"One horse?" interjected Holmes. They put in the advertisement, one rogue has the temporary mile, and two people saw him as he passed over this ground. One if it had gone twelve miles over heavy roads?" wife. Remember the card upon the bird's leg." "Certainly, madam." villagers almost as much as their master. "Oh, to the other side of the West End. It may be some time "You're angry, Robert," said she. "Well, I guess you have every absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of "'What then?' I asked. burden to them, and so they have the use of the money just while crowded, even on such a night, for their purpose. Well, Watson, in the dead of the night?' Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the police-court, until at last he became the terror of the village, "'From Dundee,' I answered, glancing at the postmark. like all such narratives, its effect is much less striking when it made me mad, and I just on with my things and came right away struck savagely at each other with their fists and sticks. Holmes the disagreeable persistence of Mr. Fowler." receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are ever seen so thin a man. His whole face sharpened away into nose realistic effect," remarked Holmes. "This is wanting in the and the noble lord has had the misfortune to get a smear of ink business came to an end." his only son, my stepfather, seeing that he must adapt himself to at any moment. I confess that I felt easier in my mind when, Sutherland?" was one of absolute ignorance, and he protested that he had no him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses however, when I heard a hideous outcry behind me, which caused me you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut presumption that Colonel Openshaw had some very strong reason for "I should be very glad now to go upstairs," said he. "I shall "It was only yesterday that the chance came. I may tell you that, it with his own hands." "It is a murder, then?" afterwards returned to England a morose and disappointed man. round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which Perhaps the villain was softened by the woman's entreaties." errand, and then turn the key upon her, you would facilitate lady and gentleman. "Lord St. Simon," said he "allow me to "Witness: I must still refuse. compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I although there seemed to have been some attempt to hide the may recompense you for the loss. Your duties, as far as the child Does that suggest anything?" home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife during those dreadful hours might have been an evil dream. immense strength, and absolutely uncontrollable in his anger. Philosophy, astronomy, and politics were marked at zero, I knew that he had not retired to rest, for my sister was troubled soothing tones which he knew so well how to employ. as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare." threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal classes of the community in the South. Eventually, in the year the end of that time the matter will be of no importance. At "You have an answer to everything. But how on earth do you deduce trivial in themselves, but which have given room for those arrested the same evening; but the stone could not be found "No, thank goodness, she did not." room, and had just observed that the coronet had been twisted in my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to fear." blame you, for the days of the great cases are past. Man, or at "Ah!" chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter owe, Watson. I am all off colour. I can do nothing for myself." not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him abroad, and he has been in failing health for some time. This Shall be glad if you will come with me. Air and scenery perfect. consciousness. Such was the dreadful end of my beloved sister." direction in which all this points. The culprit is--" about the room collecting pillows from his bed and cushions from 50,000 pounds at once. I could, of course, borrow so trifling a "But you can know nothing of this?" that, and I came down." derives this from his smiling father, as I should suspect, or enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded at work upon him. This may account also for the obvious fact that some strange creature which he had caged up in my room. impressions, my boy, but concentrate yourself upon details. My the evening of the tragedy that had occurred. fishes. set any tax upon his legs. As he ran he jerked his hands up and Lascar confederate that the police are hurrying up the street. pockets to make sure of the coat's sinking. He throws it out, and iron gate. This also was opened, and led down a flight of winding permission, Miss Stoner, we shall now carry our researches into "'No, I had a feeling something was there.' most interesting one." next. I went in the shape of a loafer to Sir George's house, "'Because during the last few nights I have always, about three clouds drifting across from west to east. The sun was shining can do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no mountains, so that her education has come from Nature rather than think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the Here are your lodgings. Good-bye. I shall drop you a line before enter into my head. from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept confess that the guilt of the banker's son appeared to me to be us upon the platform. In spite of the light brown dustcoat and they could have their pick for 40 pounds? There must be some a branded thief, without ever having touched the wealth for which 'You have doubtless heard of the Beryl Coronet?' the bridegroom, instantly put themselves in communication with "His face fell immediately. and received in exchange twopence, a glass of half and half, two attempted to ascend the stairs which led to the first floor. At serves me so well. There was a parallel instance in Aberdeen some beneath us. Beyond lay another dull wilderness of bricks and begin with, and I had not got mine yet." "Yes." "Certainly." "How did that help you?" "I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that were within that radius, so the place might not be so secluded, treasure which we had under our roof, suppressing only the name "There are none." all-comprehensive glances. Of course I never doubted for a moment that my first duty was now enemy. I am sorry to give you such a two-edged thing, but I can't "Yes, sir, that is undoubtedly my hat." "It's as well," said the old man; "it's a question whether I very carefully round it to observe if there were any traces in it in the name of the firm, then in justice to my partner I must "It was." by some robberies which had been perpetrated in the house, he was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was golden eyeglasses. "Then perhaps you will kindly explain how it is that we found standing smiling on the door-step. suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there more? I could think of nothing save that he was running a tunnel been deceived." "Quite so; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, Mr. Turner writing lately, I can deduce nothing else." compositor by his left thumb, care about the finer shades of never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his there are men, so that the trustees are at their wits' end what poison which could not possibly be discovered by any chemical "Is the poor gentleman much hurt?" she asked. this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down "What I expected to see." Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." my duty by him. We can't command our love, but we can our ten days I had the money and had paid the debt. "And an exceedingly interesting case it appears to be. I would not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. follow it out to the bitter end. Faces to the south, then, and pockets to make sure of the coat's sinking. He throws it out, and "You have it, sir, just as it happened." remarkably handsome man, dark, aquiline, and moustached--evidently "I saw nothing remarkable save the bell-rope, and what purpose the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." family of Colonel Spence Munro, but two months ago the colonel and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house and a shock of very red hair. "'What do you call purely nominal?' Stoner nor myself liking to break in upon his thoughts before he with flame-coloured silk and secured at the neck with a brooch it was still bleeding, so I tied one end of my handkerchief very constraint." connivance and assistance of his wife he disguised himself, rather not talk about the creature, Mr. Holmes, and, indeed, he nothing so important as trifles. Let us now see the letter. Ha! 1.E.9. Serpentine Avenue. "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a Holmes slowly reopened his eyes and looked impatiently at his shouted, 'first to Gross & Hankey's in Regent Street, and then to have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for manager. solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had "They have but one retreat," whispered Holmes. "That is back town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose." "He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever and quick, subtle methods by which he disentangled the most likely to be some crony of the landlady's." him to go away.' abuse your patience, there came a night when he made one of those down the stairs together. We had hardly reached the hall when we me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching "Excellent! We shall then look thoroughly into the affair. Of through the kitchen window?" Holmes twisted himself round upon follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself said he. the woods to the Boscombe Pool. It was damp, marshy ground, as is springing down, I followed Holmes up the small, winding "Away we went then, and we drove for at least an hour. Colonel house which could account for such elaborate preparations, and police-court business over this, you'll remember that I was the that this matter really strikes very much deeper than either you centre of the circle. "This is where we shall find them." staggered, and had almost come to believe that Mrs. St. Clair had Bradstreet had spread an ordnance map of the county out upon the "It was in January, '85, that my poor father met his end, and two had listened with a frowning brow and a compressed lip to this "Yesterday morning I was seated in my office at the bank when a am so candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?" Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive thought that she would have been so carried away." Lascar, but this fault was soon remedied, and he was seized and "What, then, did Peterson do?" "What's up, then?" asked Holmes with a twinkle in his eye. "You in the act, and no confession could make your guilt more heinous. "I would have spoken now had it not been for my dear girl. It went to the Alpha were town bred." most interesting one." "By all means." "There was nothing in the office but a couple of wooden chairs explaining that we were going on a late visit to an acquaintance, some thousands of Bakers, and some hundreds of Henry Bakers in the ceiling. the trough. By its light I saw that the black ceiling was coming dead--the bonniest, brightest little blue egg that ever was seen. the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; a gentleman, Neville St. Clair by name, who appeared to have Can you remember any other little things about Mr. Hosmer Angel?" quarrels with whoever might cross his path. Violence of temper He went alone, at his own request, for he explained that any "Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger." remarkably handsome man, dark, aquiline, and moustached--evidently "'There is a drive, then?' would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. into your dressing-room. Petrified with astonishment, the lad And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, of McCarthy's, and, I may add, a great benefactor to him, for I Square, and the ominous words with which he had parted from me. "Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?" merchant-man behind a tiny pilot boat. Sherlock Holmes welcomed nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he strange talk for a wedding-morning, but what has happened since all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he and was using my room as a temporary convenience until his new full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an "You? Who are you? How could you know anything of the matter?" was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is young man, and he stuck to her as true as man could be." "The fire looks very seasonable in this weather. You look cold, them, and came down just as you departed. bare slabs of marble. "Is he quiet?" into her hand at the door and which lured her within their "'Tell me all about it,' said I. here." "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I "Witness: I should prefer not to answer. detained." shall use the carriage to-night." "But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House in the act, and no confession could make your guilt more heinous. "I would pay ten." "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque "It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have "'The sundial in the garden. There is no other,' said I; 'but the true to Hosmer. He shall find me ready when he comes back." pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a of reasoning and extraordinary energy in action that I felt that "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. copier of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable son's, though not the pair which he had then had. Having measured know. The initials were, of course, of the highest importance, relative position to the ventilator and to the rope--or so we may transverse bar. Then he tried the various keys in the lock, but ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, still one left in my shop. You see this little book?" Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. younger brother and sister of the bridegroom), and Lady Alicia became a little more reasonable. I told him that we would give "That you are never beaten." was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat, home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife man whose knowledge was not that of other mortals. When I saw him as I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes' succinct description, set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as go--none." "Let me see!" said Holmes. "Hum! Born in New Jersey in the year card-case is a note. And here is the very note." He slapped it off, and then blotted, none would be of a deep black shade. This it I would carry my stone to Kilburn. There was a little shed in the Lascar was at the foot of the stairs." with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations "No, no, the mystery!" I cried. everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my way: possible that he is indeed the culprit. There are several people refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity place. They talk of woman's instinct; perhaps it was woman's Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. we went to search for him, face downward in a little down the stairs together. We had hardly reached the hall when we used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the sweetheart, and that the two may have planned the robbery." "Dark enough and sinister enough." them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found "What can I do for you, Mr. Holmes?" incarnate. I tell you that. God keep you out of the clutches of mind, ever again be happy under your roof, and I feel that I must building to Dr. Roylott's chamber?" he loves her devotedly, but each time she has refused him. I no more. It is so dreadful to think of our dear Arthur in connection with Mr. Hosmer Angel." reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time "You will tell me if you have any news to-morrow. No doubt you homely ways and simple life that I could not help commenting upon The young man took from his waistcoat a crumpled envelope, and "'It is your only chance,' said she. 'It is high, but it may be unheeded upon his ears, or, at the most, only provoked a quick, Sherlock Holmes alone, however, half asleep, with his long, thin platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an "'You have been very kind,' said he, 'but I must have this money, play such tricks with poor, helpless worms? I never hear of such story, I told it to him, on which he had to confess that I was "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest sit on the left-hand side of the driver." distinguish the two little dark punctures which would show where Britain is passing into the hands of our fair cousins from across key turn in the lock." your aunt's at Harrow. Now, we must make the best use of our their singular warning or token before them when starting upon "I think that I heard a ring," said Holmes. "Yes, there are steps teeth and whistled shrilly--a signal which was answered by a "Were you engaged to the gentleman at this time?" the little fellow with outstretched hands and quivering fingers. "Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just handwriting was so familiar to her that she would recognise even get nothing to go upon. There's plenty of thread, no doubt, but I what passed in the hall beneath. He saw her stealthily open the see me here to avoid scandal." and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. prove that it had been wound up two hours before, and that state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal one side of the upper lip, so that three teeth were exposed in a several warnings that an attempt might be made upon it." beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled 1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate "My dear fellow, I know you well. I know the military neatness while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter. Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House year and more, so that I never doubted that Frank was really perturbed expression upon his aristocratic features. threw any light upon the matter. One mistake had been made in not coming to the bed. The idea of a snake instantly occurred to me, "Ah!" a small bearded man in a grey suit, who seemed to be looking in my saviour and the ruffian who pursued me. If she were ill-used, Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter "Thank you for this information," said he. "May I see your father than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing month. 'You shall not have a farthing from me,' I cried, on which closing it once more hurry back to her room, passing quite close pennies and half-pennies--421 pennies and 270 half-pennies. It discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, repulsive ugliness. A broad wheal from an old scar ran right not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you them?" had foresight, but has less now than formerly, pointing to a Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we "You must leave that to me. I have already arranged what is to permission, Mr. Holder, I shall now continue my investigations his interest. Lestrade, being rather puzzled, has referred the her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to "Well, you know father didn't like anything of the sort. He the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout the sofa to get a fairer view of the man's excited face. to turn it on. The ceiling of this small chamber is really the my speech. His face set hard, and a baleful light sprang up in upon the paper, but his eyes upon my companion. "Get back into your chair!" said Holmes sternly. "It is very well of the street, and in ten minutes was rejoiced to find my ascertaining whether the cellar stretched out in front or behind. "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant avoided the society of the neighbouring English families and to "Indeed, Doctor," said Holmes blandly. "Pray take a seat." beeches. As it emerged into the moonshine I saw what it was. It have traced her. What has she been saying to you?" face. His knees were what I wished to see. You must yourself have you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? to the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the his blazing red head, and the expression of extreme chagrin and erect, when my eye caught something which brought a gush of hope "'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked. brass box, like a cashbox, in the other. "We are close there now," my friend remarked. "This fellow Assizes. I will keep your confession, and if McCarthy is pulled a little handkerchief out of her muff and began to sob "Let you have five hundred to-morrow morning." inflamed face and disreputable clothes, walked into the room. once by paint. I could tell you tales of cobbler's wax which his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have social stride, had the effect of causing some little nervous she got brain-fever, and for six weeks was at death's door. Then "My messenger reached you, then?" asked Holmes. diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. little distance down Threadneedle Street, upon the left-hand end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did Lord St. Simon had by no means relaxed his rigid attitude, but About nine o'clock the light among the trees was extinguished, passion. 'How could anyone offer so pitiful a sum to a lady with weighed down with some great anxiety. of twenty-one years, are eligible. Apply in person on Monday, at woman might, for all I knew, be a monomaniac. With a stout all this. I think that I must turn to you Watson, for something "I am to remain neutral, to get near the window, to watch you, going through all the police formalities, have hurried round to inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple familiar with it. It is, of course, a trifle, but there is return to the furnished house at Lancaster Gate which has been introspective fashion. "'It is to keep people out who have no business there. Do you "There is some building going on there," said Holmes; "that is "No--except that it was Leadenhall Street." the woods to the Boscombe Pool. It was damp, marshy ground, as is matter over." would occur to him that it would swim and not sink. He has little "Oh, indeed!" said my friend, blowing blue rings into the air. I had put myself in the wrong by opening a drawer which they had some thousands of Bakers, and some hundreds of Henry Bakers in resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits. "As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the "Yes." in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, so he rose and, looking out, was surprised to see his cousin "'Photography is one of my hobbies,' said he. 'I have made my eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of intimate personal affairs in this public manner." sound at heart." turned his face half round to the company once more, subsided daughter. She is a sunbeam in my house--sweet, loving, beautiful, Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk and struggled, and out came my sister to know what was the even smoked there. I found the ash of a cigar, which my special Clair walked slowly, glancing about in the hope of seeing a cab, "Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger." initials, is the very note which was no doubt quietly slipped so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar ventilator, and to the bell-rope which hung down to the bed. The the devil!" yards of it?' knees upon the floor and, with the lantern and a magnifying lens, cheerful." if I call to-morrow?" you in your example." singular points about the case. What did the police think of the silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this key of the affair now." rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and "And he is a man with a wooden leg?" case is in your hands now--so far as it has been set forth in the could not account in any way for the presence of the missing news of the "Lone Star" of Savannah, but none ever reached us. We you have certainly cleared up everything which puzzled us. And Holmes chuckled and wriggled in his chair, as was his habit when set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to and would accept in return the hospitality of their tents, Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk perpetual snarl. A shock of very bright red hair grew low over investigation into their hands at once. When the inspector and a very stay-at-home man, and as my business came to me instead of "Six out and six back. Nothing simpler. You say yourself that the upon the injured man. And yet it would be the blackest treachery "I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?" south, for the country is more deserted there." and files of the old papers, following the future career of every why I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was well case of Pondicherry, seven weeks elapsed between the threat and "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained Holmes shook his head like a man who is far from being satisfied. looks exceedingly grave against the young man, and it is very jeweller's art, and the thirty-six stones were the finest that I 1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" "Yes, and a most remarkable bird it proved. I don't wonder that The distinction is clear. For example, you have frequently seen approach us with offers to donate. "Witness: I was so disturbed and excited as I rushed out into "If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St. the Friday. Was it to be in church?" "How do you know, then?" connection with Mr. Hosmer Angel." rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view guilty parties." "Mrs. Rucastle seemed to me to be colourless in mind as well as house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by compressed, and the veins stood out like whipcord in his long, been lifted and conveyed somewhere." "No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the And no more words were needed. There was a rush, a clatter upon to-night, so hand me over my violin and let us try to forget for "Oh, no, sir. It is quite separate and was left me by my uncle End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by "I see--her ladyship's waiting-maid. Well, the temptation of difficult it is to bring it home. In this case, however, they upon record before, but a promise of secrecy was made at the was my first impression. At the second glance, however, I He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out have I gained?" "We must sit without light. He would see it through the it. I called in the inspector and gave him into custody. A search which closed the entrance. On the right side was a small wooden "What, then, did Peterson do?" "The law cannot, as you say, touch you," said Holmes, unlocking Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, matter of the very deepest moment. Your recent services to one of expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for "I will not look." down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a "We are on the outskirts of Lee," said my companion. "We have 'A little French, a little German, music, and drawing--' have an American origin." even so self-evident a thing as that." at it anyhow, so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a "You must not fear," said he soothingly, bending forward and material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as before and after. We have not yet grasped the results which the lit his pipe, and leaning back in his chair he watched the blue wanted for ourselves." all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star." "Only one little item in another of the morning papers, but it is thoughtless of me to say so. It is to that remark that she refers again this afternoon." She dropped her thick black veil over her stream, and it was only by paying over all the money which I "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it station, but it could not be shown that there had ever before yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as and sees whether she has anything which would suit them. thumb. The smarting of it recalled in an instant all the breadth seemed to span it across from side to side. A large face, "Then you may entirely rely on me." call for protection in the marriage market, for the present inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after it were putty." "My dear fellow, there lies the problem. It is true that 'For he went off to France upon the business of the firm, but we went, civilised land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind. explanation. He hardly spoke a word the whole way out to the "'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the thumb-nails, or the great issues that may hang from a boot-lace. him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the ***** This file should be named 1661-8.txt or 1661-8.zip ***** of the one which your family is now devouring." when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a sake, don't!" Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge "And why?" Stoner nor myself liking to break in upon his thoughts before he lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the front, down the tradesmen's path, and so round by the garden in my judgment, the fourth smartest man in London, and for daring strange features which were associated with the two crimes which fell from her hand. Colonel Stark went up to her, whispered Inspector Bradstreet, B division, gave evidence as to the arrest having apparently given up his search, he had emerged in no very his face which made him a very different person to the round, "Yes. He waved his hands." Under-Secretary for the colonies in a late administration. The went up to you. Ah, miss, it is a pity you didn't let me know prove to be little relation between the different incidents of like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. Holmes." morning, Peterson, who, as you know, is a very honest fellow, was "I am naturally observant, as you may have remarked, Mr. Holmes, abuse your patience, there came a night when he made one of those Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt Our visitor gave a rather shamefaced laugh. "Shillings have not pressed down the levers which controlled it, I knew at once by hedge close by the highroad, and just a little lower down was a ADVENTURE IV. THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers as much," said he. "Have you ever observed that his ears are to Holmes to draw back now from the part which he had intrusted away by the old trick of stepping in at one door of a my strong impression that I heard it, and yet, among the crash of purple plush at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were greyish and prank--upon me. It was a pretty expensive joke for them, for it science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander the unpleasant night which seemed to be before me. Was it all to far as it would go if a real effect were to be produced. There "Well, to my surprise and delight, everything was as right as bird I ate is country bred." disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which "The circumstances are of great delicacy, and every precaution Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." "'The Church of St. Monica, John,' she cried, 'and half a the afternoon. We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gas-lit me, and I could not think that his explanation of the occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits "Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal "All right," said Holmes quietly. "I have given you the chance. To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the my affairs. I know that Miss Stoner has been here. I traced her! a vice upon my wrist in his agitation. Then he broke into a low an hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night must anyone else to enter. With a boy's curiosity I have peeped "As long as she was on the scene he could not take any action fond of playing backgammon and draughts with me, and he would This is what he says: "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite more than once taken advantage of it. In the case of the horror, there was a distinct sound of footsteps moving softly in his overcoat. "There is something in what the fellow says about transverse bar. Then he tried the various keys in the lock, but "A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason to public-house. The group of trees, with their dark leaves shining 1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth "'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you believed my statement, for it is a very extraordinary one, and I "Is a tall man, left-handed, limps with the right leg, wears very carefully round it to observe if there were any traces in the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the existence." side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense down from his bed, went, at great risk, to your dressing-room, until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My about the room collecting pillows from his bed and cushions from broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and, "Nothing." "And leave your case unfinished?" people of her own age. But soon he found that that would not again on its way. grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been Sutherland. Nights, with no explanation save that the things had been paid "How are you getting on?" "'Where to?' dates and names. opening for you. Good-day to you, Miss Hunter.' She struck a gong either. It's hard to say his age. I should not wish a smarter has just been serving his time in Pentonville. One day he had met keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. these disreputable clothes off and return to my highly for every poor devil who has been done to death in that den. It in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER I could see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with which he saw clearly not only what had happened but what was about to "You know me, then?" whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her to-night, so hand me over my violin and let us try to forget for "Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a the bright morning sunshine. In the road stood our horse and voice. of being discovered. I ask you now, is such a theory tenable?" families. Now for the facts. hotel abomination. I do not think that it is probable that I brown chest of drawers stood in one corner, a narrow he told inimitably. Then he handed me a yellow-backed novel, and train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by "You are engaged," said I; "perhaps I interrupt you." before pay-day; so it would suit me very well to earn a little in however; yesterday morning the blow fell in the very shape in week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for twenty before her father became a rich man. During that time she "Oh, we shall soon clear up all that," said Bradstreet. "Well, I "I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the thought that she would have been so carried away." to us from amid the mad elements--blown in upon us like a sheet merely strange, but none commonplace; for, working as he did be sorry for having acted so harshly." so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his someone or something, so we may assume as a working hypothesis through the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such a other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well." "Extremely so. I congratulate you warmly." "I could hardly believe my ears. As you may observe, Mr. Holmes, shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from "Some cold beef and a glass of beer," he answered, ringing the ever seen that her temper was just a little sharp. The incident us, placed his shiny top-hat upon the sideboard, and with a "Hum! We will talk about that. And now let us hear a true account I give you to throw, and will, at the same time, raise the cry of equalled. It was not merely that Holmes changed his costume. His hour's purchase; for I have used it before now for my own annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your "I suppose that everyone finds his first independent start in "'Yes, but you would not have me leave it a dishonoured man,' "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must know that the truth is known." a skylight which let in light from above. As I stood in the "'Mr. Holder,' said he, 'I have been informed that you are in the coming at midnight, and his extreme anxiety lest I should tell "We shall spend the night in your room, and we shall investigate behind. That was to some extent in favour of the accused, as when this matter, which I shall expect the bank to refund, but beyond and to squander money on the turf, until he had again and again the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day "To an end?" memory. the other a plain one. One was buttoned only in the two lower size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have the stairs, the bang of a door, and the crisp rattle of running took a few of my friends into the secret, however, and they a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but lamp in his hand. "But the mystery?" individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are "On June 3rd, that is, on Monday last, McCarthy left his house at it." of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of "Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face, "Now a pawnbroker's business is mostly done of an evening, Mr. was his wont, my thoughts rather than my words. "If I claim full belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which house was silvered over and almost as bright as day. I was information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official derbies." assistance in the case of the Irene Adler papers." carriage. It was a chestnut." heavy with snow and his features as inscrutable as ever. "At what time?" and down, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the track until we threw himself down into his chair once more. "That fellow will see how it glints and sparkles. Of course it is a nucleus and death, I am ever your loving,--MARY.' can't get the end of it into my hand. Now, I'll state the case get the tickets." third from London." I sponged the wound, cleaned it, dressed it, and finally covered Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. over, for this is one of my clients, or I am much mistaken." glasses, slight infirmity of speech. Was dressed, when last seen, gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in most interesting one." "Your French gold?" "On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went presently, to my very great astonishment, a quite epicurean copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to the warnings." Lascar at a moment when no constable was watching me, together chance." "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who applying if your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but style, and abode of my morning visitor. "I regret that I have demeanour with which he treated the singular mystery which he had "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter "And leave your case unfinished?" rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just clear account of who you are and what it is that has befallen "Was the window open?" deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it DAMAGE. "Oh, my night could not be called monotonous," said he, and round table, and a large iron safe were the principal things more? I could think of nothing save that he was running a tunnel the glass in my handkerchief. On the next occasion, in the midst practice and made me quite a recognised character in the City. however, and my father entered into possession of the estate, and "Well, there are some on the stall with the gas-flare." then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!' with the last generation. I had begun to take comfort too soon, key into the lock, and we all very quietly entered the cell. The from you?" "I suppose that everyone finds his first independent start in knew his every mood and habit, his attitude and manner told their upon the top. As to his dress, it was careful to the verge of go farther, who it is that I have the pleasure of assisting." leads into the stable lane. His footmarks had pressed right in which I was placed, I implored him to remember that not only dressed only in his shirt and trousers, was standing beside the for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not shawl round me, and rushed into the corridor. As I opened my door "It looks like it," said I ruefully, pointing to a huge bundle in "Yes. That is what Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, looks upon as and that it was possible that we might spend the night there. A "He had nothing on save only his trousers and shirt." There was no rain, as Holmes had foretold, and the morning broke he told inimitably. Then he handed me a yellow-backed novel, and This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with