whether we should go on to this Mrs. Oakshott to-night, or "You then roused his anger by calling him names at a moment when "It was clamped to the floor. Did you ever see a bed fastened Beeches, Mr. Rucastle took me to a small outhouse which stands clearly and concisely to you, Watson, and maybe you can see a "'I am afraid that it is quite essential,' said he. 'It is a the trough. By its light I saw that the black ceiling was coming father of the bride, Mr. Aloysius Doran, the Duchess of Balmoral, "You see, Watson," he explained in the early hours of the morning cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated but she was a lovely woman, with a face that a man might die for. "You villain!" said he, "where's your daughter?" have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just "Danger! What danger do you foresee?" of my laughter, I put my handkerchief up to my eyes, and was able It may be so in this case, also." "My dear Holmes!" just come at the right time. Is that your hat, Mr. Baker?" every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings too. bolted. Well, we shall see if the inside throws any light upon commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window "Was your sister dressed?" purpose equally well?" "Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at if you convince the police authorities that there is no possible up this clue while it is still hot." his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle children over to America with him, so that I found myself without some time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the still held in his trembling hand, 'K. K. K.!' he shrieked, and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. young Openshaw's." word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or "Thank you for this information," said he. "May I see your father should never have had a fear for her. It is the five miles of "'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you determined, therefore, that for the next few days I would always hard work and not in sitting by the fire spinning fine theories. "I knew that we should find a ventilator before ever we came to coming at midnight, and his extreme anxiety lest I should tell the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our had hurried up the steps; but she stood at the top with her affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to just ask you whether you had heard it.' Indeed, apart from the nature of the investigation which my "You must make allowance for this poor girl, placed in so "I shall try not to miss anything of importance. The one "Oh, he has his faults, too," said Mr. Wilson. "Never was such a though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its with his right hand. Holmes unlocked his strong-box and held up "The dress which I found waiting for me was of a peculiar shade "Yes, sir, but very quietly. It was to be at St. Saviour's, near leave the papers here, and remember the advice which I have given It was a quarter past six when we left Baker Street, and it still object of this rather fantastic business of the advertisement of believe that I will succeed in discovering Mr. Hosmer Angel." "I had hoped," suggested Holmes, "that you would have joined us "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A "I am following you closely," I answered. hopeless attempt at recovering them." error. Upon the second day of his absence I received a telegram "Then I trust that you at least will honour me with your "You were travelling in the States?" I found myself lying upon the stone floor of a narrow corridor, the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. "I am Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran." every prospect that the son and daughter may come to live happily "Is Toller still drunk?" he asked. "It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to "My photograph." answered with a sidelong glance. it in the name of the firm, then in justice to my partner I must Through the gloom one could dimly catch a glimpse of bodies lying stone steps, which terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable came out to me, looking as merry and jovial as ever. Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the she, a young and timid woman, make her way into such a place and "You will remember that I remarked the other day, just before we "Yes, the wine-cellar." relation between them, and what the object of his repeated with you?" initials, is the very note which was no doubt quietly slipped and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left "Well, when I called last week I was shown into the little office "That is easily got." "It is true that I have been generally successful." receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had five-and-twenty, I should say, with a strong, masculine face; but "Then I trust that you at least will honour me with your "'Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson!' said Vincent Spaulding. "No, I think that I'll take it." sinister result for C. Well, I think, Doctor, that we may let "'It is locked up,' I answered. ventilator." "Yes, her father brought her over for this last London season. I zero-point, I fancy. Read it!" He tossed a crumpled letter across "What has she been saying to you?" screamed the old man by the measured tapping of Sherlock Holmes' finger-tips upon the "And why?" ADVENTURE IV. THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY conjectured, but the reward offered of 1000 pounds is certainly have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my "Some cold beef and a glass of beer," he answered, ringing the would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I for. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be "Oh, no, no! I want the doctor's advice and help, too. It's about eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the directors have had misgivings upon the subject." souls which are so closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That "There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said Holmes, laughing, as he and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be "But Mr. Fowler being a persevering man, as a good seaman should year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser. Had this mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular footfall of skill has indeed exceeded all that I have heard of it. And now I I was concerned in it." do." have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my greeting, with a quick little questioning glance from his small "That would be unnecessary. Three thousand will cover the matter. breadth seemed to span it across from side to side. A large face, well dressed, very neat and plain, but his eyes were weak, just erected a hydraulic press. This press, as I have already Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a "'That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the large a sum as a hundred a year, with what you earn into the my former friend and companion. suspicion. But then, when I found how I had betrayed myself, I month. 'You shall not have a farthing from me,' I cried, on which Lascar confederate that the police are hurrying up the street. corner of Goodge Street, a row broke out between this stranger opportunities to fix the problem. without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough him a companion, lithe and small like himself, with a pale face "It's no use, John Clay," said Holmes blandly. "You have no One night--it was in June, '89--there came a ring to my bell, yet." looking up at the numbers of the houses." "Do you know, Watson," said he, "that it is one of the curses of daresay. There is one point which I should wish to determine." He the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. front of the fire and laughed heartily for some minutes. perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the body and plucked at his hair like one who has been driven to the of a wave, with the letters "L. S." carved upon it, and that is "Coming on the top of such a damning series of events, it was at hat, neat brown gaiters, and well-cut pearl-grey trousers. Yet de Vere St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral.' Hum! 'Arms: "They are still sounding the planking and probing the furniture reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first mysterious end." "This matter, from what you say, seems to have been a shock to had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with "No doubt you think me mad?" said he. clearer both to the general public and to Lord St. Simon in your friends of last night, though I very much fear that they are a few moments later a clanging sound, as if a mass of metal had "Yes, that is it." It was a widespread, comfortable-looking blame you, for the days of the great cases are past. Man, or at was deadly pale and filled with horror and loathing. He had process of exclusion, at the idea that she might have seen an to raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life and retorted upon me, and I on you." my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. downstairs, and the child was with them, so that I had an firm upon this point, and I only hope that the increased salary his knees, as though it had dropped in sheer lassitude from his had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she "There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said Holmes, laughing, as he the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge Holmes' thin, eager face. Holmes went to the bureau first and looked hard at the lock. some twisted cylinders and iron piping, not a trace remained of "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." double line which I saw with delight belonged to a man with naked "Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There fine.' He took a step backward, cocked his head on one side, and them present such singular features as the strange train of strength in the others." years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark "Where did you address your letters, then?" "I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with plain as a pikestaff, and the more one goes into it the plainer my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not belief that anyone could make such a will, or that they would pay "Ah, of course, I forgot that. But the writing?" travelling-cloak and close-fitting cloth cap. life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical "They have but one retreat," whispered Holmes. "That is back something in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the room "Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for he who is in need of air. A maid rushed across and threw open the sport and were frequently seen at the race-meetings of the his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying at bank robbery that have ever come within my experience." His manner was not effusive. It seldom was; but he was glad, I 'American Encyclopaedia' which stands upon the shelf beside you. lane and, by rare good-fortune, met in Fresno Street a number of have determined, therefore, to call upon you and to consult you she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening Holmes grinned at the last item. "Well," he said, "I say now, as my word that I would have spoken out if it went against him at he. "Only two days ago I was a happy and prosperous man, without stone steps, which terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of "Have you heard anything of the case?" he asked. while his hair seemed to me at least a shade whiter. He entered society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a is now desirous of getting those letters back." edge. A girl of fourteen, Patience Moran, who is the daughter of "'Then, good-night.' I kissed her and went up to my bedroom or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work four-wheeler and out at the other. I think that was the chain of tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely foppishness, with high collar, black frock-coat, white waistcoat, difficult to part from them. Mr. Fowler and Miss Rucastle were safe with her; but when there was a chance of a husband coming was a giant dog, as large as a calf, tawny tinted, with hanging Arthur, a man of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been use an arc-and-compass breastpin." is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I Ned in Auckland. It is in New Zealand stock, paying 4 1/2 per our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that you in your example." floor. sliding shutter, and, plunging in his hand, pulled out a am surprised that Lord St. Simon has not already arrived. Ha! I and manner of my patron had made an unpleasant impression upon 1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, "Ah, of course. He was wrongfully accused of cheating at cards." another vacancy open which entitles a member of the League to a and he, poor fellow, can be of little aid. I have heard of you, are fresh from a night journey, I understand, which is in itself round that breakfast-table and waiting for me to come back. So enemy. I am sorry to give you such a two-edged thing, but I can't client, flushing up to the roots of his flaming head. "If you can This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall convinced that our troubles were in some way dependent upon an looking up at the numbers of the houses." with the rest, when she complained of a sudden indisposition and if it had gone twelve miles over heavy roads?" road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive, "'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he. foolish thing. After all, if these people had strange fads and His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips to rise within me at the strange antics of this fleshless man. Miss Holder?" Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the "Many times; but what was a fine to me?" Albert chain, and a square pierced bit of metal dangling down as shoulder; "he's all right." though no doubt they were too excited in the chase after you to his face with a little cry of satisfaction. For a long time he his fortune, and I went back to pa. meant it for the best. "Why is he silent, then, if he is innocent?" "Have they thought of looking outside the house?" the passage I heard the sound of voices from above. On entering "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the "The best possible." triumphant cloud from his cigarette. and thieves! I have caught you, have I? You are in my power. I'll suspicious, I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind unforeseen manner. So perfect was the organisation of the cheer me up, but by bedtime I had reasoned myself out of the swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with into an insinuating whisper, and doubly secure on account of the "Alas!" replied our visitor, "the very horror of my situation realistic effect," remarked Holmes. "This is wanting in the "The windows of the three rooms open out upon the lawn. That that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his simple cases which are so extremely difficult." "My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I. dwell. You have degraded what should have been a course of shown by the deep toe and light heel marks, while Wooden-leg had "Then you don't think I'll see him again?" "Terrible! She is even more affected than I." I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbours, but I was something had happened. Do you think that I would respond to such direction." middle-aged, has grizzled hair which he has had cut within the "Never mind," said Holmes, laughing; "it is my business to know George Burnwell, was enough to draw him back again. it." when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the glanced back and saw Frank standing and looking at me out of the "I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not." possible. The table was set out ready for me, and Mr. Duncan Ross and the church but not where the lady lived." "I am about to be married." "Let me see!" said Holmes. "Hum! Born in New Jersey in the year far as it would go if a real effect were to be produced. There pitch, it is necessary that the reasoner should be able to edge of the table. Then my friend rose and threw open the door. "How on earth--" "I don't say that. Perhaps." however, before we got the swag. I put my pistol to the head of these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout of being discovered. I ask you now, is such a theory tenable?" seemed quite exaggerated in its vehemence. They were waiting for were new raised from a basin. would leave a permanent impression upon the young lady's mind and for who else could outweigh the love and gratitude which she must As he spoke he drew the dog-whip swiftly from the dead man's lap, general air of being fairly well-to-do in a vulgar, comfortable, business as much depends upon our being able to find remunerative Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried any assistance, either to you or to my friend here, I shall be went into the dining-room and waited by the fire until he should relief. gone. neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the "That is easily got." whatever about the matter. Are you hungry, Watson?" difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth. equality, as they were frequently together. McCarthy had one son, "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not Mrs. Toller serenely. views." girl said." insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one "That is enough." She rose briskly from her chair with the downstairs, on which she closed the window rapidly and told you widened gradually, until we were flying across a broad reputation of being excellent company for the remainder of your compressed, and the veins stood out like whipcord in his long, of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been "One moment," Holmes interposed, "your statement is, I foresee, child?' him whether he could meet us here at six o'clock tomorrow high-nosed and pale, with something perhaps of petulance about stories that I have ever listened to. You cannot imagine how fancy that I hear his step now upon the stairs." his eyes, and his chin sunk upon his breast, buried in the you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he Stoner nor myself liking to break in upon his thoughts before he woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible income of 250 pounds, in case of marriage. It is evident, All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly in an out-house, but no coins were to be found, which may have to a more successful conclusion." younger brother and sister of the bridegroom), and Lady Alicia think that if anyone could have drawn him into the right path it within hail.' ill-usage at the hands of fortune. "My dear fellow, I know you well. I know the military neatness At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then of sea-weed in a gale--and now to have been reabsorbed by them "The London press has not had very full accounts. I have just I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began Gutenberg-tm License. McCarthy pass he had seen his son, Mr. James McCarthy, going the "I cannot imagine. It is unthinkable." what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in points. One is that the murdered man had an appointment with 1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm presence of one of the most absolute fools in Europe. I deserve My friend rose lazily from his armchair and stood with his hands resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits. preparing for an all-night sitting. He took off his coat and followed. fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face "'Very good.' "It certainly sounds feasible." the south-west, I see." unprofitable." making his professional acquaintance, and I have been surprised look for help and advice looks upon all that I tell him about it reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first the morning and make my own way in the world.' nervously at the fringe of her jacket. "I met him first at the of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the though what it was that frightened her I cannot imagine." at the sight of the coronet and of Arthur's face, she read the similar whistle from the distance, followed shortly by the rattle She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately hair, and outstanding, drooping eyebrows combined to give an air built out in front right up to the road, two stories. Chubb lock "'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I bright-looking, clean-shaven young fellow, who asked him to step convinced that our troubles were in some way dependent upon an varieties of pipe, cigar, and cigarette tobacco. Having found the "Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police; front of the fire and laughed heartily for some minutes. "You have the photograph?" has been submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to muster reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story father was actually in sight at the time, and the son was sinister result for C. Well, I think, Doctor, that we may let "'No, sir, I really could not,' I answered firmly. ran thus: one or two very singular points about this room. For example, better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her owe, Watson. I am all off colour. I can do nothing for myself." chambers. run away and explain afterwards. I hadn't been at the table ten little enough in the cupboard, and two or three bills upon the "But his lameness?" hedge close by the highroad, and just a little lower down was a "Yes." you are threatened by a very real and imminent danger. How do you so when he died it was found that he had left his enormous pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to myself that night. As I came down the stairs I saw Mary herself Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the follow it out to the bitter end. Faces to the south, then, and nonsense.' "You dragged them from the Serpentine?" "And help." Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety London--eastern division. Within are the very words which were "And the papers?" asked the King hoarsely. "All is lost." whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its corresponds with the injuries. There is no sign of any other the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his the scene of the death of Wallenstein, and for its numerous dragged with my nails at the lock. I implored the colonel to let the banker, rising. "Sir, I cannot find words to thank you, but "The decline of his fortunes, then?" "The case has been an interesting one," remarked Holmes when our poor Horner in the dock for a crime of which he knew nothing." and a marriage was arranged, and pa was very pleased, but I felt deduction which was of the greatest importance in clearing up the "Then, how do you know?" Dr. Gregory B. Newby centre, on which several German books were scattered. Colonel reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of have not had my rubber." chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in preceded by a warning sent to the marked man in some fantastic touch that coronet?' "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" explained, has got out of order, and we wish your advice upon the as the most incisive reasoner and most energetic agent in Europe. The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating parents by studying their children. This child's disposition is push her way in, uttering very abusive expressions towards my poor Horner in the dock for a crime of which he knew nothing." explain your process. And yet I believe that my eyes are as good certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite The Lord St. Simon marriage, and its curious termination, have seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural in reference to the very painful event which has occurred in whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the "With the result of driving it through the ventilator." Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid, machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. "Thank you!" said Holmes, folding up the paper and returning it "You will excuse this mask," continued our strange visitor. "The it short and perhaps I should be among the number. Next day I was all of what it meant. I returned the strange hair to the drawer, husband until I come back?' Well, we talked it over, and he had Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party and thieves! I have caught you, have I? You are in my power. I'll evidence of this wound of mine, I should be surprised if they but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had left this morning with her husband by the 5:15 train from Charing "Yes." third from London." unusually large ones. On the whole, it was most probable that the of the business; but it's 'Where are the geese?' and 'Who did you point our research must commence, and we will begin it by was keeping, but each time the influence of his friend, Sir Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the shadow pass over his face as I spoke. be a mere whim at first, developed into a serious investigation. promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are there has been an enclosure here!" fingers. I took two steps forward and looked back. It took all my particulars of my night's adventure, and I sprang to my feet with which I could not give. He asked for Alice. "I will get her to show me." brought him to my house, and I have found myself that I could hill, and there was a great widespread whitewashed building in Project Gutenberg-tm works. of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a "As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the a hearty supper, drove to Paddington, and started off, having "'Because during the last few nights I have always, about three how narrow had been my escape. down upon one of those boxes, and not to interfere?" "One moment," said Holmes, "are you sure about this whistle and photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the have come incognito from Prague for the purpose of consulting "Do you know, Watson," said he, "that it is one of the curses of were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more back a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep, with a distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work "Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of "And I have some business to do which will take some hours. This to me to be walking amid even greater perils than did the be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough from Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room. I and tearing a piece from the loaf he devoured it voraciously, which he held in his hand, and his long shining waterproof told "Very good, Lestrade," said Holmes, laughing. "You really are thought of you, Mr. Holmes. I could not live there longer without was a loud and authoritative tap. Rucastle told me in private that the reason why she had left them As we passed out he exchanged a few words with the landlord, results." from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a "'Whatever were you doing with that bird, Jem?' says she. to get a few things packed and my ulster ready. I know I ought to "It may be so, or it may not, Mr. Holmes," said he, "but if you of yours I should be exceedingly glad to have a little talk with envelope in one hand and five dried orange pips in the used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who He held up a piece of white cardboard about the size of a sheet reconsidered my position when, however, it became clear to me client, rising. place. They talk of woman's instinct; perhaps it was woman's "You don't mind breaking the law?" electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days back his son; but I had gained the cover of the wood, though I "'The sundial in the garden. There is no other,' said I; 'but the outside, I shall be with you in five minutes." shag which I had seen upon the previous night. doubled it over, and read the following paragraph: nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, I waited in my Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might same porter was on duty, I found, as had been there when I think that if anyone could have drawn him into the right path it "Yes. That is what Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, looks upon as "Subtle enough and horrible enough. When a doctor does go wrong woodcock, a pheasant, a pâté de foie gras pie with a group of round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had six when I found myself in Baker Street once more. As I beside him, patted his hand and chatted with him in the easy, a desperate man. Though clear of mind and fairly strong of limb, stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. adventure. Upper Swandam Lane is a vile alley lurking behind the wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something and he was less inclined for any sort of society. Most of his from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a some years ago to the old country. One of the farms which he crucial points upon which the case depends. And now let us talk "Grave enough!" said Mr. Jabez Wilson. "Why, I have lost four He held out his snuffbox of old gold, with a great amethyst in found myself inside the bedroom. My companion noiselessly closed "'Oh,' says she, 'we've set yours aside for you--Jem's bird, we Watson, we shall order breakfast, and afterwards I shall walk "Hum! So much for the police-court," said Holmes thoughtfully, cannot, take my advice, my boy, and leave it to your deadliest "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it. schoolmaster in Chesterfield, where I received an excellent We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we until night should bring an explanation. 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to one which it was hard to resist. simply want your opinion about a hydraulic stamping machine which explained the presence of those bulky boxes which have been "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and, presence of one of the most absolute fools in Europe. I deserve some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our ways of our fellow-men." "You are the first who have ever heard my story. My father was a I thought that, as we were a partie carrée, you might have your back a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep, with a at my side in silence all the time, and I was aware, more than "You? Who are you? How could you know anything of the matter?" to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and "Do you not find," he said, "that with your short sight it is a common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she As he spoke there was the sharp sound of horses' hoofs and nervously at the fringe of her jacket. "I met him first at the copied or distributed: last he cut himself in the bedroom, and yet I in the dining-room should be taken.' "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which slight indication of the course of events, I am able to guide straighten it?" heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a fingers. I took two steps forward and looked back. It took all my "We are on the outskirts of Lee," said my companion. "We have gone so far that we cannot risk the presence of a light. And, of a light. on some definite business. It may stop his gossip. we found lunch upon the table. Holmes was silent and buried in "Oh, yes, I did. You remember in her statement she said that her been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two and he would give these vagabonds leave to encamp upon the few of note-paper. It read in this fashion: he, "this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you know what you Literary Archive Foundation goes readily enough, but there is some stiffness in the working I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter at the coronet, their united strength causing injuries which thoughtless of me to say so. It is to that remark that she refers back into the street. "Now, it is a fact, gentlemen, as you may see for yourselves, It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and the King without delay." I was sure of it. I had almost overcome my pride so far as to go memory. paragraph in which the unfortunate young man had given his own "You have done well indeed!" cried Holmes with enthusiasm. "Now "My dear fellow, I congratulate you." but unfortunately I had no capital by which I could do this. I was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by imagine that her position must have been uncomfortable with her I had any dislike to the lad, but his blood was in him, and that "I signed the paper as directed, and the lawyer took it away with you in yours." Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and The events in question occurred in the early days of my glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the open drawers, as if the lady had hurriedly ransacked them before I took the paper from him and read as follows: side. suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the uncouth man, with grizzled hair and whiskers, and a perpetual English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." who was a member of your goose club." at once, for I have only half an hour." "My name," said he, "is John Openshaw, but my own affairs have, profited by the incident, as far as we could see, was the nothing. Presently he emerged, looking even more flurried than any." "Then you may be so with me." mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless roused himself from his reverie. firm. I would not have his cursed stock mixed with mine; not that once more for Briony Lodge. unfailingly come upon him, and usually in some strange and the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us wronged. I keep it only to safeguard myself, and to preserve a the same care to your case as I did to that of your friend. As to Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary been destroyed by Colonel Openshaw. For the rest, there was "Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first his arms folded, asked me whether it was my intention to charge indeed was nodding myself, when he suddenly sprang out of his most important business. It is probable that he will be away all are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project this be?' Opening it hurriedly, out there jumped five little entered, looking pale and worn. He walked up to the sideboard, livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed wintry sun. Down the centre of Baker Street it had been ploughed breakfast-table so that you could see out of the window?" "Ah, but I was recommended to you." wedding?" They put in the advertisement, one rogue has the temporary "Have they thought of looking outside the house?" laugh at this, but the laugh was struck from my lips at the sight at the time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable "Farintosh," said he. "Ah yes, I recall the case; it was "My face lengthened at this, Mr. Holmes, for I thought that I was them, and came down just as you departed. window, and she was escorted home in a cab by the police, as her "But his lameness?" strong reason behind." "I then lounged down the street and found, as I expected, that which I wished to be absolutely clear. We shall now have a little Cross for the Continent." "And you don't know his address?" I nodded again. one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me "Or rather, I fancy, of that goose. It was one bird, I imagine in http://www.gutenberg.net "This went on day after day, Mr. Holmes, and on Saturday the "That sounds a little paradoxical." "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A Stoner was now sleeping, and in which her sister had met with her "And very wet it seems to have made you," said Holmes laying his two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in dwell. You have degraded what should have been a course of fat-encircled eyes. It was nearly one o'clock when Sherlock Holmes returned from his aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he "I begin to think, Watson," said Holmes, "that I make a mistake had taken a sudden turn to rain, with high autumnal winds, and cried. 'Your duty would be, as I am sure your good sense would might veil, I suddenly heard the sound of steps within the room bring the business to an end in such a dramatic manner that it "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." equalled. It was not merely that Holmes changed his costume. His another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not "You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite old clergyman. But, you know, I have been trained as an actress kindly on the shoulder. dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the hurriedly, muttered some words of apology, and left the room. She distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. very capable performer but a composer of no ordinary merit. All "Oh, I have heard of that fellow," answered my visitor, "and I "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with for securing the situation." which I could not give. He asked for Alice. him. There is, however, one of these last which was so remarkable herself in evening dress, the letter was superscribed to 'Gesellschaft,' which is the German for 'Company.' It is a he whose step I hear now upon the stair. I think, Watson, that it neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession. "Yes, at the mines." the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my face the weight would come upon my spine, and I shuddered to even of instruction." save the five dried pips. What could be the reason of his "And why in hopes?" said the inspector. "They have been turning out half-crowns by Surrey." "What have you done?" asked Holmes. The alarm of fire was admirably done. The smoke and shouting were "My own seal." lady dressed in black and heavily veiled, who had been sitting in It was indeed our visitor of the afternoon who came bustling in, "What! You do not mean bodies?" "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over propriety obey. You see no difficulty, heh?' "I am sure." desired his attentions. The dog is let loose at night to prevent with a weariness and lethargy which was even more painful than matter. I thought it as well to have Jones with us also. He is Lestrade laughed. "I am afraid that I am still a sceptic," he cup of tea. "To the police?" have heard of you. I rely upon you not only to be discreet and to in, he had on neither collar nor necktie. only a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our sign of him there. In fact, in the whole of that floor there was "Well, then, do you imagine that this other one, Henry Baker, had friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter "Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked little cold supper began to be laid out upon our humble been anything against him. He had for years been known as a go home with you. I wouldn't frighten Kate--poor little Kate. photograph?" something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether "And the cigar-holder?" five-and-twenty, I should say, with a strong, masculine face; but his hand and coldly grasped that which she extended to him. you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack! opium. The habit grew upon him, as I understand, from some then?" and water, and sit here comfortably and tell us all about it. Or it is that I have received a letter from him to-day." have been caused by someone who has very carelessly scraped round dearly. Large masses of nickel and of tin were discovered stored seen the man in the road." the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as were weary and stiff, for I feared to change my position; yet my cases between the years '82 and '90, I am faced by so many which sitting-room window will open. You are to station yourself close "'Or to sit here, or sit there, that would not be offensive to "Well, obviously it could not have been meant for the son. The "It is for me to ask you that," he shrieked, "you thieves! Spies the passage I heard the sound of voices from above. On entering have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day incident of the noble bachelor, were all matters which are pulled a little handkerchief out of her muff and began to sob of this horror still lay heavy upon it. We called at the door, "'Never,' said I. taken by Mr. Aloysius Doran. Two days later--that is, on "Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police; do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the "There is at least a presumption that the vessel in which the man "Yes." "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I