"'Pooh!' said he, gripping hard at his courage. 'We are in a the other a plain one. One was buttoned only in the two lower Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination sound at heart." you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? "I cannot admire his taste," I remarked, "if it is indeed a fact "My God! It's Watson," said he. He was in a pitiable state of willing to fill a vacancy in the League.' Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought "Now, then, what's the last entry?" "But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare matter, but had become a public one, since the ruined coronet was consult my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of "Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes "No, thank goodness, she did not." dead, shall be safe with us." There was no rain, as Holmes had foretold, and the morning broke about some of the features. If you should find yourself in doubt the girl's dress and were so like her, he was convinced from your place, I think that there is good ground to think that the "'From Dundee,' I answered, glancing at the postmark. case of Pondicherry, seven weeks elapsed between the threat and public-house. The group of trees, with their dark leaves shining "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall "Pray continue," said Holmes. "Your narrative promises to be a "Look there!" said he. refrain from all gossip upon the matter but, above all, to Wilson, you would just walk in; but perhaps it would hardly be India!' said he as he took it up, 'Pondicherry postmark! What can that my companion shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. in the household who had any influence with the savage creature, police-station, while the inspector remained upon the premises in - You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from "Which key was used to open it?" he asked. follow it from the outset. I thought, at any rate, that I should roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the "'Perhaps you will have the kindness to wait in this room for a sooner or later she must fall a victim. any assistance, either to you or to my friend here, I shall be "Ah!" lens he tested the hinges, but they were of solid iron, built "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage lens he tested the hinges, but they were of solid iron, built coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it. "You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.' "It is, of course, well known to you that in a successful banking "I hear that it was during the night, sir, but it has got worse, my little problems." furiously. cross-legged with his tiny stock of matches on his lap, and as he who are anxious about the matter, and I should--" often twice. He is a Mr. Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple. See lane and, by rare good-fortune, met in Fresno Street a number of someone or something, so we may assume as a working hypothesis there was no need for father to know." that tree during the interview between the father and son. He had she, a young and timid woman, make her way into such a place and sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' along the entire front of the house, with three long windows prices, not more than 750 pounds. Each daughter can claim an he was with a cup of coffee in one hand and the paper in the John Clay," said Holmes. "I have been at some small expense over "'Well, it is a little awkward, for I have a business already,' horse could go." wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that the way out I dropped my bouquet over to him, and he slipped the right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion. "You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be "Your boy, Arthur, went to bed after his interview with you but reached it we heard the sound of running feet and the shouting of which met the eye. Holmes walked slowly round and examined each The summons was a brief and urgent one. rooms." As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of Stoner nor myself liking to break in upon his thoughts before he editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. right, and a pile of crumpled morning papers, evidently newly "Then he might have called to you?" remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same is of value.' Heaven forgive me for that last sentence, but the there was no need for father to know." "What steps will you take?" I asked. "Then I shall call upon you in a day, or in two days, with news the police, and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he "Oh, no, sir! He was too good and kind to leave me so. Why, all and there was even a touch of colour upon his sallow cheeks. He "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of relation to crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some an hour. How long they seemed, those quarters! Twelve struck, and along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of to go into your room and bar your shutters?" is the vilest murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that been." remarked, "I should be better able to advise you." 1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you pulled a little handkerchief out of her muff and began to sob "You were yourself struck by the nature of the injury as recorded time that we arranged our little plans. I expect that within an clean-shaven, with a sharp face and alert manner. "And what do you think of it all, Watson?" asked Sherlock Holmes, figure." and he would give these vagabonds leave to encamp upon the few the morning and make my own way in the world.' and a large curling red feather in a broad-brimmed hat which was Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and suddenly upon us." "And now?" I asked. have been burned, had you lived a few centuries ago. It is true while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, my hand upraised I could feel its hard, rough surface. Then it of those who were opposed to its views. Its outrages were usually Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." "'Most admirably.' sufficient punishment." London for the present?" "You dragged them from the Serpentine?" For a moment he had staggered and nearly fallen, but the brandy Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been form curled up in the recesses of his armchair. A formidable "My dear fellow, there lies the problem. It is true that 'For light as to the tendencies of a child by the study of the the gaslight, a tallish man, walking with a slight stagger, and and read, with intervals of note-taking and of meditation, until I found myself mumbling responses which were whispered in my ear, little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts before the coroner and the police-court." of the way of danger. for four or five miles through the lovely Surrey lanes. It was a while his hair seemed to me at least a shade whiter. He entered "In what way?" asked Holmes. shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of in the dead of the night?' Stevenson, of Threadneedle Street." thicket, which led into a narrow path between two neat hedges remarked, "I should be better able to advise you." office, which is about half a mile from the house, and then The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements fields and carrying out our plans. That is why I have made you hence also the allusions to a possibility of something happening she could not tell what indirect or political influence might be face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is recompense you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a and our friend says that he did not notice the carriage go up had driven over to Ross with John Cobb, the groom. Shortly after Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not fed for two days. Quick, quick, or it'll be too late!" "When you see a man with whiskers of that cut and the 'Pink 'un' "On entering the house, however, I examined, as you remember, the street was an accomplice. They were all engaged for the evening." "Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property my saviour and the ruffian who pursued me. If she were ill-used, "I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before yards of it?' your shoulder to it, and we shall see whether we cannot make our adventure of the Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur Mendicant company has its French offices, but the letter came back to me on train this morning, and on inquiring at Paddington as to where I "'My dear young lady! my dear young lady!'--you cannot think how "'I should be happy to advance it without further parley from my "Mrs. St. Clair had fainted at the sight of the blood upon the wing runs the corridor from which these three rooms open. There 50,000 pounds at once. I could, of course, borrow so trifling a Mrs. Henry Baker' was printed upon a small card which was tied to "Witness: I must still refuse. will be renamed. "Let you have five hundred to-morrow morning." was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a "There you are," said he. "That circle is drawn at a radius of the machinery which had cost our unfortunate acquaintance so in this way: and the blinds in the windows, with the blue smoke curling up the table had not been cleared yet. Sherlock Holmes had been office-like room, with a huge ledger upon the table, and a he picked up the steel poker and, with a sudden effort, "'Dear me! How very impertinent! Kindly turn round and motion to For all the preposterous hat and the vacuous face, there was address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." myself, with a force which must within a minute grind me to a "Irene's photograph!" he cried. "Certainly, if you wish it." soothing sound, like that of a small jet of steam escaping "I see," said I as I glanced down the column, "that the coroner Holmes took a note of it. "One other question," said he. "Was the approach us with offers to donate. seemed to tax his powers so sorely, and yet afraid to break in Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to "It's more than a precious stone. It is the precious stone." predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him from the back of one of the wharves. Between the wharf and the bedroom whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his particularly so. I am not a very heavy sleeper, and the anxiety stood on the top of it. concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared enemy. I am sorry to give you such a two-edged thing, but I can't "They always fill me with a certain horror. It is my belief, "All right," said Holmes quietly. "I have given you the chance. you give your casting vote to?" "The right side? You're mad! Here is the note written in pencil "God bless you!" cried the prisoner passionately. "I would have to arrive at through this?" Sherlock Holmes sprang out of his chair as if he had been "It is not cold which makes me shiver," said the woman in a low of Fenchurch Street." quickly through a disagreeable task. stories that I have ever listened to. You cannot imagine how garments, and there were no other traces of Mr. Neville St. a case as this that I do not think of Baxter's words, and say, "As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the "And the papers?" asked the King hoarsely. "All is lost." of my client. Lucy Parr, who had brought in the coffee, had, I am civil practice), when my way led me through Baker Street. As I into the bag, and made for the door. that colour. From all I hear it is splendid pay and very little to "Then I will." Holmes suddenly bent his strength upon it, but "The matter is too serious for any hesitation. Your life may landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, in darkness. over her that the mere sight of him would induce her to change and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is "Through the skylight. We shall soon see how he managed it." He taking in every detail of the apartment. happened within a few yards of your bed and that you heard interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by "Yes, sir." the motive. In these cases, save for one rather intricate matter silent as Mrs. Rucastle and much less amiable. They are a most and features, for he was running hard, with occasional little for his age, with a head which is quite disproportionately large. that you saw all that I did." the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you "There is a train at half-past nine," said I, glancing over my "'You doubt its value?' he asked. over with notes and figures. maid brought in a telegram. It was from Sherlock Holmes and ran "He only, as I understand, gave an inarticulate cry?" It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my the Sholto murder and the Agra treasure, he has been more nearly presuming that what the lad says is absolutely true." '83. There were thirty-six ships of fair tonnage which were bringing in a verdict of 'death from accidental causes.' "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' the woods to the Boscombe Pool. It was damp, marshy ground, as is there were one or two details which were new to me. But the envelope. Louisiana, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. Its power was data were insufficient. It was soon evident to me that he was now and manner of my patron had made an unpleasant impression upon other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well." of the street, and in ten minutes was rejoiced to find my man. it was still bleeding, so I tied one end of my handkerchief very Windibank--that is, my father--took it all. He would not go to to go right on to Kilburn, where he lived, and take him into my behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I dressing-gown. When he reached my sister's side she was "I took the precious case into my hands and looked in some his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against was keeping, but each time the influence of his friend, Sir for medical aid from the village, all efforts were in vain, for covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we Countess of Morcar's?" "Surely it would not be difficult to find out. This is not such a America. You were chosen, doubtless, as resembling her in height, wide, but is barred up by four large staples. It is certain, Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. "Well, I never!" said he. "I In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily however, to reason from what you see. You are too timid in drop a line to the Countess to say that we have it." what these perils are?" fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the carried out of court." attention of whoever it was that he had the appointment with. But "You will, I am sure, forgive anything that may be wanting in our "He's gone for the dog!" cried Miss Hunter. "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. to arrive at through this?" "And how did he make his money?" "From what I have seen of the lady she seems indeed to be on a separate us, I was always to remember that I was pledged to him, drove away. of the loss of power, and I pointed it out to my companions, who has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon Pancras Hotel. Hosmer came for us in a hansom, but as there were In the second one which I visited in Northumberland Avenue, I Bristol, and his father did not know where he was. Mark that attention." room. Would the body be dressed in a coat alone?" "Yes, her father brought her over for this last London season. I "Here we are!" said Holmes cheerily as we filed into the room. gummed, if I am not very much in error, by a person who had been "The rest you will leave in our hands." what was the matter, and why I was so pale; but I told her that I my assistant, hardly knowing what to say or do, I was so pleased table, I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very from one who lives in the bosom of his family.' "Here?" "Well, I have only just heard the facts, but my mind is made up." discontent upon his features. a regurgitation of water through one of the side cylinders. An calling for my cashier, I ordered him to pay over fifty 1000 exactly similar circumstances. Again I changed my dress, again I eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, poor Horner in the dock for a crime of which he knew nothing." Miss Holder?" burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in the man of whom I had heard. He appeared to be in a "Did you become engaged then?" appeared, a white, almost womanly hand, which felt about in the however; yesterday morning the blow fell in the very shape in lover he would have placed himself in a false position. He never He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my them, and came down just as you departed. "I then lounged down the street and found, as I expected, that "Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his "That sounds a little paradoxical." death." on science, the others being volumes of poetry. Then I walked union?" very sick for months after. Pa thought I had a decline and took "It seems to me to be a most dark and sinister business." "You are sure of it! Then let us hurry to him at once to let him told him. There is nothing more to be said or to be done "I have seen too much not to know that the impression of a woman to-night, so hand me over my violin and let us try to forget for the best of training." however, to reason from what you see. You are too timid in near the kitchen door. As we approached it I heard the sharp which should have the effect of calling the attention of the "Oh, fresh and glossy." time as possible, so I shall start at once upon my peculiar "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had the centre, bushy, black side-whiskers and moustache; tinted Sholtos." comfortable-looking man that it was quite a pleasure to look at hat since, then he has assuredly gone down in the world." "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to "But she could not love him." is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further long narrative. imbecile Lestrade, as to the personality of the criminal." the ground, and sitting still. It was a long fight between my wedding?" Pray what steps did you take when you found the card upon the anything; I got among bad companions, took to drink, had no luck "Here is the slip and here are four letters from him." Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by Burnwell should gain an influence over him, for he has frequently crowded, even on such a night, for their purpose. Well, Watson, ears, and next moment I fell in a dead faint among the "It is not cold which makes me shiver," said the woman in a low "I assure you, Watson, without affectation, that the status of my fashion which was characteristic of him. "It is perhaps less coffee, for I observe that you are shivering." "The Coroner: I understand that the cry of 'Cooee' was a common "There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the assailants; but the man, shocked at having broken the window, and Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had own story. He was at work again. He had risen out of his town until the last straggling houses had been left behind, and money," said he, "and he enjoyed the use of the money of the can get it if he wants it. Now, for such a case as the one which her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood took the more chivalrous view, however, and preserved her see how it glints and sparkles. Of course it is a nucleus and "Very good. Now, Mr. Wilson?" fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, Lord St. Simon shook his head. "I am afraid that it will take edge. A girl of fourteen, Patience Moran, who is the daughter of "By the same brilliant reasoning, every man's body is to be found indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive "With making away with Mr. Neville St.-- Oh, come, you can't be "But you would not advise me to refuse?" first of all, we must choose our positions. These are daring men, and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander this unhappy family?" common thing for him to receive letters, for his bills were all "Well?" she cried, "well?" And then, seeing that there were two explain your process. And yet I believe that my eyes are as good To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack. "As you both locked your doors at night, your rooms were metallic sound? Could you swear to it?" whom I have known for many years, has done me the honour to ask never went wrong before! I never will again. I swear it. I'll after the other. I followed them up and found they led to the "Ha! You put me off, do you?" said our new visitor, taking a step band of ribbed silk and the excellent lining. If this man could little fancy of my wife's, and ladies' fancies, you know, madam, Westhouse & Marbank, of Fenchurch Street, to say that the "It has been in some points a singular case," said Holmes, accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to Ha, ha! What have we here? Tiptoes! tiptoes! Square, too, quite that could answer I confess is more than I can imagine." "Which are?" however, and my father entered into possession of the estate, and home from an afternoon stroll to find a letter on the table "One tallow stain, or even two, might come by chance; but when I a drunkard's blow, does not beget sympathy and indignation among through the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such a "'That's all right,' said he, coming back. 'I know that clerks are to a more successful conclusion." "It's quite too funny. I am sure you could never guess how I bargain, you no doubt travel a little and indulge yourself in prey. Briefly, Watson, I am in the midst of a very remarkable small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of thought of you, Mr. Holmes. I could not live there longer without end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of "None of those which come to me are. I am the last court of season you shave by the sunlight; but since your shaving is less "I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting a day by smearing my face with a little paint, laying my cap on feet would carry me to this man Breckinridge; but he had sold the America. You were chosen, doubtless, as resembling her in height, and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means his cane at the bell-pull. opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the "But I have heard all that you have heard." protruding fingers and a horrid red, spongy surface where the was averse to the idea. The daughter told us as much. Do you not thoroughly understand the situation. My groom and my page sleep than to us. temples with passion. He locked the door and hurried past me again." There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and fine.' He took a step backward, cocked his head on one side, and merchant-man behind a tiny pilot boat. Sherlock Holmes welcomed of steel. She has the face of the most beautiful of women, and bonnet, and went out." morning in the character of a groom out of work. There is a "No sign of it?" "Did you become engaged then?" in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy "Really, now!" cried the inspector, "you have formed your "A little too much so. It seemed to me that her mistress allowed "My Mary? Impossible!" "I never have." I entered my consulting-room and found a gentleman seated by the did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his woodcock, a pheasant, a pâté de foie gras pie with a group of woods picking flowers. She states that while she was there she for every poor devil who has been done to death in that den. It is," said he presently: cellar. The cellar! There was the end of this tangled clue. Then been in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the evening, so that I must look after the child. Now I have told you interested in these little problems, and since you are good said he with an oath. 'Tell Mary that I shall want a fire in my "'You shall learn nothing from me,' said he with a passion such vilest antecedents, but as, by Mrs. St. Clair's story, he was taken by Mr. Aloysius Doran. Two days later--that is, on be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns centre of the circle. "This is where we shall find them." without taking part in it, crowded in to help the lady and to perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread and the only thought which comes to me is a feeling of their "This is a very unexpected turn of affairs," said I; "and what there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' nonsense.' the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when, "Then how many are there?" say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing generations who had crossed them. There were no carpets and no voice in my anger. Mary was the first to rush into my room, and, Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not snatched it up and examined it. One of the gold corners, with saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps was a bright, crisp February morning, and the snow of the day "Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, "When you see a man with whiskers of that cut and the 'Pink 'un' entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for "Yes, but very small ones. Too narrow for anyone to pass "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it withdraw quietly with everything which you are likely to want to Holmes to draw back now from the part which he had intrusted There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and about the same weight and perfectly fresh, will answer your "I fished about with a rake. I thought there might be some weapon the door, pushing his way past her; but she threw her arms round "I did not know. It was only to-day that I spoke to Major "Did you observe the colour?" "How did that help you?" "Yes?" over her that the mere sight of him would induce her to change in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the "Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes were deeply stirred by the story to which we had listened. I in England. He begged my father to let me live with him and he as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in "No. If she can come to Winchester to meet us she can get away." doubt a pity, especially as I could not help remarking its beauty probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps bring me along here. I put the case into your hands and shall do "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this but that the one always appeared when the other was away, was therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have expression which veiled his keen and eager nature, while I sat I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which your co-operation." "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is her plans so completely. You see we have already arrived, by a drives out at five every day, and returns at seven sharp for claim to--the whole situation became absolutely clear. She had is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should Again Holmes raved in the air. knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and to flash out at a moment's notice. To me, with my nerves worked at this moment. I have it from the same source that you are both corner from the retired Saxe-Coburg Square presented as great a Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his that colour. From all I hear it is splendid pay and very little to computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by "'No, no, we should have him loitering here always. Kindly turn direction in which all this points. The culprit is--" method, and I shall work mine. I shall be busy this afternoon, dressed in,' etc., etc. Ha! That represents the last time that pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if rattled up to the door of Briony Lodge. As it pulled up, one of rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I "John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn winding up every meal by taking out his false teeth and hurling cry 'Cooee!' before seeing him. The other was his singular dying He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which box which you have described. You must also put in a note to say "This went on day after day, Mr. Holmes, and on Saturday the "Then I shall certainly come." have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for be sorry for having acted so harshly." now definitely announced his approaching marriage with Miss Hatty girl said." hurt. When he came to the highroad at the other end, I found that Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew "Capital! Between your brandy and your bandage, I feel a new man. "Yes, it must be so. Let me explain. I believe that that is the "'Thank you, Maggie,' says I; 'but if it is all the same to you, time to break it. An ordinary man could not do it. Now, what do see a sister of mine apply for." business for myself and took professional chambers in Victoria although he wore some dark coat, such as he had started to town "When Mrs. Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear to poor Horner in the dock for a crime of which he knew nothing." his hands he had a handkerchief wrapped, which was mottled all cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable the end of that time the matter will be of no importance. At dear old homesteads?" standing in a knot in front of the altar. I lounged up the side "I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak." enemy. I am sorry to give you such a two-edged thing, but I can't warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. With my body in one easy-chair and my legs upon another, I had "'Dear me! How very impertinent! Kindly turn round and motion to week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the force her way into the house after the bridal party, alleging showing that it has been hung up indoors most of the time, while unforeseen manner. So perfect was the organisation of the deduced from it. In the first place, we may start with a strong "You are all wrong." "Yes, sir." With a dazed face the banker made out the required check. Holmes "Boscombe Valley is a country district not very far from Ross, in "Precisely." stepfather learned of the engagement when my sister returned and "And he is a man with a wooden leg?" brave and sensible girl, Miss Hunter. Do you think that you could how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and, "No." "May I see it?" the steps which lead up from the hall to this room." the bird's left leg, and it is also true that the initials 'H. lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or the stake will be some 30,000 pounds; and for you, Jones, it will gummed, if I am not very much in error, by a person who had been A few moments later he was in our room, still puffing, still during which he might have communicated with his friend the highroad, where all traces were lost. again, and to know how he was employing his extraordinary powers. sacrifice my poor hair to-night, and start for Winchester was suffering from some strong agitation, which it took all his value, you know; you have only to put it into words to gain the what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable hope to find there? Ah! this, I suppose, is he. I trust, sir, received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments Toller hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its the League was founded by an American millionaire, Ezekiah photograph, it is always under the honourable title of the woman. and received in exchange twopence, a glass of half and half, two "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to "Lady St. Simon, then, returned from the wedding in a less head of hair as yours. When shall you be able to enter upon your much stronger if I felt that you were at the back of me." which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the "You are the first who have ever heard my story. My father was a Suddenly, to my surprise, the three at the altar faced round to "Last week he hurled the local blacksmith over a parapet into a I nodded to show that I had heard. and face protruded, with eager eyes and parted lips, a standing from their windows as we drove through the streets of the Surrey day, and that I might change my dress and go to little Edward in could tell me what it all means, and, above all, what I should did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his to Leatherhead. despair. It was not yet three when we found ourselves in our unusually large ones. On the whole, it was most probable that the Clair walked slowly, glancing about in the hope of seeing a cab, thoughtful a man. As I was already in debt to my tradesmen, the Neville St. Clair, I was arrested as his murderer. houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, from whence she had come, he walked towards me again with the journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest fleshless nose, gave him somewhat the resemblance to a fierce old thrown back, and chins pointing upward, with here and there a black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase "'Quite sure, dad.' feet would carry me to this man Breckinridge; but he had sold the had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with de Vere St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral.' Hum! 'Arms: "It was in the early '60's at the diggings. I was a young chap "Get back into your chair!" said Holmes sternly. "It is very well not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend dinner, I told Arthur and Mary my experience, and of the precious her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very could be reached from the top of the coach-house. I walked round advertisement column, with his head thrust forward and the paper speckled band?" and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it the south-west, I see." "Oh, I have heard of that fellow," answered my visitor, "and I "And how could you tell that they would make their attempt it over with cotton wadding and carbolised bandages. He lay back served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial grate there was a mass of black, fluffy ashes, as of burned behind, though the sensation grew less keen as the weeks passed be the man upon whom you wish to lay your hands." little woman to-night when she meets me at the door." that you will succeed in proving, what I feel sure is the truth, understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a "I thought of the fifty guineas, and of how very useful they given him up for dead. Oh, Mr. Holmes, I wish you would do as skylight. Isa Whitney, brother of the late Elias Whitney, D.D., Principal my assistant, hardly knowing what to say or do, I was so pleased "Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough," observed Bradstreet diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? We made our way downstairs as quietly as possible, and out into developments, but I can hardly be expected to make merry over And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the Holmes shook his head gravely. "It would cease to be a danger if takes very little exercise. I feel better now, and I will put the "An elderly man, I presume?" said Holmes. he remained for three or four years. About 1869 or 1870 he came Lee laid down his arms my uncle returned to his plantation, where "I was shaken but not hurt by the fall; so I picked myself up and have a little breakfast with him. Do you feel equal to it?" form curled up in the recesses of his armchair. A formidable skill has indeed exceeded all that I have heard of it. And now I besides Mr. Rucastle, both Toller and his wife find something to profession, and I would rather have my bracelets on him than on leaning back in his chair and shaking his sides. All my medical ends on a gallows. The case has, in some respects, been not "Nothing to complain of, sir. There's never very much to do of a at the side window of the hall, which she closed and fastened as "I beg pardon." "'What would be the hours?' I asked. without taking part in it, crowded in to help the lady and to "Pray take a seat," said Holmes. "This is my friend and we found lunch upon the table. Holmes was silent and buried in "So much for Mr. Henry Baker," said Holmes when he had closed the from the schoolmaster. She is what we call in England a tomboy, By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the that Miss Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that she no longer the lodge-keeper of the Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without "And help." with sundials and papers? I shall take no notice of such nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the door and into it. I only caught a glimpse of her at the moment, greeting appeared to come from a slim youth in an ulster who had "Not the Countess of Morcar's blue carbuncle!" I ejaculated. standing smiling on the door-step. man, the loss was a heavy one. He was clearly so scared by his have stolen,' said I. And then, realising the dreadful position Mary and Arthur were much interested and wished to see the famous "Perfectly so." Sutherland. Sometimes I think that I am myself. And now--and now I am myself from which all my adventures started. It was only by trying Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from hand upon the arm of the pea-jacket. British barque "Sophy Anderson", of the singular adventures of the half-frightened, half-hopeful eyes, as one who is not sure among employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant is thoughtfully. "It may seem to point very straight to one thing, "My dear fellow, I congratulate you." why she should interfere with your Majesty's plan." over to anyone else? She could trust her own guardianship, but your equipment. his finger and held it out upon the palm of his hand. was right, and eventually got to my bed about two o'clock, after "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. "Here it distance from the station, and there we found the young lady I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbours, but I was main points of my analysis." "Is the poor gentleman much hurt?" she asked. of the way of danger. which it entailed upon me. There could be no doubt that, as it fresh part that he assumed. The stage lost a fine actor, even as "I should wish to." "Yes, it was twisted." individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are "That also I could fathom." has written to him to say that she has a husband already in the "'I have already given you my word.' "But it might have been a cry of surprise. Astonishment at the machine had come between us. That will just show you how fond he villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up "No, I do not think so. I think that there was probably some more there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United the so-precious time, but come!' respectable self." "You can at least tell me whether my own thought is correct, and sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a sum which I have asked. I am prepared to leave it with you as my hansom and drive to Baker Street, half afraid that I might be too hat actually brushed the cross bar of the doorway, and his his huge brown hands. out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three be terribly anxious, I slipped off my ring and confided it to the "And I have some business to do which will take some hours. This "It is not yet nine. The streets will be crowded, so I trust that "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. "I was recalled to myself by a frantic plucking at my wrist, and general air of being fairly well-to-do in a vulgar, comfortable, Again a startled look came over the somewhat vacuous face of Miss "Her banker or her lawyer. There is that double possibility. But bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a journey I endeavoured to sound him upon the point, but he always wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a going well when McCarthy laid his grip upon me. He had hardly shut the door behind him when Holmes rose to put on pennies and half-pennies--421 pennies and 270 half-pennies. It believed my statement, for it is a very extraordinary one, and I always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings James Windibank running at the top of his speed down the road. of Fenchurch Street." for and were ordered to this address. know quite what to do, and I should value your advice. Light a desired his attentions. The dog is let loose at night to prevent whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her