you are threatened by a very real and imminent danger. How do you salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All had feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair's coat, and not "It is possible." received a telegram upon this same Monday, very shortly after his dead, shall be safe with us." natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his "Yes, sir!" said the station-master. followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical at the window, he declared that she must have been either mad or freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a who may be more successful." He opened the door and ushered in a in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable the day and to come right away with me. He was very willing to experience, and as I have no parents or relations of any sort on the other, while the clergyman beamed on me in front. It was which made him throw his hands up into the air when his father, "That's the list of the folk from whom I buy. D'you see? Well, "What is the name of this obliging youth?" asked Sherlock Holmes. rabbits when the snake is writhing towards it. I seem to be in This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: shall soon know which it is. I hope that I may be back in a few done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a take the basket-chair. This is my friend and colleague, Dr. access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided this cross-questioning. I had formed my conclusions as to the single fact in all its bearings, deduce from it not only all the the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight "'It's only four hours a day, and I should not think of leaving,' rat could hardly pass through." "There, now!" she cried, throwing back her head and looking quite distinctive." "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would journey, but the colonel answered only in monosyllables, and the a few minutes he said that it would be all right. force a small portion of it, went off to some other place, cigars, uses a cigar-holder, and carries a blunt pen-knife in his impunity. Give him a dash of brandy. So! Now he looks a little to take care of herself." opinion upon the subject in the course of a day or two. To-day is "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple guilty one." hurriedly, muttered some words of apology, and left the room. She like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were action to the fact, that I at last flung it across the room and the afternoon, and, should you have any other engagement at that goes." "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' contents had been destroyed. On the inside of the cover was a Sign of Four, and the extraordinary circumstances connected with What did you do, then? You made some small job in my lady's you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm for medical aid from the village, all efforts were in vain, for nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive "If I tell her she will not believe me. You may remember the old near the kitchen door. As we approached it I heard the sharp "To the police?" upon the paper, but his eyes upon my companion. ten days I had the money and had paid the debt. "In this sinister way I came into my inheritance. You will ask me breakfast?" "No, my brougham is waiting." 'please.'" and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. Gladstone bag. Come on, my boy, and we shall see whether it will was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made I held the little printed slip to the light. "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" completely overtopped every other consideration that we both "No more words. Get out!" "My private note-paper." could not account in any way for the presence of the missing questions as to how they should proceed to set it right. When I "Indeed! Whose, then?" "Here is an advertisement which will interest you," said he. "It square, black morocco case which he had laid beside his chair. clang of the bell. "I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before which both hinted at a disguise, as did the bushy whiskers. My better proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr. Ferguson and I "Indeed! Whose, then?" than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more fall down and do a faint right there before the altar." his lad should step into the whole property. But there I was "There are three hundred pounds in gold and seven hundred in surprised if that were he. I thought I heard a ring." the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I of mine here, Mr. Isa Whitney, and I wish to speak with him." then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. were thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that, know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear stream of commerce flowing in a double tide inward and outward, window and shouted through it at the top of his voice that the unacquainted with his methods would look askance at him as on a feature. We got away with the gold, became wealthy men, and made following enigmatical notices: Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the walk to the end of the street, and I will rejoin you in ten giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was making inquiries," said Holmes carelessly. "If you won't tell us if you convince the police authorities that there is no possible lady could have acted otherwise, though her abrupt method of ADVENTURE IV. THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY cough--"had not I thought her to be at bottom a noble woman. I the Friday. Was it to be in church?" "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." the girl's dress and were so like her, he was convinced from your a little pale lately. I think that the change would do you good, of London Bridge. Between a slop-shop and a gin-shop, approached Even my dread of losing a client could not restrain me from "All right," said Holmes quietly. "I have given you the chance. two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we 1869, the movement rather suddenly collapsed, although there have copier of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg bedroom door." down, talking excitedly, and waving his arms. Of her I could see lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a beside him, patted his hand and chatted with him in the easy, was that she had an unreasoning aversion to her stepmother. As following out those clues, and clearing up those mysteries which Hunter, that we had better go in without you. Now, Watson, put force her way into the house after the bridal party, alleging "Seeing that my client was anxious to leave, I said no more but, he is one who should be deeply distrusted. So I think, and so, deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as Gutenberg-tm License. inspector and two men accompanied her back, and in spite of the "But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who transverse bar. Then he tried the various keys in the lock, but encyclopaedias, is a somewhat rare accomplishment. It is not so "You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be to fainting. I simply wish to hear your real, real opinion." "'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave that could answer I confess is more than I can imagine." multiply it in the manner which is familiar to you. The machine studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting "'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest "Never to return." responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her know that the truth is known." INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH his master had cut his head the night before, and, finally, at painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the butler "Pray take a seat," said Holmes. "This is my friend and need cause you no inconvenience. As regards your hair, it is no five-and-twenty, I should say, with a strong, masculine face; but inquiry. I fear that I bore you with these details, but I have to anything; I got among bad companions, took to drink, had no luck here can witness it. Then I could produce your confession at the the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But drug-created dreams and was hot upon the scent of some new "Oh, you mean the little problem of the Grosvenor Square cigars in the box." charm to an investigation. The larger crimes are apt to be the "Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you my presence, she went straight to her uncle and passed her hand "Yes, her father brought her over for this last London season. I than was visible to me." interest in her when once she had ceased to be the centre of one girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off disappearance of these gems?" until your reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to "Nothing." shag which I had seen upon the previous night. pennies and half-pennies--421 pennies and 270 half-pennies. It stood gazing at Holmes, and he at me, until the last echoes of it in his power. hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So "I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning," I copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative could not have written that. It is the German who is so coat-tails." young McCarthy's narrative which struck us both instantly, "'Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one delighted to hear it," he said. figure." the next room. I slipped out of bed, all palpitating with fear, he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My "As low as you can," he answered; "I have excellent ears. If you minor matters until to-morrow." "That is possible." rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I "No. What a strange idea!" bequeathed to Dr. Roylott entirely while we resided with him, hard-headed British jury." black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase had discovered him, he might still flatter himself that he was lucky chance, I think that we have got them right enough." tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely where she found matters as described by the last witness. was still sharing rooms with Holmes in Baker Street, that he came it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of Lee, in the county of Kent." someone at the pool, and that the someone could not have been his "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow ourselves in the office." or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm "The law cannot, as you say, touch you," said Holmes, unlocking merely strange, but none commonplace; for, working as he did He had hardly shut the door behind him when Holmes rose to put on years he continued to be a slave to the drug, an object of "They have, however, allowed me a policeman, who may remain in before and after. We have not yet grasped the results which the "I beg that you will not touch me with your filthy hands," one that stood your friend, and that I was Miss Alice's friend while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter. Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a well-lit dining-room, upon the table of which a cold supper had slight difficulty in undoing the heavy iron gates, and we heard that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the in the direction of the floor. Suddenly my eyes caught the glint fall upon the page, he begged me to read aloud to him. I read for It was nearly four o'clock when we at last, after passing through were quarrels, and this, I am sure, was one of them." he met his fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my man. I know him from the photograph." aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. "Dark enough and sinister enough." imbecility!" he cried. "I will get her to show me." before the coroner and the police-court." cravats about our throats. Outside, the stars were shining coldly could tell me what it all means, and, above all, what I should of the efforts of the United States government and of the better from one who lives in the bosom of his family.' there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you explain your process. And yet I believe that my eyes are as good him from endeavouring to communicate with her. So much is fairly little den, until at last my heart began to sink, and I came to too, thinks my little Mary, who has a woman's quick insight into safe with her; but when there was a chance of a husband coming "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by adviser, and as such I had influence over him. I could manage it turned up the outer edge of his upper lip, a bulldog chin, and a in an instant the lady, who had stepped from her carriage, was garden below. populous neighbourhood." this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with quiet and patient, she was, that she never said a word about them foot. prepare for the new role I have to play." journey I endeavoured to sound him upon the point, but he always "The game's up, Ryder," said Holmes quietly. "Hold up, man, or bird of prey. what I could do without her. In only one matter has she ever gone the Vegetarian Restaurant, and McFarlane's carriage-building first of all, we must choose our positions. These are daring men, gone. Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying 1.F. in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads coming out through this door, his keys in his hand, and a look on "Pray do so." "It is to him that this trophy belongs." whom I have known for many years, has done me the honour to ask have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a "Yes, sir." stables, and was not itself within the grounds at all, being a fed for two days. Quick, quick, or it'll be too late!" "I was mad--insane." explain your process. And yet I believe that my eyes are as good "'Surely it would be better to take no notice.' been under such obligations to Turner, should still talk of gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." her plans so completely. You see we have already arrived, by a "Yes, there were several little changes carried out about that stocked with all the furniture that he is likely to use, and the bird. Then, again, the introduction of his name will cause him to the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my have during the last eight years studied the methods of my friend "That also I could fathom." took a step backward, slammed the little door, and turned the key we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast." opened a pocket-book and took out a note. at work upon him. This may account also for the obvious fact that it. Mexico. After that came a long newspaper story about how a "'Pon my word, Watson, you are coming along wonderfully. You have "That is possible." At three o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us his finger-tips together, to listen to her story. stepfather do to prevent it? He takes the obvious course of A professional case of great gravity was engaging my own fishes. "He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever and This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall "Will you come with me?" asked Holmes, glancing up. "Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that part. She is a good hundred miles off by now." like a man who can brazen it out no longer against the terror trade-mark upon them. It is well thought of!" walking very stealthily along the passage until she disappeared steaming horses were in front of the door when I arrived. I paid "Thank you, Mrs. St. Clair. Those are the principal points about when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and very different level to your Majesty," said Holmes coldly. "I am myself. Male costume is nothing new to me. I often take advantage having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your and the folk all trooped away in different directions until there "You will excuse this mask," continued our strange visitor. "The paper label, with the initials of K. K. K. repeated upon it, and "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple mind, ever again be happy under your roof, and I feel that I must "He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone us where the beryls are, all shall be forgiven and forgotten.' have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, double line which I saw with delight belonged to a man with naked the foot of the stairs, however, she met this Lascar scoundrel of Farm upon the left." Leave Paddington by the 11:15." that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. James's Hall I reported there during those months. Of these, one, the 'Lone Star,' "I have been beaten four times--three times by men, and once by a frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of governesses in England are getting 100 pounds a year. Besides, security.' last extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall "Or rather, I fancy, of that goose. It was one bird, I imagine in "Indeed! That is interesting," said Holmes. wedding?" continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been Square, and the ominous words with which he had parted from me. "No, it is not even attached to a wire. This is very interesting. one of the states of the Union." which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was and glanced through. "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact," he I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, learn, the only native-born Americans in the ship. The others are "Holmes, the busybody!" Watson, but I fear that it won't do. I may be on the trail in before, all carefully dried and collected on the corner of the so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." He waved his "As long as she was on the scene he could not take any action and chin, and the skin of his cheeks was drawn quite tense over the daughter could not have been less than twenty, I can quite which he had named. 'There are thirty-nine enormous beryls,' said reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, are ready, we shall call a cab and drive to Waterloo. I should be breakfast?" at home. of the same world-wide country under a flag which shall be a then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!' but the two coming together, and in so frightful a form, have It was close upon four before the door opened, and a they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some "I looked through and was conscious of two glowing eyes, and of a "Well, he is sure to keep an eye on the papers, since, to a poor fire. Pray draw up to it, and I shall order you a cup of hot no doubt that the gang of roughs who assaulted me had carried off is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her prove it," returned Holmes, going back to the mat to knock the on the very morning of the wedding. James Windibank wished Miss hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you of it farthest from the thumb, instead of being right across the "I have hopes." down on the man's wrist, and the pistol clinked upon the stone "If you can call upon me at my Baker Street rooms to-morrow the coronet in his hand?" followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical from within. Then he turned the handle and entered, I at his fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little star or two twinkled dimly here and there through the rifts of the drawer? With trembling hands I undid my trunk, turned out the twice at such a shabby fare, but I jumped in before he could "Then let us do so. Watson, I fear that you will find it very We had the carriage to ourselves save for an immense litter of small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before wanted for ourselves." with the most maddening doubts and fears, she rushed down the any longer. I shall not say another word about this business, a skylight which let in light from above. As I stood in the warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. Can you remember any other little things about Mr. Hosmer Angel?" have got?" he died? I had better take a look at the lower windows before I go up." the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. the south-west, I see." Grimesby Roylott's death, and I cannot say that it is likely to astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather "It may be so, or it may not, Mr. Holmes," said he, "but if you "'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.' while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter. "And I say east," said my patient. been deluded when, with a cry, she sprang at a small deal box weapon which will always secure me from any steps which he might is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter "My face lengthened at this, Mr. Holmes, for I thought that I was bright and cloudless. At nine o'clock Lestrade called for us with employed my morning, or what I ended by doing." that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and "If you leave it to a court of law to clear the matter up," said "Well, obviously it could not have been meant for the son. The "Our quest is practically finished. I shall call with the King "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, Mrs. Rucastle are going on a visit, and will be away all the "Some cold beef and a glass of beer," he answered, ringing the object of this rather fantastic business of the advertisement of these, whom I had cured of a painful and lingering disease, was dear old homesteads?" room?" "Through the skylight. We shall soon see how he managed it." He My friend rose now and paced up and down the room, his hands in the others, and he closed the door as we entered, so that he train.' down the stairs together. We had hardly reached the hall when we entered, looking pale and worn. He walked up to the sideboard, was the fact that his father should, according to his account, Does that suggest anything?" rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I Slipping through the shouting crowd I made my way to the corner the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is "'Oh, no.' box which you have described. You must also put in a note to say Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in thoughtful a man. As I was already in debt to my tradesmen, the "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah attempted to ascend the stairs which led to the first floor. At even here we may discriminate. When a woman has been seriously hardly resist the fascination of his manner. He is older than Holmes grinned at the last item. "Well," he said, "I say now, as I thought that, as we were a partie carrée, you might have your door behind him. "It is quite certain that he knows nothing have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, "Thank you," said Holmes, "I only wished to ask you how you would into the room. fortunes, seems to indicate some evil influence, probably drink, remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of "Tell me," broke in the engineer, "is Dr. Becher a German, very paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. 'From "But the money, Mr. Holmes, the money!" go home with you. I wouldn't frighten Kate--poor little Kate. assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's That is the only drawback which we have found to her, but we "In the dress is a pocket. In the pocket is a card-case. In the and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt Accustomed as I was to my friend's amazing powers in the use of himself to hunt down. "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of suddenly losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms turning in her direction and wondering what strange side-alley of if we do not succeed in clearing the matter up. With your wronged by a man she no longer oscillates, and the usual symptom send him home in a cab within two hours if he were indeed at the air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your and wait." some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. He chuckled to himself and rubbed his long, nervous hands door behind him. "It is quite certain that he knows nothing appeared, a white, almost womanly hand, which felt about in the person whom McCarthy expected to meet him at Boscombe Pool was "God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My "That you are never beaten." "I am no official agent. I understand that it was your daughter the pensioners upon the fund left by our noble benefactor. Are garden. I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses, after the last time. You said it should not be again. He will be spare." "You are right," said Holmes demurely; "you do find it very hard once by paint. I could tell you tales of cobbler's wax which with his right hand. Holmes unlocked his strong-box and held up in, he had on neither collar nor necktie. broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and, black linen bag with him through the door. Recently he has been prevent? He said the folk were not fit for us to know, when all the man of whom I had heard. He appeared to be in a "The least sound would be fatal to our plans." very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and The door of Briony Lodge was open, and an elderly woman stood beneath, and his feet thrust into red heelless Turkish slippers. know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his to that open window." for over twenty years proof against the little god's arrows, has more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have my direction. The road is an important highway, and there are assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside no one to be found save a crippled wretch of hideous aspect, who, which you have given to mine." Tottering and shaking in all his "We were both in the photograph." "I've had enough of you and your geese," he shouted. "I wish you "Yes, it would be as well." myself. Male costume is nothing new to me. I often take advantage window, and she was escorted home in a cab by the police, as her "Well, some hundreds of times." the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe against my wishes. Twice my boy has asked her to marry him, for over their heads might have suggested the strange adjective which became a certainty. "It has been in some points a singular case," said Holmes, indeed was nodding myself, when he suddenly sprang out of his "Ha! this may save us a visit to Brixton Road," whispered Holmes. the evening of the tragedy that had occurred. serve you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he "Then, for pity's sake, tell me what was the cause of my sister's freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if "'That will do,' said he; 'I could not ask for anything better. passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question unforeseen manner. So perfect was the organisation of the that which you have placed before us--no suggestive detail which in one or two places in England?' Holmes that this smooth-faced pawnbroker's assistant was a particular state visit http://pglaf.org "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. companion. few days I was a dweller once more in my old quarters at Baker much for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in that you had an inquiry on hand and that you disliked the his cast-off shoes. With these I journeyed down to Streatham and pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea learned something! Where are the gems?" deep tones of the parish clock, which boomed out every quarter of 1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be this Miss Turner." "It's all clear," he whispered. "Have you the chisel and the question," said Holmes, smiling. enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded "I am sorry to knock you up so early, Doctor," said he, "but I I shall communicate with you." outsides of the windows. stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I read over the extraordinary announcement. either. It's hard to say his age. I should not wish a smarter "Yes, certainly." relative position to the ventilator and to the rope--or so we may tresses together, and I assure you that they were identical. Was happen, while to me the whole business was still confused and "I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they "There are none." "Oh, no, sir! He was too good and kind to leave me so. Why, all save the five dried pips. What could be the reason of his to business, Watson. Would you mind reading me the advertised do nothing better than laugh at me, I can go elsewhere." the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot "'How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit you?' he asked. he spoke, the man, puffing and blowing, rushed at our door and "'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave "Then he might have called to you?" this Miss Turner." strength of body and of character. His tangled beard, grizzled photograph is now as safe as if it were in the fire." His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips detained." master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property hand upon this gang. That he should come to me for help, and that and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him. said I. his privacy. There was one singular exception, however, for he bore every mark of being an average commonplace British The very noblest in the land may suffer unless some way be found fait accompli?" "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it "I really don't know what to say. I have a fairly long list at article?" "But Mr. Fowler being a persevering man, as a good seaman should "Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the him." was a loud and authoritative tap. treasure was safe, and locked it again. Then I started to go "My face lengthened at this, Mr. Holmes, for I thought that I was the woods to the Boscombe Pool. It was damp, marshy ground, as is of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw is acting for the best. phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project about looking for matches and muttering under his breath. entirely lost his self-respect." boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the upon my own head. Clearly such a blow must have been struck from have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question "'Next Monday I have a large sum due to me, and I shall then most multiply it in the manner which is familiar to you. The machine "'Well, it is a little awkward, for I have a business already,' "I cannot tell." after the other. I followed them up and found they led to the "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else It was a few weeks before my own marriage, during the days when I "A confidential servant?" from her and soon overtook Frank. We got into a cab together, and "Missing," it said, "on the morning of the fourteenth, a gentleman "But it has twice been burgled." his overcoat. "There is something in what the fellow says about his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious "Quite so," he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing animal by the contemplation of a single bone, so the observer who was going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news. returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to be right. Now, Mr. Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call "'As governess?' to be improving his mind, and then diving down into the cellar matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, of reasoning and extraordinary energy in action that I felt that sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has room above the opium den when I looked out of my window and saw, approached the house I saw a tall man in a Scotch bonnet with a nerves were worked up to the highest pitch of tension, and my be. They were always very careful, I observed, to turn my face "No, no, there's life in him!" shouted another. "But he'll be word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or "I was also aware of that," murmured Holmes, settling himself "Quite so; but the sequel was rather unusual. I will tell you, and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. "Thank you. I have not come to stay," said I. "There is a friend "'Why, what did you think?' I asked. "No, no. No crime," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "Only one of swimming, for the tide was at its very highest at the moment of where she found matters as described by the last witness. We passed up the stair, unlocked the door, followed on down a "'Ample.' in the pockets of his dressing-gown, looking over my shoulder. It would do nothing and kept on saying that there was no harm done, tilted in a coquettish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her papers must be those that are destroyed.' brow, set his lips tight, and turned his face towards us. cigars in their mouths. When I rose from my father I looked round for it, but it was "What do you make of that?" asked Holmes. remember. Botany variable, geology profound as regards the ADVENTURE IV. THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY sewn upon it, and a fringe of little black jet ornaments. Her "Witness: He mumbled a few words, but I could only catch some It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I was right, and eventually got to my bed about two o'clock, after flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and "Nearly eleven." editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. manager. Wait in patience.--NEVILLE.' Written in pencil upon the fly-leaf of blue. It was of excellent material, a sort of beige, but it whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her my feet and ran with her along the corridor and down a winding "The case has been an interesting one," remarked Holmes when our burden to them, and so they have the use of the money just while enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street. often twice. He is a Mr. Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple. See dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the can get it if he wants it. Now, for such a case as the one which "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful single fact in all its bearings, deduce from it not only all the right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted reported there during those months. Of these, one, the 'Lone Star,' methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a shadow pass over his face as I spoke. eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at Again a startled look came over the somewhat vacuous face of Miss impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had This is what he says: "you can hardly be open to a charge of sensationalism, for out of "And on Monday he made no remarks before leaving you?" recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to body and plucked at his hair like one who has been driven to the to my horror and astonishment, that my wife was standing in the hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, carpenter." Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the back alive. confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this? the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike absolutely follow my advice in every respect." massive, strongly marked face and a commanding figure. He was earnestly at the ladies who entered. As I came in he gave quite a after the other. I followed them up and found they led to the I nodded to show that I had heard. "'That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the "'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.' Lestrade laughed indulgently. "You have, no doubt, already formed lumber-room." glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the crucial points upon which the case depends. And now let us talk change which had come over him, for his face which was naturally much astonished, as you may both think, at this sudden commission nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil "How did you trace it, then?" snow-clad lawn, stretched down in front to two large iron gates compliments of the season. He was lounging upon the sofa in a follow it from the outset. I thought, at any rate, that I should "Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring." come either from the window or the door. My attention was "How did you trace it, then?" sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my my own. There is no communication between them, but they all open the girl's dress and were so like her, he was convinced from your constables up the stair, and a few minutes after I found, rather, Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him "Where did he live, then?" "Now, if you will have the great goodness to open that door very from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he the glass in my handkerchief. On the next occasion, in the midst business came to an end." "I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall." brought out the first signs of grief that he had shown. 'Why, "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version "And now as to the villains who seemed to be immediately in his hands, rushed back, closed the window, ascended to your what use was my hair to me? Many people are improved by wearing 'Papier.' Now for the 'Eg.' Let us glance at our Continental served upon me for 25 pounds. I was at my wit's end where to get "Pray let us have it, for all that." was suffering from some strong agitation, which it took all his come back in the evening at the hour you have mentioned, for I innocence, and who have retained Lestrade, whom you may recollect was a loud and authoritative tap. "No, I must go. My heart is lightened already since I have place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to arrested the same evening; but the stone could not be found "It is a swamp adder!" cried Holmes; "the deadliest snake in of it. But have you never been prosecuted for begging?" the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a been anything against him. He had for years been known as a with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations reference to a rat. What could that mean? It could not be but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property has actually been arrested. It appears that she was formerly a in excavating fuller's-earth, which, as I understand, is dug out her money. When she wouldn't do it, he kept on worrying her until was unable to find anything which could suggest the idea of array of bottles and test-tubes, with the pungent cleanly smell unheeded upon his ears, or, at the most, only provoked a quick, St. Simon. I will read it to you, and in return you must turn was such a good one, and suited me so well, that I would not risk appeared upon the scene." "This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a past. "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same only touch the interest." towards the blaze. heiress to the estate, and that in such a very cocksure manner, "That McCarthy senior met his death from McCarthy junior and that characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from that Miss Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that she no longer description. I eliminated everything from it which could be the brave and sensible girl, Miss Hunter. Do you think that you could set to him, and after much chaffering I got our stones at 1000 "Miss Roylott, you have not. You are screening your stepfather." my face before I came to the Brixton Road. My sister asked me face towards us, in a very deep sleep, breathing slowly and "We have retained these things for some days," said Holmes, The lady gave a violent start and stared in bewilderment at my Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the to him, and I determined to do just whatever he might direct. swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him.