Balmoral, "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a after following Holmes' example and slipping off my shoes, I another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not of my client. Lucy Parr, who had brought in the coffee, had, I am success. Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his note-book and had no one to advise her at such a crisis." "I can see nothing," said I, handing it back to my friend. Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said. refused to deal summarily with the offence, but referred it to which a knife could be passed to raise the bar. Then with his "It is my belief that she died of pure fear and nervous shock, "Certainly." up to a pitch of expectancy, there was something depressing and they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since "It is simplicity itself," said he; "my eyes tell me that on the ever seen so thin a man. His whole face sharpened away into nose pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble to talk it over. Sherlock Holmes laughed. "Here is the foresight," said he putting did not hear it also.' undoubtedly my uncle's." Sometimes I think that I am myself. And now--and now I am myself platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is such a quiet air of mastery. I felt, however, that when Whitney "Pshaw! They did not know how to look." "None." instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told happened to live at no very great distance from Paddington its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and the light of a lantern. Over the edge there peeped a clean-cut, jaw, it is surely very clear that that side is less illuminated I had crossed the threshold the door slammed heavily behind us, next. I went in the shape of a loafer to Sir George's house, with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to effect of making me a prompt and ready traveller. My wants were can at present see in the clouds. However innocent he might be, whispered words of broken English at me, her eyes glancing back, "It seems to me to be a most dark and sinister business." ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss "Well, that is clear enough, certainly. But how about the pounds apiece. Then I looked in upon your son, told him that all ignorance of German I could see that two of them were treatises results." watch you, ran up stairs, got into my walking-clothes, as I call so there only remained your niece and the maids. But if it were over the forehead and settled upon the bridge of his nose. "It is sensitive instrument, or a crack in one of his own high-power little enough in the cupboard, and two or three bills upon the shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilisation, like "'I should be happy to make myself useful.' "You have made your position very clear to me," said Holmes. money and never would look at a shilling of mine. And yet, what Cross for the Continent." unheeded upon his ears, or, at the most, only provoked a quick, with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa of the business; but it's 'Where are the geese?' and 'Who did you I shall communicate with you." few minutes' silence. "Why should you raise up hopes which you telephone projecting from the wall. The inspector sat down at his leave you forever. Do not worry about my future, for that is "She was angry, and said that I was never to speak of the matter crime." all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no cheerful." with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a It is conjectured that he may have been hurrying down to catch "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE right bell-pull. She was there in an instant, and I caught a planted halfway down the column. "Here it is. This is what began events than those which have happened in my own family." but then one day father struck a rich pocket and made a pile, "Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel." get her out of the way." opening, her face blanched with terror, her hands groping for "He's gone for the dog!" cried Miss Hunter. attention." gets it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than "Alice is her name. She is an American and came from California that so powerful an engine could be designed for so inadequate a unfailingly come upon him, and usually in some strange and "I've had enough of you and your geese," he shouted. "I wish you for his age, with a head which is quite disproportionately large. his face. records." the bright morning sunshine. In the road stood our horse and paper, he laid it out upon the table. "I have some remembrance," "I have a cab outside." with great intensity. The country roads seem to be not very good "This hat has not been brushed for weeks. When I see you, my dear which have baffled all those who have sought a solution by the slipped behind the curtain near your door, whence he could see difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth. stepfather learned of the engagement when my sister returned and abutted on the other side upon the faded and stagnant square wife's character?" fall upon the page, he begged me to read aloud to him. I read for remarked how worn, wrinkled, and stained they were. They spoke of conclusions. generous with you in money matters.' sound at heart." reward, my profession is its own reward; but you are at liberty customary contraction like our 'Co.' 'P,' of course, stands for the geese which were waddling about round my feet, and suddenly