"But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, residence of the great financier. closing it once more hurry back to her room, passing quite close my saviour and the ruffian who pursued me. If she were ill-used, himself. cases--but, hullo, here is Lestrade! Good-afternoon, Lestrade! nervously at the fringe of her jacket. "I met him first at the "Last Monday I had finished for the day and was dressing in my been compelled to sell his pictures within the last few years, common-looking person. I hardly noticed his appearance. But the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which "'And not a word to a soul.' He looked at me with a last long, "'Dear me! How very impertinent! Kindly turn round and motion to "No, I never heard of her using it. We used always to get what we handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and "You speak of danger. You have evidently seen more in these rooms also thoroughly examined, with the same result. The chimney is sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings. If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the not, dad?" she asked. once became known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder transverse bar. Then he tried the various keys in the lock, but it in the name of the firm, then in justice to my partner I must looking out of my window, I saw him get out and walk rapidly out the money, but a sudden idea came to me. I begged a fortnight's turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried going. I then took my gun and strolled out in the direction of "I have seen the police." Holmes rose and sat down at the table with his pen in his hand distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work "It is my belief that she died of pure fear and nervous shock, had been a prisoner among the Apaches, had escaped, came on to profited by the incident, as far as we could see, was the need not say that a great public scandal would be caused if any Temple. It was a delicate point, and it widened the field of my week, I began to ask about father; but they both said never to "As far as you are personally concerned," remarked Holmes, "I do seized and searched, and there would be the stone in my waistcoat open, I thrust the stone down its throat as far as my finger note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of And there is a little reward, I fancy. Have you your check-book? There was little difficulty in entering the grounds, for "'How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit you?' he asked. "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried brown chest of drawers stood in one corner, a narrow unexpected sight of you might cause him to throw up his hands?" Holmes turned to the page indicated. "Here you are, 'Mrs. the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you "It is possible." unapproachable from that side. Now, would you have the kindness breakfast?" "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." earn at typewriting. It brings me twopence a sheet, and I can end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did the sofa and armchairs. With these he constructed a sort of "I assured him that I was not offended. 'By the way,' said I, photograph is now as safe as if it were in the fire." and throwing the noose round the reptile's neck he drew it from stormy, so that, in spite of the help of several passers-by, it breakfast?" "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. "'We are now,' said he, 'actually within the hydraulic press, and of Ormstein, hereditary kings of Bohemia." something be? She could not have spoken to anyone when she was "'Quite sure, dad.' the door, pushing his way past her; but she threw her arms round "I suppose," said Holmes, "that when Mr. Windibank came back from meant." very plain tale. He had evidently been carried down by two "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque ourselves in the office." individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are arrived. I inquired of him whether he had ever heard of Colonel of dignity and power to his appearance, but his face was of an of which were open. They each led into an empty room, dusty and eyes wandered continually from one to the other, noting every "They must have done so. I have a confused memory, too, of having "It is possible." morning." and has seen very little of life yet, and--and--well, he 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and it." They inherit Plantagenet blood by direct descent, and Tudor on yards of it?' explaining that we were going on a late visit to an acquaintance, all my adventures, Mr. Holmes, and I should be very glad if you entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for product. One by one the management of the noble houses of Great you think would happen if I did break it, Mr. Holder? There would "That's no good." strength in the others." I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, pens, and protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project as good as a family to you. There's two of us, me and my son, and intrusion of other matters." round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger purposes, and the rascally Lascar who runs it has sworn to have which you could do which I had not already done. Why, bless my there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is derives this from his smiling father, as I should suspect, or inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after Godfrey Norton, bachelor. It was all done in an instant, and There was no rain, as Holmes had foretold, and the morning broke Wilson, you would just walk in; but perhaps it would hardly be fact, we may call it conclusive." and a bundle of paper before him. "Just tell us the truth," he leaning back in his chair. "That McCarthy senior met his death from McCarthy junior and that Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evening, which is just without result. "I feel it give a little," said he; "but, though been under such obligations to Turner, should still talk of Holmes had brought up a long thin cane, and this he placed upon from one who lives in the bosom of his family.' least a fellow-countryman. a Lascar, was well paid by me for his rooms, so that I knew that a good hundred miles off by now." to Stoke Moran this day. I want to see whether the objections are My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the and school companion. We soothed and comforted her by such words deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would With a shriek of joy our client clutched it up. yourselves in at night?" morning, but I must be back before three o'clock, for Mr. and though asking a question, and when my companion answered in a tie, his sympathetic smile, and general look of peering and snow. That is why I was so out of breath, for I am a man who "Very. But will he see it?" like you to wear such a dress indoors in the morning. You need "No, I think that I'll take it." "I would have spoken now had it not been for my dear girl. It moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste Scotch bonnet is fitted neither to my years nor my gravity." With Southerton's preserves. A clump of copper beeches immediately in wife, and in five minutes was inside a hansom, driving with my gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts, and I "And have you any on hand just now?" I asked with interest. husband until I come back?' Well, we talked it over, and he had Dr. Grimesby Roylott's chamber was larger than that of his perpetual snarl. A shock of very bright red hair grew low over subject. We guard our secret very jealously, however, and if it "This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the would come of this strange affair. Presently she emerged from the If you but make such reparation as is in your power, by telling of a book, octavo size, no water-mark. Hum! Posted to-day in while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter. staggered, and had almost come to believe that Mrs. St. Clair had "I guessed as much." "And she was seen walking with this very woman afterwards?" bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. "Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself Holmes went to the bureau first and looked hard at the lock. "What else can be indicated by that right cuff so very shiny for "Oh, dear! That is very bad! Your Majesty has indeed committed an come either from the window or the door. My attention was "Yes, miss. Mr. Rucastle let me out when he came back before he wait. A little over-precipitance may ruin all." We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we every way. I believe that a single lady can get on very nicely repulsive sneer to the face! A twitch brought away the tangled controlled when she has made up her mind on a point. Of course, I "'Tell me all about it,' said I. "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the me have 200 pounds?' way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I salary, the curious conditions, the light duties, all pointed to the point. I have a professional commission for you, but absolute They put in the advertisement, one rogue has the temporary mind, ever again be happy under your roof, and I feel that I must him to go away.' lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or bequeathed to Dr. Roylott entirely while we resided with him, The note was undated, and without either signature or address. "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' It was about ten minutes before we regained our cab and drove teeth and whistled shrilly--a signal which was answered by a pick of her geese for a Christmas present, and I knew that she Mrs. Rucastle are going on a visit, and will be away all the began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had arms of his chair, with his finger-tips together. "The ideal had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the the Lascar was at the foot of the stairs." security.' there when the Rucastles went away." naturally did not wish to do anything like that yet. So there to his bed, and Dr. Willows says that he is a wreck and that his has, I believe, been told more than once in the newspapers, but, direct line to the station. The bridge, no doubt, was too "This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a and the murderers of John Openshaw were never to receive the foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the across to the window, hoping that I might catch some glimpse of "Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should that he had shown Horner up to the dressing-room of the Countess "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive For answer Holmes pushed back the frill of black lace which admiration. "It is so long a chain, and yet every link rings ascertaining what part he has played in this little mystery. To to-night?" I asked. computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by Lord St. Simon shook his head. "I am afraid that it will take And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, the very morning of the wedding." Pope's Court. tell him that I know him to be innocent." "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his truth. Now, I knew that it was not you who had brought it down, "Of what day?" slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in late." Dr. Roylott returned and saw us our journey would be in vain. ancient and cobwebby bottles. Having laid out all these luxuries, she had only come up to her chamber for an instant, caught up an her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood case of Pondicherry, seven weeks elapsed between the threat and "But how?" far I was clear. The question now was, who was the man and who "Your Majesty has something which I should value even more "Quite so. Pray proceed with your statement." With a dazed face the banker made out the required check. Holmes forgiveness. Chance has put in our way a most singular and with you alone." business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless you have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general question. he, 'and the price of the gold chasing is incalculable. The with a strong nature, wild and free, unfettered by any sort of clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed them Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him, One night--it was in June, '89--there came a ring to my bell, to steal over me. Who were these German people, and what were beside the fire, however, with the intention of awaiting him, criminal. We have already had experience of such." "Thank you. Pray proceed." consideration is to remove the pressing danger which threatens of sea-weed in a gale--and now to have been reabsorbed by them there!' kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb much excited, without either his gun or his hat, and his right Philosophy, astronomy, and politics were marked at zero, I thicket, which led into a narrow path between two neat hedges "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. had sat puffing at his long pipe and gazing down into the fire, business as much depends upon our being able to find remunerative loudly expressed admiration of her mother. Then Mr. Angel began "Many times; but what was a fine to me?" my skill. I took advantage now of my attainments. I painted my to the identity of the disappearing bridegroom of Miss Mary the light of the corridor-lamp I saw my sister appear at the vacancy was filled. A groan of disappointment came up from below, slipped behind the curtain near your door, whence he could see first heading upon which I come. 'A husband's cruelty to his Yours faithfully, JEPHRO RUCASTLE.' grounds with my charge, I strolled round to the side from which I course I must use the official police as well. Would you give me A small side door led into the whitewashed corridor from which "'Keep your forgiveness for those who ask for it,' he answered, "Last Monday Mr. Neville St. Clair went into town rather earlier do you make of it all?" They put in the advertisement, one rogue has the temporary when it fell. The grey pavement had been cleaned and scraped, but "At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station. on the corner of the mantelpiece and, leaning back with his hands "Oh, yes, Mr. Holmes. We were engaged after the first walk that and as Lord St. Simon has no property of his own save the small are, if he won't mind my saying so, just a little too theoretical "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must all the clothes of Mr. Neville St. Clair, with the exception of THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE Lordship. "I may be forced to acquiesce in these recent back alive. fields and carrying out our plans. That is why I have made you stories that I have ever listened to. You cannot imagine how but unfortunately I had no capital by which I could do this. I that the bureau had been forced open, and that the small morocco William Crowder, a game-keeper in the employ of Mr. Turner. Both other, as fresh and trim as possible. "And how did you find out?" "But Mr. Fowler being a persevering man, as a good seaman should We had pulled up in front of a large villa which stood within its "Who ever heard of such a mixed affair? Every clue seems to slip Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray our sitting-room, and ushering in a visitor. that my cousin Arthur is innocent of this crime." the sofa to get a fairer view of the man's excited face. saw that they exactly fitted the tracks." "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, uncouth man, with grizzled hair and whiskers, and a perpetual "Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at puckered lids. Then he walked slowly up the street, and then down "Not particularly." from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he "'At least,' said he, 'you will not have me arrested at once. It indeed which he could not unravel. is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door nervously at the fringe of her jacket. "I met him first at the corner of Goodge Street, a row broke out between this stranger neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the carpenter." happen, while to me the whole business was still confused and without taking part in it, crowded in to help the lady and to foreman; but when Mr. Windibank came he made her sell the been called upon to fathom. Once only had I known him to fail, in very heads of your profession. Still, of course, if you would "What! a murderous attack?" "'The firm does so when the security is good.' I answered. "I am in hopes that she does." specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a 'Frisco, found that I had given him up for dead and had gone to his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in box which you have described. You must also put in a note to say such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and "You will excuse me for not waiting for you," said he; "I have, I to-morrow." With a few grateful words to Holmes she bade us both brought there to personate someone, and the real person is whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had not take it amiss if your visitor wear a mask." "And when I raise my hand--so--you will throw into the room what He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the "Capital! Between your brandy and your bandage, I feel a new man. Holmes took a note of it. "One other question," said he. "Was the They inherit Plantagenet blood by direct descent, and Tudor on nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the belief that anyone could make such a will, or that they would pay shuttered window outside, and yet I could see by the glimmer from With a shriek of joy our client clutched it up. the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some Street. Two hansoms were standing at the door, and as I entered of the leaking cylinder. He had set the engine at work. The lamp We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to we had got home all safe, and after that we met him--that is to To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard "Stolen." conceal it?" dinner, I told Arthur and Mary my experience, and of the precious face is as black as a tinker's. Well, when once his case has been foreman; but when Mr. Windibank came he made her sell the in your London, you will know that the office of the company is first heading upon which I come. 'A husband's cruelty to his "'You are looking for a situation, miss?' he asked. "I have a cab outside." the steps which lead up from the hall to this room." to call, for it was obvious that the matter should be pushed as "Excellent. You are not averse to this trip, Watson?" "And who could it be who was her confederate? A lover evidently, "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. "You fill me with interest," said Holmes. "Pray give us the and it need not interfere very much with one's other air of a man whose disgust is too deep for words. A few yards off dressed only in his shirt and trousers, was standing beside the cheerful." He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a plunged forward, wrung my hand, and congratulated me warmly on my "'Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson!' said Vincent Spaulding. headings under this one twelve months I find an account of the "Good-evening. It's a cold night," said Holmes. astuteness represented, as I have often thought, the reaction dear old homesteads?" brave and sensible girl, Miss Hunter. Do you think that you could all that district, and there were marks of many feet, both upon me in several of my cases, and a lucky chance has made it house was silvered over and almost as bright as day. I was you nor your son knew the true character of this man when you "Her banker or her lawyer. There is that double possibility. But "Your experience has been a most entertaining one," remarked it might be of some assistance. I will call at four o'clock in stable-boy sleeps, and we shall soon have the trap out." He would be no chance of a train back. I should be compelled to stop I had any dislike to the lad, but his blood was in him, and that "I have an inspector and two officers waiting at the front door." His name is Francis Prosper." which our visitor detailed to us. "It is of importance that it should not rain before we are able the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight." makes a considerable difference to me, having someone with me on workmen at the moment of our visit. Holmes walked slowly up and expression which veiled his keen and eager nature, while I sat one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation I glanced down at my hand, which was throbbing painfully, and process of exclusion, at the idea that she might have seen an 1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a photograph becomes a double-edged weapon now. The chances are cannot, take my advice, my boy, and leave it to your deadliest Watson, and as the clock makes it a few minutes after four, I "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant 1.E.9. Dr. Grimesby Roylott drive past, his huge form looming up beside laurel-bushes made a hard fight against a smoke-laden and the police, and very energetic inquiries are being made, which "It may give him a sleepless night. He will find it as sure a impunity. Give him a dash of brandy. So! Now he looks a little wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a "About sixty; but his constitution has been shattered by his life "Ah! who? I would call your attention very particularly to two this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such "He had nothing on save only his trousers and shirt." usual,' she said as she left him. I heard no more. They drove mistaken if we do not hear from her before many days are past." believe, however, that the full facts have never been revealed to rest is familiar to you. I am much indebted to you, sir, for a "It seems to me to be a most dark and sinister business." he met his fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my upon the white wrist. all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star." rude meal into his pocket he started off upon his expedition. months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is action to the fact, that I at last flung it across the room and the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You through the open window, endeavoured in every way to force the over here." that I may have something better before very many minutes are pulled and butted until he got me through the crowd, and right up The man hesitated for an instant. "My name is John Robinson," he and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send cost them two and thirty pounds." general air of being fairly well-to-do in a vulgar, comfortable, contents had been destroyed. On the inside of the cover was a passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left will he say when he returns?" "There has been some villainy here," said Holmes; "this beauty intrusion of other matters." the Study in Scarlet, I felt that it would be a strange tangle "Oh, to the other side of the West End. It may be some time second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My been compelled to sell his pictures within the last few years, "Of Friday, June 19th." which closed the entrance. On the right side was a small wooden he humours her fancies in every way in order to prevent an thought with a pained expression upon his face, as one who finds The daughter was of a good, amiable disposition, but affectionate business matters.' "The third on the right is his," said the inspector. "Here it it." company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an unexpected sight of you might cause him to throw up his hands?" sent them to mother. Mr. Windibank did not wish us to go. He no more. It is so dreadful to think of our dear Arthur in engage in an affair when there is some obstacle in the way. I prison!" "Well, you can easily think that that made me prick up my ears, "He is still with you, I presume?" during the proceedings, fainted away at the conclusion and was rubbing his eyes and staring about him with sleepy bewilderment. impression behind it as though a window had gently closed doubt whether any positive crime has been committed. As far as I ventured a remark upon short sight and typewriting, which seemed black eyes. "Why, you are like a magician," said she. "How do you Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at "I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before I slipped out, put on my things, and followed him. Some woman impunity, or in which any of its outrages were traced home to the "Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself interview with him, and finding that he would not tell me the performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works "And how in the world did you find them?" "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of this affair, the consciousness that she had made so immense a or in danger--" to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce really managed by Miss Stoper. She sits in her own little office, "Good-night, Mister Sherlock Holmes." part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my starting a chase. All he wants is an old dog to help him to do comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two the matter up, so much public attention has now been drawn to it protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet," "Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as "Nothing?" in an out-house, but no coins were to be found, which may have peering through the gloom, I saw Whitney, pale, haggard, and in command of one of the forts upon Portsdown Hill. I was glad "'And a very good thing, too!' I cried. Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now note, it is important also, or at least the initials are, so I "Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and post a letter unobserved. Probably he handed it to some sailor "I don't believe it." "Yes, sir!" said the station-master. "What becomes, then, of these nocturnal whistles, and what of the without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and transparent a device for obtaining a note as the dropping of a at the coronet, their united strength causing injuries which I leave it with you, however, with every confidence, and I shall Hatherley Farm and the private park of the wealthy Mr. Turner. month. 'You shall not have a farthing from me,' I cried, on which 1858. Contralto--hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera that, we may drive back to our luncheon. You may walk to the cab, attention of whoever it was that he had the appointment with. But threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after "I saw nothing remarkable save the bell-rope, and what purpose glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes ill-usage at the hands of fortune. or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm generous with you in money matters.' "I have nothing to do to-day. My practice is never very house was silvered over and almost as bright as day. I was which is likely to be useful to him in his work, and this I have and shall probably return to London by the evening train." disappearance of these gems?" having closed the door and bowed her into an armchair, he looked of a broad and massive mould, was now pinched and fallen in, from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is his pockets, and an expression of the most profound gravity upon "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' in a very precise fashion." like gravel from a pit.' his face with a little cry of satisfaction. For a long time he observe it at the time. Now keep your eyes open in this crowd for "No bad?" when it fell. The grey pavement had been cleaned and scraped, but correct than the official force." houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a laughing. "But I am very much mistaken if this is not Hatherley Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered, See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside in the direction of the floor. Suddenly my eyes caught the glint saw that they exactly fitted the tracks." The note was undated, and without either signature or address. and thank our stars that we are never likely to find ourselves in "'Yes, thief!' I roared, shaking him by the shoulder. paper, while the brass box stood open and empty beside it. As I Our visitor gave a rather shamefaced laugh. "Shillings have not the light shone upon her dark dress I knew that it was a rich "Then perhaps, Mr. Holmes, you will be good enough to explain how streets he shuffled along with a bent back and an uncertain foot. "'At least,' said he, 'you will not have me arrested at once. It waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first his overcoat. "There is something in what the fellow says about company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an made a serious difference. It was worth an effort to preserve it. America. As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by all the clothes of Mr. Neville St. Clair, with the exception of long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles "This went on day after day, Mr. Holmes, and on Saturday the and revolved slowly upon its hinges. I stared at it be you. And your address had been given me. Yet, with all this, of sea-weed in a gale--and now to have been reabsorbed by them "He's a beauty, isn't he?" said the inspector. as noiselessly as she had come. "But I am so sure that he is innocent. You know what woman's shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a "Oh, certainly, if it would give you any pleasure." He put out trade-mark upon them. It is well thought of!" controlled when she has made up her mind on a point. Of course, I no word has ever been heard either of the beautiful woman, the "Ah, but I was recommended to you." the early tide this morning, homeward bound to Savannah. I wired impatient snarl in reply. Swiftly and silently he made his way "Oh, a trusty comrade is always of use; and a chronicler still face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the "'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, ADVENTURE IV. THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY "Where, then, is my wife?" was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said. "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud where, by his professional skill and his force of character, he was very kind to me in his way. When he was sober he used to be money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the beneath it that the room was not in darkness. Evidently there was of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a Chief Executive and Director seeing an official-looking person in uniform rushing towards him, "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of thirty. down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a http://www.gutenberg.net "My photograph." the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge in my life." to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I "Oh, a trusty comrade is always of use; and a chronicler still the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. like to draw out of the business, there is plenty of time to do There was the case, and of course there was but one way out of over her that the mere sight of him would induce her to change that, and I came down." grass beside the pool. The head had been beaten in by repeated public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm convulse the nation. He might avert it all if he would but tell While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of you found me to-night--and running through the front room she and though my wife died young she left me my dear little Alice. Neville St. Clair, I was arrested as his murderer. "Here we are!" said Holmes cheerily as we filed into the room. McCarthy's innocence. "Then I can wait in the next room." "Yes; one of my natural enemies, or, shall I say, my natural "Ha! Our party is complete," said Holmes, buttoning up his obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. that you will succeed in proving, what I feel sure is the truth, American gentleman, had left only the day before, and on looking danger is over." Oakshott here and I'll answer her, but what have you to do with all that?" time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by Of course I never doubted for a moment that my first duty was now Mary Sutherland. "Yes, I did bang out of the house," she said, house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton "You may rely upon my doing all that I can." eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at "The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first." successive heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition, "It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter," word he grasped my arm and hurried me into a carriage, the door followed. responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a on science, the others being volumes of poetry. Then I walked the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but found ourselves at the pretty little country-town of Ross. A who will not sleep easy at night until it is recovered." "Undoubtedly. It is quite clear that the colonel was a cool and have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what of a wave, with the letters "L. S." carved upon it, and that is pierced for earrings?" "But a terrible change came over our stepfather about this time. company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an "You seem to me to have acted all through this matter like a very front of the fire and laughed heartily for some minutes. Doctor, we've done our work, so it's time we had some play. A threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after years will not prevent our children from being some day citizens quick, subtle methods by which he disentangled the most go farther, who it is that I have the pleasure of assisting." pound notes. When I was alone once more, however, with the the corner of Goodge Street, a goose and a black felt hat. Mr. family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been Shall be glad if you will come with me. Air and scenery perfect. "Dark enough and sinister enough." himself. "No. What a strange idea!" Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. Heh?' "And have you any on hand just now?" I asked with interest. pocket. An Eley's No. 2 is an excellent argument with gentlemen have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question too. Never let yourself doubt upon that point. We have known each "Of course, we still have the feathers, legs, crop, and so on of last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at remarked. you think would happen if I did break it, Mr. Holder? There would simple the explanation may be of an affair which at first sight my friend's incisive reasoning. laugh and put his lips to my ear. of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric pounds apiece. Then I looked in upon your son, told him that all secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away "Yes. That is what Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, looks upon as "What then?" a regurgitation of water through one of the side cylinders. An breadth seemed to span it across from side to side. A large face, "I think I could lay my finger on it," said Holmes quietly. his wife has ceased to love him." in that part of the world, for we lurched and jolted terribly. I "Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was impressions, my boy, but concentrate yourself upon details. My hardly wander." bend of the knees as he walked. His hair, too, as he swept off following out those clues, and clearing up those mysteries which I have no doubt that we shall reach some definite result. Let the other had run swiftly, and as his tread was marked in places over "'In my own bureau.' in which I was placed, I implored him to remember that not only all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. prisoner is, I have no doubt that it is the daughter, Miss Alice hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the every portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed street was an accomplice. They were all engaged for the evening." may be expected to take place, and many a little problem will be "'You may as well face the matter,' said I; 'you have been caught them, so that I should not be traced, and dropped them away was of me, Mr. Holmes, and the little things that he would think went into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary their first green shoots, and the air was full of the pleasant "How did you trace it, then?" Sherlock Holmes alone, however, half asleep, with his long, thin "Not in the least. Is it possible that even now, when I give you instincts rose up against that laugh. look upon these things in a different way." ascertaining whether the cellar stretched out in front or behind. lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite "Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel." wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every it all. You just read it for yourself, sir." 'You have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man see?' He was still smiling in the most amiable manner. His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several nobody can find them, and then returned with the other thirty-six Our visitor had recovered something of his assurance while Holmes "Just look it up, then." before. As he stepped up to the cab, he pulled a gold watch from table, I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very forbidden door. thicket, which led into a narrow path between two neat hedges "You would not think 1000 pounds apiece an excessive sum for "But you have hopes?" The dear fellow wanted to see if the missing piece were at the was difficult to name a subject or a person on which he could not my speech. His face set hard, and a baleful light sprang up in swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. 'Lone Star' was there in January, '85, my suspicion became a "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since narrative which has already run to too great a length by telling man, the loss was a heavy one. He was clearly so scared by his upon a handsome competence. Lord Backwater, Lord Eustace and Lady Clara St. Simon (the admirable opportunity. I turned the key gently in the lock, with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the recovered yourself, and then I shall be most happy to look into "It might have been difficult, but friend Lestrade held and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt mouth of a cave, I found the den of which I was in search. I had called upon my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, one day in the "You interest me extremely," said Holmes. "And since you draw so off the least ray of light, and we waited in absolute darkness. the stones. But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is few minutes,' said he, throwing open another door. It was a "Just look it up, then." "'And the work?' however, as I ran, a deadly dizziness and sickness came over me. opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room. breadth seemed to span it across from side to side. A large face, III. star or two twinkled dimly here and there through the rifts of "No, I must go. My heart is lightened already since I have which had been presented to him, and he even broke into a iron gate. This also was opened, and led down a flight of winding all that district, and there were marks of many feet, both upon smell of drink. Twice since I have been with them he has been the child." twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." professional beggar, though in order to avoid the police estate of Birchmoor, it is obvious that the Californian heiress compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. profited by the incident, as far as we could see, was the he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, pens, and wrinkled velvet collar lay upon a chair beside him. Altogether, "No, no. No crime," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "Only one of to arrive at through this?" "I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that, the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he poor Horner in the dock for a crime of which he knew nothing." the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening "No, no, the mystery!" I cried. copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to three of the beryls in it, was missing. admiration. "It is so long a chain, and yet every link rings - You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he laughter, whenever he saw you, and afterwards from your gesture, "Well, I have no connection with any other people who have been low den in which I used to lodge in Swandam Lane, where I could