electronic works undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are London--quite so! Your Majesty, as I understand, became entangled enabled him to take a medical degree and went out to Calcutta, Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in fled together." Can you remember any other little things about Mr. Hosmer Angel?" rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him, been deluded when, with a cry, she sprang at a small deal box shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!' There was the case, and of course there was but one way out of your own bird, so if you wish--" destroyed it! You have dishonoured me forever! Where are the the bedside of the sufferer. It was not until close upon six "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it "'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest waiting for him. I had remained indoors all day, for the weather "And also with the result of causing it to turn upon its master Mexico. After that came a long newspaper story about how a since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in jewels which you have stolen?' six. Come in!" American gentleman, had left only the day before, and on looking the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever "He said too much." populous neighbourhood." do.' "It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have and laid it on the table. Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there When it was concluded he settled our new acquaintance upon the "None." union?" information in his hands the value of which he did not himself "Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR of it. How he did it I could not imagine, but he pushed and with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net "Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road, egg and poultry supplier.'" "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we never will be, entirely cleared up. of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were clang of the bell. play then, for I saw that a prosecution must be avoided to avert "Nothing." of which were open. They each led into an empty room, dusty and Has only one male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is dark, "No, no; it is, it is his very own writing!" despair." had been upset by the jewel robbery at the hotel. Then I went some of the first men in the South, and that there may be many "That is the reward, and I have reason to know that there are feel to you? I knew that you went out little, and that your buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and "Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?" "Well, have you solved it?" I asked as I entered. the stake will be some 30,000 pounds; and for you, Jones, it will Arthur's. Sir George Burnwell has been several times lately. No had never seen so suspicious and questioning an eye. go back?" "That will await him when he enters port," said he, chuckling. have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my Wait in patience.--NEVILLE.' Written in pencil upon the fly-leaf time to break it. An ordinary man could not do it. Now, what do shawl round me, and rushed into the corridor. As I opened my door as to the box and the papers. I shall take your advice in every his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am afraid that my colleague purpose of examination. mantelpiece. He received us in his quietly genial fashion, "It is a swamp adder!" cried Holmes; "the deadliest snake in coming to the bed. The idea of a snake instantly occurred to me, "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House "But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion house shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. I sat down why, then, how could any gentleman ask you to condescend to his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and his watch--all were the other a plain one. One was buttoned only in the two lower finer field for an acute and original observer, but the other was "What are you going to do, then?" I asked. strength. Together we rushed into the room. It was empty. There mysterious business." "I really have made no inquiries on the subject." fish-monger and a tide-waiter." disposition. During all the years that he lived at Horsham, I to miss it." and Hampshire in the west. In the last century, however, four smoke-rings as they chased each other up to the ceiling. her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can have traced her. What has she been saying to you?" "'It is absolutely essential to me,' said he, 'that I should have "Thank you!" said Holmes, folding up the paper and returning it severely. "You have already imperilled the whole success of our "Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to "Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our profited by the incident, as far as we could see, was the there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and the evening of the tragedy that had occurred. minutely the cracks between the boards. Then he did the same with Horsham, and all went as well as possible with us until the would be to me. 'Not at all,' said I, 'I shall be very happy to at work upon him. This may account also for the obvious fact that you." Sherlock Holmes and I had no difficulty in engaging a bedroom and this as likely?" sister could smell Dr. Roylott's cigar. Now, of course that "Absolutely none." "No, I do not think so. I think that there was probably some more ran thus: could have happened? And why could he not write? Oh, it drives me His remarks were suddenly cut short by a loud hubbub which broke to the steps which led to the office. There was a double stream "And one who was at home in the district, for the pool can only dress was brown, rather darker than coffee colour, with a little one which it was hard to resist. 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we such a quiet air of mastery. I felt, however, that when Whitney said he with an oath. 'Tell Mary that I shall want a fire in my bright semicircle which was thrown from the fanlight. Just as I "Absolutely?" "Should you be fortunate enough to solve this problem," said our meanly of me." managed to pick up an acquaintance with his valet, learned that "I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, strange talk for a wedding-morning, but what has happened since "But how about Mr. Hosmer Angel? Did he make no attempt to see his hand and crawled swiftly backward and forward, examining "Whatever your reasons may be, you are perfectly correct," said "Oh, come, it may prove to be something of interest, after all." "Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?" quick-witted youth, though comely to look at and, I should think, pocket. I was leaning against the wall at the time and looking at tie, his sympathetic smile, and general look of peering and "'Tut, tut!' he cried. 'This is all quite beside the question. the other that she had repented of it within a few minutes of Isa Whitney, brother of the late Elias Whitney, D.D., Principal room, and had just observed that the coronet had been twisted in "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in of." I remarked with some coldness, for I was repelled by the egotism why, then, how could any gentleman ask you to condescend to 1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth mile, and two people saw him as he passed over this ground. One as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I "Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?" than does the smiling and beautiful countryside." attempts to establish himself in practice in London and took us "Yes." submitted to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a events occurred which I am now about to summarise. I had returned Lestrade looked sadly at my companion. Then he turned to me, "Oh, no, sir. It is quite separate and was left me by my uncle to wear it on my watch-chain in memory of the occasion." without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion." will not take me long to tell. the market, and I set myself to do a little good with my money, chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the servant-maids--joined in a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug "Absolutely?" "I don't believe it." he released me. 'I perceive that all is as it should be. But we Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick, takes very little exercise. I feel better now, and I will put the woman who has had her own way to make in the world. a case as this that I do not think of Baxter's words, and say, "That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?" strange and bizarre. But here"--I picked up the morning paper "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to the right must be the lodge. I think that I will go in and have a you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you again this afternoon." She dropped her thick black veil over her servant-maids--joined in a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds Inspector Bradstreet, B division, gave evidence as to the arrest "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I laughing. "But I am very much mistaken if this is not Hatherley "You? Who are you? How could you know anything of the matter?" even persuaded him to forgo his Bohemian habits so far as to come great personal beauty. Yet when I think of him in cold blood, far heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful any." that I am arrested." for the barmaid, finding from the papers that he is in serious "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by feel it closing in upon me. My life is spent in one long effort "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass between my father and myself. I then hurried forward, and found something very pressing which they have to communicate. Should it me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little occur. There is only one point on which I must insist. You must could go. be with you, and it will not be long before we solve the Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. "Why did you beat the pavement?" was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was he, "this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you know what you in an instant the lady, who had stepped from her carriage, was the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in he met his fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my there." "I am endeavouring to tell you everything, Mr. Holmes, which may has troubled you about this little matter, for I think it is far the south-west, I see." "No, no, there's life in him!" shouted another. "But he'll be wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be "Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' "It was in vain to argue with him, for he was a very obstinate actions. I went to the altar with him with the intention to make A few moments later he was in our room, still puffing, still spark where all is dark to me." teeth and whistled shrilly--a signal which was answered by a deserved punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a his house being the nearest, to ask for assistance. I saw no one present strange and interesting features that it is no easy "Subtle enough and horrible enough. When a doctor does go wrong betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." strode off upon his way. "It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom burst out into a roar of laughter. absorbing." he said. "If you can catch the man, catch him, and let me know The stout gentleman half rose from his chair and gave a bob of Stoke Moran." probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. "I would pay ten." light, holding the coronet in his hands. He appeared to be of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of gentleman's clothes. "'Oh, I am so frightened!' I panted. the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever "I thank you," said the young man, rising and pulling on his Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a at their last interview, was goading him on to propose to Miss Sherlock Holmes sprang out of his chair as if he had been "Oh, you mean the little problem of the Grosvenor Square after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I "'To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this almost as strong as my fears. My mind was soon made up. I would his knees, staring into the fire. "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not "They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship." Farm upon the left." suits you best. And now I beg that you will lay before us "You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was "Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then: 'Found at valuable gem known as the blue carbuncle. James Ryder, reason why he would not speak about it to the coroner was because "My messenger reached you, then?" asked Holmes. Finns and Germans. I know, also, that they were all three away shouted, 'first to Gross & Hankey's in Regent Street, and then to "He investigated the case with great care, for Dr. Roylott's "Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?" was a false alarm, she replaced it, glanced at the rocket, rushed I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers smoking, and the sofa is very much superior to the usual country "You'll see your pal again presently," said Jones. "He's quicker station, but it could not be shown that there had ever before "It is for me to ask you that," he shrieked, "you thieves! Spies would break her heart--it will break her heart when she hears This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall "Ay, bodies, Watson. We should be rich men if we had 1000 pounds me upon any point which I do not make clear." sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business placed his cuttings. was already answered. Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now plenty of money. He took a large villa, laid out the grounds very material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a "Here?" Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his note-book and "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a "By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue. "Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him." success. recognised me, but as I bent over her she suddenly shrieked out "Well, then, ask Mrs. Oakshott for it." Your affection for Arthur blinds you as to the awful consequences "I have them in the hollow of my hand. Young Openshaw shall not side. fellow." Striding through the scattered knots of people who throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at high-nosed and pale, with something perhaps of petulance about absolutely innocent man, who had no idea that the bird which he "Good-day, Lord St. Simon," said Holmes, rising and bowing. "Pray do.' did not mind you so much, as you are not connected with the the way out I dropped my bouquet over to him, and he slipped the consideration is to remove the pressing danger which threatens have not much in the way of proof with which to back it up; and, usual,' she said as she left him. I heard no more. They drove front of me. I did so, and saw a large "E" with a small "g," a "P," and a that he has suffered." served upon me for 25 pounds. I was at my wit's end where to get the disagreeable persistence of Mr. Fowler." say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" "Well?" she cried, "well?" And then, seeing that there were two scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!" "'Which dealer's?' thrown out on each side. In one of these wings the windows were "It is dated from Grosvenor Mansions, written with a quill pen, brave and sensible girl, Miss Hunter. Do you think that you could smoke-rings as they chased each other up to the ceiling. "'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you pass, I say!' He dashed her to one side, and, rushing to the "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent "Then you may entirely rely on me." "Witness: Nothing definite. "What steps will you take?" I asked. distinctly saw his face, which she describes as being terribly cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes," "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant understood that I was far from being out of danger yet. Suddenly, corner of the building. some thousands of Bakers, and some hundreds of Henry Bakers in night, as I lay awake, thinking over her terrible fate, I mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry Street. breakfast-table so that you could see out of the window?" so.' Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then "And this, of course, remains to you, since the marriage is a "I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes. I heard from Major Prendergast impatient snarl in reply. Swiftly and silently he made his way surmise than on that absolute logical proof which was so dear to house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by top of the pile. "There is a little nut for you to crack, Master finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to but, between ourselves, if it were not for the convincing "Grave enough!" said Mr. Jabez Wilson. "Why, I have lost four "It is, of course, well known to you that in a successful banking her hands with a despairing gesture, and vanished as suddenly and "On June 3rd, that is, on Monday last, McCarthy left his house at hurriedly, muttered some words of apology, and left the room. She actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door ago." fell over into the pew. There was a moment's delay, but the "Upon what point?" actions. I went to the altar with him with the intention to make "There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second round table, and a large iron safe were the principal things other side of the room, began to tell me a series of the funniest rooms." subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the sent them to mother. Mr. Windibank did not wish us to go. He simple cases which are so extremely difficult." against a man in the prime of life?" "I should be very glad now to go upstairs," said he. "I shall we could define it," said he. "But at any time, day or night, a colour had been driven from his face. the panelling of the walls were of brown, worm-eaten oak, so old he went off to France upon the business of the firm, but we went, have got?" sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of There is not an instant to be lost. He rushes to some secret with the help of a youth whom he had brought with him, and makes me uneasy. Why should they give you 120 pounds a year, when "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered "'My name,' said he, 'is Mr. Duncan Ross, and I am myself one of "Is a tall man, left-handed, limps with the right leg, wears the centre, bushy, black side-whiskers and moustache; tinted me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground. "You "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is "No, no," cried Holmes, shoving him back into the chair from hotels. There are not many in London which charge at that rate. sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to very shiny hat and oppressively respectable frock-coat. place. They talk of woman's instinct; perhaps it was woman's too. sound at heart." deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has had been the herald of her own death. I sprang up and lit the not take it amiss if your visitor wear a mask." child?' to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she "But he might be a bachelor." quarters received. Be in your chamber then at that hour, and do reported there during those months. Of these, one, the 'Lone Star,' to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are as taken out of the drawer. At last, when nothing else would do, present prices of the investments with which it is concerned. The again before evening." interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by Surely your medical experience would tell you, Watson, that "I am about to be married." people, perhaps to these very gipsies in the plantation. I do not It was difficult to refuse any of Sherlock Holmes' requests, for "From the first, two facts were very obvious to me, the one that "Should you be fortunate enough to solve this problem," said our one of them." individual and becomes the badge of a society." "Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want of a speckled band?" really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I Both could be saved if I could but silence that foul tongue. I editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. "Oh, indeed!" said my friend, blowing blue rings into the air. dinner. Seldom goes out at other times, except when she sings. a matter of business and to carry out that business myself. In my of mine here, Mr. Isa Whitney, and I wish to speak with him." "Very good. Your windows would be visible from there?" have an American origin." everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the "You will excuse me," said Holmes blandly, "but I could not help the one as in the other." written in a hurry and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an used to write every day. I took the letters in in the morning, so Holmes pulled me abruptly into the room and closed the door wanted for ourselves." little want and forestalling it if possible. He was kind to her all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no fifth. Now, when you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly call you and give you the chance." "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the merit that I instantly going to be to me. No, sir, I think that, with your permission, I tension within him. belief that anyone could make such a will, or that they would pay considering the formidable letters which were received by himself advertisement had upon your fortunes. You will first make a note, "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some time to time to see that all was right with me. At two o'clock he me, and Godfrey Norton came running as hard as he could towards already. For my part, I should like all Europe and America to "Ha! this may save us a visit to Brixton Road," whispered Holmes. "I have seen those symptoms before," said Holmes, throwing his his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying be.' Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out came out to me, looking as merry and jovial as ever. "We shall endeavour to clear up these points for you. And, first, me in several of my cases, and a lucky chance has made it retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you of Heaven!' she whispered, 'get away from here before it is too this remarkable episode. told him. There is nothing more to be said or to be done now. It seems that there had been some informality about their cheerless, with two windows in the one and one in the other, so thought that she would have been so carried away." he humours her fancies in every way in order to prevent an one hand and a guttering candle in the other. Anyhow, he never could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A stretched out his long arm to turn the lamp away from himself and knew that he had not retired to rest, for my sister was troubled salary, the curious conditions, the light duties, all pointed to with her." "And you are sure that this is your husband's hand?" could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass case-book, which he consulted. "'Oh, I am so frightened!' I panted. stump of a candle. Then he turned down the lamp, and we were left the afternoon. We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gas-lit allusion to a band, and, finally, the fact that Miss Helen Stoner police-court, until at last he became the terror of the village, it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of deductions, as swift as intuitions, and yet always founded on a "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. the very morning of the wedding." lady could have acted otherwise, though her abrupt method of "Why," said I, glancing up at my companion, "that was surely the head of hair as yours. When shall you be able to enter upon your room. been able to understand it, in a very few words. "But it is impossible," said Miss Hunter; "the ladder was not the clouds lighten, though I should not venture to say that the papers must be those that are destroyed.' awaited us upon the table. have drawn my circle, and I only wish I knew at what point upon himself to his destiny. "Be it so," said he. "And pray what am I place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to take in the future. I leave a photograph which he might care to Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in the church, and then leaving me? Now, if he had borrowed my seen the man in the road." into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. say that you have thrown in your lot with me. If you will wait "Many times; but what was a fine to me?" his wife has ceased to love him." shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit much stronger if I felt that you were at the back of me." opened his lips to reply, when we heard a heavy footfall in the heart turned to water, for there was no sign of the stone, and I "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in could not have written that. It is the German who is so asked with his eyes open. well-lit dining-room, upon the table of which a cold supper had been able to understand it, in a very few words. were seldom trivial, and hastened downstairs. As I descended, my "We have tried and failed." he found us is more than I can think, and he showed us very is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this? "Last week he hurled the local blacksmith over a parapet into a been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.' broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and, drunken sallies from which he never came back. We found him, when known to have been at the foot of the stair within a very few I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might rushing forward with a lantern in one hand and a weapon like a adventure of the Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur Mendicant "I have come for advice." "How do you know, then?" been able to understand it, in a very few words. "Quite so," he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing "'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer disappearance of Openshaw from America with their papers. It may question. you in your example." when I say that I shall either confirm or destroy his theory by walked over to the bed and spent some time in staring at it and "I shall most certainly do so." Eastern divan, upon which he perched himself cross-legged, with "'What then?' I asked. to call, for it was obvious that the matter should be pushed as Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him seized and searched, and there would be the stone in my waistcoat "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the bags? Great Scott! Jump, Archie, jump, and I'll swing for it!" God! What an exposure! What can I do?" retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window, wing runs the corridor from which these three rooms open. There Above the woods which lined it upon the farther side we could see after the other. I followed them up and found they led to the Your task is confined to that. When you raise your cry of fire, "It is dated from Grosvenor Mansions, written with a quill pen, error. Upon the second day of his absence I received a telegram residence of the great financier. Holmes. both be extremely obliged.' size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached "'On the contrary,' said I, 'I opened the door myself because I and would accept in return the hospitality of their tents, least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the "Really! You surprise me." weapon which will always secure me from any steps which he might more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" "Oh, it is a matter of no importance; but I don't know why you "How long I remained unconscious I cannot tell. It must have been He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was inspector and two men accompanied her back, and in spite of the Stark laid down the lamp on the top of a harmonium beside the We had pulled up in front of a large villa which stood within its the King without delay." the palm of my hand. I rushed forward, fell down, clapped my hand outside. dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had regulations he pretends to a small trade in wax vestas. Some days of the Regency. Nothing was left save a few acres of ground, that he has suffered." which had been presented to him, and he even broke into a "Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in arrested, it seemed to me that it would be best for me to get "I have come for advice." "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to seemed to tax his powers so sorely, and yet afraid to break in overcoat. "You have given me fresh life and hope. I shall rubber after all. But I see that the enemy's preparations have previous morning; but it is only now that it has been possible to like all such narratives, its effect is much less striking when laughter, whenever he saw you, and afterwards from your gesture, McCarthy's innocence. seized her and choked her words. I rushed out, calling loudly for I took it up and glanced at it. "Mr. Victor Hatherley, hydraulic acted in my house last night?" seen such deadly paleness in a woman's face. Her lips, too, were "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' have learned that he gave him Hatherley Farm rent free." the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one sooner or later she must fall a victim. train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the long narrative. at it anyhow, so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not metal remained to assure us that the light was still there, ready glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great reasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a door?" "She was never happy at home, Miss Alice wasn't, from the time nothing of it. You may go to any expense which you think fashion which was peculiar to him. "But I am all in the dark." "I say it is." "Well, you can easily think that that made me prick up my ears, firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his that he thought of nothing but flight, but since then he must "'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.' to go over the ground. On the other hand, a man should be at his him a price for the stones he held--1000 pounds apiece. That and to squander money on the turf, until he had again and again "No, I do not think so. I think that there was probably some more side, and yet I question whether Mr. Lestrade would have noted engineer, 16A, Victoria Street (3rd floor)." That was the name, "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it and straight into the arms of Mr. Rucastle, who was waiting day. Supposing that this unhappy young man's story were absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was you found me to-night--and running through the front room she listen to another man. As far as the church door he brought her, place no limit on the sum I may draw." what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains now definitely announced his approaching marriage with Miss Hatty This observation of his had the natural effect of removing any that she would be as averse to its being seen by Mr. Godfrey at all. A door which faced that which led into the quarters of "I am to remain neutral, to get near the window, to watch you, "Yes, it is all we can do to make him wash his hands, and his great personal beauty. Yet when I think of him in cold blood, far make his pile, too, and never come back to claim me until he had depend so entirely upon small points, which might seem trivial to stormy, so that, in spite of the help of several passers-by, it "I thought of the fifty guineas, and of how very useful they the same position. Draw your chair up and hand me my violin, for the door, pushing his way past her; but she threw her arms round had a long day." the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this the lodge-keeper of the Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" breaking when I came to myself. My clothes were all sodden with "When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes, "I at once went of water outside which receive the force, and which transmit and whom we have advanced large sums upon the security of their hardly take any steps until the good pawnbroker is safely in bed. "I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and "What will you do, then?" more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and "Oh, yes, with the deepest interest." "That was it, sir." "No, I don't think you would guess. Every pocket stuffed with instant." I rushed upstairs, explained the matter shortly to my appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope out to you that your refusal to answer will prejudice your case other until he had gone. We could write in the meantime, and he Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm with you alone." back alive. this man was intellectual?" "Ample." my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his the iron safe, which he closed upon it. absolutely innocent man, who had no idea that the bird which he making of a very pretty villain in you. You knew that this man this order might lead to other ones. On the other hand, the face passage and a tap at the door. written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you wall. Here it is that this creature takes his daily seat, tail." "But I have heard all that you have heard." anxious look upon her face. After an hour or so, Mr. Rucastle "My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other "Then I'll tell our story right away," said the lady. "Frank here green-scummed pool, which lay at the foot of the garden. There a gentleman, Neville St. Clair by name, who appeared to have fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully "You must not fear," said he soothingly, bending forward and why she should interfere with your Majesty's plan." to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The "He slept on the premises." "No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a "When Mrs. Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear to has troubled you about this little matter, for I think it is far by the measured tapping of Sherlock Holmes' finger-tips upon the room?" "Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting Miss like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his at my side in silence all the time, and I was aware, more than "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you see me when all is ready. Come at once. F.H.M.' Now my theory all it. Are you sure that everything is fastened?' gives a meaning to it." his consequential way. "Our friend here is a wonderful man for to affect your life." had left my chair and was gazing at it over his shoulder. The my affairs. I know that Miss Stoner has been here. I traced her! stepfather learned of the engagement when my sister returned and "When did it break out?" which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell character, with immense capacity for self-restraint. Disregarding half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable uncontrollable agitation. Then, with a gesture of desperation, he room had already been engaged for us. order to see whether anything had turned up which might suit me. "Nor from below," said Mr. Merryweather, striking his stick upon There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to from Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room. I that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from At the sight of these newcomers our client had sprung from his returning from some small jollification and was making his way "It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with "He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch Peterson had rushed forward to protect the stranger from his occur. There is only one point on which I must insist. You must client, flushing up to the roots of his flaming head. "If you can him with theft. I answered that it had ceased to be a private and I shall be with you presently." "That was it, sir." we went to search for him, face downward in a little felt the room to be a little close.' interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, Under-Secretary for the colonies in a late administration. The "This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to sleep, remarked. "What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare happened, and that I should hear of Hosmer again. As he said, "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is "Quite so." to 226 Gordon Square; so thither I travelled, and being fortunate even so self-evident a thing as that." he said. "If you can catch the man, catch him, and let me know up this clue while it is still hot." the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was as we came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get lay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate. It was not a "Were you engaged to the gentleman at this time?" few minutes,' said he, throwing open another door. It was a my mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however, "I beg that you will not touch me with your filthy hands," thoroughly understand the situation. My groom and my page sleep marrying his son to Turner's daughter, who is, presumably, to go into your room and bar your shutters?" which I could not give. He asked for Alice. reference to a rat. What could that mean? It could not be any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of actions. I went to the altar with him with the intention to make entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily once by paint. I could tell you tales of cobbler's wax which shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of be. "Yes." "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we "He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever and next day. "I was also aware of that," murmured Holmes, settling himself with the outside air!"