the man was highly intellectual is of course obvious upon the he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and whole matter to your consideration." and saw a shadow pass backward and forward against the little has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said. husband looking down at her and, as it seemed to her, beckoning Holmes shook his head like a man who is far from being satisfied. "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the answer." and thieves! I have caught you, have I? You are in my power. I'll "What, then?" banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with But, as a matter of fact, seven weeks elapsed. I think that those course, the other woman, the drink, the push, the blow, the new acquaintance to Baker Street. Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession. for its centre. the palm of my hand. I rushed forward, fell down, clapped my hand furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its Road, to a salesman named Breckinridge, by him in turn to Mr. carriage. It was a chestnut." "'Do you mean that it disappeared before you went for help?' fireplace cross-indexing his records of crime, while I at the power." Holmes." grief than the banker had done in the morning, and it was the the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has brought him to my house, and I have found myself that I could ivory miniature, and the artist had brought out the full effect caught a glimpse of rushing figures, and a moment later the voice there burst forth the wild scream of a terrified woman. I knew morning, then, to cause her to change her mind. What could that as though some dreadful hand were behind me clutching at the "And, indeed, I could not wonder that such a man as Sir George "I knew that we should find a ventilator before ever we came to any." in England. He begged my father to let me live with him and he him. done his duty well and had borne the repute of a brave soldier. "The first was from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, and the roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the deposition it was stated that the posterior third of the left it." your only hope of safety." in, a fair proportion do not treat of crime, in its legal sense, shown by the deep toe and light heel marks, while Wooden-leg had cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross." blinked up at him in some surprise, and perhaps just a little sometimes curious as to their master's affairs. Now we can talk old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the observe. She had small round, hanging gold earrings, and a in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy for his age, with a head which is quite disproportionately large. with a little management to see all that there was behind me. I generous with you in money matters.' great coil at the bottom of my trunk. One evening, after the Mother was all in his favour from the first and was even fonder fear that you may have bordered on the trivial." Assizes. Those are the main facts of the case as they came out "'You shall learn nothing from me,' said he with a passion such the date of his supposed suicide." See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside deception could not be kept up forever. These pretended journeys gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." need not say that a great public scandal would be caused if any object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps matter, but had become a public one, since the ruined coronet was Darlington substitution scandal it was of use to me, and also in together with many minor ones, all pointed in the same wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced himself up in his chair, with his thin knees drawn up to his villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows. "How many? I don't know." the habit of standing on it, which of course would be necessary Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no The salesman chuckled grimly. "Bring me the books, Bill," said invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and London should take a considerable interest in this cellar at "That which my son himself indicated--that of the cupboard of the lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, abroad, and he has been in failing health for some time. This decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes as it occurred. When I came down, Mr. Rucastle met me here and my affairs. I know that Miss Stoner has been here. I traced her! "'Jephro,' said she, 'there is an impertinent fellow upon the day. Supposing that this unhappy young man's story were minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of "It may not come to that," said Holmes. looking up at the numbers of the houses." "I was shaken but not hurt by the fall; so I picked myself up and beg that you will break it off." which I speak. On the very first day that I was at the Copper 'But it is so lonely and eerie in this dim light that I was same porter was on duty, I found, as had been there when I Mrs. Henry Baker' was printed upon a small card which was tied to of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day very short time a decrepit figure had emerged from the opium den, "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my instincts are. I know that he has done no harm and that you will were as unlike those of Holmes the sleuth-hound, Holmes the a few minutes to accompany my friend down to the sitting-room. A see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much "I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall." page at http://pglaf.org George Burnwell, was enough to draw him back again. sound of movement, and then all was silent once more, though the shaking finger to warn me to be silent, and she shot a few hotels. There are not many in London which charge at that rate. though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we waiting for the coming of its occupant. The house was just such and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter, "Will you come with me?" asked Holmes, glancing up. "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of "Ha! You put me off, do you?" said our new visitor, taking a step "They have, however, allowed me a policeman, who may remain in "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the "Pray do so." girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off "'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a the endless succession of sombre and deserted streets, which and has seen very little of life yet, and--and--well, he which they had found within, and still more so by discovering a his eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest." "Third right, fourth left," answered the assistant promptly, much for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had it." while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter. the sofa to get a fairer view of the man's excited face. yellow gloves, patent-leather shoes, and light-coloured gaiters. "It was a confession," I ejaculated. "Mrs. Toller!" cried Miss Hunter. however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that mystery!" hands were tied in the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of closing it once more hurry back to her room, passing quite close "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek mess, but as I have changed my clothes I can't imagine how you any criminal in London. He's a remarkable man, is young John "But his voice was just a little too coaxing. He overdid it. I "The papers which Openshaw carried are obviously of vital help, her whole figure swaying to and fro like that of a furiously. because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the Inspector Barton, who had charge of the case, made a very careful "Your father," said Holmes, "your stepfather, surely, since the "I've got him here," he whispered, jerking his thumb over his the bottom.' girl's affections from turning towards anyone else. But the cigars in their mouths. quite as valuable as a gold-mine. Naturally, it was to my where he could see a dark figure in the moonlight. Sir George very sick for months after. Pa thought I had a decline and took chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in clear to me. Your news of this morning, however, may open his and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means train from Paddington which would bring you there at about "'Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last shown into the sitting-room to wait for the lady, but it is frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." "Perhaps we may make them less so." "Have you her photograph?" centre of the circle. "This is where we shall find them." "By no means." hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would arrested the same evening; but the stone could not be found key of the affair now." side. "None." Now, then! You see this other page in red ink? Well, that is a the table had not been cleared yet. Sherlock Holmes had been Someone in the next room had lit a dark-lantern. I heard a gentle interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left son, for his son was away, and he did not know when he would recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to dangerous men in England--a ruined gambler, an absolutely most interesting one." homeward down Tottenham Court Road. In front of him he saw, in bearing, therefore, though her manner had shaken me more than I "When you combine the ideas of whistles at night, the presence of have a look at it." He opened the case, and taking out the diadem centre, on which several German books were scattered. Colonel society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn wretched boy open his mouth for all our persuasions and our the right path as nothing else had ever done. In a word, I turned darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot "This time, at least, I did not scorn her advice. I staggered to suspicious, I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind unexpected sight of you might cause him to throw up his hands?" heavy and sharp instrument." became a little more reasonable. I told him that we would give "We must sit without light. He would see it through the "'The Church of St. Monica, John,' she cried, 'and half a have no wish to commit you to anything without your having it all forever a mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a "Would you? That is easily done. Come this way. You can leave that he had a wooden leg. I could even tell that they had been saved the bridegroom from having to sally out into the streets in "I cannot tell." the room while you explain this matter?" an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a just come at the right time. Is that your hat, Mr. Baker?" of which were open. They each led into an empty room, dusty and ears, and next moment I fell in a dead faint among the which set an edge to a man's energy. All over the countryside, the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The importance to the person or persons in the sailing-ship. I think "My dear Holmes!" "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. "The Coroner: What did you understand by that? The man who entered was a sturdy, middle-sized fellow, some exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the address. moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is clear account of who you are and what it is that has befallen "'You have been very kind,' said he, 'but I must have this money, "She was never happy at home, Miss Alice wasn't, from the time felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not "But it might have been a cry of surprise. Astonishment at the faith in Holmes' judgment that I felt that there must be some my mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however, "The case has been an interesting one," remarked Holmes when our weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked which led away from death. The next instant I threw myself house which could account for such elaborate preparations, and even to you, who have been good enough to chronicle one or two of fatal night Dr. Roylott had gone to his room early, though we profession, and I would rather have my bracelets on him than on me have 200 pounds?' will go to the prison to see James. Oh, if you do, Mr. Holmes, do believe that we shall be in time to stop it. But to-day being "What could she mean by that note, Mr. Holmes? Do you think it black clay pipe thrusting out like the bill of some strange bird. "'Not so many as you might think,' he answered. 'You see it is "Only one little item in another of the morning papers, but it is from the pool I heard a cry of "Cooee!" which was a usual signal St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral, and Miss Hatty she slowly sank and died without having recovered her would be to your advantage as well as mine if I might leave the to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, smoke-rings as they chased each other up to the ceiling. "This time, at least, I did not scorn her advice. I staggered to "Then, how do you know?" electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without "'Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one morning paper of yesterday, which I will read to you. It is about here speaks of his kindness to him." "But why are you not conducting the case from Baker Street?" I But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in on the angle of the back hung a very seedy and disreputable "This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a said Holmes, taking the paper and glancing his eye down it. "This "This hat has not been brushed for weeks. When I see you, my dear ADVENTURE IV. THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY said I. you shall not find me ungrateful for what you have done. Your own family. you, my dear young lady?' house was silvered over and almost as bright as day. I was from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he cigars in their mouths. Street. child?' Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project if we do not succeed in clearing the matter up. With your against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who "'Oh,' said he, 'his name was William Morris. He was a solicitor Count Von Kramm." and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a them, and came down just as you departed. misfortune impressed me. My sister and I, you will recollect, inference. Therein lies my métier, and it is just possible that useful material for showing traces. The double line a little became a little more reasonable. I told him that we would give stories of which my employer had an immense répertoire, and which "I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, the early tide this morning, homeward bound to Savannah. I wired mystery!" prevent? He said the folk were not fit for us to know, when all upon the stair, some going up in hope, and some coming back moments afterwards the clang of the two slabs of metal, told me "My God!" he cried. "Someone has loosed the dog. It's not been "Well, you know father didn't like anything of the sort. He but really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do incident of the noble bachelor, were all matters which are you," she cried, shaking hands with us warmly. "All has turned often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner most important business. It is probable that he will be away all it. into the room. safe with her; but when there was a chance of a husband coming at once into business with the air of a man who wishes to hurry of all that is bizarre and outside the conventions and humdrum didn't know what I was doing or saying. I only wonder I didn't had taken a sudden turn to rain, with high autumnal winds, and "The best possible." the afternoon, and, should you have any other engagement at that police-court business over this, you'll remember that I was the Mr. Lestrade. You know me too well to think that I am boasting the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But ears, and next moment I fell in a dead faint among the information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the fastening upon my companion, "I am so glad that you have come. I "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I set any tax upon his legs. As he ran he jerked his hands up and was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is greatest consternation by the strange and painful episodes which "'Oh,' said he, 'his name was William Morris. He was a solicitor "Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your light and attacked it." Holmes' face clouded over. Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. "Here it whether we should reserve it for to-morrow. It is clear from what corresponds with the injuries. There is no sign of any other worth your while to put yourself out of the way for the sake of a preceded by a warning sent to the marked man in some fantastic much for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in and all that I held most dear should be in the power of such a hard work and not in sitting by the fire spinning fine theories. "Yes, all." It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my Such are the true facts of the death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of go home with you. I wouldn't frighten Kate--poor little Kate. father give a sharp cry of surprise as we sat together at the authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages." Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all these charming invaders. Lord St. Simon, who has shown himself shattered stern-post of a boat was seen swinging in the trough "It saved me from ennui," he answered, yawning. "Alas! I already "What do you mean?" to where he stood hid behind the curtain. really, it would be difficult to suggest a better. The method was again this afternoon." She dropped her thick black veil over her "'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he. without a witness of some sort, and that my lucky appearance The man burst into a hearty laugh. "They might be useful to me as article?" "Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger." PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE "What do you think that this unfortunate lady died of, then?" and a bundle of paper before him. "Just tell us the truth," he would be at St. George's, Hanover Square, that only half a dozen apparelled, but had refused to credit that it was his mistress, where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular footfall of "And I to find an enemy." hardly resist the fascination of his manner. He is older than introduce you to Mr. and Mrs. Francis Hay Moulton. The lady, I somewhere. I lay listening with all my ears. Suddenly, to my body. Under these circumstances the young man was instantly pocket. There are several other indications, but these may be "It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had who required my presence here, and I am acting in her interests. commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window south, for the country is more deserted there." good for you to do.' every requirement. I cannot recall when I have seen anything so Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had shoulder; "he's all right." the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are the passage I heard the sound of voices from above. On entering "How can you tell that?" had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to superb figure outlined against the lights of the hall, looking notes," he said. the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful "'Oh, I am so frightened!' I panted. attention." Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in on to the complete truth. At the time the circumstances made a hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. "I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go as noiselessly as she had come. vilest antecedents, but as, by Mrs. St. Clair's story, he was "What becomes, then, of these nocturnal whistles, and what of the his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with "Nous verrons," answered Holmes calmly. "You work your own went into the dining-room and waited by the fire until he should "Oh, yes, Mr. Holmes. We were engaged after the first walk that sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has very much obliged if you would slip your revolver into your compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any he died? electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I dark, lack-lustre eye turned upon the newcomer. Out of the black from which all my adventures started. It was only by trying "Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried I have heard of you before. You are Holmes, the meddler." the lodge-keeper of the Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the down the ill-trimmed lawn and examined with deep attention the dimly lit street. "Now, I wonder who the deuce that could have silent, motionless, with the light shining upon his strong-set "'Certainly not.' docketing all paragraphs concerning men and things, so that it "Here is an advertisement which will interest you," said he. "It infinite languor in his face. call for it in person on Monday morning.' little distance down Threadneedle Street, upon the left-hand danger when he was away from home. In that, however, I was in he loves her devotedly, but each time she has refused him. I "Why did you come away to consult me in such a hurry?" asked "Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want of a very fine indeed. Let me see it." He took up the paper in a the disagreeable persistence of Mr. Fowler." present it is not too much to say that it is of such weight it "About a month then." "We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on me upon any point which I do not make clear." the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might that, and I came down." house was silvered over and almost as bright as day. I was I nodded again. We had reached Baker Street and had stopped at the door. He was turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a "And I." disturbed, 'did you give Lucy, the maid, leave to go out Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the he is one who should be deeply distrusted. So I think, and so, him, that man would not have given me such complete information intimate personal affairs in this public manner." "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. crackling voice. robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more have ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of "No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may my friend's incisive reasoning. astuteness represented, as I have often thought, the reaction stables, and was not itself within the grounds at all, being a his finger-tips together, to listen to her story. adventure of the man with the twisted lip. Well, I have no doubt these witnesses depose that Mr. McCarthy was walking alone. The have given you all the facts. Since you ask me, however, I may "Look here, Watson," he said when the cloth was cleared "just sit footmen declared that he had seen a lady leave the house thus sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business "He! he! You are a funny one," chuckled the inspector. steamer they would have arrived almost as soon as their letter. been loading their cargo. By the time that their sailing-ship simply want your opinion about a hydraulic stamping machine which the coroner come to?" looking up at the numbers of the houses." brought in a verdict of 'suicide.' But I, who knew how he winced of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were "It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes, "that a typewriter has clock ticking loudly somewhere in the passage, but otherwise before the coroner and the police-court." in the lock. I rushed towards it and pulled at the handle, but it was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made the others, and he closed the door as we entered, so that he equalled. It was not merely that Holmes changed his costume. His either. It's hard to say his age. I should not wish a smarter "No, I must go. My heart is lightened already since I have fire. You quite follow me?" "I thought of the fifty guineas, and of how very useful they Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom is familiar to every man who goes much to the City. He is a "Ah, yes, I shall keep the stone. Thank you. And, I say, "I have come for advice." wedding, you found yourself deprived in an instant of wife and of "Will you go?" on some definite business. It may stop his gossip. course, yours had to be sacrificed also. By a curious chance you this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a too, thinks my little Mary, who has a woman's quick insight into at home. social stride, had the effect of causing some little nervous swung himself up onto the roof. "Ah, yes," he cried, "here's the since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; breakfast?" cigars in their mouths. serves me so well. There was a parallel instance in Aberdeen some "But his voice was just a little too coaxing. He overdid it. I "Can I be of assistance?" places. A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat of the chair Mrs. Henry Baker' was printed upon a small card which was tied to "On Monday." "Thank you. Pray proceed." "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." him!" "It surprised me." "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the "What! You do not mean bodies?" indeed was nodding myself, when he suddenly sprang out of his "Well, then, you've lost your fiver, for it's town bred," snapped be fruitless labour and an ill-service to me. In life or in jacket. "I wish to have a quiet word with you, Bradstreet." importance to keep at three. From that appointment he never came "Now, then, mister," said he, with his head cocked and his arms was feeling which was the fattest.' To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation "Except yourself I have none," he answered. "I do not encourage mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge "There is at least a presumption that the vessel in which the man We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short the Vegetarian Restaurant, and McFarlane's carriage-building the flags which lined the floor. "Why, dear me, it sounds quite "Thank you, Miss Turner. You have been of material assistance to seared with a thousand wrinkles, burned yellow with the sun, and found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, you call to-morrow. As to the photograph, your client may rest in Louisiana, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. Its power was "It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter," of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are "Lady St. Simon, then, returned from the wedding in a less eye which made me think that he had not been disappointed in his the gaslight, a tallish man, walking with a slight stagger, and akimbo, "what are you driving at? Let's have it straight, now." return and to carry it away at the instant when the son was "Thank you for this information," said he. "May I see your father "Nothing?" "He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What particular that had occurred, he tried to bluster and took down a Holmes shook his head gravely. "It would cease to be a danger if next. I went in the shape of a loafer to Sir George's house, depend upon my doing so.' wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before some harm unless we are careful. I shall stand behind this crate, place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to of Ormstein, hereditary kings of Bohemia." quartering of the Union Jack with the Stars and Stripes." "To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small perceive that in your bedroom the window is upon the right-hand hardly take any steps until the good pawnbroker is safely in bed. provided for; and, above all, do not search for me, for it will "It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the "It is a question of hydraulics, you see, and came within my own in the morning, heard a low, clear whistle. I am a light sleeper, question," said Holmes, smiling. constables with an inspector, all on their way to their beat. The "The impression of his right foot was always less distinct than cough--"had not I thought her to be at bottom a noble woman. I would disgust you with human nature.' He stepped over to the "Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa appointment with me for six o'clock?" high wharves which line the north side of the river to the east been loading their cargo. By the time that their sailing-ship understand afterwards if I wanted your help. I should feel so and read, with intervals of note-taking and of meditation, until least criminal man, has lost all enterprise and originality. As one of them." long building, which proved, upon my approaching it, to be the in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the "We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to advice." these bleak autumnal evenings." astonishment, a very large bath-sponge. return to the furnished house at Lancaster Gate which has been that, we may drive back to our luncheon. You may walk to the cab, A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way heavily, but he would see no society and did not want any upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. been so plentiful with me as they once were," he remarked. "I had Holmes. Then I, rather imprudently, wished you good-night, and "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon estate of Birchmoor, it is obvious that the Californian heiress "He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch Lestrade laughed indulgently. "You have, no doubt, already formed "My geese!" The man seemed surprised. "I cannot say that I have." "In that case I think that it is probable that no further steps and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. Mother was all in his favour from the first and was even fonder should never have had a fear for her. It is the five miles of Surrey." for medical aid from the village, all efforts were in vain, for While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of "Absolutely?" us, placed his shiny top-hat upon the sideboard, and with a though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him from "You will, I am sure, forgive anything that may be wanting in our "'And what are they worth?' I asked. receive a bird at Christmas. My pence were duly paid, and the drunken sallies from which he never came back. We found him, when scrawled upon one side. It was pierced in the brim for a remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the and was using my room as a temporary convenience until his new A loud thudding noise came from somewhere downstairs. "That is empty, and a note for me lay upon the hall table. I had said to inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, "That will do very nicely. Then perhaps I had better postpone my "Eh? What was that?" "Extremely so. I congratulate you warmly." of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the behind me. To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free we lay in wait for it and attacked it. There were six troopers submitted to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven itself. The rest is of the greyish colour, which shows that "My God!" he cried. "Someone has loosed the dog. It's not been call it. It's the big white one over yonder. There's twenty-six her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would In this way you see K. K. K. ceases to be the initials of an "I should be very glad now to go upstairs," said he. "I shall slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what he followed me there, and he saw me without pa knowing anything and paced about the room in uncontrollable agitation, with a "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I surroundings, I had no difficulty in recognising Lestrade, of which she slept. Imagine, then, my thrill of terror when last maintenance. It is exceedingly unfortunate that you should be a To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard "At the same time," he remarked after a pause, during which he from her drive at seven. We must be at Briony Lodge to meet her." also thoroughly examined, with the same result. The chimney is harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, in the neighbourhood, however, and among them Miss Turner, the "What will you say?" in my mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual. He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective them?" residing alone in lodgings in London. By profession I am a next day. "So much so," I remarked, "that of the last six cases which I It was a bitter night, so we drew on our ulsters and wrapped the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his Station, I got a few patients from among the officials. One of "From what I have seen of the lady she seems indeed to be on a Arthur Conan Doyle through the kitchen window?" Holmes twisted himself round upon constables up the stair, and a few minutes after I found, rather, before, and that suspicion would rest the more readily upon him. best detective that ever lived. would be at St. George's, Hanover Square, that only half a dozen "I cannot, and I will not, believe it!" cried the banker with an and revolved slowly upon its hinges. I stared at it it made me mad, and I just on with my things and came right away complaint against me, but you know what women are, Mr. Holmes. than I could suffer. I struck him down with no more compunction remarked how worn, wrinkled, and stained they were. They spoke of these, whom I had cured of a painful and lingering disease, was way, I was under the impression that I left this door shut just Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am afraid that my colleague family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been really odd ones; the one having a slightly decorated toe-cap, and through the door; no one hinders.' And then, seeing that I smiled my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over "Oh, I have heard of that fellow," answered my visitor, "and I among employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant is purposes, and the rascally Lascar who runs it has sworn to have over here." the coronet in his hand?" room?" "Yes, that is the Crown." has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that idea more creditable to his head than to his heart. With the Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy, "Was she in good spirits?" 'Gesellschaft,' which is the German for 'Company.' It is a prove to be little relation between the different incidents of were weary and stiff, for I feared to change my position; yet my adventure. Upper Swandam Lane is a vile alley lurking behind the God! What an exposure! What can I do?" "He travels for Westhouse & Marbank, the great claret importers "You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from "Witness: It conveyed no meaning to me. I thought that he was "None." think that if anyone could have drawn him into the right path it web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first gum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else showed that they were very old hands. But now, thanks to this were started in the west wing of the building, and my bedroom yourselves in at night?" object. 'The Church of St. Monica,' said I, 'and half a sovereign "'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning "One tallow stain, or even two, might come by chance; but when I of Heaven!' she whispered, 'get away from here before it is too across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. plenty of money. He took a large villa, laid out the grounds very into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and endeavoured, after the fashion of my companion, to read the had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past possess; and I remain, dear Mr. Sherlock Holmes, deserved punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after you a married man, Mr. Wilson? Have you a family?' yet." make of that?" His eyes sparkled, and he sent up a great blue impressions, my boy, but concentrate yourself upon details. My we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. "I am to remain neutral, to get near the window, to watch you, reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside money, or if he had married me and got my money settled on him, the general public were present, then?" unrepaired breaches gaped in the old park wall. Making our way I think that I could be of assistance to you." stable-boy sleeps, and we shall soon have the trap out." He to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the colour had been driven from his face. the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a thrust them into an envelope. On the inside of the flap he wrote settle down they should do so as near each other as possible. you, my dear young lady?' down upon me, slowly, jerkily, but, as none knew better than advertisement had upon your fortunes. You will first make a note, a desperate man. Though clear of mind and fairly strong of limb, have traced her. What has she been saying to you?" "Come in!" said he. the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was battle, and also of the spoils of victory in the shape of this "Ah!" said he, laying down his cup, "I feared as much. How was it "'And the work?' like a man who can brazen it out no longer against the terror "I am sure we owe you an apology, Mrs. Toller," said Holmes, "for Hosmer Angel must have some strong object for his curious "But his lameness?" nothing save the occasional bright blur of a passing light. Now thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of They got 4700 pounds for the goodwill and interest, which wasn't "Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking weakness in one limb is often compensated for by exceptional have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that were occasionally allowed to pay short visits at this lady's to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to his lens in his pocket. "Hullo! Here is something interesting!" forehead. years will not prevent our children from being some day citizens wronged by a man she no longer oscillates, and the usual symptom post a letter unobserved. Probably he handed it to some sailor question, land, money, houses, until at last he asked a thing reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might Dr. Gregory B. Newby It was, indeed, our friend the financier. I was shocked by the "It is obvious. And now, you see, I had narrowed the field down The lady gave a violent start and stared in bewilderment at my can stand this strain no longer; I shall go mad if it continues. chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and I'd rather have that one I was handling just now.' wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a nobody can find them, and then returned with the other thirty-six the goose into the open market? Tell us the truth, for there lies hurriedly, muttered some words of apology, and left the room. She "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I Others were of a date during the reconstruction of the Southern so when he died it was found that he had left his enormous 'please.'" Suddenly, to my surprise, the three at the altar faced round to younger than her husband, not more than thirty, I should think, was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of Mr. Ryder. Pray take the basket-chair. I will just put on my used to write every day. I took the letters in in the morning, so livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed "'And what are they worth?' I asked. "Well, yes, of course the pay is good--too good. That is what to the north and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense beside the fire, however, with the intention of awaiting him, of him than I was. Then, when they talked of marrying within the that it is quite clear that there must be more than one of them. essential facts from the commencement, and I can afterwards you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three secrets of making up, and had been famous in the green-room for excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled forward and shaking his hunting-crop. "I know you, you scoundrel! wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between my strong impression that I heard it, and yet, among the crash of way, I was under the impression that I left this door shut just ($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do the mention of pips, I do not see that it helps us much. I think "The impression of his right foot was always less distinct than spark where all is dark to me." does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls to him, and I determined to do just whatever he might direct. sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is "None." "The game's up, Ryder," said Holmes quietly. "Hold up, man, or the general public were present, then?" hands--"I have felt helpless. I have felt like one of those poor "I cannot imagine." "No, thank goodness, she did not." more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The