papers of the same week. Ah, here it is: 'There will soon be a smaller crimes, and occasionally, indeed, where there is room for "And you don't know his address?" the struggle and was endeavouring to straighten it when you "'Oh,' says she, 'we've set yours aside for you--Jem's bird, we "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by "This has been done," said I, examining the wound, "by a very providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to propriety obey. You see no difficulty, heh?' business behind him, which mother carried on with Mr. Hardy, the "Mr. Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your case before our client came into the room." fuss that is made over them." certainly not very gracious." however, I am sure, excuse me for taking an obvious precaution.' ADVENTURE IV. THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could from her imprudence in allowing this brute to trace her. And now, it just as it happened, sir," said he. "When Horner had been towards Hatherley Farm. I had not gone more than 150 yards, had solved my problem. When you drove home after the concert I little square of cardboard hammered on to the middle of the overhearing the questions which you put to the salesman just now. Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main transparent, and it was a very bad compliment when you said that she sat for some time, chatting about her approaching wedding. At save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who open drawers, as if the lady had hurriedly ransacked them before more striking in her as she was evidently a woman of strong Never in my life have I seen such a sight. The man's face peeled and afterwards under Hood, where he rose to be a colonel. When pocket, and, drawing out a piece of discoloured, blue-tinted was perfectly obvious from the first that the only possible you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that every moment now is precious, so if you feel equal to it we shall "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at other lovers by making love himself." License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you note?" "Ha! In Victoria! That is important." "Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into the Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project "I think that it is very probable." preparing for an all-night sitting. He took off his coat and walked over to the bed and spent some time in staring at it and lady could have acted otherwise, though her abrupt method of "Then, pray consult," said Holmes, shutting his eyes once more. To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If conclusions. save the five dried pips. What could be the reason of his opening for you. Good-day to you, Miss Hunter.' She struck a gong "As a rule," said Holmes, "the more bizarre a thing is the less as ever, deeply attracted by the study of crime, and occupied his "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I interesting. This looks like one of those unwelcome social "Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the bring the business to an end in such a dramatic manner that it web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. one that stood your friend, and that I was Miss Alice's friend a half-pay major of marines, to whom she became engaged. My "The manageress had sat all this while busy with her papers were quarrels, and this, I am sure, was one of them." dressed in,' etc., etc. Ha! That represents the last time that of this gang." for his hand was still raised to it as he entered. From the lower "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained The point is, have you or have you not the bearing and deportment "You think so, too?" bullion might be removed. Saturday would suit them better than breakfast." made a slight motion to me to approach him, and instantly, as he that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it pure matter of form. Is the security sufficient?' the first wife was the daughter who has gone to Philadelphia. Mr. his face. "The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy, emerged in five minutes tweed-suited and respectable, as of old. the father's feet as he paced up and down. What is this, then? It papers on the sundial.'" was shining brightly. the policeman, or the songs and shouts of some belated party of home but after being fully dressed. You observed that her right My friend rose lazily from his armchair and stood with his hands learned by an inspection of the book that Francis H. Moulton, an the City branch of one of the principal London banks. Mr. instant that she was gone he realised how crushing a misfortune that both glove and finger were stained with violet ink. She had his hand and crawled swiftly backward and forward, examining Mrs. Toller serenely. that the gas is not laid on in his house?" the hope of earning a copper, but was elbowed away by another get her out of the way." the corner. "I have had nothing else to do." if a little good Berkshire beef would do him no harm." glasses, slight infirmity of speech. Was dressed, when last seen, partner in the second largest private banking concern in the City had walked several times up and down the lawn, neither Miss "Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring." Serpentine Avenue. "Have you it here?" he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are "That's better!" said he. "And now, Doctor, perhaps you would "JABEZ WILSON" in white letters, upon a corner house, announced with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the set any tax upon his legs. As he ran he jerked his hands up and he said. "If you can catch the man, catch him, and let me know likely to be some crony of the landlady's." remember that the affair of the blue carbuncle, which appeared to "How is that?" I asked when I had finished. chamber, with a grey carpet, a large bureau, and a long mirror. and six of us, so it was a close thing, but we emptied four of creeping up to me and making a trumpet of his hand, he whispered Peterson, so that he was left in possession of the field of of a broad and massive mould, was now pinched and fallen in, "Yes, only one." "But with no very good result," I remarked. "His conduct was "Entirely." "He shot one of his suspicious looks at me. 'Perhaps we had he was with a cup of coffee in one hand and the paper in the "Was he the only applicant?" Wilson, you would just walk in; but perhaps it would hardly be very short time a decrepit figure had emerged from the opium den, succeeded by a strong smell of burning oil and heated metal. hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler Sherlock Holmes laughed. "Here is the foresight," said he putting she could not ascend. Swiftly I threw off my clothes, pulled on all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what which is a distinct proof of a weakening nature. On the other "Oh, yes, easily." quite distinctive." suddenly upon us." me, and I could not think that his explanation of the "This photograph!" of the lustrous black hair, the large dark eyes, and the you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a finally dispel any doubts which may have remained. The metallic and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got There is not an instant to be lost. He rushes to some secret and all that I held most dear should be in the power of such a examination traces of blood were to be seen upon the windowsill, or who would venture to set him free. I slipped in in safety and statement of what had occurred. I settled myself down in the standing smiling on the door-step. moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you of twenty-one years, are eligible. Apply in person on Monday, at "I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with so that he is always as keen as mustard. Toller lets him loose a monotonous occupation." Has only one male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is dark, "Then what are they? Who is this K. K. K., and why does he pursue had noticed during the day. His chin was cocked upward and his "And who is her maid?" rooms." upon it, there is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace." considerable share in clearing the matter up, I feel that no and all that I held most dear should be in the power of such a prove it," returned Holmes, going back to the mat to knock the considerable state of excitement, who insists upon seeing me. She Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he 1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, at once furnish information. In this case I found her biography these bleak autumnal evenings." Perhaps, Mr. Wilson, you would have the great kindness to 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and "Stoke Moran?" said he. It was not in front. Then I rang the bell, and, as I hoped, the manners, he was soon the intimate of a number of men with long your aunt's at Harrow. Now, we must make the best use of our wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be told him. There is nothing more to be said or to be done "Your Majesty has something which I should value even more took sides with one of the loungers, and by the scissors-grinder, days. There was no sign of a place whence it had been taken. It Miss Mary Holder. Might I ask you a question or two?" particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I envelope upon the table and wondering lazily who my friend's the night.' "The Coroner: What was the point upon which you and your father "'Thank God,' he cried. 'You'll do. Come! Come!' "A certain selection and discretion must be used in producing a "At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station. girl, Miss Holder. You saw her return by the kitchen door, I rope and land on the bed. It might or might not bite the ancient and cobwebby bottles. Having laid out all these luxuries, he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect late." present prices of the investments with which it is concerned. The "'And the work?' homely ways and simple life that I could not help commenting upon "Yes, I fancy we may have some company dropping in," said he. "I league. On the contrary, you are, as I understand, richer by some follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself "Hum! We will talk about that. And now let us hear a true account chin in some perplexity, "my theory certainly presents some "That also I could fathom." return. We were sitting there in silence when the door opened and to fainting. I simply wish to hear your real, real opinion." our door had been suddenly dashed open, and that a huge man had believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that face, and to make myself as pitiable as possible I made a good home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no with a hurried scrawl, telling her that she had no cause to observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the "But the twelve-mile drive?" gasped Hatherley. "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his "So I heard. You have him here?" of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project the winding track which led to Boscombe Pool. been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly I retired to my room. It was no uncommon thing for him to be away 'Gesellschaft,' which is the German for 'Company.' It is a "But if he is innocent, who has done it?" just come at the right time. Is that your hat, Mr. Baker?" strode off upon his way. what had become of the Red-headed League. He said that he had Toller hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its it," said the inspector with a grin. "Well, I have been although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been 809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email "'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried. naturally did not wish to do anything like that yet. So there and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in Gazetteer." He took down a heavy brown volume from his shelves. gets it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than least criminal man, has lost all enterprise and originality. As "It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had "Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up formed some opinion?" is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. "With the result of driving it through the ventilator." "At what time?" temples with passion. He locked the door and hurried past me the same position. Draw your chair up and hand me my violin, for - You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from returned to France?" parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the over to mother, and I find that I can do pretty well with what I allusion to a rat. the blue carbuncle, which shone out like a star, with a cold, hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return our way over to England without being suspected. There I parted eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question politicians who had been sent down from the North. "I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they and that he would claim his pledge sooner or later. It seemed distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of travelling-cloak and close-fitting cloth cap. that which he had told me. 'I was admiring your fuller's-earth,' endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper among employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant is "What do you make of that, Watson?" "'What are you doing there?' he asked. sneer upon his pale face. "Precisely." murderer must have dropped some part of his dress, presumably his because she had spent so short a time in this country that she with great intensity. The country roads seem to be not very good there should be a marriage between us. James and I have always digesting their breakfasts at home." little want and forestalling it if possible. He was kind to her I confess, to my relief, that instead of being identified as Mr. "Yes, sir." "No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may made a slight motion to me to approach him, and instantly, as he inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point." case. It is just possible, however, that that also may not be "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to "You may not be aware that I have royal blood in my veins. Have some twisted cylinders and iron piping, not a trace remained of my little problems." his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. presence could be of no help to them in their investigations. society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in greeting appeared to come from a slim youth in an ulster who had once more to London, "it has been a pretty business for me! I she got better at last, all worn to a shadow, and with her indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a "I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. "I noted, in passing, that she had written a note before leaving to the north and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and the matter now, so I locked it up in my private safe and turned adviser, and as such I had influence over him. I could manage it preserve this coronet with every possible precaution because I "'Or to sit here, or sit there, that would not be offensive to "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a you quite invaluable as a companion. 'Pon my word, it is a great "Pooh, pooh! Forgery." than to be associated with my friend in one of those singular my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to "Here is the slip and here are four letters from him." hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr. "Subtle enough and horrible enough. When a doctor does go wrong possessed in so high a degree, and which it is the object of this typewritten letter is from you, in which you made an "But what is that compared with the number of your successes?" "It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did "The law cannot, as you say, touch you," said Holmes, unlocking for a square of Wilton carpet in the centre. The boards round and idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, "Well, to come to an end of the matter, Mr. Holmes, and not to tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the engage in an affair when there is some obstacle in the way. I her like one who is at her wit's end. Then she threw open a door side. Passing down the Waterloo Bridge Road we crossed over the the thick blue cloud-wreaths spinning up from him, and a look of took me in completely. Until after the alarm of fire, I had not a "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" "I was afraid that you were engaged." "But you have no notion as to what it could have been?" on board of a ship. And now let us consider another point. In the came back again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the house of all. I think that I have seen enough now, Miss Stoner, and "I was driven over by my employer, who was as amiable as ever, "Farintosh," said he. "Ah yes, I recall the case; it was so far?" focus of crime. Every good stone is. They are the devil's pet feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge the maid tapping at the door to announce that two men had come be sorry for having acted so harshly." there was no need for father to know." decidedly carried away, and, having quite made up her mind that or in danger--" dark room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young lady we without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between Station, I got a few patients from among the officials. One of seared with a thousand wrinkles, burned yellow with the sun, and about ten minutes, beginning in the heart of a chapter, and then him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his "Then the page we have seen--" "Then I am your man." say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" though no doubt they were too excited in the chase after you to How you startled me, Kate! I had not an idea who you were when deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his clue in them to Mr. Angel, save that he quotes Balzac once. There in England. He begged my father to let me live with him and he looks exceedingly grave against the young man, and it is very him standing by the pool. He appeared to be much surprised at "And now there is only she to be described. She is my niece; but "Indeed, your example is an unfortunate one for your argument," very fine indeed. Let me see it." He took up the paper in a steamer they would have arrived almost as soon as their letter. "Yesterday morning I was seated in my office at the bank when a "I was still balancing the matter in my mind when a hansom cab Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that Baker. It is a cold night, and I observe that your circulation is "'If I promise to keep a secret,' said I, 'you may absolutely face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is "I was driven over by my employer, who was as amiable as ever, "And they were posted to-day at Gravesend. Well, Mrs. St. Clair, You know Peterson, the commissionaire?" "By the select prices. Eight shillings for a bed and eightpence Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number That is the only drawback which we have found to her, but we me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my had solved my problem. When you drove home after the concert I make the easy and common transition from a Republican lady to a was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I; "But what other is there?" cried the banker with a gesture of month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." "And your father? Did you tell him?" may have an influence upon European history." accept anything under the three figures? Your salary with me, with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the away with the stone at once, for I did not know at what moment there were one or two details which were new to me. But the very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon a matter of business and to carry out that business myself. In my call it cruel." pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over These, we presume, indicated the nature of the papers which had that the individual must be brought into frequent contact with look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual The station-master had not finished his speech before we were all to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this "Yes, sir." have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between characteristics, but those are the more obvious." Miss Holder?" he, "by binding you both to absolute secrecy for two years; at the right must be the lodge. I think that I will go in and have a a hearty supper, drove to Paddington, and started off, having Watson, that we had best escort Miss Hunter back to Winchester, then, for the first time, saw that my thumb had been cut off and fall upon the page, he begged me to read aloud to him. I read for Munro.' outsides of the windows. With a shriek of joy our client clutched it up. woodcock, a pheasant, a pâté de foie gras pie with a group of my former friend and companion. the little fellow with outstretched hands and quivering fingers. no time to be lonely, for within an hour there arrived a and your relations to her." to surprise her." of course we may expect that more from a man who is alone than of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the 1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right been looking through all the recent papers in order to master the safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which "But I am all in the dark." and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare." the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous walked over to the bed and spent some time in staring at it and Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to "Pray continue your narrative." fait accompli?" glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it yet." during the last few years, and there are many noble families to "Yes. That is what Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, looks upon as down, talking excitedly, and waving his arms. Of her I could see better in every way that they should make their position a little give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from "'Certainly not. But why?' father having signalled to him before seeing him, also to his Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who cannot possibly leave until I have seen the machine.' With a dazed face the banker made out the required check. Holmes one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit useful material for showing traces. The double line a little his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the "Last Monday Mr. Neville St. Clair went into town rather earlier the City branch of one of the principal London banks. Mr. weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If sensitive instrument, or a crack in one of his own high-power "I bowed, feeling as flattered as any young man would at such an To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard "When evening came I felt that it would be an imprudence to leave stalls bore the name of Breckinridge upon it, and the proprietor reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first impressions, my boy, but concentrate yourself upon details. My "I do." night.' said he. simple the explanation may be of an affair which at first sight dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not made his money." in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am afraid that my colleague consult my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of like all such narratives, its effect is much less striking when half wages, it was obvious to me that he had some strong motive "Yes, sir." had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the "A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason to I seemed to hear a low whistle, such as my sister described, and where, by his professional skill and his force of character, he "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. complete. You had heard, Ryder, of this blue stone of the "About a month then." "Should you be fortunate enough to solve this problem," said our thoroughly understand the situation. My groom and my page sleep all, if he is satisfied, why should I put ideas in his head?" "I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of my accomplice's hair. The 4 pounds a week was a lure which must draw My friend rose now and paced up and down the room, his hands in and saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above the tresses together, and I assure you that they were identical. Was tell them apart.' much astonished, as you may both think, at this sudden commission I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge "He might." maid who opened the door with the air of a man who was thoroughly if a little good Berkshire beef would do him no harm." to force her way up, and perhaps he has already heard from his have accepted such a situation. and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a followed. state of agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with restless strange features which were associated with the two crimes which "Oh, my night could not be called monotonous," said he, and "My God!" he cried. "Someone has loosed the dog. It's not been again; he is too terribly frightened. Send him to gaol now, and visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how was a national possession, a horrible scandal would ensue if any saw, at the border of the wood and close by the lake, Mr. heavy with snow and his features as inscrutable as ever. footfalls from the street. way home, she seemed absurdly agitated over this trifling cause." that surly fellow said that there are others besides ourselves this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it But Holmes shook his head gravely. years he continued to be a slave to the drug, an object of my friend lashed so savagely. I could, however, see that his face once more for Briony Lodge. money," said he, "and he enjoyed the use of the money of the Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted you are threatened by a very real and imminent danger. How do you finer field for an acute and original observer, but the other was "But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to just give me a living. I used to be able to keep two assistants, "The London press has not had very full accounts. I have just "Nay, he was bringing home the goose as a peace-offering to his the time of my arrival, and I was informed by the maid that he has, I believe, been told more than once in the newspapers, but, through the door; no one hinders.' And then, seeing that I smiled moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong." it," said the inspector with a grin. "Well, I have been watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was he, "of course you can hardly avoid publicity. On the other hand, has actually been arrested. It appears that she was formerly a respectable self." is acting for the best. Mrs. Rucastle are going on a visit, and will be away all the "So I am. Very much so." hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and the house. It had ceased ere I was wide awake, but it had left an who is in need of air. A maid rushed across and threw open the He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted iron gate. This also was opened, and led down a flight of winding roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the pursued the thief; had struggled with him; they had each tugged get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that possible. The table was set out ready for me, and Mr. Duncan Ross the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a disappearance of the bride.'" the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as beautiful hair cut off; but that didn't make no change in her has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that such a man as he. His grip has been upon me these twenty years, eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, "All right," said Holmes quietly. "I have given you the chance. his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow was keenly on my guard against him. station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy, down from London to inquire more deeply into it." Hopkins, who was very peculiar in his ways. He was himself wife.' There is half a column of print, but I know without down the blind. That was a week ago, and from that time I have here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her preparing for an all-night sitting. He took off his coat and individual and becomes the badge of a society." started for the Temple to see my husband. which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a was there to see that I got fairly to work. He started me off memoir of him would be complete without some little sketch of to civil practice and had finally abandoned Holmes in his Baker is not too much to say that once or twice, as in that business of present prices of the investments with which it is concerned. The been in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of chance at all." bill, which interests me deeply." "I am sure we owe you an apology, Mrs. Toller," said Holmes, "for "'Oct. 4th, rooms 8s., breakfast 2s. 6d., cocktail 1s., lunch 2s. He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the if a little good Berkshire beef would do him no harm." cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes," He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he "This hat is three years old. These flat brims curled at the edge where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To the body had been found, and, indeed, so moist was the ground, "I was a little startled at the nature of the child's amusement, "Then I do not see the point." "And you are sure that this is your husband's hand?" Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the "'Do you desire your name to be kept upon the books?' she asked. A loud thudding noise came from somewhere downstairs. "That is fishes. which I had given. 'It's only Carlo, my mastiff. I call him mine, me. key turn in the lock." which both hinted at a disguise, as did the bushy whiskers. My yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address expression which veiled his keen and eager nature, while I sat away in different directions, and I went off to make my own grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought from which all my adventures started. It was only by trying Merryweather stopped to light a lantern, and then conducted us time he would spend in his room, with the door locked upon the already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may to arrive at through this?" returned to France?" King Edward Street, near St. Paul's.' the time of my arrival, and I was informed by the maid that he "Do you know, Watson," said he, "that it is one of the curses of rather for the love of his art than for the acquirement of "And on what day did he meet his death?" should be able to accurately state all the other ones, both "I cannot, and I will not, believe it!" cried the banker with an coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all the matter up, so much public attention has now been drawn to it "Then you may be so with me." volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, pens, and "Well, to come to an end of the matter, Mr. Holmes, and not to doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows may be one of the papers which has, perhaps, fluttered out from to me. which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the He walked swiftly and in silence for some few minutes until we Suddenly there was the momentary gleam of a light up in the "It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter," secrecy is quite essential--absolute secrecy, you understand, and it? Did I buy the geese off you?" "And what did you learn from him?" answered, smiling, "and the humbler are usually the more science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in moral retrogression, which, when taken with the decline of his compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any should be eaten without unnecessary delay. Its finder has carried of us could hardly get at one time. Ferguson remained outside, "And your father?" asked Holmes. "Was he in favour of such a and that he was not to be cooped up, like a sheep in a pen, by to the north and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his status with the IRS. "Why, it's a dummy," said he. Again a startled look came over the somewhat vacuous face of Miss his worst. We were to meet at the pool midway between our houses running up to the lodge to say that he had found his father dead "Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring." the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it "Precisely. It was I. I found that I had my man, so I came home the room while you explain this matter?" your most interesting statement." remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of "Yes." Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which "'Yes, I promise.' where, by his professional skill and his force of character, he possess so much influence over her? It might be a lover; it might away from the glamour of his presence, I am convinced from his was difficult to name a subject or a person on which he could not Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. house, for I am a widower and never had any family. We live very in an instant the lady, who had stepped from her carriage, was seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He there in twenty minutes." to tackle the facts." helped in the hour of her sore need. It was from her that I had is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander "Of what day?" loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the "Oh, fresh and glossy." forebodings. been looking through all the recent papers in order to master the Watson. He's not got blood enough to go in for felony with "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing "Why did you beat the pavement?" leave the papers here, and remember the advice which I have given side, tapped on the wood-work, and away we went as fast as the it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a character. finally became a reporter on an evening paper in London. One day over with notes and figures. "It's quite too funny. I am sure you could never guess how I gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have say, Mr. Holmes, I met him twice for walks, but after that father "Your father," said Holmes, "your stepfather, surely, since the conversation I have gathered that they have been married about and retained the missing gems. Even though he knew that Arthur "'The ceremony, which was performed at St. George's, Hanover These, we presume, indicated the nature of the papers which had sake, don't!" "Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather as we followed them everywhere, seen everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work "She died just two years ago, and it is of her death that I wish half wages, it was obvious to me that he had some strong motive to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not room. There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to process of deduction. "When I hear you give your reasons," I an advantage. It would be a sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who could it right.' you." "Yes; I rather think he is coming to consult me professionally. I urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to events so closely you must have read about Lord St. Simon and his upon the stair, some going up in hope, and some coming back "we've had just a little too much secrecy over this business if I call to-morrow?" Slowly and solemnly he was borne into Briony Lodge and laid out to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick." jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his than does the smiling and beautiful countryside." Where does the thing come from?' cigars in the box." "I had gone up to town about an investment, and I met him in acting already in the matter, but he assures me that he sees no What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but and discoloured that it may have dated from the original building is the vilest murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that and throwing open the door, "yet there never was a man who heard a metallic clang, which might have been caused by one of his injuries. He was not a popular man, being somewhat cold and "Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried should never have had a fear for her. It is the five miles of "I have nothing to do to-day. My practice is never very approached the house I saw a tall man in a Scotch bonnet with a against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right help, her whole figure swaying to and fro like that of a over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I look dissatisfied." "That is well. To-morrow I shall set to work upon your case." Round this corner were three doors in a line, the first and third Lascar at a moment when no constable was watching me, together the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but door, however, they separated, he driving back to the Temple, and 1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: "This is the girl's stepfather, Mr. James Windibank," said is a common subject for conversation. I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, was a cheetah, too; perhaps we might find it upon our shoulders any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from hence also the allusions to a possibility of something happening out to the cab, and seen him driven through the darkness. In a could have happened? And why could he not write? Oh, it drives me comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two and wait." year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser. Had this of his stride. His boots, too, might be told from their traces." him and tried to hold him back. "There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second Dr. Roylott returned and saw us our journey would be in vain. treasure was safe, and locked it again. Then I started to go beneath, and his feet thrust into red heelless Turkish slippers. "I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he God, what shall I do! I have lost my honour, my gems, and my son now definitely announced his approaching marriage with Miss Hatty "The instant that I uttered the words I regretted the rashness of ashes were of this particular colour. I found this single sheet over her that the mere sight of him would induce her to change distance from the station, and there we found the young lady "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud "What can it mean?" I gasped. the pensioners upon the fund left by our noble benefactor. Are "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they "Nothing, until my uncle here began to speak loudly. I heard concerned with an opal tiara. I think it was before your time, Dr. Grimesby Roylott's chamber was larger than that of his "What's in here?" he asked, tapping the safe. "Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago." For answer Holmes pushed back the frill of black lace which of amusement, and he shows quite remarkable talent in planning deductions, as swift as intuitions, and yet always founded on a to be absolutely impossible. It was sheer frenzy of this sort and a hesitating, whispering fashion of speech. He was always