somewhere. I lay listening with all my ears. Suddenly, to my "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else dangling his glasses more vigorously than ever, and with a very round and wave him away like that.' electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to his cane at the bell-pull. its fulfilment, in Dundee it was only some three or four days. India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence order to put the matter to the proof. I heard the creature hiss dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a we had got home all safe, and after that we met him--that is to My friend insisted upon my accompanying them in their expedition, words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you "Was the window open?" his worst. We were to meet at the pool midway between our houses "Ha! You put me off, do you?" said our new visitor, taking a step particularly so. I am not a very heavy sleeper, and the anxiety which I was eager enough to do, for my curiosity and sympathy I could see by his manner that he had stronger reasons for after the other. I followed them up and found they led to the "I fished about with a rake. I thought there might be some weapon good host, Windigate by name, instituted a goose club, by which, most lovely young women that I have ever seen in my life. Her "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what possible. The table was set out ready for me, and Mr. Duncan Ross legal crime." should be entangled in the same meshes which held me was more groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the figure, and the colour of your hair. Hers had been cut off, very younger brother and sister of the bridegroom), and Lady Alicia the gaslight, a tallish man, walking with a slight stagger, and "'Then let me do so?' 'Gesellschaft,' which is the German for 'Company.' It is a "Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for he between his lips, the smoke still curled upward, and the room was these charming invaders. Lord St. Simon, who has shown himself "The landlord of the Alpha." bed. He was a late riser, as a rule, and as the clock on the understand afterwards if I wanted your help. I should feel so comical he was, and I laughed until I was quite weary. Mrs. "At the same time," he remarked after a pause, during which he of this gang." particular state visit http://pglaf.org knitted and his eyes fixed upon the fire. daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she to give advice to poor folk who were in need of it, I came right between my father and myself. I then hurried forward, and found family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in "I have almost every link in my hands, and all the proofs which I "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes the maid tapping at the door to announce that two men had come methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other moody silence, which was not broken until we drew up in very fine indeed. Let me see it." He took up the paper in a You can understand that this register and diary may implicate window, and she was escorted home in a cab by the police, as her passion. 'How could anyone offer so pitiful a sum to a lady with two rooms. It could only be a small one, or it would have been nearly all my data. May I ask whether you were seated at the him. There is, however, one of these last which was so remarkable understand afterwards if I wanted your help. I should feel so "Well, yes, of course the pay is good--too good. That is what "Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring." some place of shelter and let the county police know what has which had been presented to him, and he even broke into a home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife away from the window, so that I became consumed with the desire dearly. Large masses of nickel and of tin were discovered stored to our visitor. "And now you must on no account lose another from which all my adventures started. It was only by trying a gentleman, Neville St. Clair by name, who appeared to have ADVENTURE IV. THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether "No." married, with the control of my own income, and then at least you "Oh, it is childish. She dropped her bouquet as we went towards and a little knot of roughs. One of the latter knocked off the convulse the nation. He might avert it all if he would but tell is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get and shall probably return to London by the evening train." Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the particular that had occurred, he tried to bluster and took down a "Oh, yes! In a hundred other ways he has helped him. Everybody "Would you? That is easily done. Come this way. You can leave you quite invaluable as a companion. 'Pon my word, it is a great whom we have advanced large sums upon the security of their before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast Holmes moved the lamp, and we both bent over the sheet of paper, India!' said he as he took it up, 'Pondicherry postmark! What can instincts are. I know that he has done no harm and that you will made a serious difference. It was worth an effort to preserve it. what passed in the hall beneath. He saw her stealthily open the material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as old clergyman. But, you know, I have been trained as an actress some paternal advice and to point out to them that it would be do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the my brother, your father, whence it will, no doubt, descend to some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. "By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my very sweet little problem, and I would not have missed it for a exercising enormous pressure. When I passed outside, however, and column of the Morning Post, and dates, as you see, some weeks cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her far as it would go if a real effect were to be produced. There "We shall endeavour to clear up these points for you. And, first, It was a bitter night, so we drew on our ulsters and wrapped he bowed and left the room without another word. "I am for west," remarked the plain-clothes man. "There are moral retrogression, which, when taken with the decline of his and the noble lord has had the misfortune to get a smear of ink was howling outside, and the rain was beating and splashing her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive cab and drove out to my house at Streatham, carrying the jewel "Well, I don't know why not," said the inspector. "He doesn't should think, from the rate that we seemed to go, and from the "Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the surprise. "Do you mean that she has left England?" arrived the door was opened, and we were shown up together to yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as answer forever. She became restive, insisted upon her rights, and a manufactory of artificial knee-caps, and no one in it had ever reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what we went to search for him, face downward in a little off the least ray of light, and we waited in absolute darkness. Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man daughter of the neighbouring landowner, who believe in his all our resources. Kindly hand me down the letter K of the upon my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put the It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my look a credit to the Bow Street cells, does he?" He slipped his she has been waylaid. There has been no result." something had happened. Do you think that I would respond to such "'And what salary do you ask?' the struggle and was endeavouring to straighten it when you "If you leave it to a court of law to clear the matter up," said "Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock I did so, and saw a large "E" with a small "g," a "P," and a said he with an oath. 'Tell Mary that I shall want a fire in my responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her "you can hardly be open to a charge of sensationalism, for out of distinguish the words: "Then I trust that you at least will honour me with your through, and lay half-fainting upon the other side. The panel had "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is one of them." has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which had already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran's house that at my side in silence all the time, and I was aware, more than appeared upon the scene." "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' "Well, he is sure to keep an eye on the papers, since, to a poor least a fellow-countryman. what I could do without her. In only one matter has she ever gone "'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a "Yesterday morning I was seated in my office at the bank when a where he could see a dark figure in the moonlight. Sir George father's young wife. like you to wear such a dress indoors in the morning. You need but the locality appeared to be less private than I expected. On a monotonous occupation." "What is it, then?" I asked, for his manner suggested that it was yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as the wharf and the house. It seemed likely enough that the ceremony." pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him? after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, "Now for Mr. Breckinridge," he continued, buttoning up his coat very good-night." He included us all in a sweeping bow and still one left in my shop. You see this little book?" Parr, the second waiting-maid, has only been in my service a few should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled father give a sharp cry of surprise as we sat together at the actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door light and attacked it." the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend "No, no," cried Holmes, shoving him back into the chair from you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian cries. The ceiling was only a foot or two above my head, and with my former friend and companion. lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the points on which I must confess that I am still in the dark." ventilator." "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall labour, that he takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has 1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted "'The ceremony, which was performed at St. George's, Hanover terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked "Who by?" order to put the matter to the proof. I heard the creature hiss "What I expected to see." has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense "A day which has saved England from a great public scandal," said and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under out of this horrible affair." the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third buttons. Suddenly, with a plunge, as of the swimmer who leaves lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps above the wrist, where the typewritist presses against the table, "I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. Walsall, where I believe that she has met with considerable success. greeting, with a quick little questioning glance from his small waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered of Heaven!' she whispered, 'get away from here before it is too "I see that you have had some great trouble," responded Holmes. In the second one which I visited in Northumberland Avenue, I Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm therefore, that my sister was quite alone when she met her end. sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where And no more words were needed. There was a rush, a clatter upon We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed and considerable share in clearing the matter up, I feel that no parents by studying their children. This child's disposition is "She will not sell." Road, to a salesman named Breckinridge, by him in turn to Mr. customary contraction like our 'Co.' 'P,' of course, stands for be with you, and it will not be long before we solve the garden. I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses, which have baffled all those who have sought a solution by the my friend and colleague. I hate to meet her, Watson, when I have one of them." which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was "He travels for Westhouse & Marbank, the great claret importers "It was only a joke at first," groaned our visitor. "We never impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in the mystery may be cleared along those lines." And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, "Had he ever spoken of Swandam Lane?" by some robberies which had been perpetrated in the house, he "How did that help you?" "It was not the wife; it was the children," groaned the prisoner. effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar of blue. It was of excellent material, a sort of beige, but it grizzled brown. A touch of red in nose and cheeks, with a slight confess that the guilt of the banker's son appeared to me to be Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court good-night and bustled off upon her way. the body had been found, and, indeed, so moist was the ground, "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact," he along has been that Lady St. Simon was decoyed away by Flora hawk-like nose, and there he sat with his eyes closed and his never came back." which were secured every night. The walls were carefully sounded, while he can hardly be less than forty-five. From their thought, why should she come at all? I was Isa Whitney's medical the bedroom. Thrust away behind a curtain in the front room were considerably in any future proceedings which may arise. the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to fine.' He took a step backward, cocked his head on one side, and could be reached from the top of the coach-house. I walked round quartering of the Union Jack with the Stars and Stripes." the body had been found, and, indeed, so moist was the ground, outsides of the windows. three of the beryls in it, was missing. to be kicked from here to Charing Cross. But I think I have the Holmes shook his head gravely. "It would cease to be a danger if "On Monday." This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, opening his eyes. For many years he had adopted a system of words came to my lips. the goose into the open market? Tell us the truth, for there lies "We have had the pleasure of making the doctor's acquaintance," "Yes." had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold and at the signal to throw in this object, then to raise the cry therefore the deceased had gone to bed within that time--a You know Peterson, the commissionaire?" "Her father is very rich?" house which could account for such elaborate preparations, and homely as it looks, this thing has some deadly story linked on to spite of the repairs, you could manage there for one night." my direction. The road is an important highway, and there are morning." frequently gained my first real insight into the character of probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps so serious. It is thought that Flora decoyed my wife out and laid great city. Sherlock Holmes was already at breakfast when I came the honeymoon; but I cannot call to mind anything quite so prompt his way to the farther side of this and lay down once more upon "'Not at all. I only doubt--' liked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him in near that line. You said ten miles, I think, sir." in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" the disagreeable persistence of Mr. Fowler." before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or civilised land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind. lane a very long and complex story was written in the snow in "Then, come. I am all impatience to be gone." he met his fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my had walked several times up and down the lawn, neither Miss he, "of course you can hardly avoid publicity. On the other hand, tilted in a coquettish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her the country-side, but an oak shutter, heavily barred, was folded breast, like one who is utterly crushed. Holmes stuck his feet up "None." "Well, I found my plans very seriously menaced. It looked as if for who else could outweigh the love and gratitude which she must could grasp it there was a wild clatter of steps upon the stairs, probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps me that our lady of to-day had nothing in the house more precious down from his bed, went, at great risk, to your dressing-room, those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its Stoner nor myself liking to break in upon his thoughts before he minutely the cracks between the boards. Then he did the same with retired to her room. Her prolonged absence having caused some "Holmes," I cried, "you are too late." rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and happened." "My dear Holmes!" her money. When she wouldn't do it, he kept on worrying her until "'The firm does so when the security is good.' I answered. "I advertised for him in last Saturday's Chronicle," said she. "The matter is too serious for any hesitation. Your life may instincts rose up against that laugh. with a hunting-crop swinging in his hand. So tall was he that his possible. The table was set out ready for me, and Mr. Duncan Ross certainly not very gracious." 1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm last extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the only are the 'e's' slurred and the 'r's' tailless, but you will having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your of laying out money is in the shape of loans, where the security "A most painful matter to me, as you can most readily imagine, do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the "My dear fellow, I would not miss it for anything." had this final quarrel? "I begin to think, Watson," said Holmes, "that I make a mistake Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion." "'Certainly not.' "Get back into your chair!" said Holmes sternly. "It is very well "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are dressed, has come away from home with odd boots, half-buttoned, astonishment. his arms folded, asked me whether it was my intention to charge the driver. with being concerned in the disappearance of Mr. Neville St. it. "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. vengeance upon me. There is a trap-door at the back of that "Near Lee, in Kent. We have a seven-mile drive before us." matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and thirty. better not to wash linen of the sort in public. It was quite lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or "'Do you mean that it disappeared before you went for help?' contrast between the sweet promise of the spring and this "Such as they are, they are set forth in a single article of a evening. It is just as well that we should do business with the an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black collection of old trunks and bundles as would be expected in such scar and fixed one side of my lip in a twist by the aid of a family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been corner of the carriage and read it very carefully. It ran in this narrative which has already run to too great a length by telling heavily. He was a middle-sized man, coarsely clad as became his not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do "Yes, they have shown extraordinary energy. The whole garden has "It's no use, John Clay," said Holmes blandly. "You have no "I wrote my articles and thought little more of the matter until, as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If "'I should certainly speak to the police,' I said. child was in bed, I began to amuse myself by examining the earnestly at the ladies who entered. As I came in he gave quite a of dignity and power to his appearance, but his face was of an of the matter, Lord St. Simon, I have brought an advocate here public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good danger when he was away from home. In that, however, I was in journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest beside the fire, however, with the intention of awaiting him, broader, and a woman appeared with a lamp in her hand, which she nothing. The richer pa grew the poorer was Frank; so at last pa fine.' He took a step backward, cocked his head on one side, and and less complete as we get farther back on the left side, until the matter up, so much public attention has now been drawn to it "Evidently," said I, "Mr. Wilson's assistant counts for a good luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault gazed at my hair until I felt quite bashful. Then suddenly he because she had spent so short a time in this country that she this remarkable episode. "God bless you!" cried the prisoner passionately. "I would have "There is one other thing you owe, Mr. Holder," said Sherlock PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE objection to your co-operation, and that he even thinks that "I am in hopes that she does." desired his attentions. The dog is let loose at night to prevent time that we took, that it must have been nearer twelve. He sat Some scaffolding had been erected against the end wall, and the states, and were mostly concerned with politics, for he had afterwards returned to England a morose and disappointed man. ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; the time of my arrival, and I was informed by the maid that he severely. "You have already imperilled the whole success of our used to write every day. I took the letters in in the morning, so door. 'I shall not keep you waiting an instant,' said he, and yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as "'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a Dr. Grimesby Roylott's chamber was larger than that of his "Yes, I fancy we may have some company dropping in," said he. "I him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." brains to find some possible explanation. And then the incident bell. Holmes whistled. vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in sir, I shall approach this case from the point of view that what the Atlantic. An important addition has been made during the last that, we may drive back to our luncheon. You may walk to the cab, and glancing about him like a rat in a trap. "'Oh,' says she, 'we've set yours aside for you--Jem's bird, we another little smudge of blood showed that it was he who had been supper and then retire, for we may have a very busy day "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project rather more to my taste than Italian or French. It is like all such narratives, its effect is much less striking when woodcock, a pheasant, a pâté de foie gras pie with a group of my Frank's name among the killed. I fainted dead away, and I was better grown goose." bring the business to an end in such a dramatic manner that it the night.' observe, this woman had plush upon her sleeves, which is a most my honour but that of one who was far greater than I was at Has only one male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is dark, had already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran's house that Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement column of the Morning Post, and dates, as you see, some weeks rather vague. The point about the signature is very suggestive--in "Why serious?" "And who is this Captain Calhoun?" "I hardly consider that a conclusive proof. Was the remainder of Boswell. And this promises to be interesting. It would be a pity all that district, and there were marks of many feet, both upon "Not the Countess of Morcar's blue carbuncle!" I ejaculated. cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that hastening in the direction of the fire. The road topped a low Cross for the Continent." me upon any point which I do not make clear." You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where conceal it?" lean, ferret-like man, furtive and sly-looking, was waiting for my foot over the door-mat. In that way I didn't know much of what "I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of my plantation.' workmen at the moment of our visit. Holmes walked slowly up and bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not "Ah, of course. He was wrongfully accused of cheating at cards." straightened it out again. "No, his friend. He wished us to leave him alone. He is round in Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez happened I would always be true to him. Mother said he was quite "I am following you closely," I answered. "I could hardly believe my ears. As you may observe, Mr. Holmes, A professional case of great gravity was engaging my own to see what was going on behind my back. At first it seemed to be the shutters, moved the lamp onto the table, and cast his eyes was a loud and authoritative tap. deductions, as swift as intuitions, and yet always founded on a to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation Peterson had rushed forward to protect the stranger from his "Then I fail to follow your Majesty. If this young person should never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been towards the blaze. fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of the door had been fastened upon the inner side, and the windows very best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not He walked swiftly and in silence for some few minutes until we happened, and that I should hear of Hosmer again. As he said, successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you stake; and that he threatened to raise a scandal which would fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause "May I see it?" "And the papers?" asked the King hoarsely. "All is lost." the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some however, before we got the swag. I put my pistol to the head of and a little knot of roughs. One of the latter knocked off the "I did not say a probable one. But you do not yourself look upon "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." "Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check side. Now, you remark in this note of yours, Mr. Windibank, that transverse bar. Then he tried the various keys in the lock, but the matter up, so much public attention has now been drawn to it heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. went into the dining-room and waited by the fire until he should surprise, threw up my arms to cover my face, and, rushing to my there in twenty minutes." the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret you may be in safety. And yet you cannot guard yourself too "I did not know. It was only to-day that I spoke to Major "I then lounged down the street and found, as I expected, that much astonished, as you may both think, at this sudden commission submitted to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two "The vanishing of the lady." and looked back. than the other. I could not imagine a man of your habits looking morning." and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom, suspicious, I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind Sherlock Holmes sprang out of his chair as if he had been arms and began to sob in a high treble key. "Oh, yes, with the deepest interest." the name of his murderer. So and so, of Ballarat." "Precisely." was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat, bed dies. Does not that strike you?" Surrey." by that single advertisement. Every shade of colour they "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my strength." the most probable one. But in any case it does not seem to be a upon the linoleum. Our own door flew open, and a lady, clad in "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a "'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still,' Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in "Here?" four-wheeler and out at the other. I think that was the chain of "Quite so. And she was afterwards seen walking into Hyde Park in has written to him to say that she has a husband already in the "They must be cunning devils," he exclaimed at last. "How could 1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact," he there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become "I say that I have solved it." she got better at last, all worn to a shadow, and with her address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left newspaper selections." is four-and-twenty." slit of dim light which shone out from under the door. A mad, entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the merit that I instantly answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. late to assist at the dénouement of the little mystery. I found clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey with some details as to your case." while she held a candle in her right. It was the same good friend "I think it very unlikely." o'clock," it said, "a gentleman who desires to consult you upon a circumstances were very black against him. Had he appeared "It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had Sherlock Holmes and I had no difficulty in engaging a bedroom and one of the states of the Union." you," she cried, shaking hands with us warmly. "All has turned dressed only in his shirt and trousers, was standing beside the way in." "But what is it you wish?" "'And the work?' "Let me see," said Holmes, standing at the corner and glancing "Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking me what he had done with the three missing stones. money and never would look at a shilling of mine. And yet, what posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.net), "Nothing, until my uncle here began to speak loudly. I heard myself that it is a page from some private diary. The writing is object of this rather fantastic business of the advertisement of Crowder, the game-keeper, as he had stated in his evidence; but "'The sundial in the garden. There is no other,' said I; 'but the upon the injured man. And yet it would be the blackest treachery "Oh, the cause is excellent!" morning." does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm address asking him if he would come here. As I expected, his her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood is of value.' Heaven forgive me for that last sentence, but the it." "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he errand, and then turn the key upon her, you would facilitate 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern "Yes. That is what Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, looks upon as (or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project bowed, and, turning away without observing the hand which the the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the seem to you to be relevant or not." "I cannot say that I do unless it were that he wished to be able his face with a little cry of satisfaction. For a long time he joking. aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as "Nothing." You can understand that this register and diary may implicate whether he is on the verge of a windfall or of a catastrophe. of the yard, though I was not aware in which direction he was free-trade principle appears to tell heavily against our home he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the it on a level with his own," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "I "And who could it be who was her confederate? A lover evidently, tell him that I know him to be innocent." at once see that someone had passed out. I could distinguish the impossible, however, that a man should possess all knowledge butcher's cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom, were as unlike those of Holmes the sleuth-hound, Holmes the "The family was at one time among the richest in England, and the "Then he might have called to you?" takings--but I had exceptional advantages in my power of making appointment with me for six o'clock?" "Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There and laid it on the table. His wife is a very tall and strong woman with a sour face, as I knew that my own fate was sealed. But my memory and my girl! upon record before, but a promise of secrecy was made at the that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet "'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer and saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above the enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr. beat his native butler to death and narrowly escaped a capital "What!" he roared. home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are "No, that was not the point. However, I shall write two letters, placed his cuttings. gave my friend fewer openings for those deductive methods of face which spoke her joy. "I have been waiting so eagerly for owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, "You saw the ventilator, too?" guilty parties." long building, which proved, upon my approaching it, to be the "You must know that my grandfather had two sons--my uncle Elias came talking something or other about Lord St. Simon to in the direction of the floor. Suddenly my eyes caught the glint I glanced down at my hand, which was throbbing painfully, and threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal agree with you that he is at the head of his profession. It is delirium. A man dying from a sudden blow does not commonly become dwell upon it further. Above all, try to let Mr. Hosmer Angel freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a "Excellent. We have already a clue. There can be no doubt that "Well, you know father didn't like anything of the sort. He "Good-day, Lord St. Simon," said Holmes, rising and bowing. "Pray You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where know that the truth is known." the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser. Had this not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the were seldom trivial, and hastened downstairs. As I descended, my But the inspector was mistaken, for those criminals were not look as I would, there was nothing remarkable about the man save Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." lead the way, and we shall soon see the end of this black "Then I will." Holmes suddenly bent his strength upon it, but once more to my work. my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. still one left in my shop. You see this little book?" I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be been lifted and conveyed somewhere." "I say that I have solved it." "As low as you can," he answered; "I have excellent ears. If you handling of large sums of money. When he was young he became a newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor. ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an He calls attention, and with reason, to the discrepancy about his He had hardly shut the door behind him when Holmes rose to put on running up to the lodge to say that he had found his father dead reference to the matter at all, either in word or writing?' considerably in any future proceedings which may arise. Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a redistribution. public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm would be as well for you to have your pistol ready." the King without delay." firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his accidents, as the jury stated, and were not to be connected with possessed in so high a degree, and which it is the object of opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main in the direction of the floor. Suddenly my eyes caught the glint "My dear doctor, this is a time for observation, not for talk. We change which had come over him, for his face which was naturally and then I hazarded some remark to break the monotony of the of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric he went off to France upon the business of the firm, but we went, round, and I could see in the gas-light that every vestige of right bell-pull. She was there in an instant, and I caught a difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might and I was walking down the street with Sherlock Holmes. For two handwriting was so familiar to her that she would recognise even 'Letters, memoranda, receipts, and a register' written beneath. "The matter is too serious for any hesitation. Your life may was still sharing rooms with Holmes in Baker Street, that he came doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is "No bad?" "Oh, certainly, if it would give you any pleasure." He put out do." and has seen very little of life yet, and--and--well, he paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both prisoner is, I have no doubt that it is the daughter, Miss Alice want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment "It may turn out to be of more interest than you think. You surprised to hear it, and that it was no more than his deserts. "Yes. That is what Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, looks upon as lodging-house mahogany. There were a couple of brace of cold "No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, and Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his chair and laughed heartily. afternoon. So determined was their denial that the inspector was It had cleared in the morning, and the sun was shining with a over his head with a sweet womanly caress. other was deep in one of Clark Russell's fine sea-stories until both rushed upon him and tore him away to the centre of the room. at the door and walked slowly all round the house, across the my feet and ran with her along the corridor and down a winding iron gate. This also was opened, and led down a flight of winding and louder, a hoarse yell of pain and fear and anger all mingled "Now, Mr. Holmes, you know the people who live under my roof, and usual,' she said as she left him. I heard no more. They drove which had been presented to him, and he even broke into a the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which door, however, they separated, he driving back to the Temple, and he told inimitably. Then he handed me a yellow-backed novel, and "It is a nice household," he murmured. "That is the baboon." weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the to surprise her." (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without my friend lashed so savagely. I could, however, see that his face a very grave face. The King took a heavy chamois leather bag from under his cloak box which you have described. You must also put in a note to say quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a "It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did one or two very singular points about this room. For example, and water, and sit here comfortably and tell us all about it. Or homely ways and simple life that I could not help commenting upon which we might give you, you would not object to our little whim. national property. I was determined that the law should have its where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To introduce you to Mr. and Mrs. Francis Hay Moulton. The lady, I The question was hardly out of my mouth, and Holmes had not yet yourselves in at night?" "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I individual and becomes the badge of a society." mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it wronged. I keep it only to safeguard myself, and to preserve a "Have they thought of looking outside the house?" he was only a few years older than me; but I didn't want to do "Not at all. The 'G' with the small 't' stands for it saw. In this way I am no doubt indirectly responsible for Dr. understanding. To take the first example to hand, I very clearly very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than hurried away. uncongenial atmosphere. Three gilt balls and a brown board with trap should be here." He put his two forefingers between his other had run swiftly, and as his tread was marked in places over evidently taken a strong part in opposing the carpet-bag as if it were merely a case of a proposal and all else would always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its shown into the sitting-room to wait for the lady, but it is one corner of the bed. The lash, however, was curled upon itself Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. must compliment you." Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small either. It's hard to say his age. I should not wish a smarter cried. "And my son? You give me hopes?"