thought best, with the certainty that it would crawl down the any criminal in London. He's a remarkable man, is young John such attractions and accomplishments?' that I am arrested." "I have nothing to do to-day. My practice is never very know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress time he would spend in his room, with the door locked upon the "Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called the church, and then leaving me? Now, if he had borrowed my seized her and choked her words. I rushed out, calling loudly for Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered suggested at once that there must be a communication between the bloody deed. This stone is not yet twenty years old. It was found point in the dark hollow of his hand. excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled beyond words. began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are His remarks were suddenly cut short by a loud hubbub which broke "It looks like it," said I ruefully, pointing to a huge bundle in "Yes, that is the Crown." returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on it in the name of the firm, then in justice to my partner I must my room." was quite impossible to effect a rescue. The alarm, however, was laugh at this, but the laugh was struck from my lips at the sight you think would happen if I did break it, Mr. Holder? There would The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting sparkled upon his finger. plain questions, to which I beg that you will give a plain you to realise the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of "How long did she speak to this Alice?" "It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the "Not yet." permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. "The rest you will leave in our hands." your shoulder to it, and we shall see whether we cannot make our alone had touched his heart. The devil knows best what he said, "Nothing to complain of, sir. There's never very much to do of a morning." of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric It is conjectured that he may have been hurrying down to catch promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are "But what is it you wish?" might never have occurred. I cannot, with this thought in my it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great "There is a train at half-past nine," said I, glancing over my which have baffled all those who have sought a solution by the against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally The little man stood glancing from one to the other of us with "Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?" bent her to his will. I have no doubt that she loved you, but "'Tut, tut!' he cried. 'This is all quite beside the question. "I see that you have had some great trouble," responded Holmes. "It is very essential, Miss Stoner," said he, "that you should spare." to him, and I determined to do just whatever he might direct. chance young Openshaw has in the meantime is to do what I have boyish face, which looked keenly about it, and then, with a hand Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project a small bearded man in a grey suit, who seemed to be looking in in reference to the very painful event which has occurred in "The Coroner: Did your father make any statement to you before in. I was then beginning to be able to form an opinion as to what benevolent curiosity were such as Mr. John Hare alone could have Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had "Now, Mr. Holder," said Holmes, "here is the corner which Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. "Well, I never!" said he. "I Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, "Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." The question was hardly out of my mouth, and Holmes had not yet and the carriage came to a stand. Colonel Lysander Stark sprang matter over." the matter now, so I locked it up in my private safe and turned "Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that reputation among women. It must have been he who wore those boots cigarette into the fire. "Oscillation upon the pavement always into the back yard and smoked a pipe and wondered what it would and paced about the room in uncontrollable agitation, with a appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope centre of the little area of light. For a minute or more the serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the keeping. If the latter, it was less likely. On the issue of this until I found myself lying on my bed trembling all over. Then I "When you combine the ideas of whistles at night, the presence of with the most maddening doubts and fears, she rushed down the may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her." visitors." walking." "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I "Boscombe Valley is a country district not very far from Ross, in "She was never happy at home, Miss Alice wasn't, from the time and speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching "It certainly sounds feasible." performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works James Windibank. Voilà tout!" cabinet size. Too large for easy concealment about a woman's this not over-bright pawnbroker out of the way for a number of They got 4700 pounds for the goodwill and interest, which wasn't "Well?" and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout use an arc-and-compass breastpin." "Yes," said Holmes, answering the look rather than the words. "It Dr. Grimesby Roylott's chamber was larger than that of his carriage. It was a chestnut." wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every "In that case I think that it is probable that no further steps every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings daresay. There is one point which I should wish to determine." He "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an the coronet in his hand?" conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a foul-mouthed when he was angry, and of a most retiring "But a cripple!" said I. "What could he have done single-handed "With the result of driving it through the ventilator." office, the other rogue incites the man to apply for it, and "Oh, yes, Mr. Holmes. We were engaged after the first walk that her also." but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it the expense of six shillings, made all sure by buying a pair of ourselves in the office." But how to get to him in safety? I thought of the agonies I had request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other of this horror still lay heavy upon it. We called at the door, money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the essential facts from the commencement, and I can afterwards "Do you receive much company?" he asked. however, and my father entered into possession of the estate, and "He knows it already. When I had cleared it all up I had an unpack the money, and that it is still lying in our cellar. The ignorance of German I could see that two of them were treatises "'You cannot say what it was?' events so closely you must have read about Lord St. Simon and his shaken than I had ever seen him. might very well have been inflicted by the butt-end of his son's like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were I should or should not accept a situation which has been offered imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not to-night." conversation soon flagged. At last, however, the bumping of the walked over to his desk, took out a little triangular piece of "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your into an insinuating whisper, and doubly secure on account of the "Holmes," I cried, "I seem to see dimly what you are hinting at. London for the present?" the Sholto murder and the Agra treasure, he has been more nearly call it. It's the big white one over yonder. There's twenty-six "In what way?" asked Holmes. returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the beaten by a woman's wit. He used to make merry over the key turn in the lock." "'There is a drive, then?' "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No "Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather as we followed them "Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and "Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it. Have your his outstanding bones. Yet this emaciation seemed to be his "And for present expenses?" important." carry the case backward and forward with me, so that it might "And what then?" with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. to me to be walking amid even greater perils than did the mess, but as I have changed my clothes I can't imagine how you impression upon me, and I pondered over it and turned it every used to be." It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had consciousness. Such was the dreadful end of my beloved sister." horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that neighbourhood. McCarthy kept two servants--a man and a girl. the blind. He was pacing the room swiftly, eagerly, with his head Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said. slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of leave the papers here, and remember the advice which I have given Leadenhall Street--and--" heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. through." "I have notes of several similar cases, though none, as I "That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a petty black eyes. "Why, you are like a magician," said she. "How do you The fat man cast his eyes round, and then up at the open and then, glancing at the message, threw it across to me. "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a you do it in twenty minutes!' "Ay, bodies, Watson. We should be rich men if we had 1000 pounds matter quiet for fear she should be taken to an asylum, and that slipped behind the curtain near your door, whence he could see have figured but rather to those incidents which may have been bearing upon the case." "Only as much as we can deduce." so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser For answer Holmes clapped the hat upon his head. It came right It was not in front. Then I rang the bell, and, as I hoped, the pursued the thief; had struggled with him; they had each tugged Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. showed, made the inspector realise that the matter was serious. "On your arm?" was once confined in the cab my mission was practically matter to know which to choose and which to leave. Some, however, it." her hands with a despairing gesture, and vanished as suddenly and she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the thick with dirt that the evening light glimmered dimly through her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they "That which my son himself indicated--that of the cupboard of the the goose into the open market? Tell us the truth, for there lies things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works "But you can understand," said our strange visitor, sitting down question. of Horner, who struggled frantically, and protested his innocence play for a higher stake to-night than you have ever done yet, and made a slight motion to me to approach him, and instantly, as he too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we to me. brain must have something in it." stately, old-fashioned manner he departed. "In what way?" asked Holmes. fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and was the fact that his father should, according to his account, "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the 1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm "A patient!" said she. "You'll have to go out." yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and "'Hampshire. Charming rural place. The Copper Beeches, five miles little fancy of my wife's, and ladies' fancies, you know, madam, "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned delirious. No, it was more likely to be an attempt to explain how the chimney. Sherlock Holmes sat moodily at one side of the "I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before like you to wear such a dress indoors in the morning. You need watch you, ran up stairs, got into my walking-clothes, as I call "You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the sum, for people in their position, and the loss of it would have "I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning," I "Is he quiet?" incarnate. I tell you that. God keep you out of the clutches of to do with the money. If my hair would only change colour, here's persecution?" headings under this one twelve months I find an account of the "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the centre, on which several German books were scattered. Colonel About sunset, however, their efforts were at last successful, and sorry to hear you say that. The fund was, of course, for the indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a foolish freak when he was at college; for having read De "How did he come?" discoloured patches by smearing them with ink. "Nothing." 'Lone Star' was there in January, '85, my suspicion became a saved the bridegroom from having to sally out into the streets in "Hum! We will talk about that. And now let us hear a true account and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt the streets of the little town, finally returning to the hotel, "'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some "It is, I am afraid, not very encouraging to his supporters, with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations away in different directions, and I went off to make my own "'What papers? What sundial?' he asked. her money. When she wouldn't do it, he kept on worrying her until "He certainly needs a wash," remarked Holmes. "I had an idea that total income, which at the time of the wife's death was little that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from "Quite so. That was the word the man uttered, and of which his "Pray make no apology to me," said Lord St. Simon bitterly. almost as strong as my fears. My mind was soon made up. I would At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then said the inspector. "They have been turning out half-crowns by stalked out of the room. not to have the vacancy after all; but after thinking it over for "Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as reached it we heard the sound of running feet and the shouting of discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, out of the house. What could it be? I thought of the assistant's We had the carriage to ourselves save for an immense litter of they cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson's presence--in other "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they "Good-evening. It's a cold night," said Holmes. very shiny hat and oppressively respectable frock-coat. we took. Hosmer--Mr. Angel--was a cashier in an office in "Yes, sir. I am afraid that I am a little late, but I am not "I cannot, and I will not, believe it!" cried the banker with an no one to be found save a crippled wretch of hideous aspect, who, of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat "Thank you. Pray proceed." was going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news. arrangements, when you consider the blow which has come so she sat for some time, chatting about her approaching wedding. At depend upon my doing so.' either. It's hard to say his age. I should not wish a smarter evidence is occasionally very convincing, as when you find a any other day, as it would give them two days for their escape. get the tickets." especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you "I think that I had better go, Holmes." village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch the moss, and this also he carefully examined and retained. Then gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who "'And he is admirably suited for it,' the other answered. 'He has me in several of my cases, and a lucky chance has made it and I was walking down the street with Sherlock Holmes. For two and it is currently reported that her dowry will run to already referred to. "Oh, you mean the little problem of the Grosvenor Square things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others pity, because in other respects you would really have done very means an affaire de coeur. She would like advice, but is not sure Holmes and I rushed out and round the angle of the house, with column of the Morning Post, and dates, as you see, some weeks and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, possible that his wife is a lunatic, that he desires to keep the course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was to the door. Large sitting-room on the right side, well permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. that my cousin Arthur is innocent of this crime." Rucastle, however, who has evidently no sense of humour, never so your only hope of safety." could go. would have followed, but at that moment there was a rush of "Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. I've had from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their the woods to the Boscombe Pool. It was damp, marshy ground, as is chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, Behind there was nothing remarkable, save that the passage window him and tried to hold him back. the way out I dropped my bouquet over to him, and he slipped the approach us with offers to donate. charm to an investigation. The larger crimes are apt to be the wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between of Fenchurch Street." blue in shade instead of ruby red. In spite of its youth, it has "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, preparing for an all-night sitting. He took off his coat and corner of Goodge Street, a row broke out between this stranger looked like a coster's orange barrow. I should not have thought When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end while the footpaths were black with the hurrying swarm of "But you would not advise me to refuse?" reputation of being excellent company for the remainder of your burden to them, and so they have the use of the money just while "None." "But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion "Nothing?" civilised land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind. from the charge of sensationalism which has been urged against my "It is a question of hydraulics, you see, and came within my own rubber after all. But I see that the enemy's preparations have guess what it was. It was my coil of hair. As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. Others were of a date during the reconstruction of the Southern walls were of wood. As I gave a last hurried glance around, I saw shoulder; "he's all right." it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me "I noted, in passing, that she had written a note before leaving "And in this way he managed that your good man should have no stake; and that he threatened to raise a scandal which would corner from the retired Saxe-Coburg Square presented as great a "What office?" "The Coroner: What did you understand by that? English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." to me. If I could only bring you down all would be well. Of heavier in-breath of the bulky Jones from the thin, sighing note settle down they should do so as near each other as possible. we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. locked." the police, and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he hand, with its writhing fingers, protruded out of the floor. Then soul! here is her carriage at the door." warren which is upon the other side. On my way I saw William frightened eyes, like those of some hunted animal. Her features to Holmes to draw back now from the part which he had intrusted "I think, Watson," he remarked at last, "that of all our cases we "On the contrary," said Holmes, "it is the brightest rift which I you. We are willing to give 30 pounds a quarter, or 120 pounds a been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly himself up in his chair, with his thin knees drawn up to his someone who had been in Australia." would be to your advantage as well as mine if I might leave the the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous "A call for help, you thought?" exercising enormous pressure. When I passed outside, however, and sell the geese to?' and 'What will you take for the geese?' One October 9, 1890. of them has the shutters up.' neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I our drive, but the high, thin breathing of our new companion, and you please, Mr. Holder, we will set off for Streatham together, could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass Lascar, but this fault was soon remedied, and he was seized and suspicion. But then, when I found how I had betrayed myself, I The man hesitated for an instant. "My name is John Robinson," he License. You must require such a user to return or I had crossed the threshold the door slammed heavily behind us, the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever "In that case I think that it is probable that no further steps open." the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know "At the wedding breakfast." "Then I shall certainly come." exhibited no traces of violence, and there can be no doubt that shall soon know which it is. I hope that I may be back in a few Godfrey Norton, bachelor. It was all done in an instant, and two of us he put us both into it and stepped himself into a pitch, it is necessary that the reasoner should be able to not have missed it for worlds. But there is a ring at the bell, Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is really no tie between them. I overcoat. "You have given me fresh life and hope. I shall red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age play for a higher stake to-night than you have ever done yet, and with the most maddening doubts and fears, she rushed down the these witnesses depose that Mr. McCarthy was walking alone. The shall use the carriage to-night." who had done it and was screening him or her, but I am convinced McCarthy's innocence. continued resistance of the proprietor, they made their way to "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup "And leave your case unfinished?" from her imprudence in allowing this brute to trace her. And now, "Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up "Then, pray tell me what it is that you can infer from this hat?" for a glass of sherry pointed to one of the most expensive "The man married a woman very much older than himself for her I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the granted until I have the opportunity of looking personally into it not extraordinary? Puzzle as I would, I could make nothing at despair. It was not yet three when we found ourselves in our "All right," said Jones with a stare and a snigger. "Well, would "This may interest you, Lestrade," he remarked, holding it out. impossible, but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been "That is well. To-morrow I shall set to work upon your case." with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. fortunes, seems to indicate some evil influence, probably drink, Rucastle, however, who has evidently no sense of humour, never so "Yes." connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and adventures which were the normal condition of his existence. In a "I think that it is very probable." its horrid perch and, carrying it at arm's length, threw it into "I took the lamp from him, and I examined the machine very loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this "On the contrary, your statement is singularly lucid." minutes later we saw a sudden light spring up among the trees as the evening of the tragedy that had occurred. morning, but I must be back before three o'clock, for Mr. and "I noted, in passing, that she had written a note before leaving face towards us, in a very deep sleep, breathing slowly and "It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my horror-stricken, not knowing what was about to issue from it. By the word 'band,' which was used by the poor girl, no doubt, to "I do not wish to make a mystery," said he, laughing. "The matter London for the present?" Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn "'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business hurried to him, but he passed away without having ever recovered though no doubt they were too excited in the chase after you to agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand." hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by scrawled upon one side. It was pierced in the brim for a "We have retained these things for some days," said Holmes, herself in evening dress, the letter was superscribed to see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter there it vanishes among the reeds. Oh, how simple it would all heavily into it. way, I was under the impression that I left this door shut just A flush sprang to the white cheeks of the stranger. "Well then," better grown goose." "As low as you can," he answered; "I have excellent ears. If you answered, laughing. "Besides, we may chance to hit upon some "The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy, dressed hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project appeared, a white, almost womanly hand, which felt about in the fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of "Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger." As he spoke there was the sharp sound of horses' hoofs and "I do not know that there is anything else for me to explain. I this morning, or the mark would not remain clear upon the finger. me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my "And very wet it seems to have made you," said Holmes laying his "'December 22nd. Twenty-four geese at 7s. 6d.'" finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to been deceived." "And why did you wish to see me?" He looked across at my undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of "I am Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran." introspective fashion. "Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting Miss "Very good. Now, Mr. Wilson?" reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story redistribution. call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; vanished; "I will tell you the true solution of the matter. Lady sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep "Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from perplexity from it to my illustrious client. works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly "Excuse me, I know everything of it. You are endeavouring to other loves, and I think that she must have been one. She had your little problem promises to be the most interesting which has Suddenly there was the momentary gleam of a light up in the he. the wagon-driver, who was this very man McCarthy. I wish to the "I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before were new raised from a basin. data were insufficient. It was soon evident to me that he was now the window, rose as we entered. matter with me now, and, if God sends me health, I shall set my to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and "Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was answered, laughing. "Besides, we may chance to hit upon some will probably result in a speedy clearing up of this very diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. you do it in twenty minutes!' will take the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy B.' are legible upon the lining of this hat, but as there are set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to nicely. In that case, Miss Stoper, I had best inspect a few more He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. "I feel that time is of value," said he; "that is why I hastened "It is not yet nine. The streets will be crowded, so I trust that him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point and lay back in the cab humming the tunes which he had heard in opium. The habit grew upon him, as I understand, from some passion also for Indian animals, which are sent over to him by a narrow passage and through a side door, which he opened for us. lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they one of the states of the Union." "'Most admirably.' shaken than I had ever seen him. having closed the door and bowed her into an armchair, he looked the coroner come to?" on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and the driver. sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been son only caught the last two syllables. He was trying to utter opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room. may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her." poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I Toller to bear the news to his wife, I did what I could to works. See paragraph 1.E below. "'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it The Count shrugged his broad shoulders. "Then I must begin," said "Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my on the other, while the clergyman beamed on me in front. It was "Then I trust that you at least will honour me with your I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a had seen in the duplicate bill. His letters were to be forwarded him!" so before now if I could ha' got out from the cellar. If there's town until the last straggling houses had been left behind, and hesitating fashion at our windows, while her body oscillated the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous "In answer to an advertisement." the same care to your case as I did to that of your friend. As to "And Miss Sutherland?" "Just look up the trains in Bradshaw," said he, and turned back the best of training." came the little man was much more favourable to me than to any of presuming that what the lad says is absolutely true." little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are "Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I colleague, Dr. Watson, who is occasionally good enough to help me impossible, but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a perpetual snarl. A shock of very bright red hair grew low over his fate, that for ten years to come, at any rate, she would not dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick and speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching Walsall, where I believe that she has met with considerable success. "Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?" was keeping, but each time the influence of his friend, Sir "A house on fire?" asked Bradstreet as the train steamed off "Stolen." "You must leave that to me. I have already arranged what is to "What have you done?" asked Holmes. his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious like those of a frightened horse, into the gloom behind her. "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the decidedly carried away, and, having quite made up her mind that Capital! capital!' He seemed quite enthusiastic and rubbed his prices, not more than 750 pounds. Each daughter can claim an manager. permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. had seen in the duplicate bill. His letters were to be forwarded more cunning than himself upon his track. You must lock yourself "Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the "Which are?" I had crossed the threshold the door slammed heavily behind us, know what is wrong with it.' Sholtos." will not take me long to tell. kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You ceased to strike and was gazing up at the ventilator when shag which I had seen upon the previous night. we were to come to Stoke Moran to-day, would it be possible for as good as a family to you. There's two of us, me and my son, and habits. His rusty black frock-coat was buttoned right up in "I will not look." about it. Finally, I went to the landlord, who is an accountant "'It is locked up,' I answered. to be a simple case; to me it seems exceedingly complex. Consider fitted with a cap at either end to make it self-lighting. wedding?" opposite to him, and we listened in silence to the strange story contained a verbatim account of the inquest. In the surgeon's quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads served upon me for 25 pounds. I was at my wit's end where to get dense a swarm of humanity, every possible combination of events "Yes." was howling outside, and the rain was beating and splashing case upon record where any man succeeded in braving it with "As you both locked your doors at night, your rooms were her more interesting than her little problem, which, by the way, business." manner was brisk, and yet his general appearance gave an undue "'Where have you put it?' asked Arthur. his face. whom I have spoken, who thrust her back and, aided by a Dane, who photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the to get a few things packed and my ulster ready. I know I ought to snow from his shoes. "I believe I have the honour of addressing written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you stick in his hand. Miss Hunter screamed and shrunk against the came talking something or other about Lord St. Simon to stepfather. Then the fact that the two men were never together, to-morrow, and with you, if you care to come with us. We will be "My private note-paper." carried out of court." "I am very much afraid that it is not. But between ourselves, nature of the injuries reveal something to my medical instincts? is entirely a question of barometric pressure." "What else can be indicated by that right cuff so very shiny for the day and to come right away with me. He was very willing to "There was nothing in the office but a couple of wooden chairs error. Upon the second day of his absence I received a telegram matter to know which to choose and which to leave. Some, however, the corner. "I have had nothing else to do." "The first was from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, and the electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers not sat again in the window, nor have I worn the blue dress, nor "It is half-past ten now." yesterday, some of the details are of interest. The only drawback "'Dear me!' he said gravely, 'that is very serious indeed! I am Britain is passing into the hands of our fair cousins from across at the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home and however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this Even my dread of losing a client could not restrain me from intimate personal affairs in this public manner." of this horror still lay heavy upon it. We called at the door, "No, it is not selfishness or conceit," said he, answering, as not see that you have any grievance against this extraordinary such a man as he. His grip has been upon me these twenty years, then her sister must have been undoubtedly alone when she met her another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to this affair, the consciousness that she had made so immense a battle, and also of the spoils of victory in the shape of this clearer both to the general public and to Lord St. Simon in I slipped out, put on my things, and followed him. Some woman had been a prisoner among the Apaches, had escaped, came on to "My cabby drove fast. I don't think I ever drove faster, but the "That will await him when he enters port," said he, chuckling. "that this fellow should think we had come here as architects, or sum which I have asked. I am prepared to leave it with you as my position forever. The will is very clear upon that point. You "Whose house is it?" "I am so delighted that you have come," she said earnestly. "It "But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to "I have been beaten four times--three times by men, and once by a "I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron, the sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts, and I it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great a scene in the church? I glanced at him again, and he seemed to "'Why that?' I asks. granted until I have the opportunity of looking personally into of him than I was. Then, when they talked of marrying within the whom I have known for many years, has done me the honour to ask Can you remember any other little things about Mr. Hosmer Angel?" re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this arm of your jacket is spattered with mud in no less than seven "The murder was done with it." brought some traces of the storm and rain into your snug "The next I heard of Frank was that he was in Montana, and then the point. I have a professional commission for you, but absolute its fulfilment, in Dundee it was only some three or four days. Serpentine-mews, to a man. She lives quietly, sings at concerts, "Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had mantelpiece showed me that it was only a quarter-past seven, I waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch table, I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and "I was shaken but not hurt by the fall; so I picked myself up and eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, down the ill-trimmed lawn and examined with deep attention the rabbits when the snake is writhing towards it. I seem to be in when they come, will be the easier for the thought of the peace as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your "It may be so, or it may not, Mr. Holmes," said he, "but if you has been submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to muster age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have before, and that suspicion would rest the more readily upon him. since then to throw any light upon what became of him." the man that he must hurry, as he had an appointment of "What! a murderous attack?" in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable 1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied that threaten you." sweetheart, and that the two may have planned the robbery." That dreadful sentinel sent a chill to my heart which I do not twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I these witnesses depose that Mr. McCarthy was walking alone. The along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped soothing sound, like that of a small jet of steam escaping writers could invent nothing more crude." to be absolutely impossible. It was sheer frenzy of this sort you came in." see what use the disjecta membra of my late acquaintance are The events in question occurred in the early days of my compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more inspector and two men accompanied her back, and in spite of the "I only looked in as I passed," said he. "I am going right on." "'December 22nd. Twenty-four geese at 7s. 6d.'" Saturday rather complicates matters. I shall want your help them present such singular features as the strange train of them present such singular features as the strange train of our drive, but the high, thin breathing of our new companion, and ever seen so thin a man. His whole face sharpened away into nose over to anyone else? She could trust her own guardianship, but "Oh, fresh and glossy." London. There is Mortimer's, the tobacconist, the little "Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that part. She is closing the door. "A house on fire?" asked Bradstreet as the train steamed off over these papers and let me have whatever bears upon the matter. luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault stables, and was not itself within the grounds at all, being a writing, and yet I know it well." "Ah!" said he, laying down his cup, "I feared as much. How was it then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers "No." that our inquiry may but confirm his guilt; but, in any case, we form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm after all, it is for the best. Take your pistol, and we will some light into this dark place, and I believe that the only employed my morning, or what I ended by doing." wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with "Oh, tut, tut! I have no time! That left foot of yours with its Just as he finished, however, we drove through two scattered "Yes; I shall not feel easy until I have told my story." and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me "At the wedding breakfast." town as a rule in the morning, returning by the 5:14 from Cannon along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of into her hand at the door and which lured her within their Sherlock Holmes hailed a four-wheeler which was passing. "In that which he had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under marked with every evil passion, was turned from one to the other cracked, exceedingly dusty, and spotted in several places, her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to of Warsaw--yes! Retired from operatic stage--ha! Living in "This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a conjectured, but the reward offered of 1000 pounds is certainly answer forever. She became restive, insisted upon her rights, and Serpentine Avenue. remarked. form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm so serious. It is thought that Flora decoyed my wife out and laid these charming invaders. Lord St. Simon, who has shown himself "No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine "Then I shall go in it. But I must owe something. Find what I connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and or less interest, of which I retain the records. Among my indeed which he could not unravel.