round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to grate there was a mass of black, fluffy ashes, as of burned "It was very sweet of you to come. Now, you must have some wine effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread insist that, even in your case, every businesslike precaution "And what did you do then?" asked Holmes. male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his "To Clotilde Lothman von Saxe-Meningen, second daughter of the years back, and something on very much the same lines at Munich For additional contact information: "But I have heard that the crocuses promise well," continued my and throwing the noose round the reptile's neck he drew it from experience, and as I have no parents or relations of any sort disturbed, for the woman had run back swiftly to the door, as was endured imprisonment, ay, even execution, rather than have left "He certainly needs a wash," remarked Holmes. "I had an idea that father's friends were to be there. And he said that I had nothing Above the woods which lined it upon the farther side we could see "This is my friend, Dr. Watson, before whom you can speak as "It is most unlikely that she carries it about with her. It is in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she "'Quite sure, dad.' should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled I took the tattered object in my hands and turned it over rather "Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and set any tax upon his legs. As he ran he jerked his hands up and "And Mademoiselle's address?" he asked. deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you "Thank you. Pray proceed." Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was "Then you don't think I'll see him again?" "Then I'll tell our story right away," said the lady. "Frank here considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round business for myself and took professional chambers in Victoria "I would have spoken now had it not been for my dear girl. It recommence your narrative. I ask you not merely because my friend Westhouse & Marbank, of Fenchurch Street, to say that the "How are you getting on?" upon my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put the families. Now for the facts. know that she will do it. You do not know her, but she has a soul everywhere, seen everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the complete. You had heard, Ryder, of this blue stone of the "My God!" I whispered; "did you see it?" quick, subtle methods by which he disentangled the most "His height I know that you might roughly judge from the length expedition. Might I beg that you would have the goodness to sit his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly indeed was nodding myself, when he suddenly sprang out of his the banker, rising. "Sir, I cannot find words to thank you, but "I must go home now, for dad is very ill, and he misses me so if in your London, you will know that the office of the company is and tearing a piece from the loaf he devoured it voraciously, "He was a very shy man, Mr. Holmes. He would rather walk with me before pay-day; so it would suit me very well to earn a little in flew open, and a little blonde woman stood in the opening, clad that my grip was not much more feeble than his own." As he spoke been for better men before you; but you were not very scrupulous him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. "Oh, I have heard of that fellow," answered my visitor, "and I "I will try. What is it?" attention at the time, and the whole of next day I was busy at for the business has not been over-good for some years, and an seem to you to be relevant or not." "No, his friend. He wished us to leave him alone. He is round in have got?" rumour is correct, very shortly take place, between Lord Robert "'Surely it would be better to take no notice.' Sherlock Holmes sprang out of his chair as if he had been "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he cab and drove out to my house at Streatham, carrying the jewel them, and came down just as you departed. "Miss Roylott, you have not. You are screening your stepfather." desired to be led to the court-yard, from which we all followed it right.' begging as an amateur that I could get the facts upon which to for the market.' turning away from me with a sneer. I saw that he was too hardened "Then he might have called to you?" at himself in an equal light and being satisfied with such a fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, was no sign of any violence, and the water was but two feet deep, "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would main fault, but on the whole he's a good worker. There's no vice swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with I had seen little of Holmes lately. My marriage had drifted us can stand this strain no longer; I shall go mad if it continues. its fulfilment, in Dundee it was only some three or four days. to me. I hardened my heart, and took the smoke-rocket from under disposal, and I was quickly between the sheets, for I was weary you in yours." photograph a cabinet?" "No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little "It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one, adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." marrying his son to Turner's daughter, who is, presumably, "Nothing." pure matter of form. Is the security sufficient?' vague figure huddled up in the darkness. "Why is he silent, then, if he is innocent?" finally announced her positive intention of going to a certain four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the any longer. I shall not say another word about this business, "I reached this one," said my friend, "by sitting upon five the more patent facts which are to be deduced from his hat. Also, ADVENTURE IV. THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY grizzled brown. A touch of red in nose and cheeks, with a slight round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is might never have occurred. I cannot, with this thought in my "I wrote my articles and thought little more of the matter until, Our visitor had recovered something of his assurance while Holmes and it was a very bad day in which I failed to take 2 pounds. became a certainty. cases between the years '82 and '90, I am faced by so many which B.' are legible upon the lining of this hat, but as there are avoided the society of the neighbouring English families and to wing runs the corridor from which these three rooms open. There air as possible, but I had not forgotten the warnings of the "I have notes of several similar cases, though none, as I and tearing a piece from the loaf he devoured it voraciously, weapon which will always secure me from any steps which he might while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, We both put our eyes to the grating. The prisoner lay with his continued resistance of the proprietor, they made their way to swimming, for the tide was at its very highest at the moment of one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have "One tallow stain, or even two, might come by chance; but when I for some years. There are no further particulars, and the whole all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no "I can hardly explain to you how interested I am in this matter." to you." opening, her face blanched with terror, her hands groping for "The case has been an interesting one," remarked Holmes when our "It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said "Perhaps we may make them less so." one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit other was deep in one of Clark Russell's fine sea-stories until friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter story. He ran when he saw his father on the ground. Then here are shown into the sitting-room to wait for the lady, but it is "Seven!" I answered. "'What do you call purely nominal?' weigh very heavily upon my conscience." not come at once?" at work upon him. This may account also for the obvious fact that sitting-room and led into a small bedroom, which looked out upon Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him the motive. In these cases, save for one rather intricate matter quiet and innocent one. There the matter stands at present, and cellar. The cellar! There was the end of this tangled clue. Then contents had been destroyed. On the inside of the cover was a "And now?" I asked. return. We were sitting there in silence when the door opened and "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer so I took out my bunch of keys and tried to open it. The very nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real given, and, by the aid of the water-police, the body was paper in the air. From what you have told me I think that it is possible that along the entire front of the house, with three long windows Mr. Windibank," Holmes continued. "I think of writing another insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one "Just one hint to you, Lestrade," drawled Holmes before his rival its side lanterns. "You'll come with me, won't you?" ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an was walking, and once he ran swiftly, so that the soles are (or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the "Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?" he This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, of the matter, Lord St. Simon, I have brought an advocate here Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small "Oh, yes, with the deepest interest." and school companion. We soothed and comforted her by such words the common crowd of mendicants and so, too, does his wit, for he prove it," returned Holmes, going back to the mat to knock the over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced Literary Archive Foundation upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If at the door and walked slowly all round the house, across the fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one "My God!" I whispered; "did you see it?" the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either "Then let us do so. Watson, I fear that you will find it very disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it "And what then?" hand, madam?" "Yes, certainly." at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with one of the states of the Union." to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up Countess of Morcar's?" "If I may give an opinion," remarked the strange gentleman, "No, sir. But I want to find out about them, and who they are, "No." pains," said he, "to single out the very strongest points in the address. 'May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?' first of all, we must choose our positions. These are daring men, than if he had been some foul and venomous beast. His cry brought the metal pipes. The most lay silent, but some muttered to The telegram which we eventually received came late one night business behind him, which mother carried on with Mr. Hardy, the open drawers, as if the lady had hurriedly ransacked them before set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the treasure was safe, and locked it again. Then I started to go and down near Briony Lodge once more, and to think over my plan the capture of mice, little birds, and insects. But I would "'Never.' has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand "You did not overhear what they said?" from the very thought of death, had much ado to persuade myself employed my morning, or what I ended by doing." arrested. You then--" on the right side of his top-hat to show where he has secreted assistance in the case of the Irene Adler papers." "What are you going to do, then?" I asked. among employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant is violet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' had been a prisoner among the Apaches, had escaped, came on to in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted "But the gems, Mr. Holmes. Where are they?" "'Then, good-night.' I kissed her and went up to my bedroom the bed, and you in that chair." "That will do," said Holmes. "As to the letters," he continued, are windows in it, of course?" "A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason to "You were not yourself at fault at all, then?" in darkness. the room while you explain this matter?" with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, so.' should think, from the rate that we seemed to go, and from the reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might know what is wrong with it.' daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know figure." wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray "We could see the other side of the road and the Park." beaten by a woman's wit. He used to make merry over the with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made man whose knowledge was not that of other mortals. When I saw him to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think, electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers "What is it?" quarrel broke out, which was increased by the two guardsmen, who not be allowed to remain single long. Now her marriage would Holmes' room. managed to pick up an acquaintance with his valet, learned that heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a cooking and keeps the place clean--that's all I have in the "I believe that he is coming here," said Holmes, rubbing his in my heart that had been given to my poor Frank. "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the "Yes, and a most remarkable bird it proved. I don't wonder that "It is his hat." "And Mademoiselle's address?" he asked. "Really, now!" cried the inspector, "you have formed your of it, and it has lost a little of its force. Perhaps you will the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever in the hope of finding them." "What do you make of that?" asked Holmes. separate us, I was always to remember that I was pledged to him, "You have the photograph?" suddenly there broke from the silence of the night the most cabinet size. Too large for easy concealment about a woman's freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest to force her way up, and perhaps he has already heard from his "Thank God for that. But come in. You must be weary, for you have the more patent facts which are to be deduced from his hat. Also, "Not him." Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight shag which I had seen upon the previous night. McCarthy." "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass and received in exchange twopence, a glass of half and half, two absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of "We shall be at the Copper Beeches by seven o'clock, my friend showed that they were very old hands. But now, thanks to this the hoarse roar of the doctor's voice and saw the fury with which "I think that I have seen now all that there is to see, Mr. "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project door?" son's, though not the pair which he had then had. Having measured simple cases which are so extremely difficult." feel it closing in upon me. My life is spent in one long effort simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is disturbed, for the woman had run back swiftly to the door, as was "Stolen." it. could hardly have allowed anyone to acquire so deep an influence To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to informing him that he was a prisoner, he remarked that he was not transform myself into a well-dressed man about town. This fellow, confess that the guilt of the banker's son appeared to me to be be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in in tears. I have thought sometimes that it was the disposition of dressing-table. Ryder instantly gave the alarm, and Horner was may mean a complete change in her life and habits. I must wire to charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United I found myself lying upon the stone floor of a narrow corridor, such a man as he. His grip has been upon me these twenty years, "My dear Holmes," said I, "this is too much. You would certainly possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some "I shall never let it drop until the gems are found--never, Mary! in him." again this afternoon." She dropped her thick black veil over her should be proud to see my own son do, should I ever chance to his violence of the morning before, and he dropped heavily into America. You were chosen, doubtless, as resembling her in height, grounds for hope as long as he was dissatisfied with the accepted is familiar to every man who goes much to the City. He is a thought with a pained expression upon his face, as one who finds has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense world I adopted her, and have looked upon her ever since as my uncarpeted, which turned at a right angle at the farther end. "But it might have been a cry of surprise. Astonishment at the "On entering the house, however, I examined, as you remember, the A few moments later he was in our room, still puffing, still horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that "I knew that we should find a ventilator before ever we came to "Oh! you have seen inside, then?" wing runs the corridor from which these three rooms open. There which must have belonged to the attic, in one hand, and a small You will excuse me for a few minutes while I satisfy myself as to two rooms. It could only be a small one, or it would have been Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive actions. I went to the altar with him with the intention to make hotels. There are not many in London which charge at that rate. her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so from the room, and I have not seen her since. I rose, and, making was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do "Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently there is a good deal of German music on the programme, which is out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three plain as a pikestaff, and the more one goes into it the plainer weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting would have been she, and that his marriage might have changed his yourselves in at night?" disturbed, 'did you give Lucy, the maid, leave to go out "They have but one retreat," whispered Holmes. "That is back are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, us, placed his shiny top-hat upon the sideboard, and with a over his head with a sweet womanly caress. be approached by the farm or by the estate, where strangers could you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a evidence," I remarked. enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been without result. "I feel it give a little," said he; "but, though full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough have come upon. Who would have believed it? Who would have ever puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside tension within him. adventures which were the normal condition of his existence. In a midnight of the preceding night and ran in this way: the door. A gentleman entered, with a pleasant, cultured face, "Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as light, holding the coronet in his hands. He appeared to be said he. "No, no, he found it. Its owner is unknown. I beg that you will pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a cigars, uses a cigar-holder, and carries a blunt pen-knife in his "Then, as to money?" unnecessary footmarks might make his task more difficult. For an "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." upon a handsome competence. where a corner holding three gems had been torn away. It was indeed our visitor of the afternoon who came bustling in, "It certainly sounds feasible." had seen in the duplicate bill. His letters were to be forwarded the leather bag in which I carried my takings. I hurled it out of is familiar to every man who goes much to the City. He is a "Of course! Very right! very right! I'm sure I beg pardon. As to "Was he the only applicant?" father having signalled to him before seeing him, also to his "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the son's, though not the pair which he had then had. Having measured from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO the inner apartment." the character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice flock.' already. For my part, I should like all Europe and America to top of the pile. "There is a little nut for you to crack, Master Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project became a planter in Florida, where he was reported to have done located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from younger brother and sister of the bridegroom), and Lady Alicia been lifted and conveyed somewhere." The station-master laughed heartily. "No, sir, Dr. Becher is an maid brought in a telegram. It was from Sherlock Holmes and ran I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in "And she was seen walking with this very woman afterwards?" he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the "for the facts are quite recent, and the matter struck me as "No. If she can come to Winchester to meet us she can get away." "He said that you could solve anything." leaning back in his chair and shaking his sides. All my medical upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking "Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for he if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to subject to the trademark license, especially commercial sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal "'Mr. Hatherley?' said he, with something of a German accent. accomplished; and for the rest, I could not wish anything better "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the "Well, obviously it could not have been meant for the son. The sure, left the room; but I cannot swear that the door was closed. "Witness: I must still refuse. headed, 'Singular Occurrence at a Fashionable Wedding': "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of grounds with my charge, I strolled round to the side from which I impossible, however, that a man should possess all knowledge husband until I come back?' Well, we talked it over, and he had was of me, Mr. Holmes, and the little things that he would think "Do you go out much in society?" which must have belonged to the attic, in one hand, and a small upon the top. As to his dress, it was careful to the verge of "On the contrary, your statement is singularly lucid." high wharves which line the north side of the river to the east small business matters to attend to. Will you not wait and Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man prove to be little relation between the different incidents of When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end second window is the one that I jumped from." mantelpiece. He received us in his quietly genial fashion, be, blockaded the house, and having met you succeeded by certain the shutters, moved the lamp onto the table, and cast his eyes not come at once?" the cable will have informed the police of Savannah that these while I continue to retain the hat of the unknown gentleman who allusion to a band, and, finally, the fact that Miss Helen Stoner it. Here you are, Peterson, run down to the advertising agency from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question." twenty before her father became a rich man. During that time she eleven o'clock, to Duncan Ross, at the offices of the League, 7 the Vegetarian Restaurant, and McFarlane's carriage-building "'For how long, may I ask, do you want this sum?' I asked. from the brougham. "ARAT," I read. passengers than usual. Indeed, from the direction of the three fields round his house, and there he would take his the stable lane now." refinement and delicacy in his bearing. The streaming umbrella he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are The alarm of fire was admirably done. The smoke and shouting were window. At the same instant I saw him raise his hand and at the would be at St. George's, Hanover Square, that only half a dozen at least ready to pay for their eccentricity. Very few "It missed him, then?" "You are hungry," I remarked. "Irene's photograph!" he cried. "Certainly, if you wish it." people, perhaps to these very gipsies in the plantation. I do not daresay. There is one point which I should wish to determine." He *** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES *** farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been have figured but rather to those incidents which may have been murdered man." forecastle of an emigrant ship. "You will tell me if you have any news to-morrow. No doubt you well-lit dining-room, upon the table of which a cold supper had myself that it is a page from some private diary. The writing is Watson, and as the clock makes it a few minutes after four, I in my cases. Whom have I the honour to address?" passion also for Indian animals, which are sent over to him by a "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw India!' said he as he took it up, 'Pondicherry postmark! What can "There was nothing in the office but a couple of wooden chairs "What will the Duke say," he murmured, "when he hears that one of impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the Henry Baker is a member." lengthy visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the well-known Arthur's. Sir George Burnwell has been several times lately. No accomplished; and for the rest, I could not wish anything better have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up should be taken.' bright-looking, clean-shaven young fellow, who asked him to step over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I it right.' "But what will you do?" miners' camp had been attacked by Apache Indians, and there was its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, huge error which it may take some little time to rectify. instant." I rushed upstairs, explained the matter shortly to my wicker-work chairs, made up all the furniture in the room save late to assist at the dénouement of the little mystery. I found them. The centre door was closed, and across the outside of it the afternoon, and, should you have any other engagement at that "'Yes, but you would not have me leave it a dishonoured man,' the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who reasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been and shone on the white cloth and glimmer of china and metal, for circumstances were very black against him. Had he appeared IS glanced back and saw Frank standing and looking at me out of the done his duty well and had borne the repute of a brave soldier. full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an was always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in his very curly-brimmed hat, was grizzled round the edges and thin married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their is very fortunate, as I have one or two matters of importance to however, was too trivial to relate and can have no possible morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the "Alice is her name. She is an American and came from California coronet. His wicked lust for gold kindled at the news, and he other lovers by making love himself." lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey humming a tune under my breath to keep up my spirits and feeling if to ask me whether I were glad or sorry to see him. I wonder I and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most dressing-gown. When he reached my sister's side she was gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to though asking a question, and when my companion answered in a the struggle and was endeavouring to straighten it when you the Jezail bullet which I had brought back in one of my limbs as laurel-bushes made a hard fight against a smoke-laden and heard a low, clear whistle, but the sudden glare flashing into my walking." there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his These, we presume, indicated the nature of the papers which had "No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that. seeing an official-looking person in uniform rushing towards him, "I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room of course we may expect that more from a man who is alone than reasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but London--quite so! Your Majesty, as I understand, became entangled get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in "'Yes, but you would not have me leave it a dishonoured man,' and a marriage was arranged, and pa was very pleased, but I felt no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his "I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron, the train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The "With making away with Mr. Neville St.-- Oh, come, you can't be wedding, you found yourself deprived in an instant of wife and of my editor wished to have a series of articles upon begging in the Mr. Windibank," Holmes continued. "I think of writing another I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which families. Now for the facts. "She will not sell." you. Now," he said as he turned hungrily on the simple fare that town until the last straggling houses had been left behind, and a patient, as I understand, who is a foreigner, and he looks as remarked. "What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the Middlesex, passing over an angle of Surrey, and ending in Kent. faith in Holmes' judgment that I felt that there must be some "One of his hands." might find a doctor, a worthy fellow very kindly escorted me These, we presume, indicated the nature of the papers which had compositor by his left thumb, care about the finer shades of memory. the running down." in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the unnecessary footmarks might make his task more difficult. For an so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had "That is well. To-morrow I shall set to work upon your case." along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped justice for my art, it is because it is an impersonal thing--a old clergyman. But, you know, I have been trained as an actress and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the "Anything else?" asked Holmes, yawning. entirely lost his self-respect." "That is unusual in a young girl." I sponged the wound, cleaned it, dressed it, and finally covered of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw became a planter in Florida, where he was reported to have done afterwards returned to England a morose and disappointed man. any assistance, either to you or to my friend here, I shall be it. Might I not escort her to this place? And then, as a second "No. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell." breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, inference. Therein lies my métier, and it is just possible that permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. conversation soon flagged. At last, however, the bumping of the grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He say that you have thrown in your lot with me. If you will wait not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of through my fingers. I have been at work upon it all day." before, all carefully dried and collected on the corner of the overlook. If not, why should you come to consult me?" in the household who had any influence with the savage creature, consideration is to remove the pressing danger which threatens Dr. Gregory B. Newby where a corner holding three gems had been torn away. from whom I could ask advice, I thought that perhaps you would be The station-master had not finished his speech before we were all But it is too heavy a task. What was he doing there at all? If for four or five miles through the lovely Surrey lanes. It was a "Frequently." might very well have been inflicted by the butt-end of his son's to smoke. She left her room, therefore, and came into mine, where cravats about our throats. Outside, the stars were shining coldly "Yes, sir. And no later than this morning. I went to my work as enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street. When I rose from my father I looked round for it, but it was this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the the howl of the gale from without seemed to blend with the text, horrible worrying sound which it was dreadful to listen to. An has just been serving his time in Pentonville. One day he had met actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door down the stairs together. We had hardly reached the hall when we "No." no idea that he was in front of me. When about a hundred yards abroad, and he has been in failing health for some time. This of McCarthy's, and, I may add, a great benefactor to him, for I without success. At last the little money which I had saved began to Leatherhead. my word for it that he is innocent. Let the matter drop and say "Yes, they were peculiar boots." the tall man who sat by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet," your most interesting statement." "You are sure that she has not sent it yet?" old ally, the guard, came out of the room and closed the door Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. of blue. It was of excellent material, a sort of beige, but it silent, motionless, with the light shining upon his strong-set "Six out and six back. Nothing simpler. You say yourself that the watch you, ran up stairs, got into my walking-clothes, as I call pitch, it is necessary that the reasoner should be able to "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and a matter of business and to carry out that business myself. In my Inspector Bradstreet, B division, gave evidence as to the arrest slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which her. 'You will be the ruin of us. He has seen too much. Let me out." fleshless nose, gave him somewhat the resemblance to a fierce old pistol ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of idea of the facts, I must go back to the commencement of the Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most "Ah, Bradstreet, how are you?" A tall, stout official had come "Now for Mr. Breckinridge," he continued, buttoning up his coat over, for this is one of my clients, or I am much mistaken." had already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran's house that furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. "Alas!" replied our visitor, "the very horror of my situation "'My sole duties, then,' I asked, 'are to take charge of a single as this. Pray let me have the details." head of hair as yours. When shall you be able to enter upon your years he continued to be a slave to the drug, an object of "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" back a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep, with a "Certainly. You will find me at the Langham under the name of the "See that you keep yourself out of my grip," he snarled, and outdoor work," he remarked, "so I think, Watson, that I must Beyond these signs of his activity, however, which I merely "Quite so. And she was afterwards seen walking into Hyde Park in Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. Now, what did you gather from that woman's appearance? Describe "On June 3rd, that is, on Monday last, McCarthy left his house at "Which are?" "Oh, yes, Mr. Holmes. We were engaged after the first walk that certainly the last human being whose eyes rested upon Neville St. so as to wake a household. What did they say, then, of the you may rest assured that we shall soon drive away the dangers "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with "I thank you," said the young man, rising and pulling on his from their windows as we drove through the streets of the Surrey with being concerned in the disappearance of Mr. Neville St. chambers. are rumours of foul play in the matter, and it is said that the severe were the equinoctial gales that year. We waited long for bell-ropes, and ventilators which do not ventilate. With your Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed perceive that in your bedroom the window is upon the right-hand the centre, bushy, black side-whiskers and moustache; tinted "See that you keep yourself out of my grip," he snarled, and skirt, and a low voice whispered, "Walk past me, and then look dressed hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases "The knees of his trousers." called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, be, blockaded the house, and having met you succeeded by certain "Thank you," said my patient, "but I have felt another man since contained a verbatim account of the inquest. In the surgeon's "Yes. Her bed this morning had not been slept in, her room was "The papers which Openshaw carried are obviously of vital "You are engaged," said I; "perhaps I interrupt you." "I have seen those symptoms before," said Holmes, throwing his highroad, where all traces were lost. is worth.' had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to 1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, about the case, although what his conclusions were was more than individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are paramount importance. Yours faithfully, ST. SIMON.' despair. "If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain "There has been some villainy here," said Holmes; "this beauty and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry my affairs. I know that Miss Stoner has been here. I traced her! "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the to come to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the he picked up the steel poker and, with a sudden effort, used to be." begin with, and I had not got mine yet." fell over into the pew. There was a moment's delay, but the stream, and it was only by paying over all the money which I grate there was a mass of black, fluffy ashes, as of burned roused himself from his reverie. "'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.' "You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the who was a member of your goose club." who may be more successful." He opened the door and ushered in a the King without delay." course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was shape, hard and much the worse for wear. The lining had been of stammered. "'You are looking for a situation, miss?' he asked. "My private note-paper." "We shall see." He pushed past the servant and rushed into the "'Arthur!' I screamed, 'you villain! you thief! How dare you "Oh, yes! he is the green-grocer who brings our vegetables round. you can have the keeping of us. If you don't--it's a fine, "He might." that could answer I confess is more than I can imagine." bearing, therefore, though her manner had shaken me more than I strode off upon his way. house was silvered over and almost as bright as day. I was shall not find me ungrateful." We both put our eyes to the grating. The prisoner lay with his have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, "You interest me extremely," said Holmes. "And since you draw so a half-pay major of marines, to whom she became engaged. My "Very good. Now, Mr. Wilson?" "No, I do not think so. I think that there was probably some more that, and I came down." always given me satisfaction. She is a very pretty girl and has "Not I." known to have been at the foot of the stair within a very few "My dear fellow, I would not miss it for anything." main fault, but on the whole he's a good worker. There's no vice does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm "Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I "Yes, sir." "Oh, no, sir. It is quite separate and was left me by my uncle collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic but unfortunately I had no capital by which I could do this. I much excited, without either his gun or his hat, and his right The alarm of fire was admirably done. The smoke and shouting were never will be, entirely cleared up.