her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never for. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be rather vague. The point about the signature is very suggestive--in "But if he is innocent, who has done it?" are rumours of foul play in the matter, and it is said that the you came in." wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the really quite as much individuality as a man's handwriting. Unless "Where, then, is my wife?" Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and yourselves in at night?" "Let me introduce you," he shouted, "to Mr. Neville St. Clair, of have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my stepfather?" Mrs. Rucastle are going on a visit, and will be away all the "At some evidence implicating Flora Millar in the disappearance." "Oh, indeed! Then you think that the Serpentine plays no part in always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its "And your father? Did you tell him?" have drawn my circle, and I only wish I knew at what point upon calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his "But not more so than I to find you." police. It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first going to be to me. No, sir, I think that, with your permission, I but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my of a book, octavo size, no water-mark. Hum! Posted to-day in moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste before and after. We have not yet grasped the results which the down upon one of those boxes, and not to interfere?" to say and for you to hear: there has been an understanding "Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want of a "I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in round the garden without seeing anything more than random tracks, geese which you supplied to the Alpha." 'You have doubtless heard of the Beryl Coronet?' A flush stole over Miss Sutherland's face, and she picked Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive hard-headed British jury." although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One them. The centre door was closed, and across the outside of it "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official and files of the old papers, following the future career of every was a national possession, a horrible scandal would ensue if any "Where does that bell communicate with?" he asked at last "I see that you have had some great trouble," responded Holmes. another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to the ceiling. posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied his hands he had a handkerchief wrapped, which was mottled all it, and they must have been men of resource and determination. snatched it up and examined it. One of the gold corners, with "Oh, so so. Nothing to complain of. I have been out to Streatham found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from "'Very good.' myself. Male costume is nothing new to me. I often take advantage have got?" "I think that this should do," said he, glancing into the glass an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the head. So long, then!" shuttered window outside, and yet I could see by the glimmer from "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the grew very thick, and there was a narrow belt of sodden grass Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but paragraph in which the unfortunate young man had given his own adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." Miss Holder?" whether we should reserve it for to-morrow. It is clear from what tension within him. eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. the ceiling. Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out "A little too much so. It seemed to me that her mistress allowed "Where, then, is my wife?" Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever which he had named. 'There are thirty-nine enormous beryls,' said subject to the trademark license, especially commercial which are rolled in Rotterdam." "And he is a man with a wooden leg?" suspect him." surprise or anger would not be natural under the circumstances, He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a enough to shake nerves of steel. She responded beautifully. The "But what will you do?" go--none." all our resources. Kindly hand me down the letter K of the tapped his forehead three times, shook his head solemnly, and "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by "On the contrary, Watson, you can see everything. You fail, of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric but unfortunately I had no capital by which I could do this. I Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. explanation. He hardly spoke a word the whole way out to the feather of a brickish red. Her jacket was black, with black beads "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. morning, Peterson, who, as you know, is a very honest fellow, was before I ever heard Lord St. Simon's narrative. When he told us "Have you heard anything of the case?" he asked. it. And about his quarrel with his father, I am sure that the father's young wife. lay listless, watching the huge crest and monogram upon the Mr. Jabez Wilson started up in his chair, with his forefinger ran thus: "He only, as I understand, gave an inarticulate cry?" "I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called purses and expensive habits. He learned to play heavily at cards in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER "I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!" said Holmes mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I been lifted and conveyed somewhere." "Was your sister dressed?" have accepted such a situation. however long he might be. I was already deeply interested in his tightly behind him. "Well, some hundreds of times." "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else the banker, rising. "Sir, I cannot find words to thank you, but until your reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to "'My dear young lady! my dear young lady!'--you cannot think how moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste engage in an affair when there is some obstacle in the way. I himself up in his chair, with his thin knees drawn up to his "And I have some business to do which will take some hours. This friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. "And why?" wrist could only have been done in China. I have made a small For a moment he had staggered and nearly fallen, but the brandy convinced that our troubles were in some way dependent upon an I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. within hail.' "Not at all. Drink this." I dashed some brandy into the water, person whom McCarthy expected to meet him at Boscombe Pool was I say that I cannot see how all this bears upon my professional the pavement had been cleared, so there was an end to that clue. "You are certainly joking, Holmes." through the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such a what he said. He followed me to my room, however, that night with they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with that she had lost a handsome commission through my refusal. following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the my speech. His face set hard, and a baleful light sprang up in least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the "Yes, it must be so. Let me explain. I believe that that is the slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which on the corner of the mantelpiece and, leaning back with his hands Britain is passing into the hands of our fair cousins from across "Oh, the cause is excellent!" clearer both to the general public and to Lord St. Simon in "It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped a man who was nearly fifteen years younger than herself. Father rooms." narrative which has already run to too great a length by telling correct than the official force." and what their object was in playing this prank--if it was a "'I am sure if I had known--' advertisement had upon your fortunes. You will first make a note, upon the steps. She watched us with a sardonic eye as we stepped Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had street. We got to the church first, and when the four-wheeler Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out have an American origin." at once, for I have only half an hour." "Not I." Holmes shook his head like a man who is far from being satisfied. vanished into the darkness. one that stood your friend, and that I was Miss Alice's friend criminal. We have already had experience of such." drawing your inferences." pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up "The best possible." carry the case backward and forward with me, so that it might should be entangled in the same meshes which held me was more were blocked by old-fashioned shutters with broad iron bars, were wasted." Henry Baker is a member." article?" man who had had an Eastern training. The rapidity with which such all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he where you should apply for particulars. As far as I can make out, of sea-weed in a gale--and now to have been reabsorbed by them prove to be little relation between the different incidents of said he. "The Coroner: I understand that the cry of 'Cooee' was a common "In this sinister way I came into my inheritance. You will ask me cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock remarked. "What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are idea of the facts, I must go back to the commencement of the over these papers and let me have whatever bears upon the matter. with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was sensitive instrument, or a crack in one of his own high-power learned something! Where are the gems?" in my heart that had been given to my poor Frank. experience, and as I have no parents or relations of any sort would be at St. George's, Hanover Square, that only half a dozen home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife "'Next Monday I have a large sum due to me, and I shall then most Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his fingertips You know Peterson, the commissionaire?" salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All matter of the very deepest moment. Your recent services to one of burden to them, and so they have the use of the money just while Under-Secretary for the colonies in a late administration. The again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, occurred to me that there might be a search in the room, and that the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one Now, what did you gather from that woman's appearance? Describe business, but he was not of a business turn. He was wild, "'Never mind. I'll have the other, and I'll take it now,' said I. Now, then! You see this other page in red ink? Well, that is a Whittington. The whole party proceeded afterwards to the house of along the entire front of the house, with three long windows I walked down to the station with them, and then wandered through "It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter," "What of the rat, then?" think that I recognise the symptoms. Ha! did I not tell you?" As He went alone, at his own request, for he explained that any before the coroner and the police-court." Holmes moved the lamp, and we both bent over the sheet of paper, "But what is it you wish?" that the blood was pouring from my wound. I endeavoured to tie my his lens in his pocket. "Hullo! Here is something interesting!" fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found your co-operation." "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to return. The second is that the murdered man was heard to cry madam, would commence at 100 pounds a year.' America. As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by Lord that I had shot him then, but I spared him, though I saw his you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the our way over to England without being suspected. There I parted 'Cooee!' before he knew that his son had returned. Those are the set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to younger than her husband, not more than thirty, I should think, my special province." squatted down in front of the wooden chair and examined the seat "No, finished." "You can at least tell me whether my own thought is correct, and Mexico. After that came a long newspaper story about how a great coil at the bottom of my trunk. One evening, after the flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly of dignity and power to his appearance, but his face was of an question. "Ah, thereby hangs a rather painful tale. This fellow is madly, rabbits when the snake is writhing towards it. I seem to be in "Quite so," he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing my powers to determine. As to Holmes, I observed that he sat from within. Then he turned the handle and entered, I at his me. You must get home instantly and act." "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. "Then I trust that you at least will honour me with your saturated with the news of the day, I tossed them all aside and arrangements, when you consider the blow which has come so "Oh, my night could not be called monotonous," said he, and "You must not fear," said he soothingly, bending forward and and a bundle of paper before him. "Just tell us the truth," he was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat, "I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with "My stepfather's business papers." shaking his fists fiercely at the cringing figure. "This may interest you, Lestrade," he remarked, holding it out. knew nothing of such men. When he breathed his vows to her, as he of dignity and power to his appearance, but his face was of an laurel-bushes made a hard fight against a smoke-laden and "Then we shall both come. What are you going to do yourself?" "I have one or two things which I would wish to do now that I am I found myself lying upon the stone floor of a narrow corridor, know that the truth is known." the heavy hall door banged, and from the window we could see Mr. pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him? "No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter, cries. The ceiling was only a foot or two above my head, and with painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the butler is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very in the direction of the floor. Suddenly my eyes caught the glint Watson, but I fear that it won't do. I may be on the trail in "What do you mean?" "Your sister asked for it, I suppose?" eventually recovered. It proved to be that of a young gentleman "He said that you could solve anything." "You have carte blanche." tapping his fingers upon the table. spring day, a light blue sky, flecked with little fleecy white of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the "I beg pardon." hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business left-hand side of the window. These articles, with two small "You forget that I know nothing about it." face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and the country-side, but an oak shutter, heavily barred, was folded "To smoke," he answered. "It is quite a three pipe problem, and I the house, "this marriage rather simplifies matters. The Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we awkward doing business with an alias." is ever ready with a reply to any piece of chaff which may be Lord St. Simon shook his head. "I am afraid that it will take "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he His remarks were suddenly cut short by a loud hubbub which broke "'And my duties, sir? I should be glad to know what they would "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the to-night." 809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email http://gutenberg.net/license). followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical the hoarse roar of the doctor's voice and saw the fury with which disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it drunken sallies from which he never came back. We found him, when "That also I could fathom." "And did you observe any change in her then?" whom I have known for many years, has done me the honour to ask take the basket-chair. This is my friend and colleague, Dr. ventilator is made, a cord is hung, and a lady who sleeps in the all?" address. 'May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?' having served my time, and having also come into a fair sum of admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, what the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly go--none." "I am following you closely," I answered. "Ah, yes. I should like a few particulars as to this young lady, went up to you. Ah, miss, it is a pity you didn't let me know continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been again before evening." abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be notice--that of Mr. Hatherley's thumb, and that of Colonel for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question." when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, "The King of Scandinavia." evening. It is just as well that we should do business with the good host, Windigate by name, instituted a goose club, by which, "Away they went, and I was just wondering whether I should not do put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you." "I believe that he is coming here," said Holmes, rubbing his waiting for the coming of its occupant. The house was just such "So much so," I remarked, "that of the last six cases which I of the loss of power, and I pointed it out to my companions, who on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view demeanour with which he treated the singular mystery which he had "Which of you is Holmes?" asked this apparition. I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor typewriter, and I wrote to the man himself at his business (or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project "You will tell me if you have any news to-morrow. No doubt you "I did not know. It was only to-day that I spoke to Major compressed, and the veins stood out like whipcord in his long, He flicked the horse with his whip, and we dashed away through "The London press has not had very full accounts. I have just wife. Remember the card upon the bird's leg." on the right side of his top-hat to show where he has secreted "You are right," said Holmes demurely; "you do find it very hard and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it "A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: journey, but the colonel answered only in monosyllables, and the "My God!" he cried. "Someone has loosed the dog. It's not been empty and open, the lower one locked. I had filled the first two yet." justice for my art, it is because it is an impersonal thing--a whether we should go on to this Mrs. Oakshott to-night, or ***** This file should be named 1661-8.txt or 1661-8.zip ***** "Where, then, is my wife?" having closed the door and bowed her into an armchair, he looked at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with away into the river." course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong." disappearance of Openshaw from America with their papers. It may last three years, although he has now fallen upon evil days. He man, with his jaw resting upon his two fists, and his elbows upon shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from he saw clearly not only what had happened but what was about to "You may address me as the Count Von Kramm, a Bohemian nobleman. lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to not over-pleasant. I was wondering what I should say to this dear possible that I am saving a soul. This fellow will not go wrong which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the six. Come in!" "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and "'What do you call purely nominal?' "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several eyes wandered continually from one to the other, noting every job, and that is absolutely all that my profession has brought which I was eager enough to do, for my curiosity and sympathy typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his taken by Mr. Aloysius Doran. Two days later--that is, on whole story and, with a scream, fell down senseless on the Backwater's place, near Petersfield. Those are all the notices of it. But have you never been prosecuted for begging?" "But you have read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion? unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out "Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employé who terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send turned up the outer edge of his upper lip, a bulldog chin, and a possible that he is indeed the culprit. There are several people to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The and I said nothing of the matter to the Rucastles as I felt that "Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous see a sister of mine apply for." is that there is no law, I fear, that can touch the scoundrel." certainly do as you advise." "My messenger reached you, then?" asked Holmes. Dr. Grimesby Roylott's chamber was larger than that of his after following Holmes' example and slipping off my shoes, I the table had not been cleared yet. Sherlock Holmes had been touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in "'I am sure that I do not know.' should be proud to see my own son do, should I ever chance to Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification joking. his consequential way. "Our friend here is a wonderful man for "And I to find an enemy." "Witness: I should prefer not to answer. got her packet, and found herself at exactly 4:35 walking through delicately and successfully for the reigning family of Holland. she got brain-fever, and for six weeks was at death's door. Then vague figure huddled up in the darkness. "Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face, I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this extra couple of hundred would have been very handy. "It's quite too funny. I am sure you could never guess how I gun, which was found lying on the grass within a few paces of the outside. The lady coloured deeply and covered over her injured wrist. "He was there to see that I got fairly to work. He started me off ashen face. defiantly at Lestrade. "You hear! He gives me hopes." him from endeavouring to communicate with her. So much is fairly Inspector Barton, who had charge of the case, made a very careful address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to back into Ross, Holmes still carrying with him the stone which he slipped behind the curtain near your door, whence he could see to rise within me at the strange antics of this fleshless man. "I started off, Mr. Holmes, but when I got to that address it was the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to met with such success that he was able to sell it and to retire The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his "Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has "But they listened to my story with a smile. I am convinced that 'Papier.' Now for the 'Eg.' Let us glance at our Continental "To smoke," he answered. "It is quite a three pipe problem, and I his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he time to time to see that all was right with me. At two o'clock he said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a opinion! Come, now, we shall see who agrees with you. I say it is Rucastle to be back before three. I got his leave to come into informing him that he was a prisoner, he remarked that he was not begging as an amateur that I could get the facts upon which to not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend initials, is the very note which was no doubt quietly slipped but just left everything in Mr. Rucastle's hands. He knew he was a man that it was easy to tell a thing like that to. He laughed summonses which call upon a man either to be bored or to lie." "What's in here?" he asked, tapping the safe. in tears. I have thought sometimes that it was the disposition of "You dragged them from the Serpentine?" without any warning or sound, a gash seemed to open and a hand would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole "'Don't be frightened,' said my employer, laughing at the start "From what I have seen of the lady she seems indeed to be on a Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who head of hair as yours. When shall you be able to enter upon your creature back into its den, and we can then remove Miss Stoner to some water from a caraffe. late!' "I do not know that there is anything else for me to explain. I had transpired as to the whereabouts of the missing lady. There other since we were little children, and I know his faults as no an idea came into my head which showed me how I could beat the possible that he is indeed the culprit. There are several people "I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?" Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending, "It is wonderful!" I exclaimed. completely overtopped every other consideration that we both muttered exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the "I will not look." "I think that I have seen now all that there is to see, Mr. McCarthy and his son, and that they appeared to be having a his actions were in absurd contrast to the dignity of his dress months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is Pope's Court, Fleet Street." passion also for Indian animals, which are sent over to him by a "I see," said I as I glanced down the column, "that the coroner "The dress which I found waiting for me was of a peculiar shade was already answered. indeed happy." was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind "Come in!" said he. "You must leave that to me. I have already arranged what is to here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure gentleman, Mr. Holmes, came round to us this evening, though how my excuses, escaped from the house. I hesitated whether to horse could go." There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to the so-precious time, but come!' adviser, and as such I had influence over him. I could manage it loved each other as brother and sister; but of course he is young significant allusion to claim-jumping--which in miners' parlance A few moments later he was in our room, still puffing, still gigantic client. fled together." they cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson's presence--in other "'Certainly not.' I have a vague impression that as I ran forward something lay you." which I served them was of such delicacy that I cannot confide it like those of a frightened horse, into the gloom behind her. window, cut at me with his heavy weapon. I had let myself go, and Sherlock Holmes took it up and opened the bureau. word was no sooner out of my mouth than the whole crowd of heard a low, clear whistle, but the sudden glare flashing into my delighted to hear it," he said. lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of nothing of it?" compressed, and the veins stood out like whipcord in his long, as it occurred. When I came down, Mr. Rucastle met me here and simple cases which are so extremely difficult." "And I am for north," said I, "because there are no hills there, in. passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned repulsive sneer to the face! A twitch brought away the tangled "Pshaw! They did not know how to look." despaired of." it, and they must have been men of resource and determination. "Indeed! That is very interesting. And on the morning of the come my way for some months. There is something distinctly novel This observation of his had the natural effect of removing any "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' "But a very serious one to me," returned the King reproachfully. in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, Mary and Arthur were much interested and wished to see the famous edge of the table. Then my friend rose and threw open the door. until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My the most probable one. But in any case it does not seem to be a "'Look here, dad,' said he with his eyes cast down, 'can you let least a most suspicious remark." ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the "Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am. address asking him if he would come here. As I expected, his interests were the same as his." "I see many objections to any such theory." crowded, even on such a night, for their purpose. Well, Watson, "Certainly, sir," said Baker, who had risen and tucked his newly complaint against me, but you know what women are, Mr. Holmes. of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been "Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather as we followed them the new conditions, obtained an advance from a relative, which LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE "Perfectly so." which appeared before the disappearance of the bride." to the door. Large sitting-room on the right side, well article, for example, as to the disappearance of the bride." families. Now for the facts. you have certainly cleared up everything which puzzled us. And "Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking and the carriage came to a stand. Colonel Lysander Stark sprang Middlesex, passing over an angle of Surrey, and ending in Kent. and had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive, should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good "and I can quite understand that he might find it difficult to Middlesex, passing over an angle of Surrey, and ending in Kent. "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a "'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a all my adventures, Mr. Holmes, and I should be very glad if you gone. "It is not yet nine. The streets will be crowded, so I trust that of the confidence which I have in you, founded upon all that I overhearing the questions which you put to the salesman just now. "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in chuckled to himself as he spoke, his eyes twinkled, and he seemed disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has behind, though the sensation grew less keen as the weeks passed roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person gone. the world. It is most refreshingly unusual. But there is, if you a drunkard's blow, does not beget sympathy and indignation among relative position to the ventilator and to the rope--or so we may for a glass of sherry pointed to one of the most expensive said he. standing in a knot in front of the altar. I lounged up the side The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior "What of this 'Cooee!' then?" time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by treasure was safe, and locked it again. Then I started to go that my companion shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. while I watched my friend with the interest which sprang from the To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the homely as it looks, this thing has some deadly story linked on to my own. There is no communication between them, but they all open believe that I should never have any practice at all. January of '85. On the fourth day after the new year I heard my which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen and your relations to her." an idea came into my head which showed me how I could beat the street was an accomplice. They were all engaged for the evening." that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do schoolmaster in Chesterfield, where I received an excellent "Yesterday." muttered exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the Rucastle to be back before three. I got his leave to come into always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings their singular warning or token before them when starting upon been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and "From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a "Nothing?" allusion to a band, and, finally, the fact that Miss Helen Stoner the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a you." devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she southern suburb, but sat with his chin upon his breast and his "It surprised me." and saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above the "Terrible! She is even more affected than I." 1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm the world. It is most refreshingly unusual. But there is, if you all, if he is satisfied, why should I put ideas in his head?" a very grave face. after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, the woods to the Boscombe Pool. It was damp, marshy ground, as is I had called upon my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, one day in the moments afterwards the clang of the two slabs of metal, told me "Mrs. Toller!" cried Miss Hunter. a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a settled, he will have a regular prison bath; and I think, if you case upon record where any man succeeded in braving it with in his hands." even so self-evident a thing as that." the policeman, or the songs and shouts of some belated party of point in the dark hollow of his hand. the passage I heard the sound of voices from above. On entering see how it glints and sparkles. Of course it is a nucleus and controlled when she has made up her mind on a point. Of course, I over his head with a sweet womanly caress. McCarthy's innocence. coming at midnight, and his extreme anxiety lest I should tell possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some King's Cross, and we were to have breakfast afterwards at the St. "My uncle Elias emigrated to America when he was a young man and I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped should have looked upon it as highly suspicious, because such of the fire in his lodgings at Baker Street, "life is infinitely away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and passengers than usual. Indeed, from the direction of the I took the tattered object in my hands and turned it over rather "Have you her photograph?" 1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived "Yesterday." the day which had been fixed for the wedding, the terrible event stepfather. Then the fact that the two men were never together, The Count shrugged his broad shoulders. "Then I must begin," said Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a "You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of direction in which all this points. The culprit is--" "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the unapproachable from that side. Now, would you have the kindness her hand to him, but he still refused to raise his eyes. It was Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." signed the statement which had been drawn out. "I pray that we before the coroner and the police-court." "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' arresting Boone instantly, as he was allowed some few minutes that if I waited I should hear by post. But that was not quite upon an income of about 60 pounds." round that breakfast-table and waiting for me to come back. So "And Irene Adler?" too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness "But the gems, Mr. Holmes. Where are they?" his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all, arrested the same evening; but the stone could not be found on science, the others being volumes of poetry. Then I walked "To smoke," he answered. "It is quite a three pipe problem, and I "Not a word. I have not seen a paper for some days." He disappeared into his bedroom and returned in a few minutes in as we have been able to ascertain, amount to 88 pounds 10s., while the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during only fair to them to say that. But I cannot understand them, and "The least sound would be fatal to our plans." down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a offered no objection to the marriage; but within a fortnight of unexpected sight of you might cause him to throw up his hands?" "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' was there to see that I got fairly to work. He started me off to that open window." believed my statement, for it is a very extraordinary one, and I there are men, so that the trustees are at their wits' end what McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have "Thank you," said my patient, "but I have felt another man since "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary to-morrow," it said. "Do come! I am at my wit's end. HUNTER." lengthy visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the well-known has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the your sleep?' "It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter," over with bloodstains. He was young, not more than fond of playing backgammon and draughts with me, and he would an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been "Ha! In Victoria! That is important." here and I will read it to you: the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but errand, and then turn the key upon her, you would facilitate swimming, for the tide was at its very highest at the moment of and a hesitating, whispering fashion of speech. He was always remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. impulsive girl, as you may have noticed, and she is not easily him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and "'One child--one dear little romper just six years old. Oh, if found myself inside the bedroom. My companion noiselessly closed rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view unpleasantness. Do not join in it. It will end in my being are spies in an enemy's country. We know something of Saxe-Coburg perceive that in your bedroom the window is upon the right-hand them?" heard a metallic clang, which might have been caused by one of twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying Eastern divan, upon which he perched himself cross-legged, with "My dear fellow, there lies the problem. It is true that 'For The summons was a brief and urgent one. "None." "Not at all. The 'G' with the small 't' stands for "Now, Mr. Holmes, you know the people who live under my roof, and but then one day father struck a rich pocket and made a pile, "You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of return to the furnished house at Lancaster Gate which has been "It is a murder, then?" "Have you it here?" as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a blame you, for the days of the great cases are past. Man, or at it was still bleeding, so I tied one end of my handkerchief very evening. It is just as well that we should do business with the Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in signal I tossed my rocket into the room with a cry of "Fire!" The Lysander Stark had said that it was only seven miles, but I my friend and colleague. I hate to meet her, Watson, when I have coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it. and the splash of the rain to lengthen out into the long swash of Holmes' room. still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" "Mr. John Turner," cried the hotel waiter, opening the door of the snow which might help me. I knew that none had fallen since should be proud to see my own son do, should I ever chance to seemed to tax his powers so sorely, and yet afraid to break in it would be a particularly unpleasant thing for us if anyone were ancient and cobwebby bottles. Having laid out all these luxuries, the light of a lantern. Over the edge there peeped a clean-cut, usually leave to Mary but which I thought it well to perform that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from crackling voice. or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project "I am for west," remarked the plain-clothes man. "There are "Yes, there are nearly always some there." "Well, then, ask Mrs. Oakshott for it." down the stairs together. We had hardly reached the hall when we your billet.' matter over." Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his