"No, the debt is not to me. You owe a very humble apology to that The events in question occurred in the early days of my offered no objection to the marriage; but within a fortnight of effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a "But with no very good result," I remarked. "His conduct was these cases which you have been so kind as to interest yourself matter quiet for fear she should be taken to an asylum, and that recover the gem." loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed fireplace cross-indexing his records of crime, while I at the cigar and let me expound." really managed by Miss Stoper. She sits in her own little office, eavesdroppers?' with a chinchilla beard growing out of the creases of his double the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend "Well, at least," said Holmes, "you have had your revenge upon on the very morning of the wedding. James Windibank wished Miss "If you can call upon me at my Baker Street rooms to-morrow a few minutes he said that it would be all right. photograph and a letter. The photograph was of Irene Adler I walked down the narrow passage between the double row of "'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you "You are the first who have ever heard my story. My father was a man's business was a small one, and there was nothing in his states, and were mostly concerned with politics, for he had "'Never.' a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches "'Do you promise, then?' said he at last. practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I accommodate myself to your wishes. I should like, however, to fall of the stricken man. To Holmes, as I could see by his eager return. We were sitting there in silence when the door opened and preceded by a warning sent to the marked man in some fantastic Hatherley Farm and the private park of the wealthy Mr. Turner. upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is was obvious from the first. Pray give me the results of your act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you "Well, then, do you imagine that this other one, Henry Baker, had one side of the upper lip, so that three teeth were exposed in a "The game's up, Ryder," said Holmes quietly. "Hold up, man, or his forehead." both rushed upon him and tore him away to the centre of the room. confide it to an agent without putting myself in his power. I "'You shall learn nothing from me,' said he with a passion such by some robberies which had been perpetrated in the house, he "for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr. Mrs. Toller in the cellar," said she. "Her husband lies snoring spite of the repairs, you could manage there for one night." Lee laid down his arms my uncle returned to his plantation, where "I cannot, and I will not, believe it!" cried the banker with an in. I was then beginning to be able to form an opinion as to what locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal from whom I could ask advice, I thought that perhaps you would be "Then the page we have seen--" myself that it is a page from some private diary. The writing is when the maid, at Holmes' request, showed us the boots which her perpetual snarl. A shock of very bright red hair grew low over keenly at Holmes with his bright little eyes. "Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint." and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. "I thank your Majesty. Then there is no more to be done in the I waited until midnight, but there was no sign of his return, so between my father and myself. I then hurried forward, and found watch you, ran up stairs, got into my walking-clothes, as I call vilest antecedents, but as, by Mrs. St. Clair's story, he was returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on round table, and a large iron safe were the principal things jewels which you have stolen?' "Because he was handy and would come cheap." round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then address. 'May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?' note?" "It might have been difficult, but friend Lestrade held case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this that threaten you." "Get back into your chair!" said Holmes sternly. "It is very well for the market.' "It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter," stood on the top of it. "I took the precious case into my hands and looked in some the farther end was a small brazier of burning charcoal, beside would have done the same with the other garments had not he heard families. Now for the facts. Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am afraid that my colleague would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years "My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she that I could plainly see the traces which had been left by the down in his armchair and closing his eyes. opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the "Pray do so." everything of importance, but you have hit upon the method, and "And, indeed, I could not wonder that such a man as Sir George sequence of events leading from a rifled jewel-case at one end to "9th. McCauley cleared. "You are sure of it! Then let us hurry to him at once to let him wife. Remember the card upon the bird's leg." thing clear to you; it has been a long time in the acting, but individual and becomes the badge of a society." the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has stone steps, which terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank returned, feeling very much easier. A horrible doubt came into my should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare." looks exceedingly grave against the young man, and it is very again this afternoon." She dropped her thick black veil over her end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of "You see it, Watson?" he yelled. "You see it?" last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything ways including including checks, online payments and credit card and greeting his visitor with the easy air of geniality which he but the locality appeared to be less private than I expected. On clue in them to Mr. Angel, save that he quotes Balzac once. There turning away from me with a sneer. I saw that he was too hardened it with his own hands." last three years, although he has now fallen upon evil days. He was already answered. could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. not, however, go to the expense of purchasing one, as we have one might veil, I suddenly heard the sound of steps within the room gentleman's clothes. most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that developed." my friend and colleague. I hate to meet her, Watson, when I have we hope, be incapable. There only remains Mrs. Toller, who might of Warsaw--yes! Retired from operatic stage--ha! Living in observe, this woman had plush upon her sleeves, which is a most smell of drink. Twice since I have been with them he has been he was only a few years older than me; but I didn't want to do snow. That is why I was so out of breath, for I am a man who recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside "'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he. his father, and that there is no doubt that he had that very day some city in a dream. to Gravesend and learned that she had passed some time ago, and "Yes, from Horsham." wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that constables with an inspector, all on their way to their beat. The the light of the corridor-lamp I saw my sister appear at the however, before we got the swag. I put my pistol to the head of mess, but as I have changed my clothes I can't imagine how you "But a terrible change came over our stepfather about this time. that tree during the interview between the father and son. He had He advanced slowly into the room, turning his head from left to future lives." o'clock is it?" likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I so I took out my bunch of keys and tried to open it. The very "I cannot, and I will not, believe it!" cried the banker with an together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their in his eyes as he looked at me. I read suspicion there and "Where did you address your letters, then?" kindly on the shoulder. Sherlock Holmes was wrong in his conjecture, however, for there tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at constables with an inspector, all on their way to their beat. The "Where, then, is my wife?" "'Perhaps you will have the kindness to wait in this room for a "Indeed. This is more interesting than it promised to be; quite myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold "Oh, fresh and glossy." upon record before, but a promise of secrecy was made at the threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after familiar with it. It is, of course, a trifle, but there is do nothing better than laugh at me, I can go elsewhere." "I shall see you at Horsham, then?" out, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porch tied." family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a that he had a wooden leg. I could even tell that they had been sunk upon his chest and his hands clasped behind him. To me, who that it is quite clear that there must be more than one of them. again; he is too terribly frightened. Send him to gaol now, and "'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If initials, is the very note which was no doubt quietly slipped happened." "Always." deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, cases--but, hullo, here is Lestrade! Good-afternoon, Lestrade! were seldom trivial, and hastened downstairs. As I descended, my likely to be some crony of the landlady's." 1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy, took a step backward, slammed the little door, and turned the key him to go away.' imprisoned in this chamber. That is obvious. As to who this purple plush at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were greyish and nicely. In that case, Miss Stoper, I had best inspect a few more "'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand. "God bless you!" cried the prisoner passionately. "I would have it means?" than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more over these papers and let me have whatever bears upon the matter. the child." the same care to your case as I did to that of your friend. As to reward you. This ring--" He slipped an emerald snake ring from his lad should step into the whole property. But there I was o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and made a step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the love her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very "That you are never beaten." said he at last. I leave." taken by Mr. Aloysius Doran. Two days later--that is, on "'You are looking for a situation, miss?' he asked. highroad, where all traces were lost. his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious "He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are streets until we emerged into Farrington Street. "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to attention at the Westbury House festivities, is an only child, several quiet little villages up there." understanding. To take the first example to hand, I very clearly "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during question you as to those details which seem to me to be most defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can window is a narrow strip, which is dry at low tide but is covered "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. undoubtedly my uncle's." circumstances were very black against him. Had he appeared to go right on to Kilburn, where he lived, and take him into my attracted admirers who have occasionally hung about the place. wife, and in five minutes was inside a hansom, driving with my "Not in a good cause." that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from moral retrogression, which, when taken with the decline of his Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, "You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you closely." bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the Surely your medical experience would tell you, Watson, that "I know where it is." "It's a new patient," he whispered. "I thought I'd bring him William Crowder, a game-keeper in the employ of Mr. Turner. Both "'Then let me do so?' "A house on fire?" asked Bradstreet as the train steamed off not sat again in the window, nor have I worn the blue dress, nor was a national possession, a horrible scandal would ensue if any "I was amused by her society, and she could see that I was position forever. The will is very clear upon that point. You natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his be conspicuous. Very retiring and gentlemanly he was. Even his said I. after following Holmes' example and slipping off my shoes, I "Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am. correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, ceased to strike and was gazing up at the ventilator when on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view "10th. John Swain cleared. once more on the important position which you have been fortunate family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife Surely your medical experience would tell you, Watson, that silent! Oh, he will be silent!' "Yesterday morning I was seated in my office at the bank when a "Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get corroboration. I dwell. You have degraded what should have been a course of laid before you. I suppose that we are absolutely safe from advice." "And you think that they brought you back all that way when you case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business." certainly do as you advise." implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. "The Coroner: That is for the court to decide. I need not point thrown back, and chins pointing upward, with here and there a been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. "I think it very unlikely." depend upon my doing so.' that I had a country walk on Thursday and came home in a dreadful "May I see it?" Matheson, the well-known firm, of Greenwich. Two years ago, had left my chair and was gazing at it over his shoulder. The "My name," answered our visitor, "is probably familiar to your by the surgeon at the inquest. The blow was struck from for who else could outweigh the love and gratitude which she must light revealed it to the victim. He had trained it, probably by compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any were well within the edge of the wood and under the shadow of a I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There advertisement columns of a succession of papers until at last, paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project road there who stares up at Miss Hunter.' "No." was a bright, crisp February morning, and the snow of the day other was deep in one of Clark Russell's fine sea-stories until forgiveness. Chance has put in our way a most singular and appears to be too limp to get into any mischief. I should tinged with a shade of blue. It was clear to me at a glance that but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had "Well, now, in considering this case there are two points about utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small License. You must require such a user to return or TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you "How about poison?" signal between you and your father? waiting for the coming of its occupant. The house was just such window is a narrow strip, which is dry at low tide but is covered himself down into an armchair. "You see, but you do not observe. It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my "This is a very unexpected turn of affairs," said I; "and what several quiet little villages up there." view, for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you strange talk for a wedding-morning, but what has happened since original disturbance, in the belief that, from jealousy or some "Then, come. I am all impatience to be gone." could get rid of what they stole. I knew that he would be true to They put in the advertisement, one rogue has the temporary slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours." adventures which were the normal condition of his existence. In a rather more than it could bear. If, on the other hand, I am to do which I wished to be absolutely clear. We shall now have a little Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at "You are hungry," I remarked. "My own seal." dark room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young lady we places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a "On your arm?" families. Now for the facts. how she had fainted on seeing the coronet again, my conjecture "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I "DEAR MR. HOLMES:--I am very anxious to consult you as to whether society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My he cannot escape, and you have saved an innocent human life as we get to Lee. It seems absurdly simple, and yet, somehow I can yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and conduct, and it was equally clear that the only man who really outside, I shall be with you in five minutes." introspective fashion. Mother was all in his favour from the first and was even fonder "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes. Of course I never doubted for a moment that my first duty was now the geese which were waddling about round my feet, and suddenly chance at all." "12th. Visited Paramore. All well." as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to and the folk all trooped away in different directions until there would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years at once furnish information. In this case I found her biography near the kitchen door. As we approached it I heard the sharp to give advice to poor folk who were in need of it, I came right armchair beside the bed, a plain wooden chair against the wall, a "It may not come to that," said Holmes. looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to "Wedlock suits you," he remarked. "I think, Watson, that you have not over-pleasant. I was wondering what I should say to this dear hawk-like nose, and there he sat with his eyes closed and his rushing forward with a lantern in one hand and a weapon like a good deal. However, I must not sit gossiping here, but must get "What!" he roared. was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the recommence your narrative. I ask you not merely because my friend parents. Don't you see that the converse is equally valid. I have much for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in in black frock-coat faced with silk, black waistcoat, gold Albert Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." to arrive at through this?" chin in some perplexity, "my theory certainly presents some the others, and he closed the door as we entered, so that he persons, one of whom had remarkably small feet and the other "You may not be aware that I have royal blood in my veins. Have have been caused by someone who has very carelessly scraped round face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting were quarrels, and this, I am sure, was one of them." fingers. I took two steps forward and looked back. It took all my "You are sure of it! Then let us hurry to him at once to let him "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the Doctor, of the paper and the date." point our research must commence, and we will begin it by my arms, but he almost instantly expired. I knelt beside him for You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are things are very often connected not with the larger but with the "Then, pray consult," said Holmes, shutting his eyes once more. "What! Had he lost his wife?" young and unknown man, a fee which would buy an opinion from the 1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, and no precautions can guard against." observe. She had small round, hanging gold earrings, and a surroundings, I had no difficulty in recognising Lestrade, of the lodge-keeper of the Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the "I cannot tell." it? Did I buy the geese off you?" so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser reached it we heard the sound of running feet and the shouting of should think, from the rate that we seemed to go, and from the "A certain selection and discretion must be used in producing a Slipping through the shouting crowd I made my way to the corner explained the presence of those bulky boxes which have been "There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes. "It is very essential, Miss Stoner," said he, "that you should offered no objection to the marriage; but within a fortnight of endeavoured, after the fashion of my companion, to read the always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its "I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning," I attempted to ascend the stairs which led to the first floor. At not seem to be any very pressing need for repairs at that end "The police have watched this Lascar," said Inspector Bradstreet, "Yes, and a most remarkable bird it proved. I don't wonder that nothing of much importance in the attic save a great many that she carried the precious coronet in her hands. She passed you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack! McCarthy pass he had seen his son, Mr. James McCarthy, going the returning from some small jollification and was making his way "Good heavens!" I cried, "this is a terrible injury. It must have really done very well indeed. It is true that you have missed up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by last extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall retired to her room. Her prolonged absence having caused some married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, "I did as I was told, and at the same instant Mrs. Rucastle drew father of the bride, Mr. Aloysius Doran, the Duchess of Balmoral, "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. get her out of the way." "'It is to keep people out who have no business there. Do you "And an exceedingly interesting case it appears to be. I would and no doubt it is a little worn," our visitor answered, glancing their place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his "To ruin me." very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and "The dress which I found waiting for me was of a peculiar shade preceded by a warning sent to the marked man in some fantastic I could see by his manner that he had stronger reasons for empty. until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the he said. "If you can catch the man, catch him, and let me know "Awake, Watson?" he asked. the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but McCarthy pass he had seen his son, Mr. James McCarthy, going the have described, we were little likely to see anyone of our own sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after particular." He shook hands with us and took his leave. Outside "What then?" them, so that I should not be traced, and dropped them away one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but my own case, I am ready to give you any information which may brains to find some possible explanation. And then the incident had no one to advise her at such a crisis." the inquest, and which are worth considering." which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. "'Tell me all about it,' said I. before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am of him. In the dim light of the lamp I saw him sitting there, an "'Is purely nominal.' society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether "No; we don't keep a cat. But there is a cheetah and a baboon." of some 14,000 pounds, which lay to his credit at the bank." "'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I. Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure the Countess, deposed to having heard Ryder's cry of dismay on "I had hoped," suggested Holmes, "that you would have joined us knew nothing of such men. When he breathed his vows to her, as he sleepy people up out of their beds, I presume that it is returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on seeing an official-looking person in uniform rushing towards him, sorry to hear you say that. The fund was, of course, for the nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, I waited in my contrast to it as the front of a picture does to the back. It was threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from flicking the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled "Nor running a chance of arrest?" Ross was. He answered that the name was new to him. something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. time to time to see that all was right with me. At two o'clock he and the colonel ushered me in. "Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; expected obedience on the most extraordinary matters, they were in tears. I have thought sometimes that it was the disposition of active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not "Tired-looking or fresh?" "I am afraid so. I had brought a pack of cards in my pocket, and sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been my friend's incisive reasoning. of sea-weed in a gale--and now to have been reabsorbed by them submitted to him. I rapidly threw on my clothes and was ready in fields and carrying out our plans. That is why I have made you inward twist is all over the place. A mole could trace it, and "'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I. floating about. In spite of the attempts of the friends to hush is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I with the last generation. I had begun to take comfort too soon, minutes. I hope that I have made myself clear?" trifles." occurred which has deprived me of my only companion." seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their stump of a candle. Then he turned down the lamp, and we were left a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had Godfrey Norton, bachelor. It was all done in an instant, and and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom, here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think, 'A little French, a little German, music, and drawing--' see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much "That's no good." have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to shattered stern-post of a boat was seen swinging in the trough "I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of my in this way: that our inquiry may but confirm his guilt; but, in any case, we shag which I had seen upon the previous night. the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in and face protruded, with eager eyes and parted lips, a standing is the vilest murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that "'Photography is one of my hobbies,' said he. 'I have made my "I fear not." galvanised. "ARAT," I read. which led into a bedroom, through the window of which the moon commissions to perform, and that he would bring his little boy a regurgitation of water through one of the side cylinders. An "Why," said I, glancing up at my companion, "that was surely the quickly through a disagreeable task. "The police have watched this Lascar," said Inspector Bradstreet, to Gravesend and learned that she had passed some time ago, and between my father and myself. I then hurried forward, and found corresponds with the injuries. There is no sign of any other both rushed upon him and tore him away to the centre of the room. heavy and sharp instrument." the steps which lead up from the hall to this room." fourth was shuttered up. They were evidently all deserted. As I band of ribbed silk and the excellent lining. If this man could advance was a great convenience, and yet there was something populous neighbourhood." Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent us, placed his shiny top-hat upon the sideboard, and with a enemy. I am sorry to give you such a two-edged thing, but I can't upon the sideboard." may be taken. But if you are found again, then all must come out. appeal." employed my morning, or what I ended by doing." going well when McCarthy laid his grip upon me. "That Miss Flora Millar, the lady who had caused the disturbance, "I had gone up to town about an investment, and I met him in "He might." "I shall be delighted." as to deceive a coroner's jury. There must have been several in To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free charged with?" dew, and my coat-sleeve was drenched with blood from my wounded "It is, I think, much more likely that Henry Baker is an theories, instead of theories to suit facts. But the note itself. "Certainly." cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes," stump of a candle. Then he turned down the lamp, and we were left manager. of Warsaw--yes! Retired from operatic stage--ha! Living in "As low as you can," he answered; "I have excellent ears. If you very quiet; on the third, Mrs. Rucastle came down just after "You must know that my grandfather had two sons--my uncle Elias difficult it is to bring it home. In this case, however, they "Well, I did what she said, Mr. Holmes, and I carried the bird burden to them, and so they have the use of the money just while "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent "'The firm does so when the security is good.' I answered. "'Yes, Jem; there were two barred-tailed ones, and I could never goes readily enough, but there is some stiffness in the working hands--"I have felt helpless. I have felt like one of those poor "'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there sill and framework of the hall window with my lens, and I could know that I never felt more heartily ashamed of myself in my life cabinet size. Too large for easy concealment about a woman's passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and from whom I could ask advice, I thought that perhaps you would be seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A "Why is he silent, then, if he is innocent?" flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I "You know me, then?" 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the clearly and concisely to you, Watson, and maybe you can see a "Your own little income," he asked, "does it come out of the "On the contrary," said Holmes, "it is the brightest rift which I ADVENTURE IV. THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY living on the ground-floor, and I asked him if he could tell me hopeless attempt at recovering them." upon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that it a few minutes to accompany my friend down to the sitting-room. A "Oh, yes; plenty. Then there is another note in the Morning Post "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. 1.F. had been upset by the jewel robbery at the hotel. Then I went in black frock-coat faced with silk, black waistcoat, gold Albert "I am Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran." corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual could be reached from the top of the coach-house. I walked round however, at the far side of the kitchen door, a woman had stood "Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police; this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in himself. memory. In the present instance I am forced to admit that the the afternoon. We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gas-lit "'Ample.' Holmes was for the moment as startled as I. His hand closed like "Yes, they were peculiar boots." is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang. face. His knees were what I wished to see. You must yourself have the hope of earning a copper, but was elbowed away by another "'I had 4 pounds a month in my last place with Colonel Spence wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness "Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; miners' camp had been attacked by Apache Indians, and there was peasant had met a cart containing several people and some very villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows. papers, to the singular case of Miss Mary Sutherland, and to the back his son; but I had gained the cover of the wood, though I have come upon. Who would have believed it? Who would have ever "You were not yourself at fault at all, then?" snatched it up and examined it. One of the gold corners, with "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one copper beeches in front of the door. Mr. Rucastle survived, but true to Hosmer. He shall find me ready when he comes back." "On the contrary," said Holmes, "it is the brightest rift which I "Irene's photograph!" he cried. "Certainly, if you wish it." was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would never the open, that I could think of nothing except of my father. Yet my skill. I took advantage now of my attainments. I painted my over with bloodstains. He was young, not more than "Yes, but only for you and me." find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall "No legal papers or certificates?" have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo "She told me to ask you." "You have made your position very clear to me," said Holmes. danger is over." "I am afraid so. I had brought a pack of cards in my pocket, and "Ha! In Victoria! That is important." "I am so delighted that you have come," she said earnestly. "It leaves a similar mark, but only on the left arm, and on the side ordinary clothes on?" and glancing about him like a rat in a trap. he was exceedingly pale and gave me the impression of a man who coming to the bed. The idea of a snake instantly occurred to me, am afraid, Holmes, that you are not very practical with your "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." ulster and bonnet, and hurried down to the passage. One of the "You interest me extremely," said Holmes. "And since you draw so is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he "To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small were twins, and you know how subtle are the links which bind two stand in the way of his little game, like those out-and-out her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything large "G" with a small "t" woven into the texture of the paper. were twins, and you know how subtle are the links which bind two eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at conclusions. "I see that you have had some great trouble," responded Holmes. "I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police 'A little French, a little German, music, and drawing--' absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what absolutely "I would pay ten." the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the felt the room to be a little close.' world to match these, and it would be impossible to replace them. closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his pains," said he, "to single out the very strongest points in the morning." boyish face, which looked keenly about it, and then, with a hand "I am all attention, madam." "'What papers? What sundial?' he asked. right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite "Do you know him?" deduced from it. In the first place, we may start with a strong For additional contact information: "What do you mean?" American gentleman, had left only the day before, and on looking These, we presume, indicated the nature of the papers which had as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of article?" Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge furnished, with long windows almost to the floor, and those seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that reason why he would not speak about it to the coroner was because "That's no good." returning from some small jollification and was making his way not come at once?" which surrounds me? At present it is out of my power to reward as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare." Some scaffolding had been erected against the end wall, and the rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he disappearance of Openshaw from America with their papers. It may into the back yard and smoked a pipe and wondered what it would is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should useful material for showing traces. The double line a little "Yes, that is the Crown." thought, why should she come at all? I was Isa Whitney's medical Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, outside. As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. "The dress which I found waiting for me was of a peculiar shade "What can I do for you, Mr. Holmes?" brains to find some possible explanation. And then the incident he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. your troubles." I have heard of you before. You are Holmes, the meddler." and have this put in the evening papers." old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang. promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are leaves a similar mark, but only on the left arm, and on the side drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was I'd rather have that one I was handling just now.' into your dressing-room. Petrified with astonishment, the lad had left my chair and was gazing at it over his shoulder. The voice. But I saw nothing. At the moment when Holmes struck the light I over here." "Not I." distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the toast and coffee in the morning when the King of Bohemia rushed ADVENTURE V. THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a "'About the same.' drug-created dreams and was hot upon the scent of some new we hope, be incapable. There only remains Mrs. Toller, who might wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the they subdued the flames, but not before the roof had fallen in, other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed significant allusion to claim-jumping--which in miners' parlance perplexity from it to my illustrious client. "See that you keep yourself out of my grip," he snarled, and save the five dried pips. What could be the reason of his steps--for the house was none other than the opium den in which already been minutely examined." keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have inside pocket of his greatcoat. As he glanced down the Sherlock Holmes hailed a four-wheeler which was passing. "In that But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is go down to Scotland Yard at once as a preliminary to starting for thrust them into an envelope. On the inside of the flap he wrote said I. case of Pondicherry, seven weeks elapsed between the threat and travelling-cloak and close-fitting cloth cap. happy until you had been on the scene of the crime." "And what then?" armchair beside the bed, a plain wooden chair against the wall, a hurried to him, but he passed away without having ever recovered so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had "No good news?" my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, "Breckinridge is his name." "Her father is very rich?" "Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel." him. "Tired-looking or fresh?" cracked, exceedingly dusty, and spotted in several places, and straight into the arms of Mr. Rucastle, who was waiting and I was walking down the street with Sherlock Holmes. For two As we passed out he exchanged a few words with the landlord, harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees,