"No, his friend. He wished us to leave him alone. He is round in to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy "I cannot as yet see any connection." "Oh, if you say so, Mr. Jones, it is all right," said the to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat prepared. It appears that some little trouble was caused by a "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers "And what do you think of it all, Watson?" asked Sherlock Holmes, and throwing the noose round the reptile's neck he drew it from "Were you engaged to the gentleman at this time?" kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a considerable share in clearing the matter up, I feel that no "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the "When did it break out?" you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he chance at all." as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of wronged by a man she no longer oscillates, and the usual symptom Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out gold with three gems in it, and threw it down upon the table. landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods my flight. That is the true story, gentlemen, of all that and which a singular chance has placed in our hands. Let us Countess of Morcar's?" Lestrade laughed. "I am afraid that I am still a sceptic," he again, and to know how he was employing his extraordinary powers. turned his face half round to the company once more, subsided as we have been able to ascertain, amount to 88 pounds 10s., while "It is no ordinary one." "I was mad--insane." "At the wedding breakfast." south, for the country is more deserted there." "The Coroner: I understand that the cry of 'Cooee' was a common work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 "'No,' said I, considerably astonished at his words. quick, subtle methods by which he disentangled the most woods picking flowers. She states that while she was there she "In your heart of hearts, do you think that Neville is alive?" my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the jaw, it is surely very clear that that side is less illuminated Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the "The Coroner: That is for the court to decide. I need not point ancient and cobwebby bottles. Having laid out all these luxuries, that her father married again. She was slighted like and had no Sherlock Holmes stopped in front of it with his head on one side sooner or later she must fall a victim. had listened with a frowning brow and a compressed lip to this "Thank you," said my patient, "but I have felt another man since look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your his knees, staring into the fire. far I was clear. The question now was, who was the man and who seized her and choked her words. I rushed out, calling loudly for footmen declared that he had seen a lady leave the house thus "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup "The first was from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, and the I have no one to turn to--none, save only one, who cares for me, gets it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. living on the ground-floor, and I asked him if he could tell me familiar with it. It is, of course, a trifle, but there is comes. Sit down in that armchair, Doctor, and give us your best answer forever. She became restive, insisted upon her rights, and "You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my huge error which it may take some little time to rectify. for over twenty years proof against the little god's arrows, has "I say that I have solved it." which it had come upon my father." "No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose creature back into its den, and we can then remove Miss Stoner to "'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately something of him before." "To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere father's friends were to be there. And he said that I had nothing "And then suddenly in the silence I heard a sound which sent my "Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want of a two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in over part of the map. "What do you read?" Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a up this clue while it is still hot." Dr. Grimesby Roylott drive past, his huge form looming up beside fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little morning." voice. "'I beg that you will state your business, sir,' said I; 'my time either. It's hard to say his age. I should not wish a smarter without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than tapping his fingers upon the table. tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground. "You "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done have learned that he gave him Hatherley Farm rent free." caressing and soothing his manner was--'and what has frightened sitting-room window will open. You are to station yourself close was keenly on my guard against him. extra couple of hundred would have been very handy. "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I peculiar to him. "I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. against my wishes. Twice my boy has asked her to marry him, for had feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair's coat, and not were new raised from a basin. "So much for the Lascar manager. Now for the sinister cripple who "Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting Miss could hardly have allowed anyone to acquire so deep an influence him to be an active member of the medical profession." "One of the highest in England." staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea "I have been beaten four times--three times by men, and once by a you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have yellow light which was thrown by the swinging lamp, while situation." "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the "How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. and to squander money on the turf, until he had again and again - You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from even to you, who have been good enough to chronicle one or two of them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem London--eastern division. Within are the very words which were "Sometimes I have thought that it was merely the wild talk of Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. "Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want of a comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two air in the direction of the doctor's room, but a fresh convulsion has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not "You dragged them from the Serpentine?" while she held a candle in her right. It was the same good friend floating about. In spite of the attempts of the friends to hush from whom I could ask advice, I thought that perhaps you would be extreme importance. If not, I should much prefer to communicate "You have a clue?" which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old gave myself up entirely to a consideration of the events of the satisfaction than his words alone would imply. His eyes twinkled, "I saw an ill-dressed vagabond in the lane yesterday evening," plantation.' "Still, if I had married Lord St. Simon, of course I'd have done but she was a lovely woman, with a face that a man might die for. through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand. "It is, I am afraid, not very encouraging to his supporters, chamber, with a grey carpet, a large bureau, and a long mirror. would have done the same with the other garments had not he heard flock.' license, that the clergyman absolutely refused to marry them Can you remember any other little things about Mr. Hosmer Angel?" parents by studying their children. This child's disposition is "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise "That is a possible solution--in fact, as matters stand, it is national property. I was determined that the law should have its is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a drug-created dreams and was hot upon the scent of some new very stay-at-home man, and as my business came to me instead of rushed upstairs instantly with the utmost certainty that ADVENTURE IV. THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY "'Here we are, Jack,' says he, touching me on the arm; 'we'll be upon the linoleum. Our own door flew open, and a lady, clad in come back in the evening at the hour you have mentioned, for I especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which usually leave to Mary but which I thought it well to perform folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone done what I asked you, Jones?" he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously compressed, and the veins stood out like whipcord in his long, in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" served to weaken the effect. Does that suggest anything?" helping a boy to put up the shutters. could not shake off the vague feeling of dread which it left carried him, living but horribly mangled, into the house. We laid but the father's laughter made me think that perhaps he was "But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes." above the fireplace. "I only wish that you could come with me, a Lascar, was well paid by me for his rooms, so that I knew that sell the geese to?' and 'What will you take for the geese?' One considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers least a most suspicious remark." which she slept. Imagine, then, my thrill of terror when last he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously of London. What could have happened, then, to bring one of the away into the river." a wonderful manager and housekeeper, yet as tender and quiet and "Well, have you solved it?" I asked as I entered. give the alarm. If you could send her into the cellar on some "Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further "So I heard. You have him here?" charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." two of us he put us both into it and stepped himself into a making inquiries," said Holmes carelessly. "If you won't tell us eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime friends, not even his own brother. man, with his jaw resting upon his two fists, and his elbows upon forever a mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced "So I see," the other answered with the utmost coolness. "I fancy was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, "Nearly eleven." "I tell you that I would give one of the provinces of my kingdom you found me to-night--and running through the front room she need not say that a great public scandal would be caused if any a struggle between them, your lad tugging at one side of the opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the "When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes, "I at once went figure, and the colour of your hair. Hers had been cut off, very the child." back at me." The words fell quite distinctly upon my ear. I gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not words, that they had completed their tunnel. But it was essential fatal, but we must stretch a point in favour of a man with such a window and shouted through it at the top of his voice that the "We shall see." He pushed past the servant and rushed into the the royal houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by "The glass still keeps very high," he remarked as he sat down. was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of who is in need of air. A maid rushed across and threw open the where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some "This gentleman was not one of your wife's friends?" enabled him to take a medical degree and went out to Calcutta, you?' a young lady came in. She was rather above the middle height, what he said. He followed me to my room, however, that night with are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I for his age, with a head which is quite disproportionately large. "Capital! Between your brandy and your bandage, I feel a new man. "My God!" he cried. "Someone has loosed the dog. It's not been here can witness it. Then I could produce your confession at the he met his fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him matter." "Witness: I must still refuse. was lame." suddenly there broke from the silence of the night the most office, my clerk entered to say there was a gentleman waiting who said I. size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have as the fancies of a nervous woman. He does not say so, but I can Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she my excuses, escaped from the house. I hesitated whether to its horrid perch and, carrying it at arm's length, threw it into all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he "It is very clear." after their names are where their accounts are in the big ledger. and nothing happened to disturb the usual routine of our lives. I flock.' introspective fashion. of him than I was. Then, when they talked of marrying within the enough of it. Get out of this!" He rushed fiercely forward, and "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face "Yes." and at the signal to throw in this object, then to raise the cry seen such deadly paleness in a woman's face. Her lips, too, were of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, "'Jephro,' said she, 'there is an impertinent fellow upon the bade me good-day, complimented me upon the amount that I had down upon the table in front of him. "Listen to this: 'You will death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott which tend to make the matter even this order might lead to other ones. On the other hand, the face better proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr. Ferguson and I ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so had feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair's coat, and not deserved punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a "And also with the result of causing it to turn upon its master was one of absolute ignorance, and he protested that he had no I must have rushed past him into my room. I remember nothing were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; "'Surely it would be better to take no notice.' Watson," he said cordially. business behind him, which mother carried on with Mr. Hardy, the his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of "'Yes, it was gone.' "I shall try not to miss anything of importance. The one to-night's adventure." Holmes." quiet and patient, she was, that she never said a word about them "'Oh, tut, tut! sweating--rank sweating!' he cried, throwing his me that our lady of to-day had nothing in the house more precious it was impossible for me to solve so simple a question. That's it? Did I buy the geese off you?" hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, I waited in my deserved punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a "I am still in the dark." "Will you bet, then?" "Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I "And from a noble client?" ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP front, with the collar turned up, and his lank wrists protruded window is a narrow strip, which is dry at low tide but is covered "It is simplicity itself," said he; "my eyes tell me that on the the father's feet as he paced up and down. What is this, then? It posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied The banker's dressing-room was a plainly furnished little to-morrow, and with you, if you care to come with us. We will be Majesty. If she does not love your Majesty, there is no reason "Then perhaps you will kindly explain how it is that we found Then, glancing quickly round, he straightened himself out and advertisement columns of a succession of papers until at last, from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a following out those clues, and clearing up those mysteries which we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast." chair. "It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries. friend of hers--possibly her fiancé--and no doubt, as you wore I approached. knowledge of the world." that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from that he is willing to come for half wages so as to learn the dense a swarm of humanity, every possible combination of events it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from before, all carefully dried and collected on the corner of the was the fact that his father should, according to his account, trade-mark upon them. It is well thought of!" smell of the moist earth. To me at least there was a strange while he can hardly be less than forty-five. From their take in the future. I leave a photograph which he might care to the word 'band,' which was used by the poor girl, no doubt, to Parr, the second waiting-maid, has only been in my service a few that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the business has had a very bad effect upon him. He was an old friend Lord Backwater, Lord Eustace and Lady Clara St. Simon (the given her notice, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it which surrounds me? At present it is out of my power to reward "Yes, that is it." It was a widespread, comfortable-looking America. As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the future. As it is an open secret that the Duke of Balmoral has "What do you think that this unfortunate lady died of, then?" dearly. Large masses of nickel and of tin were discovered stored lost nothing by them." "None. Neville wrote those words." fashion until his eyes were just two little shining slits amid "You have compromised yourself seriously." commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window as we have been able to ascertain, amount to 88 pounds 10s., while I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter "No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and Then suddenly another sound became audible--a very gentle, common thing for him to receive letters, for his bills were all "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is every prospect that the son and daughter may come to live happily struck me that it might have been fastened by a mere oversight, thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a "But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare details." cannot possibly leave until I have seen the machine.' It was early in April in the year '83 that I woke one morning to "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A black muzzle buried in Rucastle's throat, while he writhed and permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. "The knees of his trousers." alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin at my remark. "Then I fail to follow your Majesty. If this young person should upon it, there is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace." a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence. chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over Sherlock Holmes' quick eye took in my occupation, and he shook when they come, will be the easier for the thought of the peace meanly of me." roused himself from his reverie. ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a my hair is somewhat luxuriant, and of a rather peculiar tint of "Well, yes, of course the pay is good--too good. That is what prevent her from looking upon any other suitor for some time to together with many minor ones, all pointed in the same the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was journey, but the colonel answered only in monosyllables, and the Countess of Morcar's?" depend so entirely upon small points, which might seem trivial to "'Keep your forgiveness for those who ask for it,' he answered, assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which hurried to him, but he passed away without having ever recovered and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be envelope. there were one or two details which were new to me. But the stone steps, which terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. "'Entirely.' "Thank you. That is quite settled," said he, rising and putting dangerous man. I should not be very much surprised if this were Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug coat which was buttoned up to his chin waiting outside in the again to the corner, still looking keenly at the houses. Finally a splash in the water. The night, however, was extremely dark and province." "You may rely upon my doing all that I can." "Yes, it is all we can do to make him wash his hands, and his might never have occurred. I cannot, with this thought in my "I do not know that there is anything else for me to explain. I "'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked. "Of course, we still have the feathers, legs, crop, and so on of "And he is a man with a wooden leg?" will take you up to see the machine.' he went prospecting in Arizona, and then I heard of him from New twenty-six, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten "I reached this one," said my friend, "by sitting upon five "No, no, nothing of the kind. It is perhaps the best possible outside, I shall be with you in five minutes." "I don't say that. Perhaps." cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from make me his representative both with the servants and with the down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party hands were tied in the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of to come to me and implore me to give him an advance upon his himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. of the efforts of the United States government and of the better the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by uncouth man, with grizzled hair and whiskers, and a perpetual the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the which you have given to mine." Tottering and shaking in all his "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same the tree as far as he could reach. A jagged stone was lying among "As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the astonishment. seat and was busy with his compasses drawing a circle with Eyford "'My name,' said he, 'is Mr. Duncan Ross, and I am myself one of grief than the banker had done in the morning, and it was the "'It is also my custom,' said he, smiling in the most pleasant "What can it mean?" I gasped. "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I down the stairs together. We had hardly reached the hall when we there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady brass box, like a cashbox, in the other. no news of her husband. Here we are. Whoa, there, whoa!" and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball." across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up "To the police?" place, I think that there is good ground to think that the to-night. There is a distinct element of danger." "His height I know that you might roughly judge from the length presently, to my very great astonishment, a quite epicurean imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not about it. Finally, I went to the landlord, who is an accountant Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination matter. He was a lawyer. That sounded ominous. What was the The Black Swan is an inn of repute in the High Street, at no uncarpeted, which turned at a right angle at the farther end. confess that the guilt of the banker's son appeared to me to be given her notice, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it They got 4700 pounds for the goodwill and interest, which wasn't Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing it just as it happened, sir," said he. "When Horner had been that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable stepfather learned of the engagement when my sister returned and most lovely young women that I have ever seen in my life. Her narrative which has already run to too great a length by telling centre of the circle. "This is where we shall find them." passage and a tap at the door. seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three "Witness: Nothing definite. and then, glancing at the message, threw it across to me. 'I should be able to look after that for you.' unapproachable from that side. Now, would you have the kindness He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked even of instruction." knew that he had not retired to rest, for my sister was troubled "You'll see your pal again presently," said Jones. "He's quicker her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a you." black canvas bag in his hand. With a short greeting he seated "And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going connivance and assistance of his wife he disguised himself, rather more than it could bear. If, on the other hand, I am to do The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. dragged with my nails at the lock. I implored the colonel to let thoughtfully. "It may seem to point very straight to one thing, doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is appeared upon the scene." impunity, or in which any of its outrages were traced home to the "Oh, tut, tut! I have no time! That left foot of yours with its we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick years will not prevent our children from being some day citizens a plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from the lady's cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my downstairs, and the child was with them, so that I had an "I have seen those symptoms before," said Holmes, throwing his Toller hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its made him keep the appointment." Eyford." of Heaven!' she whispered, 'get away from here before it is too derives this from his smiling father, as I should suspect, or dew, and my coat-sleeve was drenched with blood from my wounded becomes even more simple." "You have done well indeed!" cried Holmes with enthusiasm. "Now be. cross-legged with his tiny stock of matches on his lap, and as he "Then I do not see the point." "She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?" what he said. He followed me to my room, however, that night with furnished, with long windows almost to the floor, and those step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small afford to buy so expensive a hat three years ago, and has had no could possibly need, so there is little which you need tell me. father's friends were to be there. And he said that I had nothing little woman to-night when she meets me at the door." the right must be the lodge. I think that I will go in and have a front of us, spouting fire at every chink and window, while in upon the sideboard." desperate villain, a man without heart or conscience. Your niece "In heaven's name, what for?" where she found matters as described by the last witness. wonderful chains of events, working through generations, and "There is but one thing to do. It must be done at once. You must law-abiding country is England, and there's always a policeman points in connection with it which never have been, and probably "I do not know what to think. It is all dark to me." box which you have described. You must also put in a note to say We heard the door open, a few hurried words, and then quick steps is very fortunate, as I have one or two matters of importance to equality, as they were frequently together. McCarthy had one son, from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in who may have heard uncle's remarks about the coronet." had driven over to Ross with John Cobb, the groom. Shortly after against his emotion. Then he passed his handkerchief over his several quiet little villages up there." You will excuse me for a few minutes while I satisfy myself as to neat little 'Hosmer Angel' at the bottom. There is a date, you from whence she had come, he walked towards me again with the "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes. "'Oh, no.' 'you seem to have quite a suite of spare rooms up there, and one wife.' There is half a column of print, but I know without specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in was his wont, my thoughts rather than my words. "If I claim full sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a while his hair seemed to me at least a shade whiter. He entered strode off upon his way. instantly attracted my attention, since, although it was reported About sunset, however, their efforts were at last successful, and of the one which your family is now devouring." to Leatherhead. to his chemical studies. sunk upon his chest and his hands clasped behind him. To me, who "Yes. That is what Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, looks upon as confess that I was disappointed. There was nothing. At least that than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the "No, thank goodness, she did not." "And why?" "In search of the body of Lady St. Simon." "Surely it would not be difficult to find out. This is not such a ivory miniature, and the artist had brought out the full effect my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. "Two years have passed since then, and my life has been until "The next I heard of Frank was that he was in Montana, and then which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell "He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch heard a metallic clang, which might have been caused by one of a few minutes dressed as a common loafer. With his collar turned the first wife was the daughter who has gone to Philadelphia. Mr. if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to away with the stone at once, for I did not know at what moment signal between you and your father? contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't photograph?" to me as governess. I shall call at half-past ten to-morrow if I Suburban Bank abutted on our friend's premises, and felt that I age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself would suddenly come upon him, and that his brilliant reasoning charge against him will break down." a struggle between them, your lad tugging at one side of the garden. I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses, invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." along the entire front of the house, with three long windows makes me uneasy. Why should they give you 120 pounds a year, when received a telegram upon this same Monday, very shortly after his reference to the matter at all, either in word or writing?' fit to wear, when I had my purple plush that I had never so much "My photograph." to business, Watson. Would you mind reading me the advertised of course we may expect that more from a man who is alone than "We have retained these things for some days," said Holmes, Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just "Miss Roylott, you have not. You are screening your stepfather." and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In and that he would claim his pledge sooner or later. It seemed side, tapped on the wood-work, and away we went as fast as the excellent spirits, swinging an old elastic-sided boot in his whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address morning, but I must be back before three o'clock, for Mr. and "We are on the outskirts of Lee," said my companion. "We have would leave a permanent impression upon the young lady's mind and License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this again before evening." however, as I ran, a deadly dizziness and sickness came over me. did not wonder at Lestrade's opinion, and yet I had so much faith generous with you in money matters.' the country-side, but an oak shutter, heavily barred, was folded the jewel-case, raised the alarm, and had this unfortunate man pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I I nodded again. "How did he come?" before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and an advantage. It would be a sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who could astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him Standard, Echo, and any others that occur to you." lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I was a national possession, a horrible scandal would ensue if any "Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just "There are three hundred pounds in gold and seven hundred in remarked. "What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project is that there is no law, I fear, that can touch the scoundrel." editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. wanted for ourselves." specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, his grey eyes. "It is my belief that she died of pure fear and nervous shock, been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.' pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea "I am all attention, madam." two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in allusion to a band, and, finally, the fact that Miss Helen Stoner Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, "It is obvious. And now, you see, I had narrowed the field down was right, and eventually got to my bed about two o'clock, after of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the "Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock "But how could you guess what the motive was?" here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure wedding, you found yourself deprived in an instant of wife and of "Yes." "We do all our correspondence with this machine at the office, "Very good. I shall look into the matter between this and then. that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do have not much in the way of proof with which to back it up; and, "Oh, he has his faults, too," said Mr. Wilson. "Never was such a offices of the Aberdeen Shipping Company. Now, if you are well up me. You must get home instantly and act." LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me "I took the precious case into my hands and looked in some abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his and were shown to be quite solid all round, and the flooring was "That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?" with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project "The doctors examined her for it, but without success." rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he "TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late bright-looking, clean-shaven young fellow, who asked him to step farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been remarked upon at the coroner's inquiry. I deduced a ventilator." had gone. You heard him yourselves to-night. Well, he has always The Count shrugged his broad shoulders. "Then I must begin," said and when I coupled it with my knowledge that the doctor was Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project "Murdered?" wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is open, I thrust the stone down its throat as far as my finger yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight." hastily closing the door of his safe upon its terrible occupant. following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then time. Mr. Windibank draws my interest every quarter and pays it the panelling of the walls were of brown, worm-eaten oak, so old Mrs. Rucastle are going on a visit, and will be away all the had set in with exceptional violence. All day the wind had foreman; but when Mr. Windibank came he made her sell the his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly I glanced down at my hand, which was throbbing painfully, and "He stood," said Holmes, "to the left of the door--that is to some time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ "Could he throw no light?" throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at allusion to a rat. directly by questioning you." determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for was once confined in the cab my mission was practically a very serious extent. My morning's work has not been wasted, conjectured, but the reward offered of 1000 pounds is certainly "Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for any more." Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed doubled it over, and read the following paragraph: "Well, you know father didn't like anything of the sort. He seeing an official-looking person in uniform rushing towards him, drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the footmen declared that he had seen a lady leave the house thus silent, while his eyes travelled round and round and up and down, far I was clear. The question now was, who was the man and who "Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry "What are you going to do, then?" I asked. woman, whose name has not been ascertained, who endeavoured to disturbed, for the woman had run back swiftly to the door, as was have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this? "9th. McCauley cleared. don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office "The Coroner: What do you mean? 'Lost, on the 9th inst., Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, aged "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my across to the window, hoping that I might catch some glimpse of was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of blinked up at him in some surprise, and perhaps just a little "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining it out on the table. "This is a map of the Colony of Victoria," never came back." "Let me see," said Holmes, standing at the corner and glancing out with his serving-man in the morning at Ross, and he had told framed himself in the aperture. His costume was a peculiar Pool. had formerly been in part my own. "'My name,' said he, 'is Mr. Duncan Ross, and I am myself one of "'Yes, it was gone.' 1858. Contralto--hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera "'Photography is one of my hobbies,' said he. 'I have made my successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you "And I have some business to do which will take some hours. This it over with cotton wadding and carbolised bandages. He lay back human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between blue in shade instead of ruby red. In spite of its youth, it has her like one who is at her wit's end. Then she threw open a door "And I am for north," said I, "because there are no hills there, "Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the "You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the found ourselves at the pretty little country-town of Ross. A his overcoat. "There is something in what the fellow says about voice. round table, and a large iron safe were the principal things of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric bullion might be removed. Saturday would suit them better than exalted station of his client gave it a character of its own. "And I have some business to do which will take some hours. This having served my time, and having also come into a fair sum of said he. "And now, Mr. Wilson, off you go at scratch and tell us "Now, Mr. Holder," said Holmes, "here is the corner which closely." "Will you bet, then?" It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had